Highlights - Rail Budget - 2010-11

Highlights - Rail Budget - 2010-11

Presenting the Railway Budget for 2010-11 in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said that there will be no hike in freight tariff and service charge on air-conditioned fares will be cut.

Mamata's populist rail budget also has many social welfare plans and job-generation schemes too. 

Banerjee said that it is time for private partnership in Indian Railways, but said that the railways will not be privatised. She said that clearance to private investment will be provided in 100 days to speed up projects. 

Banerjee appealed to business houses to join hands for building partnership with Railways. Presenting the Railway Budget she said a special task force will be set up for early clearance of projects. 

· Mumbai will get 101 new suburban trains. 
· To introduce several schemes for railway employees. 
· Railways to develop ten automobile hubs. 
· No forcible acquisition of land for freight corridor project, said Mamata. 
· One member of each family of land losers to be given employment in the freight corridor as also in the new projects, she added. 
· High-speed dedicated passenger corridors to be constructed; National High Speed Rail Authority to be set up. 
· If land is available, Railways willing to set up a Diesel Multiple Unit factory in West Bengal said Banerjee. 
· Integral Coach Factory in Chennai to be modernised and a new unit to be set up there. 
· Wagon Repair Shop to be set up in Badnera near Amravati in Maharashtra 
· Work on Rae Bareli Coach Factory in Uttar Pradesh to start within a year, said the railway minister. 
· To extend routes of 21 trains Freight loading target for 2010-11 fixed at 944 million tonnes, 54 million tonnes more than the current year's revised target. 
· Despite slowdown, Railways to exceed freight loading target by eight million tonnes during 2009-10. 
· Revenue from non-core business of Railways to go up from Rs 150 crore to Rs 1,000 crore. 
· State-of- the-art loco training centers to be set up. 
· 10 more Duranto trains to be launched. 
· Railways to set up sports academies. 
· Railways to run a special train during CWG 2010. 
· Will induct ex-service men into railway security. 
· Rail stocks: Kalindi Rail Nirman is quoting at Rs 187.65, down 2.85%. 
· 381 new diagnostic centers across the country. 
· Will modernise 93 railway stations. 
· Railways will give concessions for sportspersons. 
· Railways to set up sports academies. 
· Railways to run a special train during Commonwealth Games. Railways will be the lead partner in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi . 
· Ex-servicemen to be inducted in RPF. 
· Railway Protection Force to be strengthened through amendments in RPF Act; women's wing to be formed in RPF to ensure security of women. 
· All 13,000 unmanned level crossings to be manned in the next five years, says the railway minister. 
· Railways to set up mobile e-ticketing centres at hospitals, universities, courts, IITs, IIMs, district headquarters and village panchayats. 
· Chittaranjan Locomotive Works capacity to be augmented from 200 to 275 engines a year. 
· Centre for Railway Research to be set up at IIT-Kharagpur. 
· Railways to enhance contribution to central staff benefit fund. 
· Railways will provide houses to all its employees in the next 10 years in collaboration with the Urban Development Ministry. 
· Railways to set up Rabindra Museum in Howrah and Geetanjali Museum in Bolpur -- both in West Bengal -- to commemorate Rabindranath Tagore's 125th birth anniversary. 
· She said that 17 new trains will be flagged off within 7 months. 
· She also announced some sops for women and minority communities. 
· She proposed 1,000 km of new rail lines. 
· While not privatising, Indian Railways have to develop business models for improving earnings, said Banerjee. 
· Railways 2020 vision document will contain short, medium- and long-term goals, she added. 
· She claimed that her commitments had been fulfilled to the maximum. Out of 120 trains announced in last railway budget, only three remain to be flagged off because of lack of broad-gauge lines, she said. 
· Railways to start six water bottling plants in places like Ambala, Thiruvananthapuram, Farakka, Amethi and Nashik to provide clean and cheap drinking water to passengers, she announced. 
· Security for women passengers to be increased, she assured. 
· The railway minister said that double-decker trains will be introduced. 
· She also emphasized that Railways must develop new business models. 
· RFID technology to be used for freight transport, she said. 
· Ticket counters at district headquarters and village panchayats will be set up. 
· She said Rs 1300 crore for passenger amenities will be allotted. 
· She also said that construction of multi-level parking through PPP model will be taken up. 
· Railway exams can be taken in regional languages, she said. English, Hindi, Urdu will be used for Railway entrance exams. 
· Plan to raise Rs 10,000-20,000 crore by the next fiscal. 
· Will withdraw examination fees for backward classes and women. 
· 117 of 120 new trains for current fiscal to be flagged off. 
· To come out with a 10-year plan called 'Vision 2020', Mamata said. 
· Larger section of population to be connected by rail, she said. 
· She also said that railways are looking at innovative ways for financing projects. 
· Freight loading target for 2010-11 fixed at 944 million tonnes, 54 million tonnes more than the current year's revised target.