Gambit Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 How Lalu turned around a near bankrupt dinosaur that was the Indian railways back in 2001 to an a$$ whooping Rs. 25,000 crore profit making government venture, one will never know!! Critics say that Lalu is reaping rewards of Paswan's/Bannerjee's groundwork 4-5 years ago back when the NDA govt were in power. Others say the turnaround was solely due to Lalu who introduced innovative competitive bidding, increased freight train capacity and leased ad spaces at competitive rates. Anyhow, salient points of today's budget(which was termed 'populist and excellent' by the Congress, 'elitist' by the opposition and 'strong and anti-inflationary' by FICCI) are: 3-7% fare reductions on passenger trains 53 new lines Service where tickets can be bought over mobile phones to be introduced soon 5% reduction in freight diesel and petrol prices An estimated $25 billion to be spent on upgradation and modernisation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hiten. Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Holyyy sheeeet... $25 billion worth upgradation ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kartikey Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 All we need are better toilets!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umpire Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 wi-fi zones will be available on some railway stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novpj Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I think Lalu was at the right place at the right time. Railways is a fixed cost business - the utilization rates have gone up with the economy and has resulted in significantly higher margins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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