This budget too is another of Mamata Banerjee’s goody goody budget which has not increased the fares for passengers. Also she has proposed reduction in the online booking charges. But the budget totally lacks in terms of growth and vision for the railways, for example what will a country of our size do with an additional track of just 180km.
Now In Detail
Let us now look at the details of the Railway Budget 2011-12 with a perspective towards the individuals of the country. The implication of how the railway budget will affect the common man’s budget being the key.
The Positives First
The fact that the railway passenger fares have not been proposed to be increased is a welcome thing for the common man’s budget. Thus the railways continue to be the lowest cost service to travel across the country.
Decreasing the senior citizens age for ticket discounts from 60 to 58 is another welcome step for the senior people of the country.
The Railway minister has also proposed to reduce the online booking charges. This is a good sign for the future too as currently this is the preferred way to book tickets for most passengers.
There is some relief for suburban travelers of Mumbai and Chennai with the introduction of more services. People in these cities may have lesser sweat waiting for the train and while travelling in the trains.
Providing trolleys at railway station is a welcome measure. But more time has to be spent first on thinking how people could use these trolleys with so many steps to be climbed up and down in almost all the stations in the country without the support of ramps or escalators.
Ex-service men who want to join the Railways may have good time as the budget proposes to appoint 16000 of them during the year.
The Negatives
Some readers may remember that towards the end of last year 2010 the Prime Minister’s office had sent a letter to the Railway Minister asking her to set the vision for the Ministry. Some of the points highlighted were regarding the safety of the system, the upgrading of the tracks (our super fast expresses rate at 110km/hour compared to the fastest trains in China which travel at 350km/hour), and hygiene at stations.
In spite of these prompts, nothing concrete seems to have materialized in the proposed budget. As mentioned earlier the additional length of tracks proposed is a paltry 180kms. Nothing has been mentioned about widening of tracks or (the ever proceeding) conversion of tracks from meter gauge to broad gauge.
The proposed companies to be set up for wagons and bridges could economically be done by augmenting the capacities of the existing factories themselves. By putting up separate plants in different parts of the country the efficiency of the plants are going to be much lower than competing foreign companies.
Also not specific deadlines have been fixed for the thermal power plants and various factories. There is every chance that they will go the way of the drinking water plants that were proposed in the last Budget – exist only in the planning paper.
Travel fares may cost the same for the ‘aam aadmi’ but the overall cost on his budget is going to be higher as the Railways have to compensate for the loss in freight charges for goods. This has already been seen in the transporting of coal by train from our mines in Bihar to Tuticorin costing more than the cost of shipping coal from Australia to India!
Final Roundup
The Railway Budget has proposed to maintain status quo. But this is dangerous in an economy which is growing and needs a lot of additional infrastructure to serve the huge population. A few more budgets in the same line will see the railways inadequate in serving the nation.