Railway Budget Live Updates: New Vande Bharat sleeper trains, Amrit Bharat trains likely; focus on safety in Kavach rollout

Railway Budget Live Updates: The Railway Budget 2024, which will be part of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget 2024 speech, is expected to see a record capital expenditure. This capex push, according to railway experts, is likely to be used to improve safety measures across India’s vast railway network, with special emphasis on the rollout of Kavach technology.

In the Interim Budget 2024, FM Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a capex of Rs 2,52,000 crore for Indian Railways for FY25. This budgeted capex outlay may get a further boost in the first full budget of the Modi 3.0 government. According to the Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament yesterday, capital expenditure for Indian Railways has increased by 77% in the last 5 years (Rs 2.62 lakh crore in FY24) with significant investments in construction of new lines, gauge conversion and doubling.

Railway budget 2024: New trains coming? Focus on Vande Bharat sleeper train, Vande Metro
External Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce the launch of the Vande Bharat sleeper train for long distance and night journeys and the Vande Metro for short distances this financial year.

Fifty-one pairs of Vande Bharat trainsets have been introduced by March 2024. “High-speed, long-distance Vande sleeper trainsets with features such as rapid acceleration, diffused lighting, automatic doors and Global Positioning System-based passenger information system are being developed,” the Economic Survey said.

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“Railways also plans to introduce Vande metro trains with features like enclosed wider aisles, centrally controlled automatic sliding doors, CCTVs for safety and surveillance, route map indicator, passenger information and infotainment system, fire detection system and aerosol based fire extinguishing system. The first batch is expected to be produced in FY25,” the company said.

In the Interim Budget, Sitharaman had announced the upgrading of 40,000 passenger coaches to Vande Bharat standards. The Budget 2024 speech may provide some direction on this.

Moreover, Indian Railways has recently announced plans to manufacture over 10,000 non-AC coaches to cater to the needs of general class passengers. More Amrit Bharat trains for the common man may be announced with better passenger amenities and higher speeds.

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Kavach for safety
In light of the recent train accidents, the railway budget also focuses on providing sufficient resources for modern signalling infrastructure, faster roll-out of Kavach technology for anti-collision trains and modernisation of the tracks.

Rail experts say a substantial portion of record rail capital spending will be allocated to safety improvement projects

Special freight corridors and economic corridors

The Railway Budget may also shed light on the government’s plans to increase freight revenues and the recently announced new economic corridors for faster freight transport.

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