Having already affected a steep hike, the Railway Budget spared passengers of any fresh revision in fares and freight rates.

Ten major stations of metro cities and important junctions would be developed to international standards with modern facilities and passenger amenities on the lines of newly developed airports through PPP mode. The Railway Minister also allocated 5,116 crore rupees for rail projects in the North-East.

Noting that there has been focus on sanctioning projects rather than completing them, Mr Gowda said, 359 projects out of 676 sanctioned during the last 30 years are yet to be completed.

He said, 99 new line projects worth 60 thousand crore rupees were sanctioned in the last ten years out of which only one project is complete till date. The Minister proposed a scheme to bring in investible surplus funds of Railway PSUs in infrastructure projects of Railways.