Railway Budget 2016 Highlights Special Trains Humsafar Antyodaya Tejas Uday

Railway Budget 2016 Major Highlights

On Thursday, 25th February, 2016, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu began declaring the Railway Budget applicable for the next fiscal. He opened with the statement that he is promising to address the issues related to all the stakeholders – including those of the employees, citizens and the industry.

This budget is coming at a time when the Railway sector is incurring heavy financial losses with the freight revenues falling. Hence, Prabhu had to take up the strenuous task of managing the public demands and matching them along with the demands of the people.

According to sources, it was decided yesterday by the ministry that at this point of time, even though necessary, it would be a politically incorrect move to hike the fares, considering that there are 4 states which are heading towards election. Prabhu had earlier commented that the railways are suffering because of freight dwindling and also because the passenger fares are not being optimized correctly.

Railways situation before budget

The freight rates have been rising steadily over the past few years, allowing the cross subsidization of the losses incurred in the working passenger trains. According to reports, this cross subsidy from the ‘freight to passenger’ operation was as much as 30,000 crore INR in the last year, while it has risen to 32,000 crore INR for the seventh pay commission to tackle.

The targeted revenue for the railways was 141,416.05 crore INR but they were only able to reach 136,079.26 crores, leading to a 3.77% loss in the sector. Adding to this fact, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had backed out on the cash promise of 40,000 crore INR. However, this year for the fiscal year 2016-17, the Railway is expecting 50,000 INR cash support for its future projects.

Prabhu’s approach to the issue

Union Railway Minister Prabhu seems to have it all chalked out for the coming year, as he said that his strategy will be based on three pillars – improved efficiency, exploring the different avenues to raise the revenue and making a change in the decision making process. He began his speech by saying that “These are challenging times.”

However, he later assured that “Cooperation, collaboration and communication, are the hallmarks of Indian Railways’ journey forward. We will be at the forefront of infrastructure investment in the country.”

Highlight’s of Prabhu’s Railway Budget

• A scheme for high speed premium passenger trains are slated to be unveiled
• To control Delhi’s rising pollution, a system of ring railway will be introduced
• There will be no hike in passenger fare
• Separate toilets for the “divyaang” people are to be introduced
• 20,000 display screens will be put up across 2000 platforms for better dissemination of information
• To promote and imbibe the ‘Swachh Bharat’ scheme, Prabhu has hinted on installing bio-toilets and vacuum toilets in passenger trains and also dustbins might be put in the coaches
• Prabhu’s budget also hinted on putting up of the safety cess in the coaches so as to be better prepared for any unforeseen accidents and to prevent the same
• Coaches with higher capacities, vending machines and water level indicators are most likely to be introduced in this fiscal
• Porters will no longer be called “coolies”, but “sahayaks” and they will be given training in soft skills
• Bookings and grievances can now be done with just one app
• Existing coaches will be upgraded to provide modern amenities and interiors will be improved in some passenger trains to incur higher revenues from them (much like the recently launched Mahamana Express which travels between Delhi and Varanasi)
• Wi-Fi will be introduced to 100 stations this year and to 600 stations over the next couple of years
• Employment is likely to be created in the next fiscal with the introduction of more customer service
• 450 stations to get 17,000 bio toilets introduced
• “‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ is just not a slogan for us,” says Prabhu
• Bar coded tickets and scanners will be introduced to facilitate ticketless travels
• Tickets can be cancelled via phone calls very soon
• Unreserved super fast trains to be introduced soon
• Sub quota of 33% for women under each of the reserved categories in catering to be implemented
• Tejas will be introduced, to show India what future train travels will seem like with 130 kmph speed.
• By 2020, all unmanned level crossings to be removed
• Capital plan of 2016 Railway budget is 1.21 lakh crore INR
• Core objective is to become the “engine of growth in 2016”
• 5 lakh crore funds are likely to come from LIC this year
• The major stations across the country would come under CCTV surveillance
• AC suburban trains are to run in the suburban areas of Mumbai – which will also be replicated in other parts of the country
• Under Indian Railway Academy, Rail University is to be established at Vadodara
• Dual mode engine in trains are likely to be introduced – enabling trains to run both on diesel and electricity
• E-ticketing systems enhanced from taking 2000/min to 7200/min
• Three freight corridors have been put on high priority
• Baby food, children’s menu and baby boards are to be introduced for parents traveling with little children
• Fully unreserved super fast trains to be introduced to the high traffic routes
• Passenger amenities to be improved and pilgrimage stations such as Gaya, Dwarka, Mathura, Varanasi, Tirupathi, Haridwar and Bihar Shariff, etc, are to be beautified
• 2015-16 recruitments and the forthcoming recruitments for all positions are to be done online
• Humsafar Express to be launched, with third AC services in fully air conditioned coaches
• Lower berth quota for senior citizens to be hiked by 50%
• 2800km new tracks to be introduced this year
• Proposition for Deenadayalu coaches and Antyodaya express for the unreserved travelers has been made

In addition to these announcements, Prabhu has also announced that action has already been taken on 139 projects undertaken last year. Also, the savings of 8120 crore INR of last year is likely to affect the budget of this year.

In recap, some of the key highlights of the Railway Budget 2016 are:

New introductions	Changes in existing conditions	Expected changes	No changes
Rail University at Vadodara	Coolies to be called “Sahayaks”	Fully unreserved super fast trains	No hike in passenger fare
33% sub quota for women under reserved category	Beautification of Pilgrimage stations like Gaya, Haridwar	Dual mode engines in trains
Bio toilets in passenger trains	2800km new tracks to be introduced	Baby Food menu in trains
CCTV cameras in stations	E-ticketing enhanced to 7200/min	Ticket cancellation via telephones