Mamata Banerjee has presented the Rail Budget today. This is her fifth Rail Budget in the parliament and third with the ruling UPA government. The railway minister has tried her best to make it a people friendly budget but the she had received severe criticism from Left, the AIADMK and other opposition. The Rail Budget 2011 surprises every one as there was no surprise this time.

Though the Railways is severely cash-strapped, but the railway minister had tried to announce as many new projects as she can. Apart from that, there have been no hikes in fares as well.

AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa has criticized Mamata Banerjee alleging a hijack of the rail ministry. Jayalalithaa has said that Mamata Banerjee is just hijacking the national resources like railways. Her main objective is to prepare her vote bank for West Bengal elections.

The AIADMK chief has also mentioned that, there is nothing for the people of Tamil Nadu in this Union Railways Budget. A few suburban trains and a couple of Duranto expresses have been announced for the state. No new trains have been announced for Tamil Nadu.