Railways get more than Rs 4 lakh cr in 12th Plan

New Delhi: Belying the expectations of railways, the Planning Commission has finalised Rs 4,56,743 crore as the public transport behemoth's total infrastructure investment for the coming five years.

Railways had sought an investment of about Rs 10 lakh crore for major overhaul of its infrastructure to make it a modern and safe national transport operator.

"The Plan finalised would not help us much in expediting key projects and network expansion for the coming five years. There is also very little support from the private sector for infrastructure augmentation in railways given that the gestation period is high here," said a senior Railway Ministry official involved in the planning process.

The ambitious high speed corridor project of railways itself entails huge investment which railways could hardly meet with the plan outlay for the 12th Plan period, he added.

The total investment in railways is projected at Rs 4,56,743 crore during the 12th Five-Year Plan as compared to Rs 2,31,705 crore during the Eleventh Plan.

According to the Planning Commission decision, out of Rs 4,56,743 crore, government will provide Rs 3,76,946 crore and the private sector is expected to generate Rs 79,797 crore during 2012-17.