Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday that ongoing railway projects in the North East were progressing at a “good pace” despite geographical difficulties.
He also pointed out that the allocation for the railways in the Union Budget this year has been more than Rs 2.65 lakh crore for the second time in a row.
In a virtual interaction with reporters here, Vaishnaw, the railway minister, said all the ongoing projects in the northeastern region are “advancing at a good pace”.
Despite being located in geographically difficult terrain, project works are being carried out on a 24×7 basis for early completion, he said.
The minister said 1,824 km of new tracks have been constructed in the region since 2014, which is more than the entire rail network of Sri Lanka.
A total of 478 new flyovers and underpasses have been constructed in the northeastern states since the first Narendra Modi government was formed in 2014.
He also said 1,189 route kilometres have been identified for implementation of safety measure ‘Kavach’ across Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).
Vaishnaw said Indian Railways is all set to ensure faster, safer and comfortable rail travel all across the country, with 200 new Vande Bharat, 100 Amrit Bharat trains and 50 Namo Bharat rapid rails to be rolled out in the coming years.
NFR general manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava and NFR GM (construction) Arun Kumar Choudhary, both present at the railway headquarters here during the press interaction, said that 92 stations across its jurisdiction will be transformed under the ‘Amrit Bharat Stations’ scheme.
Electrifications of all the tracks under the jurisdiction of NFR will be accomplished by December 2025, they claimed.
The Bhairabi–Sairang project in Mizoram is also likely to be completed by July this year, the GMs said.
They also mentioned that the gross budgetary allocation for railway infrastructure projects in the North East for 2025-26 is Rs 10,440 crore, which is more than five times, as compared to average budget allocation of Rs 2,122 crore during 2009-14.
This year’s budget allocation shows unprecedented growth in several segments like new line and doubling projects, track renewal works, traffic facilities, road safety and bridge works, signalling, workshop modernisation and customer amenities, the GMs added. (PTI)
