Railway Budget 2009 From Minister Mamta Banerjee

• No change in Passenger Fares
• Freight Rates untouched.
• One Doctor to be available on long distance trains to attend to passenger/staff medical emergencies.
• Ticket booking services to open in 800 new locations.
• 5000 Post Offices pan India to provide Railway ticket booking facility.
• 'Turant AC' sleeper trains to be introduced between major metros.
• Rs 1750 crore to be spent on Gauge conversion.
• Students to receive a 60% concession on train tickets.
• Non-stop trains to be operational soon on select routes.
• 50 Railway Stations to be built at par with international standards.
• Extension of 'Ladies Special' trains to major metros like Delhi, Kolkata Chennai.
• 50% concession for Scribes.
• Rs 81685 crore to be the estimated working expenditure.
• Kachrapara, Bengal to get new coach factory.
• Scholarship schemes for Girl child of Group B Railway employees.
• Women commandos to be increased in key routes.
• Physically challenged passengers to be accomodated in specially designed coaches.
• Increase in utility stores such as PCO/STD/ISD booths and book stores.
• Increased emphasis on security (platform and train).
• Catering facilities to be upgraded in order to address growing number of passenger complaints/feedback.
• SMS updates for waiting list status.
• Tatkal booking scheme reduced from 5 days to 2 days.
• Setting up of ATMs on 200 stations identified.
• High capacity double decker AC trains to be introduced on select routes.
• Railways will no longer be guided by economic viability but social commitment said Mamta Banerjee.
• Cold storage facilities to be developed for farmers storing vegetables and fruits.
• New Hospitals to be Opened up for Hospital Staff.
• Indian Railways to lease out land for commercial purposes to increase revenue.
• Improving passenger amenities is a priority area for the Indian railways and it will set up a panel to look at innovative financing for unviable projects, its minister said on Friday.
• She said that there would be availability of janta khana to in railway stations. The Railways has also decided to develop 50 stations as world class stations.
• 309 will be developed as ideal stations.
• Mamata said that the Railways would provide one doctor in every long distance train and introduce infotainment services for Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express.
• Banerjee said that the Railways will sell tickets from 5,000 post offices across the country.
• "Special facilities will be provided at 309 stations and economic viability will not be the only index," said Mamata.
• For the first time Railways would introduce 50 mobile rail ticket vans and air-conditioned double decker coaches will for intercity commuters.
• Toilets will be provided for trains even for journeys below two hours.
• She rolled out 'Izzat': a scheme for giving privelages to people with income levels below Rs 1500 per month.
• Also media persons will get a discount of 50% on their bookings.
• The scheme wherein students get discounts on their metro passes has been extended and the discount increased to 60%.
• Minimum Tatkal fee has been reduced from Rs 150 to Rs 100.
• Tatkal fee will be a percentage of the fair.
• Meanwhile,on a macro level the railways'will put land to productive use along its freight corridor and will set up a 1000-mega watt power plant. "I visualise an eastern industrial corridor developing along side the eastern dedicated freight corridor," she said.