Locally made green trains to be rolled out

Under the Amrit Bharat Station’ scheme, the central government plans to redevelop about 1,275 stations across the country

The Centre unveiled plans to locally design and manufacture semi-high speed metro trains and hydrogen-fuelled trains as it announced a record allocation of 2.4 trillion for the railways in the budget.

"This highest ever outlay is about nine times the outlay made in 2013-14," finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. The allocation for the last budget stood at 1.59 trillion.

The hefty increase in allocation for the railways comes with expectations of better returns on investment.

The operating ratio of Indian Railway for FY23 which shows the efficiency of a company's management by comparing the total operating expense with net sales-stood at 98.22. In FY24, this is projected to rise to 98.45. The ratio is a key metric to assess the Indian Railway's financial health as it comes under pressure due to heavier capital expenditure.

The Centre has projected a passenger revenue of 70,000 crore in FY24 for Indian Railways, compared with 64,000 in FY23.

The revenue from freight is expected to rise to 1.79 trillion in the next fiscal from 1.65 trillion in FY23.