by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Investing, News, Politics
By Arun Kumar Das,
New Delhi : Overriding concern for safety, improvement in passenger amenities and big investment in infrastructure are slated to be the focus for the railways with the Modi government expecting to loosen the purse strings in its last full budget ahead of the 2019 general elections.
There is unlikely to be any fare hike or announcement of new trains. The consolidation of all major initiatives in the last three years will be reflected in the Budget 2018-19 to be rolled out on February 1.
The operating ratio (OR) is slated to be 95 per cent for the next fiscal as against the 96 per cent in the current financial year.
The financial health of the railways is determined by its OR, which indicates how much the railways spend to earn a rupee. An OR of 90 per cent means 90 paisa is being spent to earn 100 paisa.
There will be provisions for manufacturing of electric locomotives at Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) at Varanasi and Diesel Component Works (DCW) at Patiala to cater to the growing demand of electric locos in the coming years.
Since the railways has decided on electrification of the entire rail route and phasing out of diesel locos in a gradual manner, there is a need for manufacturing of electric locos in large numbers.
The railways have registered a growth of 1.4 per cent on passenger bookings and 6.9 per cent in goods loadings till December 2017 as against the previous year.
In a major thrust to modernisation, the budget is likely to earmark Rs 95,000 crore for overall upgradation in the rail infrastructure including signalling automation, replacement of age-old tracks and other assets.
Amid the rising global crude oil prices and dipping of the GST collections, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to do a tightrope walk while presenting the Budget.
Though there are widespread expectations of the middle class for lightening of the tax burdens, the government is likely stick to its fiscal consolidation measures to curb fiscal deficit.
It is learnt that Jaitley will not spell out the every detail of the allocation for the railways but read out only operating parts that focus on major expenditure on various heads, revenue earnings and projected growth in goods and passenger sectors.
The budget is likely to witness an increase in the plan allocation from Rs 1.31 lakh crorre to about Rs 1.46 lakh crore, while the gross budgetary support (GBS) is also expected to be around Rs 65,000 crore against Rs 55,000 crore in 2017-18.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has said time and again not to depend upon the GBS and emphasised the need to generate enough funds from internal resources and the market.
Monetisation of transmission assets, commercial exploitation of surplus land and creation of new avenues for ad revenue are some of the measures being undertaken to maximise earnings.
While borrowing was pegged at Rs 40,000 cr in the last budget, this time it will go up further to fund capacity enhancement plans of the railways.
The railways will make a provision of around Rs 3,000 crore in its budget for 2018-19 to install CCTV systems in all 11,000 trains — including premier and suburban services — and all the 8,500 stations in the Indian rail network.
Though the cross-subsidy for passenger service is more than Rs 30,000 crore a year now, the state-run transporter will still include many initiatives to upgrade amenities at rail premises, including Wi-Fi at all stations, SMS alerts for all trains and revamping of the ticketing website, among others.
Aiming to provide better amenities, there will make a provision for installing about 3,000 escalators and 1,000 lifts at all major urban and suburban stations across the country.
With safety getting top billing, complete automation of the entire signalling system is likely to get the nod among other safety related measures in the forthcoming budget.
The construction of new lines, gauge conversion and doublings besides massive electrification will continue to be part of the infrastructure development plan.
There is also expected to be adequate provision for capacity enhancement of the railways to step up the growth momentum as investment in the sector is crucial to continue the country’s growth trajectory.
With the volatile market at hand and the agri sector requiring special attention, Jaitley’s budget will be closely watched on Thursday.
(Arun Kumar Das is a senior Delhi-based freelance journalist. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
By Arun Kumar Das,
New Delhi : Complete modernisation of Indian Railways’ entire signalling system, including automation, at a whopping cost of Rs 78,000 crore is likely to get the nod among other safety measures in the forthcoming budget.
The Railways, which is likely to get Rs 65,000 crore as gross budgetary support (GBS) this time, an increase of Rs 10,000 crore from the last one, is going ahead full throttle to generate funds from internal resources and also from the market to meet the huge requirement for infrastructure development and safety-enhancement measures.
Though the budget for 2018-19 will reflect an attempt to reduce working expenses in the next fiscal, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is leaving no stone unturned to replace the age-old tracks and upgrade signals as part of the national transporter’s safety requirements.
“The modernised automation of the signalling system aims to enhance safety and speed up train movement in a congested network,” a senior Railway Ministry official said.
Safety and passenger amenities are likely to get top billing in the rail budget — merged with the general budget since the last fiscal — when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presents the budget for 2018-19 on February 1. This will be the government’s last full budget ahead of the 2019 general election.
Replacement of the existing signalling network with a state-of-the-art system, proliferation of electronic interlocking systems, introduction of the European Train Control System Level-2 and mobile train radio communication systems are part of the upgradation agenda of the Railways, which has drawn up a detailed plan to change the system over the next five years.
Investment in the rail sector is crucial to step up the country’s growth momentum.
While the Rashtriya Rail Sanrakshya Kosh of Rs 1 lakh crore, created in the last budget, will continue to roll out Rs 20,000 crore in the next fiscal, the safety-enhancement measures are likely to get a further boost in this budget with the signalling automation move.
Laying of new lines, gauge conversion and doublings, besides massive electrification, will continue to be part of the budget.
The budget will be presented amid rising global crude oil prices and dipping of goods and services tax (GST) collections.
However, the government is likely to stick to its fiscal consolidation agenda and measures to curb the fiscal deficit, even as the middle class expects it to lighten the tax burden.
(Arun Kumar Das is a senior Delhi-based freelance journalist. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
By Arun Kumar Das,
New Delhi : The Indian Railways has circulated a draft Cabinet note to various ministries seeking comments on making significant changes — such as extending the lease period from 45 years to 99 years — in its ambitious station redevelopment programme.
The note has been sent for inter-ministerial comment as the state-run transporter has, apart from the change in the lease period, proposed other crucial changes, including in who can bid for the projects.
In July 2015, the Union Cabinet had approved a proposal to redevelop 400 railway stations using a contract method called the “Swiss Challenge” — with a 45-year lease period.
The Swiss Challenge method is a process of giving contracts where any person with credentials can submit a development proposal to the government. That proposal is placed online and others can submit suggestions to improve and beat that proposal.
An expert committee then accepts the best proposal and the original proposer gets a chance to accept it — if it is an improvement on his proposal.
In case the original proposer is not able to match the more attractive and competing counter-proposal, the project is awarded to the counter-proposal.
However, the scheme did not elicit a good response for a variety of reasons.
Besides, earlier only General Managers (GM) of zonal railways were authorised to undertake the exercise.
The Railways has now proposed widening the scope by extending the lease period to 99 years and, instead of the Swiss Challenge method, it has allowed joint ventures with states, public sector participation, public-private partnership (PPP), and the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) models as well.
In addition to GMs, now other agencies – such as the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd (IRSDC) — have been roped in to carry out the station redevelopment exercise.
“With so many vital changes in the earlier proposal, it is necessary for the Railways to seek fresh Cabinet approval,” a senior Railway Ministry official said.
The comments from the Finance, Urban Development and Law Ministries are essential before making the final Cabinet note.
“With the scope now being expanded, we expect positive response for the project,” the official said.
The redevelopment of station envisages opening of shopping plazas, office complex, hotels, multiplexes and parking lots, among others commercial activities, on rail land and making provisions for improved passenger amenities at stations.
The government aims to use the redeveloped stations as catalysts of economic activity in the surrounding areas.
While the Railways aims to earn about Rs 50,000 crore over next 10 years from commercialisation of rail land near stations, the ambitious project is expected to involve expenditure of over Rs 1 lakh crore — Rs 80,000 crore in commercial exploitation and Rs 35,000 crore in station redevelopment.
(Arun Kumar Das is a senior Delhi-based freelance journalist. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
By Arun Kumar Das,
New Delhi : In its endeavour to provide a safe and secure travel experience to passengers, India Railways is pitching for the procurement of about 12 lakh CCTV cameras to ensure state-of-the-art surveillance systems in all trains and stations across the country.
The Railways will make a provision of around Rs 3,000 crore in its budget for 2018-19 to install CCTV systems in all 11,000 trains — including premier and suburban services — and all the 8,500 stations in the Indian rail network, to provide safety and security at rail premises.
As per the plan, while each coach will have eight CCTV cameras covering the entry gates, aisle and vestibules, all crucial points at stations will have the systems.
Currently, there are about 395 stations and about 50 trains that are equipped with CCTV systems.
“All mail/express and premier trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and local passenger services, will be equipped with the modern surveillance systems in the next two years,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.
Railways is exploring various options to fund the installation of the CCTV surveillance systems — and may even raise resources from the market if needed.
Given the increased number of derailments last year, the Rail Budget this time is slated to give top priority to safety and prevention of accidents — followed by improving passenger amenities to make the journey pleasant.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would roll out the details of provision for strengthening safety mechanism in train operations in his Budget 2018-19.
Elimination of 4,943 unmanned level-crossings, replacement of all old tracks and strengthening of the remaining tracks are among other safety-related proposals that will be highlighted in the budget.
Besides track defects, unmanned level-crossings are among the reasons for a maximum number train accidents.
It has been decided to eliminate all unmanned level crossings by 2020, the official said.
(Arun Kumar Das is a senior Delhi-based freelance journalist. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
By Arun Kumar Das,
New Delhi : Indian Railways is firming up a proposal to develop a railway heritage theme park, a first-of-its-kind in the country, at Rewari, in cooperation with the Union Tourism Ministry and the Haryana government.
The rail theme park, to be developed on the pattern of UK’s Devon Railway Centre, would comprise of narrow gauge toy train, model train stations, railway exhibits and a convention centre to host corporate events.
Similar theme parks exist in other countries, like the Edaville Park in the US and Ferrymead Heritage Park in New Zealand.
The rail theme park will be part of the development of the Madhogarh-Mahendragarh-Narnaul-Rewari heritage route being developed by the Tourism Ministry under the Swadesh Darshan scheme.
“Since the Railways has a heritage steam loco centre at Rewari, the development of a rail theme park on the adjoining land can convert the place into a tourist hotspot,” a senior Railway Ministry official told IANS.
Rewari, being easily accessible from the capital and Gurgaon, can become a major crowd-puller — in the process developing its local economy and promoting tourism, he added.
The Railways has earmarked 8.8 hectares of land adjoining Rewari steam loco centre for the rail theme park.
The Rewari steam loco centre has been recently renovated with many tourist facilities being provided for the purpose.
There is a steam loco simulator where tourist can enjoy the feel of driving a Darjeeling Himalayan Railway steam locomotive, a 3-D virtual reality coach simulator depicting evolution of passenger coaches over time, a toy train, and a garden-scale model train system to educate visitors about various aspects of a train’s operation.
In addition, the Rewari steam centre has an indoor exhibition gallery, a 35-seater projection room to display videos and conduct visitors’ orientation, a century-old dining car and a cafeteria with a souvenir shop.
Besides, it is also on the itinerary of the steam-hauled tourist special train which runs between Delhi Cantonment and Rewari every second Saturday during October-April.
Currently the footfall at the Rewari centre ranges between 250 and 450 a day, primarily comprising domestic and foreign tourists, students and local visitors.
Once the rail heritage theme park under Swadesh Darshan comes up, the place will become a tourist hub, said the official.
The Swadesh Darshan scheme has finalised five circuits — heritage, Ramayana, Buddhist, eco and spiritual — to promote tourism across the country.
The development of the Madhogarh-Mahendragarh-Narnaul-Rewari heritage circuit will be executed by the Tourism Ministry at an estimated cost of Rs 147 crore, including the Haryana government’s share of Rs 48 crore.
“We have written to the Haryana government for including the rail heritage theme park in the heritage circuit under the Swadesh Darshan scheme,” the official said.
(Arun Kumar Das is a senior Delhi-based freelance journalist. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com)
—IANS
