Railway Budget 2011-12: Infrastructure

Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee while presenting the Railway Budget for 2011-12 mentioned that the expansion of rail infrastructure requires meticulous planning. The House was informed about the number of projects involving long term supply contracts for locomotives, coaches and critical loco components at Madhepura, Marhowra, Kanchrapara and Dankuni. The budget also informed that Burn Standard Company Limited and Braithwaite Company Limited was brought under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways. To further expand rail-based industries new initiatives were proposed:

•    Ministry of Railways proposed to set up a Bridge Factory in J&K. The industry will help in developing ancillary industries leading to employment generation in the area.
•    The budget proposed to set up a state-of-the-art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering at Jammu.
•    A metro coach factory on the land purchased from willing sellers at Singur/adjacent Polba was proposed to be set up.
•    Acknowledging Northeast is our priority area I propose to set up a diesel locomotive centre in Manipur.
•    The budget proposed to open a Centre of Excellence in software at Darjeeling under the aegis of CRIS. Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) is the professional IT arm of Indian Railways
•    The budget also proposed to set up two more wagon units under JV/PPP mode, one each
at Kolar and Alappuzha, Kerala, and one more at Buniadpur.
•    A joint venture between railways and a partner to set up a manufacturing industry for the indigenous production of large on-track machines at Uluberia was proposed to be created. Setting up a new track machine POH facility at the same place was also proposed.
•    The budget announced setting up of a Rail Industrial Park at Jellingham and New Bongaigaon. This Park will be a cluster of diverse industrial units whose output will be consumed by the railways.
•    The budget proposed to set up a 700 MW gas-based power plant at Thakurli in Maharashtra.
•    The budget proposed to set up more mechanized laundries for improving the quality of linen in trains at Nagpur, Chandigarh and Bhopal.