Rail Budget Highlights

Moneylife Digital Team 26 February 2015

Suresh Prabhu has set four goals to transform Indian Railways over the next five years, including delivery of a sustained and measurable improvement in customer experience and to make railway a safer means of travel

Presenting his maiden Railway Budget, Suresh Prabhu, the chartered accountant-turned politician, made several announcements to improve amenities and safety for passengers. Prabhu also announced an investment plan of over Rs1 lakh crore for FY2015-16.

Here are the highlights of the Railway Budget for 2015-16…

* No hike in passenger fares

* Speed of trains running at 110-130 kmph to be increased to 160-200 kmph

* Over 1,700 toilets on trains already replaced, another 17,000 to be replaced

* Toilets at stations need improvement; 650 additional toilets to be created in addition to 120 last year

* New department to keep stations clean

* Railways to Work on 'Swachh Rail - Swachh Bharat

* Defence travel system developed to eliminate system warrants

* SMS alerts to be introduced

* Paperless ticketing system to be developed

* Wi-Fi facility to be extended to category B stations (total 400 stations would be covered)

* Suburban network in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to be augmented

* Announcement on new trains/frequencies to be made during current parliament session

* 10 cities identified for creating fully-functional satellite terminals to reduce congestion

* All newly-manufactured coaches to be braille-enabled

* Online booking for wheel chairs to be enabled

* Over 20,000 suggestions received on improving facilities

* Railways proposes to install Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System on select routes at the earliest

* During 2015-16, 970 ROBs/RUBs and other safety-related works to eliminate 3,438 level crossings at an expense of Rs6,581 crore sanctioned.

* Size of the plan budget has gone up by 52% to Rs1,00,011 crore in 2015-16 from Rs65,798 crore in 2014-15.

* Investment of Rs8.5 lakh crore in next five years

* Railways to increase daily passenger carrying capacity from 21 million to 30 million, increase track length by 20% from 1.14 lakh km to 1.38 lakh km, grow annual freight carrying capacity to 1.5 billion tonnes from one billion tonnes.

* Seventy-seven new projects worth Rs96,182 crore sanctioned

* Four goals: Deliver sustained improvement in customer facilities, Make railways safer means of travel, expand substantially, make Indian Railways self-sustainable

* Nine thrust areas: Railways to once again become prime mover of economy; resource mobilization for higher investments; decongestion of heavy haul routes and speeding up of trains; emphasis on gauge conversion, doubling, tripling and electrification; project delivery; passenger amenities, safety; transparency and system improvement; railways to continue to be the preferred mode of transport for the masses; sustainability

* Foreign rail technology co-operation scheme proposed to be launched

* New governance structure required; more decentralisation and deregulation; accounting system to be revamped

* Resources to be generated through public-private-partnerships

* Assets to be monetised rather than sold; land records being digitised

* Products made by self-help groups to be encouraged

* Railways cannot function in business-as-usual mode, have to keep up with changing times

* Green technology locomotives to be introduced

* Two dedicated freight corridors gathering steam

* Innovation Council and Technology Portal to be set up to invite suggestions on improvements

* MPs urged to use part of their funds for improving rail facilities

* Open bids to be invited from private parties to develop railway stations

* Operational ratio of 88.5% targetted