Lalu wants to make Indian Railway world's best

Ratlam, MP, June 16 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today said that his foremost priority is to make the Indian Railway the world's best service of its kind and work had begun in that direction.

Mr Prasad, who inaugurated the Ratlam-Neemuch broad gauge line, told to mediapersons -- on board a special train -- ''I brought the railways out of the red and earned a profit of Rs 20,000 crore. Now, the emphasis is on further expanding railway business under which the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor Project will be likely completed at a cost of Rs 30,000 crore within the stipulated time of five years.'' For enhancing goods loading capacity, the Eastern Corridor would run from Ludhiana to Howrah while its western counterpart would run from New Delhi to Mumbai.

''The corridors envisage separate electrified up and down tracks for goods trains. In the second phase, freight corridors will be constructed between Mumbai-Chennai and Chennai-Howrah,'' the Minister said.

UNI