Hyderabad, Sep 15 (Agency) The South Central Railway (SCR) has made substantial strides in advancing various development initiatives, utilising more than 54 percent of its capital expenditure (CAPEX) funds during the current financial year, 2023–24, up to August 2023.Comparatively, during the same period in the previous financial year, 2022–23, the utilisation of capital expenditure funds stood at 34 percent, according to a statement released by SCR on Friday. For the fiscal year 2023–24, SCR has been allocated an impressive gross amount of Rs. 15,258 crore as a modified budget grant. Within this allocation, Rs. 15,205 crore has been earmarked for capacity augmentation, safety-related projects, customer amenities, and rolling stock acquisition.
As of August 2023, the capital expenditure incurred for various projects amounts to Rs. 8,286 crore. In contrast, the total capital expenditure during the previous fiscal year, 2022–23, was Rs. 9,056 crore on a net basis. Within the expenditure incurred for development projects in the first five months of the current financial year, Rs. 3,999 crore was allocated for capacity augmentation projects, including the construction of new railway lines, doubling, tripling, quadrupling, electrification, and other traffic facility enhancements.Additionally, Rs. 981 crore was allocated for safety-related projects, such as the construction of road overbridges and underbridges, track renewals, railway bridge projects, and signal and telecom works.
Furthermore, Rs. 131 crore was dedicated to customer and passenger amenity projects, while Rs 2,296 crore was invested in rolling stock and inventory Rs. 879 crore were allocated for other asset expenditures. The South Central Railway has accomplished a record-breaking capital expenditure of more than 54 percent within the first five months of the current financial year, demonstrating meticulous planning to expedite the execution of multiple infrastructure development projects. Arun Kumar Jain, General Manager of SCR, commended the team for their progress in CAPEX utilisation during the initial five months of the current financial year and advised them to continue with their meticulous planning to ensure swift project execution at each stage.