The Railway System in India is among the heaviest and biggest traffic carrying mode in the world. Keeping the backbone of the transport system in India, just in place is therefore called for! The need to keep the Railways in the best of form on one hand and the increasing rate of railway accidents due to lack of advancement in technology will force the Indian Railway Ministry to come up with a well planned Railway Budget for the year 2011. The Railway Budget of 2011-2012 will be place today that is 25th February by the Railway Minister of India, Mamata Banerjee. It is expected that the minister would come up with a public friendly budget, taking care of the common man.
The railways contributes heavily to commodity wise transportation since there is bulk movement on one hand and the freight traffic is attracted in cheaper prices on the other. In comparison to the previous year, the Railway sector has shown an increase of 6.88% therebu generating Rs . 50487.91 crore in 2011
The main areas where the India’s Rail Budget of 2011-2012 is likely to concentrate are:
- Infrastructure
Since infrastructure has been a major criteria and playing a crucial role in the development of the Railway sector in India, so it tops the list of areas to be focused on while sketching out the 2011 Railway Budget for India. Capital goods, Cement, mining, metals and also oil, power and gas would be concentrated upon.
- Services
Since better services ensure better work on the part of manufacturers and industries, the Railway Minister is hence expected to keep in mind the sectors such as financial services, Banking, Insurance, I.T, Media and hotels, Telecoms, Ports, Shipping, Logistics and Retail.
- Manufacturing
The growth and development of almost every industry depends to a large extent on its efficient and good manufacturing unit, and same goes the case with Railways.
Railway Budget 2011-2012: Expectations are on High!
The Aam aadmi of India expects that the Rail Budget 2011 should not come up with increased passenger fairs. Hence it’s unlikely that the Railways would make any major change in the train fairs for passengers. Moreover, we all would hugely want the Railways to avoid any accident. This will surely be a priority area to focus on and the Railway Ministry might very well go for purchasing hi-tech products to ensure the safety of the people.
New trains are expected to be announced by Mamata Banerjee along with several non-stop Duronto Express Trains.
In the budget, you can also find mentions of mega base kitchens to be installed in the metros that would prepare about 50,000 to 1 lakh meals for the train passengers, every day. According to the sources from the new catering policy, the railways might decide to mange this section by itself.
Prior to the Assembly Elections this year in West Bengal, the Rail Minister of India, Mamata Banerjee, might declare several projects for her own state that includes a rail linkage between Howrah and Sealdah stations.
It is being anticipated that Mamata Banerjee would cater to the student class by announcing student special trains owing to the fact that traveling during examinations is made easier, thereby!
It is likely that a multi-mode transport option will be announced between Secunderabad and Hyderabad besides the capacity improvement for the Mumbai suburban railways.
Measures for setting up work on the Rail Freight Corridors are anticipated to be undertaken by the Railway Ministry.
An industrial park, one green toilet manufacturing plant in Nagpur and several coaching complexes in regions such as Majerhat and Haldia, a diesel loco shed for Assam in north east might also figure out in the 2011 Budget.
More number of DMU trains for north-east India and Duronto services from Guwahati to New Delhi and Howrah is expected to be introduced.
For the expansion of the railway network coupled with attracting more investments into the sector, new schemes on the private players might feature in the budget.
Apart from the doubling of railway tracks and gauge conversion, the Rail Budget will surely include proposals on socially desirable projects for the backward regions.
To quote on of the sources:
“An attempt has been made to accommodate demands from every region, including suggestions from many MPs. So there will be something for every state,”.
