While every railway minister before Mr Bansal has spoken of better amenities and safety, the reality on the tracks did not reflect these promises
While every railway minister before Mr Bansal has spoken of better amenities and safety, the reality on the tracks did not reflect these promises
It is good news for rail passengers, who have been promised better amenities when travelling, better quality food to be assured by third-party auditing of catering facilities, cleaner toilets and linen because of mechanised laundries and safety of passengers, particularly women, both physical and on the tracks.
As a measure of his seriousness, railway minister Pawan Bansal in his Rail Budget on Tuesday outlined eight steps for safe operation of trains and 12 steps to achieve cleanliness-related objectives. For urban folk looking for luxury travel he has introduced one “Anubhuti” coach on all express trains and an AC coach in the Mumbai suburban service. While every railway minister before him has spoken of better amenities and increased safety, the reality on the tracks did not reflect these promises adequately. It is hoped Mr Bansal will lay equal stress on implementation of the goodies he has announced.
There is no doubt that accidents have come down. To bring the toll down further he is eliminating 10,790 level crossings and not adding any new ones.
With an eye on youth, Mr Bansal has introduced, or seeks to introduce, technology from e-ticketing that will process 7,200 tickets per minute, and free wi-fi on trains. This will be a boon to Net-savvy travellers. There will also be SMS alerts for reservation status and, if all this really works, it should make train travel less arduous.
As expected he did not raise passenger fares because he had done so in January, but he did say that the railways was taking a `850-crore hit because of this. His sole source of revenue will come from a hike in freight rates of all commodities, foodgrains and diesel and LPG, and a five per cent fuel adjustment charge. Perhaps it would have been better had the railway minister been as assiduous in laying down steps towards improving the productivity of the railways and increasing efficiency. This would stretch the available funds with the railways for badly needed modernisation and enhancement of tracks. There is no reason or excuse for the railways’ losses increasing while the number of trains also increases.
It is unfortunate that the stock markets gave the Railway Budget the thumbs down with stocks related to the railways being battered. There will be business opportunities as the railway minister is providing for the laying of 500 km of new lines, doubling tracks of 750 km and introducing 26 new passenger trains. But it’s always “dil maange more” as far as the markets are concerned, and this could be just a hiccup.
