Highlights of Railway Budget for 2013-14

By | February 26, 2013 2:00 pm

Following are highlights of the Railway Budget for 2013-14 (Apr-Mar), presented by Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal in Lok Sabha today:

FY14 BUDGET
* Rail land development authority allocation 10 bln rupees
* FY13 railway losses seen 246 bln rupees vs 225 bln yr ago
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12TH PLAN
* 12th Plan gross budgetary support 1.94 trln rupees
* 12th Plan rail mkt borrow pegged at 1.20 trln rupees
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GENERAL
* Losses on train ops continue to mount
* Steep rise in primary cost met by rise in freight cost
* Share from central road fund 11 bln rupee vs 50 bln needed
* Number of trains up from 8,897 in 2001 to 12,335 now
* Overwhelmed by demand for new trains, new projects
* Fell short on track doubling, conversion aims in 11th Plan
* Raising 950 bln rupee for next 4 yrs needs paradigm shift
* Arunachal Pradesh brought under RAIL network
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SAFETY, MODERNISATION
* To make 10-year corporate plan for rail safety
* Plan to introduce corporate safety plan for 10 yrs from 2014
* Need support from central road fund to cut level crossings
* Train protection warning system to be implemented
* 10,797 level crossings to be eliminated in 12th plan
* Won’t add new level crossings
* Safety fund provisioning inadequate
* 40% of rail accidents, 60% of fatalities at level crossings
* To work towards zero-accident situation
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FREIGHT
* 1,500 km to be awarded for dedicated freight corridor FY14
* FY14 freight loading estimated 1,007 mln tn
* To enter 1 bln tn freight carrying club
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INFRASTRUCTURE
* Gave 1st contract for Kanpur-Khurja part of east corridor
* Seek states co-operation to increase public-pvt partnership
* 1 trln rupees investment envisaged in PPP route 12th plan
* Land buy for 2,800 km for east, west freight corridor over
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NEW ROUTES, TRAINS
* Working on new railway line in Manipur
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FACILITIES
* To put in place new e-ticketing system by Dec end
* SMS alerts for reservation status being rolled out
* Plan next-generation e-ticketing system
* To extend internet booking timing from 0030 IST to 2330 IST
* SMS alerts on reservation status to be rolled out shortly
* Look forward to use Aadhar services for Railways
* Spent 1 bln rupees on upgrading 3 Delhi stations
* Look forward to use of Aadhar scheme by Indian Railways
* To provide 400 lifts for differently-abled passengers
* To provide 179 escalators for differently-abled passengers
* To introduce 1 luxury ‘Anubhuti’ coach in express trains
* To identify 60 more railway stations as model stations
* To set up 8-10 more mechanised laundries for rail linen
* Plan free wi-fi facility onboard trains
* To add 6 more Rail Neer bottling plants
* Committed to bring about marked change in amenities
* Resource constraint can’t be reason for substandard svcs
* To set up 8 women railway police units
* To undertake third-party audit for catering servicing
* International certification must for RAIL base kitchens
* New e-ticketing system to process 7,200 ticket/minute
* New system to enable booking 7,200 tickets/min vs 2,000 now
* to allow e-ticketing through mobile phones
* Next-generation e-ticketing system by Dec 2013
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MISCELLANEOUS
* Minister says Railways must remain financially sustainable
* Scarcity of resources stare at our face
* Railways ability to meet operational, invest needs suffered
* Growth of Railways linked with overall growth
* Need paradigm shift on tariff, freight policy
* Need to expand rail network at much faster pace
* Many projects not getting funded in time-bound manner

One thought on “Highlights of Railway Budget for 2013-14

  1. Vips

    Thanks bhai for your efforts. This is really good piece of information. Some journalist might copy this and post in their newspaper tommorow 😛

    Reply

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