Rail Budget 2007-08: Highlights

New Delhi: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday presented his Railway Budget 2007.

In a significant move, Railway Minister has announced that passenger fares to be slashed across the board.

Railways have made a profit of Rs 20,000 crore versus Rs 14,700 crore, the previous year.

Railways have recorded high surplus without any burden on the common man, said Lalu.

Operating Ratio was 73.7 per cent while fund balance was Rs 16,000 crore.

Finance Minister P Chidambram has described the Rail Budget a growth oriented one.

Lalu Yadav has shown that the benefits reaches the common man, it is a growth oriented budget, said Chidambram.

Budget Highlights:

• AC first class fare will be reduced.
• Reduction in fares by Re 1 per passenger in non-suburban tickets.
• Superfast surcharge levied on second class tickets reduced by 20 per cent.
• Train to Kashmir Valley will get priority.
• 500 kms of new rail lane envisaged.
• Smart rail travel cards to be introduced.
• 23 train routes to be extended.
• 800 new wagons to be introduced; 20,000 km of high-density network to be laid; new trains for cement transportation.
• Chair to be set up at IIM-A to study the management of Railways.
• Lalu against privatisation in Railways. Wants private partnership on his terms.
• CCTVs to be installed in sensitive stations.
• All TTEs to be provided palm tops.
• Rail electrification to be done across the country right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
• Rail locomotive production to be increased.
• 32 new trains and 8 new Grib Raths this year.
• Suburban train services in Mumbai to be increased.
• Mumbai Urban Transport Project to be speeded up to help suburban commuters. Rs 5,000 crore to be allocated during the next Five-Year Plan for this.
• Feasibility study to be conducted for ultra-high speed trains with speed up to 250-300 km per hour.
• Separate coach for vendors, milkmen and petty traders in passenger trains.
• Fifty per cent fare concession for UPSC and other official examinees.
• Tickets to be sold at petrol pumps and ATM centres.
• Number of berths to be increased from 72 to 84 in sleeper coaches.
• Work on dedicated freight corridor to begin in 2007-08. The corridor will be completed after investing Rs 30,000 crore.
• 2007-08 will be observed as Railways cleanliness year.
• 300 more stations to be turned into model stations.
• 6,000 automatic ticket vending machines to be installed in major cities.
• Railways to set up call centres. Customers can dial 139 at local rates anywhere in India and get routed to Railway call centres. Passengers can also get alerts through SMS.
• For handicapped persons, specially designed coaches will be used. 1,250 bogies created for this so far. All mail expresses will have such designed coaches by next year.
• Senior citizen and ladies above 45 years of age will have greater quota in AC and second class sleeper coaches.
• Unreserved compartments will increase from four to six compartments in every train this year.
• Production of wooden seats will be stopped.
• Uncushioned seats to be replaced by 2007-2008 in unreserved second class compartments.
• Efforts to increase container traffic five - fold to 100 million tonnes by 2011-12.
• Lalu claims container train experiment has been successful.
• Will invest massively in container operations over the next 5 years.
• Plan to start three-storey container trains.
• High surplus recorded without load on common man.
• Cement steel traffic up by 20 to 30 per cent.
• Freight: Incremental loading of 60 million tonnes this year.
• Fund balance at Rs 16,000 crore.
• Each zone will have a SP grade officer to look into consumer complaints.
• All customer complaints to be disposed in three months.
• 20- 30 per cent increase in passenger traffic.
• Railways record Rs 20,000 crore profit in 2006-07.

New Trains on Pg 2...

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Lalu announces 40 new trains

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announced introduction of 40 new trains, including eight Garib Raths, in the Rail Budget 2007-08 presented on Monday.

He also announced that 23 train routes to be extended, 500 kms of new rail lane envisaged and 800 new wagons to be introduced; 20,000 km of high-density network to be laid; new trains for cement transportation.

Railway Minister also promised that Rail electrification to be done across the country right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Train to Kashmir Valley will get priority.

The Eight Garib Raths are:

1. Secunderabad-Yesvantpur (Tri-Weekly). 2. Jaipur-Bandra Terminus via Ahmedabad (Tri-Weekly). 3. Kolkata-Patna (Tri-Weekly). 4. Bhubaneshwar-Ranchi (Tri-Weekly). 5. Thiruvananthapuram-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Bi-weekly) 6. Kolkata-Guwahati (Bi-Weekly). 7. New Delhi-Dehradun (Tri-Weekly), and 8. Raipur-Lucknow Junction. (Bi-Weekly).

The 32 pairs of new trains announced by the Railway Minister are:

1. Shri Chhatrapati Sahu Maharaj Terminus, Kolapur-Ahmedabad Express (Weekly). 2. Howrah-Rampurhat Express (Daily). 3. Jhansi-Kanpur Express (Daily). 4. Pune-Gorakhpur Express (Weekly). 5. Delhi-Shamli DEMU (Daily). 6. Bapudham Motihari-Varanasi (Tri-Weekly). 7. Bikaner-Jaisalmer Express (Two pairs) (Daily). 8. Mumbai-Aurangabad Janshatabdi Express (Six days in a week). 9. Bhagalpur-New Delhi Express (Weekly). 10. Bijapur-Bagalkot Express (Six days in a week). 11. Allahabad-Mathura Express (Daily). 12. Nasik-Pune Express (Daily). 13. Coimbatore-Nagercoil Express via Madurai (Daily). 14. Bhubaneshwar-Rameshwaram Express (Weekly). 15. Gorakhpur-Yeswantpur Express (Weekly). 16. Yeshwantpur-Chennai Express (Two pairs) weekly 17. Farrukhabad-Kasganj Express (Two pairs) Daily. 18. Indore-Amritsar Express (Weekly). 19. Chennai-Egmore-Nagore Express (daily). 20. Rewa-Jabalpur Intercity Express (Daily). 21. New Delhi-Sahibabad EMU Service (Daily). 22. Banka-Bhagalpur Passenger (Six days in a week). 23. Chennai-Egmore-Rameshwaram Express (Six days in week) 24. Chhapra-Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Jansadaran Express via Siwan, Gorakhpur (Weekly). 25. Mumbai-Ajmer/Udaipur Express (Six days in a week). 26. Solapur-Bagalkot Express (Six days in a week). 27. Ajmer-Ratlam Express (Daily two pairs). 28. Vadodara-Bhilad Express (Daily). 29. Patna-Dehri-on-Sone Intercity Express (Daily). 30. Gandhidham-Palanpur Express (Daily). 31. Lucknow Jn-Saharanpur Express (Daily) in lieu of Lucknow-Saharanpur Link Express, and 32. Jabalpur-Delhi Via Itarsi (Two days in a week).