The railway leader pointed out that the Railway budget presented by Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav is being touted as a great budget by the media because of its increased revenue generation. In actual fact the railways have generated more money by increasing the loading of goods wagons from 20 tonnes to 35 tonnes. This will put an additional burden on the tracks as well as on the engines and with no commensurate measures to increase the fund allocation for maintenance, there is an increased safety risk.

He further pointed out that government has been introducing measures for privatization of different aspects of railway functioning. Some sectors have already been completely privatized such as catering and train services, such as supply of bed rolls etc. The food stalls in the railway stations are also auctioned to the highest bidder who has to generate certain amount of revenue for the railways with the result that quality is compromised in addition to increased prices. Though this generates a huge amount of revenue for the railways the railway passenger has to foot the bill in addition to suffering from poor quality of food.

Some other sectors are being privatized such as parcel traffic and goods traffic. This is being done by introducing freight corridors and container terminals to be run by private operators, leasing out of the warehouses of the railways to private operators etc.

Railways are closing down their printing presses and outsourcing printing. The Central and District Hospitals as well as the primary health clinics run by the Railways for its employees are in severe shortage of staff while the Railway board is deliberately delaying the appointment of necessary staff. Meanwhile staff is being recruited on contract basis to run these.

The Manufacturing activities in the railway workshops are being curtailed and entire sections have been closed down such as Signal and Telecommunications Divisions. Railway Furniture, manufacturing and repair operations have also been closed down and these are now bought from private manufacturers. The wagon manufacturing activities of the railway workshops are also being curtailed and outsourced.

The announcement that the railways will be absorbing 35000 porters as gangmen is a fraud as the said conversion will only take place as and when vacancies arise for gangmen and this happens only occasionally when the existing gangmen retire.