RailEnquiry

PATNA: Quite many rail users in Patna were disappointed at denial of superfast trains like Duronto to Bihar, particularly on the Patna-Bangalore, Patna-Delhi and Patna-Mumbai routes, in the Rail Budget presented in Parliament by railway minister Pawan Bansal on Tuesday.Others pointed out the proposed budget also ignored the demand for a third line between Ara and Fatuha stations on the mainline section of ECR's Danapur division.Asish, Ravi Sinha, Satyendra Kumar and Rupesh, all students TOI came across at Patna Junction, rued the minister did not announce any concession to students going outside the state to take examinations. They also criticized the proposed hike in charges on 'Tatkal' tickets."Confirmed tickets are hardly available in any train from Patna and 'Tatkal' is the only hope for those wishing to travel at short notice," one of them said and added even a marginal hike in prices of 'Tatkal' tickets was likely to hit the common passengers.

Former chief engineer of railways and technical expert G N Sahay also found the Rail Budget disappointing because it failed to provide funds for the Dalmianagar wagon bogie and coupling factory which was announced in 2008. "This factory is quite important for the railways as it would produce high axle load wagons which would be required by the railways for the dedicated freight corridor," he said, adding the Rail Budget did not make even a mention of other pending railway projects in Bihar which were already delayed due to non-availability of funds.

Bansal's budget also had south Indians living in Patna riled. They said the minister did not consider their genuine demand for extension of the Patna-Ernakulam Express up to Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). The plea for increase in the frequency of this train has also been ignored, they said.

However, ECR officials hailed the budget as "it focuses more on safety, tracks, signalling, rolling stock, upgrading stations, better quality meals and cleanliness on running trains".