Rail Budget: Trivedi to ensure Railways is 'solid like gold'
“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 today 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, who will present his first Rail Budget today, 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.