A businesslike Railway Budget

It was refreshing to hear, after almost 30 years, a railway minister present a businesslike, non-populist budget, and not play to the gallery or use railway funds to finance new projects and trains to fulfil a personal political agenda. The earlier ministers had saddled the railways with umpteen rail projects and new trains; most of these projects never took off as they were unviable. What was more unusual was that the entire House listened to railway minister Suresh Prabhu in rapt attention.

Mr Prabhu promised new experiences in customer comfort, several amenities for which he has allocated a 57 per cent increase in expenditure, state-of-the-art stations, and cleanliness — replacing 17,000 toilets with vacuum toilets like the ones on aircraft in six months, and an additional 650 stations with new toilets.

Interestingly, he has suggested satellite railway terminals in major cities that would be a boon to people living in the suburbs. He has also proposed to let people who want unreserved tickets get it in five minutes through their mobile phones, which should eliminate the touts at ticket counters. Passengers will also be informed about train delays and arrivals. The ultimate aim is paperless ticketing. One hopes the people cooperate, particularly in maintaining cleanliness.

Safety was an important feature of the Railway Budget as he proposed surveillance cameras on select mainline trains and in ladies’ compartments. More important is the plan to remove 3,438 level crossings that are a cause of deaths. The budget envisages a greater role for the private sector in areas like operating new stations, railway connectivity and electrification. The PPP contract will be remodelled since earlier efforts were unsuccessful. Projects worth Rs 2,500 crore through the build-own-transfer route will be available.

Overall the minister has presented a budget that could put the railways on the path of reform in governance, as he has promised decentralisation by empowering general managers, a change in the accounting system and strict monitoring. The last is most important if corruption is to be eliminated. As one analyst said, if corruption is eliminated the steel rail lines could be converted to silver; one can imagine the extent of corruption that has sapped the finances of the railways.

The budget envisages an investment of Rs 8.5 lakh crore to expand the network, increase the speed of trains, etc. As the minister, punning on his name, said, he asked “prabhu (god), and since “prabhu” did not reply, he has to do things by himself. One has no doubt that with adequate focus he will succeed.