Bisheshwar Mishra / New Delhi
In her maiden budget speech on Friday Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stressed that private sector participation in modernising the Indian Railways was the need of the hour.
Investment by private sector was necessitated by the fact that railways needed Rs 50 lakh crore investment till 2030 to achieve faster development of infrastructure and rolling stock, she said. This could be achieved by way of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in a big way according to her.
Thus passengers using Indian Railways will be able to travel in trains that are manufactured with private sector world-class technology soon. She stressed on how the completion of the much needed project of Dedicated Freight Corridor will help decongest the railway network for faster movement of trains.
Sitharaman also said that Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) will be encouraged for the suburban railway network development. In this context she said that if the investment in the railways in not expedited the execution of the much needed projects will be delayed, which the Modi government could ill afford.
She also said that development of inland waterways will help in reducing pressure on Indian Railways. Railway passengers can look forward to faster, more punctual and most importantly safer trains as the budget on railways focused on safety and modernisation of railway infrastructure.
As India enters the era of semi-high speed train travel with modern world-class train sets, it is important for Indian Railways to speed up the modernisation of its aging infrastructure. And this could be done by adopting the PPP model.
Thus Railways passengers could look forward to faster, more punctual and most importantly safer trains with Railway Budget 2019 focusing on safety and modernisation of railway infrastructure. As India enters the era of semi-high speed train travel with modern world-class train sets, it is important for Indian Railways to upgrade its old and ageing infrastructure. This would enable the modern trains by Indian Railways to attain their speed potential. Indian Railways is also chalking out an ambitious plan to eliminate all manned level crossings in the coming years, with an eye on safety.
The Finance Minister further spoke on India’s transportation and said, “Schemes such as BharatMala, Sagarmala and UDAN are bridging rural urban divide and improving our transport infrastructure.”
Around 657 km of metro rail network has become operational in the country, she added and said, “Comprehensive restructuring of National Highways Programme will be done, to ensure the creation of National Highways Grid of desirable capacity.”
Sitharaman also spoke about road construction and said that all-weather road connectivity provided to more than 97% of eligible and feasible habitations, which has been made possible by a high pace of road construction.