Railway budget highlights

Mamta presented the rail budget today. It is a plain vanila budget with some benefits to the freight, passengers, employment opportunities, more trains etc.,

Some of the benefits to passengers:

• No change to the passenger fare
• Cancer patients can travel free, for treatment, in third AC and sleeper classes.
• Service charges on e-tickets reduced to Rs 10 for sleeper class and Rs 20 for AC classes. The present charges are Rs 15 and Rs 40, respectively.
• The benefit of 50% concession to the spouse of accredited journalists has been extended to the companions of those who do not have a spouse. Their dependent children of up to 18 years of age would also get 50% concession once a year.

Highlights of the Rail Budget, presented today

No hike in passenger fares
Cancer patients travel free in AC3
Concession to film industry and press.
Children upto 18 yrs travel free
To launch 10 more duronto trains

1. Yeswantpur (Bangalore) -Delhi (AC) (Weekly)
2. Mumbai-Secunderabad AC (Bi-weekly)
3. Pune –Howrah AC (Bi- weekly)
4. Mumbai-Ernakulam AC (Bi-weekly)
5. Indore- Mumbai AC (Bi-weekly)
6. Jaipur-Mumbai AC (Bi-weekly)
7. Chandigarh-Amritsar
8. Chennai–Coimbatore
9. Puri-Howrah
10. Howrah-Digha

Aims at electrification of 1,000 km route in FY11 Special train named ' Bharat Tirth' to connect Himachal to Kanya Kumari. (all over the country).
Janmabhoomi train: connected areas in western sectors, linking Jodhpur, Lalgarh, etc. To run every week
Karmabhoomi: sleeper trains introduced for the unorganised sector
Introduction of ladies special trains in the name of Matribhumi
Work under Mumbai suburban area under MUTP phase 1 to be completed this year, and under phase 2 to be completed by March 2014
Kolkata Metro to be extended inside the city, 5 stations to be renamed.
Funding for METRO RAIL projects up 5%
FY11 operating ratio pegged at 93.2%
Impact of 6th Pay Commission to railways at Rs 55,000 cr
Will link western corridor development - deal with Japanese firm in March
Cost sharing projects bagged from Andhra Pradesh Government
Propose to run a special train from West Bengal to Bangladesh

FY11 Gross Traffic Receipts seen at Rs 94,700 crore
To acquire 80,000 new wagons
FY11 working spend seen at Rs 87,100 crore
To beat FY10 freight target by 8 million tonnes
To start door-to-door service for freight movement
To launch tourist trains on 16 routes
To introduce 54 new trains  in FY11
Will launch double-decker trains on pilot basis
Allocation for implementing 1,000 km news lines in a year almost doubles to Rs 4,411 crore.
Passenger amenities Rs 1,200 cr
Appropriation for pension fund at Rs 14,500 cr

Expenditure of 783 cr after meeing the dividend liability
Budget estimates: Target for freight set at 944 million tonnes (up 54 million metric tonnes)
Non core business earning seen at Rs 1,000 cr
Cuts freight on foodgrains, kerosene by Rs 100 / wagon
22.6 million free CFL lights already distributed
Premium tatkal service for parcel and freight movement
Autmobile and ancillary hubs in 10 different locatins on PPP mode
5 wagon industry in JV-PPP mode, in Secundrabad,AP,Guwahati,Orissa and Haldia
Wagon repair shop in Mumbai
Agrees to set up railway coach factory in Singur if land is available;
Intergral coach factory in Chennai to be modernised
Rae Bareli coach factory, the work will begin within a year.
Railway will establish strong research partnership with institutes like IIT, CSIR etc
Corporate Social Responsibilty thorugh expansion of Rashtriya Swastha Yojana
Railways has 80,000 women employees. creches and hostels to be set up for children of women employees
MoU with health and HRD Ministry; 101 secondary hospitals, and multi functional hospitals with AIIMS and Vellore to be set up
Staff Welfare: 'House for all' scheme for railways employees - Boost for construction materials
NO INCREASE IN FREIGHT TARIFF.
Railways to be the lead partner in Common Wealth Games 2010. Also to introduce special train for the games.
To provide increased employment opportunity in railways through sports quota
To promote sports, wil build  five sports complexes in Delhi, Secundabad, Chennai Kolkata and Mumbai.
To strengthen the RPF security force; Mahila bahini -  for security of women to be introduced
Will construct underpasses at railway stations to counter problem of lack of usage of foot overbridges.
3,000 level crossings to be mended this year, rest to be done in within next 5 years.
Introducing modern trolleys at all imp stations to assist senior citizens, physically handicapped and children
Six bottling plants on PPP basis to provide clean water at cheaper rates to passengers
Upgradation of 94 stations. Propose to take up another 93 multi functional stations.
Examination fee to be exempted for minority & women,with income less than Rs.50,000 in a year
117 trains will be flagged off
Target: To implement 1,000 route km in one year, 25,000 km in Vision 2020
No privatisaton of railways, says is proud of 14 LAKH employees. To set up a special task force to clear proposals for investments within 100 days
Only 10,419 km of railways added between 1958 and now.
Vision 2020 goals broken up in to short, medium and long term projects. The latter two will require funds and can be done in 5 years.

Source: Business Standard & Live budget presentation

Cheers,
Gopal