Rail stocks climb high as Finance Minister increases spending

Finance Minister announced a record funding of Rs 1.12 lakh crore outlay for railways, out of which, Rs 1.07 lakh crore is for capital expenditure, the highest-ever till now.   

The Indian Railways has prepared National Rail Plan for India. The plan is to create a future-ready railway system by 2030. The western and eastern dedicated freight corridor will be commissioned by June 2022.   

Broad Gauge Route Km (RKM) electrification is expected to reach 46,000 kilometre (RKM) by the end of 2021, which is 72 per cent of the total route. The RKM was 41,548 kms in October 2020. It has increased by 10.17 per cent since then. The government also plans to electrify 100 per cent of the broad-gauge route network by December 2023.   

For passenger convenience and safety, the government has aesthetically designed ‘Vista Dome’. It would further strengthen the safety measures. The government has also announced the launch of Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, which will prevent train collusion due to human error.  

The government has also initiated the launch of Metro Lite and Metro Neo, which will be deployed on the Indian Railway. These two new products will help the government to operate at a much cheaper cost, better convenience & safety. It will be launched in the tier-2 cities and the peripheral area of tier-1 cities. A total of 702 kms of Conventional Metro will be operational with another 116 kms expansion work initiated.   

Finally, the government announced central fiscal funding for Kochi Metro, Chennai Metro, Bengaluru Metro, Nagpur Metro, and Nashik Metro projects. The following railway stocks were trading higher after the announcement: