Diverting from the interim railway budget presented by Lalu Prasad in 2009, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge today presented what could be termed as the shortest vote-on-account. While he refrained from making any announcements, he did spell out the achievements of the Railways during the five year stint.
The Minister started off with a Ghalib quote which meant that he will seek to present a truthful picture. Mallikarjun Kharge is the second Railway Minister from Congress Party in the 10-year UPA regime to be presenting a Railway Budget, although interim. Earlier, under UPA-I regime Lalu Prasad from RJD had presented vote-on-account (interim budget) in 2009.
He did not read the entire speech and abruptly ended it by reading the last paragraph.

Railway Budget 2014   :Highlights :
He has announced new trains across categories -- 17 new premium trains, 38 express trains and 10 passenger trains (Full list).
No increase in rail fare and freight has been proposed in the Interim Rail Budget for 2014-15. The Minister announced that there will be no more unmanned crossings. A Rail Tariff Authority has also been announced. A number of measures for safety and security of passengers like portable fire-extinguishers in coaches and induction-based cooking in pantry car have been proposed in the Budget.
Proposes to expand dynamic pricing of rail fares on “larger scale“
FDI being enabled to foster creation of world—class rail infrastructure; several PPP projects in pipeline.
The Railways will borrow Rs. 13,800 crore from markets in 2014-15. Indian Railways market borrowings for 2014-15 have been targeted at Rs. 13,800 crore which is lower than Rs. 15,000 crore budgeted for current fiscal. For 2014-15, IRFC has a borrowing target of Rs. 12,800 crore for procuring rolling stock and RVNL to raise Rs. 1,000 crore for spending on projects.
Gross traffic receipt for 2014-15 is targeted at Rs. 160,775 crore -- out of this goods receipts are expectedRs. 105,770 crore, passenger receipts Rs. 45,255 crore.
Operating ratio for 2014-15 is targeted to improve marginally to 89.8 against 90.8 in the current fiscal.
Plan size for 2014-15 is targeted at Rs. 64,305 crore against Rs. 59,359 crore in current fiscal
Premium AC special train in Delhi-Mumbai sector with shorter advance reservation period and dynamically varying premium over tatkal fare.
Independent Rail Tariff Authority set up to advise on fixing of fares and freight, to engage all stakeholders.
Three factories at Chhapra, Rae Bareli and Dakuni have become functional.
To connect Meghalaya, Arunachal to rail network in FY14
Railways to start passenger service to Vaishno Devi and Katra
Completed doubling gauge of 2,227 km vs target 2,000 km
Completed electrification of 4,556 km vs target of 4,500 km
To run more passenger trains at higher speed as needed
Dedicated freight corridors to cut transit time by half.
Rolling stock acquisition surpassed 12th five-year Plan target.
Completed laying 2,027 km rail lines vs target 2,000 km
Electrification of over 4,000 km is planned
We expect to run passenger service up to Katra Vaishno Devi very soon
Railways successfully met impact of Sixth Pay Commission. Says unlike other depts, railways met the full expenditure of Sixth Pay Commission from internal accruals.
Says organisation needs careful nurturing. And that it was high time we took note of its investment needs. It is time to take stock when UPA 2 completes 5 years.
Talks about a rail tunnel that connects Jammu with Kashmir (which was inaugurated in June last year)

(This article was published on February 12, 2014)