What I would like in this Railway Budget
1. Reduce travelling time, in chennai-mumbai sector. (Guess they need to double the lines between renigunta and solapur. No idea when it will be complete)
2. Train between Bangalore-Mangalore. Bus is not a viable option when you want to take elders 
3. Reduce the 40/60 Rs surcharge for e-ticketing. Makes sense to have the surcharge for i-ticket. But why for e-ticket 
4. Atleast extend one train in bangalore-coimbatore sector to mettupalayam.
5. Reduce the 2nd and 1st AC fares by 10 % atleast!
6. Wi-Fi in all AC coaches in bangalore-chennai train. As of now its available only in the executive class of the bangalore-chennai shatabdi 
Updates: Source: Rediff
Looks like some of my expectations are met
1. 2nd AC fare reduced by 10 % and 1st AC by 18 % I wish to travel in 1st AC, atleast once in lifetime 
2. e-ticket rates cut by 20 Rs for AC tickets, and by 15 Rs for sleeper class.
I have some doubts over this decision
Increase the coaches to 24. Apart from major metros, are the platforms en route that long? This is important, if you have to get down on the way for buying snacks/water etc. They have allocated 60 crores for lengthening the platform. Will the increase in no of coaches happen only after the lengthening?
Overall, atleast on paper the budget looks good. Hope they implement atleast 60 % of what they have promised!
on 24 Feb 2006 at 12:49 pm # Maverick
Thadhaasthu!!
http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/feb/24railbud.htm
There is no increase in passenger fares in the Rail Budget for 2006-07.
Presenting the Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announced reduction in AC first class by 18 per cent and AC-II by 10 per cent.
Passenger tariff structure will be rationalised so that that the fares of AC first class and AC second class will be 11.5 times and 6.5 times the second-class fares, respectively.
Lalu also announced the introduction of 55 new trains.
on 24 Feb 2006 at 1:11 pm # Maverick
And check out about the new lines here…
http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/feb/24railbud.htm
on 24 Feb 2006 at 4:21 pm # Tara
hey
not bad looks like u got most of what you wanted. dont know about the train between bangalore and mangalore though, but yes it is a necessity!
on 24 Feb 2006 at 4:34 pm # yadhvi
on 24 Feb 2006 at 8:55 pm # vijay
Reduction of fares in the passenger rates will hit u back!!. It is a known fact that passenger rates are _heavily_ subidized from freight rates, and worst of all, if at all any income from passenger rates in from the upper classes.!!
on 25 Feb 2006 at 12:11 am # rubic_cube
Ferrari express na oru train aaramikka poraraaame… it would start at pune, pass via goa and then halt at bangalore en route to chennai… eppadi?
btw, un wishes kum budget kum decent aa porutham irunthirukke… next time, speculative budget na release pannidu.
finance budget pathi enna thots?
on 25 Feb 2006 at 12:50 am # neha
Why are you obsessed with railways, train timings, train cancellations, train routes..Why da why..Why why why..
on 25 Feb 2006 at 9:48 pm # shek
MRTS double line frm mylapore to tiruvanmiyur.this proposal came up in the 2004 interim budget.it’s yet to be implemented.but otherwise laloo’s doing a gr8 job.he reduced electric train tickets by Re.1 last year/
on 25 Feb 2006 at 9:52 pm # shek
neha,dont u know that ferro’s a fan of lalu yadav???
on 25 Feb 2006 at 11:51 pm # Krithika
I really wish (1) happened. Ellam selfish reasons thaan: I’m allergic to travel by planes. And 24 hours in a train just kills the spine. And Mumbai is a place I intend to visit a lot in the months to come. Looks like that 24 h duration is not going to reduce in the near future.
on 26 Feb 2006 at 11:20 am # smiley
good they have reduced the train fare.
laloo can start an “airwing” of the railways with a train picture on the plane to compete against the cheaper airlines
on 26 Feb 2006 at 5:59 pm # rubic_cube
Was reading some comments and have this to say (and share):
Primarily it is a problem of the infrastructure already in place. The Chennai Mumbai rail sector is single at places and even if doubled, would not allow high speed trains - which is the need of the day. I am not referring to bullet trains. Trains that can atleast manage a consistent 100-110 kmph. Recently, the Delhi-Agra route was upgraded to that capacity. That was a feasibile option. Chennai-Mumbai is only 1300 kms or so long. Converting the entire stretch into a high-speed stretch can take a very long time. Unless the president decides to travel between Chennai and Mumbai by train. Then, the entire stretch will be converted in a 1 months time! :-))
on 26 Feb 2006 at 7:12 pm # Incredibly me
I forsee lot of mess with more illiterate and mannerless idiots in the AC coaches. Its already a problem in the trains like shatabdi where these ppl think its an SL coach, littering and loitering.
on 27 Feb 2006 at 2:27 pm # F e r r a r i
Maverick,
Seems to be a good budget on paper
Tara,
I fail to understand, why they are not doing it!
vijay,
Am not very sure about that!
RC,
BTW most of the trains, stop by the side to allow other trains to pass by. And usually the speed limit is less in single lines, since if some crack happens there is no backup!
Idhellam konjam over
Neha,
I travel a lot, and my preferred mode of travel is train
Sheky,
Laloo is not doing it. Railway officials are doing it!
Krithika,
Yep!
smiley,
incredibly_me,
I dont think literate folks are sensible either. With all crazy ring tones and what not!
on 28 Mar 2006 at 8:27 pm # Mohan
I would think a doubling of all rail fares, a stiff tax on road vehicles and petrol is in order. The money collected should go to build the rail infrastructure. Lalu is here only to destroy the Railways, why else is he bothered about “competing” with airlines? We dont need bullet trains (though it is high time to start thinking about connecting the metros with such), but a doubling of ALL tracks is required, with an increase in average speed. I could go on, but Big Brother wants cars and roads…
on 01 Mar 2007 at 12:06 pm # sandeep bankhwal
If a minister like a stature of lalu can rejunevate the sick industry of railway, then more is expected from a learned finance minister P. Chidram. Lalu can bring tremendous change in the deplorable condition of DTC services. Truly, he is Chanakya of today’s India. He is intelligent person in the cloak of joker. Hats off to Lallu the great.
Sandeep Bankhwal
on 22 Mar 2007 at 3:31 pm # Girish Kumar Sharma
Lalu is just great to enhance the condition of Indian Railways. He is the right person who knows the pulse of ordinary people, and knows how to profit them and get profit vice versa with mutual understanding. So, for the upliftment of our country we need more Lalus.