Comment on Railway Budget.

COMMENT ON RAILWAY BUDGET:

Railway minister Sri Suresh Prabhu submitted his Railway Budget today.

As a representative of one of the vital category of Railway Employees, ie Railway Loco Pilots, All India Loco Running Staff Association South Western Railway Zone, our comments are given below.

​It is welcomed that the Passenger fares are not increasing. But 10 % Hike in freight will​

​ affect the public by rate of hike in essential commodities, as well as freight moving likely shift from Railways to Road which adversely affect the income of Railways. ​

After every Railway budget there will be an announcement of new trains

​, now minister told he will announce the trains later​

. But unfortunately ,without improving the infrastructure and posting additional hands for working these trains.

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Already a huge vacancy is existing in Safety category especially Loco Pilots.
 Minister also declared to run High Speed DRIVER LESS trains within two years.This project will be a white elephant.​ HSR in India is expected to cost around Rs 250 crore per km. Passenger tariffs are expected to be around Rs 8 per km, or Rs 3200 for a 400km ride on one planned high-density line from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. Do these numbers sound feasible to anyone? Even in many other countries Driver less train is a failure.

The investment needed to replace age old tracks, bridges and  Coaches, and not for HSR.

Many committees reports are waiting:

Railway Safety Review Committee Under The Chairmanship of Justice HR Khanna.

High Level Safety Review Committee under the chairman ship of Dr Anil Kakodkar.

High Level Railway Restructuring Committee to Restructure the Railway Board, in Sept 2014.under the chairmanship of Dr.Vivek Dibroy.

Railway Modernisation Committee under chairman ship of Sri Sam Pitroda.

High Power Committee on Hours Of Employment Regulation of Loco Pilots under the chairman ship of Sri DP Tripathy.

Railway Boards directives to General Managers to reduce SPAD (Signal Passing At Danger)

All these committees are submitted their reports to Railway Board.

Unfortunately these reports are biting dust in Railway Board.

The Important proposals in all these reports is

1.   Filling up of vacancies in safety categories especially Loco Pilots.
2.   Limit the working hours to 6 hours for Express trains.
3.   Limit continuous night duties to two
4.   Improve Engine cabin ergonomics, Air conditioning,  Providing Toilet in Cab

But Railway is not giving any importance to these.

Railway is running in profit. But it could not afford huge investment for infrastructure development. Hence the Government of India should invest more in Railways.