No new trains likely in Rail Budget, again

Prabhu will focus on financials, ideas

The upcoming Rail Budget may give a miss to the announcement of new trains one more time, in line with the penchant of Union minister Suresh Prabhu to focus on financials and transformative ideas for the railways.

“Even while no new trains were announced in last year’s Rail Budget, scores of new trains have been flagged off during the course of the year. And that is what the railways will stick to again in the upcoming Rail Budget. The announcement of new trains leads to dilution and distraction from the main thrust of the Rail Budget,” sources said.

Incidentally, the Railway Board is flooded with requests from MPs for new trains to connect their constituencies. The MPs, during their interactions with Mr Prabhu and also with Railway Board officials, have submitted a long list of demands for new trains, besides modernisation of railway stations and, in some instances, their inclusion as “adarsh (model)” stations.

“Within the Railway Board, an exercise is being undertaken to identify areas and routes where new trains could be flagged off to cater to the needs of commuters, besides enhancing connectivity for them. Since the last Rail Budget had focused on the augmentation of rail tracks to free congested routes, there is a possibility of introducing new trains. Even if they may not be part of the Rail Budget, we are compiling a list of possible new trains which can be introduced during the course of the next financial year,” sources added.

The cash-strapped railways does not want to miss the opportunity to earn additional revenue and is taking recourse to introducing premium trains with additional features in which passenger fares are kept roughly 15 per cent higher than normal trains. Recently, the railways introduced the Mahamana Express between Varanasi and New Delhi with augmented features in the coaches, but with higher passenger fares.

“In the next financial year, there could be good improvement in freeing up congested tracks due to ongoing work in various parts of the country,” sources added.