Union Cabinet to review Railway Budget before presentation in parliament

New Delhi, Mar.14 (ANI): The Union Cabinet will meet here this morning to review the proposals for the Railway Budget for fiscal 2012-13.

The Cabinet meeting will take place before Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi presents the Railway Budget for 2012-13 in parliament at noon.

Trivedi, who has arrived in parliament to present his maiden Railway Budget, had earlier confidently said the budget for 2012-13 is going to be very good.

"I think the budget is going to very good for the entire country and the common man and everybody because railways is one of the most important infrastructure. Without the railways growing, India's GDP cannot grow. So, I have to make sure that Indian Railway is going to be solid like gold then only the Indian GDP will grow," said Trivedi.

Trivedi will present his maiden Rail Budget in the Lok Sabha after the Question Hour. On Tuesday, he said: "Rail Budget is going to be like whatever it should be."

Trivedi is expected to announce some new trains including a few for the Northeast region in his budget.

Trivedi's Railway Budget is expected to follow the broad direction laid down by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, who was the Rail Minister of the country till last year.

Mamata Banerjee had as Railway Minister last year announced measures to connect the seven capitals of the Northeast region to the rail network.

The rail budget is normally presented in the last week of February, but it was postponed this year due to the assembly polls in five states of the country.

According to experts, the Railway Minister may move some proposals to mop up resources for speedy completion of rail projects.

Indian Railways is a vital national transportation grid for the country's 1.2 billion people.

Indian Railways has 114,500 kilometers of total track over a route of 65,000 kilometers and 7,500 stations. It has the world's fourth largest railway network after those of the United States, Russia and China.

The railways carry over 30 million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight daily. It is the world's second largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with more than 1.36 million employees in its organisation. (ANI)