Railway Budget 2012: No money? set up committees

The Railway Budget 2012-13 announced a slew of regulatory bodies to look after the various functions of Indian Railways.

Here are the key ones:

First off, a Railway Safety Authority is being established in accordance with the recommendations of the Kakodkar committee. During his speech, Trivedi admitted that he was not happy with the safety record of the Railways and efforts would be made to improve that record.While the exact details were not revealed, Trivedi said the functions of the body would be in line with international passenger safety practices.

To eliminate level crossings over the next five years, a Rail-Road Grade Separation Corporation is also proposed to be set up. A large proportion of total railway-related casulties are the result of accidents at unmanned level crossings, said Trivedi. There is, therefore, a need to eliminate such crossings, he said.

To redevelop 100 stations in partnership with the private sector, an Indian Railway Station Development Corporation will be established. This corporation will manage the redevelopment and maintenance of stations in the same manner as airports. The new body is expected to develop a suitable revenue model over the next five years, Trivedi said.

To develop and manage existing railways sheds for goods and multi-modal logistics parks, a Logistics Corporation is proposed to be set up. It will handle all the logistics solutions for the Railways.

A National High Speed Rail Authority will be created to oversee the construction of high-speed passenger rail corridors in the country for running trains at speeds of 250-350 kilometres per hour. Pre-feasibility studies on six corridors are already underway. However, Trivedi admitted that constructing high-speed corridors was highly capital intensive and required co-operation from state governments to make them successful.

A specialised house-keeping bodywill be created to manage cleanliness in stations and trains. He said efforts to improve the standards of hygiene and cleanliness would be made in the next six months.

A dedicated Railway Design Centre will be set up in Ahmedabad’s National Institute of Design campus to develop concepts in station architecture, coach layouts, luggage storage in coaches, toilets, ticket kiosks and online services.

An independent Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority is also under consideration. A body of experts ranging from passengers to trade and industry bodies will study the idea, which will be debated in Parliament before being finalised, Trivedi said.