A.K.Agarwal, General Manager, ICF & Southern Railway along with B.G.Mallya, Additional General Manager and Principal Heads of Departments of Southern Railway held a virtual Press Meet on 03.02.2022 in connection with allocation for Southern Railway in Union Budget 2022-23. General Manager, highlighting the salient features of Union Budget stated that renewed emphasis has been given for improvement of Safety standards in Railways. He mentioned that the outlay of Rs.2374 Crore for Safety works is the highest ever compared to the last three years. The grant of Rs. 1470 Crore for track improvement works has been increased 89.51% over the average of last three years, he added. He also cited that for various infrastructural projects such as Doubling and Gauge Conversion , the budget Grant has been substantially increased to 283% and 73% respectively, over last three years’ average.
A presentation was made on the highlights of budget allocations for Southern Railway under various Plan Heads including state-wise budgetary outlay for variousprojects in the state of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Southern Railway has received an outlay of Rs. 7,134.56 Crore for the financial year 2022-23, in addition a total of Rs.1064.34 is also received as Extra Budgetary Resource (EBR).Of the total outlay Rs.1445.85 crores has been earmarked for Doubling Projects, Rs.346.80 crores has been earmarked for Gauge Conversion Projects and Rs.59 Crores for New lines. An amount of Rs. 327.77 crores has been allotted for Passenger Amenities for the year 2022-23 in Southern Railway.Rs.189.76 Crore has been sanctioned towards various Signal and Telecom works in Southern Railway with thrust on proliferating indigenously manufactured ‘Kavach’ Anti Collision devices across the network.
In Tamil Nadu, 25 New line/Gauge Conversion projects costing Rs.28,307 crores over 3,077 kms length falling fully/partly in the state are under different stages of planning/execution. The budget grant for Railways in Tamil Nadu is Rs.3,865 Crore for the financial year 2022-23 which is 340% higher than the average outlay of 2009-2014.
Some of the important projects in Tamil Nadu featuring in Budget 2022-23 are:
· Rameswaram – Dhanushkodi (17.2 Km) New line project has received an outlay of Rs.59 Crore
· The outlay for Madurai – Bodinayakkanur doubling project is Rs.125.00 Crore
· The Gauge conversion project betweenTiruchchirappalli-Nagore-Karaikal with extension of Velankanni-Tiruturaipundi including new material modification of Karaikal-Peralam (23 Km) new line is allotted Rs.121.80 Crore
· Funds to the tune of Rs 54.2 Crores are allotted for the 4th Line between Chennai Beach to Chennai Egmore.
· For FY 2022-23, funds to the tune of Rs.789.00 Crore have been allotted through the budget for the ongoing RVNL projects, including Rs.50 crores for construction of new Pamban Bridge.
An amount of Rs.303.42 crores has been allotted for various Railway Electrification works in the State of Tamil Nadu.
In Kerala, 8 projects costing Rs.9,489 Crore for 439 Km length falling fully/partly in Kerala are under different stages of planning/approval/execution. The budget grant for Railways in Kerala is Rs.1,085 Crore for the financial year 2022-23 which is 192% higher than the average outlay of 2009-2014.
Some of the important projects in Kerala featuring in Budget 2022-23 are:
· Thiruvananthapuram-Kanniyakumari Doubling project (86.56 Km) has been allotted Rs.393.50 Crore
· Doubling of Kuruppanthara – Chingavanam (26.54 Km) has been allotted Rs.50.94 Crore
An amount of Rs.100.66 crores has been allotted for various Railway Electrification works in the State ofKerala.
