We all were a bit mystified whether a budget was really presented or not”- Shashi Tharoor, Congress
New Delhi: Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has redefined the task of presenting the annual rail budget. Unlike all his predecessors, he does not talk of the passenger fares, freight tariffs and new trains in response to the demand from the members of Parliament. So, when the budget comes the passenger is spared, and there are no goodies for the MPs to impress their constituents.
His almost 70-minute long budget speech was thus heard without the usual running commentary from the members, and it was only towards the end that they showed some restlessness with his speech.
Suresh Prabhu described his budget as a ‘paradigm shift’ and outlined his aspiration that the railways should “become an engine of economic growth, create employment and improve customer experience at the individual level” and talked of every passenger being the brand ambassador.
However, there was a grim foreboding in the numbers that he presented in the budget. Prabhu said that railways lost Rs. 30,000 crore on subsidising passenger fares and if the past year is any guide — when he did increase the fares after the budget — the hike may be coming after the crucial elections in five states this year.
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The increasing operating ratio (the amount of money spent versus the money earned) to 92 is also another pointer to a further increase in the fares and tariffs at a politically opportune moment. Moreover, he has to find the resources to implement the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission for higher salaries and pension outgo.
Now he many have not announced new point to point trains, but Prabhu did promise a clutch of new concept trains. Antyodaya Express, a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service, for the common man is to be operated on dense routes; at the same time, two to four Deen Dayalu coaches will be added in some long distance trains for unreserved travel to enhance the carrying capacity; Humsafar is the proposed fully
air-conditioned train with an optional service for meals; and Tejas that will showcase the future of train travel in India. It will operate at speeds of 130 kmph and above, offering onboard services such as entertainment, local cuisine, Wi-Fi, etc. UDAY Express, an overnight air-conditioned double-decker is to be introduced on the busiest routes, which will have the potential to increase carrying capacity by almost 40%.
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Similarly, he referred to change in the railways approach from completion of the projects to their commissioning and announced that the railways are poised to commission Broad Gauge lines at the rate of over 7 km per day, as against an average of about 4.3 Km per day in the last 6 years. He said that this pace will increase to about 13 km per day in 2017-18 and 19 km per day in 2018-19 and will generate employment of about 9 crore man days in 2017-18 and 14 crore man days in 2018-19.
He also announced several customer-oriented services and measures like smarter ticketing, a clean-my-coach service through SMS, automatic doors, babysitting facilities, including hot water and milk at stations and a kids menu, disabled-enabled toilets, and 33 per cent reservation for women within the reserved quota.
Outlining the railways mission, Prabu said that it must provide to the citizens a system that they can be proud of – a system free from capacity constraints: that is efficient and predictable; that is sparkling and pristine, where the people feel at ease and there is plenty of choice in every sphere of activity; and with an ease of doing business pervading the entire railway ecosystem.
Prabhu also announced the railways intention to undertake a major programme to build an integrated suburban ecosystem of IR by launching a new investment framework. The Indian Railways would share equity contribution with the State Governments and ensure cost neutrality on operations, he said.
WHAT IS IN IT FOR YOU
CLEANLINESS: ‘Clean-my-coach’ on demand through SMS Bio vacuum toilets proposed.
TICKETING: Sale of tickets through hand held terminals;
e- ticketing on foreign debit/credit cards, bar coded tickets at select stations; 1,780 automatic ticketing machines; cancel tickets on phone using Helpline 139.
FACILITIES: Hourly booking of retiring rooms – will be handed over to IRCTC.
FOR MOTHERS: Facilities for mothers travelling with babies; Hot water, milk and other baby food to be available on trains; Working on a children’s menu
FOR SENIOR CITIZENS: Will be easier to get lower berths; Quota to be raised by 50 per cent; “Saarthi seva” to help old and disabled at stations.
3 New Trains
These are: Humsafar, Tejas and Uday; Humsafar will be fully air-conditioned train for budget passengers; Tejas will travel at 130 km an hour and offer on-board WiFi services; Uday will be an overnight double-decker service for busiest routes For unreserved Antyodaya Express superfast service; Deen Dayalu coaches with potable water and higher number of mobile charging points.
INSURANCE
Optional travel insurance for rail journeys at time of booking
His 2020 goals
Prabhu outlined his 2020 goal for the railways:
