HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RAILWAY BUDGET 2014-15
Thrust
1. Safety
2. Project
Delivery
3. Passenger
Amenities/Services with focus on food services & on cleanliness,
sanitation, toilets
4. Financial
Discipline
5. Resource
Mobilization
6. IT
Initiatives
7. Transparency
& System Improvements.
Major Challenges
facing the Railway System
·
Vast
tracts of hinterland waiting for rail connectivity.
·
Railways
expected to earn like a commercial enterprise but serve like a welfare
organization.
·
Railways
carry Social Service Obligation of more than Rs 20,000 cr by carrying services
below cost. This is nearly 16.6% of GTR and is almost half of Railways’ Plan
Outlay under budgetary sources.
·
Surplus
revenues declining; hardly any adequate resources for its development works.
·
Tariff
policy adopted lacked rational approach; passenger fares kept lower than costs;
loss per passenger kilometer increased from 10 Paise per Km in 2000-01 to 23
Paise in 2012-13.
·
‘Decade
of Golden Dilemma’ – choosing between commercial and social viability.
·
Share
of Railways in freight traffic coming down consistently.
·
Rs
5 lakh crore required for ongoing projects alone.
·
Focus
so far in sanctioning more and more projects with inadequate prioritization
rather than completing them; Of the 674 projects worth Rs 1,57,883 cr
sanctioned in the last 30 years, only 317 could be completed.
·
Completing
the balance requires Rs 1,82,000 cr.
·
Most
of Gross Traffic Receipts is spent on fuel, salary and pension, track &
coach maintenance and on safety works. In the year 2013-14, Gross Traffic
Receipts were Rs. 1,39,558 crore and total Working Expenses were Rs. 1,30,321
crore, _ The surplus, after paying obligatory dividend and lease charges, was Rs.
11,754 crore in 2007-08 and is estimated to be Rs. 602 crore in the current
financial year.
Course
Correction and Initiatives
·
Works
to be re-prioritized with more focus on doubling and tripling to decongest the
over-utilized network.
·
Recent
fare and tariff hike to mop additional revenue of about Rs. 8,000 cr.
·
Alternate
resource mobilization need to be explored as enlisted.
- Leveraging Railway PSU Resources by bringing in their investible surplus funds in infrastructure projects of Railways.
- Domestic investments and FDI in rail infrastructure.
- Pursuing Public Private Partnership.
·
Near
Plan-holiday approach.
·
Prioritizing
and setting timelines for completion of the ongoing projects.
·
Decision
Support System for project implementation.
·
Strategic
partnerships and transparency in procurements.
·
Aggressive
indigenization of imported products.
·
Developing
locomotives, coaches and wagon leasing Market.
Passenger
Amenities/Services & Station Management – including Cleanliness &
Catering
·
Provision
of foot-over bridges, escalators, lifts, etc. at all major stations including
through PPP route.
·
Provision
of sufficient water supply, platform shelters and toilets at Railway Stations.
·
Battery
operated cars for differently-abled and senior citizens at platforms of all
major stations.
·
Involvement
of individuals, NGOs, Trusts, Charitable Institutions, Corporates to provide
passenger amenities at stations.
·
Provision
of workstations in select trains on payment basis.
·
Expanding
scope of online booking of train, coaches, berth & chair car.
·
Introduction
of parking cum platform combo tickets.
·
E-booking
of railway retiring rooms.
·
Introduction
of Ready-to-eat meals of reputed brands in a phased manner.
·
Introduction
of Quality Assurance Mechanism through Third Party Audit by NABCB certified
agencies.
·
Launching
feedback service through IVRS on the quality of food.
·
Setting
up of Food Courts at major stations for providing regional cuisine while
onboard through emails, SMS and Smart Phones, etc. Pilot project between New
Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi sections.
·
Substantial
increase of 40% in budget allocation for cleanliness.
·
Outsourcing
of cleaning activities at 50 major stations to professional agencies.
·
Setting
up of separate Housekeeping Wing for maintaining cleanliness and sanitation at
stations.
·
Setting
up of Corpus Fund at Stations’ upkeep.
·
Extending
use of CCTVs at stations to monitor cleanliness activities.
·
Printing
of all India level complaint/helpline number on PRS tickets and introduction of
system of third party inspections.
·
Extension
of onboard Housekeeping services to all important trains.
·
Increasing
mechanized laundries for quality bedrolls in AC coaches.
·
Introduction
of RO drinking water units at Stations and in trains on experimental basis.
·
Encouraging
reputed and willing NGOs, charitable institutions and Corporate Houses for
adopting and maintaining stations.
Measures for
improving Safety & Security
·
Provision
of Rs.1,785 crore for Road-over-bridges and Road-underbridges; speedy
clearances, online design standardization and decentralised sanctioning powers.
·
Multi-pronged
approach to eliminating Unmanned Level Crossings.
·
Advanced
technology for rail-flaw detection - Vehicle Borne Ultrasonic Flaw Detection
System to detect rail and weld fractures and pilot trials on Ultrasonic Broken
Rail Detection System (UBRD) at two locations.
·
Safety
standards to match international practices. Simulation Center to study causes
of accidents.
·
Pilot
project on Automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches.
·
4000
women RPF constables to be recruited in addition to 7000 RPF constables.
·
RPF
escorting teams in trains to be provided mobile phones helping passengers in
contacting them in distress. Coaches for ladies will be escorted. Care to be
taken for ladies travelling alone.
·
Building
boundary walls around stations through PPP route to be explored.
Green
Initiatives
Rail Tourism
IT Initiatives
including revamping reservation system
Staff Welfare
Training
Speed of Trains
Resource
Augmentation
Other Initiatives
Metropolitan/Suburban
Services
Financial
Performance 2013-14
Budget Estimates
2014-15
Annual Plan
2014-15
Projects for
Remote Areas, North-East, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana
New Surveys
Trains
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