New Delhi: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee left freight rates and passenger fares untouched, announced steps to improve passenger amenities and upgrade rail infrastructure with help from the private sector, unveiled a raft of initiatives like a dozen non-stop, superfast long-distance trains christened duranto and lavished new services and two new projects on her home state of West Bengal.
Little that helps IR's balance sheet
She did, however, little to stem the rot in Railway finances.
Numbers tucked away in the Railway Budget documents show the efficiency of the Indian Railways will worsen and it will have far less investible surplus in its hands in 2009-10. In fact, these numbers show a sharp deterioration between February, when Lalu Prasad had presented the Interim Railway Budget, and now.
The operating ratio (working expenses as a portion of traffic receipts), Prasad had said, would fall from 88.3 in 2008-09 to 89.9 in 2009-10. Banerjee said it would actually be 92.5.
Banerjee also announced a significantly reduced cash surplus after dividend — which indicate resources available for investment — at Rs 8,722 crore. Prasad had projected the cash surplus at Rs 13,542 crore for the year, down from Rs 14,609 crore in 2008-09.
There was, as expected, incessant banter between Banerjee and Prasad throughout Banerjee’s speech.
