The Railway Budget 2010-11 announced by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee highlighted that social responsibility comes over commercial viability. With this view in mind, the government has proposed introduction of several new rail lines. Banerjee stated that there will be no increase in the passenger fares of any class or category of trains. Freight tariffs will also remain the same for 2010-11. Service charges for e-tickets and freight charges for food-grains will be reduced. She also proposed 52 new train services to meet increasing demand of passengers, increase in frequency of 12 train services, extension of 21 trains and introduction of some special trains. Bharat Tirth Trains for tourists connecting popular sites in different parts of the country will be introduced during the year. She also proposed four new Duronto trains between Chandigarh and Amritsar, between Chennai and Coimbatore, between Puri and Howrah and between Howrah and Digha.

Banerjee has proposed Rs 41,426 crore, the highest ever plan investment to provide efficient, customer focused and modern railway network. Out of this allocation, Rs 4,411 crore has been proposed to achieve the target of 1,000 kms for new lines and Rs 1,302 crore for passenger amenities. The plan would be financed through gross budgetary support of Rs 15,875 crore, diesel cess of Rs 877 crore, internal resources of Rs 14,523 crore and EBR of Rs 10,151 crore including market borrowing through Indian Railways Finance Corporation Ltd (IRFC) of Rs 9,120 crore.

The Budget speech also stated the launch of special train services; Sanskriti Express to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. It will set up Rabindra Museum at Howrah and Gitanjali Museum at Bolpur. Indian Railways will be the lead partner for Commonwealth Games 2010 and will run special trains for the same. The government will also introduce a new rail route between the India and Bangladesh. The proposed route between the two countries will link Akhaura in Bangladesh and Agartala in India.