Railway Budget 2015-16: Major Initiatives

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 26 February 2015 presented the Railway Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha. The Budget plans to invest around 8 lakh crore rupees over the next 5 year to rejuvenate the Indian Railways.

In this regard, Railway Budget 2015 – 16 unveiled certain initiatives ranging from cleanliness drive to development of infrastructure to improving the overall quality of life in train journeys.

The major initiatives undertaken in the Railway Budget 2015-16

Station Redevelopment

• Zonal and Divisional offices to be empowered for quicker decision making
• Development of 10 Satellite Railway terminals in major cities with twin purpose of decongesting the city and providing service to suburban passengers

Network expansion

• Fast-track sanctioned works on 7000 kms of double/third/fourth lines
• Commission of 1200 km of network in 2015-16 at an investment of 8686 crore rupees

Expansion of freight handling capacity

• Transport Logistics Corporation of India (TRANSLOC), to be set up for developing common user facilities to provide end-to-end logistics solution at select Railway terminals through Public Private Partnerships.
• Policy for Private Freight Terminals (PFT) to be revised.
• Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme for traffic to be expanded
• Long haul freight operations to be used extensively and construction of long loop lines to be expedited.

Improving train speed

• Speed of 9 railway corridors to be increased from existing 110 and 130 kmph to 160 and 200 kmph respectively.
• Average speed of freight trains in empty and loaded conditions will be enhanced to 100 kmph for empty freight trains and 75 kmph for loaded trains.

Bullet train

• Feasibility study for High Speed Rail between Mumbai-Ahmadabad is in advanced stage.

Upgrading manufacturing capability

• Creation of job opportunities by upgrading the manufacturing capability and review of functioning of Indian Railways Production Units.
• Workshops for technological upgradation and enhancing productivity be undertaken to make them self-sustaining.

Safety

• RDSO to develop a suitable device with reliable power supply system based on theft-proof panels/batteries in consultation with Indian Space Research Organization using geo-spatial technology.
• Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System to be installed on selected routes at the earliest.  
• Better welding techniques being promoted and digital type machines to replace analogue type machines.

Technology upgradation

• Constitution of an innovation council called Kayakalp for business re-engineering.  
• Technology portal being constituted to invite innovative technological solutions.
• Research Centers to be set up in selected universities for fundamental research.

Partnerships for development

• PPP cell to be revamped to make it result oriented. Foreign Rail Technology Cooperation scheme to be launched.
• Joint ventures to be set up with States for focused project development, resource mobilization, land acquisition and monitoring of critical rail projects.  

Improvements to Management Processes and Systems

• Systems audit to be conducted for review of all processes and procedures.
• Constitution of a working group to modify present system of accounting, to ensure tracking of• expenditure to desired outcomes and Train operations to be audited.
• Paperless working in material management system to be expanded and Vendors to be integrated through Vendor Interface Management System.

Resource Mobilisation

• Support from the Central Government for 41.6 percent of the Plan and Internal generation of 17.8  percent for setting up of a Financing Cell in the Railway Board.
• Setting up an infrastructure fund, a holding company and a Joint Venture with an existing NBFC of a PSU with IRFC for raising long term debt from domestic as well as overseas sources.
• Digitized mapping of land records and responsibility fixing for encroachments.
• New strategy to tap latent advertising potential including offering stations and trains for corporate branding.  
• Railways in partnership with ports will deliver rail connectivity to Nargol, Chharra, Dighi, Rewas and Tuna. Scrap disposal policy to be reviewed for speedier scrap disposal.

Human Resources

• Human Resource Audit to be undertaken; Separate accounting head for HRD; ERP based Human Resource Management System.  
• Setting up a full-fledged University during 2015-16 and  Improved delivery of health services to employees

Energy and sustainability

• Environment Directorate to be constituted in Railway Board to give increased focus on environment management.
• Initiative likely to save at least 3000 crore rupees in next few years will be taken up.  1000 MW solar plants will be set up by the developers on Railway/private land.
• Water conservation mission will include water audit and expansion of water harvesting systems. 100 DEMUs to be enabled for dual fuel- CNG and diesel.
• Noise levels of locos to be at par with international norms and concerns related to wildlife will be addressed.  

Transparency and Governance initiatives

• System of on-line applications introduced for two categories of recruitment as a pilot project.  
• All possible solutions be explored to address menace of corruption. E-procurement value chain to be expanded.

Social initiatives

• Infrastructure like stations and training centers to be made available for skill development.
• Promotion of products made by Self Help Groups, consisting mainly of women and youth on the model of Konkan Railway.

Tourism

• Incredible Rail for Incredible India to be launched and Promotion of training of auto-rickshaw and taxi-operators as tourist-guides on the model of Konkan Railway.  
• Coaches in selected trains connecting major tourist destinations to travel agencies may be offered on a revenue sharing model.  
• IRCTC to work on promoting the Gandhi circuit to attract tourists to mark the occasion of 100 years of the return of Mahatma Gandhi to India from South Africa.
• IRCTC will work on Kisan Yatra, a special travel scheme for farmers for farming & marketing technique centres.
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Railway Budget 2015-16: Quality of Life in Journeys:

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 26 February 2015 presented his maiden Rail Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha. This was also the second rail budget of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

In the budget, Prabhu gave 11 thrust areas to improve quality of life in train journeys which also includes Swachh Rail - Swachh Bharat drive. The 11 thrust areas include

Cleanliness
•Swachh Rail - Swachh Bharat campaign
•New department for cleanliness
•Integrated cleaning by engaging professional agencies and training our staff
•Waste to energy conversion plants
•New toilets covering 650 additional stations compared to 120 stations in 2014
•Bio-toilets to be fitted in the coaches

Bed linen
•National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi to design bed linen
•The facility of online booking of disposable bedrolls at select stations will be extended to all passengers through the IRCTC portal on payment basis

Help-line
•Start a 24X7 helpline number 138 and a toll-free number 182 for security related complaints

Ticketing
•Operation Five Minutes to ensure Speedy Purchase of Tickets for Unreserved Class Passengers.  
•Provision of modified hot-buttons, coin vending machines and single destination teller windows will be launched to reduce the transaction time. 
•For the differently-abled travellers, a special initiative will be launched whereby they can purchase concessional e-tickets after one-time registration. 
•Proposal to work towards developing a multi-lingual e-ticketing portal
•Some other facilities include introduction of integrated ticketing system on the lines of rail-cum-road tickets on Jammu – Srinagar route will be expanded.

Catering
•Integrate Best Food Chains for E-Catering
•Railway passengers to order their food through IRCTC website at the time of booking tickets

Leveraging technology
•Introduce hand-held terminals to Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs) for verification of passengers and downloading charts. 
•Extending facility of SMS on mobiles as a valid proof of travel for PRS tickets
•SMS Alert service to inform passengers in advance of the updated arrival/departure time of trains at starting or destination stations

Surveillance
•Surveillance cameras will be provided on a pilot basis in selected mainline coaches and ladies’ compartments of suburban coaches without intruding into privacy

Entertainment
•Project for introducing on-board entertainment on select Shatabdi trains on license fee basis 
•Mobile phone charging facilities will be provided in general class coaches & its numbers will be increased in sleeper class coaches

Station facilities
•200 more stations to come under Adarsh Station scheme
•Wi-Fi will be provided at B category station
•Facility of self-operated lockers to be made available at stations 
•Provision of concierge services will be introduced through IRCTC at major stations
•Online booking of wheel chair on payment basis for senior citizens, patients and the differently-abled passengers will be available through IRCTC on select stations

Train capacity
•Capacity in identified trains will be augmented to run with 26 coaches
•More General class coaches will be added in identified trains

Comfortable travel
•NID to design user friendly ladders for climbing to the upper berths
•Quota of lower berths for senior citizens will be increased
•Middle bay of coaches will be reserved for women and senior citizens
•NID will develop ergonomically designed seats
•Provision of 120 crore rupees for Lifts and escalator has been made
•The newly manufactured coaches will be Braille enabled
•Entrances will be widened to ease of differently-abled passengers
•Corporate houses & MPs requested to invest in improving passenger amenities at Railway stations through CSR & MPLAD funds