Trivedi to present maiden railway budget
Fares unlikely to be raised amid financial health concerns
New Delhi With passenger fares unlikely to be hiked, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi will present his maiden railway budget for 2012-13 today amid concerns over the financial health of the world's second largest network.
A cash-strapped Indian Railways, which runs 10,500 trains and ferries 22 million passengers daily over 64,000km of track, is looking at an earnings shortfall of Rs70 billion (Dh5.15 billion).
Poor financial management has left Indian Railways staring at an earnings shortfall despite gross budgetary support of Rs200 billion last year and a Rs30 billion loan approved by the finance ministry on February 6.
Unprecedented situation
"It is an unprecedented situation," a senior railway official commented on condition of anonymity while describing the financial crisis.
Recently, two expert panels, headed by former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar and prime minister's adviser Sam Pitroda, said the railways would need around Rs9 trillion over the next five years to follow the safety and modernisation road map suggested by them.
No one knows where the money will come from.
Passenger fares have been on a freeze since 2002-03 as Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, a former railway minister, is opposed to hiking fares. In the process, the railways has little money to expand the network. Trivedi is also a Trinamool man.
