Mumbai pins high hopes on rail budget Rly Ministry Is With National Party After Gap Of 16 Yrs. So, Suburban Network Can Expect Fair Deal

Central Railway and Western Railway can expect an improvement in the budget outlay for the 2013-14 financial year compared to the previous one because of a change of guard in the railway ministry. The increase in allocation can help both zonal railways to upgrade passenger amenities in their suburban (Mumbai) as well as non-suburban sector. The rail budget will be presented by minister Pawan Kumar Bansal in Parliament on Tuesday. 

    In 2012-13, CR's allocation was Rs1,925 crore while WR's was Rs1,848 crore. Funds under the metropolitan transport project (MTP) category was Rs487 crore for CR and Rs2.13 crore for WR. CR's share was greater on account of the Seawood-Belapur-Uran track laying project. 
    "With a Congress minister at the helm—and not one from a regional party—we can expect an evenhanded approach as far as fund allocation is concerned. For a long time, the ministry was with regional parties on account of the compulsions of coalition politics, which led to favoritism and investment in non-productive projects," said a railway officer. 
    For example, during 2012-13, Kolkata Metro received Rs4,200 crore, of which "Rs4,103 crore was under the MTP head, which was more than the combined allocation for CR and WR, which carry almost 70 lakh passengers per day through Mumbai's suburban network", the officer said. 
    CR and WR officials hope that railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is more nuanced in sanctioning projects and funds. "Due to inadequate funds, we are not able to improve passenger amenities at a level desired by commuters. If sufficient funds are released, they can be utilized to build additional footbridges and escalators, and install many more coupon validating machines and automatic ticket vending machines at stations," the officer said. 
    Still, expectations are grounded as officials think Mumbai's suburban system may not get much money. 
"Both zonal railways have enough projects in hand to implement. As always, the minister will announce new services and allocate funds for regularitems likes CVMs and ATVMs. 
These, obviously, need money," the officer said. Since the railways is short 
of money, it can use its land and verticle space above stations for commercial exploitation. 
"The Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) has invited consultants for such endeavours at Thane," the officer said. "So, there is hope."