Railway Budget Gets A Thumbs-up

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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This election year did what the growing public of Mumbai and Delhi demand could not do for the UP- flag off new trains. The last and the interim rail budget of the UPA-II is a complete contrast from its first in 2010-11. In 2010, the Uttar Pradesh did not need to get any new trains, just two that passed through. But the new Rail Budget brings fourteen express trains and six premium trains to UP.

‘Railways successfully met the heavy impact of 6th Pay Commission in full during the period. Total additional payout including arrears from 1st January 2006 has been more than Rs one lakh crore till now. Significantly, unlike other segments of the Government, Railways met the additional expenditure within its own means, from its own earnings. The huge requirement did cause some hardships, but the organization successfully overcame them and emerged stronger,’ said the Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge while introducing the Railway Budget of 2014-15.

Kharge explained that there was a proposal to expand dynamic pricing of tickets in line with the airline industry justifying the further announcement of the launch of 17 new premium trains, 39 express trains and ten passenger trains in the coming year which will be providing rail connectivity to Katra and Vaishnodevi in Jammu and Kashmir, and Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast. Annual Rail Plan has been pegged at Rs 64,305 crore with a budgetary support of Rs 30,223 crore. ‘Increased private participation, as rightly noticed by the government, seems to be the way of future development. The increased efforts towards unlocking the value of railway assets would go a long way in achieving this objective,’ said the Assocham President Rana Kapoor.