No hike in passenger fare, thrust on safety and passenger amenities and introduction of 67 new Express trains, 500 kilometres of new railway lines and 750 kilometres doubling and corporate safety plan for a ten year period from 2014 to 2024, are some of the highlights of the railway budget for 2013-14 presented in the Lok Sabha today.
Presenting his maiden budget, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the enhance reservation fee will be abolished and announced marginal increase in supplementary charges for super fast trains, reservation fee, clerkage, cancellation and tatkal charges. Mr. Bansal said, Fuel Adjustment Component (FAC) linked revision for freight tariff to be implemented from 1st of April this year.
The Minister announced a series of measures for improving safety and security of the Indian Railways. He announced 67 new Express trains including an AC express from New Delhi to Katra which will run six days a week, 26 new passenger services, introduction of 72 additional services in Mumbai and 18 in Kolkata, introduction of first AC EMU rake on Mumbai suburban network and increased frequency of 24 trains.
For 2013-14, the Minister announced highest ever plan outlay of 63,363 crore rupees including gross budgetary support of 26,000 crore rupees and Railway safety fund of 2,000 crore rupees.
The Minister said, a new Debt Service Fund will be set up to meet committed liablities and set a target to generate 30,000 crore rupees in the terminal year of the 12th plan. In the budget estimates for 2013-14, Mr Bansal said, fund balances to exceed 12,000 crore rupees and passenger growth will be 5.2 per cent.
He said, freight loading of 1047 million tonnes is 40 million tonnes more than 2012-13. The Minister said, gross traffic receipts for 2013-14 is one lakh, forty three thousand, seven hundred forty two crore rupees, an increase of over 18,062 crore rupees more than last year.
Stating the safety of the passengers is of the highest priority, Mr Bansal said, train protection warning system on automatic signalling systems and self propelled accident relief trains will be introduced. The Minister also said that 17 distressed bridges will be rehabilitated over next one year and measures will be taken to deal with elephant related accidents.
Amidst thumping of desks, the Minister said, eight companies of women RPF personnel to be set up to strengthen the security of rail passengers, especially women. Mr Bansal said, in the RPF recruitment 10 per cent vaccancies will be reserved for women.
The Minister said, One lakh fifty two thousand vacancies will be filled up this year, out of which 47,000 vacancies have been earmarked for weaker sections and physically challenged.
Mr Bansal announced that a new forged wheel factory will be set up at Rae Bareli in collaboration with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited and a Greeenfield Mainline Electrical Multiple units manufacturing facility at Bhilwara in Rajasthan in collaboration with state government and BHEL.
He also announced that workshop for repair and rehabilitation of motorized bogies will be set up at Misrod in Madhya Pradesh. The Railway Minister said a new wagon maintenance workshop in Kalahandi in Odisha and a coach manufacturing unit in Haryana's Sonepat will be set up. Mr Bansal also said, a modern signaling equipment facility at Chandigarh through public-private partnership will be established.
The Minister said, the Railways has identified 104 important stations for immediate attention to cleanliness and also provision of concrete aprons on platform with mechanised cleaning facilities. He added, another 60 stations will be upgraded as Adarsh stations besides 980 already selected. Services of associate volunatary organisations will be taken for providing first aid services at railway stations.
For differently abled and elderly people, the minsiter said, 179 escalators and 400 lifts at major stations will be installed.
Mr Bansal said Braille stickers will be affixed with layout of coaches including toilets. The Railway Minister said third party audit and tie up with food testing laboratories for food quality control and ISO certified state-of-the-art base kitchens will be set up in railway premises.
He announced a centralised catering services monitoring cell with a toll free number 1800 111 321. Mr Bansal said six more Rail Neer bottling plants at Vijayawada, Nagpur, Lalitpur, Bilaspur, Jaipur and Ahmedabad will be set up.
Mr. Bansal said, a multi-disciplinary training institute at Nagpur for training in rail related electronics technologies and a centralised training institute at Secunderabad will be established. To reduce carbon footprint, the minister said a chair at TERI will be created to promote railway related research.
The Minister also said his Ministry will provide Wi-Fi facilities on several trains. He said 'Aadhaar' card will be used for various passenger and staff related services and Next-Gen-e-ticketing system will be rolled out which is capable of handling 7200 tickets per minute against the present 2000 tickets.
On Green initiatives, the minister announced the setting up of Railway Energy Manangement Company to harness potential of solar and wind energy and also setting up of 75 mega watt capacity windmill plans and energising 1000 level crossings with solar power. Favouring more usage of agro-based and recycled paper and ban the use of plastic in catering, the Minister said new generation of energy efficient electric locomotives and EMUs will be deployed.
Mr Bansal also announced police gallantry awardees to be given one complimentary pass every year for travel along with one companion in 2nd AC in Rajdhani and Shatabadi trains.
He said passes for freedom fighters to be renewed once in three years and complimentary card passes will be given to Olympic medalists and Dronacharya awardees for travel in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.
To attract more tourists, the minister said an educational tourist train with concessional fares 'Azadi Express' to connect places associated with freedom movement will be introduced. Executive lounges will be introduced at Bilaspur, Visakhapatnam, Patna, Nagpur, Agra, Jaipur and Bengaluru . He said 'yatra parchis' will be issued to pilgrims travelling by rail to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at the time of railway ticket booking.
The Minister also announced a series of welfare measures for staff including enhanced allocation of 300 crore rupees for staff quarters and provision of hostel facilities for single women railway employees at all divisional headquarters.
