Having already affected a steep hike, the Railway Budget spared passengers of any fresh revision in fares and freight rates. It pitched for reforms by proposing private and Foreign Direct Investment and Public Private Partnership (PPP) to meet the resource crunch. Passenger safety, amenities, food services, sanitation and bullet trains are some of the major highlights of the Railway Budget for 2014-15 presented by Railways Minister D V Sadananda Gowda in Parliament today.
Introduction of five Jansadharan, five premium, six AC, 27 express and eight passenger trains, two MEMU and five DEMU services are the other announcements made by Railway Minister. The budget has a provision of bullet trains starting off with an already identified Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector and allocation of 100 crore rupees for Diamond Quadrilateral network of high-speed rail connecting major metros.
Mr Gowda said, safety of passengers is of paramount importance and an amount of 1,785 crore rupees has been earmarked for road under-bridges and over-bridges. He said, the Railways require an investment of 40 thousand crore rupees for track renewals, elimination of unmanned level crossings.
Four thousand Railway Protection Force women constables will be recruited to strengthen security in trains, particularly in Lady coaches and at stations. The number of bio-toilets in trains will be increased to mitigate the problem of direct discharge of human waste on tracks and platforms. Mr Gowda said, reservation system will be revamped and ticket booking through mobile phones and post offices popularized.
Ten major stations of metro cities and important junctions would be developed to international standards with modern facilities and passenger amenities on the lines of newly developed airports through PPP mode. The Railway Minister also allocated 5,116 crore rupees for rail projects in the North-East.
Noting that there has been focus on sanctioning projects rather than completing them, Mr Gowda said, 359 projects out of 676 sanctioned during the last 30 years are yet to be completed. He said, 99 new line projects worth 60 thousand crore rupees were sanctioned in the last ten years out of which only one project is complete till date. The Minister proposed a scheme to bring in investible surplus funds of Railway PSUs in infrastructure projects of Railways.
