India's new government Tuesday presented its first railway budget, aimed at bringing the bleeding railways back on track through reforms and private sector participation, including foreign direct investment.
Indian Railways Minister Sadananda Gowda presented Prime Minister Narendra Modi government's budget in the Parliament, saying he would administer a "bitter pill that will be like nectar in the end", announcing a number of passenger-centric measures including introduction of high-speed bullet trains.
"Indian Railways is on course to fulfill its long cherished dream. I propose a Bullet train on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai sector," he said.
"Through public-private partnership route, we want to provide foot over-bridges, escalators and lifts across all stations, battery operated cars for senior citizens, and installation of close circuit TVs to ensure clean stations," he added.
He also promised Wi-Fi on trains, better food and easier ticket booking.
Talking about reforms, the railways minister said that the government plans to spend 654.5 billion rupees (10.95 billion U.S. dollars) on railways in the current financial year.
"The government also expects total investment in railways through public-private partnerships to total 60.05 billion rupees in the current financial year that ends in March 2015," he said.
The Minister claimed that he would soon seek the Cabinet's approval for allowing foreign direct investment or FDI in railways, a move that the sector has so far resisted.
He said he aimed to make the railways the biggest freight carrier in the world, but said at present its share of total freight in the country had declined to only 31 percent.
The state-run Indian Railways run over 12,000 trains, criss- crossing the country from north to south, carrying some 23 million passengers daily.
But it's in shambles.
The government had last month announced a 14.2 percent increase in passenger fares and a 6.5 percent raise in freight rates to improve facilities and recover losses.
"We want the railway stations to have better facilities than airports. This is our dream," the prime minister had said.
