Title - DNA special: UPA Express at full throttle

The Congress party’s last railway budget was in 1995 when CK Jaffer Sheriff was the railway minister. Having got the chance to table a railway budget after such a long time, it is prime minister Manmohan Singh who is in the motorman’s seat and a lot of steam is building up not just in the railway ministry but also the PMO. Come February 26, the budget will be on the Congress track, carrying the stamp and authority of the PM.

The prime minister summoned railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal twice last week. Top railway ministry officials, too, are making the rounds of the prime minister’s office (PMO). Sources say that passenger amenities, punctuality, modernisation, and some development cess to achieve these are in the pipeline.

A railway ministry official told DNA, “The PM called the railway minister on Monday and Friday last week along with railway board chairman Vinay Mittal. In between, Mittal was also called for a meeting with the principal secretary to the PM Pulok Chatterjee.”
Sam Pitroda, who was appointed byformer railway minister Dinesh Trivedi to recommend measures for modernisation of the railways, also met Bansal two weeks ago. Interestingly, Pitroda was appointed by Trivedi at the behest of the PMO.

So what actually is the PMO harping upon? According to sources in the railway ministry, the railway budget could spell out plans for modernisation of its rolling stock.
Dynamism in human resource management of the railways and organisational revamp is also being pondered upon. But there’s a catch. A ministry source said, “An additional cess may also be introduced in the upcoming budget for modernisation.”

The budget is also likely to announce the terms and conditions of the proposed rail tariff authority. “The inter-ministerial consultations are going on for setting up of the authority. After that, the cabinet note for the same will be prepared. Passenger fares will then be decided by the authority itself,” said the official.

Passenger amenities and punctuality of the trains is high on the mind of both the PMO and the railway ministry. Sources say a slew of measures on safety, cleanliness, punctuality, catering, and extension of lines is being pondered upon.

“Services such as WiFi connectivity at stations could be in the offing. There are talks about specialised battery operated carriage for the elderly at the stations. Task forces for monitoring cleanliness of stations and catering may also be announced in the upcoming budget,” a source said.

The PMO has also made it clear to the railway ministry that work in a time bound manner on the infrastructure boost aspect, underlining expansion of the railway network, needs to be the most important of them.

More dynamism in channelising the 14 lakh-strong workforce is also being talked about. “There are indeed discussions happening on a computerised database of all the employees and identifying those who can substantially contribute to railway’s upgrade.

The idea of systemic overhaul such as rationalising the department system and expansion of the railway board are being considered,” said a ministry source.

Back channel discourses on railway budget look quite impressive and the government, which did not hesitate bringing reforms such as FDI in multi brand retail, and aviation, is most likely to go ahead full throttle reforming the country’s transport behemoth.