President of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) Alok B. Shriram has described the Railways Budget 2015-16 as the most ‘pragmatic’.
The Railway focuses on delivering a sustained and measurable improvement in customer experience, capacity expansion of passenger and freight through network expansion and proposed action plan for the next five years, he said.
Five-year action plan is encouraging and Railways will become a prime mover of the Indian economy, going forward, Shriram said.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, he said that the Railway budget rightly expands the capacity of Railways substantially and modernizes infrastructure as it is expected to increase the daily carrying capacity from 21 million to 30 million, increase the track length by 20 per cent from 1,14,000 kms to 1,38,000 kms and increase the annual freight carrying capacity to from 1 billion to 1.5 billion tonnes.
The expanding capacities would enhance the investments and generate employment opportunities in the coming times, Shriram said.
Proposed investment plan in the tune of Rs8,56,020 crore is inspiring as it will facilitate network expansion, network decongestion, safety, research, passenger amenities, high speed rails and elevated corridors and station redevelopment and logistics parks which would be mobilized from multiple sources for funding, he said.
The announcement of 11 major thrust areas would facilitate overall development of the sector as the areas would be focused and each issue would be covered that would rejuvenate growth of the Railways sector, said Shriram.
No hike in Railway Passenger Fares is good as the economy was facing severe inflation during the last many years and will be good respite to the common man, he said.
Allocation for passenger amenities up by 67 per cent indicates that the focus of the Government is to generate state-of-art passenger facilities including making Railways a safer means for travel, installation of hot buttons, coin vending machines for Railway tickets within five minutes, e-catering to select meals from an array of choices, the PHDCCI Chief said.
Further, 24X7 help lines for attending passenger problems, security related complaints and particularly surveillance cameras in suburban coaches for women would make it more lucrative for passengers to travel by trains, Shriram said.