Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set a deadline of December 31st for setting up a Rail Tariff Authority,RTA.The authority will suggest rationalisation of passenger fares.The prime minister's office said that the decision was taken by Dr.Singh at a meeting to review the functioning of key transportation ministries. Dr.Singh said the inter-ministerial group,IMG, under Railway Board Chairman should finalise and submit its recommendations on the RTA.

The formation of RTA,proposed in the Rail Budget 2012-13, has to be approved by the Cabinet.The Prime Minister has asked for a Cabinet note to be brought latest by January 15th.

The Prime Minister has also asked the Railways to expedite finalisation of bidding documents for multi-crore
locomotive plants at Madhepura and Marhora in Bihar.The big-ticket projects are to be executed in the PPP model.The Prime Minister's office said,the bids for the Madhepura electric locomotive project will be called by the end of this month and the project will be awarded before the Railway Budget. The inter-ministerial group set up under the CCEA approval will consider and approve any necessary changes to documents.

For the diesel locomotive plant at Marhora, timelines for the project will be announced by December 15th.

Besides, the prime minister has directed the Railways to take up the elevated rail corridor and Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) projects on a priority basis.The 3300 km long DFC comprises Western (Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) and Eastern (Ludhiana to Dankuni) corridors.

The ministry will submit revised estimates with details on source
of funding for DFC project by December 15th.

On elevated rail corridor between Churchgate and Virar in Mumbai, the Dr.Singh has asked the ministry to do the needful for signing the State Support Agreement with Maharashtra government in the next 15 days.

The 60 km long elevated rail corridor with 28 stations is meant for operation of AC suburban trains, a first of its
kind, in Mumbai.

The ministry will finalize important milestones with timelines by December 31st, 2012 and bids for the elevated
corridor project will be invited before the Rail Budget in
2013 .