Indian Railways today does not need world class stations, but expansion of the rail network is needed, particularly in backward regions of Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand etc.
Pointing out that enough importance to development of Indian Railways was not being given by the Central Government, Mr Basudeb Acharia, Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways, said it was high time budgetary support for the Railways climbed up from the current 23 per cent, especially if the issue of bottlenecks hampering growth in earnings has to be tackled.
Speaking at an interactive session on "Indian Railways: Growth strategy for the Indian Economy", organised by the Merchants Chamber of Commerce here on Tuesday, Mr Acharia said the budgetary grants for last year were Rs 4,600 crore, against a dividend paid by the Railways of around Rs 5,000 crore.
The Centre is not spending enough (particularly on rolling stock) on railway infrastructure, which in turn is stunting the development of various regions within the country, he added.
According to him, some Rs 30,000 crore would be needed for completion of 50 per cent of the railway projects.
Suggesting that some three States in the North Eastern region still did not have any rail infrastructure, despite a credit-deposit ratio of 26 per cent (for the whole region), he said expansion of rail network is always linked to the economic prosperity of any region.
Traffic
He said freight income can increase substantially if many of the vital single line sections (like Tatanagar-Barbil section) could be converted into double lines. "As freight traffic is projected to rise in the coming years, single lines too need to get doubled." Additionally, lack of siding facilities, low line capacity etc, he felt, had the potential to hamper movement of iron ore to steel plants on this section.
He sought a proper perspective plan for the Railways, in tandem with the 11th Plan projections, with priority on new line projects in all areas.
Stating that more needs to be done to increase the carrying, both in terms of passenger and freight, he suggested that the system should study the feasibility of carrying non-traditional goods. Railways" traditional bulk traffic today is accounted for by coal (45 per cent), steel, cement, fertilizer, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) and foodgrains. And for this, the Department has to adopt an aggressive marketing strategy, he opined.
Rake allotment
Earlier, in his welcome address, Mr Atul Churiwal, president of MCC, said allotment of railway rakes was an area of major concern. He felt the Railways always give priority to preferred indenters under the Wagon Investment Scheme, programmed traffic scheme etc, while others are put under the 1D category.
Pointing out that the "D" category indenters have to wait indefinitely for allotment of rakes, Mr Churiwal said allotment was now reduced to two days in a week from the earlier five days, and was being further reduced to one day in a week.
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