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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Unprecedented Constitutional Crisis!Mamata asks PM to sack Dinesh Trivedi, Congress holds emergency meet!Big Ticket Reforms on hold as Railway Budget Rocks UPA!

Unprecedented Constitutional Crisis!Mamata asks PM to sack Dinesh Trivedi, Congress holds emergency meet!Big Ticket Reforms on hold as Railway Budget Rocks UPA!

The Trinamool Congress, with 25 MPs in Parliament (19 in Lok Sabha) and seven ministers, is emerging as a parallel power centre in the Union government. Be it the recent rail budget fiasco, NCTC, FDI in retail or the petrol price hike.

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Unprecedented Constitutional Crisis!The Trinamool Congress, with 25 MPs in Parliament (19 in Lok Sabha) and seven ministers, is emerging as a parallel power centre in the Union government. Be it the recent rail budget fiasco, NCTC, FDI in retail or the petrol price hike.

Mamata asks PM to sack Dinesh Trivedi, Congress holds emergency meet!Big Ticket Reforms on hold as Railway Budget Rocks UPA!Mamata Banerjee has written to the Prime Minister asking for own party colleague, Dinesh Trivedi, to be fired as Railways Minister. Ms Banerjee has reportedly asked for the Railways portfolio to be given to Mukul Roy!For long Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's trusted pointsman in New Delhi, Dinesh Trivedi, a trained pilot now in charge of the vast Indian Railway network, has fallen out with his leader less than a year into his tenure. An articulate, suave and widely travelled politician, Trivedi landed in trouble after he rubbed West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee the wrong way by raising railway fares against her purported wishes.Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi had promised a "revolutionary" rail budget to some of his cabinet colleagues on Tuesday. But his party chief Mamata Banerjee smelled a "rebellion" in Trivedi's budget instead after he hiked passenger fare—allegedly keeping her in the dark—and left him with two options:roll back the hike or quit! The option of asking Trivedi to continue till the passing of the budget also remains with the PM. However, Mamata Banerjee may not agree to such arrangement.If Trivedi refuses to roll-back and puts in papers before the rail budget is passed, that would be another unprecedented event in parliament's history. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will then have to steer the budget till its passage.
For the first time in the history of parliament, the railway minister's own party opposed the budget and left him in the lurch. Many in the party believe, Trivedi will have to make a quick choice as Mamata Banerjee ruled out any compromise on her "pro-people" stand.

ccording to TV reports, PM tried to convince the angry DIDI but she refused to talk.

Trivedi, however, tried to put a brave face: "I have done my work as the railway minister. Now I leave the rest to the God."

Plan panel Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today welcomed the initiative to set up a Rail Tariff Regulatory Authority for rationalising fare and freight rates, in the Railway budget.Ahluwalia has been pitching for setting of such authority for long and on many occasions advocated an hike in passenger fare for mobilising more resources for the Railways.

Hindustan Times conducted an online poll, 'Is it time for Congress to part ways with Mamata Banerjee?,' an overwhelming 91% (848) responded with a yes, while a mere 6% (57)  felt that it wasn't time yet. Two percent (22) felt it was difficult to take a call.Amidst strains between the two, Congress ally Trinamool Congress has said there was no question of compromise on the lokayukta provision, pension bill and FDI in retail if there was a move to pass them in the Budget Session of Parliament.


On Wednesday, the Union government seemed to be in a fix soon after minister for railways, Dinesh Trivedi announced in Parliament that there would be a two paise hike per kilometer in railway fares. A hike after eight years of populous-traveller friendly railway budgets. Reacting to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's seeking the dismissal of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, Congress tonight said "it is an internal matter" of its ally and the Prime Minister will take "appropriate action" on the matter.

"It's an internal matter of that party (Trinamool Congress). The Prime Minister will take appropriate action", said Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi when asked to comment on Banerjee's writing a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanting him to sack Trivedi.

Resenting Trivedi's proposal to hike passenger fare in the railway budget presented in Parliament earlier in the day, temperamental TMC boss and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to the Prime Minister late in the night seeking removal of Trivedi and his replacement by her trusted aide Mukul Roy, currently Minister of State for Shipping.

Banerjee's temper reportedly further soared at Trivedi's praises for the finance ministry. Railway ministry got a loan of Rs 3000 crore from the government to tide over its immediate financial crunch.

"Trivedi may shower lofty praises on the finance ministry but that ministry has offered no help to make West Bengal a financially stable state."

"I am happy that there is some acknowledgement. That is a very good initiative if they carry it through," Ahluwalia said when asked whether he is satisfied on this development.

While presenting the Rail Budget for 2012-13 in Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi announced constitution of a committee to look into the proposal of setting up an independent Rail Tariff Regulatory Authority.

Trivedi said there have been suggestions for creation of such a body but since it requires serious debate, he had decided to set up a body of experts to examine it.

He said he was contemplating a system of segregating fuel component in the cost associated with passenger services and call it FAC (fuel adjustment component).

"The FAC will be dynamic in nature and will change in either direction with the change in fuel costs," he said.

He also informed the House that there had been no hike in passenger fares in the last eight years.

Though Ahluwalia refrained from commenting on passenger fare hike, he said his view on the issue has not changed.

Behind this crisis in Parliament was, ironically, the minister's party itself - the Trinamool Congress. The reason: Party supremo Mamata Banerjee was not consulted about the fare hike and any such hike was against the party's 'DNA'.

Claiming full responsibility for the railway fare hike, Railway Minister, Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday said that he did not consult Trinamool Congress on the issue. Defending his move, Trivedi said that rail fares had not been hiked steeply keeping in mind the problems of the 'aam admi'.The operating ratio of the railways has remained very high and its cash reserves have also been declining.

In the backdrop of the recent hike of around 20% in freight rates, ICICI Securities said it is likely to remain unchanged.  

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today wrote to the Prime Minister to remove Dinesh Trivedi as railway minister and proposed Mukul Roy's name for the post, reports say. Murmurs of railway minister Dinesh Trivedi exit grew louder in the political corridors after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee reportedly summoned the minister to Kolkata.

Trinamool Congress on Wednesday put Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on notice that it may replace him if he does not not roll back the hike in passenger fares proposed by him in the railway budget.

"We will not not allow rail fares to be hiked," Banerjee told a public meeting in Nandigram, hours after Trivedi proposed the across-the-board hike in passenger fares to raise Rs.4,000 crore extra this financial year.

Mamata Banerjee then faxed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking that Trivedi be sacked as railway minister and Mukul Roy be his replacement.

However, this has not been the only time the UPA's ally, with 25 MPs in Parliament, has played 'power games' with the government.

In the latter half February this year, Mamata Banerjee opposed home minister P Chidambaram's anti terrorism proposal, National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

Soon to follow the West Bengal chief minister were a dozen other CMs from across the opposition. The TMC also tabled an amendment seeking deletion of the NCTC statement made by President Pratibha Patil in her address to Parliament before the commencement of the budget session.

On Tuesday night, senior Trinamool Congress leaders, including its ministers, skipped Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's dinner as the Mamata Banerjee-led party decided to organise a sit-in in the Parliament complex to demand a special financial package for West Bengal.

Last year, Mamata Banerjee opposed the Union governments proposal to allow FDI in retail. "The decision to oppose FDI in retail is not my personal decision, it is the decision of our party. Since the prime minister has made a request, I will discuss the issue again with leaders of our party, but there is little scope to reconsider our stand," she told reporters. The government gave in, with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee assuring her that no decision will be taken till a consensus is emerged.

One thing which perhaps was on the Minister's side was the precarious financial position of railways with operating ratio of 95%. This possibly could not go worse from here and presented to him an opportunity to take much needed hard decision on passenger fare hike.

From 1990-91 to 2000-01, average passenger realizations per km for railways had increased from 10.64 paise to 22.94 paise, a CAGR of 8%, whereas in next decade upto 2009-10, it had stagnated at 25.9 paise. The non-revision of passenger fares was putting stress on freight tariffs also since and freight movement through railways was becoming non-competitive as against road. By revising passenger fares in adverse political climate, Minister has again put hope on the long term growth of the railways.

Even more important than raising passenger fares for survival of railways are the ideas of Railway Tariff Regulator Authority and Fuel Adjustment Component in fares. Though the minister has merely presented these ideas as future steps, these ideas present a possibility of paradigm shift in the working of railways by taking fare revision out of political control and in turn making Indian Railways sustainable in long term. Having presented these ideas, it will be one of the biggest challenges for railways for next year to pilot these ideas through a political approval process.

Overall, in his first budget, the minister has been successful in putting focus on long term growth and sustainability of Railways. Indian railways in 2009 had announced a Vision 2020 document, but thereafter railways had quietly buried this document and there was hardly a mention of the same in previous budgets. The Railway Minister has also been able to put focus back on the vision 2020 of railways has tried to align this year's budget with 12th five year plan by putting the target of operating ratio of 74% for end of the 12th plan in the budget.

Strongly opposing the hike in rail passenger fare, Trinamool Congress demanded a roll-back.

A team of Trinamool Congress MPs met Railway Minister and party colleague Dinesh Trivedi soon after he presented the Railway Budget in which he proposed to hike fares across all classes.

In a post Rail Budget interview, Dinesh Trivedi refused to comment on the question of a rollback in fare hike. He remained tight-lipped on ties with Trinamool Congress and told Times Now that he has done his duty as the Railway Minister.

With his party coming out in the open against the budget, Dinesh Trivedi is mulling resignation, according to Times Now.

According to Times Now, TMC leader Mamta Banerjee had asked Dinesh Trivedi to resign from his post of Railway Minister last week. The channel also reported that Banerjee was perhaps aware of the proposed railway fare hike.

Sudip Bandopadhyay, Leader of the 19-member Trinamool group in the Lok Sabha, told PTI that a delegation of party MPs would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday to press for a roll back of the fares which was opposed by the party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

The party would also move cut motion against the fare hike, he said.

"We may propose another name for railway ministry," he said.

However, Bandopadhyay hoped that Trivedi, who belongs to his party, would abide by the party directive and roll back the fare hike.

Bandopadhyay said, "we feel that this (hike) is anti-people policy.  If necessary, we will move cut motion on the issue."

He said the party was not not in a mood to compromise on the issue at all.  Trivedi, he said, represents Trinamool Congress in the government.

"We feel that some forces are trying to provoke from behind the scenes and we will expose them at the appropriate time."

Bandopadhyay said everyone should know that Trinamool is united and committed to its leader Mamata Banerjee.  Those who do not not abide by the party directive may quit the party. "We have no no feelings for them," Bandopadhyay said.

As leader of the Parliamentary Party, Bandopadhyay said he has communicated to Trivedi that the hike should be rolled back and reminded him that he was in that position because of the party.

Bandopadhyay said all the Trinamool MPs will hold a dharna in Parliament House complex tomorrow on the NCTC and fare hike issues.

Over the past month or so, there was much speculation in political circles over Trivedi's differences with Banerjee on the issue.

Banerjee, known for her populism and constant invocation of "Ma, mati, manush (mother, soil and people)" creed, was dead against any increase in fares for fear of alienating the poor people who voted for her in huge numbers in last year's West Bengal assembly polls, and also because she was afraid of handing a weapon to her bete noire, the communists.

Trivedi, who comes from a business family, thought otherwise.

For him it was more important for the railways to mop up internal resources and make the ailing behemoth healthy and increase its safety and security levels in the interest of the passengers.

And despite the loud demands from his party for a roll-back of the fair hikes, and subtle suggestions that he put in his papers, Trivedi remained defiant. In a series of interviews, Trivedi expressed his mind.

"The railways was getting into ICU. I have pulled the railways from ICU. And I have made the railways healthy. I accept full responsibility... I've no hesitation in accepting that neither the party nor the leadership was aware of it (the hike)."

"For me, the country comes first, then the family, and then the party."

He even referred to the martyrdom of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh to press home his contention that the post of the railway minister meant little to him.

Trinamool sources pointed out that though the 61-year-old Trivedi played a crucial role in maintaining the party's liaison with national political leaders for years, he was not Banerjee's first choice as railway minister after she demitted office on becoming West Bengal chief minister last May.

Banerjee had then handpicked his lieutenant, Mukul Roy, for the post, but it was said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened and made it clear he disapproved of her choice.

It was then that Banerjee opted for Trivedi, who had been serving as minister of state for health since emerging victorious from Barrackpore constituency in North 24 Parganas district in the May, 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Trivedi, known for filing public suits, stepped into Banerjee's shoes in Rail Bhavan last June.

A couple of months before that, Trivedi reportedly offered to resign as minister of state for health and family welfare in support of social activist Anna Hazare and his movement against corruption.

The elevation to cabinet rank in the plum railway ministry was considered another feather in the cap for Trivedi, an MBA from Texas, who had worked hard during Trinamool's troubled times for the better part of 1990s and most part of the first decade of the current millennium.

A former Congressman who switched over to the V.P. Singh-led Janata Dal, he made his maiden entry to parliament as a Rajya Sabha member in 1990 and remained there till 2008.

A commerce graduate from Kolkata's famed St. Xavier's College and an MBA from the the University of Texas at Austin, Trivedi was in the travel business before he joined politics.

Indian Railways earns 65 per cent of its total revenues from moving goods while over one-third of earnings go into paying wages and allowances.

The Railways in 2010-11 earned 65 paisa of every rupee from goods traffic (transporting items like coal). Its earning from passenger tickets was 27 paisa against 26 paisa in the previous fiscal.

At the same time, the Railways spent 37 paise of every rupee earned towards paying staff wages and allowances and another 16 paisa for meeting pension fund obligations, as per 2010-11 figures.

Fuel is the second largest expense item and the Railways spent 17 per cent (or 17 paisa of one Rupee) of the revenue under the head.

Besides, miscellaneous expenditure of the Railways is to the tune of 9 paisa.

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, who presented the Railway Budget 2012-13 in Parliament today, has projected freight earnings at Rs 89,339 crore, a growth of 30.2 per cent over the current year revised target.

The Railways is targeting to carry 1025 million tonne of revenue earning originating traffic during 2012-13, which is 55 million tonne more than the revised estimate target of 970 million tonne, he said.

With the increase in number of trains and higher occupancy, he said, the number of passengers is expected to increase by 5.4 per cent in the year 2012-13.

The passenger earnings have been kept at Rs 36,073 crore, an increase of Rs 7,273 crore over the revised estimates of the current year, he added.

Presenting a populist budget, railways minister Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday announced marginal hike in passenger fares ranging from 2 paisa per kilometre to 30 paisa per kilometre in various categories of trains despite noting that Railways was passing through a "difficult phase".

He also announced introduction of 75 express trains, 21 passenger trains and extension of 39 trains besides increase in the frequency of 23 trains.

Platform tickets have also been raised from Rs 3 to Rs 5. In his first Railway Budget, Trivedi announced increase in passenger fares by 2 paise per km for suburban and ordinary second class, 3 paise per km for mail/express second class and 5 per paise per km for sleeper class, 10 paise per km for AC chair car, AC-3 tier and first class.

AC-2 Tier will cost more by 15 paise per km while AC-1 will be dearer by 30 paise per km.

In his over 100-minute speech, Trivedi said these were aimed at rationalising the fares to cause "minimal impact" on the common man and "to keep the burden within tolerance limits in general".

He said he had been counselled to go for steep increase in passenger fares as there had been no increase in last eight years but he desisted from doing so "guided by the overriding concern for aam aadmi (common man)".

The proposed adjustments, he said, do not even cover fully the impact of increase in fuel prices during the last eight years.

"I am keeping the valuable passengers of Indian Railways insulated from the burden of increasing staff cost," he said.

Regretting that the budgetary support has not been at the levels required by the Railways, Trivedi said in the event of further increase in input costs it would not be possible for the railways to keep the passengers' cushion from the impact of such increases.

Contending that the Railways was "passing through a difficult phase", he said the Budgetary support has been pegged at a "modest" level of Rs 24,000 crore as against a projected requirement of Rs 45,000 crore.

In the current year, the Mminister said although there were no arrears of the Pay Commission to be paid, the impact of allowances and several post-budgetary factors has been "very stressful" for the finances of the Railways.

Trivedi said there have been suggestions for creation of an independent Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority but since it requires serious debate, he had decided to set up a body of experts to examine this.

He said he was contemplating a system of segregating fuel component in the cost associated with passenger services and call it FAC (fuel adjustment component).

"The FAC will be dynamic in nature and will change in either direction with the change of fuel costs," he said.

The minister said Indian Railways Stations Development Corporation will redevelop 100 stations and maintain them on pattern of airports.

There is a plan to modernise 19,000 km of railway tracks, which cater to 80 per cent of traffic, says Trivedi.

The annual plan for railways for 2012-13 was put at the highest ever Rs 60,100 crore.

Passenger amenities would be given Rs 1,112 crore in 2012-13 as against Rs 762 crore in current year.

All metre gauge, narrow gauge sections would be made broad gauge, except heritage lines, by end of 12th Five Year Plan.

Trivedi said 800 km of lines to be gauge converted at Rs 1,950 crore in 2012-13.

725 km of new lines would be completed in the current year and Rs 6,725 crore has been earmarked for new lines, he said.

Survey would be taken up on 14 new rail lines in 2012-13. He said the budget will be a chain in the link and would seamlessly integrate with 12th Plan and Vision 2020 document of former Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.

14 MAR, 2012, 06.35PM IST, ET NOW
Railway Budget 2012 could be positive for infrastructure sector: Nipun Mehta, Market Expert

In an interview with ET Now, Nipun Mehta , market expert, gives his views on the railway budget, credit policy and the markets. Excerpts:

ET Now: What did you make of the last three-four days of the rally that we have seen, typical pre-budget anticipation and the moment has happened. What do you do now in light of the fact that the big event is just round the corner - be light and book profits in your long positions or still stay long?

Nipun Mehta: Yes, this rally very clearly shows that some part of whatever we saw today in terms of the freight rate hike probably is already discounted. We have seen a CRR cut coming in on Friday, which probably ensured that on Monday all the banks and virtually the entire market really took it very positively. Of an indication, that on Thursday which is tomorrow, the policy could just make some positive noises about where inflation could be headed or where the policy rates could be headed.

Budget at ET: Budget 2012 | Union Budget | Railway Budget 2012 | Budget News | Economic Survey 2012

But very clearly what the inflation figures show today on the one side and on the other side the freight rate hike and the fuel price hikes that we are really seeing is that inflation is not likely to come down in a hurry, which also means that probably in the policy, intersest rates need not necessarily be reduced in a hurry. That is a measured stand that RBI has taken and probably very rightly so.

But having seen the pre-budget market rally very positively, also means that the market is expecting fairly positive noises irrespective or despite what the elections threw up, whatever there could be in terms of policy measures either for infrastructure or ensuring there could be control of fiscal deficit effectively showing some degree of fiscal discipline. To a degree on some of these aspects, there could be disappointments particularly in terms of the fiscal deficit figures since the government has already announced a lower disinvestment figure for 2012-2013. So, there could be a degree of disappointment on some of these aspects.

My sense is you have seen a rally. It might just make sense to book some of the profits and wait on the sidelines with some degree of cash for a possible correction, though not significant, probably a small correction that you could see post the budget based on whatever disappointments that could be there. Given what the railway minister has spoken about infrastructure is just possible, there could be some positive noises about infrastructure and which definitely will be a positive as far as the market is concerned. The rally has been sharp enough and there is just a good case to sit with some cash.

ET Now: Would you buy into any of the banks ahead of the meet tomorrow?

Nipun Mehta: Not necessarily ahead of the meet tomorrow. Overall, we have been positive on banking. We continue to be positive purely on the basis of what could happen tomorrow is not necessarily what I would buy banking on. But yes, as a sector given the fact that you probably could be away from a rate cut, may be by a month or two, it does make sense for taking exposure into at least private sector banks and some of the larger public sector banks.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/railway-budget-2012-could-be-positive-for-infrastructure-sector-nipun-mehta-market-expert/articleshow/12263036.cms


Kolar gets a new coach manufacturing unit and Bangalore a specialisted training centre in the Railway budget presented in Parliament today.

The unit for coaches is proposed to be established in Kolar (incidentally the home district of Union Minister of State for Railways, K H Muniyappa) with active participation of the State Government.

Budget at ET: Budget 2012 | Union Budget | Railway Budget 2012 | Budget News | Economic Survey 2012


The Government plans to set up three training centres named "Safety Villages", including in Bangalore.

"Railways must possess modern, well-trained and equipped disaster management machinery. The rescue and relief teams for the accident sites need specialised training centre where they can be engaged in hands on drills", Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said in Lok Sabha in the context of these centres.

New trains announced in the budget that brought cheers to Karnataka passengers included Yeshvanthpur-Kochuveli AC Express (Weekly), Chennai-Bangalore AC double-decker Express (daily), Bidar-Secunderabad Intercity Express (six-days-a-week), Indore-Yeshvanthpur Express (weekly), Mysore-Sai Nagar Shirdi Express (weekly) and Solapur-Yeshvanthpur (tri-weekly) via Gulbarga.

New passenger trains announced in the budget include Mysore-Shravanabelagola, Mysore-Chamarajnagar and Mysore-Birur via Arsikere (all daily).

Among the new line projects (that's of particular interest to Karnataka) with cost-sharing by state government that have been sent to Planning Commission for appraisal and 'in-principle' approval include Gadag-Haveri, Gadag-Wadi, Chikballapur-Puttaparthy and Srinivasapura-Madanapalli.

List of new line surveys to be taken up during 2012-13 include Haveri-Sirsi, rail link to connect Dandeli to Hubli-Ankola line, Shimoga-Shikaripura-Ranebennur and Madhugiri-Gauribidanur.

Gauge conversion works of Kolar-Chintamani and Chikballapur-Siddlagatta as well as doubling of Ramanagar-Channapatna, Mysore-Naganhalli, Maddur-Hanakere, Ballakere-Birur and Birur-Ajjampur (part) would be completed in the current financial year.

Doubling of Channapatna-Settihalli, Hanakere-Mandya, Mandya-Yeliyur and Nagavangala-Ajjampur line is slated to be completed in 2012-13.

The responsibility of developing and maintaining thousands of railway stations across the country will be entrusted to a new company under the public private partnership (PPP) route, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said Wednesday while presenting his ministry's budget for the next fiscal.

"I propose to setup a separate organisation. This is a major step. This organisation --Indian Railway Station Development Corporation -- will redevelop and maintain stations on patterns of airports," Trivedi told the Lok Sabha.
According to Trivedi, the organisation will utilise suitable revenue models to maintain the stations under PPP model and has great potential of proving employment.

"This organisation will find suitable revenue models and funded through public private partnership and will be cost neutral to the railways," Trivedi said.

"Modernisation of stations at major metros has the potential to employ 50,000 people."

The Indian Railways, which runs the third largest railroad network in the world, has around 7,083 stations on 64,000 km route with 12,000 passenger and 7,000 freight trains. It ferries 23 million travellers and 2.65 million tonnes of goods daily.

Here is the list of new express trains, passenger trains, MEMU, DEMU, extension of run and increase in frequency of trains.

Express Trains:

1. Kamakhya-Lokmanya Tilak (T) AC Express (Weekly) via Katihar, Mughalsarai, Itarsi
2. Secunderabad-Shalimar AC Express (Weekly) via Vijayawada
3. Bandra (T)-Bhuj AC Express (Tri-Weekly)
4. Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Udhampur AC Express (Tri-Weekly) via Ambala, Jalandhar
5. Coimbatore-Bikaner AC Express (Weekly) via,Roha,Vasai Road,Ahmedabad,Jodhpur
6. Kakinada-Secunderabad AC Express (Tri-weekly)
7. Yesvantpur-Kochuveli AC Express ( Weekly)
8. Chennai-Bangalore AC Double-decker Express (Daily)
9. Habibganj-Indore AC Double-decker Express (Daily)
10. Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Shatabdi Express (6 days a week) via Malda Town
11. Kamakhya-Tezpur Intercity Express (Daily)
12. Tiruchchirappalli-Tirunelveli Intercity Express (Daily) via Madurai,Virudunagar
13. Jabalpur-Singrauli Intercity Express (Daily) via New Katni Jn.
14. Bidar-Secunderabad Intercity Express (6 days a week)
15. Kanpur-Allahabad Intercity Express (Daily)
16. Chhapra-Manduadih Intercity Express (Daily) via Phephna, Rasra, Mau, Aunrihar
17. Ranchi-Dumka Intercity Express (Daily) via Deoghar
18. Barbil-Chakradharpur Intercity Express (Daily) via Dongoaposi, Jhinkpani
19. Secunderabad-Belampalli Intercity Express(Daily) via Kazipet
20. New Jalpaiguri - New Cooch Behar Intercity Express (5 days a week)
21. Ahmedabad-Ajmer Intercity Express (Daily)
22. Dadar (T)- Tirunelveli Express (Weekly) via Roha, Coimbatore,Erode
23. Visakhapatnam-Chennai Express (Weekly)
24. Visakhapatnam-Sai Nagar Shirdi Express (Weekly) via Vijayawada,Manmad
25. Indore-Yesvantpur Express (Weekly) via Itarsi,Narkher,Amravati,Akola,Kacheguda
26. Ajmer-Haridwar Express (Tri-weekly) via Delhi
27. Amravati-Pune Express (Bi-weekly) via Akola, Purna and Latur
28. Kacheguda-Madurai Express (Weekly) via Dharmavaram,Pakala,Jolarpettai
29. Bikaner-Puri Express (Weekly) via Jaipur,Kota,Katni Murwara, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur
30. Secunderabad-Darbhanga Express (Bi-weekly) via Ballarshah, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Ranchi, Jhajha
31. Bilaspur-Patna Express (Weekly) via Asansol, Jhajha
32. Howrah-Raxual Express (Bi-weekly) via Asansol, Jhajha, Barauni
33. Bhubaneswar-Bhawanipatna Link Express (Daily) via Vizianagaram
34. Puri-Yesvantpur Garib Rath Express (Weekly) via Visakhapatnam, Guntur
35. Sai Nagar Shirdi-Pandharpur Express (Tri-weekly) via Kurduwadi
36. Bhubaneswar-Tirupati Express (Weekly) via Visakhapatnam,Gudur
37. Visakhapatnam-Lokmanya Tilak(T) Express (Weekly) via Titlagarh,Raipur
38. Howrah-Lalkuan Express (Weekly) via Mughalsarai,Varanasi,Lucknow
39. Kolkata-Jaynagar Express (Weekly) via Asansol,Jhajha,Barauni
40. Dibrugarh-Kolkata Express (Weekly)
41. Firozpur-Sriganganagar Express (Daily) via Fazilka,Abohar
42. Jaipur-Secunderabad Express (Weekly) via Nagda, Bhopal, Narkher, Amravati, Akola
43. Okha-Jaipur Express (Weekly) via Palanpur,Ajmer
44. Adilabad-Hazur Sahib Nanded Express (Daily) via Mudkhed
45. Shalimar-Chennai Express (Weekly)
46. Mysore-Sai Nagar Shirdi Express (Weekly) via Bangalore,Dharmavaram,Bellary
47. Valsad-Jodhpur Express (Weekly) via Palanpur,Marwar
48. Porbander-Secunderabad Express (Weekly) via Viramgam,Vasai Road
49. Bandra (T)-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Express (Weekly) via Palanpur, Phulera
50. Hapa-Madgaon Express (Weekly) via Vasai Road,Roha
51. Bikaner-Bandra (T) Express (Weekly) via Jodhpur,Marwar,Ahmedabad
52. Ahmedabad-Gorakhpur Express (Weekly) via Palanpur,Jaipur,Mathura,Farrukhabad, Kanpur
53. Durg-Jagdalpur Express (Tri-Weekly) via Titlagarh
54. Mannargudi - Tirupati Express (Tri-Weekly) viaThiruvarur,Villupuram,Katpadi
55. Gandhidham-Bandra (T) Express (Weekly) via Morbi
56. Kota-Hanumangarh Express (Daily) via Jaipur,Degana,Bikaner
57. Jhansi-Mumbai Express (Weekly) via Gwalior, Maksi, Nagda
58. Secunderabad-Nagpur Express (Triweekly) via Kazipet
59. Kanpur-Amritsar Express (Weekly) via Farrukhabad, Bareilly
60. Chappra-Lucknow Express (Tri-Weekly) via Masrakh,Thawe,Padrauna
61. Karimnagar-Tirupati Express (Weekly) via Pedapalli
62. Anandvihar-Haldia Express(Weekly) via Mughalsarai, Gomoh, Purulia
63. Barrackpore-Azamgarh Express (Weekly) via Jhajha, Ballia, Mau
64. Indore-Rewa Express ( Tri-weekly) via Bina
65. Running of independent train between Jabalpur-Hazrat Nizamuddin by delinking from 12405/12406 Bhusawal- Hazrat Nizamuddin and 12409/12410 Raigarh-Nizamuddin Gondwana Express
66. Darbhanga-Ajmer Express (Weekly) via Raxaul, Sitapur, Bareilly, Kasganj, Mathura
67. Solapur-Yesvantpur Express (Tri-weekly) via Gulbarga
68. Chennai-Puri Express (Weekly)
69. Hyderabad-Ajmer Express (Weekly)via Manmad, Itarsi, Ratlam
70. Asansol-Chennai Express (Weekly) via Purulia, Sambalpur,Vizianagaram
71. Shalimar-Bhuj Express (Weekly) via Bilaspur, Katni, Bhopal
72. Amritsar- Hazur Sahib Nanded Express (Weekly)
73. Santragachi-Ajmer Express (Weekly) via Kharagpur, Chandil, Barkakana, Katni, Kota
74. Malda Town-Surat Express ( Weekly) via Rampur Hat, Asansol, Nagpur
75. Dwarka-Somnath Express (Daily)

Passenger Trains

1. Koderma-Nawadih Passenger (6 Days)
2. Sriganganagar-Suratgarh Passenger (Daily)
3. Yerraguntla-Nosam/Nanganapalli Passenger (Daily)
4. Villupuram-Katpadi Passenger (Daily)
5. Gunupur-Palasa (Via Parlakhemundi) Passenger (Daily)
6. Ajmer-Pushkar Passenger (5 Days)
7. Kota-Jhalawar City Passenger (Daily)
8. Bareilly-Kasganj Passenger (Daily)
9. Anandnagar-Barahani Passenger (Daily)
10. Rangiya-Tezpur Passenger (Daily)
11. Mysore-Shravan Belgola (Daily)
12. Jodhpur-Bilara Passenger (Daily)
13. Villupuram-Mayiladuthurai Passenger (Daily)
14. Rohtak-Panipat Passenger (Daily)
15. Miraj-Kurudwadi Passenger (Daily)
16. Phulera-Rewari Passenger (Daily)
17. Mysore-Chamarajanagar Passenger (Daily)
18. Gorakhpur-Siwan Passenger (Daily) via Kaptanganj,Thawe
19. Running of independent Passenger trains between Rewa-Bilaspur and Rewa-Chirmiri by delinking from 51751/51752 Rewa-Bilaspur Passenger and 51753/51754 Rewa-Chirmiri Passenger
20. Mysore-Birur Passenger via Arsikere (Daily)
21. Jhansi-Tikamgarh Passenger via Lalitpur

MEMU

1. Dahod-Anand
2. Anand-Gandhinagar
3. Bina-Bhopal MEMU service in lieu of conventional services.
4. Palakkad -Coimbatore-Erode
5. Ernakulam - Thrisur
6. Adra-Asansol
7. Adra-Bishnupur via Bankura
8. Sealdah-Lalgola

DEMU

1. Baripada-Bangriposi (Daily)
2. Masagram-Matnashibpur (Daily)
3. Mannargudi-Trichy-Manamadurai (Daily)
4. Hoshiarpur-Firozpur (Daily)
5. Siliguri-Changrabandha (Daily)
6. Pratapnagar- Chota Udepur (Daily)
7. New Jalpaiguri-Bamanhat DEMU service in lieu of conventional services.
8. Delhi Sarai Rohilla - Farukhnagar (6 days a week)
9. Katwa - Azimganj (Daily)


Extension of Trains

1. 12037/12038 New Delhi-Ludhiana Shatabdi Express on 2 days to Moga
2. 12537/12538 Manduadih-Bapudham Motihari Express to Muzaffarpur
3. 19051/19052 Valsad-Sonpur Express to Muzaffarpur
4. 18417/18418 Bhubaneswar-Jharsuguda Rajya Rani Express to Rourkela
5. 12945/12946 Surat-Varanasi Express to Chhapra
6. 13237/13238/13239/13240 Patna-Mathura Express to Kota
7. 15013/15014 Kathgodam-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Express to Jodhpur
8. 12991/12992 Udaipur-Ajmer Express to Jaipur
9. 16779/16780 Madurai-Tirupati Express to Rameswaram
10. 22609/22610 Palakkad-Mangalore Express to Coimbatore
11. 16227/16228 Bangalore-Shimoga Express to Talguppa
12. 19781/19782/19771/19772 Jaipur-Amritsar Express to Ajmer
13. 18005/18006 Howrah-Koraput Express to Jagdalpur
14. 18207/18208 Durg-Jaipur Express to Ajmer
15. 13155/13156 Kolkata-Darbhanga Express to Sitamarhi
16. 19605/19606 Kolkata-Ajmer Express to Ahmedabad (via Abu Road)
17. 12687/12688 Dehradun-Chennai Express to Madurai (via Erode)
18. 11017/11018 Dadar-Yesvantpur Express to Puducherry (3 days) via Jolarpettai-Katpadi-Villupuram and to Tirunelveli (3 days) via Dharmapuri-Erode
19. 14553/14554 Delhi-Una Himachal Express to Amb Andaura
20. 12941/12942 Ahmedabad - Asansol Express to Bhavnagar
21. 16649/16650 Mangalore-Thiruvananthapuram Express to Nagercoil
22. 53139/53140 Kolkata-Chittaranjan Passenger to Deoghar
23. 58207/58208 Raipur-Kesinga Passenger to Bhawanipatna
24. 54033/54032 Delhi-Jind Passenger to Narwana
25. 51973/51974 Mathura-Bandikui Passenger to Jaipur
26. 55713/55714 New Jalpaiguri-Bongaigaon Passenger to Tezpur
27. 54043/54044 Jind-Sirsa Passenger to Hisar
28. 54809/54810 Rewari-Degana Passenger to Jodhpur
29. 57502/57503 Bodhan-Nizamabad Passenger to Kamareddi
30. 56011/56012 Arakkonam-Nandalur Passenger to Cuddapah
31. 59117/59122 Pratapnagar-Bodeli Passenger to Chota Udepur
32. 56714/56711 Tiruchchirapalli-Nagore Passenger to Karaikal

Posted: Wed, Mar 14 2012. 11:03 PM IST
A professional Railway Budget
Railway minister Trivedi carefully avoided the slippery path of stating the percentage hike in fares or reading new lines and trains in detail.
Jai Mrug
Theory of constraints applied is how one could summarize the railway budget presented in Parliament by Dinesh Trivedi. It is, perhaps, the most professional and politically well-crafted railway budget speech in Parliament as far as memory can go.

Railway minister Trivedi carefully avoided the slippery path of stating the percentage hike in fares or reading new lines and trains in detail. This is the part of the railway budget that invites the most criticism from the opposition benches. Importantly, it was politically suited to his mentor when he kept referring to the Centre for restraining funds to the railways and asked for the indulgence of members for seeking innovative measures to fund various projects.


Before we dive into the application of the theory, one must note how carefully the railway minister navigated through the most tricky part of his budget decisions. He not only kept the fare hikes towards the end of his speech but also camouflaged them by stating it in paise per kilometre (km) rather than in actual percentage terms. A five paise per km hike in the sleeper class fare means an increase of almost 18% in the base fare between Mumbai and Delhi—from Rs. 377 to Rs. 446. This is unprecedented. While it is partially true that the fares did not increase for a decade, the railways seems to have wanted to clear the backlog in one stroke. Similarly for the air-conditioned class, it averages around 13%. Simply put, it's a double-digit percentage hike for all your long-distance travel, irrespective of the class. Much like your employer would subject you to a variable pay subject to market vagaries, the railway minister has also subjected you to a fuel adjustment component, or FAC, which could increase the fares further, though the minister has also maintained the lesser possibility of a sobering impact on fares.
The theory of constraints states that each constraint that can lead to higher throughput in a flowing supply chain must be alleviated, sequentially starting with the most severe one to derive greater flow (read originating traffic for Indian Railways) and thus greater revenue out of the network. Drawing from the theory, the minister states that he would focus on those 19,000km of the 64,000km that generate 80% of originating traffic. These are the lines where a minor constraint alleviation can lead to significant gain in passenger and freight revenue. This is a welcome departure from the policies of any of the previous railway ministers including Trivedi's mentor—West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress party, who, as the previous railway minister, mostly focused on socially desirable lines—a euphemism for money-losing ones. In addition to this, Trivedi has focused on throughput by stressing on the quality of rails that can carry higher axle load—25 tonnes. Remember the last so-called Lalu miracle was funded by increased freight revenue which was achieved by raising the axle load of wagons from 18 tonnes to 23 tonnes. But that was the most they could have gone without bringing significant quality improvements in the rails themselves. The minister has truly bitten the bullet now by going for the next level of improvement.

The repeated stress on the last mile of connectivity that can ensure seamless door-to-door connectivity for its customers is another noteworthy feature. This has been a major turn off for potential bulk customers. Truly adhering to the theory of constraints, Trivedi then moves to alleviate the next constraint to higher throughput—managing track sections as well as the signalling and telecom infrastructure. An all time high, long-term investment of Rs. 39,110 crore has been promised for the same. Outside India, such automation has increased throughput by 25%, a direct revenue gain. Similarly, Rs. 4,410 crore has been allocated to coaching, another source of enhanced carrying capacity. The minister seems to have worked on every constraint. A planned investment of Rs. 5.6 trillion could not have been funded without a significant hike in passenger and freight tariff, and that was done in two steps—one before the budget and the other one in the course of the budget, but rather discreetly.

The minister pointed to another factor that would contribute to passenger revenue growth—running more trains and higher occupancy. Again decoding what the minister suggests, the utilization of rolling stock would be optimized to enhance capacity and the enhanced capacity would be utilized by focusing on occupancy. To that extent, he stressed on the alternate train accommodation system that will not lose out on the waitlisted passengers and use them to increase the occupancy of other trains. The minister's target to enhance passenger revenue from around Rs. 28,000 crore in the current fiscal to around Rs. 36,000 crore in the next fiscal should leave no one in doubt that most of it will come through enhanced fares though and not from occupancy. Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that of the planned increase of almost 25% in passenger revenue, about 17% would come from the hike in fares and only the remaining from higher occupancy. The rounding off of fares to next higher Rs. 5 is a not so nice method of collecting petty cash from the public. The message should not be lost.

Similarly, for freight fares the target for the year 2012-13 is Rs. 89,339 crore, a growth of 30.2% over the current revised target. Again, back of the envelope calculations suggest approximately 20% would come from the tariff hike effected before the budget, and the rest from the last mile connectivity the railway minister stressed so often in Parliament. The minister could have done better by enhancing the annual freight target, for which he has set a guarded number of 1,025 million tonnes, which is a mere 5.7% more than the target for the current fiscal. This displays a lack of faith in the marketing ability of Indian Railways. The appointment of a Railway Board member for public-private partnerships and marketing is a clear admission that the railways lacks consumer focus and resource mobilization. However, it's the minister's intent of bringing the operating ratio under control and smashing all previous records that takes the cake. By the end of the next Five-Year Plan, the minister plans to take the operating ratio below the previous low of 74.7%—it currently stands at 95%. May God bless him and his successor with near-zero wage hikes by pay commissions. Let's not forget—the party that former railway minister Lalu Yadav started was disrupted by the Sixth Pay Commission, which wiped off any regenerative capacity of the railways. This is what you call ambition!

Jai Mrug is a Mumbai-based operations researcher.

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