Union Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda has reached Parliament along with his cabinet colleague Manoj Sinha to present the maiden rail budget of the Modi Government.
The railway budget is expected to give a big thrust on plans for a high-speed train network and the high-profile Golden Quadri-lateral Rail Network-linking the four metro cities. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor project could be the first off the block to make a headstart.
Among the other likely highlights of the budget would be increasing the speed of elite Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains to 160-200 kmph.
Gowda is also likely to announce pilot project for introduction of automatic closing of doors in Shatabdi coaches and EMU coaches in Mumbai suburban train as safety measures for passengers to prevent any falls from running trains.
Also the Rail budget is expected to revamp the railway system.