Rs 4,641 crore allocated to Uttarakhand in Rail Budget: Vaishnaw

Dehradun, Feb 3 (PTI) Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday that Uttarakhand has been allocated Rs 4,641 crore in the Rail Budget, which will strengthen the rail network in the state.

Addressing journalists from Uttarakhand and other states virtually, Vaishnaw said an amount of Rs 2.52 lakh crore has been allocated to the railways in the budget.

Uttarakhand has been allocated Rs 4,641 crore for various rail projects in the 2025-26 budget, he added.

The Union minister said work is currently in progress on three rail projects of 216 km in the state, the cost of which is Rs 25,941 crore.

About the ambitious Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail project being built at a cost of Rs 24,659 crore, he said 49 per cent work of this 125-km project has been completed, while 96 per cent work of the 27.5-km Deoband-Roorkee rail line, being built at a cost of Rs 1,053 crore, is over.

Apart from this, the 63-km Kichha-Khatima rail line project will be built at a cost of Rs 228 crore, Vaishnaw said.

Since the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre, 69 km of new rail tracks have been laid in Uttarakhand, while 303 km of rail lines have been electrified between 2014 and 2025, he said.

Between 2009 and 2014, this figure was zero, the rail minister said.

Today, every rail line in the state is electrified, he added.

Eleven rail stations -- Dehradun, Haridwar Junction, Harrawala, Kashipur Junction, Kathgodam, Kichha, Kotdwar, Lalkuan Junction, Ramnagar, Roorkee and Tanakpur -- in the state are being developed as Amrit stations at a cost of Rs 147 crore, Vashnaw said.

Besides, 100 rail flyovers and underbridges have also been constructed in the hill state since 2014, he informed.

Six elevators and 14 escalators have been constructed at the stations for passengers and the Wi-Fi facility is available for them at 31 stations. Apart from this, two Vande Bharat trains are successfully providing services in the state, Vaishnaw said.

Describing the allocated budget as a "milestone" in the field of expansion of rail connectivity in the state, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said it is also special because it is 2,382-per cent more than the budget allocated from 2009 to 2014.

"Better rail connectivity will not only benefit the people of the state but will also open new avenues of tourism and pilgrimage for millions of tourists coming to the state from the country and abroad. Certainly, this time's budget will bring positive changes in the economic and social condition of Uttarakhand," he said.

Dhami also thanked Prime Minister Modi for this. PTI ALM RC

Source: PTI