New Delhi, February 1: Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday presented the Railway Budget 2019 in the Parliament as part of the main Union Budget. In the Railway budget, the government laid out budget estimates, allocations and an annual statement for the Indian Railways. The Rail budget this year focused on high-speed trains, modernisation, the safety of passengers. Goyal said Rs 64000 crores allocated to railways for the year 2019-20. It was the first time that Goyal announced the budget in the absence of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Train 18: Visuals From The Inside of 'Vande Bharat Express'; Watch Video. 

In his budget speech, Goyal said the Indian Railways has gone beyond incremental improvements and all infrastructure sectors have performed well. The Finance Minister further added saying that India is poised to become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the next 5 years and a 10 trillion dollar economy in the next 8 years. Catch LIVE Updates of Budget 2019 Here.

Take a look at the highlights:

  1. Vande Bharat Express will provide speed, service and safety to citizens and will give a boost to Make In India.

  2. Goyal in his address stated that the Railways has been allocated Rs.64,587 crore. Meanwhile, the Railways’ overall capital expenditure programme is of Rs.1,58,658 crore.

  3. Goyal said that today, there is not a single unmanned railway crossing on the broad gauge in India. "All unmanned level crossings on broad gauge network of railways have been completely eliminated", he said.

  4. Goyal said, Train 18, which was christened Vande Bharat Express, indigenously developed semi-high speed will give Indian passengers world-class experience with speed, service and safety.

  5. This major leap in wholly developed technology by our engineers will give an impetus to the Make in India programme and create jobs.

In 2016, the Narendra Modi government decided not to present separate Railway Budget. Suresh Prabhu was the last Railway Minister to present a separate Railway Budget in 2016. Budget 2017 was the first Union Budget in which Railway Budget was presented along with the General Budget.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2019 12:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).