Yesterday the Rail Budget was presented at the parliament. Here
are some of the key points:
1. Rail Budget
2016 is all about 'yatri ki garima'
(passengers pride), 'rail ki gati' (speed of railways) and 'desh ki pragati'
(country's progress). The Railway Minister said three pillars of the strategy:
Nav Arjan (New Revenues), Nav Manak (New Norms) and Nav Sanrachna (New
Structures) have been laid out to reflect the new thought process.
2. Savings
through efficient operation in 2015-16 at Rs 8,720 crore.
3. LIC will
invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore over next five years.
4. 2,500 km of
broad guage line will be commissioned in 2016-17.
5. All civil
engineering contracts for dedicated freight corridor will be released soon.
6. 2000 km of
lines will be electrified in 2016-17
7. Two
locomotive factories to be set up at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore.
8. Gross
budgetary support in 2016-17 at Rs 40,000 crore.
9. WiFi
services will be available in 100 stations this year, and the service will be
expanded to 400 more over the next two years. This will keep travellers
well-connected at all times, and help them beat the boredom.
10.Railway
stations of pilgrimage destinations will be beautified. While Puri will be the
first to be beautified, other places included in this project are Ajmer,
Dwarka, Gaya, Varanasi, Haridwar and Parasnath among others.
11.New deluxe
trains announced to ensure better cost recovery.
12.400 stations
will be upgraded through PPP route.
13.IRCTC will
soon please travellers
with a wide variety of food choices that will include local cuisines of choice.
E-catering will be expanded from 40 stations to 408 stations. In order to make
train journeys hassle-free for travelling mothers, a children's menu and baby
food will be on offer.
14.Annualised
savings in 2016-17 estimated at Rs 3000 crore.
15.Two elevated
suburban corridors planned for Mumbai.
16.Travellers
will be able to explore a lot of new destinations as the north-eastern states
of Mizoram and Tripura will be soon connected via a broad-gauge railway
network. National High Speed Rail Corporation will be floated
soon.
17.National
Rail Plan will be announced to ensure synergy in seamless multimodal transport
system across the country.
18.Booking
tickets is expected to become quicker and more hassle-free, as the capacity of
e-ticketing system has been enhanced from 2000 tickets per minute to 7,200 per
minute.
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