New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS): Indian Railways received a major boost from the Union Budget 2023-24 being presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on Wednesday.

The Finance Minister in her Budget speech announced that Indian Railways will get a capital outlay of Rs 2.40 lakh crore, the highest ever till date, which will help roll out major projects, including new Vande Bharat trains, electrification of railway lines and others.

The Railways is likely to roll out 75 Vende Bharat trains by August 2023.

As per the Economic Survey 2022-23 released on Tuesday, Indian Railways has witnessed impressive growth in capital expenditure (capex) on infrastructure.

As per the Survey, capital expenditure on infrastructure has received a tremendous boost since 2014. It has seen a continuous increase in the last four years with capex (Budget Estimates) of Rs 2.5 lakh crore in FY23, up by around 29 per cent compared to the previous year.

During the current financial year (till December 12, 2022), Indian Railways has already completed 2022 track kilometres (TKM), which includes 109 TKM of new line, 102 TKM of gauge conversion and 1,811 TKM of multi-tracking projects.