Rail budget to signal road to reform - Suresh Prabhu

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's railway budget, to be presented later on Thursday, will signal the direction of long-term reforms needed to revamp the world's fourth-largest rail network, minister Suresh Prabhu said. "The budget will set the direction of long and difficult road of reform," Prabhu told state-run broadcaster DD News ahead of his budget presentation. India's decrepit state-run train services stand to receive at least a 25 percent boost in investment to over $9 billion, funded solely by falling fuel costs, according to officials familiar with the railway budget. (Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Malini Menon)