“Madhya Pradesh has been given record budget allocation of Rs 13,607 crore while West Central Railway has got budget of Rs 8874.70 crore in Union Budget 2023-24. Record hike of rail budget will accelerate the rail infrastructure projects by many folds in the state as well as West Central Railway”, informed Sudhir Kumar Gupta, General Manager, WCR while addressing a press conference, on Friday.

GM, SK Gupta informed that rail budget allocated for Madhya Pradesh has been increased by 21.5 percent. Earlier, the state had average budget of Rs 632 crores from year 2009 to 2014. Similarly, budget for West Central Railway has also been doubled from Rs 4,228 crores in year 2022-23 to Rs 8,874.70 crore. This budget will definitely prove fruitful in materializing new infrastructural developments and advancement of rail services in the state.

The budget of Rs 8,874.70 crore to West Central Railway include construction of new lines of Rs 2014 crore, line doubling and tripling of Rs 1521.30 crore, traffic facilities of Rs 114.71 crore, road safety work (level crossing) of Rs 18.74 crore, road safety work (RUB/ROB) of Rs 574.03 crore, track renewal of Rs 1090 crore, bridge work/tunnel work of Rs 100 crore, signal and telecommunication of Rs 207.10 crore, electrical work of Rs 106.07 crore, customer amenity of Rs 250.10 crore, other schemes of Rs 2878.25 crore .

The budget will also ensure materialization of Lalitpur-Singrauli new line (541-kms) of Rs 700 crore, Ramganjmandi-Bhopal new line (262-kms) of Rs 800 crore, Indore-Jabalpur new line (342-kms of Rs 514.40 crore, Budni-Barkhera third line (33-kms) of Rs 50 crore, Katni-Singrauli line doubling (261-kms) of Rs 400 crore, Bina-Katni third line (279-kms of Rs 565 crore, Satna-Rewa (50-kms) of Rs 55 crore, Katni Grade Separator Duct (21.5-kms) of Rs 300 crore, Pavarkhera-Jujharpur single line fly over (16-kms) of Rs 50 crore and other projects of Rs 101.30 crore. Besides this, traffic service projects include Itarsi North South Grade Separator/Fly Over Yard Remodeling of Rs 15 crore, Madan Mahal Station Coaching Terminal and Howbagh State Coaching Complex of Rs 15 crores and other traffic services of Rs 84.71 crore. During the press conference, AGM, Shobhan Choudhary, DRM Jabalpur, Vivek Sheel, CPRO, Rahul Shrivastava and other senior officers were present.