Indian Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Monday announced record profits, slashed passenger fares and promised cleaner trains as he scripted a new chapter of the once loss-making juggernaut that moves about 14 million passengers daily.

The most striking part of Lalu Prasad's rail budget presented in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, was the profit of over Rs.215.78 billion ($4.5 billion, Rs.21,578 crores) he announced for the current fiscal ending March 31 and a 14 percent growth in passenger and 17 percent in freight traffic, despite stiff competition from low-cost carriers and truckers.

'I have a tremendous sense of pride and gratitude... The railways are poised to create history by generating a cash surplus before dividend of Rs.20,000 crores (Rs,200 billion) as against Rs.14,700 crores the previous year.

'This is the same railway that defaulted on payment of dividend and whose fund balances had dipped to Rs.359 crore (Rs.3.59 billion) in 2001,' Lalu Prasad proclaimed loudly in the course of a 116-minute speech that was greeted with whoops of support from the treasury benches and constant interruption from the opposition.

In his fourth successive budget presentation, Lalu Prasad, whose turnaround strategy for the railways has become a case study for management schools including Harvard, also announced 32 new trains and reduced fares in air-conditioned cars, even as he laid emphasis on improving hygiene and cleanliness.

The network now runs nearly 12,000 trains, including over 9,000 passenger trains, across a 60,000 km network. It is the largest rail network in the world under a single management.

'The boundless affection and patronage of the people has helped railways stage a turnaround. In recognition of this, I announce a reduction of Rs.1 per passenger in the daily ticket fares of non-suburban ordinary passenger and non-super-fast mail-express trains,' he said.

He also announced a 'Cleanliness Year' for 2007-08. A special campaign will be launched to ensure cleanliness and hygiene at station premises, in passenger trains, on railway lines and in waiting rooms.

He unveiled new sleeper class coaches with 4 percent reduced fare. Another highlight was a new set of air-conditioned chair cars and three-tier coaches in which fares would be 4 percent lower during peak and 8 percent less in off-peak seasons.

Similar, across-the-board fare reductions were also announced in other classes. 'On popular demand, I have decided that super fast surcharge levied on second class tickets for super fast trains shall be reduced by 20 percent.'

The colourful politician from Bihar also announced other customer-friendly measures, notably the sale of e-tickets at gas stations and from automatic teller machines as well as concessions for women, senior citizens and the physically challenged.

He introduced 32 new trains, eight more 'garib raths' (trains for the poor), extended the run of 23 trains and increased the frequencies of 14 others. 'We have shown that one can earn even while serving the common people, by playing the volume game. Continuing this approach in 2007-08 we will add another 800 coaches in popular trains.'

Lalu Prasad referred to the Feb 18 bombing of the Delhi-Attari Link Express to Pakistan near Panipat and the July 2006 blasts in Mumbai's suburban services, and said security would be a top priority for Indian Railways.

'Besides increasing the number of trained dogs in existing dog squads, in many sensitive divisions of the country explosive detection devices, door frames and hand held metal detectors are being installed to provide better security.'

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