Railway Budget 2011

Following are the highlights of the railway budget 2011-12 presented by railway minister Mamata Banerjee in Parliament on Friday-

• 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 crore.