Railway Budget: Mamta Banerjee eyes 'common people'

The railways budget could be a possible barometer of Monday's national budget when the government is expected to present a populist spending programme to help it contain voter anger over inflation and corruption ahead of key state elections.

Mamata Banerjee, an ally of the ruling Congress party, pushed private sector involvement in the network with initiatives such as setting up wagon factories with private partners. She also unveiled plans for a 700 MW captive gas-based power plant.

But, with an eye on winning elections later this year in West Bengal that would shore up support for a government under fire over a string of corruption scandals, she kept focus on making the network affordable for the common man.

"We have taken a two-point approach," Banerjee told parliament.

"On the one hand by sustainable, efficient and rapidly growing Indian Railways, and on the other, by an acute sense of social responsibility towards the common people of this nation."

"We have attempted to combine a strong economic focus ... with a human face," she added.

The creaking railway system has suffered from decades of low investment and unimaginative policies and fallen far behind emerging market peer China in building a network fit for Asia's third-largest economy.

Banerjee was criticised before her third budget for a refusal to tinker with low passenger fares and enthusiasm for flagging off new passenger trains -- crowd-pleasing measures that put strain the sector's finances and derailed freight growth. Singh's government plans to spend USD 1.5 trillion on infrastructure over a decade to slash its huge power shortages and unclog supply bottlenecks that have slowed India's rapid growth and helped stoke inflation. Railways could end up a laggard as the network receives 5% of funds from private money, the lowest figure of any major infra sector.