An ambitious Rail Budget with an eye on the future

Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi has presented a Rail Budget with an eye focused on the growing needs of a growing economy. Trivedi has laid out an elaborate roadmap for a sector which is so crucial to promoting inclusive growth. This year's budget is essentially a continuation of the previous years' initiatives and is a progressive one keeping in mind the interest of the masses.

The emphasis on enhancing safety measures, modernisation of Indian Railways and capacity augmentation clearly shows that the minister has identified the priority areas and is working towards addressing those keeping in mind the criticality of the sector to the entire economy.

These areas would be key towards his aim of achieving 10 per cent growth per annum for Indian Railways.

I am particularly impressed with the proposed move to modernise 19,000 km of route length that carries 80 per cent of the total rail traffic; this reflects a pragmatic approach in making the best use of the available resources.

Also the proposals to modernise 100 stations through PPP mode under the aegis of the proposed Indian Railways Station Development Corporation and also to set up a Logistics Corporation are steps in the right direction.

In addition, emphasis on housekeeping to enhance hygiene and cleanliness at trains and stations, training needs for disaster management, etc, are steps towards inculcating specialised skills needed in this sector.