Highlights of the Railway Budget

Highlights of Railway Budget for 2016-17
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Thursday, Feb 25

    MUMBAI - Following are highlights of the Railway Budget for 2016-17
(Apr-Mar), presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in Parliament today:

GENERAL
* Budget reflects aspirations of the entire railway family
* Rail Budget reflects aspiration of all
* Core objective is to improve individual experience
* Rail Budget is the vision of PM Modi
* Making all efforts to turn PM's vision into reality
* Railways facing headwinds on tepid economic growth
* Railways have stood the test of time
* Need to overhaul Railways' work culture
* Need to bring in new approach
* Will lay out three pillars of strategy
* Looking at new areas for generating revenues
* Need to reorganise, rejuvenate, restructure railways
* Railways facing headwinds from 7th pay panel burden
* Will engage with global agencies for funds
* Absolute deductions planned in expenses such as diesel
* Have significantly reduced cost of power procurement
* Will revisit all rules, structures to overhaul railways
* To improve procurement practises at par with international norms
* New revenues through changes in freight policies
* Punctuality has gone up to almost 95%
* To include implementation reports in Budget
* Carry 23 mln passengers every day
* Special teams to screen railway operations
* To introduce 33% quota for women passengers

FY17 ESTIMATES
* FY17 investment seen at 1.21 trln rupees
* Investment rate of capex has increased substantially
* FY17 capital expenditure seen 1.2 trln rupees
* FY17 revenue seen 1.84 trln rupees
* Capex to grow exponentially
* Ramped up capex in FY17
* FY17 operating ratio seen 92%
* Increasing rigour on cost optimisation in FY17
* Freight's contribution to earnings seen 67%
* FY17 gross budgetary support seen 400 bln rupees
* 44 new projects planned FY17 worth 927 bln rupees

FY16 REVISED
* 87.2 bln rupees saved from last year budget estimate
* FY16 operating ratio seen 90%
* FY16 loss from subsidising passenger fares seen 300 bln rupee
* Saving from previous Budget estimates 787 bln rupees

INFRASTRUCTURE, MODERNISATION
* To be at forefront of infrastructure growth
* Railways will be at forefront of infra growth
* To generate employment for 90 mln man days by FY18
* To commission broad gauge lines at 7 km/day FY17
* FY17 track commissioning aim 2,800 km
* Aim to have zero direct discharge of human waste by 2020
* Reserved accommodation to be available on demand by 2020
* Aim 80 km/hour avg speed of express train by 2020
* Freight speed seen at 50 km/hr by 2020
* To eliminate all unmanned level crossings by 2020
* Taken action on 139 Budget announcements made last yr
* To run semi high-speed trains on Golden Quadrilateral by 2020
* Action initiated on 139 FY16 Rail Budget announcements
* To meet reservation on demand by 2020
* Will take a zero-based budgeting approach
* To take zero-base budgetary approach for freight
* To conduct recruitment online
* To set up Margao, Hazira ports FY17 via PPP
* To spend 8.5 trln rupees over 5 yrs to modernise rail infra
* To hasten electrification of railways working with Power Min
* To build more dedicated freight corridors
* To up FY17 allocation for electrification by 50%
* To generate employment of 140 mln man-days in 2018-19
* 65,000 additional berths generated in FY16
* Taken steps to significantly improve svcs for rail passengers
* Dedicated IVRS system receiving over mln feedback calls daily
* Set up mechanism to get direct feedback from customers
* Responsiveness to customer needs touched new heights this yr
* Initiated IT-based internal audit
* Signed MoUs with some zonal railways
* To move to contract award system online in FY17
* Social media being used as a tool to bring transparency
* Mission to ensure transparent bidding process
* To set up 2 loco units with 480 bln rupee invest
* To set up new loco units with order book of 400 bln rupees
* Aim to have 100 WiFi-enabled stations this yr, 400 in next 3
* To redevelop stations by different models
* Finalised 2 locomotive factories bids under 'Make In India'
* E-ticket capacity 7,000 tickets/minute now vs 2,000 earlier
* Introduced 1,780 automatic ticket vending machines
* Initiated capacity augmentation on some busy routes
* Developed application to maintain centralised land data
* To open cashless ticketing facilities for foreigners in 3 mos
* To introduce tickets with bar codes
* To introduce bar-coded tickets
* To start track management system under Digital India
* To introduce bar-coding of tickets at major stations
* To allow cancellation of tickets via call on 139

NEW TRAINS, LINES
* Plan to electrify 2,000 km track in FY17
* Track laying to be at 13km/day in FY18, 19km/day in FY19
* North-South dedicated freight corridors in Delhi-Chennai
* Plan Kharagpur-Vijaywada freight corridor
* Plan Mumbai-Kharagpur freight corridor
* Decongestion on Jalandhar-Jammu line going on
* To put 3 freight corridor projects on high priority
* Mizoram, Manipur to come under broad gauge network soon
* To launch long distance fully unreserved Antyodaya trains
* To have more unreserved passenger coaches
* Proposed dedicated freight corridor for east-west, east coast
* Proposed dedicated freight corridors for north-south
* Overnight double-decker trains named 'Uday trains'
* Overnight double-decker trains for better access on busy line

BORROWING
* Will scout overseas for rupee bonds
* To scout international markets for rupee bonds

INVESTMENT PUSH
* Secured funding from LIC at favourable terms
* Bankable projects assured of funding now
* LIC to invest 1.5 trln rupees over 5 years
* 1 rupee invest in rail can impact econ output by factor of 5
* In partnership with SAIL, NTPC, coal ministry on funding
* Signed MoUs with 6 states for JVs
* Got expressions from 17 states to form JVs
* MoUs with zonal railways for quantifying performance
* Forming JV with states for local rail projects
* Availing multilateral financing for station development
* Cabinet approved redevelopment of 400 stations via PPP model
* Bidding process in advanced stage to redevelop 4 stations
* To undertake bidding to redevelop some big stations next yr
* Bankable railway projects to be completed in 3-4 years

MISCELLANEOUS
* To raise quota of lower berth for women, senior citizens
* To build additional toilets in 475 stations before FY16 end
* Aim 17,000 bio-toilets before FY16 end
* Initiated audit for punctuality of passenger trains
* Disposable bed rolls at all stations for all classes
* 311 railway stations currently under CCTV surveillance
* All stations to have CCTV surveillance in phased manner
* Anti-falling measures in suburban coaches
* To eliminate accidents by adopting latest technology
* Entered into R&D pacts with Korea, Japan to improve ops
* All railway stations to be under CCTV surveillance in phases
* Supporting 120,000 concurrent users now vs 40,000 earlier
* Installed CCTV cameras at 311 stations
* To introduce 'Deen Dayalu' coaches
* Every customer a brand ambassador for railways
* To upgrade Baroda rail institute to full fledged university
* Working on implementing Kakodkar panel report on safety
* To have Hamsafar, Tejas, Uday coaches for reserved passengers
* Tajas speed to be 130 km/hour
* Deen Dayalu coaches for unreserved passengers for long travel
* To add 2 or 4 more unreserved coaches in long distance trains
* New catering policy for multipurpose stalls at stations
* To extend e-catering services to all 408 A1, A2 stations
* IRCTC to introduce local cuisines available on demand
* To make local cuisine available on demand on trains
* IRCTC to unbundle catering services
* Set up Swachh Rail waste aggregation and recycling centre
* To install 30,000 bio-toilets at stations
* To start Clean-My-Coach service on pan-India basis
* To introduce CCTV coverage at all Tatkal counters