NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is likely to present a pro-people Budget in Parliament on Friday. He is unlikely to tinker with passenger fares and freight rates and is slated to provide relief to the common man and the business community with his announcements.

The Railway Minister, who will present his third successive budget, is expected to announce the upgradation of 400 Mail/Express trains to Super Fast trains and other schemes, including Frequent Flier. He may also announce some new trains.

Focus will be on innovative schemes, better utilisation of capacity and rolling stocks by cutting down turn-around time and improvement of financial health of the Indian Railways.

Scheme to boost goods traffic

There could also be incentives to attract business and reverse the trend of goods movement from rail to road. Official sources said the Railway Minister would announce measures to enhance the safety of rail passengers and railway property.

Credited with a "turn-around" of the Railway's finances, with cash reserves shooting upto Rs. 11,000 crore this year after plummeting to Rs. 350 crore in 2001, Mr. Prasad has been maintaining that not only will the Capital Fund, non-operational for the past eight years, be revived but Rs. 3,500 crore dividend would also be paid.

Sources said freight rates, which were earlier reduced by 20 per cent, might further go down by another 20 per cent. "Not only have operation costs have come down by 20 per cent, despite the hike in Rs. 12 per litre for diesel and the Rs. 3,000 crore burden on Railways on account of salary and pensions, our costs have reduced by 20 per cent as well," a source claimed. "We will pass on this benefit to consumers," he said. Referring to the upgradation scheme of "Sleeper to 3rd AC to 2nd AC to 1st AC," Ministry sources said the scheme would be helpful to over 500 waitlisted passengers in over 650 trains. "The occupancy rate for First AC compartment is 47 per cent, 62 per cent for 2 tier AC, 78 per cent for 3 tier AC and 106 to 112 per cent for the sleeper class. If the additional demand of 12 per cent occupancy for sleeper class is upgraded, it will fetch the Indian Railways Rs. 3,000 crore," a source in the Ministry said.

Budget 2006-07 may also see the implementation of the Passenger Profile Management Scheme, under which a bogie can be added or detached from trains depending upon passenger traffic. The Minister may also announce the Frequent Traveller Scheme which will facilitate frequent Railway passengers to get bonus points for travel.

The launch of the ambitious Rs. 60,000 crore "Dedicated Freight Corridor Project" would be one of the main highlights of the 2006-07 Railway Budget. The Corridor, conceptualised along the Golden Quadrilateral project, is expected to connect the four metros and major ports of the country. Work on the other sections __ Kolkata-Mumbai, Kolkata-Chennai, Chennai-Mumbai and Delhi-Chennai __ was planned in the second phase.

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