Highlights of Railway Budget: 2016-17

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Following are highlights of the Railway Budget for 2016-17

(Apr-Mar), presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in Parliament today:

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GENERAL

* Budget reflects aspirations of the entire railway family

* Rail Budget reflects aspiration of all

* Core objective is to improve individual experience

* Rail Budget is the vision of PM Modi

* Making all efforts to turn PM's vision into reality

* Railways facing headwinds on tepid economic growth

* Railways have stood the test of time

* Need to overhaul Railways' work culture

* Need to bring in new approach

* Will lay out three pillars of strategy

* Looking at new areas for generating revenues

* Need to reorganise, rejuvenate, restructure railways

* Railways facing headwinds from 7th pay panel burden

* Will engage with global agencies for funds

* Absolute deductions planned in expenses such as diesel

* Have significantly reduced cost of power procurement

* Will revisit all rules, structures to overhaul railways

* To improve procurement practises at par with international norms

* New revenues through changes in freight policies

* Punctuality has gone up to almost 95%

* To include implementation reports in Budget

* Carry 23 mln passengers every day

* Special teams to screen railway operations

* To introduce 33% quota for women passengers

FY17 ESTIMATES

* FY17 investment seen at 1.21 trln rupees

* Investment rate of capex has increased substantially

* FY17 capital expenditure seen 1.2 trln rupees

* FY17 revenue seen 1.84 trln rupees

* Capex to grow exponentially

* Ramped up capex in FY17

* FY17 operating ratio seen 92%

* Increasing rigour on cost optimisation in FY17

* Freight's contribution to earnings seen 67%

* FY17 gross budgetary support seen 400 bln rupees

* 44 new projects planned FY17 worth 927 bln rupees

FY16 REVISED

* 87.2 bln rupees saved from last year budget estimate

* FY16 operating ratio seen 90%

* FY16 loss from subsidising passenger fares seen 300 bln rupee

* Saving from previous Budget estimates 787 bln rupees

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INFRASTRUCTURE, MODERNISATION

* To be at forefront of infrastructure growth

* Railways will be at forefront of infra growth

* To generate employment for 90 mln man days by FY18

* To commission broad gauge lines at 7 km/day FY17

* FY17 track commissioning aim 2,800 km

* Aim to have zero direct discharge of human waste by 2020

* Reserved accommodation to be available on demand by 2020

* Aim 80 km/hour avg speed of express train by 2020

* Freight speed seen at 50 km/hr by 2020

* To eliminate all unmanned level crossings by 2020

* Taken action on 139 Budget announcements made last yr

* To run semi high-speed trains on Golden Quadrilateral by 2020

* Action initiated on 139 FY16 Rail Budget announcements

* To meet reservation on demand by 2020

* Will take a zero-based budgeting approach

* To take zero-base budgetary approach for freight

* To conduct recruitment online

* To set up Margao, Hazira ports FY17 via PPP

* To spend 8.5 trln rupees over 5 yrs to modernise rail infra

* To hasten electrification of railways working with Power Min

* To build more dedicated freight corridors

* To up FY17 allocation for electrification by 50%

* To generate employment of 140 mln man-days in 2018-19

* 65,000 additional berths generated in FY16

* Taken steps to significantly improve svcs for rail passengers

* Dedicated IVRS system receiving over mln feedback calls daily

* Set up mechanism to get direct feedback from customers

* Responsiveness to customer needs touched new heights this yr

* Initiated IT-based internal audit

* Signed MoUs with some zonal railways

* To move to contract award system online in FY17

* Social media being used as a tool to bring transparency

* Mission to ensure transparent bidding process

* To set up 2 loco units with 480 bln rupee invest

* To set up new loco units with order book of 400 bln rupees

* Aim to have 100 WiFi-enabled stations this yr, 400 in next 3

* To redevelop stations by different models

* Finalised 2 locomotive factories bids under 'Make In India'

* E-ticket capacity 7,000 tickets/minute now vs 2,000 earlier

* Introduced 1,780 automatic ticket vending machines

* Initiated capacity augmentation on some busy routes

* Developed application to maintain centralised land data

* To open cashless ticketing facilities for foreigners in 3 mos

* To introduce tickets with bar codes

* To introduce bar-coded tickets

* To start track management system under Digital India

* To introduce bar-coding of tickets at major stations

* To allow cancellation of tickets via call on 139

NEW TRAINS, LINES

* Plan to electrify 2,000 km track in FY17

* Track laying to be at 13km/day in FY18, 19km/day in FY19

* North-South dedicated freight corridors in Delhi-Chennai

* Plan Kharagpur-Vijaywada freight corridor

* Plan Mumbai-Kharagpur freight corridor

* Decongestion on Jalandhar-Jammu line going on

* To put 3 freight corridor projects on high priority

* Mizoram, Manipur to come under broad gauge network soon

* To launch long distance fully unreserved Antyodaya trains

* To have more unreserved passenger coaches

* Proposed dedicated freight corridor for east-west, east coast

* Proposed dedicated freight corridors for north-south

* Overnight double-decker trains named 'Uday trains'

* Overnight double-decker trains for better access on busy line

BORROWING

* Will scout overseas for rupee bonds

* To scout international markets for rupee bonds

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INVESTMENT PUSH

* Secured funding from LIC at favourable terms

* Bankable projects assured of funding now

* LIC to invest 1.5 trln rupees over 5 years

* 1 rupee invest in rail can impact econ output by factor of 5

* In partnership with SAIL, NTPC, coal ministry on funding

* Signed MoUs with 6 states for JVs

* Got expressions from 17 states to form JVs

* MoUs with zonal railways for quantifying performance

* Forming JV with states for local rail projects

* Availing multilateral financing for station development

* Cabinet approved redevelopment of 400 stations via PPP model

* Bidding process in advanced stage to redevelop 4 stations

* To undertake bidding to redevelop some big stations next yr

* Bankable railway projects to be completed in 3-4 years

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MISCELLANEOUS

* To raise quota of lower berth for women, senior citizens

* To build additional toilets in 475 stations before FY16 end

* Aim 17,000 bio-toilets before FY16 end

* Initiated audit for punctuality of passenger trains

* Disposable bed rolls at all stations for all classes

* 311 railway stations currently under CCTV surveillance

* All stations to have CCTV surveillance in phased manner

* Anti-falling measures in suburban coaches

* To eliminate accidents by adopting latest technology

* Entered into R&D pacts with Korea, Japan to improve ops

* All railway stations to be under CCTV surveillance in phases

* Supporting 120,000 concurrent users now vs 40,000 earlier

* Installed CCTV cameras at 311 stations

* To introduce 'Deen Dayalu' coaches

* Every customer a brand ambassador for railways

* To upgrade Baroda rail institute to full fledged university

* Working on implementing Kakodkar panel report on safety

* To have Hamsafar, Tejas, Uday coaches for reserved passengers

* Tajas speed to be 130 km/hour

* Deen Dayalu coaches for unreserved passengers for long travel

* To add 2 or 4 more unreserved coaches in long distance trains

* New catering policy for multipurpose stalls at stations

* To extend e-catering services to all 408 A1, A2 stations

* IRCTC to introduce local cuisines available on demand

* To make local cuisine available on demand on trains

* IRCTC to unbundle catering services

* Set up Swachh Rail waste aggregation and recycling centre

* To install 30,000 bio-toilets at stations

* To start Clean-My-Coach service on pan-India basis

* To introduce CCTV coverage at all Tatkal counters

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[KIP SHARING]