New Delhi: Derailed by populism, much was not expected in the Interim Railway Budget. Perhaps, the budget made news for the unprecedented disruption in the Parliament. Â Â
With the Lok Sabha elections hardly three months away, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge presented the last rail budget of UPA II on Wednesday.
The populist measures this time was limited to new passenger services to Vaishno Devi and Katra. A freight corridor on eastern and western routes, reducing transport timing to half proves not everything is wrong with the Railways. Â Â
Bringing Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya on railway map 2014 gets political mileage. More high-speed trains under way and three rail factories now operational keep the rail budget on track. Â Â
Completing 2207 km of new lines against a target of 2000 km, and electrification of 4,556 km are statistical triumphs.
In the past five years, the Rail Bhavan saw six new ministers. For the first time in 17 years, the portfolio went to the Congress, and Pawan Bansal did end 10 years of populism when he quit on charges of corruption.