Rail Budget '08 Vs '07: What's new?

Mungeri Lal’s dreams have come true said Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav as he tabled his last Railway Budget in the Parliament today.

Lalu Yadav, in his speech addressed to the Lok Sabha, informed that the railways had a cash surplus of Rs 25000 crore in FY08 with an operating ratio of 76%.

Like all other Budget, this Budget was also pro poor. Sleeper fares were cut by 5 per cent as compared to last year’s reduction of 4 per cent. AC first class saw a cut by 7 per cent, AC- 2Tier class by 4 per cent, AC-3Tier by 2 per cent as against last year's 3 per cent, 2 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

Initiatives for improvement in freight business:

The industry had been wishing for more trains for common man and coach trains working towards more freight corridors. Freight loading revenue for April-December was at Rs 34,700 crore. In his 2007-08 Rail Budget speech, the Railway Minister had targeted the Freight loading which was 557million tonne in 07-08 is expected to be 790 million tonne in 08-09.

The target is 310 million tonnes of additional freight loading in the next 3 years. There will also be Rs 75000 crore in next 7 years to further develop saturated transportation lines.

Facilitating travel:

In the last Budget, the railway minister has emphasised on convenient, comfortable and high capacity new design passenger coaches. This year, he announced the introduction of low maintenance and more comfortable stainless steel coaches from 2010.

All Rajdhani Trains will have new coaches by 2010 whereas Shatabdi trains will have new coaches by 2011. Around Rs 250,000 crore will be invested in next 5 years for passenger facilities.

As against 32 new trains and 8 Garib Raths last year, this year saw an introduction of 53 new passenger trains and 10 new Garib Raths from FY08-09. Lifts & elevators will be provided at 50 big stations for convenience of senior citizens.

Last Budget also saw some facilities for senior citizens like reservation of lower berths exclusively for them. While 60 years and older passengers get 30% discount, female above 60 will get 50% discount.

Initiatives in passenger business:

Looking at growing network of mobile phones, the railways will look at leveraging telecom boom for ticketing and trials for the same has already started. There will be an increase in ticketing counters to 15,000 in 2 years from the current 3,000 now.

The target for ATVM machines has been kept same as last year at 6000 machines in next 2 years. CCTVS and metal detectors will be put up at all stations as against only the sensitive stations. About Rs 4000 crore will be spent on 36000 coaches for green toilets in next 5-year plan.