The railway minister has steered clear of populist traps and refrained from making grandiose announcements in terms of new trains and new rail routes. He should now emulate China, and rope in Japan in boosting the rail network, says Rajeev Sharma.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has called for speedy implementation of key railway projects, such as the Dedicated Freight Corridor, high-speed rail corridors, rolling stock and other capacity enhancement works.
Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal announced introduction of 19 new train services, extension of three and increase in frequency of five trains acceding to demands of MPs.
Railways to have functional autonomy, bear salary burden
Venting his anguish over disruptions in Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said his heart bleeds over what is happening in the House and it is sad for democracy.
Ad rates on regular days are less than half, media planners said.
The Bhartiya Railway Mal Godam Shramik Sangh said they will resort to disrupting railway services across the country if the government does not heed to their demands.
Passengers travelling in trains will have to pay more from Monday as the hike in reservation fee and superfast charges comes into effect from April 1.
Analysts on Monday gave a mixed reaction to the railway budget, with some terming it as a "non-event" saying there were no radical measures to bridge the revenue deficit in the document, and a few calling it "pragmatic" given the limitations.
As yet another Rail budget is set to be unveiled, Railways has seen several former Ministers like Suresh Kalmadi and Dinesh Trivedi getting derailed after remaining at the helm.
Two months after Dinesh Trivedi was removed as railway minister, his party Trinamool Congress continued to target him for hiking passenger fares and advised his successor Mukul Roy on Thursday to follow the policies of Mamata Banerjee in running the organisation. Trivedi was removed from the railway ministry a few days after he presented the rail budget, in which he hiked passenger fares.
Dinesh Trivedi takes a dig at Mamata over cartoon row
Attacking the prime minister over the removal of Dinesh Trivedi, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said if the former railways minister was sacked due to the increase in fares, the role of the prime minister and finance minister should also be questioned in the whole episode. Trivedi, who had presented the Rail Budget on Wednesday, was replaced by Trinamool Congress with Mukul Roy after party chief Mamata Banerjee opposed the increase in rail fares.
The Trinamool Congress on Monday ruled out expelling Dinesh Trivedi who had to resign after earning the wrath of party chief Mamata Banerjee for raising passenger fares in rail budget.
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi's problems appeared to have compounded on Saturday with members of his party, the Trinamool Congress asking him to vacate his parliamentary seat.
The Congress on Thursday sought to downplay the Dinesh Trivedi episode, saying it is an internal affair of the government and it could not be discussed outside.
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi's remarks after presenting the rail budget make it clear that he knew all along that he was on his way out. Sheela Bhatt reports.
The Union Budget delayed because of elections in five states will now be presented on March 16, four days after Parliament will begin its Budget session.
Struggling to make ends meet, the railways have demanded a doubling of gross budgetary support from the government.
The long and irritating experiences of booking train ticket through IRCTC website seems to be a thing of past now as the Railways on Wednesday launched the next generation e-ticketing system enhancing the booking capacity to 7200 tickets per minute and making the whole process much faster and easier.
Get ready to shell out Rs 5 instead of Rs 3 for entering railway platforms across the country as the increased platform ticket rate will come into effect from Tuesday.
A day after proposing fare hike in the rail budget which has threatened his job, a defiant Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Thursday said he would repeat the same if asked to present the budget again.
While booking tickets was a problem, cancelling those booked tickets and getting refunds were more problematic.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will present the Rail Budget on July 1.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu faces a stiff dilemma on whether to raise fares and freight rates in his second Rail Budget.
With people reposing faith in the UPA and voting for stability, this is the government's chance to fulfill its promises, ensure growth and development of the country, check runaway prices, and offer succour to the aam aadmi.
If the current revenue figures are any indication, Railways could just about miss their target for the present fiscal ahead of the coming Rail Budget.
Railways internal resources generation has been reduced due to various factors, including cost escalation and pay commission load.
Participating in a debate on General Budget, Trinamool member Ratna De said the imposition of 10.5 per cent service on rail freight had 'nullified' the 'inflation neutral Rail Budget presented by our leader Mamata Banerjee.'
If the current revenue figures are any yardstick to go by, Railways could just about miss their target for the present fiscal ahead of the Rail Budget.
The aim is to reduce working expense by about 15 per cent.
The Rail Budget presented by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee in Parliament on Wednesday has received mixed reactions from the commuters in Mumbai.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday welcomed Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's announcement that there was no move to privatise the railway sector.
Inviting private sector for the development of railway infrastructure, the Indian Railways on Wednesday said the ambitious target of laying 1000 km of track per year would be financed through its internal resources.
Opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India, on Wednesday slammed the Rail Budget terming it a mockery while the Congress said the budget is futuristic and reflects the concerns of the 'aam admi'.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar utilised railway minister Mamata Banerjee's Rail Budget on Friday to fire another salvo at her predecessor Lalu Prasad saying the planned white paper on the present financial status of the railways would 'expose' his arch rival. Nitish, a former railway minister himself, said the white paper would unravel the truth behind Lalu's claims that Railways earned huge profits successively during his five-year tenure.
A senior railway official said, "It (white paper) isalmost ready and final touches are being given to it."
Presenting the Rail Budget for 2010-11 in Parliament on Wednesday, Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said that there will be no increase in the passenger fares of any class or category of trains.
"This budget is most directionless budget presented by the Union railway minister Lalu Prasad...it's nothing but jugglery of words," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaj Hussain said. "Railway minister should also present an outcome and performance budget after each railway budget so that people could know which of promises made during his rail budgets were actually implemented," party general secretary Ananth Kumar said.
In his interim Railway Budget for 2009-10, Lalu announced the extension of 2187/2188 Jabalpur-Mumbai-Jabalpur biweekly Garib Rath Express to Allahabad. The trouble, however, is that the Jabalpur-Mumbai-Jabalpur Garib Rath does not exist!
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