Indiens jernbanevæsen kører hver dag med 12.000 (overfyldte) tog og 23 millioner passagerer, men spor, materiel og service er nedslidt og forældet efter årtiers laden-stå-til. Det skal ændres med en indsprøjtning på omregnet 822-823 milliarder kr. over fem år – men hvor skal pengene komme fra?
Unveiling the annual railway budget, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said the cash boost will help modernise existing tracks and introduce faster trains.
Mr Prabhu left the heavily subsidised passenger fares unchanged, BBC online writes Friday.
The fall in the price of diesel that powers most Indian trains and a pick-up in freight earnings has made funds available for investment, officials say.
Mr Prabhu told parliament that funds would be also raised from multilateral lenders, infrastructure and pension funds, as well as from “monetisation” of railway assets. He said the railway would not be privatised.
Mr Prabhu promised to make India’s railways safer, build more lines, increase the speed of journeys on nine major routes, and improve the experience of travelling with wi-fi in stations.
Successive governments have backed away from modernising the network and instead used the system to provide cheap transport and jobs. The lack of investment has meant slower services and more accidents.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that revamping the railways is a priority for his government and that he wants the “railway stations to have better facilities than airports”.
Syrlige aviser, men glæde over nye toiletter
The Times of India comments that “without private investment railways will just limp along and rely on endless freight rate increases of the kind Mr Prabhu just resorted to (tyede til)”.
The “Asian Age” seemed impressed with Mr Prabhu’s focus on cleanliness.
“Mr Prabhu promised several new amenities for which he has allocated a 57 per cent increase in expenditure, among them replacing 17,000 toilets with vacuum toilets like the ones on aircraft in six months, and an additional 650 stations with new toilets,” it says.
The “Hindu” asked: “How is the railways going to fund such a mammoth sum? With operating expenses consuming nine out of every 10 rupees earned by the railways, there just is not enough surplus to plough back into investment,” it noted.
Kilder: BBC og indisk presse
