Rail Budget, 2016: No fare hike, Suresh Prabhu promises better service

3 new superfast trains, dedicated freight corridors, better connectivity with Northeast.

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu kept passenger fares and freight charges intact in Railway Budget, 2016, looking more towards more trains and dedicated corridors in a Budget he said was “focussed on growth, creating jobs and providing better service to passengers”.

Prabhu introduced three new superfast trains and announced setting up a dedicated north-south, east-west and east coast freight corridors by 2019.

At the beginning of his speech, Prabhu said his Budget was inspired from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of making Railways the backbone of India’s progress and economic development. The Railways has stood the test of time because of its loyal employees, he said.

Presenting his second Budget in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu promised rationalising of the tariff structure by undertaking a review to evolve competitive rates vis-a-vis other modes of transport and to expand the freight basket as a means of additional revenue mobilisation.

Unlike last year when he tweaked freight rates, Prabhu made no changes either in passenger fares or freight rates.

The three new superfast trains announced by him include 'Humsafar' which will be a fully air-conditioned 3AC service with option of meals. 'Tejas' will showcase the future of train travel in India with speeds up to 130 km per hour with onboard services such as entertainment, local cuisine and Wi-Fi.

The two trains will ensure cost recovery through tariff and non-tariff measures while 'Uday' will be an overnight double-decker along with 'Utkrishit' double-decker air-conditioned yatri express on the busiest routes.

For improving quality of travel for unreserved passenger, a superfast 'Antyodya' express service would be introduced.

'Deen Dayalu' unreserved coaches with portable water and higher number of mobile charging points would also be introduced.

He also announced setting up of a Rail Development Authority to enable fair pricing of services, promote competition, protect customer interest and determine efficiency standards. The draft Bill in this regard will be ready after holding extensive stakeholder consultations.

Prabhu said a savings of Rs 8,720 crore for budget estimates from last year will be affected this year. For the year 2016-17, the Railways capital plan is Rs 1,21,000 crore. The focus would be on capital expenditure with a mix of various sources of funding in order to ensure the projects are given assured funding.

Prabhu hopes the Railways will generate revenues of Rs 1,84,820 crore by next year, which is almost 10 per cent higher than the current year’s target.

Moving ahead, Prabhu proposed in priority to eliminate all unmanned level crossings by the year 2020. He also mentioned that, by 2020, all freight trains would have a time table. He announced new freight corridors for Delhi-Chennai, Kharagpur-Mumbai and Kharagpur-Vijayawada. Two dedicated freight corridors will be completed by 2019.

The Railways will generate employment of 14 crore man-days by 2018-19.

Broad gauge lines at the rate of 7 km per day, as opposed to the present 4.5 km per day will be commissioned. The target of 2,500 km of broad gauge lines is the target, which is almost 30 per cent higher than what was proposed in the previous year. Northeast India (Mizoram and Manipur) are planned to be connected soon. Suresh Prabhu also said the Railways will commission 2,800 kilometres of new tracks in the coming year. A long-awaited broad gauge Lumding-Silchar section in Assam, connecting Barak Valley with rest of country, has also been opened.

The Railways has also finalised bids for setting up two locomotive factories, which will be set up for around Rs 40,000 crore. LIC has also agreed to invest around Rs 1.5 lakh crore over a period of five years, based on favourable terms.

Online recruitment has started its process for the Railways to bring in 100 per cent transparency. Additionally, transparency will be brought in using the social media platform.

Suresh Prabhu stressed the common man is always the focus of all the initiatives taken by the Railways.

Going ahead, he spoke on upgradation of the Railways. He said that around 1,600 km of electrification has been proposed for this year with 2,000 km more to be done by the following year. The railways will also formulate a framework and the net savings from the electrification will finance the capital expenditure.

The railway minister also proposed for Swacch Bharat, stating that 17,000 bio-toilets will be deployed by the end of this fiscal year.

Adding to that, the Railways have introduced 1,780 ticket vending machines. The e-ticketing system has been enhanced from its existing capacity of 2,000 tickets per minute to 7,200 tickets per minute. He also proposed an increase in seat quota for the current year, which will include 50 per cent more for senior citizens. Additionally, a sub-quota of 33 per cent has been pitched in for women in the reserved category. There will also be an increase in quota for lower berths for women and senior citizens.

The Railways have also proposed to undertake bidding for redevelopments of a few large and medium stations, he said.

On safety, Prabhu said the accident rate had gone down by 20 per cent from last year. However, he said a lot needs to be done still. He mentioned the loss of a single life or an accident causes him great sorrow and anger.

Prabhu said the Railways would introduce Deen Dayal coaches for long-distance trains which would cater to unreserved passengers. These unreserved superfast trains would be introduced on dense traffic routes. The long-distance superfast train Antyodaya Express would be deployed for unreserved passengers and Aastha circuit trains would connect important pilgrim centres. Overnight Uday double-decker trains have also been proposed.

Overnight double-decker trains will be introduced for business travel routes. Adding to that, the Railways are also proposing to start bar-coded train tickets to tackle the ticketless travel issue. Journalists will also benefit for travelling on concessional passes.

E-ticket facilities will also be available for foreign debit and credit card holders. Ticket cancellation service will also be available through the 139 helpline number.

IRCTC will take charge of the catering service in a phased manner. E-catering service will be extended to all stations across the country. Local cuisine will also hit the menus to all passengers. The Railways have also introduced a new policy to install multi-purpose stalls at all stations that would provide basic services such as medicines and even milk.

Cleanliness is this government’s big focus. Passengers can now request toilets on stations and trains to be cleaned via SMS. All non-AC coaches will also have dustbins. Sarthi Seva has already been introduced on the Konkan Railways for helping senior citizens. This service has been proposed to expand higher and all new railway stations will be built as per Accessible India Guidelines. Facilities such as baby food, baby boards, etc would also be available for travelling mothers.

Coolies will now be called ‘sahayaks’ and an internal audit system is already in place to bring in efficiency in the working practices of railways, Prabhu said.

Other proposals Prabhu mentioned were FM radio stations on all trains for entertainment using the public-announcement system, Rail Bandhu magazine to be published in all regional languages, GPS-based digital displays in coaches to show upcoming trains, etc. Twenty thousand display screens are proposed across 2,000 stations for better information to passengers. Redesigning of coaches was also proposed by Prabhu. Wi-Fi services will also be introduced in 100 stations by this year and will extend to 400 more stations over the next two years. He also said CCTV networks have been deployed in 311 railway stations. He said passenger amenity and beautification of stations are his top priority.

As for Mumbai, the railway minister proposed an elevated rail corridor from Churchgate to Virar and CST to Panvel. Delhi will see a ring-railway system to be built in partnership with the Delhi government. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will work closely with the Railways for suburban rails. India’s first rail auto hub has been proposed for Chennai. A special purpose vehicle for Ahmadabad-Mumbai high-speed corridor has also been registered.

Prabhu also said that the railways has focussed to increasing revenue by four times via advertisements on big stations.

In-principal nod for MUTP projects have been received, Prabhu said, adding, drones would be deployed for remote monitoring of ongoing projects. Prabhu has proposed to keep aside Rs 50 crore for providing innovation grants to start-ups. Lastly, all companies owned by the Railways will now come under a holding company.

(With agency inputs)