Rail Budget is the Annual Financial Statement of the state Indian Railways which handles rail transport. It is presented every year by the Minister of Railways, representing the Ministry of Railways in the Parliament.
Here are 7 lesser known facts about the Railways and its Budget :
1. As per the recommendation of the ten member Acworth Committee in 1920-21 headed by British railway economist William Acworth, the Acworth report led to the reorganization of Railways. The Railways finances of India were separated from the general government finances in 1924. Since then Indian Rail Budget and the Union Budget of India are introduced separately every year.
2. The first ever live telecast of the Railway budget took place on March 24, 1994.
3. Under article 112 and rule 204 of the India Constitution the budget is presented in two distinct parts namely the Railways Budget pertaining to Railway finance and the General budget of India which gives an overall picture of the financial position of the Government of India excluding the Indian railways.
4. Lalu Prasad Yadav who was the Rail Minister from 2004 to 2009 presented the Rail budget a record six times in a row under his five year tenure a record 108 billion rupees budget was passed.
5. In 2000 Mamta Banarjee who is currently the CM of West Bengal became the first women Railways Minister of India, and in year 2002 she was the first female Minister of Railways to present the Rail budget. She also holds the distinction of being the only women who presented the railway budget for two different governments at the centre National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
6. The Indian Railways is the largest employer in the world, means it provides the highest number of jobs amongst all the sectors and departments throughout the world.
7. The first passenger train under the tag name of Indian Railways ran on April 16, 1853 between Bombay and Thane. The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) located in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi introduced Computer reservation system for the first time in July 1986 by the Ministry of Railways of India. The busiest Railway station is Lucknow which witnesses more than 64 trains daily ; the longest running time for a train is held currently by Vivek Express (Nearly 72 hours ; 3715 kilometers). The longest railway platform in the World is Kharagpur which is 2,733 feet in length and the fastest train in the Indian Railway network is the Bhopal-Shatabdi which runs at a speed of around 150 km/hr.
