Budget 2018: For Railways, safety culture, expansion take centre stage

By RK Singh

Budget 2018 is quite progressive and takes care of all infrastructure segments, including railways. A provision of Rs 1.48 lakh crore has been made for capital expenditure for railways with a view to improve and modernise the basic infrastructure. Declaration for 100% conversion to broad gauge and aiming for 18,000 km of doubling is a step forward to enhance the throughput and operational efficiency of the railways.

Targeting complete track renewal over 36,000 km and elimination of 4,267 unmanned level crossings will go a long way to enhance railway safety and reduce train accidents.


In this budget, a long-awaited thrust has also been given to expand the suburban network, particularly in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Provision of amenities like escalators at identified railway stations, Wi-Fi and CCTVs in passenger trains and redevelopment of 600 major railway stations are welcome steps to satisfy the passengers to a great extent and will also prove quite useful from the point of view of their security and comfort.

A new railway university will be set up at Vadodara to mainly impart knowledge about ‘bullet train’ technology, which will transform the work and safety culture of the railways in the long run.

Although the passenger traffic (originating passengers) has shown negative growth in the last five years (compound annual growth rate or CAGR of -0.26% between 2012 and 2017), the average travel kilometre has increased over this period (CAGR of 2.17%). It is noteworthy that passenger earnings have grown at a CAGR of 10.38% in the last five years.

(The author is ex-chairman, Railway Board. Views are personal)