RailEnquiry

JAIPUR: The Railway Budget presented on Tuesday struck a chord with the industry in the state as the new projects are expected to bring in investments, create demand for goods and services, and generate jobs for many people.But experts, who have been following the Railway Budget for many years, said the optimism needs to be tempered as the announcements might take years before getting implemented given the railways track record and the current frail financial health. Presenting the budget, railway minister Pavan Kumar Bansal announced setting up of a railway coach factory in Bhilwara and a new factory of Railneer in Jaipur."The measures will lead to generation of huge employment and development of ancillary units," CII-Rajasthan said here in a statement.The railways has already tied up with BHEL to set up the modern Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) coach factory in Bhilwara with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.However, some industry insiders remained skeptical about the project's implementation given the railway's limited elbowroom for mobilizing resources."The Railway Budget has tinkered on the margins. The freight rate hikes won't give it enough resources to fund the projects announced. There is a long list of projects announced earlier but haven't seen the light of the day. The coach factory in Bhilwara is a positive development for the state but the implementation remains a big question mark," said Vinay Mohan, CEO of Financial and Industrial Development Corp. Till last year, Mohan was executive director at CIMMCO which has a railway wagon manufacturing facility in Rajasthan.
Linking of freight rates to the increase in diesel prices is the right direction for the railways , which is trying to tide over the squeeze in revenues. But the industry also feels the ultimate impact of the higher freight rates will affect the common man as the industry will pass the additional cost to them.
"Freight rate has been increased by over 5 times effective from April 1, 2013 which would have an adverse impact on prices of all commodities and consequently will impact the consumer ," said K L Jain of Rajasthan Chamber of Commerce & Industry.