No hike in Railway Passenger Fares
- Plan Outlay proposed Rs. 1,00,011 crore, increased by 52%
- Allocation for passenger amenities up by 67%
- Railways to become prime mover of Indian Economy, Five years action plan proposed
- Rail Budget seeks resource mobilization for higher investment
- Thrust on measurable and sustainable improvement in passenger experience and to make Rail a safer means of travel
- Hot buttons, coin vending machines for railway tickets within 5 minutes, e-catering to select meals from an array of choices
- 200 more stations to come under Adarsh Station scheme; Wi – Fi to be provided at B category stations
- 24X7 helplines for attending passenger problems and security related complaints
- For the safety of women passengers surveillance cameras in suburban coaches
- More General class coaches will be added in identified trains.
- The speed of nine railway corridors will be increased to 160 and 200 kmph
- Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System to be installed on select routes
- 77 new projects covering 9,400 km of doubling/tripling/quadrupling works proposed
- A new department for keeping stations and trains clean under Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
Railway Budget presented today in Parliament proposed measures to
make Indian Railways prime mover of Indian Economy once again. It seeks
resource mobilization for higher investment, decongestion of heavy haul
routes and speeding of trains and project delivery, better passenger
amenities and safety, and to make railways a preferred mode of transport
for masses. Presenting the Budget in Parliament, Railway Minister, Shri
Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that all critical initiatives proposed
will be pursued in mission mode.
The Budget proposals have set four goals to transform Indian Railways
over next five years which are- a sustainable and measurable
improvement in customer experience, make rail a safer means of travel,
expansion of capacity substantially , modernization of infrastructure
and finally to make railways financially self-sustainable. To achieve
these goals the budget proposes five drivers which include adopting a
medium-term perspective plan consisting of White Paper, a Vision-2030
document and a five year action plan. Building Partnerships with key
stakeholders for long term financing and overseas technology, improving
last mile connectivity, expanding fleet of rolling stock and
modernization of station infrastructure are included in these drivers.
Railways will also leverage additional resources; envisages investment
of Rs. 8.5 lakh crore in next five years.
Revamping management practices, systems, processes, and re-tooling of
human resources will be taken up by the Railways to achieve targeted
operating ratio for 2015-16 at 88.5%. Fast decision making, tight
accountability, improved management information systems and better
training and development of human resource will also be part of the
action plan to achieve the goals.
In order to make travel on Indian Railways a happy experience, the
Budget has given thrust on Cleanliness and proposes a new department for
keeping stations and trains clean under Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan. New toilets will be built at 650 additional stations; online
booking of disposable bed rolls will be made available. 24X7 helpline
number 138;toll-free number 182 for security related complaints have
also been proposed in the budget.
In order to make ticketing more passenger friendly the Budget
proposes “operation five minutes” for issuing unreserved tickets, hot
buttons, coin vending machines, concessional e-tickets for differently
abled travelers, for booking tickets a multi-lingual e-portal will be
developed. Crediting of refunds through banks and unreserved tickets on
Smart phones will be available. Proliferation of automatic ticket
vending machines with smart cards and currency options, integrated
ticketing system on the lines of rail-cum-road tickets, Defence Travel
System developed for elimination of Warrants have also been proposed in
the Budget.
The Budget has proposed e-catering to select meals from an array of
choices. Ordering food through IRCTC website at the time of booking of
tickets; integrating best food chains into this project; setting up of
Base Kitchens in specified divisions to be run by reputed agencies for
serving quality food and expansion of water vending machines will be
taken up.
Hand-held terminals to Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs) for
verification of passengers will now be provided for verification of
passengers, possibility of extending facility of SMS on mobiles as a
valid proof of travel for PRS tickets will be explored. A centrally
managed Railway Display Network in over 2000 stations in next two years
will be included besides “SMS Alert” service to inform passengers in
advance of the updated arrival/departure time of trains at starting or
destination stations.
For the safety of women passengers surveillance cameras will be
provided on a pilot basis in selected mainline coaches and ladies’
compartments of suburban coaches.
The Railways will also take up a project for introducing on-board
entertainment on select Shatabdi trains; Mobile phone charging
facilities will be provided in general class coaches & will be
increased in sleeper class coaches.
Now, 200 more stations to come under Adarsh Station scheme; Wi – Fi
to be provided at B category stations; facility of self-operated lockers
will be available at stations. Passenger capacity in identified trains
will be augmented; more General class coaches will be added in
identified trains. The Railways has also approached NID to design user
friendly ladders for climbing upper berths. It has also proposed more
quota of lower berths for senior citizens. TTEs will now be instructed
to help senior citizens, pregnant women and differently-abled persons in
obtaining lower berths; middle bay of coaches to be reserved for women
and senior citizen. Provision of Rs. 120 crore has been made for Lifts
and escalator; newly manufactured coaches will now be Braille enabled;
building wider entrances for the ease of differently-abled passengers;
allocation for passenger amenities up by 67%.
The Railways has proposed to revamp its station development policy
completely and simplifies process for faster development by inviting
open bids. It has proposed to develop 10 Satellite Railway terminals in
major cities with twin purpose of decongesting the city and providing
services to suburban passengers.
Seventy seven projects covering 9,400 km of
doubling/tripling/quadrupling works along with electrification, covering
almost all States, at a cost of Rs. 96,182 crore will be taken up.
Traffic facility works a top priority with outlay of Rs. 2374 crore have
been proposed. In order to accelerate the pace of Railway
electrification, 6,608 route kilometres will be sanctioned for 2015-16,
an increase of 1330% over the previous year.
As per the Budget proposal, the speed of 9 railway corridors will be
increased from existing 110 and 130 kmph to 160 and 200 kmph
respectively so that inter-metro journeys like Delhi-Kolkata and
Delhi-Mumbai can be completed overnight. Average speed of freight trains
in empty and loaded conditions, will be enhanced to 100 kmph for empty
freight trains and 75 kmph for loaded trains.
Declaring safety of paramount importance for Railways, an action plan
has been proposed for accident prone areas. The Budget also proposes
970 ROB/RUBs and other safety-related works to eliminate 3438 level
crossings at a total expense of Rs. 6,581 crore, 2600% higher than the
previous year. Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision
Avoidance System will be installed on select routes at the earliest.
The Budget proposes constituting an innovation council called
“Kayakalp” for business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of
innovation in Railways besides setting up of Technology portal to invite
innovative technological solutions. Four Railway Research Centers in
select universities for fundamental research have also been proposed
besides ‘Malaviya Chair’ for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi.
PPP cell of Railways will be revamped to make it result oriented,
“Foreign Rail Technology Cooperation scheme” will be launched. Joint
ventures will be set up with States for focused project development,
resource mobilization, land acquisition, project implementation and
monitoring of critical rail projects. In order to meet the requirements
of new lines JVs will also be set up with major public sector customers.
Rail Budget has also proposed Coastal Connectivity Program in
partnership with ports for Nargol, Chharra, Dighi, Rewas and Tuna.
Besides this, projects worth Rs 2500 crore will be taken up through BOT/
Annuity route. These include Wardha- Nagpur 3rd line, Kazipet-Vijaywada
3rd line, Bhadrak –Nargundi 3rd line and Bhuj- Nalia Gauge Conversion.
In order to make Indian Railways more environment friendly, 100 DEMUs
will be enabled for dual fuel – CNG and diesel. Locomotives running on
LNG are also currently under development. Noise levels of locos to be at
par with international norms; concerns related to wildlife to be
addressed.
As a part of its social initiatives, now Rail stations and training
centers will be made available for skill development. Incredible Rail
for Incredible India will be launched and training of auto-rickshaw and
taxi-operators as tourist-guides on the model of Konkan Railway will be
taken up for tourism promotion. IRCTC will work on promoting the Gandhi
circuit to attract tourists to mark the occasion of 100 years of the
return of Mahatma Gandhi to India from South Africa. Kisan Yatra, a
special travel scheme for farmers for farming & marketing technique
centres has also been proposed.
According to Budget Estimates, Plan Outlay for 2015-16 has been
proposed to Rs 1,00,011 crore, an increase of 52% over RE 2014-15 plan
size. Out of this 41.6% resources will come from Central Government
support while 17.8 % will be generated from internal resources.
– PIB
