Every railway budget has always thrown up questions over time and the logic of many decisions were questioned. This time around, in the 2016 railway budget, questions still linger but overall the budget seems to be quite logical. There has been a conscious decision to spruce up services and beautify stations.
It is here that the logic to give Vasco station a makeover, as part of a programme to beautify locations where pilgrimages are made, seems misplaced. Goa is a state that sees a lot of religious pilgrims, but it would have made more sense to beautify Carambolim or Thivim. Although the central ministry does
look at terminuses and not interim stations, hence the only
two to choose between would have been Vasco and Margao.
The Konkan region has benefitted from the budget but not the
Konkan Railway line that services Goa, despite the many calls
to double the tracks given the gradual increase in the number
of passengers over the years.
Around 44 new projects will be
implemented and there are also
plans to eliminate manned level
crossings by 2020. One great programme
to be announced at this
time, was the joint ventures between
the central ministry and
states to choose areas where development
can happen. The states are
the best judges of what areas need
strengthening, in terms of railway infrastructure. This is where
Goa can hope to benefit.
All throughout India, there will be a flurry of beautification
and modernization of stations. WiFi will be introduced in approximately
400 stations by the end of the next fiscal year.
Over 30,000 bio toilets will be functional by 2017 and there will
also be FM stations broadcasting music over the loudspeakers.
Apart from these frills, there will be major upgradation in
tech, and we might soon see bar coded tickets, scanners and
the sale of tickets through hand terminals. The food and beverage
services will also see an upgrade and it seems that the
government has taken cognisance of the lack of hygiene at
railway stations currently. There will be a massive increase in
the kind of food available. All this means more revenue for the
railways, as vendors and service providers will have to bid to
be a part of these programmes. As with all government projects,
it remains to be seen how good the quality of the these
services will be.
There have been no major overhauls undertaken this budget,
which means that for once there is perhaps a conscious decision
to first take care of the backlog and implement programmes
that have been announced in the past. For years this
has been the case, where every year the government announces
programmes but most of them do not see the light of day.
However, there needs to be serious work to rebuild the
freight services by the railways. There has been a drop of almost
10 percent since the last year and for this to happen to
one of the railways biggest revenue streams should raise alarm
bells. This year, the emphasis is not creating more revenue
streams for the railways to counteract the subsidies given to
absorb fare rises. One hopes that this is not a mere painting
over the cracks but a serious attempt the revamp the services
provided by the railways.
