Railway & General Budget (India) - 2013-14

[arp2041]

Railway Budget 2013 Live: No hike in passenger fares

Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Tuesday refrained from hiking passenger fares while presenting the Rail Budget 2013-14 in Lok Sabha. Bansal stressed on safety and announced that a next generation e-ticketing system would be in place by the end of this calendar year.

Bansal is the first Congress minister in 17 years to present the Rail Budget.

Cash-strapped Railways had effected an across the board 21 percent passenger fare hike in January this year, aiming to mop up an additional revenue of Rs 6,600 crore.

Here are the Highlights of the Rail Budget 2013-14:

Pawan Kumar Bansal thanks PM and Sonia

Bansal pays homage to Rajiv Gandhi

Indian Railways is a vital organisation playing a role in the country

Railways creating opportunities

Overwhelmed by demands for new projects, new trains

Demands reflect aspirations of the country

First Budget by a Congress leader in 17 years

4 months since taking over Ministry

Development of India linked to that of Railways

Need for Railways to be financially sustainable

Faced with steep escalation of input costs

Major segments of biz to be based on sound economic principles

Steep increase in input costs was adjusted by increase in freight rates

Safety, user amenities suffered due to lack of funds

Losses on passenger services increased from Rs 4955 cr in 2001 to Rs 22500 cr in 2011-12 and it is expected to be Rs 24600 cr in 2012-13

Met targets of new lines and electrification in 11th plan

Failed to meet target on doubling lines

Need to expand at much faster pace

12th Plan railway size to be Rs 5.19 lakh crore

Gross Budgetary support at Rs 1.94 lakh cr

Revenue from internal source at Rs 1.05 lakh cr

Many projects that will help to desaturate railways are not being done in a time-bound manner

Pained by Allahabad railway station tragedy

Railway passengers deserve safe and comfortable travel

There has been a significant reduction in incidence of rail accidents

Number of consequential rail accident per 100 rail kilometres has come down from 0.41 in 2003 to 0.3 in 2011-12

40% accident and 60% causalities are at level crossings

Rs 5000 cr required from central rail funds

Estimated losses at Rs 25000 cr

Strive towards zero accident target

TCAS to be put to rigorous trials

Upgradtion of track structure using 60 kg rails in 260 long rails

Several projects are not getting enough funding

Fast accident relief trains

induction of more LHB coaches

New measures to secure the lives of elephants in tracks passing through forests

More women RPF personnel

The ladies special local trains are being escorted by lady RPF staff

Passenger services have deteriorated

Elimination of level crossings

No new level crossing

Introduction of Train Protection Warning System

Trial of Anti-Train Collision system

Upgradation of tracks

Distressed bridges to be rehabilitated

Provision for Fire and Smoke detection

Corporate safety plan for 10 years from 2014-24

Focus on women safety – another 8 RPF units for women

Lady RPF for lady compartments in local/metro trains

Focus on cleanliness and better facilities and amenities

Freight rates need to be hiked to overcome losses

Identification of 104 stations serving over 1 mn population or religious pilgrims for better cleanliness

Onboard Housekeeping facility

Mechanised systems for laundry cleaning

Electronic boards on trains for displaying stations

Free WiFi on select trains

Upgrading 60 stations in addition to 900 already selected

First Aid at Railway stations

VrajVasan terminal to be ready like that of Anand Vihar

Anubhuti coach on Rajdhani and Sharabdi Express trains: Amenities for differently-abled and elderly

Elevators and lifts for differently-abled and elderly

Wheel chairs availability and Wheel chair friendly stations

Fire retardant materials to be used in coaches


Cleanliness

Committed to bring about a marked change in passenger amenities

New trains should not be at the cost of amenities and safety

104 stations to be identified for taken up for cleanliness

Bio toilets in more trains

60 more stations as adarsh stations

New Rail units at Vijayawada, Nagpur, Lalitpur, Bilaspur, Jaipur and Ahmedabad

8-10 new laundries


Passenger benefits

New rail services systems

Ticket booking from 12.30 am to 11.30

e-ticketing through Mobile phones

Access info through nominated websites and mobile phones

Next generation e-ticketing system by end of this financial year – it will have ease of use, response of use

The new system will support 7200 tickets/minute as against to 2000 tickets/minute at present

Would handle 1,20,000 concurrent users

It will have advance fraud control

10797 level crossings to be eliminated

ISO quality check for all kitchens

To use Aadhar scheme for Railways

Executive Lounge at New Delhi Rail Stations

Educational tourist trains – Azadi Express for freedom movement awareness


Catering:

New tie-ups with food testing laboratories

ISO certification to be made compulsory for all base stations

New toll-free number for complaints and suggestions regarding food - 1800-111-310

Executive lounges to be opened at Bilaspur, Nagpur, Vishkhaptanam, Patna, Agra, Jaipur and Bangalore

Rs 1000 crore for upgradation of 3 Delhi stations

Rs 4000 crore for coal mine connectivity

Rs 800 crore for iron ore connectivity

Aruncahal Pradesh brought into rail network

Work on new line to Manipur in full swing


New projects

Bilaspur-Manali-Leh

Jammu-Poonch-Akhoor


Public-private projects (PPP)

Rs 3000 cr for port connectivity


Foot over bridges

Railways will partner with states to construct FOB across stations

Wheel forge unit in Rae Bareli

MEMU unit at Bhilwara

Coach unit at Sonepat

Line unit at Kurnool

Wagon maintenance unit at Kalahandi

Signalling unit at Chandigarh

New Rail coach factory at Rae Bareli

Rail energy management corporation to be set up to harness solar, wind energy

75 MW wind mills to be set up to power 1000 railway crossing

Skill development

Ministry to impart railways related skills to youth at 25 locations

Chair at Teri to reduce carbon footprint

6 more Rail Neer bottling plants

Rail Recruitment exams held in 60 cities

Construction of staff quarters – PPP mode ; also enhance 50% budget to Rs 300 cr

Condition of barracks to be improved for CRPF

To Air-condition Locomotive cabs and water facility

Indian Rail institute for Financial Administration – Secunderabad

Awarded sportspersons to get free First Class travel

Parents of Gallantry awardees to get 2AC pass

Freedom fighters need to renew passes after 3 years instead of every year

Revamp of Rail Museum in 2013-14

Railways to observe austerity and no wastage policy14

To promote research to reduce carbon footprint

To fill 1,52,000 rail vacancies

To set up 75MW windmill plants

To set up rail energy management company

New Debt service fund

complementary card passes to parents of unmarried posthumous awardees of gallantry awardees

mountain rails are world heritage sites

we are committed to maintain rail mountains

Delhi rail museum to be revamped

Fiscal discipline
first in last 25 years railways did not submit any supplementary demands

Rs 3000 loan from ministry of finance has been repaid

Funding for priority projects to complete them in time bound manner

New debt service fund to be set up

Fund balance of Rs 30000 cr needs to be generated

India to enter 1 bn tonne freight handling

4500 crore from scrap sale

Ban use of plastic on catering

5.2% increase in passengers likely

Rs 143742 cr – gross receipt

Rs 96000 cr – gross expenditure

7500 cr depreciation

Operating ratio likely to improve to 82%

Fund balances need to be rebuilt

Freight performance based on slow demand

Railways had to scale target due to slack demand

Freight earning target reduced to 85900 cr from over 89000

Operating ratio is now 88.8%

Railways shall find ways to reduce dependence on budgetary support


Budget estimate

147 million tonnes of revenue originating traffic

freight target increased by 9%

passenger traffic target increased by 5%

gross traffic receipts expected at 143742 cr increase of over Rs 18000 cr

Railway Budget 2013 Live: No hike in passenger fares

 

[scorpionx]

New Bangalore to Chennai double decker train started today.

This train currently runs between Howrah-Dhanbad route. Nice train

 

[arp2041]

High points of rail budget: free wi-fi, new ticketing system

Without increasing the passanger fare, rail budget 2013 has proposed some initiative that will please many passengers. Some of these initiatives include next-generation ticketing system, free wi-fi in select trains, deployment of a new anti-collision system and modern kitchens with strict quality control.

Apart from this, a swanky coach will be added on select trains and all key stations will have escalators.

These are some high points of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's Rs.63,363-crore (Rs.633.63 billion or $11.5 billion) maiden annual budget for his ministry tabled in the lower house of parliament on Tuesday that borders on populism with a fair dose of measures on fiscal discipline, safety and travel comfort.

The other highlights include elimination of unmanned level crossings, sprucing up the Railway Protection Force for the safety of passengers especially women, deployment of a new anti-collision system.

"The growth of Indian Railways is inextricably linked with the growth of the country," Bansal said in his 80-minute budget speech -- the last such annual exercise for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government before the next general election scheduled in 2014.

"Indian Railways must remain financially sustainable so that resources generated can be ploughed back for efficient upkeep, operation and maintenance of the system itself for the benefit of the rail users," he said, setting the tone for frequent adjustments in train fares and freight tariff.

"The UPA government is sensitive to the needs of the people and it was after some wide consultations and deliberations that some revision was effected in fares from Jan 22," he said of the recent hike in fares, while also proposing automatic revisions in freight tariff based on fluctuations in fuel charges.

"As regards passenger fares, since these were revised only in January this year, I do not intend to pass on the additional burden to them now and railways will absorb the impact of Rs.850 crore (Rs.8.5 billion or $155 million) on this account," said Bansal, the first Congress party minister to present a rail budget in 17 years.

But where the passengers will have to shell out more will be in services such as tatkal, which has been hiked from a minimum of Rs.75 now to Rs.90 for a sleeper class ticket and from Rs.200 to Rs.300 for an executive class ticket.

This apart, the clerk charges have been hiked by between Rs.5 and Rs.10 and cancellation charges have been raised by between Rs.10 and Rs.50. The enhanced reservation fee has been scrapped. The hike in freight works out to around an average of 5.8 percent.

"It is a reformist and forward looking budget which presents a realistic picture of railway finances," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said of the budget, even as the opposition called it wanting in a host of areas.

"The rail budget has definitely exposed the UPA government’s inability and the lack of vision to revive the ailing Indian Railways,” said Rajnath Singh, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the principal opposition.

Bansal said that while making all these proposals, he was happy to note that the operating ratio of Indian Railways -- money spent on recurring costs such as salaries, wages and interest to earn Rs.1 in revenue -- had come down to 88 paise from around 95 paise.

“Lower operational ratio announced by the minister will help provide for the much needed funds which can help modernization," the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said, as the corporate sector largely expressed satisfaction with the proposals.

Passengers were happy they were spared a fare hike but hoped promises on travel comfort will be kept.

"I hope the net ticketing system improves. I've never managed a tatkal ticket. They seem to vanish in minutes. Hope something is done on that," said Satish Nair, an accountant here who finds it hard to get tickets to his hometown in Kerala.

The minister said railways remained the single most important catalyst in India's growth story and was a vital organisation integrating the nation from Baramulla in the north to Kanyamumari in the south, and from Dwaraka in the west to Ledo in the east.

The country's railroad network, ranked among the top five in the world, is spread over 64,000 km with 7,083 stations, to ferry 23 million travellers and 2.65 million tonnes of goods daily on 12,000 passenger and 7,000 freight trains. It employs some 1.4 million people.

The railways' sheer contribution to the economy and the role it plays in nation-building is what has prompted a separate budget since 1920 -- long before independence in 1947.

Bansal, who represents Chandigarh in the Lok Sabha, said he was well aware about the problems faced by passengers while booking tickets on the internet. He promised a next-generation ticketing system by the end of this year.

"The system shall be able to support 7,200 tickets per minute against 2,000 tickets per minute today. It'll support 120,000 simultaneous users at any point against the present capacity of 40,000 users with capability to easily scale up as demand increases."

The advocate-turned politician also extended the internet reservation timing from 00:30 hours to 23:30 hours, promised a new system to book tickets through mobile phones, SMS alerts for reservation status and free wi-fi on select trains.

High points of rail budget: free wi-fi, new ticketing system - Hindustan Times

 

[arp2041]

Pawan Kumar Bansal talks austerity as Railways stares at a loss of Rs24,600 crore

Losses of the Indian Railways are estimated to increase to Rs24,600 crore ($4.55 billion) in the financial year ending March 31 due to a sharp rise in input costs, resulting in "deterioration of services", Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said on Tuesday.

Presenting the annual budget of his ministry, Bansal said the loss, which was Rs4,955 crore in 2001-02, surged to Rs22,500 crore in 2011-12 and is estimated to rise to Rs24,600 crore in the current financial year.

And to cut the mounting losses, the railways would maintain financial discipline.

“Austerity and economy in expenditure will be observed by the railways rigorously and no wastage will be permitted,” said Bansal.

He hoped that the fiscal measures taken by his ministry would help improve the railways' financial condition in the coming years.

“As a result of our consistent efforts at maintaining strict financial discipline during the year, the Operating Ratio is estimated at 88.8%. This is a source of great satisfaction as the operating ratio has consistently been over 90% since 1997-98.”

Bansal said the Indian Railways planned to invest Rs63,363 crore ($11.5 billion) in the financial year beginning April 1 mainly on expansion of tracks and improving passenger safety measures.

The total planned investment for the current financial year has been lowered from Rs60,100 crore to Rs52,265 crore.

The Planning Commission has tentatively pegged the railways investment target for the 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-17) at Rs5.19 lakh crore, with a budgetary support of Rs1.94 lakh crore and railways internal resources of Rs1.05 lakh crore.

“The thrust of the plan is on doubling of tracks, safety and passenger and staff welfare, for which I have increased the outlay from about Rs.11,410 crore in 2012-13 to Rs.13,220 crore, an increase of 16 percent,” Bansal said.

Bansal said the railway would get Rs.26,000 crore budgetary support in the current financial year to finance its plan expenditure.

Other sources of financing included Rs.14,260 crore from the railway's internal resources and Rs.2,000 crore from the railway's share in road safety fund.

There was a plan to raise Rs.15,103 crore from the market and mobilise Rs.6,000 crore through public-private-partnership (PPP) route to fund its expansion plans in 2013-14.

Bansal said 500 km of new railway lines would be built and 450 km of narrow and medium gauge lines would be converted into broad gauge lines in the financial year beginning April 1, 2013.

The government has also set a target to double 750 km of single railway lines.

Pawan Kumar Bansal talks austerity as Railways stares at a loss of Rs24,600 crore - India - DNA

 

[takeiteasy]

Railways could've liberated Kerala and Mangalore through a Peninsular or South Western Railway zone HQ'ed in Trivandrum or Mangalore saving us from Chennai zone which is the core reason for slow developmental activities in these states. the funds for southern zone is managed by Chennai zone which is simple enough to be translated as "Tamilnadu only zone" who doesn't care about other states. for past 2 decades, there are only a couple of kms rail line built in Kerala which stands witness for the working of Chenni lobby.

No line doubling,electrification, no new lines albeit one of the congested state. Sabarimala railways which was approved on 1991 or so got only 7kms out of 130kms rail line built till this day!. but tamil lobby wants to introduce a line from Theni to Kumily to Sabarimala sabotaging existing approved project. - a good example.
another news:

Western India Passengers’ Association secretary Thomas Simon, who had raised a demand for more trains in the state, said that while Tamil Nadu got 29 pairs of trains in the past one year, Kerala was able to receive only two weekly trains.[

Funds allocated are re-routed to Chennai office.
Old coaches run inside Kerala state for eg. Salem zone allowed now Tirunelvali(a small town in wild south tn) zone is on the anvil! I hope North Indians will have similar accusations against UP,Bihar and Bengal stealing all the funds. still..

Railway must grow out of as a service from UP,Bihar,Bengol to Mumbai,Banglore,Delhi
"labour force" carrier...but serve whole nation. Lobbiying and vested interests must be eliminated.

//rant

 

[arp2041]

@takeiteasy it can't be ignored that due to Vote-Bank Politics & the fact that from past so many years we are having Railway Minister's from either UP, Bihar or WB (state parties) who just worry about there own state politics, have created vast infrastructure differences b/w different states of India.

But I am surprised that you are saying, Kerala doesn't get the necessary infrastructure, are you sure about that?? I am surprised b'coz of the fact that MOS Railways hails from Kerala & he has been instrumental in diverting many infrastructure projects to his home state.

 

[arp2041]

 

[takeiteasy]

@takeiteasy it can't be ignored that due to Vote-Bank Politics & the fact that from past so many years we are having Railway Minister's from either UP, Bihar or WB (state parties) who just worry about there own state politics, have created vast infrastructure differences b/w different states of India.

But I am surprised that you are saying, Kerala doesn't get the necessary infrastructure, are you sure about that?? I am surprised b'coz of the fact that MOS Railways hails from Kerala & he has been instrumental in diverting many infrastructure projects to his home state.

Not true. He isn't able to do much. the core reason is the Zone thing. whatever new project even if announced for Kerala(which is not happening), will be slowed down and the funds re-routed to TN. that's how it is from past many decades. Minister Bansal ji could have at the minimum announced a Peninsular Zone in the south including from Dakshina Kannada to Kanyakumari. but the strong Tamilnadu lobby works against it, I believe.

 

[indushek]

AP has been suckered for long by that Mamata of a Didi, now with spineless ministers we will be suckered again. Bastards.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Looks okay, nothing revolutionary. I can see India laying good foundations though. Future projects/operations will certinly benefit from these foundations.

 

[KS]

Railways could've liberated Kerala and Mangalore through a Peninsular or South Western Railway zone HQ'ed in Trivandrum or Mangalore saving us from Chennai zone which is the core reason for slow developmental activities in these states. the funds for southern zone is managed by Chennai zone which is simple enough to be translated as "Tamilnadu only zone" who doesn't care about other states. for past 2 decades, there are only a couple of kms rail line built in Kerala which stands witness for the working of Chenni lobby.

No line doubling,electrification, no new lines albeit one of the congested state. Sabarimala railways which was approved on 1991 or so got only 7kms out of 130kms rail line built till this day!. but tamil lobby wants to introduce a line from Theni to Kumily to Sabarimala sabotaging existing approved project. - a good example.
another news:

Funds allocated are re-routed to Chennai office.
Old coaches run inside Kerala state for eg. Salem zone allowed now Tirunelvali(a small town in wild south tn) zone is on the anvil! I hope North Indians will have similar accusations against UP,Bihar and Bengal stealing all the funds. still..

Railway must grow out of as a service from UP,Bihar,Bengol to Mumbai,Banglore,Delhi
"labour force" carrier...but serve whole nation. Lobbiying and vested interests must be eliminated.

//rant

If Kerala could not get a proper slice of the pie inspite of having a congress govt that is Kerala congress' fault.

And I dont think any southern state has ever been in the kind graces of the Railway ministers who have always been from UP/Bihar/WB.

 

[KRAIT]

@arp2041 Massive losses. After diesel price hike given to companies and now more tax on freight is going to increase inflation which has been controlled for some weeks or months.

Many good and bad policies. Have to read a lot for this.

P.S. People are right about Railway Ministers supporting their state. Lalu also helped Bihar which led to huge influx of Biharis in Rajasthan and also many criminals did the crime and went back easily. I think people will object my point, but it has been a ground reality for some time. We can discuss it in some other thread.

 

[arp2041]

Economic Survey: 2013/14 GDP growth seen at 6.1-6.7 percent

India's economy will grow 6.1-6.7 percent in the financial year that starts in April, the government forecast in a report on Wednesday, a day before Finance Minister P. Chidambaram unveils a budget that is expected to keep a lid on spending.

The annual report on challenges facing the economy was prepared by Raghuram Rajan, the former chief economist to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who became the top adviser in the finance ministry last year.

Economic Survey: 2013/14 GDP growth seen at 6.1-6.7 percent | Reuters

 

[Azazel]

If Kerala could not get a proper slice of the pie inspite of having a congress govt that is Kerala congress' fault.

And I dont think any southern state has ever been in the kind graces of the Railway ministers who have always been from UP/Bihar/WB.

Kerala Congress leaders are highly incompetent.During 2004 they were given a coach factory in Palakkad,But the last left Govt scuttled it by saying they don't want if it is a PPP (private-public partnership) project,Whole damn trade unions(Both left and right) went up in arms protested against it.The whole land acquisition program was practically came to a halt.It too 8 years for railways to acquire land for the project and it construction of the factory hasn't even started yet.While a similar project in UP land acquisition completed in a matter of months and the factory is up and running.

There are many such examples like this where many projects were ruined by their incompetency.Do you Kerala MP's protested in Delhi against the construction of railway overbridges just because it will cause that it will cause the shops in the level crossing to shutdown.These Keralite politicians are idiots,They will simply blame each other,they have no vision for the future.Just recently they started protesting against high speed rail link.That project is also meant to be doomed.When TN and Karnataka starts operating high speed rail they will come crying we are being ignored and neighbouring states are stealing our projects etc.

PS:I don't agree with your last statement,Southern states have much better rail connectivity than most of the north India.

 

[MST]

Looks like a waste Rail Budget. Nothing of substance in it. Here is a nice discussion on NDTV India.

[video]http://khabar.ndtv.com/video/show/prime-time/266342[/video]