On the 4th of October, the Railway Minister Mr Lalu Prasad Jadav forecasted briefly the Indian railway Budget 2008. It is learnt that the fare and additional surcharge will not be increased. The honorable Railway Minister thinks that such benefits have only made possible by the hard work of the railway workers.
The railways have earned a profit of 20,000 crore over the period of 2006 – 07, which goes beyond the expectation level.
It is announced that the Kosi belt network will be expanded and the ongoing broad gage conversion work between Forbesganj to Saharsa and Saharsa to Madhepura will be completed in time. Some express trains will be commenced between Patna and Saharsa.
To combat the loss incurred by the railways every year, despite the above mentioned profit, a model of public-private-partnership would be introduced. According to this model, the railways will occupy the land and the state government and the private sector will run the whole system and control the train frequency. Therefore the railways will no longer need to bother about the maintenance of the railway tracks and can reduce some expenditure.
The Railway Minister has reportedly told that a big amount of money, Rs 25,000 crores, will be spent on restructuring the freight corridor. Therefore, the train speed will increase which will, in turn, help the railways to maintain there train schedules correctly. A passenger train from Kolkata to Dhaka will be started shortly. Mr Prasad also has told that all the meter gage lines across the country will be transformed into broad gage.
Highlights & Major Declarations