‘Pink book’ on annual project estimates of railway budget yet to be published

Delayed publication of Southern Railway's pink book detailing annual estimates causes frustration among railway activists and commuters.

The Railway budget was presented almost two months ago with much fanfare but the detailed annual estimates issued in a printed form is yet to be published for Southern Railway which has eight divisions covering Tamil Nadu and Kerala. 

The annual estimate which is published in the form of a pink book contains detailed estimates of the proposed works, projects, physical targets, and expected outcomes for the fiscal year Normally the book would be published within a few days of the announcement of the railway budget but this year the Railway Board had kept the comprehensive annual publication under wraps for their own reasons, complained railway activists. 

P. Edward Jeni, Secretary of the Kanyakumari District Railway Users’ Association, pointed out that the recent budget allocation for railways increased significantly, from ₹879 crore in 2014 to ₹6,626 crore, representing a 7.5-fold growth.

Despite announcing 22 new track projects, only two new line projects -Dhanushkodi-Rameswaram (initially proposed but later rejected due to environmental concerns raised by the State government) and Hosur-Krishnagiri, along with Morappur-Dharmapuri - have been initiated in the past decade, with no additional new projects announced. In fact all the railway projects being executed are the extension of the projects announced in 2009-14. 

Railway activist R. Pandiaraja expressed disappointment that the 2025-26 budget failed to announce new rail infrastructure projects, and with the non-release of the pink book, railway commuters have been left without any information. He wanted the elected representatives to take up this issue in the Lok Sabha. 

A senior official of the Southern Railway when asked about the book had not been issued to any of the 18 railway zones including the Southern Railway.