RAIL 2

Referring to hardships faced by people because of the
high food prices, Banerjee said, "I understand their distress.
Despite Railways' own tight resource position I announce
reduction of Rs 100 per wagon in freight charges for
foodgrains for domestic use and kerosene. This is a small
gesture to express our concern."
While ladies special trains would be renamed 'Matribhoomi
Specials', three unreserved trains named 'Karambhoomi
specials' would be introduced along with new weekly express
service 'Janmabhoomi Express' between Ahmedabad and Udhampur.
New services to be introduced include 54 trains, 28 new
passenger services, nine MEMU and eight DEMU services. The
routes of 21 trains will be extended and the frequency of 12
trains increased.
Other new projects include preliminary engineering-cum-
traffic survey for north-south, east-west, east-south and
south-south dedicated freight corridors.
Six high-speed passenger train corridors have been
identified to be executed through public-private partnership
mode and a national high-speed rail authority will be set up
for planning, implementing and monitoring these projects.
The financial performance in 2009-10 shows that the
loading target of 882 million tonnes is likely to be surpassed
by eight million tonnes.
Gross traffic receipts for 2009-10 have been kept at Rs
88,356 crore -- an increase of 10.7 per cent. The full impact
of sixth pay commission has been fully absorbed within the
railway resources and the current dividend liability will be
fully discharged. Annual plan has been kept at Rs 40,284
crore, Banerjee said. MORE PTI