The Railways are unlikely to carry out any major changes in passenger fares in the Rail Budget for the eighth year in succession, even as more than 100 new trains could be announced, including a dozen non-stop Durontos.
The Rail Budget 2011-12, to be presented in Lok Sabha tomorrow, could also find mention of mega base kitchens in the metros preparing 50,000 to 1 lakh meals a day for train passengers. This would be managed by the Railways itself as per the new catering policy, sources said.
The Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, facing Assembly elections in West Bengal in two months, could also announce a slew of projects for her state, including a rail link connecting the busy Howrah and Sealdah stations running through the densely populated central districts of Kolkata.
Catering to the student community, she could also announce running of student special trains keeping in mind the travel requirement during examinations and trains with only bookings under Tatkal scheme.
A multi-mode transport system between Hyderabad and Secunderabad is likely to find a mention in the budget along with capacity enhancement of the Mumbai suburban rail system.
Ms Banerjee could also announce measures to step up work on the dedicated Rail Freight Corridors project which is lagging behind schedule, while the national transporter would continue to maintain the dynamic pricing policy in freight.
The Finance Ministry is likely to grant Rs 20,000 crore as gross budgetary support though the Railways had sought about Rs 39,000 crore from the Centre, the sources said.
As a last ditch effort, Ms Banerjee has reached out to the Planning Commission for approval of many of her pet projects even as the former is understood to be hesitant in accepting most of them.
The Budget comes at a time when the Railways are facing financial crunch with its operating ratio inching close to 100 level mark. “So there will be a few measures for generation of more internal resources,” they said.
A new industrial park, a green toilet manufacturing plant in Nagpur and new coaching complexes at places such as Haldia and Majerhat could also figure in the Budget.
More DMU trains are also likely in the Budget for the North-East as the Railways propose to introduce new Duronto services from Guwahati to New Delhi and Howrah.