India has the world’s fourth largest rail network. The government set the plan on Thursday to invest $137 billion in its old rail network over the next five years, Reuters reports. Over the next years the country will increase investments by about $16.15 billion to meet the goals. Prime Minister Modi, who called rail budget "a paradigm shift" is expected to use Union Budget to lay out an economic vision focused on building the roads. It should be mentioned that the Minister does not want railway to be privatized, that is why they want to have budget created by the public section investments.
Railway network building will provide 1.3 million jobs. The railway is India’s largest employer and any reform, regarding it, is politically sensitive. That is why the government does not highlighted the modernization of the railway, instead preferred to use the system to provide cheap transport and create jobs for the local people.