Economic Survey 2022: Indian Railways To Emerge As ‘An Engine Of National Growth’

Economic Survey 2022: Rail projects have been divided into two categories, Super Critical and Critical. 58 projects have been identified as Super Critical and are targeted for completion by December 2022. Along with this, 68 projects have been identified as Critical and have been targeted for completion by March 2024.

New Delhi: Indian railways will emerge as one of the most important sectors in India’s national growth, according to the recently released Economic Survey. The Capital Expenditure (Capex) in 2021-22 is five times the outlay in 2014. The Indian Railways aims to achieve complete electrification by 2023.

According to the survey, the National Railway Plan “envisages the creation of a future ready railway system that is able to not only meet the passenger demand but also increase the modal share of railways in freight to 40-45% from the present level of 26-27%.”

The Survey has also identified Rail projects under two categories, Super Critical and Critical. 58 projects have been identified as Super Critical and are targeted for completion by December 2022. Along with this, 68 projects have been identified as Critical and have been targeted for completion by March 2024. The capital expenditure has gone up to Rs 2,15,000 crores in 2021 from Rs 45,980 crores in 2014.

Indian Railways ‘Strives To Provide Safe, Efficient Transport’

The survey also said, “Being the third largest network in the world under single management and with over 68,102 route kms IR strives to provide safe, efficient, competitive and world class transport system.” In FY21, Indian Railways transported 1.23 billion tonnes of freight and 1.25 billion passengers.

Also, the pace of laying new rail tracks has also increased in the past few years. According to the survey, an average of 1,835 track km per year of new track length was laid between 2014-2021. During the 2009-2014 period this average was 720 km per year.

Vision 2024

The document also pointed out a vision 2024 for India Railways. In the first half of the decade, the government will focus on completing the already sanctioned projects. In the latter half, new plans with faster railways will be introduced, the survey said.

“The first surge is to be provided by the Vision 2024 plan to prioritize and complete sanctioned projects so that railway capacity does not fall far behind the targeted modal share such that by the time capacity is finally created, the traffic would have shifted to another mode”, the survey read.

It continued, “In the second half of the decade, the aim is to commission new Dedicated Freight Corridors and also High Speed Passenger Corridors, besides multitracking and signaling upgradation of congested routes.”