The Hindu Business Line : Saturday, February 25, 2006

Airlines not perturbed by reduced AC rail fares
The domestic aviation industry is not losing sleep over the decision of the Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, to reduce first and second air condition class fares. A cross section of airline officials felt that the availability of low air ... More

Deccan Aviation buys Bell copter
Air Deccan's parent company Deccan Aviation has acquired its tenth helicopter, a Bell 407, to service its charter business. The Air Deccan Managing Director, Capt G.R. Gopinath, told newspersons that its charter service operates ... More

`Low-cost airlines won't be hit'
Air Deccan's Managing Director, Capt G.R. Gopinath, said that reduction in first class train fares will not hit low cost airlines which are trying to wean away train passengers to their airlines. "In some ways I am happy that the ... More

More choppers for Lakshadweep
The Centre has expressed its willingness to provide additional helicopters to the Lakshadweep Administration on the basis of availability, an official spokesman quoted the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, as saying. The ... More

INSIGHT

Pulling its weight for the economy
While the Rail Budget acknowledges that in a competitive market success comes not by raising tariffs, but raising the quality of services and reducing costs, it is silent on how to sustain freight and passenger traffic levels. As a key infrastructure support behemoth, the Railways must set out a long-term road map if it is to help the economy maintain its speed, says RAGHU DAYAL. More

Lalu on a new corridor
Putting cargo haulage at the centre of his Budget, the Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, has proposed a dedicated freight corridors project that will usher in an era of low-cost transport. More

INFRASTRUCTURE

AP plea on CVD relief rejected
The Finance Ministry has not acceded to the request of the Andhra Pradesh Government for exempting customs duty/countervailing duty on the goods imported for the upcoming Hyderabad International Airport project. The State ... More

RAILWAY BUDGET

Steel, iron ore stocks turn active on Rly Budget
Key positives
Freight corridor, new lines, gauge conversion
Keonjhar-Daitari link bodes well for Sesa Goa
Bao Steel (China) hiking of CR price by $45-$48 per tonne More

Low-cost carriers see no impact — Travel sector hails move
The travel industry has welcomed the Railway Budget proposal to bring down fares on AC first and second class to make travel on the higher classes more competitive vis-a-vis travel by low-cost carriers. An official with India Tourism here ... More

Discounts to woo cement sector
New initiatives such as freight discount scheme, loyalty discount scheme and non-peak season incremental freight discount scheme announced in the Railway Budget is expected to woo the cement sector towards opting for the railways ... More

Reclassification: No impact yet
The Railway Budget which left freight rates untouched, will make little difference to the cement industry, but there is a likelihood that the reclassification of commodities for freight could move cement to a higher or lower slab rate, said ... More

Marginal relief to OMCs — Freight reduction on petrol, diesel
Consumers will have little to cheer from the eight per cent reduction in freight tariff on petrol and diesel announced in the Railway Budget 2006-07. However, the State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs), which have been suffering a pinch in ... More

Steel sector sees marginal benefit
The steel industry has, in general, welcomed the Railway budget, but feels that the concessions proposed in tariff rates would only help marginally in improving the bottom lines. However, the stress on improving railway infrastructure would lead ... More

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Gateway Distriparks to invest Rs 200 cr for new facilities
Having received an in-principle approval from the Indian Railways to move container trains, Gateway Distriparks Ltd (GDL) is gearing up to invest Rs 200 crore initially to set up the required facilities. GDL is the sixth private company to get ... More

INTERVIEW

`We are going for aggressive marketing in non-rail related areas'
The Railways plan to market its strengths "aggressively" in non-rail related areas that hold potential income generation for private players so that the type of public-private partnership the Rail Budget 2006-07 lays out could be feasible in ... More

RAILWAYS

Railway Budget — Lalu takes on low-cost airlines, drops AC fares
After managing to stem the increased diversion of freight traffic to road, the Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, has now trained his guns on low-cost airlines. In a bid to prevent the likes of Air Deccan and SpiceJet from weaning away upper ... More

Pipavav to Jaipur route gets ready
Single stack containers can be run at a speed of up to 100 kmph, though in actual practice, lower speeds are used. More

Railways improves freight earnings by Rs 3,000 cr
The real story of the Indian Railways during 2005-06 has been its impressive freight loading performance. As against a targeted Rs 33,480 crore of freight revenues, the Railways has garnered Rs 36,490 crore, as per the revised estimates for the ... More

Railways to pay lesser dividend
Mr Lalu Prasad may have presided over a `historic turnaround' in the financial position of the Indian Railways by generating an unprecedented Rs 11,000 crore of fund balances, against a measly Rs 350 crore in 2001. But this is no cheer for its ... More

IRFC to raise Rs 4,170 cr in 2006-07
After a long time, the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is slated to raise substantial monies from the market. The IRFC willbe mobilising Rs 4,170 crore during 2006-07, as against Rs 3,400 crore in the current fiscal. So far during ... More

e-tickets for all trains — Leviable charges slashed
The Rail Budget has brought good news for Internet-savvy passengers. In a bid to reduce the serpentine queues at the booking counters, the Railways has decided to offer the facility of e-tickets on all mail and express trains, while slashing the ... More

Big rise in iron ore exports seen
Despite all the discussions about curbing iron ore exports and assurance from the Ministry of Steel that this non-renewable natural resource should be preserved for national interest, the Railway Budget presented today projects a more than 13 per ... More

Give private players a chance
One can only hope that the public-private partnership the Ministry hopes to rope in would be secured through "a transparent policy" and reasonable rate of returns to the builders and operators of such facilities. More

Lalu bets on volumes to drive growth
There is a proposal for volume discount scheme for attracting traffic without any suggestion if the scales of additional volumes eligible for discount will be calibrated. More

Railway team to visit US
The Railway Board will be sending a high-level delegation to the US, most probably in the third week of March, to identify the appropriate technology for building wagons suitable for movement on the proposed freight corridors. The delegation ... More

Ports

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