The Lok Sabha has taken up Demands for Grants of Ministry of Railways for 2017-18 for discussion and voting. Initiating the discussion, K H Muniyappa of Congress said, the<br/>convention of presenting a separate Budget has been changed and adding that a separate Rail Budget would have led to more development of the sector. <br/><br/>He stressed on the need of early completion of ongoing work of guage conversion of railway tracks. He said, the government should accord priority to this area. He also wanted the government to focus on strengthening and maintenance of rail networks before taking up the Bullet train projects. Mr Muniyappa said, whereas the bullet train project costs 200 crore rupees per kilometer, the innovation of existing railway tracks cost five crore rupees per kilometer. <br/><br/>Participating in the debate, Yogi Aditayanath of BJP defended the merger of the rail budget with the general budget and asserted that a separate rail budget had become a tool for fulfilling political agenda. He said, the merger is in the interest of the railways and its passengers. He also highlighted the new projects taken up by the NDA government for improving passengers' amenity. <br/><br/>He said, Railways has started twitter service to immediate redressal of grievances of the rail passengers. He said, the Railways is facing challenges like passenger's safety, security and financial losses for which the government is taking steps to overcome such issues. Participating in the debate, TMC MP and former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said, the railways should be made a catalyst for GDP growth and there was a need to make it financially sound. <br/><br/>He demanded a roadmap for enhancing its overall operations. Mr Trivedi also criticised the flexi fare scheme, saying it is making a severe impact on finances of railways. M B Rajesh of CPI(M) said merging of the rail budget with the General budget would dismantle the autonomy of the public sector undertaking. The discussion remained inconclusive.<br/>

The Lok Sabha has taken up Demands for Grants of Ministry of Railways for 2017-18 for discussion and voting. Initiating the discussion, K H Muniyappa of Congress stressed on the need of early completion of ongoing work of guage conversion of railway tracks. <br/><br/>He said, the government should accord priority to this area. He also wanted the government to focus on strengthening and maintenance of rail networks before taking up the Bullet train projects. Mr Muniyappa said, whereas the bullet train project costs 200 crore rupees per kilometer, the innovation of existing railway tracks cost five crore rupees per kilometer. <br/><br/>Participating in the debate, Yogi Aditayanath of BJP highlighted the new projects taken up by the NDA government for improving passengers' amenity. He said, Railways has started twitter service to immediate redressal of grievances of the rail passengers. <br/><br/>He said, the Railways is facing challenges like passenger's safety, security and financial losses for which the government is taking steps to overcome such issues.<br/> '''<br/>