No increase in passenger fares and freight charges, introduction of nine new Duranto , three new Satabadi are the main highlights of the rail budget for the year 2011-12 presented by Railway Minister Ms Mamta Banerjee today in the lok Sabha.Besides, 56 new express trains and 13 new passenger services will be launched. A new Super AC class , New Go India smart card and extension of concessions for senior citizens and physically challenged are the other highlights of the Railway budget . Ten Rajya Rani express trains connecting state capitals with important cities in respective states, Four Kavi Guru Express trains and an equal number of Vivek Express trains to commemorate the 150th Birth anniversaries of Rabindrarnath Tagore and Swami Vivekanand will be introduced. To promote tourism, special trains called Janam Bhumi Gaurav will also be run on four routes connecting important historical and educational places. The frequencies of five Duranto trains is to be increased. AC double Decker services will be introduced on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes. The new routes for the Shatabdi will be Pune-Secunderabad, Jaipur- Agra, Ludhiana-Delhi. Outlining the road map of the railways for the coming year, Banerjee said 25 new lines will be added while six gauge conversion and 28 doubling projects would be taken up.Extending concessions to elderly, disabled besides kirti and shourya chakra awardees, the Rail Minister announced that concession to physically handicapped persons including travel in Rajdhani & Shatabdi trains . Concession for Senior Citizen is being increased from the present 30 to 40 percent for men while women's age to avail this facility is being brought down to 58 years from 60 years. Concessions of 50 percent to press correspondents with family is proposed to be increased to twice a year.Reaching out to the poor, Ms Banerjee announced Sukhi Griha scheme under which 10,000 dwelling units for those living along the rail track sides will be provided. She said the housing units will come up in Mumbai, Sealdah, Siliguri and Tiruchirapalli on pilot basis. A scheme “Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana has also been proposed for implementing social projects of the railways during the 12th plan.In order to improve amenities and facilities for passengers the Minister said the proposed Go India smart card will be a single window package for booking tickets. Internet access on a pilot basis will be introduced in Howrah Rajdhani Express , Rail yatri sevaks with modern trollies will be launched in six more stations and new portal for e ticketing would be set up. Detailing the projects to be undertaken for expansion of network in the next financial year, the railway minister said 1,300 km new lines will be completed besides 967 km doubling, 1017 km gauge conversion are targeted for the next year. Suburban services are also proposed to be increased in metropolitan cities besides survey for 107 new lines are to be undertaken.Describing the safety and security of the passengers as a first priority, Ms. Banerjee outlined a number of steps to be taken in this direction. The introduction of Anti Collision Device will be expanded to new areas covering eight of the 17 railway zones. She said that the number of accidents has come down by 36 percent as a result of doing away with 1500 unmanned crossing and construction of railway over bridges and sub-ways. The remaining 2500 unmanned crossings will also be eliminated in the coming year, she announced. Ms Banerjee said in order to give thrust to the green initiatives, 2011-12 has been declared as a year of green energy and several initiatives have been announced including free supply of CFLs to railway households and use of bio-diesels, CNG and LNG in Locos and workshops and the increase the use of solar energy.Listing the initiatives to further expand Rail based industries, Ms. Banerjee announced the setting up of a bridge factory in Jammu and Kashmir & establishing a state of the art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering at Jammu. A metro coach factory will be set up at Singur, diesel locomotive centre in Manipur and Centre of Excellence in Software at Darjeeling. She also proposed the setting up of two more Wagon units under Public private partnership mode at Kolar,Allappuzha and Buniadpur.She also announced setting up of two Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and new Bongaigaon and a 700 MW gas-based power plant at Thakurli in Maharashtra. Proposing the highest ever investment plan by the railways, Ms Banerjee said the annual plan outlay has been pegged at 57,630 crore rupees out of which 10,000 crores rupees would be raised through tax free bonds. She said for the first time railway earnings are set to exceed 1 lakh crore rupees. In order to give impetus to growth in under-developed areas, the Railway Minister has proposed for construction of new lines in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand. She said Non lapsable fund for railway projects in North East region will be created, besides all state capitals in the North East except Sikkim is to be connected in the next 7 years. The 14 lakh railway employees had a special place in the budget with a slew of measures to benefit the staff and their kin. Setting up Railway Vidyalay Prabandhan Board to improve the quality of education in 269 Railway schools, increasing the scholarship of girl child of gang men and group D employees for higher education ,an addtional 20 hostels for children of railway employees and 20 road medical vans for employees staying in remote areas will be provided in the coming year. Concluding her speech, the Railway Minister Ms. Mamta Banerjee said the common man continues to be her priority and that is the reason she has spared the passengers from any hike, despite financial pressures. Our parliamentary correspondent says that over one hour long budget speech was replete with couplets and was marked by repeated thumping of desks.