In a move welcomed by all, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has released in the Railway Budget presented to Parliament on 25 February which will improve selected railway stations, in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism.
Indian Railways is one of the largest networks in the world and much used by domestic and foreign tourists also and hence the new move is welcome.
The cost of the improvement of the looks and approaches to these stations will be shared equally by the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Railways.
The stations which will benefit by the scheme include Hyderabad, Hospet, Agra, Rai Barelli, Varanasi, Kamakaya.Dooars, Gaya, Madurai, Tarapith, Thiruanantpuram, Amritsar, Nanded, Puri, Tirupati, Guwahati and Jaipur, many of which are popular pilgrim, tourist destinations.
In other scheduled developments, 1000km of track will be electrified during the 2011-12 year, new trains will be commissioned and frequencies increased.
The Ministry also assured that there will be no increase in passenger or freight charges for a third year in a row, which is good for the travellers but not so good for the economics of the railways.
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