Railway Minister Pawan Bansal poses with a copy of the rail budget speech on the eve of its presentation.

The Report says:

1. 67 new express trains to be introduced; 27 passenger trains, 8 DEMUs

2. No fresh hike in passenger fares

3. Marginal increase in cancellation, reservation charges

4. Common rail-bus ticket to be introduced for Katra-Vaishnodevi pilgrims

5. Internet booking to be provided from 12.30 a.m. to 11.30 p.m.

6. Special A/C coaches ‘Anubhuti’, to be introduced in select Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains to give excellent ambience with commensurate fare Railways will use Aadhar data base for bookings and validation of passengers SMS alert service being rolled out shortly to intimate passengers about reservation statusplants72 additional suburban services in Mumbai and 18 in Kolkata, Rs. 100 crore for improving stations in Delhi.

Moreover,

Dynamic fuel adjustment component to be introduced on freight rates from April one, that will result in less than five per cent increase in rates.

1. Identification of 104 stations for upgradation in places with more than one million population and of religious significance:Rs 9000 crore investments expected including Rs 3,800 crore in port connectivity and Rs 800 crore in iron ore mines connectivity. Indian Railway Institute for Financial Management to be set up at Secunderabad to train rail officers on a regular basis

2. New coach manufacturing and maintenance facilities to be set up in various places including Rae Bareli, Bhilwara, Sonepat, Kalahandi, Kolar, Palakkad and Pratapgarh

3. Railway Energy Management Company to be set up to harness solar and wind energy.

4. Railways’ freight loading traffic scaled down by 100 million tonnes from 1025 million tonnes because of economic slowdown.

5. Freight target fixed at 1,047 MT for 2013—14, 40 MT over the current year

6. Corporate Safety Plan to be prepared for ten—year period (2014—24).

7. Railways to set up six more Rail Neer bottling plants.

8. Railways set to enter 1 billion ton freight club of China, Russia and US.

9. Sections to be doubled1. Ariyalur-Sendurai, 2. Bhubneshwar-Barang3. Chinchpada-Nandurbar4. Golden Rock byepass5. Mulanturutti-Piravom6. Piravom Road-Kuruppantara7. Sendurai-Ichchangadu 8. Settihalli-Maddur 9. Shivani-Hosadurga 10. Simhachalam-Gopalpatnam doubling of bye pass11. Tiruvottiyur-Ennore 12. Tozhuppedu-Olakur-Tindivanam13. Vridhachalam Jn to Ulundurpet14. Yelahanka-Chennasandra

(AW:Samrat Biswas)