RAIL BUDGET ON REFORM TRACK

- No new increase in passenger fares and freight charges

- Bullet train on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Sector

- Diamond quadrilateral for high speed trains

- Plan to hike speed of trains to 160-200 km/hr in 9 sectors

- Online booking to support 7,200 tickets/minute; to allow 1.2 lakh users log in simultaneously

- Reservation system to be revamped, ticket-booking through mobile phones, post offices to be popularised

- Online platform, unreserved tickets

- Combo parking-platform tickets at stations

- Women RPF Constables to escort ladies coaches; 4,000 women constables to be inducted

- Retiring room facility to be extended to all stations

- Battery operated cars for differently abled and senior citizens at major stations

- Feedback services through IVRS on quality of food

- Food can be ordered through SMS, phone; Food courts at major stations

- Cleanliness budget up by 40 pc over last year

- CCTVs to be used at stations for monitoring cleanliness

- Setting up of corpus fund for stations' upkeep; RO drinking water at stations and trains

- Automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches

- 58 new trains and extension of 11; 864 additional EMUs to be introduced in Mumbai over 2 years

- FDI in railway projects, except in operations.

- FDI, domestic investments in rail infrastructure

- Office-on-Wheels: Internet & Workstation facilities on select trains

- Wi-Fi in A-1, A category stations and in select trains

- Rail university for technical and non-technical subjects

- Some stations to be developed to international standards through PPP model

- Parcel traffic to be segregated to separate terminals to make passenger traffic unhindered

- Loss per passenger per kilometre up from 10p (in 2000-01) to 23p (2012-13)

- Solar energy to be tapped at major stations

- Highest ever plan outlay of Rs 65,455 crore for 2014-15

- Expenditure in 2014-15 pegged at Rs 149,176 crore.

Having already effected a steep hike, the railway budget for 2014-15 spared passengers of any fresh revision in fares and freight rates but pitched for reforms by proposing private and Foreign Direct Investment and Public Private Partnership (PPP) to meet the resource crunch.
Presenting his maiden budget for 2014-15 in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said he plans to leverage railway PSU resources by bringing in their investible funds in infrastructure projects.
The pre-budget hike of 14.2 per cent on fares and 6.5 per cent on freight rates announced on June 19 will fetch Rs.8,000 crore, he said. The roll back of proposals on monthly season tickets would involve a sacrifice of Rs. 610 crore.
Gifting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat, he announced plans for introduction of a bullet train in Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector which will cost Rs.60,000 crore.
Gowda said the budget seeks course correction in the light of mismanagement, apathy, populism in starting projects and severe fund crunch that have inflicted the railways over the years.
In his post-budget briefing, Gowda said the railways would continue with the Fuel Adjustment Costs (FAC) formula under which there will be periodic hike in fares and freight rates once in six months.
He said faced with resource crunch the government proposed to attract private and foreign investment to tide over the situation.
"We need huge investment for running bullet train. There was a ban on FDI in railways. Now we would request Commerce Ministry to delete that clause so that there can be FDI in infrastructure development," the minister said adding the Cabinet has to take a call.
Asked at his briefing as to what is the cap the railways would like on FDI, Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar said "we would like it to be 100 per cent."

For this, structural reforms will be introduced and resources will be mobilised through PSU surplus, FDI and PPP, he said amidst shouts from the opposition that "this is a budget of Ambanis and Adanis".
"How long can I depend only on hiking fare and freight rates and burden the public to realise these funds?," he told the house adding, "this is unrealistic. Thus, I need to explore the alternate means of resource mobilisation."
Apart from leveraging railway PSUs to bring in investible surplus funds in infrastructure projects, Gowda his ministry is seeking Cabinet approval to allow FDI in rail sector except in operations.
Adopting the PPP route for raising resources, he said "it is our target that bulk of our future projects will be financed through PPP mode, including the high-speed rail which requires huge investments."
Increased passenger amenities, more safety measures, timely completion of projects and increased financial discipline are among the highlights budget.
The budget proposes multi-pronged approach to make Railway journey safe and secure and comfortable for passengers.
More thrust has been placed on passenger amenities, cleanliness and efficient station management. Now all major stations will have foot-over bridges, escalator and lifts.
On safety and security, the budget has proposed introduction of advance technology for rail-flaw detection to check causes of accidents, a significant amount of Rs. 1,785 crore has been earmarked for building road-over and road-under bridges.

The budget proposes that a pilot project will be launched on automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches. In order to make women safer while travelling, the Railway will recruit 4000 women constables. Coaches for ladies will be escorted.
IT initiatives get a big boost in the Budget. Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing will be taken up with provision of platform tickets and unreserved tickets also over internet.
The Railway has proposed real-time tracking of trains and rolling stocks, mobile based Wakeup Call System for passengers, mobile based destination arrival alert and Wi-fi Services in A-1 and A category stations and in select trains. Indian Railways has also planned paperless offices in 5 years
In order to make Railway management more efficient, Budget has proposed setting up of Railway University for training in both technical and non-technical subjects besides establishing Innovations and Incubation Centre to harness the ideas generated from staff.
In a bid to modernise Indian Railway network, Bullet train has been proposed on Mumbai-Ahmadabad sector besides increasing speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select 9 sectors.
The Railway has also planned setting up of Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail connecting major metros and growth centres of the country.
Identified stations will be developed to international standards with modern facilities on lines of newly developed airports through PPP mode. Railway has also proposed harnessing solar energy by utilising roof top spaces of stations, railway buildings and land.

Setting up of a Diamond Quadrilateral network of high speed rail connecting major metros and growth centres was another highlight of the budget.
More than Rs nine lakh crore was needed completing the Golden Quadrilateral Network. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been provided for initiating the project.
Increasing the speed of trains to 160 to 200 kms per hour on nine select sectors has been proposed. It proposes to allow all experimental stoppages to lapse after September this year.
The Budget disclosed that traffic growth declined and expenditures went up in 2013-14 as compared to the revised estimates of previous financial year.
Gross traffic receipts stood at Rs 1,39,558 crore, short of revised estimates by Rs 942 crore over the previous year. The ordinary working expenses and pension outgo were also higher.
The budget estimates for 2014-15 assumes a freight loading 1101 metric tonnes, 51 metric tonnes more than the previous year, growth in passenger traffic at 2 per cent and freight earnings at Rs 1,05,770 crore.
Passenger earnings will be Rs 44,645 crore after a revenue sacrifice of Rs 610 crore on account of monthly season ticket fares.
Total receipts for the current year have been pegged at Rs 1,64,374 crore and expenditure at Rs 1,49,176 crore. nd Rs 60,000 crore for introducing one bullet train alone.
The annual plan for 2014-15 has been fixed at the highest ever outlay of Rs 65,445 crore with gross budgetary support at Rs 30,100 crore, Railway Safety Fund Rs 2,200 crore, internal resources Rs 15,350 crore, external market borrowing Rs 11,790 crore and EBR-PPP Rs 6,005 crore.
The budget provides higher funds for ongoing projects in North East, including 11 national projects. Rs 5,116 crore earmarked for projects in North East, which is 54 per cent higher than the previous year.
18 new line surveys have been announced, which include rail connectivity to 'char dham' -- Kedarnath, Badrinath, etc, and Shimoga-Sringeri-Mangalore.
Five Jansadharan trains are being introduced along with five premium trains, six AC express trains and 27 express trains and eight passenger trains.
The premium trains are between Mumbai Central and New Delhi, Shalimar-Chennai, Secunderabad-Hazrat Nizamuddin, Jaipur-Madurai and Kamakhya-Bangalore.

RAIL-SCENE

The presentation of the Railway Budget was a bitter sweet affair for Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda despite rolling out ambitious plans of bullet trains and Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail. This was because the Minister had to encounter slogan shouting from Opposition members occasionally, and towards the end his speech was drowned in protests. The entire BJP and NDA side was seen cheering the first Railway Budget of the Narendra Modi government with the Prime Minister himself turning into a keen listener. As the Budget presentation progressed, Trinamool Congress members raised slogans against the Prime Minister which was countered by the Treasury benches. Some lighter moments spiced up the presentation which began at 1210 hours. Apparently not happy with the fast paced speech of the Minister, Saugata Roy of TMC took the opportunity when Gowda was sipping water to tell him to read slowly. But Gowda continued to be in the fast lane remarking, "(I think) you are all pleased by my Budget". Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who rarely displays emotion, seemed agitated when the Minister mentioned that recent dedication of Udhampur-Katra rail link fulfilled the dream of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. She was heard saying that it was UPA's project. "The medicine appears as bitter in the beginning, but is like nectar in the end," an unfazed Gowda said making use of adages to justify the recent rail fare hike which has come under sharp attack from the Opposition.

Wearing an off-white half coat, Gowda was mostly all smiles but found it hard to make himself heard in the last five minutes of the presentation as many members from West Bengal and Kerala trooped into the Well protesting that their states have been ignored in the Budget. Dubbing the Budget as only for the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, TMC's Kalyan Banerjee was heard shouting, "Gujarat hai hai... Gujarat model nahi chalega".
Today's presentation was in contrast to that of interim Railway Budget presented by his predecessor Mallikarjun Kharge, now leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, in February. At that time, Kharge, who was also present in the House today, had to stop his speech mid way amid protests on Telangana issue.

RAIL UNIVERSITY

With an aim of providing railway-oriented education, the government is considering setting up of a Railway University for both technical and non technical subjects. Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda also spoke about the plans for skill development of the staff while presenting the Rail Budget for 2014-15 in the Lok Sabha. "I am contemplating setting up of a Railway University for both technical and non technical subjects," Gowda said. He said the Railways could tie up with technical institutions for introducing railway-oriented subject for graduation and skill development. In the meantime, staff at the ground level will be sent for short duration courses of technical and non technical nature, involving locally available technical institutions. The exposure for specialised areas like high-speed, heavy haul operations etc will be undertaken for all level of staff and officers at appropriate institutes in India and abroad, he said. Gowda also spoke about plans to harness solar energy by utilising roof top spaces of Railway stations, Railway buildings and land through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. He added that Indian Railways will start using Bio-Diesel up to 5 percent of total fuel consumption in diesel locomotives. "This will save precious foreign exchange substantially," Gowda said.

RAIL-NORTH EAST

7 new trains for NE; Rs 5,116 crore for ongoing projects
It's good news for Northeast in this rail budget as government today proposed seven new trains besides earmarking Rs 5,116 crore for various projects in the region. Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda announced a premium train -- Kamakhya-Bengaluru Premium Express -- and an AC weekly express train between Naharlagun-New Delhi will be introduced in the current fiscal.
Kamakhya station is within Guwahati city while Naharlagun is 12 km away from Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar.
Two daily intercity express trains -- Guwahati-Naharlagun and Guwahati-Murkongselek--will be introduced during 2014-15, Gowda announced while presenting the railway budget in parliament.
Kamakhya will also be connected with Katra in Jammu and Kashmir with a weekly express train.
Two passenger trains have also been offered for the Northeastern region. They are Guwahati-Mendipathar passenger (daily) and Rangapara North-Rangiya passenger (daily).
The Railway Minister said there are 23 projects underway in the Northeast, of which 11 are national projects. In 2014-15, an outlay of Rs 5,116 crore is earmarked for projects of Northeast and this is 54 per cent jump over allocations in the previous year.
"With higher allocations and by close monitoring of works in this region, I hope that Dudhnoi-Mendipathar new line, Lumding-Badarpur-Silchar gauge conversion, Harmuti- Murkongselek and Balipara-Bhalukpong sections will soon get commissioned. These measures will also give a boost to the state capital connecting projects in the region," he said.

RAIL-BOARD

In a move aimed at improving efficiency of the Railways, the government today announced the decision to separate the "unwieldy" Railway Board's functions of policy formulation and implementation. Rail Minister D V Sadananda Gowda today while presenting the Rail Budget 2014-15 in the Lok Sabha said that this is one of the "structural reforms" being proposed in this sector. "....At the moment, the Railway Board, due to overlapping roles of policy formulation and implementation, has become unwieldy. Therefore, I propose to separate these two functions," Gowda said in his speech. Sources said that policy formulation could be the major domain for the Railway Board while the implementation part may go to the divisional and the regional levels. The Rail Minister also said that transparency in administration, execution of projects and procurement will be given top priority. Strategic procurement policies will be adopted to make the procurement process transparent and most efficient, he said. "E-procurement will be made compulsory for procurements worth Rs 25 lakhs and above," Gowda said. He said that for the convenience of state governments and other stakeholders, the status of ongoing projects will be made available online.

RAIL-BENGAL

Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda today said West Bengal and Bihar would be the major beneficiaries of the Rail Budget as it focuses on completion of ongoing projects. His comments came soon after Trinamool Congress MPs created furore in the Lok Sabha charging the NDA government with completely ignoring the eastern part of the country. "More ongoing projects are in West Bengal and Bihar than any other states. Many new projects and major projects are for these two states," he said. Referring to the furore created by TMC members in the House, he said, "It does not look nice to raise objections." Allaying apprehension about the fate of ongoing projects in the NDA regime, Gowda said, "All ongoing projects will be going on." Railways has also increased outlay for projects in the northeast. We have earmarked Rs 5,116 crore outlay for projects in the northeastern states which is 54 per cent higher than the previous year. Railways has announced launching of new 37 new express trains besides introducing 8 new passenger and 10 DEMU and 2 MEMU services.

RAIL-WOMEN

Special steps are being taken and instructions issued to ensure safety of women travelling alone in all classes of trains, Railways Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said today.
Introducing the Railway Budget 2014-15, Gowda said that in order to ensure security of ladies travelling alone, special instructions are being issued for their safety in each class of travel.
Gowda said that to strengthen security in trains and at stations, 17,000 RPF constables have been recruited and they will be shortly available for deployment.
"We also propose to recruit 4,000 women RPF constables," he said.
Gowda said that with the induction of women RPF constables, coaches for ladies will be escorted. Additional care will be taken for ladies travelling alone in all classes, he said.
He said RPF personnel escorting trains will be provided mobile phones so that passengers can contact them when in distress. Security helpline will be augmented, he said.
Gowda said the possibility of building boundary walls around stations through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode will be explored.

RAIL-AC

Amid railways eyeing higher revenue from travellers in air conditioned coaches, the number of passengers in AC First Class and AC 3 Tier registered a decline in 2013-14 as compared to the previous fiscal.
The passengers in AC First Class dropped to 26.1 lakh in the last fiscal as against 33.1 lakh in 2012-13.
Similarly, the number of passengers in the AC 3 Tier got reduced to 687.5 lakh in 2013-14 as against 700.8 lakh in the preceding financial year.
However, there was increase in number of travellers in AC Chair Car class. The number increased to 251.9 lakh as against 221.3 lakh during the period under review.
Similarly AC sleeper (AC II tier) saw an increase in passengers to 225.8 lakh as against 223.9 lakh during 2012-13.
As per the Railway Budget presented today, the government is expecting 38.6 lakh passengers travelling in the AC First Class in the current fiscal.
However, it expects only 672.8 lakh and 221.9 lakh people to travel in AC 3 Tier and AC Chair Car classes respectively, which is lower than in the previous fiscal.
For the AC sleeper category, the number is expected to go up to 236.3 lakh during 2014-15.
With 14.2 per cent increase in passenger fares, the Budget pegs the AC First Class earnings at Rs 712.6 crore this financial year as against Rs 596.4 crore during the last fiscal. Earnings from AC 3 Tier and AC Chair Car classes are expected at Rs 7,434.02 crore and Rs 1,286.36 crore, respectively, during this fiscal.

RAIL-VEGGIES

Special milk tanker trains and temperature controlled facilities for movement of fruits and vegetables are some of the proposals in the rail budget as the government focuses on improving supply of food items against the backdrop of price rise.
Presenting the Railway Budget for this fiscal in Parliament, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said, "I proposed to give a boost to movement of fruits and vegetables in partnership with the Central Railside Warehousing Corporation (CRWC)by providing requisite facilities of temperature controlled facilities at 10 locations..."
These locations are Vatva, Vishakhapatnam, Badagara, Cheriyanad, Bhivandi Road, Azara, Navlur, Kalamboli and Sanand on Indian railways in the first phase, he said.
The aggregation and distribution from railway terminal points will be organised by the CRWC.
"I hope, apart from avoiding national wastage of these products, this would help producers of fruits and vegetables in different parts of the country in getting better prices for their products," Gowda said.
Railways will also provide facilitate transportation of milk through rail by providing special train tanker and trains in association with National Dairy Development Board and cooperative Amul.
Inflation rose to five-month high to 6.01 per cent in May due to rise in prices of essential items like vegetables, fruits and cereals.
The new government has taken several measures in the last few weeks to curb prices. It has imposed minimum export price on onions and potatoes. They have included these two commodities under the ambit of the Essential Commodities Act and empowered the state governments to take actions against hoarders and black-marketeers.

RAIL-STOPPAGES

Concerned over the growing number of experimental stoppages, Railway Minster D V Sadananda Gowda today said such stoppages will remain in vogue only till September 30 and then reviewed.
Stating that these stoppages will be examined solely on the basis of operational feasibility and commercial justification, he said any demand for new stoppages henceforth will be considered on these criteria.
Presenting the Railway Budget for 2014-15, he said, "there was a cost to the system for each stoppage" as too many stoppages result in slowing down of trains and increase the travel time particularly for long distance passengers.
He feared that most of the express trains will become passenger trains if the trend continues.
"...I have allowed continuation of these experimental stoppages for a further period of three months till September 30. These stoppages will be reviewed solely on the basis of operational feasibility and commercial justification.
"Demand for new stoppages, hereafter, will also be considered on the same criteria. We will try to provide alternative train connectivity to meet genuine demands of the public," he said.
Such stoppages are usually provided after requests are made by the MPs and by various public representatives.

RAIL-TICKET

The Railway Budget today proposed a major revamp of the passenger reservation facility by transforming it into a next generation e-ticketing system, supporting 7200 tickets per minute and allowing 1.20 lakh users simultaneously.
Presenting the Railway Budget, Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said ticket booking through mobile phones and post offices will also be popularised.
"Railway reservation system will be revamped into a next generation e-ticketing system. We will improve the system capabilities in e-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minute as against 2000 tickets per minute and allow 1.20 lakh simultaneous users at any point in time," the Minister said.
He said efforts will also be made to provide facility of buying platform tickets and unreserved tickets over the internet.
Parking-cum-platform combo tickets will also be launched to facilitate the passengers and to save their time while coin operated vending machine will also be experimented, he said.
Gowda also talked about the use of IT in a big way in Railways as the public transporter aims to move towards paperless office in the next five years.
He said wi-fi services will be introduced in all A1 and A category stations and in select trains.
Some other initiatives will be launched with the help of IT such as real time tracking of trains and rolling stocks, mobile based wake up call system for passengers, mobile based destination arrival alert, station navigation information system and extension of computerized parcel management system.
The minister also mentioned about other initiatives such as digital reservation charts at stations and extension of dual display fare repeaters at all the ticket counters through PPP mode.
Gowda also informed about digitisation and mapping of rail assets for better management and usage.

RAIL-NEWTRAINS

As many as 58 new trains, including five new 'Jansadharan' trains and an equal number of premium group of trains have been proposed in the Rail Budget presented by Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda today.
The new trains include six AC Express trains, 27 Express trains, eight passenger trains, two Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) services and 5 Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) services besides extension of 11 existing trains.
The Minister also announced 18 new line surveys which include rail connectivity to 'Char Dhams' - Kedarnath, Badrinath, etc and connectivity to iron ore mines between Nayagarh and Banspani and Shimoga-Sringeri-Mangalore train route.
The Rail Minister also announced 10 surveys for doubling between Jaipur and Kota, Chandna Fort-Nagbhir, Mangalore-Ullal -Surathkal and Rewari-Mahendragarh, besides some 3rd and 4th line and Guage conversion projects during the current year.
The new five Jansadharan trains are between Ahmedabad and Darbhanga via Surat, Jaynagar-Mumbai, Mumbai-Gorakhpur, Saharsa-Anand Vihar via Motihari and between Saharsa-Amritsar.
The premium air conditioned trains are between Mumbai Central and New Delhi, Shalimar-Chennai, Secundarabad-Hazrat Nizamuddin, Jaipur-Madurai and Kamakhya-Bangaluru.
Among the new Express AC trains announced include a daily train between Vijayawada and New Delhi and weekly trains between Lokmanya Tilak to Lucknow,Nagpur-Pune,Nagpur-Amritsar, Naharlagun-New Delhi and between Nizamuddin and Pune.

Among the new Express Trains announced by the Railway Minister today include those between Ahmedabad-Patna (weekly), Ahmedabad-Chennai via Vasai Road (bi-weekly), Bengaluru- Mangalore (Daily), Bengaluru-Shimoga (bi-weekly), Bandra(T)- Jaipur via Nagda, Kota (weekly), Bidar-Mumbai (weekly) and Chhapra-Lucknow via Ballia, Ghazipur, Varanasi (tri-weekly).
Besides, other express trains announced include those between Ferozepur-Chandigarh (6 days a week), Guwahati- Naharlagun Intercity (daily), Guwahati-Murlongselek Intercity (daily), Gorakhpur-Anand Vihar (weekly), Hapa-Bilaspur via Nagpur (weekly), Huzur Saheb Nanded-Bikaner (weekly), Indore-Jammu Tawi (weekly), Kanpur-Jammu Tawi (bi-weekly) and Kamakhya-Katra via Barbhanga (weekly).
Some other such Express trains are Lokmanya Tilak(T)- Azamgarh (weekly), Mumbai-Kazipeth vial Balharshah (weekly), Mumbai-Palitana (weekly), New Delhi-Bhatinda Shatabdi (bi-weekly), New Delhi-Varanasi (daily), Paradeep-Howrah and Paradeep-Visakhapatnam (both weekly), Rajkot-Rewa, Ramnagar- Agra, Tatanagar-Baiyyappanahali (Bengaluru) and Visakhapatnam- Chennai (both weekly).
The Minister also announced eight new daily passenger trains that include between Bikaner-Rewari, Dharwad-Dandeli, Gorakhpur-Nautanwa, Guwahati-Mendipathar, Hatia-Rourkela, Byndoor-Kasaragod, Rangapara North-Rangiya and Yesvantpur-Tumkur.
Among the two new MEMU services proposed are those between Bengaluru-Ramanagaram (6 days a week) and Palwal-Delhi-Aligarh.
Besides, the five MEMU services are those between Bengaluru-Neelmangala (daily), Chhapra-Manduadih via Ballia (6 days a week), Baramula-Banihal (daily), Sambalpur-Rourkela and Yesvantpur-Hosur (both 6 days a week).

RAIL-TOURSIM

Aiming at boosting domestic tourism, Railways today announced several tourist trains connecting pilgrim centres across the country.
Special pilgrim circuits like Devi Circuit, Jyotirling Circuit, Jain Circuit among others have been identified by railways for running pilgrim trains were announced in the Rail Budget 2014-15.
Besides, the NDA government's maiden Rail Budget proposed to introduce trains in Christian Circuit, Muslim/Sufi Circuit, Sikh Circuit, Buddhist Circuit and other famous temple circuits across the country.
Private participation in the pilgrim sector will also be encouraged, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said while presenting Rail Budget 2014-15.
He said there is a huge untapped potential in the field of domestic tourism in the country. "We plan to take up eco-tourism and education tourism in North-Eastern states," he said.
Railways also proposed a tourist train from Gadag to Pandarpur passing through Bagalkot, Bijapur and Solapur covering the pilgrim and tourist places of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Tourist train from Rameswaram covering pilgrim and tourist places like Bengaluru, Chennai, Ayodhya, Varanasi and Haridwar.
The Rail Budget also proposed a special train featuring life and works of Swami Vivekananda.

RAIL-BULLET

Introduction of bullet trains starting off with the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector and an ambitious plan to have a Diamond Quadrilateral network of high speed rail connecting major metros and growth centres are on the anvil.
The announcement was part of the Rail Budget presented by Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda in Lok Sabha today which also spoke of efforts to increase the speed of trains in select sectors to up to 200 km per hour.
The Rail Budget has identified nine sectors in this regard that includes the prestigious Delhi-Agra rail line and the busy Delhi-Chandigarh and Mumbai-Ahmedabad sectors.
Besides, the speed of trains is to be increased to 160-200 km in the Delhi-Kanpur, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Mysore-Bengaluru- Chennai, Mumbai-Goa, Chennai-Hyderabad and Nagpur-Secuderabad sectors.
A provision of Rs 100 crore has been made in the Budget for High Speed project to Railway Vikas Nigham Limited/High Speed Rail Corridor for taking further steps.
"It is the wish and dream of every Indian that India runs a bullet train as early as possible. Indian Railways is on its way to fulfil that long cherished dream," Gowda said.
The Minister said while bullet trais will require completely new infrastructure, higher speed for existing trains will be achieved by upgrading the present network.
"Hence, an effort will be made to increase the speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select sectors to significantly reduce travel time between major cities," he said.

RAIL-FOOD

The Railway Budget today proposed to introduce ready-to-eat meals of reputed brands on-board trains to improve food quality and cancel vendors' contract if services were not up to the mark.
Presenting the Railway Budget for 2014-15, Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda also proposed to introduce a 'quality assurance mechanism' to improve catering services through third party audit.
"In order to improve quality, hygiene of on-board catering services and to provide variety, I propose to introduce pre-cooked (ready-to-eat) food of reputed brands in a phased manner," Gowda said, expressing concern over catering services.
To bring about a perceptible improvement in catering services, the Minister proposed a quality assurance mechanism through a third party audit by National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies.
A system of collecting feedback through IVRS mechanism from the travelling passengers on the quality of food served will be launched shortly, he said.
"If the service is not up to the standard set, especially in the hygiene and the taste, severe action would be initiated against the vendors including cancellation of contract," he said.
Gowda also proposed to set up food courts at major stations to provide the option of ordering regional cuisine while on-board, through emails and sms.
This service will be started shortly between New Delhi- Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi sections.

RAIL-COAL

The government today said it will expedite the construction of three critical rail lines to facilitate faster transportation of coal to power plants, thereby helping in bringing nearly 100 million tonnes of incremental traffic to Railways.
The announcement comes at a time when the power plants across the country are facing fuel shortages.
"Railways will speed up construction of critical coal connectivity lines in Tori-Shivpur-Kathautia Area (in North Karanpura, Jharkhand), Jharsuguda-Barpalli-Sardega (in IB Valley, Odisha) and Bhupdeopur-Raigarh-Mand Area (in Chhattisgarh)," Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said while presenting Railway Budget 2014-15.
"This will bring nearly 100 million tonnes (MT) of incremental traffic to Railways and will also facilitate faster transportation of coal to power houses," Gowda said.
The three rail corridor projects, entailing about Rs 7,500 crore expenditure, are under different phases of development.
Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal had last week said that one of the three critical rail links in Chhattisgarh has been brought on track and efforts are on to expedite other two in Jharkhand and Odisha.
"There is potential to add another 200 or 300 million tonnes if three critical rail links are expedited in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha...Timelines have been drawn up and the Chhattisgarh rail link has come on track," Goyal had said. As per original plans, rail project for North Karanpura coalfield, work on which had started in 1999, was scheduled for completion in 2005 but only half of it is likely to be completed by March, 2015. Likewise, the IB Valley project in Odisha, which too started long back, should have been completed in 2009. Coal India (CIL) has already provided over Rs 300 crore to Railways for the projects. CIL accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal output. It missed output target of 482 MT for 2013-14, producing 462 MT.

RAIL-FDI

Looking to attract funds for infrastructure development, the Railways Ministry would seek approval of the Union Cabinet to relax foreign direct investment policy to overcome cash crunch. While presenting the Railway Budget for 2014-15, Railways Minister Sadananda Gowda today said the government would mobilise resources to fund different infrastructure projects. "Growth of railway sector depends heavily on availability of funds for investment in rail infrastructure. Internal revenue sources and government funding are insufficient to meet the requirement. Hence, the Ministry of Railways is seeking Cabinet approval to allow FDI in Rail Sector," the Minister said. However, he clarified that FDI would not be permitted in rail operations. The Commerce and Industry Ministry has circulated a draft cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultations. It has proposed to permit FDI in high-speed train systems, sub-urban corridors and freight lines connecting ports, mines and power installations. To leverage railway PSU resources, the Ministry proposed to launch a scheme to bring in investible surplus funds of the public sector units in infrastructure projects of railways, which can generate attractive returns for PSUs. Noting that railways being a capital intensive sector have not been successful in raising substantial resource through PPP route, Gowda said that bulk of future projects would be financed through this mode, including the high-speed rail which requires huge investments. "Railways will interact with industry and take further steps to attract investment under PPP through BOT and Annuity route and 8 to 10 capacity augmentation projects on congested routes will be identified for this purpose," he said. Zonal railways will be suitably empowered to finalise and execute such projects, he added. The Minister said with a large backlog of sanctioned projects, funding continues to be the biggest challenge for railways. He said while private investment and customer funding for some port connectivity projects and few other power sector projects has started, much more needs to happen if infrastructure creation has to keep pace with the requirement. Railways has taken up port connectivity on priority through PPP mode of funding in tandem with Sagar Mala Project of Port Development. "Railways will facilitate connectivity to the new and upcoming ports through private participation," he said, adding so far in-principle approval has been granted for building rail connectivity to the Ports of Jaigarh, Dighi, Rewas, Hazira, Tuna, Dholera and Astranga under Participative Model Policy of Indian Railways, amounting to a total cost of over Rs 4,000 crore.

RAIL-OUTLAY

Government today proposed "highest ever" plan outlay of Rs 65,445 crore to the railways for the current fiscal, with a budgetary support of over Rs 30,000 crore.
Presenting the Railway Budget for 2014-15, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said the "highest ever plan outlay" would include market borrowing of Rs 11,790 crore and internal resources of Rs 15,350 crore.
Another Rs 6,005 crore would be mopped up through public private partnerships (PPP) mode, while railways would create a safety fund of Rs 2,200 crore.
As per Budget Estimates for 2014-15, total receipts are projected at Rs 1,64,374 crore, while total expenditure at Rs 1,49,176 crore.
Operating ratio would be 92.5 per cent, which is an improvement of 1 per cent over the last fiscal.
While passenger traffic grew by 2 per cent, passenger earnings stood at Rs 44,645 crore after revenue foregone of Rs 610 crore on account of rollback in monthly season ticket fares, Gowda said, adding freight earnings are estimated at 1,05,770 crore for this fiscal.
The expenditure on pension is pegged at Rs 28,850 crore, while Rs 9,135 crore would be spent on dividend payment.
On the challenges facing railways, Gowda said, "Surplus revenues are declining. There is hardly any adequate resources for development works."
The surplus resources, which stood at Rs 11,754 crore in 2007-08, is estimated to be only Rs 602 crore in the current financial year, he added.
He also said Rs 5 lakh crore was required to complete the ongoing projects alone as only 317 of the 674 projects sanctioned in last three decades could be completed.
Completing the unfinished projects would require Rs 1,82,000 crore, he said.
Observing that most of gross traffic receipts was spent on fuel, salary and pension, track and coach maintenance and on safety works, Gowda said that Rs 1,39,558 crore was the gross traffic receipts and total working expenses were at Rs 1,30,321 crore last year.

RAIL-BORROWING

Indian Railways will borrow less at Rs 11,790 crore from market through its two companies IRFC and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd for capital expenditure during 2014-15. The estimated market borrowing by these two companies during current fiscal were pegged at Rs 13,800 crore from markets, as per the interim Railway Budget for 2014-15 tabled in February. Thus, there has been downward revision in the market borrowing plan by Rs 2,010 crore for the current fiscal. "As I have increased internal resource component of Plan, I propose to scale down market borrowings... to Rs 11,790 crore," Railways Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said in his proposals while presenting the Rail Budget today. Resources from PPP are kept at the interim (budget) level, he said. Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) will raise Rs 11,500 crore in 2014-15 for investment in rolling stock and projects, the Railway Budget document tabled in Parliament said. Besides, the other financial firm under Indian Railway, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), plans to raise Rs 290 crore through market borrowing. During 2013-14, IRFC raised Rs 14,688 crore while RVNL mopped up Rs 254 crore from the market. Besides, Railways expects to mobilise Rs 6,005 crore through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) route during 2014-15.