Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa on Thursday expressed her disappointment over the railway budget presented by Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu earlier in the day saying, ‘’On the whole, the Railway Budget has failed to meet the expectations of the people of Tamil Nadu.”

She said with ‘’no new trains and no new railway lines announced, the budget belied the sense of expectation nursed by many segments of the population’’ in a release.

She slammed the budget for omitting Chennai’s suburban transit system when upgradation of suburban transit systems in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata were dealt with in great detail.  

However, she welcomed the announcement of an auto hub to be set up in Chennai. 

She also criticized the railway ministry for not doing enough to consult with the state government for implementation of projects.

She said, “Although the Railway Minister has mentioned that creating “New Structures” is one of the three Pillars of his Budget, it is unfortunate that only a token consultation was held with State Governments before finalizing the Draft MOU which lacks clarity on a number of key issues.”

She also criticised the government for making grievance redressal mechanisms exclusively available on digital platforms, which do not serve the common man who may not be digitally literate or own a smartphone. 

She further mentioned ‘’It should be ensured that if the public private partnership arrangements cannot be grounded, then the amenities still need to be created.’’ 

She asked for genuine consultation between the centre and the state government to ensure speedy completion of all the railway projects underway in the state.

She also thanked the railway minister for not increasing the fare for the common man.

Even rivals PMK and DMDK voiced the same opinion.

DMDK leader Vijayakanth reiterated the same and said that the Railway budget has been a letdown. 

PMK founder Ramadoss said he welcomed some measures in the Railway budget but said most issues of TN have been ignored.