Dinesh Trivedi set to present Railway Budget 2012-13
“The headline inflation numbers for February have come higher-than-expected. Expect the RBI to cut key rates by 1 per cent," said Indranil Pan, chief economist, Kotak Mahindra Bank .
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi will present his first Rail Budget today.
Sources say the railways could impose a safety cess, but will not call it a fare hike. Fewer new trains may be announced this year. Emphasis is likely to be on modernisation, infrastructural overhaul and a dedicated freight corridor.
Ahead of the Budget, Trivedi said that he wants to make sure that railway is solid like gold.
"I think the budget is going to be very good… for the common man and everybody. Railway is a very important infrastructure. Without railways growth India’s GDP cannot grow," Trivedi said ahead of presenting the Rail Budget today.
Trivedi faces daunting challenges to revive the second largest railway network in the world under a single management.
Passenger fares have not been hiked for nine year in a row and the Railways cross-subsidises passenger fares with higher freight charges. The Railways operating ratio (the amount of money spent for every rupee earned) has been rising to alarming levels. It rose from 76% in 2008-09 to 92% in 2010-11.
Trivedi is not only a trained pilot but also an articulate, suave and widely travelled politician who has, for long, been Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's point man in New Delhi.
The seven north-eastern states, which hold the key for Trinamool Congress to emerge as a national party, could be bestowed with a slew of new rail projects in the upcoming Rail Budget. Last year, the then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced measures to connect the seven capitals of N-E region to the rail network, on which Trivedi is expected to propose steps to expedite the mission.