Apprehensions against this move

1. The resource allocation to Railways would henceforth be dependent on Finance Ministry. Therefore, there may be rise or fall in resource allocation to Railways depending on the size of the budget. This may hamper the independent development of Railways.

2. Merger may result in reduced accountability, as the media attention given to separate budget would no longer be there. This would make easy for the government to sweep the losses in railways under the carpet.

3. Some experts feel that merger would throw railways open to privatization and crony capitalism.

There have been mismanagement of the highest order in Indian railways and if there are chances of seeing it improve, merging it with the Union budget is just the solution that could help. The falling revenue and more projects for new trains and stoppages have been a difficult project for the railway ministry which took the right step by merging the two budgets.