CURRENT UPDATE : RAILWAY BUDGET 2014-15

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RAILWAY BUDGET 2014-15

* No new increase in passenger fares and freight charges

* Bullet train on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Sector

* Diamond quadrilateral for high speed trains

* Plan to hike speed of trains to 160-200 km/hr in 9 sectors

i) Delhi-Agra

ii) Delhi-Chandigarh

iii) Delhi-Kanpur

iv) Nagpur-Bilaspur

v) Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai

vi) Mumbai-Goa

vii) Mumbai-Ahmedabad

viii) Chennai-Hyderabad

ix) Nagpur-Secunderabad.

* Online booking to support 7,200 tickets/minute; to allow 1.2 lakh users log in simultaneously

* Reservation system to be revamped, ticket-booking through mobile phones, post offices to be popularized

* Online platform, unreserved tickets

* Combo parking-platform tickets at stations

* Women RPF Constables to escort ladies coaches; 4,000 women constables to be inducted

* Retiring room facility to be extended to all stations

* Battery operated cars for differently abled and senior citizens at major stations

* Feedback services through IVRS on quality of food

* Food can be ordered through SMS, phone; Food courts at major stations

* Cleanliness budget up by 40 pc over last year

* CCTVs to be used at stations for monitoring cleanliness

* Setting up of corpus fund for stations' upkeep; RO drinking water at stations and trains

* Automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches

* 58 new trains and extension of 11; 864 additional EMUs to be introduced in Mumbai over 2 years

* FDI in railway projects, except in operations.

* FDI, domestic investments in rail infrastructure

* Office-on-Wheels: Internet & Workstation facilities on select trains

* Wi-Fi in A-1, A category stations and in select trains

* Rail university for technical and non-technical subjects

* Some stations to be developed to international standards through PPP model

* Parcel traffic to be segregated to separate terminals to make passenger traffic unhindered

* Loss per passenger per kilometre up from 10p (in 2000-01) to 23p (2012-13)

* Solar energy to be tapped at major stations

* Highest ever plan outlay of Rs 65,455 crore for 2014-15

* Expenditure in 2014-15 pegged at Rs 149,176 crore. 

Financial Performance 2013-14

·          Traffic growth declined and expenditure registered excess in 2013-14 as compared to Revised Estimates.

·          Originating passengers achieved less by 46 million; and passenger earnings short by ` 968 cr over Revised Estimates.

·          Gross Traffic Receipts at ` 1,39,558 cr though short of RE by ` 942 cr grew by 12.8% over the previous year.

·         Ordinary Working Expenses and Pension outgo is higher than the  Revised Estimates.

·          The year ended with a surplus of ` 3,783 cr by registering a shortfall of ` 4,160 cr over the revised target.

·          Dividend liability of ` 8,010 cr to government fully discharged.

·          Railways generated internal resources of ` 11,710 cr in 2013-14 for plan finance.

·          Operating Ratio at 93.5% deteriorated by 2.7% over R.E

Budget Estimates 2014-15

ü  Freight loading of 1101 MT, 51 MT more than 2013-14.

ü  Growth in passenger traffic - 2%.

ü  Freight Earnings – ` 1,05,770 cr.

ü  Passenger Earnings – ` 44,645 cr, after revenue foregone of ` 610 cr on account of rollback in monthly season ticket fares.

ü  Total Receipts - ` 1,64,374 cr; Total Expenditure – ` 1,49,176 cr;

ü  Pension estimated at ` 28,850 cr.

ü  Dividend payment estimated at ` 9,135 cr.

ü  Operating Ratio to be 92.5%, an improvement of 1% over 2013-14.

Annual Plan 2014-15

§  Highest ever plan outlay of ` 65,445 cr.

µ Gross Budgetary Support - ` 30,100 cr

µ Railway Safety Fund - ` 2,200 cr

µ Internal Resources -` 15,350 cr.

µ EBR - Market Borrowing - ` 11,790 cr;

µ EBR - PPP - ` 6,005 cr.

§  Plan Outlay under budgetary sources placed at ` 47,650 cr which is higher  by ` 9,383 cr over 2013-14 – higher plan outlay goes to safety related works.

§  Full financial outlays to projects targeted for completion during the year.

§  Adequate allocations made for 30 priority works for timely completion.

New Surveys

ü   18 new line surveys.

ü   10 surveys for doubling, 3rd and 4th lines and gauge conversion.

 Trains

Ä  5 new Jansadharan trains to be introduced.

Ä  5 Premium and 6 AC trains to be introduced.

Ä  27 new Express trains to be introduced.

Ä  8 new passenger services, 5 DEMU services and 2 MEMU services to be  introduced and run of 11 trains to be extended.

Click here to know more about Railway Budget 2014-2015

Railway Budget 2014-2015 Speech 

Railway Budget 2014-2015 Highlights