Same new trains,same old Budget

Rail Budget: New e-ticket portal to take on IRCTC,a new Super AC class,and a Go India card.

If todays Rail Budget was an opportunity for Mamata Banerjee,poll-bound in West Bengal,to sign out of Rail Bhavan on a note of reform and change,she was in no mood to take it. Banerjee played safe and predictable in a largely populist budget which contained few fresh ideas.

As had been anticipated,and for the third time in a row in UPA II,Banerjee did not increase passenger fares and freight rates even though the Railways have been losing over Rs 15,000 crore every year on their passenger business.

Railway Board officials had calculated that a 10 per cent fare hike in some classes could earn the Railways close to Rs 2,000 crore. But when our annual losses are Rs 15,000 crore,Rs 2,000 crore would not have made much of a difference. Instead,we have brought smiles to millions of people for whom trains are the only viable mode of travel, said a senior Board official.

More importantly,no increase in fares will help Banerjee keep her unblemished record if,as her supporters believe,she takes power in Kolkata later this year.

Expectedly,Banerjee announced a slew of new trains 56 Express trains,3 Shatabdis,9 Durontos. In continuation of her previous budget speeches,she announced several factories a bridge factory in Jammu and Kashmir,a state-of-the-art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering at Jammu,a Diesel Locomotive Centre in Manipur,a Centre of Excellence in Software at Darjeeling under the aegis of Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS),Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and New Bongaigaon,and a 700 MW gas-based power plant at Thakurli in Maharashtra.

A major positive is the allocation of funds for capacity-building. Banerjee has proposed to allocate Rs 9,583 crore for 1,300 km of new lines in 2011-12. The Ministry has allocated Rs 5,406 crore for doubling of 867 km of lines,and Rs 2,470 crore for gauge conversion over 1,017 km. Rs 13,820 crore have been kept for purchase of coaches,locomotives and wagons.

While todays Budget appeared to be targeted more towards consolidation rather than venturing into newer territories,Banerjee did announce a couple of new ideas her Ministry is planning to experiment with.

Story continues below this ad

One,the Railways will soon launch a new e-ticketing portal to compete with Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The booking charges on this new portal,which will be run by CRIS,will be less than IRCTCs. While IRCTC charges Rs 20 per ticket for AC classes and Rs 10 for others,the new portal will charge only Rs 10 and Rs 5. Eventually,we hope to completely do away with these charges on e-tickets. Nowhere in the world are passengers charged extra for booking e-tickets, a senior Board official said.

Banerjee also announced a new Super AC class of travel. The new class will provide improved comfort and features and more exclusivity, she said,but gave no details. Railway Board Chairman Vivek Sahai said details are yet to be firmed up.

The Railways will also introduce a Go India pan-India multi-purpose smart card,and an single number all-India security helpline. Details of neither project were available.

Banerjee said that the West Bengal government had not provided land for the coach factory she had announced in Singur. However,several landowners have volunteered to sell their land directly to the Railways, she said. In order to fulfill this commitment,I propose to set up a Metro coach factory on the land purchased from willing sellers…

Story continues below this ad

The Minister also announced the creation of a non-lapseable fund to implement socially desirable projects during the 12th Plan. The scheme will be named Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana,she said.