Railway Budget 2012 - Expectations

As I am writing this post, Mr. Dinesh Trivedi is presenting the railway budget in the parliament. I am not expecting in terms of number of new trains started, % increase or decrease in railway fares, etc. What I am looking for is the infrastructure, facilities in railway stations, trains, cleanliness, safety, food quality etc. I also don't know the mentality of Indian people. They feel happy when a new train is started from their native state to a metropolitan city. But what about the traveling experience?

I am Ok if you increase the railway fare for passengers, introduce some safety tax, etc. but what about the condition of trains, tracks, railway stations. There is no railway station in India which can match US or European railway stations. Most of our politicians do not use railways, they travel by air and hence we do not see any improvement in the railways.

The IRCTC website is slowest. It takes around 20 minutes to book a ticket and then when you complete all the process, the transaction gets failed. The new Indian Railways website was launched by Ms. Mamta Banerjee but it was taken back only after a week. It was not even properly tested.

Air travel is safer than railways but then poor people in India cannot afford air travel. Food quality in trains is worst. Earlier I use to like train food but now its getting costlier but unhygienic and bad. The taste is so pathetic that it seems we are having boiled salted water.

I am not expecting much relief as far as the fare or new trains is concerned but at least improve some basic infrastructure and facilities for people of India who pay taxes.

Highlights of Railway Budget

Highlights of Railway Budget (This is a copy paste stuff)

There will be no increase in the passenger fares of any class or category of trains. Freight tariffs will also remain the same for 2010-11. Service charges for e-tickets and freight charges for food-grains will be reduced. This was announced by the Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee in Parliament today (February 24, 2010) while presenting Railway Budget for the new financial year. The highlights of the Railway Budget are:

· No increase in passenger fares and freight tariffs

· Service charges on e-tickets reduced

· E-ticket vans to be extended to Government Medical College Hospitals, Courts, Universities, IT hubs, IITs and IIMs

· SMS updates of reservation status and movement of wagons

· Ticket centres to be opened at district headquarters and village panchayats

· 100% concession for cancer patients alongwith an escort

· Modern luggage trolleys with uniformed attendants to assist senior citizens and women passengers

· Six clean bottling plants to provide cheaper, clean drinking water to passengers

· 12 companies of women RPF personnel, ‘Mahila Vahini’, for the security of women passengers

· No examination fee for women, minority and economically backward class candidates for Railway Recruitment Boards’ exams

· Question papers now will be made available in local state languages besides Hindi, Urdu and English, examinations will be held on the same day in all regions

· 117 new train projects to be flagged off by the end of March 2010

· 52 long distance express trains and 28 passenger trains to be introduced

· Frequency of 12 trains will be increased and 21 trains will be extended

· Special trains to mark Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary, for ladies, for uniformed persons and for tourists

· Double-decker coaches to be introduced in two trains each from Delhi and Kolkata

· 94 stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations, 10 more stations to be upgraded as World Class Stations

· Automatic fire and smoke detection system to be introduced in 20 trains

· All the unmanned Level Crossings (LCs) to be manned within five years

· Rs.41,426 crore outlay proposed, allocation for new lines increased to Rs.2,848 crore from Rs.4,411 crore

· More money to improve passenger amenities – Rs.1,302 crore in comparision to Rs.923 crore in 2009-10

· Railway revenue through branding/advertising to go up from Rs.150 crore to Rs.1,000

· Special Task Force to clear investment proposals within 100 days

· Concession in freight charges for food-grains and domestic use kerosene

· Kisan Vision Project for manufacturing refrigerated containers

· Allotment of iron ore rakes would be accessible through the web. RFID technology to be introduced for tracking of wagons

· Multi-level parking complexes through PPP route

· 93 new multi-functional complexes to be developed

· National High Speed Rail Authority proposed to plan high

speed rail corridor

· Houses for all rail employees in next 10 years

· 522 hospitals, 50 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 10 residential schools, model degree colleges, technical and management institutes for railway employees