Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Saturday said that Indian Railways was in profit and that he would never allow anyone to privatise the organisation.
"Indian Railways is in profit when railway services in countries like England, Germany, Japan and France are running in losses," he said.
"Indian Railways is the lifeline of India. Everyday, nearly 14,000 trains run in the country. Earlier, trains were used to run late but nowadays we are competing with airlines," Lalu said.
He was speaking to management students and local citizens at an interaction programme organised as part of silver jubilee celebrations of the local daily Dainik Lokmat.
He announced that Railways would transform stations at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Puri, Patna, Kolkata, Lucknow, Delhi and Chandigarh into world class ones in the near future.
Underground roads would be constructed at stations, which will have big markets alongside them, he added.
Lalu, who is credited with the Railways' turnaround, said that some measures taken during his stint have saved Rs 10,000 crore for the ministry.
"In the past, we used to spend a lot on fuel needed for running 56-tonne trains, Now, lighter trains are being manufactured, bringing down the expenses on the fuel.
{{/usCountry}}"In the past, we used to spend a lot on fuel needed for running 56-tonne trains, Now, lighter trains are being manufactured, bringing down the expenses on the fuel.
{{/usCountry}}"The period of transportation of goods was also brought down to five days from a week. It was also decided that a train will carry a maximum load of 706 tonnes. These measures resulted in saving Rs 10,000 crore," he said.
The minister presented a new year gift to the district by announcing a daily Aurangabad-Mumbai Shatabdi Express train.