Railways profit up: Lalu

Patna, June 1 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today said the Railways' profits were on a steady rise and likely to reach Rs.

20,000 crore in a few years.

Laying the foundation stone of a hospital of East Central Railway, Mr Prasad said the ''Garib Raths'' will soon be operational. The Garib Raths would run between Patna and New Delhi, Saharsa-Punjab and Mumbai and Delhi.

He said the Railways were on the path of speedy development and announced that the broad gauge conversion of all types of tracks have been taken on a priority basis in Bihar.

Slipper factories, being constructed at Madhepura and Bidupur, would start production soon. Wheel manufacturing unit was being constructed at Chapra, he added.

At said the hospital to be built by 2008 at a cost of Rs 22 crore would be equipped with the latest medical technology.

UNI XC/DH PC PA RK2008