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Friday 3 July, 2009

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.