New Delhi, Friday 25 February 2011: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is all set to present her fifth annual budget for the ministry today, amid concern over poor progress of large projects and the financial health of the world’s second largest rail network under one management.

With the Vision 2020 document of 2009 expected to serve as the guiding force, the budget is expected to announce new measures to double the network of multiple tracks to 30,000 km. But the ensuing elections in West Bengal will tie down her arms on fare hikes.

Experts concede all the new trains Banerjee had promised in her two previous budgets for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had been flagged off and that passenger amenities had also improved during her tenure. She had announced 122 new trains in 2009-10 and 54 more a year later.

But what has emerged as a big question mark is the financial health of the network — especially after her predecessor Lalu Prasad’s claims of having dramatically turned the Indian Railways around that became matter of case studies in business schools like Harvard.

Major announcements are awaited to address the grievances in the railway network in Kerala. It expects realisation of the projects sanctioned in the previous budgets. The biggest challenge before Banerjee is to make adequate provision for commencing the sanctioned projects for the State and timely completion of the doubling and development works.

The commencement of Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMU) for short distance commuters, coach factory at Palakkad, wagon unit at Cherthala, railway medical college in capital, drinking water bottling plant and upgrading Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode railway stations with world class facilities are some of the projects sanctioned in the previous budgets but still remain in paper.

As the terminal facilities at Thiruvananthapuram Central, Ernakulam and Kozhikode and the line capacity have become over-saturated, railway sources told The Hindu that no proposal had been made to commence new trains from the State this year also.

Railway officials said enhancing the line capacity and pushing for the Rs.250-crore coaching terminal at Nemom were only solutions to decongest the railway network in the coming days.

As in the previous year, the prime demand submitted by Minister for Public Works, who holds the charge of Railways in the State, is formation of a Peninsular Railway Zone with its headquarters in the State. Adequate provision for Sabari railway line, inclusion of State in the proposed dedicated High Speed Corridor and Dedicated Freight Corridor are other demands.

New trains to Bangalore, Kolkatta, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi via Konkan and another one from the capital to the Malabar region are some other demands. Another train had been proposed from Kanyakumari to Goa (via Konkan) and from Kozhikode to Nizamuddin (via Nagpur). The Railways had been asked to increase the frequency of Rajadhani, Sampark Kranti, Kochuveli-Bangalore, Kannur-Yaswantpur, Garib Rath-Kochuveli Expresses.

(With news agency inputs)