)
Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa today welcomed the Railway Budget.
"I commend the Prime Minister and Railway Minister for having practiced transparency in placing before the country the true status of Indian Railways. Their approach was fiscally responsible and very bold. We look forward to the new initiatives to raise finances and the proposed improvements in project and operational management," she said in a statement.
Jayalalithaa also said the Rail Budget was a serious exercise at consolidation which the government at the Centre had been forced to undertake in the wake of the mismanagement of the UPA government over the past decade of this extremely crucial sector. The finances of the Railways were in extremely poor shape which the Railway Minister had laid bare with disarming candour and honesty.
Welcoming the Diamond Quadrilateral High Speed Rail network, she said it would be a game changer in providing a transport infrastructure backbone for the country.
Introduction of high speed bullet trains was an aspirational goal for the country.
She also urged this technology be tried for Chennai, which closely followed Mumbai in the introduction of railway services for the first time in the country in 1850s.
"I hope the improvement in coal movement would ease the coal availability position in thermal power generation stations in Tamil Nadu," said the chief minister.
