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Text of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's speech

NEW TRAINS

Sir, throughout the year, I have been receiving volumes of requests from the people at large and also from Hon'ble Members of Parliament who represent them, on starting new trains and increasing frequencies, extensions etc. Sir, you will surely agree that it is very difficult to satisfy everybody. But I do appreciate that in view of our increasing population, these are genuine requirements and hence the expectations. After taking into account the demand, availability of infrastructure, availability of adequate maintenance to ensure safety, impact on freight traffic etc., I am happy to introduce the following new services :-

• New Delhi-Raipur-Bilaspur weekly Rajdhani Express
• New Delhi-Ranchi-Hatia weekly Rajdhani Express
• Bi-weekly express between Gorakhpur and New Delhi.
• Bangalore-Vasco Bi-weekly express.
• Pune-Ernakulam weekly express via Londa and Madgaon.
• Asansol-New Jalpaiguri weekly Express.
• Secunderabad-Dharmavaram Express.
• Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri Bi-weekly Express.
• Jaipur-Ernakulam Weekly Superfast Express.
• Dhanbad-Hatia Intercity Express.
• Howrah-Yashwantpur (Bangalore) Bi-weekly Express.
• Indore-Gandhinagar (Ahmedabad) Express.
• Howrah-Trivandrum-Nagercoil Weekly express.
• Kurla-Bhubaneshwar (Via Sambhalpur) Weekly Express.
• Valsad-Patna Weekly Express serving Surat area.
• Haldia-Asansol Express
• Jodhpur-Chennai Weekly Express.
• Solapur-Pune Intercity Express.
• Jodhpur-Hardwar Link Express
• Palghat-Trivandrum Express.
• Bhubaneshwar-Palasa Intercity Service
• Asansol-Jhajha-Amritsar weekly Express
• Weekly Rajdhani Express to Secunderabad upon completion of New Terminal Works at Hazrat Nizamuddin.
• Rampurhat-Howrah Intercity Express.

I have been receiving a large number of appeals from the people from different parts of the country requesting for augmenting services available to second class travelling passengers on long distance routes. Keeping these in view, I am happy to announce that from the next year, I propose to introduce "Matribhumi" Express trains to be run during peak rush season with only second class and second class sleeper coaches, on the following routes :-

• Delhi-Jammu
• Howrah-Delhi
• Howrah-Dehradun
• Delhi-Barauni via Lucknow
• Hyderabad-Bangaore
• Mumbai-Gorakhpur
• Mumbai-Varanasi

This will be my humble effort to help reduce the difficulties faced by common passengers on long distance routes. Depending on the utilisation of these services, their continuity will also be considered.

Increase in Frequency

• Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express from 2 days to 4 days a week.
• Gorakhpur-Dehradun Express from 2 days to 3 days a week.
• Rajkot-Ernakulam Express from one to 2 days and extension upto Okha.
• Jabalpur-Rajkot Express from 2 days to 4 days by extending Rajkot-Bhopal Express to Jabalpur on 2 days.
• Sealdah-Darbhanga Ganga Sagar Express from 4 days to daily.
• Vishakhapatnam-Bilaspur Express from 4 days to daily and extension upto Korba.
• Secunderabad-Rajkot Express from weekly to 2 days.
• Nizamuddin-Bilaspur Gondwana Express from 3 days to 5 days by extending Nizamuddin Nagpur Express to Bilaspur.
• Indore-Jaipur Express from weekly to 2 days.

Extensions

• Surat-Patna Bi-weekly Express from Patna upto Bhagalpur.
• Pune-Varanasi Express to Darbhanga on 1 day.
• New Delhi Guwahati Rajdhani Bi-weekly express to Dibrugarh Town from one day to two days.
• Chennai-Guwahati Bi-Weekly Express to Dibrugarh Town on one day.
• Jodhpur-Jaipur Intercity Express to Sawai Madhopur
• Guwahati-Lumding Express to Dimapur.
• Kacheguda-Palasa Express to Bhubaneshwar.
• Jodhpur-Jammu Tawi Express to Ahmedabad.
• Howrah - Gorakhpur weekly Express via Barauni, Ballia and Indara to provide a direct service between Ballia and Howrah.

Service introduced / to be introduced on completion of Gauge Conversion / New Lines / Restoration

• Upon completion of Peddapally - Karimnagar New Line, two pairs of passenger services have just been introduced from 14^th February, 2001.
• Following services will be introduced on the recently completed Gandhidham-Bhuj Gauge Conversion.
  • Extension of Mumbai-Gandhidham Kutch Express to Bhuj.
  • Extension of Bareilly - Gandhidham Bi-weekly Express to Bhuj.
  • Extension of Pune-Gandhidham Weekly express to Bhuj.
  • Two pairs of passenger services.
• On the recently restored metre-gauge line between New Mal Junction and Changrabandha, one pair passenger service will be introduced between Siliguri and Changrabandha via New Mal junction.
• One pair of passenger service will be introduced between Eklakhi and Gazol and extended upto Balurghat upon completion of the new line.
• An express train from Howrah to Digha will be introduced on completion of the new line. In the interim period a DMU service will be run on the 16 kilometre completed portion between Tamluk and Bajkul.
• Two pairs of broad gauge service will be introduced upon completion of gauge conversion of Pandharpur-Kurduwadi section.

MEMU / EMU Service

• Kazipet-Dornakal-Vijayawada
• Purulia-Adra
• Bilaspur-Nagpur
• Kanpur-Shikohabad
• Bilaspur-Raigarh.
• Bally-Bandel (2 pairs)

DMU Service

• Kharagpur-Jaleshwar-Bhubaneshwar
• Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur
• Kotkapura-Fazilka
• Samastipur-Darbhanga

NEW LINES

Sir, The House is aware that Railways have a large shelf of new line projects costing about Rs. 20,000 cr, of Gauge Conversion projects costing about Rs.9,100 cr, and of Doubling projects amounting to Rs 3,300 cr which have been duly sanctioned by the Parliament over last five decades and are awaiting completion. After having seen the implementation for last one year, I have reached the conclusion that adding new projects to already sanctioned large shelf of on-going projects will only aggravate the problem. Therefore, I have taken this bold decision of not including any new line project in the next year's budget. I am afraid this may disappoint many of my Hon'ble colleagues here. But, Sir, in the long-term interests of Indian Railways I feel that this has become inescapable.

I further propose that ways and means must be found to expeditiously complete the on-going projects. Sir, that is why, I have decided to increase the investment in new line projects in the next year by as much as 45% in comparison to the revised estimates of the current year. This increase, amounting to Rs.312 cr, will not only facilitate general speeding up of new line implementation, but will also result in completion of the long-pending projects.

On-going new lines, which have either been completed recently or would be completed before March 2001 are:

• Puttaparthi-Penukonda section of Dharmavaram-Penukonda project
• Kashinagar-Kakdweep section of Lakshmikantapur-Namkhana project
• Kapadvanj-Modasa project.
• Eklakhi-Gazol section of Eklakhi-Balurghat project.
• Jaruri-Banspani section of Daitari-Banspani project.
• Bargachia-Munshirhat section of Howrah-Amta project
• Tamluk-Bajkul section of Tamluk-Digha line
• The new lines targeted to be completed in 2001-02 are:
• Gazol -Buniadpur of Eklakhi-Balurghat project
• Dharmavaram-Penukonda, completing the Dharmavaram-Penukonda project.
• Dewas-Maksi new line section.
• Bajkul to Digha of Tamluk-Digha project.

GAUGE CONVERSION

The sections of which gauge conversion has either been completed or would be completed before March, 2001 are:

• Nonera-Seoni section of Guna-Etawah project
• Raxaul-Birganj section
• Gandhidham-Bhuj section

During the year 2001-02, Railways plan to complete the gauge conversion of the following sections:

• Seoni-Bhind
• Amguri-Tuli
• Makum-Dangri
• Laxmanthirtha bridge
• Gooty-Pendakallu
• Dhrangadara- Kuda
• Wankaner-Morbi

DOUBLING

During the current year about 200 km of doubling would be completed, while in the next financial year a target of 300 km has been proposed. Sir, keeping in view the critical need to augment line capacity in certain saturated sections, you will be happy to know that the following new doubling works are being included in the budget.

Sir, it gives me pleasure to inform the House that we have decided to extend the following works as part of some of the on-going projects.

Considering the long standing demand of the people of Murshidabad and the need for development in this area, I am happy to announce that restoration work of Nasipur (Azimganj) - Jiaganj Railway line will be taken up during the year 2001-2002. Separately a survey work for construction of a bridge over Bhagirathi to connect these two will also be undertaken.

Restoration of Teesta Valley narrow gauge line from Sevok to Gillikhola has been a long standing demand of the people of Sikkim and North Bengal. I have also decided to take up the restoration of this important railway line during the year 2001-2002.

Another significant rail link needing urgent restoration is Mogra-Tarakeshwar line. This also has been a long standing demand of the people and accordingly, I have decided to start the work on this restoration in 2001-2002.

Sir, it would be recollected that in the last budget I had announced a new line project for facilitating better connectivity of North Eastern states. This New Moinaguri-Jogighopa line will be routed through Changrabandha to facilitate better communication links with neighbouring states.

SURVEYS

On the basis of requests received from the Hon'ble Members and State Governments, I have decided to take up several surveys during the next financial year. These are:

New Line Surveys

Gauge Conversion Surveys

Doubling Surveys

RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION

In the current year, electrification of 425 route Kilometres is envisaged and the following sections are planned to be completed before March 2001:-

• Sirhind- Nangaldam-Una
• Ranaghat-Gede
• Ranaghat-Bongaon

Some of the important routes to be completed in the next year are:-

• East Coast line from Visakhapatnam to Kharagpur. With this, the entire Calcutta-Chennai route will stand electrified.
• Main line of Eastern Railway, (Sitarampur-Mughalsarai) providing alternative electrified route on Asansol-Mughalsarai section.
• Udhna-Jalgaon section linking two important electrified main trunk routes of Delhi-Mumbai via. Western and Central Railways will be electrified.

Industrial Relations & Staff Amenities

Railways have a large human resource base. There is need to further enhance their skills by using modern tools and techniques of the 21^st century along with modern management concepts. There is a need to maintain a cordial relationship between the workers and the management in a large enterprise like Indian Railways. Industrial Relations over Indian Railways remained peaceful and cordial during the year. The grievance redressal machinery under PNM and JCM schemes functioned satisfactorily at all levels.

Sir, I am happy to announce that I propose to enhance the outlay on staff amenities by as much as 45% over the revised estimates for the current year. Railway staff members are highly committed and hardworking and I am proud of them. I would also take this opportunity to announce that keeping in view acute housing difficulties being faced by our employees, a novel housing scheme called "Own Your Own House" scheme is being devised. Detailed modalities in this regard will be worked out soon.

Sports

Sir, I am happy to inform the House that during the year 2000-01, Indian Railway sportspersons performed creditably both at the National and the International level. Many Railway Athletes participated in the Asian Track and Field Athletic Meet held at Jakarta in August, 2000 and won 9 Medals including 3 Gold and 6 Silver in individual events. Apart from this, four Indian Railway athletes were members of the Gold and one Silver Medal winning relay teams.

Sir, the Members will be happy to know that the policy for recruitment of sportspersons has been revised and substantially liberalised to attract more talents. I am also happy to inform the House that we have decided to form a separate sports cadre at gazzetted level with an objective of providing further promotion to outstanding sports persons.

Sir, I am also happy to inform the House that the allocation for Railways Sports Promotion Board is proposed to be increased to Rs. 3 cr which is 36% higher over the revised estimate for the current year. This will go a long way in promoting sports activities in the Railways.

Reforms and Restructuring

Sir, If I may be permitted to use a Railway metaphor, I would say that the Indian railways are today standing at a junction station. One track takes them to reforms, revival and rejuvenation. The other track will lead them to a nowhere land of crisis and chaos. Sir, we must make the right choice, sooner, rather than later. We have already set in motion various reform measures. Efforts are underway to generate resources through non-traditional sources. We recognise this task is not going to be easy at all and it cannot be done overnight as well. A system which remained largely unchanged during five decades will need some amount of time, continuity and perseverance with the full support of not only the Central Government but the State Governments as well. Sir, we also feel that in any reform exercise, our employees will be our strength. We feel that no reforms can be successful without full involvement of the people. I would like to assure this House that Railways shall not be privatised.

The House is aware that a Railways Expert Group was set up in 1998. The Group has submitted an Interim Executive Summary of its report very recently, which is under examination. The detailed report is awaited.

Sir, we all know that Railways urgently need modernisation. However, we need to select appropriate technology. We also have to find innovative means of funding this process of modernisation. I am happy to inform the House that I have set up an Advisory Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Sam Pitroda for suggesting ways and means of initiating comprehensive modernisation of Indian Railways with the application of appropriate technologies. The Committee will also suggest areas for resource mobilisation in various facets of railway functioning.

International Co-operation

In our continuing efforts to promote international co-operation amongst the neighbouring countries, I am happy to inform the House that the rail link between Petrapole in India and Benapole in Bangladesh has recently been restored and opened for goods traffic. This will pave the way for running of passenger services also.

Budget Speech - Part II

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