Road, rail ministries log record capex in H1, spend over ₹3.1 lakh crore

The road transport and railway ministries have achieved record capital expenditure (capex) utilisation of 63% and 56.5%, respectively, during the first half of the current financial year, reported The Times of India. The combined spending of both ministries stood at over ₹3.1 lakh crore by the end of September, against a total budgetary allocation of ₹5.2 lakh crore for FY26.

Together, the two ministries account for more than half of the government’s total ₹11.2 lakh crore capex outlay for the year. Officials in the road transport ministry told ToI that this year’s utilisation is the highest ever in the ministry’s history and has exceeded the target set for the first six months.

So far, the ministry has spent around ₹1.7 lakh crore out of the total allocation of ₹2.7 lakh crore, compared to ₹1.4 lakh crore in the same period last year. With better utilisation, officials said there could be room for an increase in allocation during the revised estimates stage, it added.

In the case of the railway ministry, capex spending stood at ₹1.4 lakh crore by the end of September, against the ₹2.5 lakh crore earmarked for the entire fiscal. Officials said the national transporter spent ₹22,286 crore on safety-related works in the past six months, out of the ₹39,456 crore allocated for FY26, covering automatic train protection (KAVACH), track renewals, bridges, level crossings and road overbridges.

The bulk of the railway ministry’s expenditure, officials added, has gone towards capacity augmentation, which includes new lines, doubling, gauge conversion, electrification and metropolitan transport projects.

With inputs from ToI