Highlights of The Railway Budget 2011-12

Introduction:

Budget attempts to combine a strong economic focus with equal emphasis on social inclusion with a human face.

Policy Initiatives:

Railways have developed several business-oriented policies for the first time.
o Railways’ Infrastructure for Industry Initiative (R3i)
o Private Freight Terminal (PFT)
o Special Freight Train Operators (SFTO)
o Automobile Freight Train Operators (AFTO)
o Automobile and Ancillary Hubs
o Kisan Vision (Cold Chains)
o New Catering Policy
o Rail Connectivity to Coal and Iron Ore mines (R2CI)

• 85 proposals received; Single Window System set up to take forward these proposals.

Rail Based Industries

• Setting up of rail-based industries for meeting demand for rolling stock.
• The works at New Jalpaiguri, Adra, Jellingham and Kulti taken up in collaboration with different PSUs.
• First coach from Rae Bareli coach factory to be rolled out in next three months.
• Projects for supply of locomotives, coaches & critical loco components being taken forward in many locations.
• Group of Officers working on PPP/JV project models.
• Work initiated at Budge Budge, Dankuni, Naopara, Anara, Tindharia, New Cooch Behar, Kharagpur, Haldia, Guwahati and Kazipet.
• Wagon factory in Orissa to taken up, once land identified.
• ICF Perambur’s second unit to come up.
• Setting up of Palakkad coach factory.
• Burn Standard Company Limited and Braithwaite Company Limited brought under Ministry of Railways.
• Setting up of a Bridge Factory in J&K and an Institute for Tunnel &
• Bridge Engineering at Jammu.
• Setting up of Metro Coach Factory in Singur.
• Setting up of a diesel locomotive centre in Manipur.
• Setting up of a Centre of Excellence in software at Darjeeling.
• Setting up of two wagon factories under JV/PPP mode at Kolar &
• Alappuzha and one at Buniadpur.
• Setting up of a factory for manufacturing on-track machines and a new track machine POH facility at Uluberia.
• Setting up of Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and New Bongaigaon.
• A unit to manufacture car steel bogies and couplers through JV between Burn Standard Co. Ltd and SAIL already initiated in Jellingham Park.
• Setting up of 700 MW gas-based power plant at Thakurli in Maharashtra.
• Setting up of additional mechanized laundry cleaning units at Nagpur, Chandigarh & Bhopal. In 23 locations laundries are under installatin.

Expansion of Rail Infrastructure

• 700 km of new lines being completed in 2010-11
• 800 km gauge conversion, 700 km doubling and 1,000 km electrification targetted for completion in 2010-11.
• Survey of 94 out of 114 socially desirable new lines completed.
• A new scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana’ to start to fund socially desirable projects.
• Construction of 4 new lines to connect unserved and underserved regions.
• Increase in allocation of 19 projects in under-developed and underserved areas to Rs 771 cr.
• Non-lapsable fund for railway projects in North East region created.
• All state capitals in the North East except Sikkim to be connected in next 7 years.

Dignity to the Poor

Provision of small shelter through Sukhi Griha Scheme to track side dwellers. 10,000 dwelling units to be provided in Mumbai, Sealdah, Siliguri, Tiruchirapalli etc on pilot basis.

Highest ever plan outlay of Rs 57,630 cr.
o Gross Budgetary Support Rs 20,000 cr
o Diesel Cess Rs 1,041 cr
o Internal Resources Rs 14,219 cr.
o Market Borrowing Rs 20,594 cr; PPP/WIS Rs 1,776 cr.

• 1,300 km new lines, 867 km doubling, 1017 km gauge conversion targetted in 2011-12.
• Rs 9,583 cr provided for new lines, Rs 5,406 cr for doubling, Rs 2,470 cr for gauge conversion and Rs 13,820 cr for acquisition of rolling stock.

Safety and Security

• Anti Collision Device (ACD) sanctioned to cover 8 zonal railways.
• All unmanned level crossings of TVU upto 3000 to be eliminated.
• Construction of 200 ROBs & 325 RUBs/subways.
• Deployment of GPS-based ‘Fog Safe’ device.
• Two new trains and two projects as a special package to states which ensure trouble free running of trains.
• All India Security Help line on a single number set up.

Green Initiatives

• 2011-12 to be ‘Year of Green Energy’
• Regenerative braking in Mumbai EMUs.
• Production of locos with ‘hotel load converters’
• Use of solar energy at LC gates and stations, windmill at ICF Chennai.
• Use of bio-diesel, CNG and LNG in locos and workshops.
• Free supply of 14 lakh CFLs to railway households.

Passenger/Rail Users’ Amenities

• 442 more stations upgraded as Adarsh Stations.
• 236 more stations included in the list of Adarsh Stations
• More MFCs and Budget Hotels to be set up at 45 locations.
• Introduction of pan-India multi-purpose ‘Go India’ smart card.
• Two new passenger terminals in Kerala and one each in Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal.
• Better accessibility for physically challenged customers; extension of Rail Yatri Sevaks to six more stations.
• New portal for e-ticketing.
• Internet access on Howrah- Rajdhani Express on pilot basis.
• Extension of Train Management System to five stations.
• Introduction of advance booking of Retiring Rooms.
• Introduction of new super AC class of travel.
• Feasibility study with the help of Japan to raise speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph.

Staff Welfare

• Expanding the scope of Liberalized Active Retirement Scheme for Guaranteed Employment for safety category staff.
• Extending medical facilities to both dependent father & mother.
• Increasing the scholarship for girl child of group-D employees to Rs.1,200 pm.
• Setting up of Railway Vidyalaya Prabandhan Board.
• Provision of 20 Road Medical Vans.
• 20 additional hostels for children of railway employees to be set up.

Training and Recruitment

• Recruitment for 1.75 lakh vacancies of group C & D initiated, including backlog of SC/ST quota.
• Mega recruitment drive on; 16,000 ex-servicemen to be inducted by end of March 2011.
• Training Center to be set up at Kharagpur.
• Three multi-disciplinary training centres to be set up with an exclusive international centre at Agra.
• New basic training centre at Kurseong.
• Five polytechnics to be set up.

Sports

• Railway sportsperson won 25 medals in the Commonwealth Games 2010 and 7 out of 14 golds won by India in the Asian Games.
• A separate sports cadre to be created.

Cultural Activities

• A special ‘Sanskriti Express’ exhibition train being run to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore is being run which will also go to Bangladesh.
• Running of Vivekananda Express to be extended for two more years.

Financial Performance 2010-11

• Disruption of train movement resulted in loss of Rs 1,500 cr and Rs 2,000 cr due to ban on export of iron ore.
• Loading target reduced by 20 MT to 924 MT.
• Gross Traffic Receipts fixed at Rs 94,840 cr, higher by Rs 75 cr over Budget Estimates.
• Ordinary Working Expenses fixed at Rs 67,000 cr, an increase of Rs 2,000 cr over Budget Estimate.
• Current dividend liability to be fully discharged. Excess of Rs 4,105 cr.
• Operating Ratio of 92.1% as compared to 92.3% in Budget Estimates. Revised Plan Outlay of Rs 40,315 cr.

Budget Estimates 2011-12

• Freight loading of 993 MT and passenger growth of 6.4%.
• Gross Traffic Receipts at Rs 1,06,239 cr to exceed one lakh crore mark for the first time.
• Ordinary Working Expenses assessed at Rs 73,650 cr.
• Appropriation to DRF at Rs 7000 cr.
• Provision of Rs 6,735 cr made for dividend payment.
• Excess at Rs 5,258 cr and Operating Ratio of 91.1%.

Metropolitan Projects

• Entire section from Mahanayak Uttam Kumar to Kavi Subhash commissioned in Kolkata.
• 34 new services to be introduced in Kolkata Metro.
• Core committee set up to closely monitor progress of on-going works at four sections of Metro Railway Kolkata.
• Seven new surveys for new connectivity of Kolkata Metro Railway to be taken up.
• 20-car MEMU trains introduced on Northern Railway.
• Development of Integrated Suburban Railway Network in large cities.
• Setting up of Kolkata Rail Vikas Corporation for upgrading entire suburban system of Kolkata.

Production Units

Capacity of DLW to be augmented to 300 locos

Concessions

• Concession to physically handicapped persons to be extended on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.
• Concession of 50% to press correspondents with family increased to twice a year.
• Concession to Kirti and Shaurya Chakra awardees to be extended to Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.
• Facility of card passes to be extended to the parents of unmarried posthumous Param Vir Chakra & Ashok Chakra gallantry award winners.
• Senior citizen concession to be increased from 30% to 40% for men; women to get senior citizen concession from 58 years age.

Wagon Procurement

• Record procurement of 16,500 wagons being done in 2010-11.
• Target for 2011-12 kept at 18,000 wagons.

Dedicated Freight Corridors

• Main loan agreement for Phase I of Western Corridor of DFC signed with JICA.
• DFC project will be completed as scheduled.

New Lines / Gauge Conversion / Doubling

• 27 sections of New Lines of about 700 km to be completed in 2010- 11.
• 800 km target for gauge conversion to be met with work being completed on 15 sections.
• 700 km target of doubling to be met with completion of 52 sections.
• 40 sections of New Lines covering 1,075 km targeted to be completed in 2011-12.
• A target of 1,017 km under Gauge conversion covering 20 sections has been fixed for 2011-12.
• Doubling of 35 sections covering 867 km to be done in 2011-12.
• 190 surveys out of 251 surveys announced in 2009-10 and 2010-11 to be completed by March 2011.

Rail Tourism

In partnership with Ministry of Tourism, station improvement is planned on 50:50 cost sharing basis at 24 stations.

Suburban Services

47 additional services to be started for Mumbai suburban.

107 suburban services in Mumbai area to be augmented from 9-car to 12-car rakes.

9 additional services to be run in Chennai area.

50 new suburban services to be introduced in Kolkata area.

Introduction of peak-time local to BBD Bagh from Bongaon/Krishnanagar.

Two non-stop trains between Bardhman & Howrah to be introduced.

10 additional services to be run in Secunderabad area and 83 suburban services to be augmented from 6-car to 9-car services.

2 additional services to be run on Delhi-Ghaziabad section.

Trains

• 9 new Duronto trains to be introduced.
• AC double decker services to be introduced on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes.
• 3 new Shatabdis to be introduced.
• Frequency of 5 Durontos to be increased.
• 4 Vivek Express trains to be introduced, to commemorate Swami Vivekananda.
• 4 Kavi Guru Express trains to be introduced, on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Rabindra Nath Tagore.
• 10 Rajya Rani Express trains connecting state capitals with important cities in respective states.
• To promote tourism, special tourist trains called ‘Janam Bhoomi Gaurav’ to be introduced on four routes.
• 56 new express trains to be introduced.
• 13 new passenger services, 22 DEMU services and 8 MEMU services are to be introduced.
• The run of 33 trains to be extended.
• Frequency of 17 trains to be increased.
• Special trains to be run to meet spikes in the demand for passenger traffic during vacations, festivals, melas etc.

Projects in 2011-12

• 25 new line, 6 gauge conversion and 28 doubling projects are proposed to be taken up.
• A Central Organization for Project Implementation (COPI) with offices at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore proposed to be set up.
• 107 new line surveys, 4 gauge conversion surveys and 16 doubling surveys are proposed to be taken up in 2011-12.
• In 2011-12, 1000 km route to be electrified.

Courtesy: Indianrailways.gov.in