Rail budget caters to all sections: PM Narendra Modi

New Delhi, Feb 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the Rail Budget, which proposes no fare hike, caters to all sections of the society and showcases a vision to reorganise and rejuvenate the national transporter with the aim of providing trains with higher speed and safety.

Hailing the Rail Budget 2016-16 as "passenger-centric" as it entails no fare hike, Modi said it will play an important role in the country's rejuvenation. He said the budget caters to all sections of the society and "stands out because it is an infrastructure-led and employment generating budget".

The government's efforts to comprehensively transform railways will gain even more momentum with this "development-oriented" Budget, he said. "Rail Budget showcases a vision to reorganise, restructure and rejuvenate Railways with new processes, structures, norms and sources of revenue," Modi said.

He said 'Vision 2020' in the budget will make the railways free from capacity constraints with higher train speed, punctuality and safety. "In the last year, we have seen lot of success and this budget is an effort to further improve on this," he said, while noting that along with IT, investment has been given importance.

Passenger facilities and rail upgradation have been two mantras of the rail budgets presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu so far, Modi said, adding this budget will go a long way in addressing the problems faced by the railways.

He said Railways has witnessed 2.5 times more investment compared to what was seen in the budgets presented in the previous government and expressed confidence that this budget will have longterm and positive contribution to the economy.

"Launch of unreserved, superfast trains, Antyodaya Express and Deen Dayalu coaches illustrate our unwavering commitment to serving the poor," the Prime Minister said. "The boost to investment outlay shows our government's long-term vision for the Railways and the nation," he added.

Regarding announcement to strengthen rail connectivity in Manipur and Mizoram, he said it was "gladdening" as connectivity in Northeast is "one of our core priorities".

PTI