Highlights of Railway Budget 2011-12

PTI

New Delhi, 25 February 2011: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee presented the Railway Budget for 2011-12 on Friday in Parliament. For the third successive year, the Railway Budget for 2011-12 spared the passengers of any increase in fares and proposed no hike in freight rates while introducing 56 new trains, including nine non-stop Duronto trains and three Shatabdis.

 

Presenting her third budget in UPA-II in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a slew of concessions including reducing the eligibility age of senior women citizens from 60 to 58 years and the fare concession for men above 60 from 30 to 40 per cent.

 

Following are the highlights of the Budget.

 

* No hike in passenger fare and freight rates.

 

* Highest ever Plan outlay of Rs 57,630 crore proposed for Railways. Rs. 9,583 crore provided for new lines.

 

* 1300 km new lines, 867 km doubling of lines and 1017 km gauge conversion targeted in 2011-12.

 

* 56 new Express Trains, 3 new Shatabdis and 9 Duronto trains to be introduced.

 

* AC Double Decker services on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes. * New Super AC Class to be introduced.

 

* A new portal for e-ticketing to be launched shortly.

 

* Booking charges will be cheaper with a charge of only Rs 10 for AC classes and Rs 5 for others.

 

* Pan-India multi-purpose smart card ’Go India’ to be introduced.

 

* 236 more stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations.

 

* 47 additional suburban services in Mumbai and 50 new suburban services proposed for Kolkata.

 

* Two new passenger terminals in Kerala and one each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal proposed.

 

* Feasibility study to raise speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph to be undertaken.

 

* A special package of two new trains and two projects for the states managing trouble free run of trains through out the year.

 

* Anti Collision Devise (ACD) sanctioned to cover 8 zonal railways.

 

* GPS Based ’Fog Safe’ Device to be deployed.

 

* All unmanned level crossing up to 3000 to be eliminated.

 

* All India Security Help line on a single number set up.

 

* All state capitals in the North-East except Sikkim to be connected by Rail in next seven years.

 

* A Bridge Factory in Jammu and Kashmir and a state-of-art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering is proposed at Jammu.

 

* A Diesel Locomotive Centre will be set-up in Manipur.

 

* A Centre of Excellence in Software at Darjeeling proposed under the aegis of CRIS.

 

* Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and New Bongaigaon proposed.

 

* Additional mechanised laundry units to be set up at Nagpur, Chandigarh and Bhopal.

 

* 700 MW gas-based power plant to be set up at Thakurli in Maharashtra.

 

* 18,000 Wagons to be procured during 2011-12.

 

* A scheme for socially desirable projects, ’Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana’ with non-lapsable fund proposed.

 

* 10,000 shelter units proposed for track side dwellers in Mumbai, Sealdah, Siliguri, Tiruchirapalli on pilot basis.

 

* Concession to physically handicapped persons to be extended on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.

 

* Concession of 50 per cent to press correspondents with family increased to twice a year.

 

* Senior Citizens concession to be hiked from 30 per cent to 40 per cent.

 

* Medical facilities extended to dependent parents of the Railway employees.

 

* Scholarship for girl child of Group-D railway employees increased to Rs 1200 per month.

 

* 20 additional hostels for children of railway employees to be set up.

 

* Recruitment for 1.75 lakh vacancies of Group ’C’ and ’D’ including to fill up backlog of SC/ST initiated, 16,000 ex-servicemen to be inducted by March 2011.

 

* A separate sports cadre to be created.

 

* 2011-12 declared ’Year of Green Energy’ for Railways.

 

* Freight loading of 993 MT and passenger growth of 6.4 per cent estimated for 2011-12.

 

* Gross Traffic Receipts at Rs 1,06,239 crore, exceeding one lakh crore mark for the first time estimated.

 

* Ordinary Working Expenses assessed at Rs 73,650 crore.