Railway Budget 2015-16 Highlights

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The Railway Budget for 2015-16

Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu presented the Railway Budget 2015-16 on 26 February 2015, which was the first full Railway Budget of the BJP/ Modi Government. The budget looked somewhat people-friendly as there was no hike in the passenger fare and freight rates despite the fact that the department has been facing a revenue crisis.

BJP/ Modi Government's Goals for the Railway Budget 2015-16

Goal 1: Increasing Connectivity

  • Focus on better network and high speed trains.

Goal 2: Safety

  • Make the rail a safer mode of travel.

Goal 3: Modernising the Infrastructure

  • Main focus on capacity enhancement from 21 million to 30 million.
  • Increase the track length by 20 percent from 1,14,000 km to 1,38,000 km.
  • Grow the annual freight carrying capacity from 1 billion to 1.5 billion tonnes.

Goal 4: Financial Sustainability

  • Raising money from banks and pension funds to fund expansion.

Goal 5: Setting Standards of Governance and Transparency

  • Conforming to the highest standards of governance and transparency

Eleven Major Thrust Areas of the Action Plan of Suresh Prabhu's Railway Budget 2015-16:

Customer Services

  1. No hike in passenger fare.
  2. Cleanliness utmost priority with the slogan being "Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat". New department for cleanliness of stations and trains will be set up.
  3. 17,000 old toilets to be replaced by bio-toilets.
  4. 138 - The 24x7 All India helpline number for customers to be activated.

Ticketing

  1. Provisions to be made to ensure that passengers travelling without ticket can purchase it in five minutes through an online portal or app.
  2. System of purchasing ticket after one-time registration.
  3. Integrated ticketing to be expanded on routes.
  4. Smart cards and other payment systems to be made operational.
  5. Food can be ordered through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) while booking tickets. Working with many canteens.
  6. Setting up base kitchens on the identified locations to serve high quality food.
  7. Providing clean drinking water to people at nominal cost at all stations.
  8. Possibility of extending facility of SMS on mobiles as a valid proof of travel for PRS tickets.
  9. Setting up single portal with simplest navigation.
  10. SMS alerts to inform about train timings.
  11. Surveillance cameras for women security.
  12. Mobile phone charging facility in general coaches with increased number of points.
  13. Wi-Fi to be provided at B category stations.
  14. Online booking of wheelchair on payment basis for senior citizens, patients and differently-abled passengers through IRCTC on select stations.
  15. Advance booking days to be extended to 180.
  16. Allotment for passenger amenities to be increased by 67%.
  17. Revamping stations in terms of cleanliness, wider tracks and so on.
  18. Existing redevelopment of stations, for which work is in process, will continue. For the remaining stations, the design proposal for revamp will be invited and bidding will be done.
  19. Satellite railway terminals in all major cities. Ten select stations to be picked up for this.

Improving Connectivity

  1. Negotiations on for funding of new projects.
  2. Meghalaya brought on the Railway map of India and direct connectivity to Delhi provided.
  3. Preliminary Engineering cum Traffic Survey (PETS) for four other dedicated freight corridors in progress.
  4. Two dedicated freight corridor projects gathering pace.
  5. Expansion of freight handling capacity - Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme for traffic to be expanded and policy for Private Freight Terminals (PFT) to be revised.
    1. Multimodal transport across India.
  6. Review of wagon leasing and other schemes.
  7. More high speed trains; feasibility study is in process.
  8. Speed of nine railway corridors to be increased from existing 110 and 130 kmph to 160 and 200 kmph respectively.

Safety

  1. Plans for unmanned railway crossings.
  2. AV warnings at all unmanned stations.
  3. 3,430 unguarded crossings to be eliminated.
  4. Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System to be installed on select routes at the earliest.
  5. RDSO to develop a suitable device with reliable power supply system based on theft-proof panels/batteries in consultation with the Indian Space Research Organization.
  6. Modern track structure consisting of sleepers and heavier rails being used while carrying out primary track renewals.

Technological Innovations

  1. Constituting an innovation council called “Kayakalp” for business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovation in the Railways.
  2. Technology portal to be set up to invite innovative technological solutions.
  3. Strengthening of RDSO into an organization of excellence for applied research; four Railway Research Centres to be set up in select universities for fundamental research and ‘Malaviya Chair’ for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi to be set up.
  4. Consortium of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Science and Technology and Industries on to take up identified Railway projects for research.
  5. IT vision to be unveiled: Information on latest berth availability station navigation system, bar coded/RFID tracking of parcels and freight wagons and automated parcel warehouses.
  6. Integration of train control and asset management applications.
  7. Mechanising integrated track maintenance.

Revamp PPP Cell in Ministry to Make it More Result Oriented

  1. Participative model to be made more efficient.
  2. Intensive technology and new projects for ports and mines.

Human Resource Strategy

Focused Human Resource strategy to raise employee productivity in line with global standards. Separate accounting head for HRD. ERP based Human Resource Management System.
  1. Repair of staff quarters.
  2. Improve delivery of health services to employees.
  3. Setting up a full-fledged University during 2015-16.
  4. Upgradation of four holiday homes.

Energy and Sustainability

  1. Accreditation for environment management to be extended.
  2. Solar plants as a part of the Solar Mission of Railways to be setup.
  3. Water conservation mission including water audit.
  4. Expansion of water harvesting systems.
  5. New solar plants on blocks.
  6. Power tariff deals to be renegotiated.
  7. Improvement of fire alert system in trains.

Transparency and Government Initiative

  1. Introducing system of online applications for two categories of recruitment as a pilot project - to be extended.
  2. Exploring all possible solutions to address menace of corruption.
  3. Expanding E-procurement value chain.
  4. Constituting a mechanism for making regulations, setting performance standards, determining tariffs and adjudicating disputes among licensees/private partners and the Ministry, subject to review in appeal.
  5. Encourage self employment: Launch programme to sell handmade products by the people specially women.
  6. To begin Incredible Rail for the Incredible India campaign.
  7. Kisan Yatra: Special financial scheme for training farmers.

Some of the Highlights of the Railway Budget:

  • CCTV cameras to be installed on select mainlines and ladies compartments.
  • There will be user-friendly ladders to climb up to the upper berths to increase the lower-berth quota for senior citizens.
  • All India 24 X 7 Helpline No. 138 will start from 1 March; Toll Free No.182 for security complaints.
  • Unreserved ticket purchase to be made easier through smartphones and debit cards.
  • 17,000 bio-toilets in trains to come up.
  • For safety reasons, the middle berth of coaches will be reserved for women and senior citizens.
  • TTEs would be directed to help senior citizens, pregnant women and differently-abled people in getting hold of lower berths.
  • Collaboration with NIFT and NID for better bed rolls and inner coach designs.
  • Rs.120 crore allocated for lifts and escalators to ease out the movement of passengers and goods.
  • SMS alerts to be introduced to inform passengers in advance about the updated arrival/ departure time of trains at the starting or destination stations.
WBVK   WBVDA

The Railway Budget for 2014

  • Bullet Train on Ahmedabad-Mumbai Corridor proposed, Speed of trains to be increased in nine sectors.
  • Increased passenger amenities, more safety measures, timely completion of projects.
  • No Increase in Rail fare.
  • Stress on resource mobilization through FDI, PSU Surplus and PPP.
  • Thrust on passenger amenities, cleanliness & efficient station management.
  • Multi pronged approach for improving safety & security. 4000 Women RPF constables to be recruited.
  • Revamping Railway reservation system into next generation e-ticketing, WI-FI services in major stations & in select trains. Mobile based wakeup calls for Passengers.
  • 58 New Trains Introduced; 11 Existing Trains Extended. The details are as follows:-
NEW TRAINS
Jansadharan Trains
i) Ahmedabad-Darbhanga Jansadharan Express via Surat
ii) Jaynagar-Mumbai Jansadharan Express
iii) Mumbai-Gorakhpur Jansadharan Express
iv) Saharasa-Anand Vihar Jansadharan Express via Motihari
v) Saharasa-Amritsar Jansadharan Express

Premium Trains
i) Mumbai Central-New Delhi Premium AC Express
ii) Shalimar-Chennai Premium AC Express
iii) Secunderabad-Hazrat Nizamuddin Premium AC Express
iv) Jaipur-Madurai Premium Express
v) Kamakhya-Bengaluru Premium Express

AC Express trains
i) Vijayawada-New Delhi AP Express(Daily)
ii) LokmanyaTilak(T)-Lucknow(Weekly)
iii) Nagpur-Pune(Weekly)
iv) Nagpur-Amritsar(Weekly)
v) Naharlagun-NewDelhi(Weekly)
vi) Nizamuddin-Pune(Weekly)

Express Trains
i) Ahmedabad-Patna Express(Weekly)via Varanasi
ii) Ahmedabad- Chennai Express(Bi-weekly)via Vasai Road
iii) Bengaluru -Mangalore Express(Daily)
iv) Bengaluru -Shimoga Express(Bi-weekly)
v) Bandra(T)-Jaipur Express(Weekly)Via Nagda,Kota
vi) Bidar-Mumbai Express(Weekly)
vii) Chhapra-Lucknow Express (Tri- weekly)viaBallia,Ghazipur,Varanasi
viii) Ferozpur-Chandigarh Express(6 days a week)
ix) Guwahati-Naharlagun Intercity Express(Daily)
x) Guwahati-Murkongselek Intercity Express(Daily)
xi) Gorakhpur-Anand Vihar Express(Weekly)
xii) Hapa-Bilaspur Express(Weekly)via Nagpur
xiii) Hazur Saheb Nanded-Bikaner Express(Weekly)
xiv) Indore-Jammu Tawi Express(Weekly)
xv) Kamakhya-Katra Express(Weekly)via Darbhanga
xvi) Kanpur-Jammu Tawi Express(Bi-weekly)
xvii) Lokmanya Tilak(T)-Azamgarh Express(Weekly)
xviii) Mumbai_Kazipeth Express(Weekly)via Balharshah
xix) Mumbai-Palitana Express(Weekly)
xx) New Delhi-Bhatinda Shatabdi Express(Bi-weekly)
xxi) New Delhi-Varanasi Express(Daily)
xxii) Paradeep-Howrah Express(Weekly)
xxiii) Paradeep-Visakhapatnam Express(Weekly)
xxiv) Rajkot-Rewa Express(Weekly)
xxv) Ramnagar-Agra Express(Weekly)
xxvi) Tatanagar Baiyyappanahali (Bengaluru) Express(Weekly)
xxvii) Visakhapatnam-Chennai Express(Weekly)

Passenger Trains
i) Bikaner-Rewari Passenger(Daily)
ii) Dharwad-Dandeli Passenger(Daily)via Alnavar
iii) Gorakhpur-Nautanwa Passenger(Daily)
iv) Guwahati-Mendipathar Passenger(Daily)
v) Hatia-Rourkela Passenger
vi) Byndoor-Kasaragod Passenger(Daily)
vii) Rangapara North-Rangiya Passenger(Daily)
viii) Yesvantpur-Tumkur Passenger(Daily)

MEMU services
i) Bengaluru -Ramanagaram 6 days a week(3Pairs)
ii) Palwal-Delhi-Aligarh

DEMU services
i) Bengaluru -Neelmangala (Daily)
ii) Chhapra-Manduadih (6days a week)via Ballia
iii) Baramula-Banihal (Daily)
iv) Sambalpur-Rourkela (6 days a week)
v) Yesvantpur-Hosur (6 days a week)

EXTENSION OF RUN OF EXISTING TRAINS
i) 22409/22410 Anand Vihar Sasaram Garib Rath Express to Gaya
ii) 12455/12456 Delhi Sarai Rohilla Sriganganagar Express to Bikaner
iii) 15231/15232 Gondia Muzaffarpur Express to Barauni
iv) 12001/12002 New Delhi Bhopal Shatabdi Express to Habibganj
v) 54602 Ludhiana-Hissar Passenger to Sadulpur
vi) 55007/55008 Sonpur-Kaptanganj Passenger to Gorakhpur
vii) 55072/55073 Gorakhpur-Thawe Passenger to Siwan
viii) 63237/63238Buxar-Mughalsarai MEMU to Varanasi
ix) 63208/63211Jhajha-Patna MEMU to Jasidih
x) 64221/64222LucknowHardoi MEMU to Shahjahanpur
xi) 68002/68007Howrah-Belda MEMU to Jaleswar

  • Railway University and Innovation Incubation Centre to be Set UP
  • Top Priority to Transparency, e-procurement to be made
  • Compulsory in Higher Purchase, Online Registration for Wagons in Next Two Months
  • Highest Ever Plan Outlay of Rs. 65,445 Crore with Higher Allocation for Safety Measures
Source: PIB, Government of India

Union Railway Budget 2014-15Union Railway Budget 2015-16
Last Updated on June 10, 2015