Union Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda presented his maiden Railway Budget in Parliament on Tuesday. Here are the highlights of this Budget.
- No new increase in passenger fares and freight charges
- Bullet train in Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector
- Diamond quadrilateral for high speed trains
- Plan to hike speed of trains to 160-200 km/hr in 9 sectors
- Online booking to support 7,200 tickets per minute; to allow 1.2 lakh users log in simultaneously
- Reservation system to be revamped, ticket-booking through mobile phones, post offices to be popularised
- Online platform for unreserved tickets
- Combo parking-platform tickets at stations
- Women RPF Constables to escort ladies coaches; 4,000 women constables to be inducted
- Retiring room facility to be extended to all stations
- Battery operated cars for differently-abled and senior citizens at major stations
- Feedback services through IVRS on quality of food
- Food can be ordered through SMS, phone; Food courts at major stations
- Cleanliness budget up by 40 per cent over last year
- CCTVs to be used at stations for monitoring cleanliness
- Setting up of corpus fund for stations’ upkeep; RO drinking water in some stations and trains
- Automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches
- 58 new trains and extension of 11; 864 additional EMUs to be introduced in Mumbai over 2 years
- FDI in railway projects, except in operations
- FDI, domestic investments in rail infrastructure
- Office-on-Wheels: Internet & workstation facilities on select trains
- WiFi in A1, A category stations and in select trains
- Railways university for technical and non-technical subjects
- Some stations to be developed to international standards through PPP model
- Parcel traffic to be segregated to separate terminals to make passenger traffic unhindered
- Loss per passenger per kilometre up from 10 per cent in 2000-01 to 23 per cent in 2012-13
- Solar energy to be tapped at major stations
- Highest ever plan outlay of Rs. 65,455 crore for 2014-15
- Expenditure in 2014-15 pegged at Rs. 149,176 crore.
New Trains
Jansadharan Trains
Jansadharan Trains
- Ahmedabad-Darbhanga Jansadharan Express via Surat
- Jaynagar-Mumbai Jansadharan Express
- Mumbai-Gorakhpur Jansadharan Express
- Saharasa-Anand Vihar Jansadharan Express via Motihari
- Saharasa-Amritsar Jansadharan Express
Premium Trains
- Mumbai Central-New Delhi Premium AC Express
- Shalimar-Chennai Premium AC Express
- Secunderabad-Hazrat Nizamuddin Premium AC Express 6
- Jaipur-Madurai Premium Express
- Kamakhya-Bengaluru Premium Express
AC ExpressTrains
- VijayawadaNewDelhiAPExpress (Daily)
- LokmanyaTilak(T)-Lucknow (Weekly)
- Nagpur-Pune (Weekly)
- Nagpur-Amritsar (Weekly)
- Naharlagun-NewDelhi (Weekly)
- Nizamuddin-Pune (Weekly)
Express Trains
- Ahmedabad-Patna Express (Weekly)via Varanasi
- Ahmedabad Chennai Express (Biweekly)via Vasai Road
- Bengaluru -Mangalore Express (Daily)
- Bengaluru -Shimoga Express (Biweekly)
- Bandra(T)-Jaipur Express (Weekly) via Nagda, Kota
- Bidar-Mumbai Express (Weekly)
- Chhapra-Lucknow Express (Tri weekly) via Ballia, Ghazipur, Varanasi
- Ferozpur-Chandigarh Express (6 days a week)
- Guwahati-Naharlagun Intercity Express (Daily)
- Guwahati-Murkongselek Intercity Express (Daily)
- Gorakhpur-Anand Vihar Express (Weekly)
- Hapa-Bilaspur Express (Weekly)via Nagpur
- Hazur Saheb Nanded-Bikaner Express (Weekly)
- Indore-Jammu Tawi Express (Weekly)
- Kamakhya-Katra Express (Weekly) via Darbhanga
- Kanpur-Jammu Tawi Express (Biweekly)
- Lokmanya Tilak(T)-Azamgarh Express (Weekly)
- Mumbai_Kazipeth Express (Weekly) via Balharshah
- Mumbai-Palitana Express (Weekly)
- New Delhi Bhatinda Shatabdi Express (Biweekly)
- New Delhi-Varanasi Express (Daily)
- Paradeep-Howrah Express (Weekly)
- Paradeep-Visakhapatnam Express (Weekly)
- Rajkot-Rewa Express (Weekly)
- Ramnagar-Agra Express (Weekly)
- Tatanagar Baiyyappanahali (Bengaluru) Express (Weekly)
- Visakhapatnam-Chennai Express (Weekly)
Passenger Trains
- Bikaner-Rewari Passenger (Daily)
- Dharwad-Dandeli Passenger (Daily)via Alnavar
- Gorakhpur-Nautanwa Passenger (Daily)
- Guwahati-Mendipathar Passenger (Daily)
- Hatia-Rourkela Passenger 7
- Byndoor-Kasaragod Passenger (Daily)
- Rangapara North-Rangiya Passenger (Daily)
- Yesvantpur-Tumkur Passenger (Daily)
MEMU services
- Bengaluru-Ramanagaram 6 days a week (3 Pairs)
- Palwal-Delhi-Aligarh
DEMU services
- Bengaluru-Neelmangala (Daily)
- Chhapra-Manduadih (6days a week) via Ballia
- Baramula-Banihal (Daily)
- Sambalpur-Rourkela (6 days a week)
- Yesvantpur-Hosur (6 days a week)
Source: www.thehindu.com
