Capital expenditure by Indian Railways for FY25 has crossed over Rs 2,00,000 crore; and is at nearly 76 per cent of the allocated Budget. As per official estimates, Rs 2,02,003 crore has been spent till the first week of January, while ₹1,198 crore has spent in the first five days of January, a report accessed said. Budgetary allocation for the Railways was Rs 2.65 lakh crore for FY25.
An internal report said, nearly, Rs 1,92,446 crore was spent as part of the Gross Budgetary Support – or 76 per cent of the allocated Rs 2,52,200 crore; while IEBR (internal and extra budgetary resources) – which includes market borrowings – stood at Rs 824 crore, or 27 per cent of the Budget allocated Rs 3,000 crore. The Extra Budgetary Resources (market borrowings) for PPP (public private partnerships) stood at Rs 8,733 crore, or 87 per cent of the Budget allocated Rs 10,000 crore. A year-on-year comparison shows, substantial increase in Railway spending in FY25. For instance, spending under the Gross Budgetary Support was up 4 per cent y-oy; while borrowings were down – 5 per cent down for Extra Budgetary Resources (PPP) and IEBR was down 35 per cent, respectively. Till January, the highest spending by Railways, amounting to over Rs 82,000 crore, has been for capacity augmentation projects. These include the development of new lines, gauge conversions, doubling of tracks, traffic facilities, railway electrification, investments in public sector undertakings, and metropolitan transport. Capacity augmentation spending was at 68 per cent of the Budgetary allocation of Rs 120,794 crore.
The second-largest expenditure has been on rolling stock, with an outlay of around Rs 40,000 crore; followed by Rs 28,000 crore allocated for safety-related initiatives in the current fiscal year. Safety expenditure is already at 82 per cent of the Budgetary allocation of Rs 34,412 crore, the report said. Spending on customer amenities stood at Rs 8,376 crore, at 55 per cent of Budget allocation of Rs 15,315 crore. The 2024-25 Budget adjusted allocations for Indian Railways’ public enterprises and other areas such as train procurement. Despite these adjustments, there has been a continued focus on modernizing Vande Bharat trains, addressing congestion, and enhancing freight movement, particularly in sectors like energy, cement, and port connectivity.
