Friday, September 9 2005 15:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has congratulated Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for 'remarkable improvement' in his ministry's performance and hoped the trend would continue.

"I am happy to learn that the Indian Railways have shown remarkable improvement in their performance during the first quarter of current year 2005-06 compared to the same period last year.

"Almost all parameters of performance, including freight loading and passenger traffic, wagon turnaround time, etc, have shown significant improvement, which are reflected in much better operating ratio and substantially higher financial performance," Singh said in a letter to Prasad.

Congratulating Prasad and the Railway Department officers at all levels, the Prime Minister said he has been informed that "A significant improvement in the functioning of Indian Railways was brought about by a number of initiatives taken by the Ministry under your leadership, leading to increased volumes, reduced unit cost, enhancement in public- private partnership, with simultaneous improvement in customer services and reduction in passenger fares particularly for the poor sections of the population."

Singh said, "I am confident that these initiatives launched by the Ministry will continue to improve performance of the Railways throughout the year, resulting in substantial enhancement in the availability of funds for modernization and creation of additional infrastructure."