Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the Indian Railways are yet to see "achhe din". Ahead of the Railway Budget, the former Union Railway minister said in the undated letter that there is a "growing sense of despair and gloom all around" the railway sector.

Yadav wrote that the Railways are "trapped in a vicious circle of rising rates and falling volumes, declining margins and market share, falling productivity and profitability. Saner voices were crushed and unrealistic growth targets were imposed from above". He added that the financial and physical targets of the Railways have turned out to be Mungerilal Ke Hasin Sapne – a TV serial from the 1980s based on the daydreams of a clerk.

Yadav ended the letter by highlighting the "huge untapped potential" of the sector, comparing it to a "Jersey cow" that has neither been milked, nor taken care of. He said that it can be restored to "sound health" if "anti-poor and employee-unfriendly policies" are reversed.