Poll-bound states and NDA bastions find favour in rail budget

Poll-bound states and NDA bastions find favour in rail budget

Krishna Uppuluri/ Zee Research Group/ Delhi

The maiden railway budget of Narendra Modi’s government has laid a lot of stress in favouring states that are either ruled by the NDA, where they got a lot of votes in the 2014 General Election, or are going to polls this year. Not only that, even the North-East has caught the fancy of the railways ministry with a significant 54 per cent jump over allocations being given to the region as compared to the previous year. In states where NDA performed well in the General Election, new trains have either been allocated or existing trains extended. Railways Minister Sadananda Gowda has announced 58 new trains while 11 existing trains will be extended. Proposing a bullet train on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route, Gowda also said that there will be a Diamond Quadrilateral of high-speed trains on nine routes. Modi’s Gujarat, Gowda’s Karnataka, BJP led Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh, NDA partners Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led Andhra Pradesh and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) led Punjab have all been given new trains and extended services. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Jharkhand, where the BJP performed well in the General Election, have been given importance in the rail budget. Keeping in mind the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana, new trains and extended train services have been given to these states. With China now preparing to extend its railway along the Indo-China border, Modi government’s rail budget has allocated an outlay of Rs 5,116 crore for projects in the North-East. This is 54 per cent jump over allocations from the previous year. The Minister expressed hope that Dudhnoi-Mendipathar New Line, Lumding-Badarpur-Silchar Gauge Conversion and Harmuti-Murkongselek and Balipara- Bhalukpong sections in the North-East will soon get commissioned. Surprisingly, Tamil Nadu which is neither going to polls this year nor is an official partner of the NDA has been mentioned in the list of new trains by Gowda. The 58 new trains includes five Jansadharan trains, five premium trains, six AC express trains, 27 express trains, eight passenger trains, two MEMU services and five DEMU services this year. Gowda said these services would meet the surging demand on special occasions. He said that special trains would continue to run to meet the holiday and festival rush. He said that special trains would continue to run to meet the holiday and festival rush including services for Melmaruvathur (Tamil Nadu), Velankanni (Tamil Nadu), Jhalawar (Rajasthan). As per latest estimates by the Railway Ministry, the 14 new lines, three of which are in the North-East, require Rs 80,000 crore for completion. Twenty-nine rail projects in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with Rs 20,680 crores will be completed. Train connectivity to Char Dham has also been announced, apart from 18 new line surveys, 10 surveys for doubling 3rd & 4th lines and gauge conversion. NEW TRAINS Jansadharan Trains 1. Ahmedabad (Gujarat) – Darbhanga (Bihar) Jansadharan Express via Surat (Gujarat)2. Jainagar (Bihar) – Mumbai Jansadharan Express3. Mumbai – Gorakhpur (East UP) Jansadharan Express4. Saharsa (Bihar) – Anand Vihar (Delhi) Jansadharan Express via Motihari (Bihar)5. Saharsa (Bihar) – Amritsar (Punjab) Jansadharan Express Premium Trains 1. Mumbai Central – New Delhi Premium AC Express2. Shalimar (West Bengal) – Chennai Premium AC Express3. Secunderabad (Telangana) - Hazrat Nizamuddin (Delhi) Premium AC Express4. Jaipur (Rajasthan) – Madurai (Tamil Nadu) Premium Express5. Kamakhya (Assam) – Bengaluru (Karnataka) Premium Express AC Express Trains 1. Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) – New Delhi AP Express (Daily)2. Lokmanya Tilak (T) – Lucknow (Weekly)3. Nagpur – Pune (Weekly)4. Nagpur – Amritsar (Weekly)5. Naharlagun (Arunachal Pradesh) – New Delhi (Weekly)6. Hazrat Nizamuddin – Pune (Weekly) ExpressTrains 1. Ahmedabad – Patna Express (Weekly) via Varanasi2. Ahmedabad - Chennai Express (Bi-weekly) via Vasai Road3. Bengaluru – Mangalore Express (Daily)4. Bengaluru – Shimoga Express (Bi-weekly)5. Bandra (T) – Jaipur Express (Weekly) Via Nagda (MP), Kota (Rajasthan)6. Bidar (Karnataka) – Mumbai Express (Weekly)7. Chhapra (Bihar) – Lucknow Express (Tri-weekly) via Ballia (UP), Ghazipur (UP), Varanasi.8. Ferozpur (Punjab) – Chandigarh Express (6 days a week)9. Guwahati – Naharlagun (Arunachal Pradesh) Intercity Express (Daily)10. Guwahati – Murkongselek (Assam – bordering Arunachal Pradesh) Intercity Express (Daily)11. Gorakhpur – Anand Vihar (Delhi) Express (Weekly)12. Hapa (Gujarat) – Bilaspur (CG) Express (Weekly) via Nagpur13. Hazur Saheb Nanded – Bikaner Express (Weekly)14. Indore – Jammu Tawi Express (Weekly)15. Kamakhya (Assam) – Katra (J&K) Express (Weekly) via Darbhanga (Bihar)16. Kanpur – Jammu Tawi Express (Bi-weekly)17. Lokmanya Tilak (T) – Azamgarh (UP) Express (Weekly)18. Mumbai – Kazipeth (Telangana) Express (Weekly) via Balharshah (MH)19. Mumbai – Palitana (Gujarat) Express (Weekly)20. New Delhi – Bhatinda (Punjab) Shatabdi Express (Bi-weekly)21. New Delhi – Varanasi Express (Daily)22. Paradeep (Odisha) – Howrah Express (Weekly)23. Paradeep – Visakhapatnam Express (Weekly)24. Rajkot (Gujarat) – Rewa (MP) Express (Weekly)25. Ramnagar – Agra Express (Weekly)26. Tatanagar (Jharkhand) Baiyyappanahali  (Bengaluru) Express (Weekly)27. Visakhapatnam – Chennai Express (Weekly) Passenger Trains 1. Bikaner (Rajasthan) – Rewari (Haryana) Passenger (Daily)2. Dharwad (Karnataka) – Dandeli (North Karnataka) Passenger (Daily) via Alnavar (Karnataka)3. Gorakhpur – Nautanwa (UP) Passenger (Daily)4. Guwahati – Mendipathar (Meghalaya) Passenger (Daily)5. Hatia (Jharkhand) – Rourkela (Odisha) Passenger6. Byndoor (Karnataka) – Kasaragod (Kerala) Passenger (Daily)7. Rangapara North (Assam) – Rangiya (Assam) Passenger (Daily)8. Yesvantpur (Karnataka) – Tumkur (Karnataka) Passenger (Daily) MEMU services 1. Bengaluru – Ramanagaram (Karnataka) 6 days a week (3 Pairs)2. Palwal (Haryana) – Delhi – Aligarh (UP) DEMU services 1. Bengaluru – Neelmangala (Daily)2. Chhapra (Bihar) – Manduadih (Varanasi station) (UP) (6 days a week) via Ballia (UP)3. Baramula (J&K) – Banihal (J&K) (Daily)4. Sambalpur (Odisha) – Rourkela (Odisha) (6 days a week)5. Yesvantpur (Karnataka) – Hosur (Karnataka) (6 days a week) EXTENSION OF RUN OF EXISTING TRAINS 1. 22409/22410 Anand Vihar (Delhi) – Sasaram (Bihar) Garib Rath Express to Gaya (Bihar)2. 12455/12456 Delhi Sarai Rohilla - Sriganganagar Express to Bikaner3. 15231/15232 Gondia (MH) - Muzaffarpur Express to Barauni (Bihar)4. 12001/12002 New Delhi - Bhopal Shatabdi Express to Habibganj (MP)5. 54602 Ludhiana (Haryana) – Hisar (Haryana) Passenger to Sadulpur (Rajasthan)6. 55007/55008 Sonpur (Bihar) – Kaptanganj (UP) Passenger to Gorakhpur7. 55072/55073 Gorakhpur – Thawe (Bihar) Passenger to Siwan (Bihar)8. 63237/63238 Buxar (Bihar) – Mughalsarai MEMU to Varanasi9. 63208/63211 Jhajha (Bihar) – Patna MEMU to Jasidih (Jharkhand)10. 64221/64222 Lucknow - Hardoi (UP) MEMU to Shahjahanpur (UP)11. 68002/68007 Howrah – Belda (WB) MEMU to Jaleswar (Odisha)