New Delhi/Bhubaneswar, Feb 1: The Centre allocated Rs 10,536 crore in the Interim Budget 2024 for the development of railway sector in Odisha, informed Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday.

Briefing the media in New Delhi, the Railway Minister said the Centre has allocated Rs 10,536 core for the railway sector in Odisha in the the Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament today.

Vaishnaw also said that 100 percent electrification of the railways was fully completed in Odisha.

Also Read: Highlights Of Interim Budget 2024-25

The Railway Minister further said, “In this budget, a big focus has been put on creating additional capacity through three corridors. First is Energy, mineral and cement corridors which will help reduce pollution of roads and ensure reduction in cost of logistics. Second is port connectivity which will provide seamless connectivity to the ports through railways in a multimodal ‘Gati Shakti’ way and third is ‘Amrit Chaturbhuj’ which will be akin to golden quadrilateral on Railway network on high density traffic routes. Overall, through these 3 corridors, about 40,000 Km of new track will be laid which will significantly increase railway capacity and reduce pollution as railway can save up to 90% CO2 emissions in a cost effective manner. This will bring a big transformation in the country’s economy in an efficient, productive and sustainable manner.”

“The success of ‘Vande Bharat’ and ‘Amrit Bharat’ trains has led to the fact that now we can upgrade all the 40,000 conventional coaches. The work to increase capacity is happening on multiple fronts. Last year we added 5,200 km of new tracks which is equivalent to entire rail network of Switzerland. This year we are adding 5,500 km," he added.

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