Railway Budget 2012 Highlights

Here are the Major highlights of the budget.

• Exp train fare up by 5 paise per km, 10 paise per km for AC chair car, 10 paise per km for AC 3-tier, 15 p per km for AC 2-tier, 30 paise per km for AC First class.

• No steep increase in passenger fares; 2 paisa per km for suburban trains; 3 paisa per km for mail and express trains.

• Independent tariff authority suggested; needs serious debate; experts panel established; decision after debate in parliament.

• GRP/RPF personnel deployed on 3,500 trains.

• Free travel by Rajdhani express for Arjuna awardees.

• Targeting freight carriage of 1,025 million tonnes to bring in Rs.89,339 crore; passenger earnings estimated at Rs.36,073 crore; gross receipts estimated at Rs.1.32 lakh crore.

• Excess of Rs.1,492 crore after meeting expenses/dividend payments not adequate for meeting costs of several projects.

• Dedicated railway design wing at National Institute of Design with a contribution of Rs.10 crore.

• New passenger services: 820 new items; 75 new express trains; 21 new passenger trains; 75 new services in Mumbai suburban system.

• Guru Parikrama trains to be run to Amritsar, Patna and Nanded.

• Passenger fare for sub-urban trains hiked by 2 paise per km, mail trains by 3 paise per km.

• Platform tickets to cost Rs. five.

• 50 per cent concession in fare in AC classes to anaemia and sickle cell disease patients.

• Body of experts to examine setting up of an independent Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority

• No steep increase in passenger fares: Railway Minister.

• Finance Ministry agrees to loan Rs. 3,000 crore to Railways at 8.55 per cent interest: Trivedi

•  Gross rail traffic targeted to increase by Rs. 28,635 crore to Rs. 1,32,552 crore in 2012-13.

•  Passenger earnings to increase to Rs. 36,200 crore. Gross traffic receipts Rs. 1,32,552 crore.

•  Railways to carry 55 million tons more freight at 1025 million tonnes in 2012-13.

•  Surplus with railways at Rs. 1,492 crore in current year as against targeted Rs. 5,258 crore.

• Expansion of suburban rail networks and addition of more services in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

•  Guru Parikarma special trains to cover Sikh pilgrimage centres of Amritsar, Patna and Nanded.

•  75 new express passenger trains to be introduced.

•  Railway Board to be restructured, two more members to be included.

•  Railways to recruit more than one lakh persons in 2012-13.

•  Railways to replace open discharge toilets with green toilets. 2,500 coaches will be equipped with bio-toilets next year.

•  All Garib Rath trains to have one special AC coach for differently abled persons.

•  All out efforts to improve hygiene in trains and stations in next six months.

•  Special housekeeping body to be set up to maintain stations and trains.

• Improvement of passenger amenities at a cost of Rs.1,112 crore; regional cuisines to be introduced.

• World Bank funding of R.6,500 crore firmed up for dedicated freight corridors; land acquired for 3,300 km; first contracts to be handed out during 2012-13

• Standard of hygiene needs to be improved substantially; all out efforts will be made on this in the next six months; duty bound to provide high standard of services; special housekeeping body to be set up for stations and trains.

• Corrosion from night soil being discharged from toilets on tracks costs Rs.350 crore annually; green toilets to be installed in 2,500 coaches in the next one year.

• Two thousand one hundred specially designed coaches manufactured to meet needs of the differently abled; aim to provide one such coach in each express train.

• Electrification to be undertaken over 6,500 km at an allocation of Rs.8,000 crore during 12th Plan.

• Conversion from DC to AC power supply completed in Western Railway corridor of Mumbai suburban rail system; conversion of Central Railway corridor to be completed in 2012-13.

• Elevated corridor from Churchgate to Virar in Mumbai being firmed up.

• Government should consider dividend payback to railways.

• Thirty-one projects over 5,000 km being implemented with state governments sharing costs.

• Capacity augmentation to get Rs.4,410 crore during 2012-13.

• Eighty-five new line projects to be taken up during 2012-13.

• One hundred and fourteen new line surveys to be undertaken during 2012-13.

• New line projects to get Rs.6,870 crore in 2012-13.

• Gauge conversion to be undertaken over 800 km with an allocation of Rs.1,950 crore.

• Focus during next five years on five areas: tracks, bridges, signalling, rolling stock and stations.

• Signalling to be improved over 19,000 km.

• Investment of Rs.1.70 lakh crore on rolling stock in next five years.

• Attempt to increase train speeds to 160 kmph; journey time from New Delhi to Kolkata can be brought down to 14 hours from 17 hours.

• Improvements to railway stations can provide employment to 50,000 people.

• Outlay of Rs.60,100 crore during 2012-13, the highest ever.

• Railways will require Rs.14 lakh crore in the next 10 years for modernisation.

• Aim to bring down operating ratio from 90 percent to 84.9 percent in 2012-13 and to 72 percent by 2016-17.

• Time has come for formulating national policy for railways on the lines of that for defence and external affairs.

• Railways should grow at 10 percent annually for sustained GDP growth.

• Railways to invest Rs.7.35 lakh crore during 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-17), a quantum jump from the Rs.1.92 lakh crore invested in previous plan period.

• Railways must attract 10 percent of the Rs.20 lakh crore government expects to spend on infrastructure during 12th Plan.

• Railways expect gross budgetary support of Rs.2.5 lakh crore during 12th Plan.

• Collective challenge to formulate viable funding mechanism for modernisation.

• Railways should contribute 2 percent of GDP from the present 1 percent.

• Stress on strengthening safety. Has to be be benchmarked with the best in the world.

• Target of reducing accidents from 0.55 to 0.17 has been met.

• Special purpose vehicle to be set up on safety protocols.

• Independent railway safety authority to be set up as statutory safety body.

• Investment of Rs.5.60 lakh crore required for modernisation.

Source : www.ndtv.com