Budget 2022: Railways unlikely to hike passenger fare

Indian Railways is unlikely to hike the passenger fare in the upcoming Union Budget but the proposed bullet train between Delhi and Varanasi is set to get fund allocation.

"There is no proposal before the railways to hike passenger fare. Instead, the national transporter will focus on increasing non-fare revenue," said an official in the railways.

The railways will go ahead with the proposal to create new high-speed rail corridors under the National Rail Plan in 2022. Under this plan, the Delhi-Varanasi high-speed corridor ( bullet train) project is likely to get a budgetary allocation, said the official.

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Work on the country's first Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed bullet train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is in progress.

Aimed at making train journeys faster and more comfortable for passengers, the government may announce its plan to adopt hyperloop technology, lightweight aluminium coach, articulated/tilting bogey and hydrogen fuel-based train-set.

Hyperloop, the new mode of transport, is to build a tube over or underground along the rail track for super-fast travel.

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In Budget 2022-23, the Railway's plan size is likely to be nearly Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

In 2021-22, the government had allocated Rs 2.15 lakh crore in which Rs 7,500 crore came from internal resources and Rs 1 lakh crore from extra-budgetary resources. Another Rs 1.07 lakh crore came from gross budgetary support.

With the railways aimed at achieving 100 per cent electrification of railway routes by 2023, a large part of the money will be spent on electrification, said the official.

Besides, money will also be spent on introducing high-speed corridors, modernising signalling systems and modernising the fleet, said an official.

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