Special Package to States to Ensure Trouble-Free Train Running

The Minister for Railways, Mamata Banerjee has said that whichever State ensures trouble-free train running for the whole year, shall be given two new trains and two projects as a special package.

Presenting the Rail budget 2011-12 in Parliament today, the Minister said Railways being a soft target, has been facing the wrath of extremists, agitations and other unsocial elements. She said incidences of disruptions by way of bomb blasts, sabotage and track-tampering are on the rise. The Minister said as law and order is the responsibility of the State Governments, Railways are mostly helpless in handling such situations. Frequent calls for 'rail rokos' are not only crippling operations on Indian Railways but also causing immense hardship to passengers and substantial loss of revenues.

She said there have been 115 cases of 'rail roko' agitations during the period from April to December 2010, a few of which have spread over a period of three weeks. The Minister said in the current year till now more than 1500 passenger carrying trains have been cancelled, another 1,500 diverted over longer routes and more than 3,500 rescheduled on account of such disruptions.

Source : Equity Bulls

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