Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has introduced interim Union Budget 2024 on 1st February, 2024. The major key point from this budget is that India is going to introduce Railway Economic Corridors in coming years. The major economic corridors have been divided into three different categories.
These categories are divided as energy, mineral and cement corridor; port connectivity corridors; and high traffic density corridors. Energy, Mineral and Cement corridors will connect different railway lines from crude oil refineries, Dams, mineral ores and Cement factories. These corridors will connect to nearby factories and refineries so that the cost of transport is reduced while usage of extra fuel is also reduced.
Port Connectivity corridors are aimed at connecting nearby ports to ease the goods from one to another while it also improves connectivity to ports from other cities as well. High Traffic density corridors look to reduce the number of trains that cover long distances with no real limitations on passengers boarding. With such corridors, they aim to decrease the congestion in trains that has become a huge problem.
Nirmala Sitharaman also announced that they will upgrade 40,000 bogies to Vande Bharat level. She stated that this will improve condition of the trains overall for passengers to feel safe and travel quickly to their destinations. On the whole, in this budget Railways got more structural fund to improve logistical standards and cut operational costs.
Union Budget 2024: Government to concentrate on Solarisation!