New Delhi: Staying off the beaten track of hiking passenger fares and announcing a long list of new trains, railway minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, in his maiden Rail Budget, has sought to put the Railways on the turnaround path with a substantial investment in capacity augmentation to make the transport network financially self-reliant, and also kept his focus on improving passenger amenities.
Read: Highlights of Rail Budget 2015
Emerging as an astute financial wizard, Mr Prabhu tried to substantially scale up investments in the Railways by looking for funds outside the government, along with a hike in freight rates of around 10 per cent.
Read: Rail Budget 2015: Railways to hike train speed to reduce travel time between metros
By seeking to add 7,000 km of track length by doubling, tripling and four-lining in 2015-16, Mr Prabhu committed to spend a whopping Rs 8,686 crore to decongest rail lines, that in a short time may allow the Railways to run passenger and goods trains at higher speeds and roll out more trains. Major tracks now clock congestion to the tune of 160 per cent, against an ideal norm of 60 per cent.
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Also, witnessing a series of accidents at unmanned level crossings after assuming charge, Mr Prabhu sought to eliminate 3,438 such “death spots” by building road over-bridges and under-bridges at a cost of Rs 6,581 crore in 2015-16.
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Promising to facilitate a “rebirth” of the Railways by 2019, Mr Prabhu unveiled a “triology” in the Lok Sabha through a white paper (that lists the Railways’ ailments), Rail Budget and Vision Document 2030, which would be released shortly. He committed investment of a whopping Rs 8.56 lakh crore in the Railways during 2015-19.
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“We got a commitment of Rs 20,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore from two financial institutions as long-term loans. Soon we will avail long-term loans from multilateral and bilateral lending agencies. Besides, we will raise capital from cash-rich PSUs through special purpose vehicles (SPVs),” Mr Prabhu said, detailing the means of financial mobilisation.
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The Gross Budgetary Support for the Railways will be Rs 40,000 crore in 2015-16, against Rs 30,100 crore earlier. The 10 per cent freight hike will add another Rs 4,000 crore to the Railways’ kitty.
