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Rail Budget 2014: All you need to know about it

Interim rail budget 2014 inks record with 73 new trains and paints a rosy fiscal situation.

Presenting the interim and final Rail Budget of UPA-II ahead of the general elections, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge announced 73 new long-distance trains and 19 new lines and no fare hike.

Bits and Bites

* 90.8% Operating ratio (Money spent against every Rs 100 earned) ? worse than last year?s 90.2%, 89.8% Projected for 2014-15

Premium Trains to ministers? states

* 4 to Mallikarjun Kharge?s Karnataka

* 4 to Adhir?s West Bengal

* Katra (Vaishno Devi) gets 4 trains ?the line will subsequently link to Kashmir Valley

* 3 premium weekly Jai Hind Express trains from Bandra (Mumbai), Howrah, Yesvantpur (Bangalore)

* 1 ordinary express train from Ahmedabad (Gujarat)

Safety measures

* Induction of Train Collision Avoidance System and smoke and fire alarm system

in Rajdhanis

New business

* Transporting milk in special parcel trains

* A new concept of hub for parcel business

IT initiatives

* Automatic SMS alerts to passengers on the status of ticket, trains

* Freight loading target of 1,101 million tonnes ? an increment of 49.7 million tonnes

Ticket pricing

Kharge said by authorising creation of a Rail Tariff Authority which will come into force soon, the process of tariff setting will become transparent and take away the powers of the Railway Board and the minister to set tariffs behind closed doors.

Reactions

* I do not want to compete with anybody for popularity or in populist measures. I am really interested in the growth of railways, that it should give facilities to passengers and survive for the people of the country. Mallikarjun Kharge (Railway Minister)

* (The budget is) misleading and a gimmick to make false promises by an outgoing government.

Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal Chief Minister)

* The interim railway budget is no more than an election gimmick and stunt. We can term this a ?farewell budget? of the UPA-Congress government. Ananth Kumar (BJP general secretary)

* There is nothing in the railway budget for the people of Tamil Nadu to cheer about. But I take satisfaction in the fact that it is only an interim budget and the main railway budget to be presented in June, 2014, by a new government will reflect the aspirations of the people of Tamil Nadu. J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu Chief Minister)

*By a single stroke, we cannot solve all problems that have been infecting the Indian railway system over decades. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Minister of State for Railways)

Linking Northeast

* Converting strategically important 510 km long Rangiya-Murkongselek (Assam) metre gauge line into broad gauge

New Lines:

* Harmuti-Naharlagun (Arunachal Pradesh)

* Dudhnoi-Mehendipathar (Meghalaya)

Following are the highlights of the Interim Rail Budget:

*No increase in passenger fares and freight charges

*17 new premium trains, 38 express trains and 10 passenger trains to be launched

*Premium AC trains with dynamic fares on Delhi-Mumbai route with shorter advance reservation period

* Passenger rail service to Katra and Vaishnodevi to start shortly

* Railways to expand services to Meghalaya

* More high-speed trains to be launched

* Railways exploring low cost option of 160-200 kmph speed trains on select routes

* Rail Tariff Authority to advise on fares and freight

* Mumbai to get AC EMUs in July

* Trains to display info on next stations, arrival times

* More Jan Ahaar outlets, escalators at stations

* Upgradation scheme extended to AC Chair Car and Executive Chair car passengers * Annual Rail Plan envisaged at Rs 64,305 crore with a budgetary support of Rs 30,223 crore

* FDI being enabled for creation of rail infrastructure

* Railways to end current year with surplus

* Surveys for 19 new lines and 5 doubling of tracks

* Railways to encourage transportation of milk

* Steps to reduce running of empty freight carriages

* Bio-toilet facility to be provided in more trains.

Rail Budget 2014: Mallikarjun Kharge Full Speech

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First published on: 13-02-2014 at 11:05 IST
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