Highlights of Rail Budget 2009-2010 presented by Mamta Banarjee

• No hike in passenger fares.
• No hike in freight rates.
• Book stores, PCOs to be set up across stations
• Infotainment services on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains
• To take the private-public partnership route to develop stations
• Priority for food and water on trains
• Developing multi-functional complexes at stations
• Priority to passenger amenities
• Rail projects shouldn’t be gauged by economic viability but governed by social viability: Mamata
• To set up panel for financing unvaiilable rail projects
• SMS updates on wait-listed tickets to be introduced.
• Auto-vending machines to be installed in large and medium stations.
• High-capacity air-conditioned double-decker trains to be introduced on select inter-city routes.
• Unreserved ticketing terminals to be expanded from 5,000 to 8,000. Automatic ticket vending machines to be increased.
• Arrangement with Department of Posts for issuance of tickets.
• An Integrated Security System is being developed for 130 vulnerable stations to provide security to passengers.
• Seven nursing colleges to be set up on railway land in places including Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.
• Railway medical colleges to be developed along with rail hospitals on public-private partnership.
• Better representation to be given to minorities, women and the economically backward in railway recruitment. Special recruitment drive to be launched to fill vacancies in physically-handicapped category.
• 18,000 wagons to be acquired during the current year.
• Railways making efforts with Department of Heavy Industries for takeover of ailing wagon manufacturing units like Burn Standards.
• New policy to be launched for construction and operation of private freight terminals.
• Railways to develop cold storages for farmers to store vegetables and fruits.
• Superfast parcel express trains to be started on a pilot basis between Delhi and Chennai and Delhi and Mumbai.
• Railways to set up Land Banks to be used for industry.
• A new coach factory with state-of-the-art facilities, exclusively for manufacturing 500 coaches per annum to be set up at Kanchrapara in West Bengal. Work on coach factory in Rae Bareli to be speeded up.
• Railways to set up a 1,000 MW power plant.
• Freight loading target for 2009-10 set at 882 million tonnes, an increase of 39 million tonnes.
• New scheme ‘Izzat’ (respect) to be introduced under which monthly season ticket of Rs 25 for up to 100 kilometers could be availed by unorganised sector passengers.
• Photo-ID cards-cum-credit cards to be given to accredited journalists. Travel concession has been increased from 30 to 50 per cent for them.
• Ladies’ specials to be introduced in suburban trains during peak hours.
• Twelve non-stop point-to-point trains between select cities to be introduced. The sections include — Howrah-Mumbai, Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Pune, Delhi-Allahabad, Howrah-Delhi, Sealdah-Delhi and Ernakulum-Delhi.
• Tatkal booking time reduced from 5 to 2 days.
• Banerjee says an expert committee will be set up to advise her on implementation of the so-called economically unviable but socially desired projects.
• “My priorities will include better passenger amenities, safety and security and provision of good quality food and drinking water,” says Banerjee.
• Railway ministry has plans to develop important stations through private-public partnership. These include CST Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Howrah, Sealdah, Varanasi, New Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kanpur, Chennai Central, Thiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad, Bangalore City, Byappanahalli, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Habibganj, Agra Central, Chandigarh, Kolkata, New Jalpaiguri, Puri and Kochi.
• Railways to develop multi-functional complexes with shopping malls, food stalls, medicines and variety stores in different parts of the country.
• Infotainment services to be provided in major long-distance trains, Banerjee says.
• Banerjee says an expert committee will be set up to advise her on implementation of the so-called economically unviable but socially desired projects.
• Develop 50 stations as world class stations
• Improvement of trains amenities
• Committed to the cause of the underpreviliged.
• India wants better rail connectivity.

Presenting the Railway Budget for 2009-10 in Parliament today, Minister of Railways Kumari Mamata Banerjee announced  that there will be no increase in passenger fare and freight tariff. She said that the budget will have approach for ‘inclusive growth’ and expansion of rail network to take development to every corner of the country.

Presenting the railway budget she proposed an outlay of Rs,.40,745 cr. for 2009-10.  Out of this, Rs.2,921 cr. will be spent on new lines, Rs.1,750 cr. on gauge conversion and Rs.1,102 cr. on passenger amenities, which is 119% more than the allocation in the interim budget.  Rs.424 cr. will also be spent on railway staff amenities. She proposed freight loading target of 882 MT and estimated gross freight receipt at Rs.88,419 cr.

Giving an overview of financial performance of the Railways in  2008-09, the Minister informed that freight loading during the period grew by 5 percent while traffic receipt increased by 11.4 per cent to reach Rs. 79,862 cr.

The Budget has proposals for 7 new lines, Gauge conversion of 17 lines and doubling of 13  railway lines. In addition, proposals for 53 new lines, 3 gauge conversion and doubling of 12 lines will be processed during the year.

Proposing revision in Tatkal Scheme to make it more passenger friendly, the Railway Minister  said that both the advance booking  time and  minimum charge will be reduced. She said perceptible improvement will be ensured in passenger amenities and safety and security will be given utmost importance.  Cleanliness and quality of railway catering will be improved with focus on strict monitoring. She proposed that ticketing facilities will be taken to the grassroot level. Under the  ‘Maa Mati Manush’ initiative, computerized  tickets will  also be made available through Post Offices. Mobile ticketing vans,   ‘Mushkil Aasaan’,  will also be introduced to provide services in remote areas.

Timely track renewal, modernization of signals and use of digital ultrasonic flaw detectors will be introduced for the safety of the passengers besides Integrated Security Scheme at 140  vulnerable and sensitive stations. Women RPF Squads, exclusively for women passengers, will also be introduced.

Kumari Mamata Banerjee announced a new scheme “Izzat” for travel with dignity. Under this scheme the people in unorganized sector with monthly income upto Rs.1,500/- can avail concessional monthly season ticket  of Rs.25/- for travel upto 100 k.m.

The existing student concession is  to be extended to   students of Madrasas and  students in Kolkata will now have the  MST facilities for  Kolkata Metro also.

To provide  relief to women passengers the Minister proposed ‘only ladies’ EMU trains in Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata suburban during rush hours. She also announced new ‘Yuva trains’ dedicated to young generation  from rural hinterland to major metros  with  concessional rail fare but with air-conditioned facilities.

Now the Press persons will get increased concession of  50% instead of existing 30% . Once in a year their spouse can also travel with 50% concession.

The Railway Minister announced 12 new point to point, non-stop ‘Duronto’ trains, 57 new train services, extension of 27 trains and increase in frequency of 13 trains.   The Minister also proposed introduction of Air-conditioned double decker coaches for inter-city travel.

Fifty stations will be developed  as world class stations and 375 stations as ‘Adarsh Stations’ with improved basic amenties.  Multi functional complexes with shopping facilities, food stalls, budget hotels  are to be constructed at 50 railway stations, which  serve as  centres of pilgrimage, tourist and industry.

The Minister announced  extensive availability of ‘Janata Khana’, in which national and regional cuisines will be ensured. To improve the cleanliness, the onboard  house keeping scheme (OBHS) will cover 200 additional pairs of trains. The long distance trains will have onboard availability of doctors and infotainment services. She also proposed 1000 new passenger reservation  locations and  expansion of Unreserved Ticketing System terminal  from 5000 to 8000, In addition,  automated ticket vending machines will be installed at 200 large and medium size stations.

Stressing on the extension of facilities for handicapped persons, the Railway Minister  said that the Railway will have more ramps, lifts, escalators and special coaches for physically challenged and aged persons..

Reiterating her priority to extend railway services to farmers, she announced special trains to ferry perishable agro products like fruits, vegetables and also village handicrafts, cottage industry and textile products from production clusters to consumer clusters. She also proposed premium freight service for container movement with assured transit time and a mega logistic hub alongside eastern and western dedicated freight corridors. Premium parcel services with guaranteed transit time on pilot basis will be introduced on three routes. During 2009-10, Railway would acquire 18,000 new wagons against 11,000 in 2008-09.

The Minister  announced creation of North-East Rail Development Fund for timely completion of national projects in the North Eastern region and said Quazigund-Anantnag new line in Kashmir will be completed by next month. She also proposed setting up of a new factory at Kanchrapara- Halisahar for manufacturing rail coaches and setting up 1000 MW power plant at Adra, in collaboration with Ministry of Power.

The Railway Minister said that welfare of railway staff will be given high priority. 6560 staff quarters will be constructed in 2009-10 and indoor stadia will be developed in major railway divisions and zones. Increased contribution of Rs.350 per employees to Staff Benefit Fund will  continue for a year, with Rs.100 per employee for women empowerment.  Scholarships will be introduced for the higher education of girl children of  Group ‘D’ staff. She proposed attached medical colleges with railway hospitals at 18 locations and one burn unit at major hospitals. The Minister said the policy on Railway Recruitment Boards will be reviewed. Special recruitment drives for filling vacancies of SC and ST and physically handicapped will also be undertaken.

Emphasizing on review of projects with social perspective, Kumari Mamata Banerjee said,  innovative financing will be adopted. The Railways will come out with White Paper on organizational, operational and financial status based on the last five years’ performance and develop Vision-2020 with short and long term strategy and plan of action. She said that a  project monitoring committee will be set up for developing mechanism to avoid slippage in project delivery. Special monitoring will be taken up for all National Rail Projects. She also proposed an expert committee headed by Shri Sam Pitroda to suggest innovations to utilize optic fibre cable network of Railways and take information technology to remote areas.