Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu (PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images)
Live blogging the Railway Budget 2016
01:10 PM
- Railway Minister concludes budget speech
01:09 PM
- Seven missions - each headed by mission director
- Mission 1 - Coal transport
- Mission 2 -Elimination of Unmanned level crossings
- Mission 3 - Zero accidents
- Mission 4 - Better Procurment and consumption efficiency.
01:06 PM
- Two DFCs to be commissioned by 2019
- 100 internships to be announced for engineering students.
01:05 PM
- We collect 100TB of data every year, steps to taken to analyse this data for better decision making.
01:02 PM
- Railways Independent Regulator to be kept arm’s length from railway ministry
- National Rail Plan coming Up to help coordinate with other modes of transportaion networks
- Railway planning and development authority, for preparing DPR’s and planning in consultation with all concerned stake-holders. It will achieve the mission of multi-modal transport synergies,
12: 58 PM
- IRCTC Will Explore More E-Commerce Opportunities
- Monetising land along track, promoting horticulture, solar energy and tree plantation along them.
- Will use drones to assess physical progress on projects.
12:55 PM
- Pilot run of time tabled freight trains
- Focus will be on providing last mile connectivity for freight.
- Will soon inaugurate first auto-hub in Chennai.
12: 53 PM
- Kolkata: Metro Phase I East west corridor to be completed by June 2018
- Delhi suburban network to be fully revived. Will work with state government.
12: 49 PM
- Aastha Circuit Trains to connect important pilgrimage centres.
12:47 PM
- New uniforms for all railways staff.
- Rail Display Network for providing live information to passengers.
- One person accountable for all facilities on train.
12:44 PM
- Accessible India: All stations under renovation will be handicap friendly.
- Baby food to be made available.
- Baby changing boards to be installed in coaches.
12: 41 PM
- CCTV coverage at all Tatkal counters
- Passenger can demand cleaning of train/bogey/berth (on-demand services)
- 30,000 more bio-toilets to be introduced.
12:38 PM
- Anyodhay Express: Long Distance Unreserved Trains To Be Launched
- Uday: Over night double decker trains to be introduced
- Tejas - Speed of 130 km/hr and above.
12:34 PM
- Locos with auxiliary modes are being manufactured locally.
- Four such locos have already been produced. 30+ are being produced.
- National Academy of Indian Railways to be upgraded into a full fledged university.
- All Railway Land Records Digitised
12:33 PM
- Entering into R&D partnership with leading railway institutions of the world.
- Anti-fogging measures being implements.
12: 32 PM
- World’s First Bio-Vacuum Toilet Implemented By Indian Railways
- Wi-Fi being implemented in 100 stations in partnership with Google. Minister invites other service providers too.
12:31 PM
- Elimination of all unmanned Railway Crossings by 2020
- 2,500 water vending machines at railway stations have been provided
- Enhanced capacity to be support 1,20,000 concurrent users.
12:30 PM
- Turned social media into a customer grievance redressal system
- More than 1 lakh phone calls are made to receive feedback.
- They help us understand state of cleanliness of stations, schedules and others.
12: 25 PM
- Connectivity
- Port connectivity and North East connectivity will be priority in this budget
- 1,600 km of electrification this year and 2,000 km in the next year are proposed.
- Mizoram and Manipur to be brought under broad gauge soon.
12:20 PM
- New dedicated freight corridors: Kharagpur to Mumbai (East - West), Kharagpur - Vijawada, Delhi - Chennai.
- All DFC projects in PPP project.
- All contracts for currently implemented DFCs will be awarded by end of current FY.
12:15 PM
- Some Bibek Debroy commitee recommendations implemented
- Elimination of all unmanned level crossings.
- Introducing a new way of funding
- Bankable projects to be completed in 3-4 years.
- LIC has committed investment on 1.5 lakh crores on favourable terms.
Suresh Prabhu begins his Railway Budget speech.
- Expected operating ratio 92 for FY 2016-17
- Capital 48,100 crore, 2009-14 a an average growth of 8%.
- For 2016-17 - 1.2 lakh crore, capital expenditure
- Every rupee has a multiplier of 5 in railways
- Zero direct discharge