Railways to have innovative funding strategy: Prabhu

Bengaluru, Jan 29 (IANS) The railway budget for 2015-16 would spell out an innovative strategy to fund its infrastructure projects, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said Thursday.

“The new strategy will involve pooling in funds from the Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme, state governments and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the private sector for our various projects,” Prabhu said at a function here.

After flagging off four new trains from Bengaluru to Katra in Jammu and Kashmir, Patna, Tatanagar in Jharkhand and Kamakhya in Assam at the city station, Prabhu asked the Karnataka government to set up Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to channelise funds for completing the ongoing railway projects across the state.

Prabhu, who joined the Modi government Nov 9, will present his maiden railway budget next month.

Union Law and Justice Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, from whom Prabhu took over, urged the latter to initiate the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru high speed project and a day train between Bengaluru and Mangaluru to meet the growing public demand in the two cities and enroute.

Prabhu also said he would soon discuss with the state government on the feasibility of introducing suburban services on the Bengaluru-Mysuru and Tumakuru-Bangarpet routes in the state’s southern region.