Prabhu swears by passengers, speed and development

Introducing his second railway budget, Suresh Prabhu announced that he would commission 2,800 km of new tracks in the year, and that the railways would invest Rs1.21 lakh crore in 2016-17.

Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu began presenting the rail budget this morning by promising that it would "reflect the aspirations of the people".

With elections due in five states, he is walking the tightrope between populist measures like avoiding fare hikes and the cash-strapped railways' urgent need for finances to fund modernisation and better passenger facilities.

He said his three points of focus were "revenue, norms and structure", and the core objective "to become an engine of economic growth, create employment and improve customer experience at the individual level".

His ministry's plans, Prabhu said, are designed around "Yatri ki garima, Rail ki Gati and Desh ki Pragati (pride of the passenger, speed of the train and development of the country)".

The minster announced that he would commission 2,800 km of new tracks in the next year, and that the railways would invest Rs1.21 lakh crore for 2016-17.

"We have ramped up capital expenditure to remove the huge backlog and provide for future needs ... the rate of capital expenditure has increased," Prabhu said in his speed-read budget speech.

He said the railways had saved Rs8,720 crore in fuel cost like power last year.

The railways faced challenging times, Prabhu noted, and said, "we will exploit new sources of revenue beyond tariff revenue."

This is Prabhu's second railway budget. The 62-year-old chartered accountant was hand-picked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to script a turnaround for the Indian Railways, the world's fourth largest.

"Above all this budget is expressing the vision and leadership of PM Modi," Prabhu said in the obligatory genuflection to the country's PM as he began his speech.

The question being asked before the railway minister began presenting his annual budget was whether he would bite the bullet and raise passenger fares and freight?

Last year, he did not raise fares but made headlines by not announcing a single new train, a departure from the standard practice of rail ministers.