Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday presented a unique Budget and a farsighted vision for the transformation of the bleeding national carrier into a tool to change the fortune of the nation. The Railway Budget did not carry any customary announcement about new trains, but it focused on reviving the sick behemoth into a healthy enterprise through policy changes, mobilisation of resources, and use of innovative means. The Budget has provided a slew of measures to help passengers both during the journey and at platforms.
When The Pioneer asked Prabhu to sum up his Budget in one line, he said: “This is the first Rail Budget presented not to please others, but for the Railways.”
Prabhu said enough needs to be done for the existing rail infrastructure by invoking “four goals, five drivers and 11 thrust areas” to end the “vicious cycle” of underinvestment in the Railways. He said railways short-term aim would be to deliver its best financial performance in nine years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the Rail Budget as “futuristic” and “passenger-centric” which touches all aspects of development and lays out a clear roadmap for country’s economic growth.
In his hour-long speech, Prabhu stressed on large resources and strong political will to ensure “re-birth of the railways”. His maiden Budget presentation contained personal references and quotes. The Minister invoked, “Hey Prabhu, ye kaise hogaIJ (Oh God, how can this be doneIJ),” in an obvious pun on his name.
Prabhu did not touch the sensitive passenger fare hike though the Railways is incurring a loss of Rs26, 000 crore on passenger fares, which is cross-subsidised by freight fares. He hiked freight charges by 10 per cent with some rationality depending on the commodity and sectors.
The hiked freight rates on cement, coal, foodgrain and pulses, urea, kerosene and lPG by up to 10 per cent is to garner an additional Rs4,000 crore a year. It may affect the common man directly in terms of increase in power tariffs and construction cost.
Countering the resentment of the MPs over no new trains, Prabhu assured that these would be announced in the ongoing Session itself, pending completion of track renewal work and review of line capacity. “At present, due to over-utilised line capacity and backlog in track renewals, there are speed restrictions which lead to delay in running more number of trains.
The review will be completed soon so that we can announce new trains and increase frequency in this session,” Prabhu said.
He said more berths would be made available with the increase in number of coaches to meet the growing demand for confirmed seats on trains. On some of the passenger amenities, the Budgets announced a new national toll free number 138 and a women helpline 182 and CCTV in ladies coaches. Besides making available tickets within five minutes in unreserved coaches under RsQuick Ticketing’ scheme through vending machines, the Minister has taken extra care for the senior citizens, women, differently-abled by providing them additional berths in every trains.
While his talk about 11 thrust areas is directed at augmenting railway infrastructure, safety and improving passenger amenities, the four goals he desired are sustainable improvement in customer experience; making railways a safer means of travel; expansion of capacity and modernising rail infrastructure and attaining financial sustainability by creating large surpluses for capacity expansion and replace depreciating assets.
The five drivers he mentioned are five-year action plan to transform railways; partnerships with States, PSUs, multilateral agencies and private sector for ensuring financing and last mile connectivity; raising of Rs 8.50 lakh crore over five years; revamping of management practices and setting standards of governance and transparency. “These will help railways increase its rail network to 1.38 lakh kilometers and freight traffic from 1 billion tonnes to 1.5 billion tonnes,” said Prabhu.
The Minister sought the help of MPs to contribute from their MPlADS (Member of Parliament local Area Development Scheme) funds to improve passenger amenities at railway stations.
Prabhu also said he would “pursue with vigour” the special projects like high speed rail (Bullet Train) between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
He said over the next five years, Railways envisages an investment of Rs 8.5 lakh crore for which a broad indicative investment plan has been prepared. Outlining the Budget estimates for 2015-16, the Rail Minister proposed a plan outlay of Rs 1, 00,011 crore, an increase of 52 per cent over revised estimate of 2014-15. Passenger earnings growth has been pegged at 16.7 per cent and earnings target budgeted at Rs 50,175 crore.
Goods earnings is accordingly proposed at Rs 1, 21,423 crore, which includes rationalisation of rates, commodity classification and distance slabs. Other coaching and sundries are projected at Rs 4612 crore and Rs 7318 crore. Gross traffic receipts are estimated at Rs 1,83,578 crore, a growth of 15.3 per cent.