Rail Budget forward-looking:

Rail Budget forward-looking: PM Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday hailed as "forward-looking" the Rail Budget which has proposed hike in passenger fares in various ranges in different categories.  "The Railway Minister has presented a forward-looking budget with emphasis on safety and modernisation of the Indian Railways," Singh said in a statement.  He said the budget has been formulated against the background of the Railways' responsibilities in meeting the demands of the 12th Five Year Plan.  Presenting his first budget, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi announced hike in passenger fares ranging from 2 paisa per kilometre to 30 paisa per kilometre in various categories of trains while noting that the Railways was passing through a "difficult phase".  He also announced introduction of 75 express trains, 21 passenger trains and extension of 39 trains besides increase in the frequency of 23 trains. Platform tickets have also been raised from Rs 3 to Rs 5. (BJ-14/03)  Delhi gets three new trains  Delhiites have something to cheer about from this year's Rail Budget with announcement of three new trains to various locations and reduction in travel time between the city and eastern metropolis of Kolkata.  In the Rail Budget presented by Minister Dinesh Trivedi, Delhi got two new trains that would depart from Sarai Rohilla station and one that passes through the capital.  While Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Udhampur AC Express (Tri-Weekly) and BandraDelhi Sarai Rohilla Express (Weekly) will depart from the Sarai Rohilla station, Ajmer-Haridwar Express will pass through the capital.  During his speech, the Railway Minister announced that pre-feasibility studies on six high speed corridors have already been completed and study on Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur will be taken up in 2012-13.  A combination of prudent investment decisions in the areas of track & bridges, signalling, doubling and train-sets is proposed to be adopted to enable train running at speed of 160 kmph and above, he said.  If this comes into effect, the travel time between New Delhi and Kolkata would get reduced from almost 17 hours to 14 hours.  The proposal would significantly reduce travel time for passenger trains by 20-25 per cent.  Such infrastructure would also enable Indian Railways to run Shatabdi trains on long distance trunk routes and between metros, he said in his speech.