In the Interim Budget 2024, the Modi government had allocated a record Rs 2,52,000 crore for capital expenditure for Indian Railways in FY 2024-25.Experts believe that a record capex push for railways is a foregone conclusion, but what’s of paramount importance is the projects on which this capital expenditure is made.
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Railway Budget 2024 focus: Safety, safety, safety
All experts unanimously agree that the capital expenditure allocation for Indian Railways should focus on augmenting safety on the network, especially implementation of the Kavach anti-collision system.
Sudhanshu Mani, the creator of Train 18 or Vande Bharat says, “Most importantly, there is a need to provide a fillip to safety, with faster implementation of Kavach and use of artificial intelligence for safety audits.”
G Raghuram, Professor Emeritus at Gujarat Maritime University, and a railway expert tells TOI, “The budget 2024-25 for the railway sector needs to give a high priority for safety, followed by capacity augmentation.”
“Be it Kavach, maintenance of rolling stock, tracks and signals, training of key operating manpower, use of data analytics and studies to identify contexts that are vulnerable to safety, black boxes and camera installations in trains, quicker response equipment for post accident support,” he elaborates.
Manish Sharma, Partner and Leader, Infrastructure, Transport and Logistics, PwC India is of the view that the increased capex and its accelerated implementation will be needed for upgradation of safety measures such as Kavach and advanced signalling, and the budget should have a special allocation for this pressing need.
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Railway Budget 2024: Improving passenger experience, speed of trains
Moving beyond the introduction of the Vande Bharat class of trains, railway experts advocate focus on non air-conditioned passenger travel.
Shri Prakash, Retired Railway Board Member says that apart from the Vande Bharat type trains that serve a particular market niche, the government should make massive investments for procurement of general service coaches, sitting as well as sleeper coaches for long and middle distance segments to control the heavy overcrowding. The demand is much more than the supply, he says.
“The government should equally give emphasis on introduction of short distance branch line passenger trains, their shortages are massive on almost all over the country,” he tells TOI.
Manish Sharma of PwC says that besides capex, enhancing customer experience is important through improved facilities, cleanliness, seat availability and even dynamic pricing models.
“Besides Vande Bharat trains, the launch of non-AC passenger trains featuring push-pull technology is needed under the Amrit Bharat Scheme, to address larger public transportation needs,” he adds.
Sudhanshu Mani notes that it is important that one starts seeing tangible benefits of this expenditure – in terms of better revenue, more freight being carried and faster passenger trains. “The much-delayed big ticket projects like J&K rail line, DFC and high-speed rail project need to be expedited. Finally, upgradation of tracks for higher speeds of trains is also important,” he tells TOI.
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Railway Budget 2024: What else needs to be done?
Shri Prakash says that for freight revenue to improve, Indian Railways has to aggressively increase its commodity basket entering into non-bulk traffic market.
Shri Prakash pitches for an increase in railway fares. “The government should increase passenger fares at par with bus fares to cut down the losses. For this passenger fares that are uniformly applicable throughout the country should be decentralised empowering zonal administration to fix fares according to market conditions,” he advises.
Manish Sharma says that the Budget should continue to support and enhance capital expenditure in modernisation of Indian Railways. “The acceleration of capex for capacity augmentation is very critical for railways as it will enable them to employ a host of new strategies and interventions to drive modal shift, and stay competitive against other modes of transport for attracting freight and passenger traffic,” he tells TOI.
Lastly, railways need to signal a stringent intent to attract PPP, not just to mobilise extra-budgetary resources but also to leverage private sector efficiency in delivery of services, Sharma says. “Besides conventional PPP concessions, models like asset recycling, and where suitable instruments like InvITs should be explored to attract different categories of private sector participants,” he adds.
G Raghuram says, “Towards capacity, investments to streamline traffic flows are important. Rolling stock investments need to be made keeping in mind export opportunities. There is a need for better focus on research and development involving academic institutions.”