Railway Budget 2015: Highlights

'The first set of electric train will be running within a couple of years,' Suresh Prabhu said.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu

Electric train sets finally find mention

New Delhi: After failing to find a place in the Rail Budget in the last five years, electrical train sets finally caught the fancy of the ruling dispensation at Rail Bhawan, and made their way into the Rail Budget Thursday. “The first set will be running within a couple of years,” Suresh Prabhu said.

Electrical train sets are self-propelled coaches which do not need a locomotive to haul them. These consume 30 per cent less energy. They are noise and pollution free.

The cost of a 21-car electrical train set is around Rs 165 crore vis-a-vis Rs 75 crore a for conventional 21-car Rajdhani. However, these sets can carry more passengers.

North-East, Maharashtra get the most

New Delhi: While the Railways does not allocate funds according to state and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has not given any state-related sops — unlike Mamata Banerjee and Lalu Prasad — the distribution of funds for works of new lines, doubling and gauge conversion shows a number of states got a larger share of the funds than others.

In line with the PM’s thrust on the region, Assam and North-Eastern states have the lions share of Rs 5,225 crore. Prabhu’s home state Maharashtra comes in second with Rs 3,376 crore while West Bengal will see Rs 2,556 crore worth of works. Bihar, which has heavy railway density, will see works worth Rs 1,725 crore while UP has got works worth Rs 2,003 crore. Gujarat has got works worth Rs 1,502 crore.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram