Highlights from Railway Budget - 2015

[CS Swati Dodhi]

Highlights from Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's Speech:

• No increase in passenger fares
• SMS alert to be introduced for train timings
• To introduce air-conditioned coaches for suburban trains
• Wi-fi to be available at 400 railway stations
• To revamp station redevelopment policy completely
• To have bidding system for redevelopment of stations
• To develop 10 satellite railway stations this year
• On-board entertainment facility could be extended on Shatabdi trains
• Mobile charging stations will be introduced general class coaches
• Wagon-making scheme to be reviewed to make it easier for private investment
• To improve cleanliness and design of bed linen
• All India 24x7 grievances helpline 138 to start soon
• 17,000 more toilets to be replaced by Bio-Toilets, New toilets at 650 stations, more vacuum toilets
• Passenger travelling unreserved can procure a ticket within 5 minutes
• Mobile application to address complaints of people is also being developed
• Hand-held devices for ticket checkers for moving towards paperless ticketing
• Centrally managed railway display network in over 2000 stations in next 2 years
• We are committed to provide rail connectivity to North Eastern states
• CCTVs to be introduced in select trains and suburban trains for women safety
• Train Protection Warning System, Train Collision Avoidance System
• Tickets can be booked 120 days in advance instead of 60 days
• Plan expenditure to go up to a record ₹ 1.1 lakh crore in 2015-16 from ₹ 66,000 crore in the previous year
• Railways plans to spend over ₹ 8 lakh crore over five years
• We will introduce train sets saving 20% of journey time, similar to bullet trains in design, and that can run on existing tracks
• Feasibility report of high speed train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad expected by mid-2015
• The speed passenger trains across nine corridors will be increased to 160-200 km from 110 km
• Railways to go through transformation in five years; to increase track capacity by 10 per cent to 1.38 lakh km
• To monetise assets rather than sell them
• To set up full-fledged Railway University in FY16
• Rs.2000 crore for Coastal Connectivity Program; ₹ 2500 crore through BOT/Annuity route
• 6608 kms of track to be electrified
• Projects worth ₹ 96,182 crore to expand capacity of 9,420 km rail lines
• Drawing up comprehensive policy to tap latent advertising potential