Railway Budget must aim to improve basic facilities first: Pawan Bansal

Former Railway Minister Pawan Bansal said on Tuesday that basic facilities need attention in railways more than anything else.

Pawan Bansal told ANI, "A heavy dose of fare hike has already been given to the people. Now at least the basic facilities should be improved. The government had promised to bring in good days, so the expectations of people are correct in that sense."

"The basics, including stations and toilets, are in real bad condition. Bullet trains are secondary, first the speed of existing semi- bullet trains needs to be increased," he added.

Congress leader Rajiv Shukla today said, "Whatever the government promised has gone in vain. The promise of bullet train seems to be similar to that of good days."

The railway budget is expected to give a big thrust on plans for a high-speed train network and the high-profile Golden Quadri-lateral Rail Network-linking the four metro cities. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor project could be the first off the block to make a head start.