RAILWAY BUDGET - WILL IT BE ABLE TO WALK THE TALK?

By Ruma Dubey

All eyes were on the Railway Budget as this was the first major policy announcement made by the Modi Govt. This Budget was to give us an insight into how the Govt thinks, what it aims to do for the people, whether it can successfully straddle commercial, social and economic needs. And the Budget sent out mixed signals.

The new Railway Minister, Sadananda Gowda said all the right things which we all wanted to hear – a Budget with an eye on the improvement of the mighty Indian Railways. Quoting Sanskrit verses, he talked about the ills of not hiking passenger fares and how the Indian Railways is suffering on account of this illogical subsidized rates. He spoke about development, modernization, security and safety, amenities, cleanliness and how the railways can increase its revenues to cover its capex plans. It was shocking to know that a mammoth organization like the Indian Railways, enjoying 100% monopoly just about manages to make profits, with 94 paise on every rupee earned spent on salaries, maintenance and capex. Apart from all this, he also announced a slew of new trains and the much expected first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Revenue frittered away and investment misdirected – that was the theme of the first part of the Railway Budget. There was enough bashing of the previous Govt to make the UPA cringe and get swallowed into the earth – that essentially was the objective achieved in the first part.

The problem here – the Budget said all the possible things we knew we needed and even that which we did not know we needed. Have a look at the highlights of the Budget mentioned below and you will know what we are talking about. But there are soooooo many things proposed that one wonders how all this will be implemented? It is like a complete overhaul of the Indian Railways, so what happens if even 20% of what has been announced today is not achieved in the next 2 years – is there is any sense of accountability or penalties issued for delays? One can monitor progress of ongoing projects online but this does not guarantee accountability. We Indians are great thinkers but what we have always suffered from is successful completion. Hope the Modi Govt will change this perception too.

Another big question – how will all this be funded? Bullet trains are expensive and only Rs.100 crore has been allocated for the diamond quadrilateral. So one wonders is this only a proposition at this juncture?

Also the common thread running through all – PPP participation in almost all facets. Without really privatizing the Indian Railways, it is good that almost all major activities will be done through private sector participation and it is also looking at FDI investment. This is the only way ahead for the railways to improve its services and indeed become an efficient vein of the country, pumping growth. Thus what we can infer is that almost all the money will come from private sector while railway fares will be kept intact. Mr.Govda blamed the UPA for not hiking railway fares but then how different is this Govt – it too followed the same tradition of a slew of announcements, new trains but there is no word on how it plans to increase its revenues to fund these ambitious plans.  So how different was this Budget really different from that announced by the previous Govt?

A quick look at the highlights:

• Budget allocation for cleanliness increased by 40%.
• Recent fare revision will bring in only Rs.8000 crore
• CCTV at major railway stations to monitor cleanliness
• To expand scope of online booking
• To set up food courts at railway stations so that regional cuisine is available across India
• To revamp reservation system into next generation e-ticketing system
• Special packaged trains for pilgrimage, tourist trains; railway connectivity to Chaar Dham
• To privatise and set online timelines for ongoing completion of projects
• Port connectivity to be a priority
• Rs.1785 crore allocated for under and over bridges
• Looking at setting up a Railway University for technical and non-technical courses
• To introduce pre-cooked, ready-to-eat meals
• Propose to restructure Railway Board
• To spend around Rs.40,000 crore on railway tracks
• To offer wi-fi services across all ‘A’ category trains and A1 stations
• First bullet train to be introduced between Mumbai and Ahmedabad
• Diamond quadrilateral network for high-speed trains
• Rs.100 crore allocated for high speed railway network
• Moving towards paperless office of Indian Railways in next five years
• Rs.1780 crore allocation for eliminating unmanned railway crossings
• To modernize logistics operations
• Announces GIS Mapping and digitisation of Railway Land
• PPP participation in parcel activity, making parcel division into major profit center
• To boost fruit, vegetables transport via AC storage spaces and milk transport via special milk tankers
• 5 jansadharan, 5 premium, 6 AC, 27 express, 8 passenger trains, 2 MEMU and 5 DEMU services
• 18 new line surveys, 10 surveys for doubling 3rd and 4th lines and gauge conversion.
• PPP way to set up solar panels on the train roofs
• Increase mechanized laundries in AC coaches
• RO drinking water to be introduced across some lines
• Food feedback via IVR
• Seeks cabinet nod for FDI in Railways except operations