Highlights of Railway Budget 2011-12

Following are the main Highlights of Railway Budget 2011-12:

• No hike in passenger fare and freight rates.
• Highest ever Plan outlay of Rs. 57, 630 crore proposed for Railways.
• Rs. 9,583 crore provided for new lines.
• 1300 km new lines, 867 km doubling of lines and 1017 km gauge conversion targeted in 2011-12.
• 56 new Express Trains, 3 new Shatabdis and 9 Duronto trains to be introduced.
• AC Double Decker services on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes.
• New Super AC Class to be introduced.
• A new portal for e-ticketing to be launched shortly.  Booking charges will be cheaper with a charge of only Rs. 10 for AC classes and Rs.5 for others.
• Pan-India multi-purpose smart card “Go India” to be introduced.
• 236 more stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations.
• 47 additional suburban services in Mumbai and 50 new suburban services proposed for Kolkata.
• Two new passenger terminals in Kerala and one each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal proposed.
• Feasibility study to raise speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph to be undertaken.
• A special package of two new trains and two projects for the States managing trouble free run of trains through out the year.
• Anti Collision Devise (ACD) sanctioned to cover 8 zonal railways.
• GPS Based ‘Fog Safe’ Device to be deployed.
• All unmanned level crossing upto 3000 to be eliminated.
• All India Security Help line on a single number set up.
• All state capitals in the North-East except Sikkim to be connected by Rail in next seven years.
• A Bridge Factory in J & K and a state-of-art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering is proposed at Jammu.
• A Diesel Locomotive Centre will be set-up in Manipur.
• A Centre of Excellence in Software at Darjeeling proposed under the aegis of CRIS.
• Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and New Bongaigaon proposed.
• Additional mechanized laundry units to be set up at Nagpur, Chandhigarh and Bhopal.
• 700 MW gas-based power plant to be set up at Thakurli in Maharashtra.
• 18,000 Wagons to be procured during 2011-12.
• A scheme for socially desirable projects, ‘Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana’ with Non-lapsable fund proposed.
• 10,000 shelter units proposed for track side dwellers in Mumbai, Sealdah, Siliguri, Tiruchirapalli on pilot basis.
• 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.
• Senior Citizens concession to be hiked from 30 % to 40 %.
• Medical facilities extended to dependent parents of the Railway employees.
• Scholarship for Girl child of Group-D railway employees increased to Rs.1200 per month.
• 20 additional hostels for children of railway employees to be set up.
• Recruitment for 1.75 lakh vacancies of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ including to fill up backlog of SC/ST  initiated, 16,000 ex-servicemen to be inducted by March 2011.
• A separate sports cadre to be created.
• 2011-12 declared ‘Year of Green Energy’ for Railways.
• Freight loading of 993 MT and passenger growth of 6.4 % estimated for 2011-12.
• Gross Traffic Receipts at Rs.1,06,239 crore, exceeding one lakh crore mark for the first time estimated.
• Ordinary Working Expenses assessed at Rs. 73,650 crore.

Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=23