Budget: Rs 9,000 crore to Northern Railway

The Northern Railway has been allocated Rs 9,000 crore in the railway budget 2018-2019 to modernise its entire signalling system by embracing the world's most advanced technology, officials said today.

For the year 2018-2019, the outlay is Rs 565 crore.

Additional funds will be released each year according to the requirement.

European Train Control System II or ETCS Level II technology is the most modern radio-based signalling system in the world.

Headquartered in New Delhi, the northern zone spans 6,807 kilometre in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and the Union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh.

Rs 398 crore has been earmarked for replacing old mechanical signalling with electronic interlocking at 53 stations in the region.

The Northern Railway has been given Rs 10 crore for providing Wi-Fi at 25 ‘B’ category stations. Rs 154 crore from the Nirbhaya Fund has been earmarked for installing CCTV cameras in 4,038 coaches of premium trains (Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto).

Rs 365 crore has been set aside for video surveillance systems at 1,589 stations in the northern Region.

The zone has also been given Rs Rs 1,900 crore for new lines across its network.