Dehradun, 3 February : Union Railway Minister, Information and Broadcasting Minister and Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav interacted with the journalists from Uttarakhand and other states in the context of the railway budget through a virtual press conference organized at the Press Information Bureau (PIB Dehradun) on Monday. During this, he expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that this time two lakh 52 thousand crore has been allocated to the Railways in the budget. Mr. Vaishnav has also thanked the Union Finance Minister for this allocation.

Interacting with the journalists, he said that Uttarakhand will also get the benefit of the budget allocation. Addressing the media he informed that Uttarakhand has been allocated Rs 4, 641 crore in the budget for various rail projects in the 2025-26 budget. With this budget, the rail network in Uttarakhand will be strengthened. While giving information about the Central Government's highly ambitious Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail project for the four Dhams, Vaishnav said that 49 percent of the work of this 125 km project has been completed and the total cost of which is ₹ 24, 659 crores. He said that this project is a highly ambitious project of the government. While informing the journalists in the press conference, it was told that 96 percent of the work of the Deoband-Roorkee rail line in the state has also been completed and the total cost of which is ₹ 1,053 crores. This rail line is 27.5 km in length. It was also informed that the 63 kms Kichha-Khatima rail line project will be built at a cost of ₹ 228 crores.

Ongoing rail projects in Uttarakhand-

69 kms of new rail tracks have been laid in Uttarakhand from 2014 to 2025. Also, 303 kms of rail lines have been electrified in the same period. Between 2009-14, this figure was 0. Today every railway line in the state is electrified. At present, work is going on in the state on 03 rail projects (railway tracks) of 216 kms, the cost of which is ₹ 25,941 crore.

Along with this, 11 stations including Dehradun, Haridwar Junction, Harrawala, Kashipur Junction, Kathgodam, Kichha, Kotdwar, Lal Kuan Junction, Ramnagar, Roorkee and Tanakpur are being developed as Amrit stations at a cost of 147 crores.

While giving information about security system KAVCH in the railways it was informed that told Kavach armor system is recommended for 49 route kilometers in the state. Apart from this, 100 rail flyovers and under bridges have been constructed in the state since 2014.

Six lifts, 14 escalators have been constructed at the stations for the passengers and WiFi facility is available for passengers at 31 stations. Apart from this, two Vande Bharat trains are successfully serving in the state.