With the government deciding to merge the Railway Budget with General Budget, officials in Rail Bhavan are expecting a better allocation of funds for development of railway infrastructure.
In the Union Budget 2017-18, which will contain a few pages related to programmes and schemes on the Indian Railways, the national transporter is hoping for budgetary support to meet a part of its capital expenditure while raising extra budgetary resources for strengthening the existing network as well as its expansion.
Though, fare hike is unlikely across the board keeping the Assembly polls to five states in mind, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may announce a cess on tickets to mobilise Rs 1.20 lakh crore safety fund named as Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh.
Jaitley is likely to announce setting up of Rail Development Authority, a regulatory authority for the public transporter, and formation of High Speed Rail Authority. The Railways is expecting that a portion of its huge pension bill will also be absorbed by the Centre on the line of other central government departments.
Published 31 January 2017, 19:54 IST