Rail Budget 2009-10 – A comparison with Rail Budget 2008-09

( Have tried to do a small comparison between this year's and the last year's Rail budget )

The Railway Budget 2009-10 presented by India’s Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has a lot to offer for the common man. Right from a no increase in passenger and freight tariff, to new trains, proposals for world class stations, improvements in ticketing system, it looks like a popular budget made to please the masses. Nothing wrong with it except one small glitch, it is all on paper. How much will it take for the paper to turn into something concrete, is a question that somehow gets lost in the Budget euphoria.

I had some of my notes on the Budget 2008-09 presented by the then Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and I was not surprised to find that on paper, the two budgets look almost the same. The reservation card for minorities, women etc was played even then. The proposal of world class stations was proposed even a year ago and is again being proposed now. But the proposals have sadly not turned into global stations but have just resulted in more proposals for the same thing. I don’t think the people of Bihar should feel left out because their stations were not included in Mamata’s list of world class stations, it was listed in Laloo’s list of world class stations and nothing seems to have become remotely world class about Patna.

Ticket confirmation via mobiles, sms updates, plans for increase in automated vending machines etc were also a part of proposals last year. So on paper, the current rail budget is mot much different for me than the one presented last year. What shall make a difference is the implementation of these grand schemes. That the Railways have made astronomical profits in Laloo’s regime is well established, documented and audited. But I read an interesting take on Railways from the ex-railway Minister Ram Naik, who has been the Rail Minister in the NDA regime, who says that the Railways are not supposed to be a profit making organization.

I agree with him partly, because Railways as a social vehicle cannot be treated like a profit making corporate driven by maximizing dividends to its shareholders. The Railways should operate efficiently to make good profits but those profits need to be ploughed back to build the railway infrastructure. Just generating profit and publishing it on your balance sheet is not enough, if the stations continue to be filthy, trains lack proper sanitation, railways remain overburdened by the population or the station security continues to be lax. Hence, profit making may be the first step in the right direction but is lost if not followed by actions of improving the rail infrastructure. Let’s give three cheers to the current rail budget hoping that the proposals and schemes will result in actions and not in proposals for next year’s Budget.