AGARTALA, Aug 23 (TIWN): Aiming to lift Indian Railway at an International level of Railway service, Suresh Prabhu is focusing to double the budget after the ending of FYs 2015-2019. “After the spending of Rs. 8.56 lakh crores in these 5 years, we should spend double than this amount if we want Indian Railways to reach anywhere close to world standards”, said Prabhu. However, the govt. is giving importance into 2 aspects : 1) Funding, 2) Capability. For funding the Central Govt. which has already taken Rs. 1.5 lakh crores from LIC is now going for partnership with the states. “We are also partnership with state govt. for not only sources of funding, but also enhancement in management bandwidth”. However, although 17 states have agreed in this agreement, Tripura Govt. is yet to recognize the importance of the project-priority.For the 2nd element which is to execute projects Govt. will additionally give importance to private investment & E-tendering. Prabhu said, “We have started moving to EPC type contracting to ensure participation of big infrastructure players”.

However, most importantly, the BJP led Central Govt. is taking steps to liberalize the freight policies, developing infrastructure, reforming railway board , preparing the draft bill.

The budget announced three more DFCs (Dedicated Freight Corridor) a lesson was learned with the delay in the first two DFCs. Prabhu said, “The project has gained momentum. Last year we gave contracts worth Rs. 23,000 crores, more than the total in previous six years. We are targeting completing of DFCs by December 2018. I am calling weekly reports”.