Railway Budget

Following are the highlights of Railway Budget 2008 being presented in Parliament right now:

— First Class AC fares reduced by 7%, Second AC by 4% and Third AC by 3%
— Second class fares cut by 5%
—  53 new trains, 10 Garib Raths 
— 50 percent rebate for all lady senior citizens
— 30 percent rebate for all senior citizens
— Railways to man all 18,000 plus unmanned level crossings
— New rail coach factory to be set up in Kerala
— AIDs patients traveling for treatment to get 50% rebate on Second class tickets
— Seven bogey Mother- Child Health Express to be launched
— 3000 additional coaches added in the last year bringing in Rs 2000 crore
— Rs 33,800 crore freight earnings during first nine years of the fiscal year
— Railways ends with profit of Rs 250 billion
— Rs 68,778 crore surplus in four years
— Rail ticket counters to be increased from 3000 to 15000 in 2 years
— Wait listed e-tickets to start this year
— Mobile ticketing to start this year
— Rail time and expected arrival time to be displayed in long distance mail and express trains from March 2009
— LED display boards on A and B class stations for time and reservation information
— Manufacturing of stainless steel coaches for mail and express trains to commence in 2008-09
— Modular toilets in all stainless steel coaches
— On board cleaning of all Rajdhani, Shatabdi and express trains
— Shelters for all 400 plus C and D category stations
— Multi level parking at 30 big stations
— Top 50 stations to have lifts and escalators
— 790 million tones of freight loading estimated this year
— Next four years, railways expect this to go by over 300 million tones
— Go-Mumbai card: Multipurpose card for Mumbai trains
— Mumbai suburban train tickets to be available on BEST buses
— Automobile ticket vending machines to be doubled by 6000
— Rs 500 crore to be spent on improvement of platforms
— Automotive signaling system to be expanded to improve the capacity utilization of rail tracks
— Green toilets to be installed in all 4000 passenger trains
— On board television and internet to be available on more trains
— Railways’ IT vision will be implemented over next 5 years
— Rs 2,50,000 crore to be invested in Railways over next 6 years
— Railways protection force to fill up 5000 vacancies
— Close circuit TV, baggage screening, metal detectors at all major stations
— Public address systems to be installed in all trains
— Railways to introduce new technology to check rail tracks and monitor bridges and wagon wheels
— Railways has exceeded target for filling up SC/ ST positions
— Licensed porters to be given jobs as gangmen in Railways
— All trains to have smoke detectors after completion of pilot project
— Five percent reservation for women in Railway jobs
— 500 km of track doubling in this year. Target for next year is 1000 km