Railway firming up a National Plan for Infrastructure Development

Indian railways plagued with a long spell of underinvestment, is firming up a National Plan for Railway Infrastructure Development with an ambitious target of pumping more than Rs 8 lakh crore over the next four years.

The massive investment plan would involve high-speed rail connectivity, station redevelopment and capacity augmentation across the country. While part of the funding will come from the capital expenditure provided for in the Rail Budget, a major chunk is expected to come from outside the budget through PPP and multilateral funding.  Railways capital expenditure has increased to Rs 97,000 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 57,000 crore in 2014-15 and in the current fiscal it has been pegged at Rs 1.21 lakh crore.

The sector posses’ huge opportunities for investment, while LIC is lending Rs 1.5 lakh crore for rail expansion, avenues for funds from other countries are also being explored. Railways have already signed a Rs 97,636 crore deal with Japan for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project. Besides the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor, Indian Railway is planning to link all metros with high-speed trains as part of its Diamond Quadrilateral project which requires huge private funding.