Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister of India presents his second budget today on 25-2-2016.Highlights:
1. No hike in
passenger fares.
2 Action has been
initiated on 139 budget announcements made last year.
3 Eliminate all
unmanned level crossings by 2020.
4 Swacch Bharat:
17000 biotoilets and additional toilets in 475 stations before the
close of this financial year.
5 Increased quota
for senior citizens and women travellers this year.
6 Wifi at 100
stations this year and 400 stations next year.
7 Enhanced capacity
of e-ticketing system from 2,000 tickets/min
to 7,200/min. Supporting
1.2 lakh concurrent users now, as opposed to 40,000 earlier.
8 All major stations
to be brought under CCTV surveillance in a phased manner.
9 Deen Dayal coaches
for long distance trains for unreserved passengers. These coaches
will include potable water and higher number of mobile charging
points.
11 Cleaning of
toilets by requests through SMS.
12 Children's menu,
baby foods, baby boards to be made available for travelling mothers.
13 GPS-based digital
display in coaches for showing upcoming stations.
14 Will open
cancellation facility through 139 helpline number.
15 Introduce
bar-coded tickets on pilot basis to tackle menace of ticketless
travel.
New projects to be implemented this year:
1 Overnight
double-decker trains to be introduced.
2 1,600 km of
electrification this year and 2,000 km proposed for the next year.
3 Broad Gauge
Lumding-Silchar section in Assam, connecting Barak Valley with rest
of country.
4 North-East India,
especially Mizoram and Manipur, to be connected through broad gauge
soon.
5 Special purpose
vehicle for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speech corridor registered this
month.
