Jul. 3, 2009 (The Hindu Business Line) --
R. C. Acharya
Everyone gets a gift: that seems to have been the guiding principle when the Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, presented the Rail Budget on July 3.
Take the spate of new trains. Apart from the usual long list of new additions, her innovative touch was revealed by the brand new concept of turant trains, non-stop services between certain cities.
To scores of Rajdhanis, Shatabdis, Sampark Krantis, Garib Raths, all super-fast trains between major metros, Ms Banerjee has now added her own unique service of a dozen non-stop trains, again between major metros.
Perhaps she has taken a cue from the Chinese, who run the Beijing –Kowloon service non-stop, except for crew changes and other technical halts, completing the over-2,400 km trip in just 24 hours!
Technically feasible, if the track is built for a maximum speed of 130 kmph, and where the train can attain an average of 100 kpmh. Very few other trains run on it, and there is a demand to make it financially justified. With India’s railway tracks already choked to capacity, necessitating the creation of DFCs (dedicated freight corridors), it is highly doubtful if there will be room enough to run these new trains.
Perhaps they will have to wait till the DFCs are built and operational, or the freight trains are made to take a hit or the already dismal record of punctuality plunges to new low!
The Yuva programme plans to provide tickets at Rs 299 for distances up to 500 km, and Rs 399 for up to 1,000 km, primarily aimed at making their mobility affordable, while media-persons get a 50 per cent concession on tickets, as against the 30 per cent they were entitled to till now. They also get to take their spouses with them at the same concession, but only once a year.
Of course, one of the major announcements was the student’s concessions being extended to those studying in madarassas!
A spate of new surveys for projects in West Bengal was also announced, mostly new lines, gauge conversion, and doubling. Ms Banerjee also proposes to extend the eastern corridor of the DFC to Dankuni, where a brand new Dankuni-Majerhat Industrial Complex is proposed to be set up.
The major difference is, however, that it will come up on the Railways’ own surplus land and may not invite any opposition, as was the case in the Singur and Nandigram SEZs.
With the inputs now announced, perhaps one-third of the project funds will be ploughed into West Bengal to show some results by the time the State elections are announced in 2011!
Also included in the package for West Bengal is a brand new coach factory, to be located on surplus Railway land near Kanchrapara, where a locomotive repair workshop of the old East Bengal Railway, and now Eastern Railway, exists.
This unit, which will be in addition to one coming up at Rae Bareili in UP, will manufacture MEMU (Main Line Electric Multiple Unit) coaches.
Furthermore, on the lines of the DMIC (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor) on the DFC’s western arm, the Railway Minister has suggested an industrial corridor for which she is prepared to make available surplus Railway land, especially for setting up cold storage facilities or multi-modal parks, which would generate more freight for the Railways.
After the Singur and Nandigram episodes, Mamata is making doubly sure that her dream projects do not run into acquisition problems, which is why she is offering surplus Railway land, wherever available.
Of course, this means a lot of midnight oil will have to be burnt by the Railway Board mandarins, in particular the Directorate of Railway Land Development!
Workers of the Burns and Braithwaite wagon-building units in West Bengal will undoubtedly cheer Ms Banerjee and are likely overjoyed at being considered for a possible takeover by the Railways. These being suppliers of wagons for the Railways, a takeover does make sense, as was done last year by Mr Lalu Prasad for another unit in Mokamah in Bihar.
This would, however, pose substantial problems in terms of rehabilitation of these sick units. But, then, Ms Banerjee may not be presiding over the Railway Ministry when it comes time to face the music!
