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. This was a massive miss, and there is no doubt that Goa will lose out due to the lack of decision making in this regard.
Around 44 new project 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.
