Railway Budget on passenger amenities side

New Delhi, 8 July, 2014

Catering Services to be Improved; Food Courts to be Set up at Major Stations

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that in order to improve the quality, hygiene of on-board catering services and to provide variety, the Indian Railways proposes to introduce Pre-cooked (Ready-to-eat) Meals of reputed brands in a phased manner. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, to bring perceptible improvement in the catering services, he proposes to introduce Quality Assurance Mechanism through Third Party Audit by NABCB certified agencies.

He said, in addition to the third party audit, a system of collecting feedback through IVRS mechanism, from the travelling passengers on the quality of food served, will be launched shortly. The Minister said, if the service is not to the standards set, especially in hygiene and the taste, severe action would be initiated against the vendors including cancellation of the contract.

The Minister said, Indian Railways also proposes to set up Food Courts at major stations to provide the option of ordering regional cuisine while onboard, through emails, SMS and Smart Phones, etc. A pilot project will be started shortly between New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi sections.

Measures for Improvement in Safety and Security of Passengers
4000 Women RPF Constables to be Recruited

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that safety of passengers is of paramount importance for Indian Railways. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, it is estimated that over Rs. 40,000 crore would be needed to be invested in track renewals, elimination of unmanned level crossing and construction of Road-under-bridges and Road-over-bridges.

The Minister said, he is making provision of Rs. 1,785 crore for Road-under-bridges and Road-over-bridges in the Budget and requested concerned State Governments to expedite their proposals and pass on their share of the cost.

The Minister said, Indian Railways have 30348 Level Crossings, out of which 11563 are unmanned. Each unmanned level crossing is being examined in detail and depending on the site condition, action will be taken to eliminate it by suitable modality.

He said, Indian Railways proposes to use modern Vehicle Borne Ultrasonic Flaw Detection System to detect rail and weld fractures. In addition Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection System (UBRD) will also be tried at two locations as a Pilot Project.

The Minister said, in order to improve the safety of travelling passengers, he proposes to bring in technology for automatic closing of doors before start of train, both in main line and in sub-urban coaches. A pilot project for limited number of trains will be taken up.

He said, in order to strengthen security in trains and at Stations, 17000 RPF constables have been recruited and shall be shortly available for deployment. He said, the Indian Railways also proposes to recruit 4000 women RPF constables. He said, in order to ensure security of ladies travelling alone, special instructions are being issued for their safety in each class of travel. With the induction of women RPF constables, coaches for ladies will be escorted. Additional care will be taken for ladies travelling alone in all classes.

The Minister said, RPF escorting teams in trains will be provided mobile phones so that passengers can contact them when in distress. Security helpline will be augmented.

He also said that the Railways will explore the possibility of building of boundary walls around stations through PPP route.

Rail Tourism to be Promoted to Tap the Potential of Domestic Tourism

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that Indian Railways plans to take up Eco-Tourism and Education Tourism in North Eastern States. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, Special Pilgrim Circuits like Devi Circuit, Jyotirling Circuit, Jain Circuit, Christian Circuit, Muslim / Sufi Circuit, Sikh Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Famous Temple Circuit have been identified. The Minister said, he proposes to introduce specially packaged trains for these circuits. He said, private participation in this area will also be encouraged and some trains for Pilgrims and Tourists are intended to be introduced in short run also.

The Minister said, one Tourist Train will run from Gadag to Pandarpur via Bagalkot, Bijapur and Solapur covering the pilgrim and tourist places of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Another such train will start from Rameshwaram covering pilgrim and tourist places like Bengaluru, Chennai, Ayodhya, Varanasi and Haridwar. He said, he also plans to run a special train featuring life and work of Swami Vivekananda to inculcate good moral values and propagate the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.

Water, Shelter and other Passenger Amenities to be Improved

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that in the passenger amenities, Indian Railways envisage to provide foot-over bridges, escalators and lifts at all major stations including through PPP route. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, Indian Railways would make earnest attempt this year to provide sufficient water supply, platform shelters and toilets at the Railway Stations.

He said, Indian Railways propose to extend service of Battery-operated Carts to facilitate differently-abled and senior citizens to reach any platform comfortably at all major stations.

He said, Railways proposes to involve individuals, NGOs, Trusts, Charitable Institutions, Corporates, etc. to provide passenger amenities at stations.

Railway Reservation System to be Revamped

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that Railway Reservation System will be revamped into Next Generation e-Ticketing System. Ticket booking through mobile phones and through Post Offices will be popularized.

Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, the Indian Railways will improve the system capabilities in e-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minute as against 2000 tickets per minute and allow 1,20,000 simultaneous users at any point in time.

The Minister said, facility of Coin Operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines will be experimented.

He said, efforts will also be made to provide facility of buying Platform Tickets and unreserved tickets over internet. Parking-cum-Platform Combo Tickets will be launched to facilitate the passengers and to save their time.

He said that online booking facility of Railway Retiring Room will be extended to all the stations during the course of the year. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, the Indian Railways is expanding the scope of online booking for people to book a Train, book a Coach, book a Berth and book a Seat in Chair Car.

Increased speed of trains

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that Indian Railways is on its way to fulfill the long cherished dream to run a Bullet Train. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today, he said, the Railways proposes bullet trains by starting off with an already identified Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector, where a number of studies have been done.

The Minster said, under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modiji, the Railways is embarking on an ambitious plan to have a Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail, connecting major Metros and growth centers of the country. A provision of Rs.100 crore has been made in the Budget for high Speed project to RVNL/HSRC (High Speed Rail Corridor) for taking further steps.

He said, while bullet trains would require completely new infrastructure, higher speed for existing trains will be achieved by upgrading the present network. The Minister said, hence, an effort will be made to increase the speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select sectors so as to significantly reduce travel time between major cities. The Minister said, the identified sectors are:

i) Delhi-Agra
ii) Delhi-Chandigarh
iii) Delhi-Kanpur
iv) Nagpur-Bilaspur
v) Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai
vi) Mumbai-Goa
vii) Mumbai-Ahmedabad
viii) Chennai-Hyderabad and
ix) Nagpur-Secunderabad.

Budget Allocation for Cleanliness in Trains and Stations Increased Substantially

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has announced substantial increase in budget allocation for cleanliness in the current year, which is a 40% increase over the previous year.

Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today, he said, the Indian Railways proposes to outsource cleaning activities at 50 major stations to professional agencies and to set up a separate Housekeeping Wing to have focused attention and exclusive responsibility of maintaining cleanliness and sanitation at stations. He said, a Corpus Fund for upkeep of stations will be set up.

The Minister said, use of CCTVs at stations will be extended to monitor cleanliness activities. All-India level complaint/helpline number will be printed on the back of all PRS tickets. System of periodic third-party inspections will be introduced. Further, Bio-toilets will be increased in sufficient numbers in trains in order to mitigate the problem of direct discharge of human waste on the tracks and platform aprons at stations.

The Minister said, Onboard Housekeeping Services, currently operational in 400 trains, has received good feedback from passengers. This will be extended to all the important trains. He said, the Indian Railways also proposes to increase Mechanized Laundries in order to improve quality of the bedrolls provided in AC Coaches.

Pilot Project for ‘Office on Wheels’ for Business Travelers
Major it Initiatives Include Paperless Offices, new Mobile-Based Services

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that in order to add best value to business travelers, the Indian Railways proposes to provide workstations in select trains on payment basis. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, a pilot project will be launched by this year.

He said, Indian Railways is also going for a computer assisted Enterprise Resource Planning Solution, so that synergy is brought in. To begin with, following initiatives will be taken up:

i) Moving towards paperless offices in Indian Railways in 5 years;
ii) Next Generation Ticket Reservation System;
iii) Wi-fi Services in all A1 and A category stations and in select trains;
iv) Real-time tracking of trains and rolling stock;
v) Mobile based Wakeup Call System for passengers;
vi) Mobile based Destination Arrival Alert;
vii) Station Navigation Information System;
viii) Extension of Dual Display Fare Repeaters at all the Ticket Counters through PPP;
ix) Digital reservation charts at Stations (Bengaluru model);
x) Extension of Computerized Parcel Management System;
xi) Extension of logistics support to various e-commerce Companies by providing designated pick-up centres at identified Stations;
xii) Providing education to children of Railway staff at remote locations through Railtel OFC (optical fibre cable) network.