Word cloud: Railways gets a digital facelift, tech gets no fewer than 14 mentions

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presented his first budget on Thursday, surprising many by not announcing any new trains or coach factories, proposing a paradigm shift towards actual reform with better use of technology.

Indian Railways got its much-needed digital facelift and of the cumulative Rs.8.5 trillion proposed investment plan from 2015-19, Rs 5,000 crore has been dedicated to IT and research. The railway budget speech of 2014-15 mentioned the word technology only once, but this time around there were at least 14 mentions, with an entire section dedicated to leveraging technology.

In his hour-long speech, Prabhu highlighted his government’s vision, emphasising on more transparency, digital connectivity, higher level of cleanliness, security and infrastructure among others.

The minister also spoke of fast-tracking infrastructure projects that have been announced in earlier budgets and are yet to see the light of day. From train terminals that are undergoing redevelopment to better freight coaches and tracking systems, the minister proposed policies to improve the ailing railway system over the next few years.

Prabhu, whose budget text was almost 10,000 words, had ‘capacity’ and ‘project’ as the key words in his speech.

And here is a word cloud of the BJP government’s mid-year Railway budget presented by the then minister Sadananda Gowda in July last year. Interestingly, the most common used words in his speech, besides Indian Railways of course, was ‘Madam Speaker’.