Rail Budget 2013 Live: Electrification of 1200 km positive says KEC Intl

Railway Minister PK Bansal today announced the Rail Budget for 2013. The main highlight was the passenger fares which were kept unchanged despite railways suffering huge losses.

In the Budget there was mention about electrification of about 1200 kilometers (km). Bansal also spoke about construction work for 1500 km on two corridors to be started by 2014 end. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 Ramesh Chandak, MD, KEC International said there were two positives for them. One is the electrification of 1,200 km. Two, the increased investment on signaling, he added. He further added that overall there is no major capex on the civil construction on the freight corridor and other things, though some investments are coming on the metro side. Chandak was disappointment on the capex front because if that would have come, the overall investment would have increased. The amount of investment which goes in the signalling and electrification is not very large. “We were expecting a lot of investments on the dedicated freight corridor and other railway lines, which were not to our expectations,” he added.