The Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu unveiled his first Budget majorly revolving around the Narendra Modi government’s vision of Clean India and Digital India.
The minister announced a record investment plan of over Rs. 1 lakh crore in 2015-16 while sparing the passengers of a fare hike. A number of steps to increase passenger amenities have also been proposed.
Rail Budget 2015 also proposed extensive use of Information Technology and eGovernance initiatives from SMS alert service for passengers, provision for open Wi-Fi at Railway Stations to digitised mapping of rail land.
Key Highlights
- No hike in Railway Passenger Fares
- Plan Outlay proposed Rs. 1,00,011 crore, increased by 52%
- Allocation for passenger amenities up by 67%
- Railways to become prime mover of Indian Economy, Five years action plan proposed
- Rail Budget seeks resource mobilization for higher investment
- Thrust on measurable and sustainable improvement in passenger experience and to make Rail a safer means of travel
- Hot buttons, coin vending machines for railway tickets within 5 minutes, e-catering to select meals from an array of choices
- 200 more stations to come under Adarsh Station scheme; Wi-Fi to be provided at B category stations
- 24X7 helplines for attending passenger problems and security related complaints
- For the safety of women passengers surveillance cameras in suburban coaches
- More General class coaches will be added in identified trains.
- The speed of nine railway corridors will be increased to 160 and 200 kmph
- Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System to be installed on select routes
- 77 new projects covering 9,400 km of doubling/tripling/quadrupling works proposed
- A new department for keeping stations and trains clean under Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
