25 Feb 2013, 1717 hrs IST

Business India News: NEW DELHI: Indian railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal held several round of discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister P Chidambaram and the Planning Commission in connection with the Rail Budget. He is also understood have discussed the possibility of fare hike with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

All eyes will be on rail minister tomorrow whether he yields to pressure of hiking passenger fares yet again or looks at other measures to mobilise resources to offset the burden of the recent diesel price hike.

Bansal had on January 22 hiked passenger fares across-the- board after the Railways faced a loss of about Rs 25,000 crore in the passenger segment.

Railways had aimed to mop up an additional revenue of Rs 6,600 crore but the fuel hike had wiped out Rs 3,300 crore, Bansal had said.

However, sources said a section of the Congress is not inclined towards effecting another round of fare hike as general elections are not far away.

Bansal is all set to announce a slew of passenger-friendly measures such as improvement in catering service, maintaining cleanliness at rail premises, introducing Braille stickers in coaches for visually-challenged passengers and development of stations in his maiden Rail Budget.

While there are possibilities of minor tinkering in freight rates despite resistance from the industry due to the slow economy growth, there will be some announcements of freight schemes to attract more loadings in the next fiscal 2013-14.

With Bansal heading Rail Bhavan and the key ministry back with the Congress party after almost one-and-a-half decade, speculation is rife about announcement of 100 new trains including AC double deckers, extension and increase of some popular passenger services.

Though the Congress is opposing the Trinamool government in Bengal, MoS Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury might have his say with likely provisions for new trains including Berhampur- Sealdah passenger, a direct train for New Jalpaiguri from the capital and pantry cars for Bengal-bound trains.

BUDGET 2

While the focus of the Budget is on providing more amenities to rail users,Bansal will initiate certain steps to earn more revenue from the alternative sources such as commercial utilisation of surplus railway land, advertising and other sundry business.

Since high-speed train is the latest buzz in Railway Ministry, there will be a few proposals for it in the Budget.

Aiming to put rescue and restoration work on fast track, the Rail Budget 2013-14 is set to announce procurement of two high-speed self-propelled accident relief trains (SPART).

With a speed of 160 km/hr, the SPART will enable rescue equipment to reach the accident site faster and help speedy rescue and restoration work.

The Ministry is going ahead with the proposal for setting up Rs 1,000 crore MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) coach factory in Rajasthan to cater to the growing demand of faster local and suburban service.

Railways is likely to miss the revenue target of Rs 1.35 lakh crore for the current fiscal as the total earning for the 10 months from April, 2012, to January, 2013, has been Rs 1,01,223 crore, which means it needs to earn Rs 34,000 crore in the next two months to meet the target.

Despite the freight hike in March 2012, Railways is set to miss its freight earning target of Rs 89,339 crore this fiscal as the total goods earnings for the last 10 months from April to January is Rs 70,067.36 crore.

Even the freight loading target of 1,025 million tonnes (MT) is likely to fall short by 15 MT as Railways could transport only 927.90 MT during the last 10 months.

The total passenger earnings for the period of 10 months have been Rs 25,924 crore, whereas the target for the current fiscal is Rs 36,000 crore.

Railways, which had got Rs 24,000 crore as general budgetary support (GBS) in the last budget, sought Rs 38,000 crore from the government. It is likely to get about Rs 28,000 crore as GBS in the Rail Budget 2013-14.

The annual plan size of Railways was slashed down to Rs 52,000 crore from Rs 61,000 crore for the year 2012-13 due to the overall cut in the expenditure. The annual plan size may touch Rs 65,000 crore in the next fiscal.

Government should take steps for speedy implementation of key railway projects such as the dedicated freight corridor, high-speed rail corridors and other capacity enhancement works in order to reduce supply chain costs, industry body CII has said.

Ahead of the presentation of the rail budget on February 26, the chamber said that investments in the rail infrastructure should be on high priority list as they add efficiencies to national competitiveness, reduce transaction and supply chain costs.

CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said the rail budget should focus on the modernisation of signalling and other security systems.

For growth and development of the railways sector, the chamber suggested for improved project implementation, time- bound approvals and more efficient vendor management.

"In the long term, Indian Railways would need to look at heavier, faster and longer trains, plugging gaps in rolling stock supply, modern technologies for safety, better cargo handling, and other issues to improve performance," it said.

It also said that capacity creation in Indian Railways could be fast-tracked through key initiatives to encourage PPP.

Further, increasing revenues by three times to Rs 2.70 lakh crore in the next ten years would be possible "only if private investments are encouraged."

CII asked the government to include logistics players and financial investors in the list of stakeholders for consultations before making any policy.

On taxing and price issues, it recommended periodic changes in freight classifications and charges with prior intimation to industry for greater stability and predictability.

"A system of 'Premier Customers' or users contributing more than Rs 1,000 crore annually could be considered," it added.