The railway minister Suresh Prabhu has presented his first railway budget. The budget differs from previous railway budgets in that it has very few numbers. It also does not take the populist route of announcing hundreds of new trains. It focusses on the vision Prabhu has for Indian Railways. It speaks of consolidation and implementing concrete steps to upgrade the existing infrastructure. Emphasis is given to increasing train speed, track doubling and tripling, gauge conversion and electrification. Trainsets are proposed to be introduced in a few lines on an experimental basis. A trainset is a set of 8-12 coaches with powercars at either end. They are fast in accelerating and breaking and no time is lost in the turnarounds.
Most ideas presented in the budget seem people-friendly, but at least one, namely, increasing the Advance Reservation Period from 60 days to 120 days will not help the public. It is unrealistic in expecting the public to plan 4 months in advance and book tickets. This proposal will be a boon for touts. More significantly, it will pad railways’ coffers since it will get to keep the money for an additional two months.
N.S. Pradeep Kumar and S. Yogendra, Mysore Grahakara Parishat