New Delhi:
Revamping the Railways is among the top priorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who sold tea to train passengers as a schoolboy and has vowed to build a vast network of high-speed trains as his signature infrastructure project. His Rail Minister Sadananda Gowda presented the new government's first rail budget today.
Here are some facts about India's Railways and its budgets:
The tradition of presenting a separate Railway Budget started in 1924 during the British era, when the network was the country's largest industrial asset. Currently, the government unveils the railway budget days ahead of its annual federal budget.(Rail Budget Highlights)
With 1.3 million employees, Indian Railways is among the world's largest employers. It has added about 260,000 staff in the past five years.
Lack of timely reforms and investment have hurt growth in the Railways. Experts say the Railways need 20 lakh crore rupees of investment by 2020.
In his budget, Mr Gowda stressed on private sector participation; to date, there has been little of that. For the five years ended April 2012, when there was a 96,000 crore rupee investment target, public-private partnerships accounted for only four percent of the total.
(Watch Railway Minister's Full Speech)
Growth in the route network has been slow. There were 53,996 kilometers of routes in 1947 when India became independent, and rail tracks now cover 65,000 kilometres. That's an addition of around 11,000 kilometres in 67 years, or 164 kilometres annually. (Full text of Rail Ms Speech)
India has the world's fourth-longest route network after the United States, Russia and China. In 1980, however, India had more route coverage than China, before rapid modernization in China changed the picture. Mr Gowda said today, "Having achieved the distinction of entering the select club of railways of China, Russia and USA in carrying more than one billion tons of freight, we now target to become the largest freight carrier in the world." (Budget-o-Meter: Rate Modi Government's First Rail Budget )
India added 1,750 km in railway tracks between 2006 and 2011, according to a report from consulting firm EY. In comparison, China added 14,000 km during the same period, the firm said.
Passenger fares are highly subsidized for the 23 million Indians that travel daily by rail. (Rail Budget 2014: What's In it For You?)
The Railways handled most of the country's cargo in 1950 but now account for only about one-third because of the congested network and slow train speeds.
Reform of the Railways has long proven politically sensitive. Successive governments have backed away from modernization, preferring instead to use the system to provide cheap transport for voters, and jobs for 1.3 million people. The decision to push private investment signals the appetite Mr Modi's new government has for taking tough and unpopular decisions he has said are needed to revive the economy. (Railway Budget 2014: FDI Proposed in Rail Infrastructure )
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