Commending the Rail Minister for focusing on critical areas such as safety and modernisation, Mr Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group , welcomed proposals made by the Rail Minister.

According to him, the railway development programme should generate thousands of jobs.

“It is commendable that the Railway Minister in his maiden Budget speech has focused on critical areas, particularly safety, which needed immediate attention. The proposals to set up an independent Railway Safety Authority, as well as a Railway Research Development Authority are most welcome,” he said.

The other focus areas of the Budget, according to him, include modernisation of equipment and rolling stock, setting up new lines, enlarging electrification, installing efficient signalising system and creating 1,000 new stations via PPP route.

Higher outlays and emphasis on safety and modernisation of Indian railways in the Rail Budget are a welcome move, Mr Anil Khanna, Managing Director, Blue Dart Express Ltd , said.

According to him, other than an outlay of Rs 60,100 crore; earmarking Rs 4,410 crore towards capacity augmentation would help address the current congestion.

“It is noteworthy to see the setting up of Indian Railway Station Development Corporation to maintain around 100 railway stations on par with airports. The proposal to set up logistics corporation and logistics park should address the current shortcomings,” he said.

Infrastructure company Simplex on Wednesday said that Rail Budget will largely benefit infrastructure companies for the proposed capex on modernisation projects.

Other than welcoming the infrastructure proposals in the budget, Mr Rajiv Mundhra, Director, Simplex Infrastructures Ltd, however, raised apprehensions over the proposed funding pattern particularly, the allocation of central funds. The Rail Minister, he said, has not outlined any funding pattern for the Railways.

“The Railway Budget should largely benefit infrastructure companies. It has outlined a substantial amount of capex which is required for modernising the railway network. The biggest issue, however, is if the (proposed) central allocation does not happen for railways .... The Minister has not spelt out anything other than the modernisation of railway station in PPP format.”

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