Railway Minister Piyush Goyal stated that Railways is looking to invest over INR 9.73 lakh crores* over the next five years which would help create 10 lakhs additional jobs. According to Goyal, he was trying to give the national transporter a ‘new direction’.
As per our Railway minister, during the next five years, the Railways alone will be looking at an investment of upwards of INR 9.73 lakh crores which when translated into jobs, sees lakhs of opportunities being created only through investments in the railway sector.
He also added, “The Railways can play an important role in “aggressively pursuing” government agenda to provide safe, secure, comfortable travel.”
A focus on infrastructure could also help increase local manufacturing, he said.
In 2015, Piyush Goyal’s predecessor Suresh Prabhu had said Railways required investments of INR 8.5 trillion in the next five years and invited overseas investors for the same.
Goyal also stated that his ministry was scrunching the time taken for complete electrification of rail lines to four years from the previous plan of 10 years. This step will help cut costs by around 30 per cent for the loss-making Railways.
This electrification initiative would help save the national transporter around INR 10,000 crore per annum on fuel bill, he said.
*These figures have been converted from USD to INR basis currency conversion of 64.89, as on 30th Oct 2017.
