Hey Prabhu, help him

There is a lot that is right with Suresh Prabhu’s vision to “transform” the Railways but his maiden budget gets a few things wrong. Ordinary travellers may feel happy that rail fares have not been raised but people may now get costlier urea, coal, iron and steel. The freight rates on these items have been hiked. This is contrary to the advice of experts who want fares, and not freight rates, to be raised because it is less polluting to transport goods through trains than by trucks on already congested roads.  

Prabhu has promised what people want — cleaner trains, use of technology to check accidents, surveillance cameras for women's safety, bullet-like trains on existing tracks, rail ticket booking in five minutes, wi-fi service, water-vending machines, phone charging facilities and wheel chairs. All this is fine and doable, given the 67 per cent hike in the fund allocation for passenger amenities. Since the fiscal health of the Railways is anything but rosy — it is not run as a business for profit but to provide cheap travel to ordinary people — it is unable to generate its own resources for capacity expansion and faster trains. It depends heavily on the Union Government whose finances too are tight despite the bonanza from cheaper oil. 

Prabhu says the Railways will spend Rs 8.5 lakh crore over the next five years to achieve his vision. Where will the money come from? The PPP model has not delivered, corporates are debt-ridden and struggling to show profit, banks are saddled with bad loans. An otherwise confident minister is unsteady here: will raise funds through market borrowings, use infrastructure and pension funds, monetise railway assets. Unlike some of his predecessors, Prabhu has not used the Railways to nurture his constituency or state. He has not announced a single new train. Given his reputation for honesty and efficiency, and the support he has of the Prime Minister who himself is keen on turning around the Railways, one would like to believe that the change he is planning may actually happen.