NEW DELHI - Minister for Railways Lalu Prasad is set to present to parliament the country’s interim rail budget for the next fiscal Friday, with an assurance that he will not ignore people’s welfare and that average citizens will be spared a fare hike.

‘We cannot make many new programmes in this budget, but be assured the welfare of common people will be taken care of. No, I will not raise fares,’ Lalu Prasad told reporters as he proceeded to parliament house from his office at Rail Bhavan.

‘Do not try to connect any announcement with the forthcoming elections. Elections come and elections go. We have always been people-friendly even in tough times like these and will continue to do so if we come back to power again,’ he said.

‘But be assured that we will not hurt common people.’

Speculation is high that there may be announcement for more Garib Raths, the air-conditioned trains for the poor. As many as 15 such trains are currently running, and their numbers are expected to be increased.

The minister presented all the five previous rail budgets for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government since 2004, during which he set a record of sorts in terms of generating revenues despite lowering fares.

He will present an interim budget this time as elections are due soon and by convention the presentation of the regular budget in an election year is left to a new government.

‘During his tenure so far, 604 new trains were introduced, in addition to 105 local trains,’ a senior official at Rail Bhavan said, while Lalu Prasad was seen giving the final touches to his budget papers.

The regular rail budget presented last year reduced fares across the board besides focusing on hygiene, punctuality, new routes, better coaches and mobile ticketing.

The Indian Railways are the second largest railroad in the world under a single management, running more than 11,000 trains every day, 7,000 of which are for passengers.

The network comprises 108,706 km and ferries 14 million passengers daily from 6,853 stations across the length and breadth of the country. This is the reason why it is the only ministry that has a separate budget.