The Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav presented the Railway budget for 2006 with no phenomenal changes but without negative or glittery changes. The expectation was low and the lack of negative and glittery proposal like mud cups led to some cheer because Yadav's propensity to creating economic damage is high. He announced the introduction of 55 new trains, no changes in passenger fares or freight charges, and a competitive discount of 10-18% on first and second-class A/C classes. He said that the Railways will allow private container trains before March 2006 but it is not clear whether these will be chartered freight trains from Railways or private operators on railway tracks. If it is the latter, it is not clear how the Yadav plans to deal with safety, protocol, and parking issues. Another plan is to make 200 trains super-fast. Again, it is not clear if this means just getting high capacity engines or laying new tracks; all railways tracks are over-subscribed and existing super-fast trains always run late because of traffic issues. Hence, it is not clear how making trains super-fast will really help without solving new tracks, animal control fencing, and cross-traffic management issues. Government's communist allies were incensed by Yadav's plans to outsource station maintenance, cleaning, and ticketing; these are issues that the Indian Railways has been incapable of handling. The communists have threatened to vote against the budget if these proposals are not dropped. The only significant and far-reaching proposal is the proposal to create a USD 4.5 billion dedicated freight corridor. The Railways itself is in good financial position netting USD 2.5 billion from USD 50 million in 2001, a freight volume of 668 million tons (from 600 million tons), and an operating ratio of 84.3% from 90.8% the previous year.