Will Mamta get away with a balancing act?
Railway Budget to be delivered by Union Railways Minister will be interesting as Mamta Banerjee will try to balance political mileage with practical issues confronting the Railways.Railway department has requested Rs 39,600 crore as gross budgetary support in 2011 as compared to the Rs 15,875 rore that it received in the 2010 budget.
Railway department also aims at further expanding and modernizing the railway infrastructure of the country. Railway department has ambitious plans with a target to increase the number of coaches from 3700 in the previous year to 4000 coaches in 2011-12. In the wagon manufacturing segment the department plans to manufacture 18,000 wagons, and as far as locomotives are concerned they are expected to increase by another 5000.
We should also expect the Railway Budget 2011 to give importance to safety and security issues such as improving the signaling system, train protection warning system and installing safety related technology like Anti-collision devices.
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