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Railway Budget 2016-17 in detail

Mission ‘zero accident’ to prevent train mishaps 

  • Plans to eliminate all unmanned level crossings on the broad gauge network in 3-4 years for which innovative financing mechanism are being worked out to curb train accidents.
  • Elimination of unmanned level crossings and installation of Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)in the rail network.
  • Indigenous technology has been developed which leads to increased throughput by increasing average speeds.
  • Plans to equip 100 per cent of the high density network with TCAS in the next three years

E-catering services to be extended to 408 stations

  • E-catering services to be extended to 408 stations from 40 now.
  • Catering services will be unbundled by IRCTC by categorizing into food preparation and food distribution.
  • A new policy of multi-purpose stalls as against existing single purpose stalls to be introduced in all stations.

Enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system to 7,200/min 

  • Enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system from 2000 tickets/min to 7,200/minIRCTC now supports 1.2 lakh concurrent users now, as opposed to 40,000 earlier.
  • Connect North-Eastern states via broad-gauge
  • Proposed to electrify 2000 km next year, have increased electrification budget by 50
  • New locomotive factories will be set up with an order book of Rs 40,000 crore.
  • LIC has agreed to invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore to fund railway projects.
  • Expects Railways top record a revenue growth of 10.1% in FY17.

Budget leaves passenger fares,  unchanged 

NEW TRAINS for the unreserved  and reserved passengers
Unreserved :
 Antyodaya Express:    Long distance superfast trains on crowded routes with no reservation
2-4 Deen Dayal  coaches in long distance trains for unreserved travel with drinking water and mobile phone charging points.

Reserved:
Humsafar :      AC-3 tier coaches with optional meals.
Tejas :             High speed 130 kmph trains with on board entertainment, local cuisine, wi-fi services.
UDAY (Utkrisht double decker air-conditioned yatri): Overnight double-decker trains on busiest routes

Three New Freight Corridors

  • The three new freight corridors of North-South will connect Delhi and Chennai, East-West connecting Kharagpur to Mumbai and East Coast from Kharagpur to Vijawada.
  • As part of improving customer interface, the Budget proposed interaction and feedback through social media and dedicated IVRS system and making travel comfortable by generating over 65,000 additional berths and installing 2,500 water vending machines
  • Wi-Fi facility has been provided at 100 stations and 400 more will be covered in the coming year.
  • As part of safety measures, 350 manned level crossings and 1000 unmanned level crossings have been closed. 820 road over bridges and rail under bridges have been completed in the current year and work is going on in 1,350 of them.
  • Provision of passenger amenities and beautification of stations will be taken on priority in pilgrim centres like Ajmer, Amritsar, Bihar Sharif, Chengannur, Dwarka, Gaya, Haridwar, Mathura, Nagapattinam, Nanded, Nasik, Pali, Parasnath, Pri, Tirupati, Vailankanni, Varanasi and Vasco.
  • The Railway also intends to run ‘astha’ circuit trains to connect pilgrim centres.

Local cuisine of choice to be made available on trains 

  • IRCTC will make sure local cuisine of choice will be made available to passengers.
  • Prabhu said that e-catering services will be extended to 408 A1 and A class station

Indian Railways to generate employment of 14 crore man-days in 2018-2019 

Suresh Prabhu’s 11 announcements to make common man happy 
1) For the unreserved passengers: Antyodaya Express and Deen Dayalu coaches
2) For the reserved passenger – Humsafar, Tejas and UDAY:
3) No fare hike
4) SMART(Specially Modified Aesthetic Refreshing Travel) coaches:
Provision of new amenities including automatic doors, bar-code readers, bio-vacuum toilets, water-level indicators, accessible dustbins, ergonomic seating, improved aesthetics, vending machines, entertainment screens, LED lit boards for advertising, PA system and more.
5) Ticketing facilities:

  • Railways intend to commence sale of tickets through hand held terminals for the benefit of the suburban and short distance travellers.
  • Plan to sell platform tickets through ticket vending machines which would be made compatible with not only cash but also credit/debit cards.
  • Railways will open the e-ticketing facility to foreign debit/credit cards for foreign tourists and NRIs. Bar coded tickets, scanners and access control on a pilot basis on major stations to tackle the menace of ticketless travel.

6) Dealing with tatkaal menace:
There are plans to progressively ensure CCTV coverage at tatkaal counters.
7) Improving customer interface:

  • Railways will install information boards in trains enumerating the onboard services and also GPS based digital displays inside coaches to provide real time information regarding upcoming halts.
  • Railways is also looking at inviting FM Radiostations for providing train borne entertainment by installing PA systems in trains.

8) Swachh Rail:

  • Railways will introduce ‘Clean my Coach’ service on Pan-India basis, where a passenger can request cleaning of his/her coach/toilets on demand through SMS.
  • It will also install additional 30,000 bio-toilets in the next financial year.

9) IRCTC services & food availability:
10) Safe travel & insurance: Optional Insurance facility.
11) Rail Mitra Sewa & Accessible India:

  • Railways has introduced Sarathi Seva in Konkan Railway to help the old and disabled passengers requiring assistance at stations.
  • IR wants expand this service at many more stations and  strengthen the existing services for enabling passengers to book battery operated cars, porter services, etc. on a paid basis in addition to the existing pick up and drop, and wheel chair services

Over 65,000 berths added via new coaches; 17,000 more bio-toilets by FY16

New rule for unreserved train tickets from March 1 

  • An unreserved train ticket for travelling upto 199 km distance will no longer be valid after three hours of purchase of the ticket as railways has formulated a new rule to be effective from March 1.
  • Paperless platform tickets through mobile phones

Now you can get railway tickets confirmed for emergency travel 

  • You can call up a newly set-up emergency cell of Southern Railway where an officer will ensure that tickets are released under the emergency quota after verifying the genuineness of the case.
  • Preference will be given to soldiers travelling at short notice, elderly, those unwell, women travelling alone, pregnant women, students travelling for interviews and children who need assistance in emergency travel situations

Food Menu for Children

Baby food, hot milk and hot water at stations; changing board for babies in train washrooms.

Author: Bharat Mutyala 

About The Indian Iris

Just like an iris controls the light levels inside the eye making it possible for us to see the outside world, The Indian Iris aims at shedding light on the ongoing political affairs, policies and schemes of the Government of India (GOI) and those of the State Governments.

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