Railway infra gets next to nothing in Union Budget

KOCHI: Every year, the state looks forward to a favourable budget to bolster its railway infrastructure. But it has repeatedly been let down. This time around too, the state got a poor deal. In Kerala, the 439km long railway falling fully or partly in the state has eight projects estimated at Rs 9,489 crore at different stages – planning, approval or execution. The budget grant for Railways in Kerala is Rs 1,085 crore for the financial year 2022-23.

As per the budget, the Thiruvananthapuram-Kanniyakumari doubling project (86.56 Km) has been allotted Rs 393.50 crore. The doubling of Kuruppanthara – Chingavanam (26.54 Km) stretch has been allotted Rs 50.94 crore while Rs 100.66 crore was kept aside for various railway electrification works.