Highlights of Railway Budget -2010-11

Headlines

• No hikes in passenger fares and freight tariff.

• 52 new train services to meet increasing demand of passengers, increase in frequency of 12 train services, extension of 21 trains and introduction of some special trains.

• Railways will not be privatized, but private sector participation welcomed through PPP route.

• A Special Task Force to clear proposals for investments within 100 days to be set up

 Passenger services

• Service charges on e-tickets reduced

• E-ticket vans to be extended to Government Medical College Hospitals, Courts, Universities, IT hubs, IITs and IIMs

• SMS updates of reservation status and movement of wagons

• Ticket centres to be opened at district headquarters and village panchayats

• 100% concession for cancer patients along with an escort

• Modern luggage trolleys with uniformed attendants to assist senior citizens and women passengers

• Six clean bottling plants to provide cheaper, clean drinking water to passengers

New trains and services

• Mumbai to get 101 new suburban train services

• Sanskriti Express, across the country, to mark 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore,

• Matribhoomi Express trains for ladies in Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai

• Karmabhoomi unreserved trains for common people between Darbhanga-Mumbai, Guwahati-Mumbai and New Jalpaiguri-Amritsar.

• Janmabhoomi Trains specially for uniformed persons, between Ahmedabad and Udhampur,

• Bharat Tirth Trains for tourists connecting popular sites in different parts of the country

• Four new Duronto trains between Chandigarh and Amritsar, between Chennai and Coimbatore, between Puri and Howrah and between Howrah and Digha.

• Double-decker coaches to be introduced in two trains each from Delhi and Kolkata

Freight services

• Concession in freight charges for food-grains and domestic use kerosene

• Allotment of iron ore rakes would be accessible through the web.  RFID technology to be introduced for tracking of wagons

• Freight loading target for 2010-11 fixed at 944 million tonnes, 54 million tonnes more than the current year’s revised target.

Railway Infrastructure

• Target set to build 25,000 kms of new lines over next 10 years. 1000 kms every year

• National High Speed Rail Authority proposed to plan high speed rail corridor
• North-sout, east-west dedicated freight corridors to be created
• Chittaranjan Locomotive Works capacity would to be augmented from 200 to 275 engines a year;

• Centre for Railway Research to be set up at IIT-Kharagpur;
• New Design, Development and Testing Facility at Bangalore
• Railways to set up 10 auto ancillary hubs in PPP mode

• First rail line in Andaman and Nicobar Islands to connect Port Blair to Diglipur

• 94 stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations, 10 more stations to be upgraded as World Class Stations

• Multi-level parking complexes through PPP route

Safety & Security issues

• All unmanned Level Crossings (LCs) to be manned within five years

• Automatic fire and smoke detection system to be introduced in 20 trains

• 12 companies of women RPF personnel, ‘Mahila Vahini’, for the security of women passengers

Financials

• Rs.41,426 crore plan outlay proposed, allocation for new lines increased to Rs.2,848 crore from Rs.4,411 crore
• More money to improve passenger amenities – Rs.1,302 crore in comparision to Rs.923 crore  in 2009-10
• For FY11, gross traffic receipts projected at Rs 94,800 crore.
• For FY11, estimated Railways’ dividend payout to exchequer at Rs 6,608 crore
• Railway revenue through branding/advertising to go up from Rs.150 crore to Rs.1,000

Welfare measures

• Houses for all rail employees in next 10 years
• 522 hospitals, 50 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 10 residential schools, model degree colleges, technical and management institutes for railway employees
• Five Railway Sports academies to be set up at Delhi, Secunderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai.
• Railways to run special trains for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi

Railway Recruitment

• No examination fee for women, minority and economically backward class candidates for Railway Recruitment Boards’ exams
• Question papers now will be made available in local state languages besides Hindi, Urdu and English, examinations will be held on the same day in all regions
• Railways to employ one member of family whose land is requisitioned for railway projects

Misc

• Railways to set up Rabindra Museum in Howrah and Geetanjali Museum in Bolpur — both in West Bengal

Download Speech of Mamata Banerjee introducing the Railway Budget 2010-11 on 24th February 2010