ACCELERATED TRACK RENEWALS ON RAILWAYS
The progress of track
renewals on Indian Railways has increased considerably from 3006
track kilometres in 1999-2000 to 4776 track kilometres in 2002-2003.
During the current
financial year 2003-2004, a total of 1621 track kilometres have
been renewed from April, 2003 to August, 2003. The target for
2003-2004 is 3850 track kilometres.
A non-lapsable
Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF) of Rs. 17,000 crores had been
created in 2001-2002 to wipe out overdue and aged assets of Railways.
An allotment of Rs.6818 crores out of SRSF has been earmarked
for track renewals. Accordingly, overdue assets are to be wiped
out by April 1, 2007.