Ahead Of Union Budget, Railway Employees Seek More Funds For Safety, New-Age Tech
Modernisation and new-age technology are being enhanced in the railway network and the employees are expecting more fund allocation to train technical staff on these.
Published : January 26, 2025 at 2:09 PM IST
New Delhi: Railway employees have high expectations from this year’s budget as they are hoping that the government might introduce new-age technology, rail safety and modern infrastructure development.
"If I talk about in the interest of railways and passengers, then I expect from the budget that some separate tracks should be laid for passenger trains in suburban areas in the lines of Mumbai areas. For the benefit of middle-class passengers, additional express/mail should be introduced rather than the Vande Bharat as the former option is pocket-friendly," Alok Chandra Prakash, general secretary of Indian Railways Signal and Telecommunication Maintainers' Union, told ETV Bharat.
Modernisation and new-age technology are being enhanced in the railway network and the employees are expecting more fund allocation to train technical staff on such state-of-the-art technologies and recruitments.
"I hope more funds will be allocated for safety which will provide better facilities to the passengers. These days, modern technologies are being introduced one after the other. So more technologically sound employees should be hired to make operations fast pace," Navin Kumar, a railway employee, said.
Moreover, some railway employees are vouching for the reduction of income tax slabs or retaining the earlier Rs 5 lakh tax slab system as they don't find the new tax slabs beneficial.
"The main focus of the Rail Budget should be on safety and security as these are concerned with railways as well as passengers. Modernisation is being done in the railway to improve passengers' amenity. If the government spends more on safety, then it will be better for the holistic rail operation," Ram Sharan, central president of All India Loco Running Staff Association, said.
Another railway staff KC James said, "Railways needs more technical hands for smooth functioning and deal with the upgraded technologies in several departments like signalling and locomotives."
In the previous budget, Railways identified safety as a priority for the trains and passengers and the government allocated Rs 1112.57 crore to deploy anti-collision system 'Kavach' across the rail network and Rs 1.08 lakh crore for safety.
The last budget allocated a record capital expenditure (Capex) of Rs 2,62,200 crores to the Railways while the gross budgetary support for the same period was at Rs 2.52 crores, a significant increase from the Rs 2.40 crores in 2023-24, and a substantial rise from Rs 28,174 crores in 2013-14, the Railway Ministry had said earlier.
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