Freight corridors soon to reduce congestion on rail lines, says Lalu

Shimla, May 25 (UNI) Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav today said freight corridors will soon be constructed between Ludhiana and Kolkata and Delhi and Mumbai to reduce congestion on the existing railway lines.

''Parallel lines will be laid for goods trains along side the existing railway lines to reduce congestion and introducing fast trains,'' he said, while talking to reporters here.

Mr Yadav, who is on a three-day official visit to Shimla, said the Railway Ministry would spend Rs 22,000 crore on the project, which will be completed in seven years.

''Funds and land have already been made available for the purpose,'' he said, adding that the ministry proposes to construct freight corridor between Chennai and Calcutta in the second phase of the project.

Focus would now be on ensuring that the trains arrive and leave on time, besides changing the timetable of the trains in the country from June one this year to suit the interest of the commuters, he said.

The Railway Minister said a ''garib rath'', a fully air conditioned train for the poor, at normal rates will also be started after six months.

The financial condition of the Indian Railways had increased ever since the UPA Government came to power two years ago, he said, claiming that it was on the verge of bankruptcy during the previous NDA government's tenure.

The Railways had earned an annual profit of Rs 13,000 crore over last year and was likely to go up to Rs 20,000 crore this financial year, he said.

''But let me be very clear that there will be no retrenchment in the Railways to come out of any kind of losses,'' he said, claiming that efforts were on to clear backlog of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe posts in the Railways.

All ports of the country would also be linked with railway lines in a phased manner, he added.

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