Rail Budget 2016 lays tracks for Uttar Pradesh polls

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh seems to be on the BJP government's priority list with the politically crucial state bagging a significant number of projects, worth around Rs 4,950 crore, in the railway budget for 2016-17.

The high fund allocation for the second consecutive year for several railway infrastructure projects, including construction of lines and doubling of tracks, reflects the Modi government's eagerness to regain power in the state which is scheduled to go to polls next year.

Apart from UP, the states which got significant share in the budget include mineral-rich Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand as the state-run transporter wants to maximise its revenue from efficient and faster freight movement in these states.

The focus of the current railway dispensation is to ensure assured funding for bankable rail projects which can be completed in the next three to four years.

The move will ensure generation of more revenue due to higher passenger and freight traffic and will also help the government showcase its achievements in modernising the transporter before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The expansion work in UP also suits the railways' plan to decongest the highdensity Delhi-Howrah route which will benefit Bihar and West Bengal.

"The plan outlay for UP for 2015-16 was Rs 4,516 crore while the state will get Rs 4,923 crore in 2016-17," minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha, who hails from UP, said. "Also, the new rail line between Meerut and Panipat will decongest Delhi," he added.

Elaborating on the capacity expansion plan, railway minister Suresh Prabhu promised in his budget speech to lay 7 km of track every day in 2016-17 as against an average of 4.3 km per day in the last six years. "This pace will increase to about 13 km per day in 2017-18 and 19 km per day in 2018-19," the railway minister said on Thursday