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Roundup: India unveils new budget to rejuvenate rail network

Xinhua, February 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Indian government Thursday unveiled its railway budget for the financial year 2016-2017, promising that it would "reflect the aspirations of the people" and aim at restructuring and rejuvenating the world's fourth largest rail network.

Presenting the budget in the parliament, Indian Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said his three focuses were "revenue, norms and structure" and the core objective was "to become an engine of economic growth, create employment and improve customer experience at the individual level."

"My Ministry's plans are designed around pride of passenger, speed of the train and development of the country," said the 62-year-old minister, who left the heavily-subsidized passenger fares unchanged.

Outlining three pillars of strategy - raising new revenues, raising productivity and efficiency and revamping the processes - Prabhu spelled out three new trains - Humsafar, Tejas and Uday Express. Tejas will have an operating speed of 130 kmph and world-class on-board facilities.

"India's first rail auto hub to come up in Chennai. We will also introduce overnight double-decker trains on business travel routes. Fully unreserved superfast trains are also to be introduced on dense traffic routes," he said.

Explaining his plans about connecting the northeastern India, the minister said the region, especially Mizoram and Manipur, will be connected through broad gauge soon.

"We will commission 2,800 km of new tracks in next year," he said.

Talking about passenger facilities and safety, the minister said mobile phone SMS facility would be provided so that commuters can request the cleaning of coaches and closed-circuit TV cameras would be installed at all tatkal (immediate) ticket counters.

"The Railways will re-develop at least 400 stations and will also introduce free Wi-Fi services in 100 new stations this year," said the 62-year-old minister, who is a chartered accountant hand-picked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to script a turnaround for the cash-strapped Indian Railways.

The state-run railways operate more than 12,000 trains, carrying 23 million passengers daily. But decades of neglect, low investment and subsidized fares have left the network in a shambles. Experts say this year's budget aims at rejuvenating the ailing railways. Endit