Budget 2023: More Vande Bharat trains expected

Last Budget saw finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman laying out the grand plan of introducing 400 semi-high-speed, next-generation Vande Bharat trains in the next three years. This may go up in Budget 2023.  The Centre is likely to unveil plans for another 400 new Vande Bharat trains and gradually replace all existing high-speed trains, including the Rajdhanis and Shatabdis, to increase the speed on major routes to over 180 kmph.Earlier, in the pre-budget meeting, the Railway Board demanded 25-30 per cent more funds from the Finance Ministry in the budget allocation.

The Indian Railways' gross budget allocation is likely to be increased from Rs 1.4 trillion to Rs 2 trillion as to support future infrastructure investments. The funds are likely to be used for the construction of new lines, gauge change, electrification and better signalling. Apart from this, the Railways also has its focus on building better domestic infrastructure for the manufacture of trains. In this, a plan is also being made to reduce foreign dependence on the wheels of trains.Moreover, plans for new Vande Bharat with a sleeper can also be unveiled in the budget. Vande Bharat currently has only a chair-car seating arrangement, but it may soon have sleeper berths. With this, passengers will get the facility of sleeping while traveling over long distances. Moreover, the manufacturing of more than 100 new Vande Bharat trains can be announced in the budget. Apart from this, the government can also focus on automatic train protection system armor in this budget. In addition to this, the route can be expanded for train protection. Earlier, the Railway Budget used to be presented separately in the country. The budget was presented by the Minister of Railways. The Rail Budget used to be presented before the Union Budget. The merger of the Railway Budget with the General Budget was based on the recommendations of the Committee headed by Shri Bibek Debroy, a member of NITI Aayog. In 2017, the Railway Budget was merged with the Union Budget and the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented it along with the budget.