Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal ready to talk to NCP over rail budget

NEW DELHI: A day after NCP, a key ally of UPA, expressed grave disappointment over the rail budget, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal today said he is ready to talk to the party to sort out the issue.

"I am ready to talk to them (NCP) to know the reason (of disappointment)", Bansal told reporters here.

Hours after the railway budget was presented in the Lok Sabha yesterday, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said at the UPA coordination committee that the government has "totally neglected" the problems faced by 80 lakh commuters in Mumbai and it is "not acceptable".

Bansal said a total 32 new trains, including extension of service and increase of frequencies, have been announced for Maharashtra.

"Besides, in suburban service alone, 72 additional services were announced in Mumbai," Bansal said adding "a multi-disciplinary training institute for training in rail- related electronics technologies will also be set up at Nagpur."

He said some of the ambitious rail projects such as high speed train and elevated rail corridor are slated to be executed in Maharashtra.

While Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor has been selected for running bullet train at 300km per hour speed, the elevated Virar-Churchgate line will be the first route in the country to have AC suburban train.

"There are some delays in the execution of elevated corridor between Virar-Churchgate. But the state government is yet to sign an agreement with railways for execution of the project," he said.

Bansal further said he is ready to meet any MP or state representative who has issue over the budget.