As the bitter pill of fare hikes
were announced much before the Railway budget; the Railway Minister focused his
speech on his plans and vision for Indian Railways. Presenting his maiden
railway budget, Sadananda Gowda stressed that the focus was on passenger
comfort and amenities. Of the several announcements; two stand out--the
proposed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Railways, subject to Cabinet nod
and Public Private Partnership (PPP) to drive future projects. Some of the
other key highlights from the speech include:
- Railways to scale down market borrowings to R11,790 crore
- Revamped reservation system and ticket-booking through mobile phones and post offices
- To launch diamond quadrilateral of high speed trains
- Bullet train proposed on Mumbai-Ahmedabad route
- Plans to increase speed of trains to 160 to 200 km per hour in nine select sectors
- Wi-Fi in A-1 and A category stations and in select trains.
- Future e-ticketing to support 7,200 tickets per minute and to allow 1,20,00 simultaneous users.
- Budget allocation for cleanliness up by 40 per cent over the last year
- CCTVs to be used at stations for monitoring cleanliness at railway stations; third-party inspections to be introduced
- Food courts to be set up at major railway stations
- Retiring room facility to be extended to all stations
- Outsourcing at 50 major stations; onboard housekeeping to be extended to more trains
- Launching feedback service through IVRS on the quality of food; food can be ordered by SMS and phone
- Internet and workstation facilities proposed on select trains
- Announces 18 new line surveys, 10 surveys for doubling 3rd and 4th lines and gauge conversion
- Govt proposes 54 per cent higher funds for 23 ongoing projects in the Northeast with an outlay of R5,116 crore
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