<b>R Sivadasan:</b> Need for change in railways' business model

Railways' Investment Outlay for 2017-18 is set as Rs 1,31,000 crore, Rs 55,000 crore comes as GBS

The first merged Budget of the government has given important directional changes for the Ministry of Railways (MoR). It is one of the best Railway Budgets in recent times, given its focus on safety. Performance-wise, the commitment to improve Operating Ratio is welcome. And this is borne out by the Revised Estimates, that indicate an Operating Ratio of 94.9 per cent for 2016-17, despite being a difficult year for the Chairman A K Mittal and his team. The directional changes are clear. 

Functional autonomy has been bestowed on Railways. This lays the onus of raising additional resources, beyond GBS on