Union Budget 2025: Odisha gets Rs 10,599 crore for railways

Odisha received an outlay of Rs 10,599 crores for railways in the State in the Union Budget 2025. The announcement was made by Union Railway minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday afternoon.

While announcing the outlay the Railway minister said, "In the past 10 years, 2046 new tracks have been constructed in Odisha, which is more than all tracks in Malaysia. There are six Vande Bharat trains running currently in Odisha. Moreover, railway projects worth Rs 75,000 crore are underway in Odisha. Kavach technology for better safety has been implemented in 1898 km track across Odisha."

Odisha received an outlay of Rs 10,599 crores for railways in the State in the Union Budget 2025. The announcement was made by Union Railway minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday afternoon.

While announcing the outlay the Railway minister said, "In the past 10 years, 2046 new tracks have been constructed in Odisha, which is more than all tracks in Malaysia. There are six Vande Bharat trains running currently in Odisha. Moreover, railway projects worth Rs 75,000 crore are underway in Odisha. Kavach technology for better safety has been implemented in 1898 km track across Odisha."

Prime Minister Modi has been concentrating on Odisha, which has led to new investments worth Rs 78,000 crore in the railway sector, with Rs 20,000 crore in projects approved since last July.

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Currently, under the Amrit Bharat scheme, work on 59 new railway stations is in progress. There is a four-lane track from Kolkata to Chennai, while a three-lane track up to Visakhapatnam is almost complete. 

In 2024, Odisha received Rs 10,586 crore for railways, while the state received Rs 10,012 crore in 2023, with 100% electrification now complete in the region.

Earlier after the release of the Union Budget on February 1, the Union Minister announced plans for "200 new Vande Bharat trains, 100 Amrit Bharat trains, 50 Namo Bharat rapid trains, and 17,500 general non-AC coaches" in the next two to three years. He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for approving gross budgetary support of Rs 2,52,000 crores for the Ministry of Railways for the second successive year.

Railway infrastructure projects have been allocated Rs 4,60,000 crores in the current year's budget, and Rs 1,16,000 crores have been assigned for safety upgradation. "The budget presented today is to create employment through investment and ease the burden of income tax to a great extent for the middle class," said Vaishnaw in the media briefing after the Budget was tabled in the Lok Sabha.

Reimbursement of losses from strategic line operations has been proposed at Rs 2,739.18 crores in the Budget Estimates for 2025-26, as against Rs 2,602.81 crores in the revised estimates for the previous fiscal. In addition, Rs 706 crores has been provided for debt servicing of market borrowings on national projects.

Talking about sustainability, the Railway Minister mentioned that India Railways will achieve 100 per cent electrification by the end of FY 2025-26. Besides as the Budget announced small modular reactors as a source of non-fossil energy, Indian Railways will take the lead in electrification efforts.

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Inputs from IANS