Railway Budget 2012-13 in the Lok Sabha Highlights

Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi presents his maiden Railway Budget 2012-13 in the Lok Sabha. He says:

• Hike of 10 paise per km for third AC passengers.
• Sleeper class passengers to pay 5 paise more per km.
• First AC fare hiked by 20 paise per km.
• 2 paise per km hike for 2nd class suburban trains.
• 2AC passengers to pay 15 paise more per km.
• 3 paisa per km for mail and express trains. 
• Platform ticket hiked to Rs.5. It earlier cost Rs.3.
• 2-30 paise fare hike proposed in different classes.
• Independent tariff authority suggested; needs serious debate; experts panel established; decision after debate in Parliament.
• Fare hike proposed. First since 2003.
• GRP/RPF personnel deployed on 3,500 trains.
• Free travel by Rajdhani express for Arjuna awardees.
• Rail Khel Ratna awards to be given to rail sportspersons every year.
• Railway Board to be restructured, two more members to be included.
• Dedicated railway design wing at National Institute of Design with a contribution of Rs.10 crore.
• New passenger services: 820 new items; 75 new express trains; 21 new passenger trains; 75 new services in Mumbai suburban system.
• Targeting freight carriage of 1,025 million tonnes to bring in Rs.89,339 crore; passenger earnings estimated at Rs.36,073 crore; gross receipts estimated at Rs.1.32 lakh crore.
• Guru Parikarma special trains to cover Sikh pilgrimage centres of Amritsar, Patna and Nanded.
• Separate trains to run for wait-listed passengers.
• Excess of Rs.1,492 crore after meeting expenses/dividend payments not adequate for meeting costs of several projects.
• Special housekeeping body to be set up to maintain stations and trains.
• Passenger amenities to be given Rs.1,112 crore in 2012-13 as against Rs.762 crore in current year.
• Indian railways passing through a difficult phase.
• Improvement of passenger amenities at a cost of Rs.1,112 crore; regional cuisines to be introduced.
• World Bank funding of R 6,500 crore firmed up for dedicated freight corridors; land acquired for 3,300 km; first contracts to be handed out during 2012-13.
• Standard of hygiene needs to be improved substantially; all out efforts will be made on this in the next six months; duty bound to provide high standard of services; special housekeeping body to be set up for stations and trains
• One lakh people to be recruited in 2012.
• Corrosion from night soil being discharged from toilets on tracks costs Rs.350 crore annually; green toilets to be installed in 2,500 coaches in the next one year.
• Electric loco plant in Chhapra to be commissioned soon.
• 750 km tracks to be converted in double lines.
• Eco-friendly toilets to replace openly discharged ones.
• Tickets will be sold at post offices also.
• Garib Raths to have one special AC coach for differently-abled commuters.
• 2100 specially designed coaches manufactured to meet needs of the differently abled; aim to provide one such coach in each express train.
• Upgradation of 929 stations. 
• 1000 new stations to be set up through public-private partnership.
• Electrification to be undertaken over 6,500 km at an allocation of Rs.8,000 crore during 12th Plan.
• Conversion from DC to AC power supply completed in Western Railway corridor of Mumbai suburban rail system; conversion of Central Railway corridor to be completed in 2012-13.
• The government should consider dividend payback to railways.
• Thirty-one projects over 5,000 km being implemented with state govenments sharing costs.
• Have to make Indian Railways among the best in the world.
• Signalling system to be modernised with advanced features. 
• Elevated corridor from Churchgate to Virar in Mumbai being firmed up.
• 12 car trains to run for Navi Mumbai.
• 1500 new coaches for Mumbai local trains.
• 825 km of railway tracks to be transformed into broad gauge.
• Train protection warning system on 3000 km of tracks.
• Extension of Kolkata Metro continues to be on track.
• Railways expect gross budgetary support of Rs.2.5 lakh crore during 12th Plan.
• Improvements to railway stations can provide employment to 50,000 people.
• New tracks proposed for tribal areas.
• Four rail factories to be set up in Kerala.
• Capacity augmentation to get Rs.4,410 crore during 2012-13.
• Eighty-five new line projects to be taken up during 2012-13.
• One hundred and fourteen new line surveys to be undertaken during 2012-13.
• New line projects to get Rs.6,870 crore in 2012-13. 
• Gauge conversion to be undertaken over 800 km with an allocation of Rs.1,950 crore.
• Focus during next five years on five areas: tracks, bridges, signalling, rolling stock and stations.
• Investment of Rs.1.70 lakh crore on rolling stock in next five years.
• New railway corporation to maintain and develop stations.
• 19,000 km of railway tracks to be modernised.
• Rs.39,110 cr needed over next 5 years to fund rail safety.
• New wagons with higher uploads need to be introduced.
• Railways will require Rs.14 lakh crore in the next 10 years for modernisation.
• Aim to bring down operating ratio from 90 per cent to 84.9 per cent in 2012-13 and to 72 per cent by 2016-17.
• Time has come for formulating national policy for railways on the lines of that for defence and external affairs.
• Railways should grow at 10 per cent annually for sustained GDP growth.
• Railways must attract 10 per cent of the Rs.20 lakh crore government expects to spend on infrastructure during 12th Plan.
• Railways should contribute 2 per cent of GDP from the present one per cent.
• Attempt to increase train speeds to 160 kmph; journey time from New Delhi to Kolkata can be brought down to 14 hours from 17 hours..
• Upgradation of coaches to be focussed upon for next 5 years. 
• Train approaching warning systems to be initiated to prevent collision of trains.
• Rs.14 lakh crore needed in next 10 yrs for modernisation.
• Need Rs.2.5 lakh cr to build better infrastructure.
• Planned outlay highest ever for Railway. 
• Outlay of Rs.60,100 crore during 2012-13, the highest ever.
• Have kept everyone demands in mind in this Railway Budget.
• Rs.5.5 lakh crore to connect rural areas.
• Have chosen to bite the bullet and not maintain status quo.
• Have Himalayan task of running the Indian Railways.
• Focus on 5 areas, including, consolidation, modernisation, safety and congestion
• 487 rail projects worth Rs.1 cr still pending.
• Large basket of pending projects still a cause of concern.
• Trivedi proposes rail regulator to enhance safety. 
• Stress on strengthening safety. Has to be be benchmarked with the best in the world.
• Target of reducing accidents from 0.55 to 0.17 has been met.
• Railway Safety Plan for 12th Plan will be Rs.16,842 crore.
• Sam Pitroda to head railway modernisation panel.
• Anil Kakodkar to head railway safety panel.
• Trivedi proposes to set up Independent Railway Safety Authority as a statutory body.
• Special Purpose Vehicle - Rail Road Grade Separation Corporation of India - to be set up for abolishing level crossings.
• All unmanned level crossings to be abolished in next five years.
• We need to bring down deaths to zero due to rail mishaps.
• Safety cannot be achieved without modernisation.
• Safety is our highest priority.
• Want to stop recurring rail accidents.
• Death on tracks is unacceptable.
• Without the railways growing, India's GDP cannot grow.
• I dedicate all the achievements of the Railways to its staff.
• I am thankful to Mamata Banerjee for her vision for the Indian Railways in her 2011-12 paper.
• It will be a good budget for common man.