Railway Budget 2015-16: Seek To Improve

Facilities, Safety
The first and the most-anticipated Rail
Budget of the BJP government was tabled
on the floor of the house today by Rail
Minister Suresh Prabhu. Sparing the
passengers of a potential hike in fare, the
minister proposed a big hike in building
the outlay for basic amenities.
Targeting an investment of Rs. 8 lakh
crore over a period of five years in the
development of railways, the chartered
accountant turned politician highlighted
that the "India Railway is a web of veins which pumps blood into the heart of the
Indian economy!". He emphasized that railways carry a huge burden of expectation
and the citizens are often not aware of the constraint. Highlighting the problems of
underinvestment, the 6 drivers of theRail Budget 2015 described by the Railway
Minister were as follows:
Adopting a medium term perspective
Building sustainable partnerships
Using additional resources
Overhauling system, procedures and re-tooling of management practices
Setting standards for governance and encouraging transparency
The Rail minister went ahead to table the 11 thrust areas of the action plan in the
Railway Budget 2015-16.

No change in passenger fare was proposed, which meant that no hike on the
current passenger fare was tabled.
Taking from the Swacch Bharat campaign, emphasis on cleanliness was
realized. The rail minister indicated on bringing over 600 new toilets to
railway stations and planned to replace around 17,000 old toilets this year
alone. He ensured the house about the involvement of private agencies in the
cleanliness drive.
Besides cleanliness, private sector will be roped in to modernize railway
stations in the next five years.
An All India 24x7 helpline number 138 will become operational in a few
months, which will address passenger complaints on a real-time basis. This
service is scheduled to start in Northern Railways from April 1 and will be

extended in phases across India soon. Additionally, SMS alert services will
inform passenger about arrival and departure of trains.
Facility to book wheelchairs for senior citizens will be available online. While,
mobile charging facilities in general compartments, Wi-Fi in Category B
Stations will be offered as well. Additionally, Surveillance cameras will be
installed on selected mainline and ladies compartment.
More general class coaches will be added to selected train and NIFT, NID will
be involved for better bed rolls, coach designs to make the upper berth more
accessible.
Introduction of train sets will help reduce up to 20% journey time. These
trains will be similar to bullet trains in design and can run on existing tracks.
RDSO, IIT Kanpur will be involved in increasing the safety of unmanned
crossings.
This year the Railways will celebrate 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi's return
from South Africa. Thus, it will aim at promoting Gandhi Circle for tourism.
The budget emphasized on improving the speed of trains from 110, 130 to
160 and 200 kms respectively, so that metropolitan journey - such as Delhi to
Mumbai - can be completed overnight.
Open bidding will be scheduled for sourcing electricity. While proposal to
launch, encourage water conversation and water harvesting plants will be
initiated as well.
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