50% hike for electrification; 17,000 bio-toilets; WiFi at 400 stations; bar-coded tickets; ticket cancellation by phone; Amritsar among pilgrim stations to be beautified

New Delhi, February 25

The Railway Budget for 2016-17 on Thursday spared passengers and goods movement from any increase in tariffs, while it announced introduction of three new superfast trains and creation of dedicated north-south, east-west and east coast freight corridors by 2019.

Presenting his second budget in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu promised rationalising of the tariff structure by undertaking a review to evolve competitive rates vis-a-vis other modes of transport and to expand the freight basket as a means of additional revenue mobilisation.

Unlike last year when he tweaked freight rates, Prabhu made no changes either in passenger fares or freight rates.

The three new superfast trains announced by him include ‘Humsafar’ which will be a fully air-conditioned 3AC service with option of meals. ‘Tejas’ will showcase the future of train travel in India with speeds up to 130 km per hour and on board services, such as entertainment, local cuisine and WiFi.

The two trains will ensure cost recovery through tariff and non-tariff measures, while the ‘Uday’ will be an overnight double-decker along with the ‘Utkrishit’ double-decker air-conditioned yatri express on the busiest routes.

For improving quality of travel for unreserved passenger, a superfast ‘Antyodya’ express service would be introduced.

‘Deen Dayalu’ unreserved coaches with portable water and higher number of mobile charging points would also be introduced.

He also announced the setting up of a Rail Development Authority to enable fair pricing of services, promote competition, protect customer interest and determine efficiency standards. The Draft Bill in this regard will be ready after holding extensive stakeholder consultations.

Outlining the budget estimates for the coming year, the Minister put the plan size at Rs 1.21 lakh crore.

The focus will be on capital expenditure with a mix of various sources of funding in order to ensure the projects are given assured funding.

Gross traffic receipts for the coming fiscal have been fixed at Rs 1.84 lakh crore with passenger earning growth pegged at 12.4 per cent and earning target budgeted at Rs 51,012 crore.

The freight traffic is pegged at an incremental tariff of 50 million tons, anticipating a healthier growth in the core sector of the economy.

Goods earning is accordingly proposed at Rs 1.17 lakh crore. Earnings on account of other coaching and sundries have been projected at Rs 6,185 crore and Rs 9,590 crore, respectively.

Pension outgo has been budgeted at Rs 45,500 crore in the coming year. Revenue generation has been targeted at Rs 1.84 lakh crore.

Financial performance for the current year has reflected a savings of Rs 8,720 crore, neutralising most of the revenue shortfall.

Operating ratio has been targeted at 92 per cent for the coming year as against 90 per cent in 2015-16, restricting the growth of ordinary expenses by 11.16 per cent after building in impact of 7^th Pay Commission recommendation, planned reduction in diesel and electricity consumption.

The three new freight corridors of North-South will connect Delhi and Chennai, East-West connecting Kharagpur to Mumbai and East Coast from Kharagpur to Vijawada.

“It is proposed to put these three projects on high priority to ensure structuring, award and implementation in a time-bound manner through innovative financing schemes, including PPP,” Prabhu said in his more than hour-long speech.

Before the current financial year ends on March 31, almost all contracts for civil engineering work would be awarded.

Contracts worth Rs 24,000 crore have been awarded since he assumed office against Rs 13,000 crore worth of contracts in the last six years. — PTI

Nothing new: Bansal

Reacting to the Railways Budget, former Congress Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said it contained only a few new announcements, as the majority them had already been announced by the UPA government.

 

Railway Budget at a glance

By Girja Shankar Kaura

• Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said Railway Budget reflects aspirations of the people.
• Budget prepared after discussions with all stakeholders.
• “My vision is make the Railways the backbone of country’s development.”
• “I’m happy to announce that action has been initiated on 139 budget announcements made last year.”
• By 2020, reserved accommodation on trains will be available on demand.
• Minister unveils three pillars of strategy.
• Will exploit new avenues for revenue.
• Operating ratio to be at 92% despite 7th Pay Commission payouts.
• To improve quality of services.
• Hope to achieve revenue of Rs 1,84,820 crore.
• Action initiated on 139 projects announced in Railway Budget last year.
• Capital outlay almost double of what it was two years ago.
• Railway wants to spend 88.5 paise per rupee of revenue, which is the best performance in the last nine years.
• Rs 8.5 lakh crore to be spent over next five year.
• Indian Railways to surpass ambitious target of commissioning 2500 km of broad gauge lines, almost 30% higher than last year.
• Our mission is to ensure 100% transparency.
• Social media is also being used as a tool to bring transparency.
• Pension expenditure for FY17 at 45,000 crore.
• WiFi services at 100 stations this year and another 400 over next two years.
• To introduce 1,780 automatic ticket vending machines.
• All stations to be brought under CCTV in a phased manner.
• E-ticketing up at 7,200 tickets per minute from earlier 2,000 per minute.
• 400 railway stations to be equipped with WiFi, 100 this year.
• CCTV at all taktal ticket counters.
• Anti-falling measures in suburban trains.
• Antodaya Express, fully unreserved train and Deen Dayal general bogies in select trains.
• New train between Delhi and Varanasi.
• Mahamana Express with modern refurbished coaches.
• 17 states agree to form JVs with the Railways for construction of rail-overbridges.
• Introduces Humsafar Express fully air-conditioned third AC service with an optional service for meals.
• Introduces Utkrisht double-decker air-conditioned Yatri (Uday) Express with increased 40% capacity.
• Bar-coded tickets to be introduced at major stations.
• Work on Katra-Banihal section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link progressing satisfactorily and 35 km of tunneling completed.
• ‘Clean my coach’ SMS service to be launched.
• Children’s menu to be introduced.
• Local cuisine of choice will be made available.
• IRCTC to handle catering services in a phased manner.
• Ticket sub-quota of 33% for women.
• To strengthen Sarathi Seva services for enabling passengers to book battery-operated cars.
• Porter services on paid basis, in addition to pick and drop.
• 20,000 screens across 2,000 stations to provide real-time information to passengers and to generate revenue through advertisements.
• One person to be made accountable on a train.
• To provide new uniforms to porters and they will be called Sahayaks.
• Aastha circuit trains to connect important pilgrim centres.
• Two elevated rail corridors in Mumbai.
• Ring railway system for Delhi.
• High-speed passenger corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
• FM radios to provide rail-borne entertainment.
• Will appoint three customer managers to serve a single-point person for all issues.
• Cleaning of coach on demand to be introduced; disabled enabled toilet in 11 Class-A stations this year.
• 2,500 water vending machines at stations.
• Mobile charging points in general class, dustbins, enabled online booking of rest rooms.
• Advertising revenue to increase by four times.
• 24X7 women helpline for safety of women.
• GPS services inside coaches.
• Cuisine of choice to be made available.
• To increase quota of lower berths for senior citizens by 50%.
• Reorganise the Railway Board along business line.
• Ajmer, Amritsar, Gaya, Mathura, Nanded, Nashik, Puri, Tirupati, Varanasi, Nagapattinam and other pilgrim stations to be beautified.
• Draft Bill for creation of Rail Development Authority.
• To bring in National Rail Plan 2030.
• Anti-collision devices to be in place by next year on ball high-density routes.
• Overnight double-decker trains to be introduced on business rail routes.
• Railways to monetise land on tracks by leasing out for horticulture and tea plantation.
• New train ‘Tejas’ at 120 km per hour.
• Prabhu proposes to create rail auto hub in Chennai.