The pink book of the Railways explaining the budgetary allocations for 2015-16 brings a bundle of relief as well as disappointment.
Allocations will speed up some of the ongoing projects, but overall infrastructure development will continue to be on slow track.
Some of the crucial new lines, gauge conversion and line doubling projects have got noteworthy allocations. But, some projects, which have been a long pending demand, have received only token allotments.
As far as allocations relating to safety, level crossing inter-locking, roadover and underbridges at level crossings and passenger amenities are concerned, officials say the allocations were closer to expectations for speeding up the ongoing work.
“Projects that got less than Rs 5 crore allocation will not be able to progress and they will have to wait for the next budget, as such meagre allocations only keep the projects alive,” says a railway official.
Allocations for some of the notable projects include Rs 220 crore for doubling and electrification of the 273-km Villuppuram–Dindigul section. Gauge conversion of the 357-km-long stretch of the Quilon–Tirunelveli–Tiruchendur and Tenkasi–Virudhunagar section has got an allocation of Rs. 85.69 crore and for the 85-km stretch of Podanur–Pollachi and Pollachi–Palakkad sections, Rs 100 crore. Tiruvallur – Arakkonam 4 line has been given Rs. 26.83 crore, whereas the island meter gauge section between Madurai and Bodinaickanur has got just Rs. 10 crore for conversion of the 90.41 km stretch. Likewise, the Chennai–Cuddalore via Mahabalipuram new line of 179.28 km has got only Rs 1 crore. The Madurai–Arupukkottai–Tuticorin new line of 143.5 km has got only Rs 1 crore. The Sriperumpudur–Guduvancherry new line has been given Rs 23 crore for the 60-km stretch.
For the work to be undertaken on the Pamban bridge, Rs. 10 crore has been allocated for the Madurai–Rameswaram section, while gauge conversion on the 192-km stretch of Thanjavur–Villupuram has got Rs. 10 crore, while Cuddalore–Salem via Vridhachalam and Tiruchirapalli–Manamadurai has got just Rs. 1 crore. Doubling of the 103-km-long Chengalpattu – Villuppuram has been given Rs. 60 crore.
An allocation that has come as a joke is the Rs. 1,000 allocated for the 91.05-km Erode–Palani new line.