Railway Budget 2011: Highlights

Here are the highlights of the Railway Budget 2011-12, presented by Railways Minister Mamata bannerjee in Parliament today.

•    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 cror