Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee presented the Railway Budget for 2009-2010 in Parliament today. While, leaving passenger fares and freight rates unchanged, the minister proposed setting up new coach factories with a capacity of 500 coaches per year and introducing inter-city double-decker air-conditioned coaches. She also said that the Indian Railways planned to acquire 18,000 wagons in FY10. BEML, Titagarh and Texmaco would gain from this proposal of increased wagons.

Also Read: Railway Budget: No change in passenger fares, freight rates

Reacting to the rail budget, VRS Natrajan, CMD of BEML, manufacturer of rail coaches and spare parts said that the dedicated freight corridor and the additional coaches would generate business for BEML. BEML's revenues wIll cross Rs 1000 crore in FY10, he said. “The announcement of new train services and increased wagon procurement are positives. We will soon sign agreements with SAlL to develop stainless steel wagons. We are also tying up with an MNC for technology double decker coaches,” he said. BEML has Rs 3300cr worth of orders, he added.

Umesh Choudhary, Managing Director of one of India’s leading private sector wagon manufacturers, Titagarh Wagons, said the increase in wagon off-take was very positive. The announcement of public-private partnership (PPP) and dedicated freight corridor was another positive, he said.

"Using the railway track for railing fibre optic cable is a great resource that the railways have which has not yet been utilized but will be now under the Railway Minister’s proposal."

Vineet Agarwal, Executive Director, TCI said that the Rail Budget overall has been good for the industry although there is no change in rates of freight. However, he added Issues of connectivity between road and rail still remains a concern

“In the last few years the railways have always asked for RSQ (request for qualification) and RSP (rail settlement plan) for setting up logistics park and multi-modal parks on some of the unutilized land as well. But that has not really happened. These are all intense statements and it has been very slow in terms of movement. We have a lot of issues when we have to connect between road and rail.”