The TMC member and ex-railways minister talks to Abantika Ghosh about the railway budget.
What do you think of the Railway Budget?
It wasn’t a budget at all. It was Prabhu ki maya. You’ve left a gap of resource and talked about intent but there is no roadmap for implementation. Even passenger and cargo traffic is down, your operating ratio has increased. Your internal resource is not good enough to even fund trains, forget about depreciation of projects. Who will give money on PPP. Nobody gives money to a sinking ship.
There was a lot of emphasis and increased allocation for cleanliness.
Cleanliness is the obligation and duty of whoever is running whichever system. The very fact that we are talking about it is a matter of shame. The Budget looks like board members were not involved in its making. No experienced board member would give this kind of a Budget.
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What would you say about references to bullet trains?
It is Mungerilal ke haseen sapnay. If you sanction one today, after all survey land acquisition, etc, it will take 10 years to even build the Ahmedabad-Mumbai stretch. The cost at the present date is Rs 300 crore per km; 10 years later it will be 700 crore per km. We are still struggling to ensure safety. It is like somebody has cancer and you talk about cosmetics. It is not achievable in terms of finances.
Do you agree that train sets would be the future of railways?
A regular train coach costs Rs 4 crore, for train set it is Rs 8 crore. It is almost like a bullet train — great idea but not achievable in present conditions. Tracks have to be reinforced, they have to be completely fenced off so that even morning walkers cannot reach the tracks.
Passenger fares have not been hiked.
The way crude prices have dipped, freight rates should have been reduced. On the contrary, they have been increased. Not reducing freight rates is an opportunity lost. At this rate, freight cargo will shift to roads.