Ahead of the presentation of the Railway Budget next week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has discussed the organisation's finances with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The broad contours of the Railway Budget for 2004/05, which would be presented in Parliament on July 6, are understood to have been discussed and finalised during the meeting, the railway ministry sources said.    

This follows a meeting Prasad earlier had with Finance Minister P Chidambaram when he had sought additional budgetary support for the railways keeping in view the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance.

Sources said that an additional budgetary support of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) was believed to have been agreed to for the railways.

There is a commitment made in the CMP as also the President's address to the joint session to invest more public money in infrastructure sectors like railways, roadways, highways, electricity and telecom.