Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal announced a planned investment of Rs 63,363 crore for 2013-14, including Rs 600 crore from public private partnership (PPP) route. He said this while presenting the railway budget for 2013-14 in Parliament today.
The minister informed that his ministry proposed to take up 22 projects of new lines in 2013-14 and convert 450 km of narrow guage to broad guage.
Further, the minister announced some benefits for passengers by proposing to introduce e-ticketing system by December 2013. Noting that there is overwhelming demand for new trains, he announced the launch of 67 new express trains, 26 new passenger trains during 2013-14.
He further said that his ministry plans to complete electrification of 1,200 km during 2013-14.
The minister raised concern over the rising input cost for the railways and said the freight rate hike proposed earlier is expected to meet the rising cost. In the budget, the minister imposed fuel-linked adjustment component to freight tariff. This component is expected to raise freight tariff by 5 percent on an average.
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