New Delhi, Feb. 24: Politics seemed to prevail over sound economics as railway minister Mamata Banerjee took to the stage once again on Wednesday to present her second railway budget in the last seven months.

The goodies doled out to the Trinamul Congress leader’s home state came as no surprise given Ms Banerjee’s determination to dislodge the Marxists from power in next year’s Assembly election in West Bengal.

With no increase in passenger fares for the seventh year running and no revision in freight rates either this year, the Railways will need to raise resources from other avenues. Apart from looking for private sector investment, the Railways will also look for additional market borrowings of Rs 350 crores, it was indicated in the railway budget.

Railway finances should be a cause for concern given that its profits have fallen by 93 per cent in 2009-10 as compared to 2007-08. It is noteworthy, though, that the Railways hope that earnings from passenger traffic will increase by 10 per cent in the next fiscal year.

On Monday, there was a sense of deja vu given that the July 2009 budget too was West Bengal-centric. With Assembly polls little more than a year away in that state, any hike in passenger fares or freight rates would be a politically unwise move for Ms Banerjee. The minister, therefore, told the Lok Sabha that she did not "propose any increase in the passenger fares of any class or category of trains".

She also informed the House that she did not intend to increase freight rates either. Indeed, in the case of freight, she announced a reduction of Rs 10 per wagon on the carriage of foodgrain and kerosene. Ms Banerjee also announced that those buying rail e-tickets would have to pay lower service charges — the maximum limit would be Rs 10 for those travelling by sleeper class and Rs 20 for those travelling by AC class.

But if populism took precedence over commercial viability, Ms Banerjee had an explanation for this. As she stated in the opening paragraphs itself of her two-hour-long presentation, one consideration that came into her mind while proposing projects was that of "social responsibility".

Along with this came Ms Banerjee’s active wooing of the private sector yet again to initiate railway projects in the PPP mode and the announcement that a special task force would be set up to set up "to clear proposals for investments within 100 days". However, she was also quick to clarify that there would be no privatisation of the Railways.

With Ms Banerjee failing to get the desired money from finance minister Pranab Mukherjee for many last-minute railway projects, the minister asked, "Should commercial viability be the only criterion to judge this need for connectivity?" — going on to make a pitch for "socially desirable rail connectivity proposals".

In an unprecedented move, the railway minister also announced plans to build 1,000 route km of rail track in the next fiscal at a cost of Rs 4,411 crores. The plan to build so much in just one year is clearly ambitious given that in the past six decades, the Railways, on an average, managed to construct only about 180 route km annually.

The railway budget also had a slew of measures clearly targeting different segments of voters. So Ms Banerjee reached out to the country’s large population of ex-servicemen by announcing that they would be hired to work for the Railway Protection Force (RPF). She announced the setting up of over 400 hospitals and diagnostic centres on railway land, with many of these expectedly planned in cities and towns in West Bengal.

Unsparing in her efforts to woo the West Bengal voter, she also announced the setting of at least two museums in memory of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, whose 150th birth anniversary celebrations are currently on, and also to run a train to be called the Sanskriti Express to promote Gurudev’s legacy.

In order to woo the considerable Muslim population of West Bengal, Ms Banerjee announced that Ballygunge station in Kollata would be named after the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. The Chandni Chowk Metro station in Kolkata would be renamed after Tipu Sultan.

Harking back to her party’s agitation against land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram, Ms Banerjee also announced that the Railways would henceforth provide employment to one family member if land was acquired from them for a railway project.

She reached out to women voters too, announcing that 21 ladies special "Matribhoomi" trains would be introduced in major metros like Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai. In addition, there would be three "Karmabhoomi" trains for the common man, which would have unreserved coaches. Ms Banerjee also announced the Janmabhoomi train, meant for "men in uniform", and provide connectivity among different cities in the western sector.

Cancer patients can henceforth travel for free in sleeper and AC class, while technicians working with the regional film industry would be entitled to a 75 per cent concession while travelling in second sleeper and 50 per cent in higher classes when travelling on work.

Yet another train service announced by the minister is the "Bharat Tirth" train connecting popular sites in the country ranging from the "Himalayas to Kanyakumari, from Dwarka to Vindhya Parbat, Ajmer Sharif to Gangasagar and Madurai to Patna Sahib". Sixteen such trains would be started, of which at least five would begin and end their journeys in Howrah, West Bengal.

The minister announced the launch of 52 long-distance trains, 28 passenger trains, increase in the frequency of a dozen trains and extension of 21 other trains. She announced 10 more Durontos — a non-stop point-to-point service launched after the July 2008 budget, of which four will run during the day.

Continuing with the Railways’ efforts to provide improved passenger amenities, Ms Banerjee announced a hike in allocations — from Rs 923 crores in 2009-10 to Rs 1,302 crores, apart from constructing another 93 multi-functional complexes, 94 Adarsh stations and conversion of 10 stations to world-class status.

The minister said cheaper drinking water will be provided at railway stations. To this end, she said the Railways will set up six Rail Neer plants to manufacture drinking water bottles. Also, "modern trolleys" would be made available at railway stations for senior citizens and women.

Parul Chandra