New Delhi: In a major overhaul, the Cabinet today approved advancing presentation of the annual Budget by a month, scrapped over nine decade old tradition of having a separate Railway Budget and removed classifications for expenditure to make the exercise simpler.

With a view to get all the legislative approvals for the annual spending and tax proposals before the beginning of the new financial year on April 1, the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved advancing date for presentation of the General Budget by a month instead of present practice of unveiling it at the end of February.

The Cabinet also approved merging Railway Budget with the general Budget and doing away with distinction of plan and non plan expenditure, officials said.

To facilitate this, the Budget Session of parliament will be called sometime before January 25, a month ahead of the current practice.

Accordingly, the beginning of budget preparation will be advanced to early October and GDP estimates made available on January 7 instead of February 7 now.

Till now Budget was presented on the last day of February and it is not until mid-May that the Parliament approves it in two parts. And with the monsoon arriving in June, most of the schemes and spendings by states do not take off until October, leaving just half a year for their implementation.

Early presentation of Budget would mean that the entire exercise is over by March 31, and expenditure as well as tax proposals come into effect right from the beginning of new fiscal, thereby ensuring better implementation.

Also, the 92 year old practice of presenting a separate budget for Railways has been scrapped and proposals pertaining to it would now form part of the General Budget.

This would lead to presentation of a single Appropriation Bill, including the estimates of Ministry of Railways, thereby saving precious time of Parliament by not having to hold separate consideration and passing of two Appropriation Bills.

The Cabinet also approved removal of distinction between Plan and Non Plan expenditure as the present classification resulted in excessive focus on former with almost equivalent neglect to items such as maintenance which are classified as non Plan.

The Cabinet felt it is the total expenditure, irrespective of Plan or Non-Plan, that generates value for the public. Plan expenditure was for the first time presented separately in the budget for 1959 to 1960.

PTI

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As announced in the Rail Budget Speech 2016-17, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) would begin to manage catering service in a phased manner.

The objectives of transferring the catering services from Railways to IRCTC were not fulfilled, as IRCTC could not professionalize the catering services. Therefore, the management of catering services were taken back by Railways from IRCTC as per the provisions of Catering Policy, 2010 .

In 2015, Sreedhran Committee, set up by the Ministry of Railways recommended transfer of catering services back to IRCTC since IRCTC was setup as an extended arm of the Indian Railways to professionalize catering services on Indian Railways. It has been decided to give back the catering services to IRCTC in a phased manner with unbundling catering services by creating a distinction primarily between food preparation and food distribution. In order to address the problems faced earlier, it has been decided that there will be no complete handing over of catering service by IRCTC to private licensees and Zonal Railways will have powers of supervision and monitoring.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).

PIB

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Source: NFIR

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Facing resource crunch, Railways is said to be mulling the possibility of effecting a 5 to 10 per cent increase in the passenger fares in the coming budget.

The proposal is being considered against the backdrop of a decline in both passenger and freight earnings and the additional burden of Rs 32,000 cr towards implementing the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, Railway Ministry sources said.

On top of this, the gross budgetary support for the 2015-16 has also been slashed by Rs 8,000 cr by the Finance Ministry due to low spending by the Railways.

The sources said while there are several possibilities including a fare hike are being looked into nothing has been finalised yet.

The sources said a decision has to be taken whether to hike the fares and, if so, when. But it is not necessary it has to be done only in the budget, they said.

There is a feeling in rail bhawan that a fare hike in the budget to be presented on Feb 25 can be more beneficial as the railways can utilise the peak season beginning March.

Currently AC fares are already on higher side. If AC fares are raise, then they could even surpass the fares of low-cost air carriers in some sectors.

Similarly, freight rates are also at a high level and loading of steel, cement, coal, iron ore and fertiliser is on a down slide that rules out any further increase in this area.

Railways had effected a 14 per cent across-the-board hike in passenger fares in 2014 during the NDA regime and a 10 per cent increase last year.

Railways’ total earnings from freight and passenger fares were Rs 1,36,079.26 cr until January this year as against the target of Rs 141,416.05 cr, a shortfall of 3.77 per cent.

Acknowledging the decline in earnings sources said various options were being explored to perk up revenue collections.

While one option is to raise the fares in selected routes, the other is to go for increasing the cost of services provided.

Meanwhile railways have undertaken steps for cutting the costs and for commercial exploitation of surplus railway land besides looking at higher revenues from advertisement in a bid to tide over the crisis. The focus may be on improving non-tariff collection, the sources said.

Railways have conducted a study by Axis Capital which has recommended a 10 per cent hike in passenger fares and a 5 per cent raise in freight rates to improve the state-run transporter’s finances.

PTI

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• Plan Outlay proposed Rs. 1,00,011 crore, increased by 52%
• Allocation for passenger amenities up by 67%
• Railways to become prime mover of Indian Economy, Five years action plan proposed
• Rail Budget seeks resource mobilization for higher investment
• Thrust on measurable and sustainable improvement in passenger experience and to make Rail a safer means of travel
• Hot buttons, coin vending machines for railway tickets within 5 minutes, e-catering to select meals from an array of choices
• 200 more stations to come under Adarsh Station scheme; Wi – Fi to be provided at B category stations
• 24X7 helplines for attending passenger problems and security related complaints
• For the safety of women passengers surveillance cameras in suburban coaches
• More General class coaches will be added in identified trains.
• The speed of nine railway corridors will be increased to 160 and 200 kmph
• Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System to be installed on select routes
• 77 new projects covering 9,400 km of doubling/tripling/quadrupling works proposed
• A new department for keeping stations and trains clean under Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Railway Budget presented today in Parliament proposed measures to make Indian Railways prime mover of Indian Economy once again. It seeks resource mobilization for higher investment, decongestion of heavy haul routes and speeding of trains and project delivery, better passenger amenities and safety, and to make railways a preferred mode of transport for masses. Presenting the Budget in Parliament, Railway Minister, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that all critical initiatives proposed will be pursued in mission mode.

The Budget proposals have set four goals to transform Indian Railways over next five years which are- a sustainable and measurable improvement in customer experience, make rail a safer means of travel, expansion of capacity substantially , modernization of infrastructure and finally to make railways financially self-sustainable. To achieve these goals the budget proposes five drivers which include adopting a medium-term perspective plan consisting of White Paper, a Vision-2030 document and a five year action plan. Building Partnerships with key stakeholders for long term financing and overseas technology, improving last mile connectivity, expanding fleet of rolling stock and modernization of station infrastructure are included in these drivers. Railways will also leverage additional resources; envisages investment of Rs. 8.5 lakh crore in next five years.

Revamping management practices, systems, processes, and re-tooling of human resources will be taken up by the Railways to achieve targeted operating ratio for 2015-16 at 88.5%. Fast decision making, tight accountability, improved management information systems and better training and development of human resource will also be part of the action plan to achieve the goals.

In order to make travel on Indian Railways a happy experience, the Budget has given thrust on Cleanliness and proposes a new department for keeping stations and trains clean under Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. New toilets will be built at 650 additional stations; online booking of disposable bed rolls will be made available. 24X7 helpline number 138;toll-free number 182 for security related complaints have also been proposed in the budget.

In order to make ticketing more passenger friendly the Budget proposes “operation five minutes” for issuing unreserved tickets, hot buttons, coin vending machines, concessional e-tickets for differently abled travelers, for booking tickets a multi-lingual e-portal will be developed. Crediting of refunds through banks and unreserved tickets on Smart phones will be available. Proliferation of automatic ticket vending machines with smart cards and currency options, integrated ticketing system on the lines of rail-cum-road tickets, Defence Travel System developed for elimination of Warrants have also been proposed in the Budget.

The Budget has proposed e-catering to select meals from an array of choices. Ordering food through IRCTC website at the time of booking of tickets; integrating best food chains into this project; setting up of Base Kitchens in specified divisions to be run by reputed agencies for serving quality food and expansion of water vending machines will be taken up.

Hand-held terminals to Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs) for verification of passengers will now be provided for verification of passengers, possibility of extending facility of SMS on mobiles as a valid proof of travel for PRS tickets will be explored. A centrally managed Railway Display Network in over 2000 stations in next two years will be included besides “SMS Alert” service to inform passengers in advance of the updated arrival/departure time of trains at starting or destination stations.

For the safety of women passengers surveillance cameras will be provided on a pilot basis in selected mainline coaches and ladies’ compartments of suburban coaches.

The Railways will also take up a project for introducing on-board entertainment on select Shatabdi trains; Mobile phone charging facilities will be provided in general class coaches & will be increased in sleeper class coaches.

Now, 200 more stations to come under Adarsh Station scheme; Wi – Fi to be provided at B category stations; facility of self-operated lockers will be available at stations. Passenger capacity in identified trains will be augmented; more General class coaches will be added in identified trains. The Railways has also approached NID to design user friendly ladders for climbing upper berths. It has also proposed more quota of lower berths for senior citizens. TTEs will now be instructed to help senior citizens, pregnant women and differently-abled persons in obtaining lower berths; middle bay of coaches to be reserved for women and senior citizen. Provision of Rs. 120 crore has been made for Lifts and escalator; newly manufactured coaches will now be Braille enabled; building wider entrances for the ease of differently-abled passengers; allocation for passenger amenities up by 67%.

The Railways has proposed to revamp its station development policy completely and simplifies process for faster development by inviting open bids. It has proposed to develop 10 Satellite Railway terminals in major cities with twin purpose of decongesting the city and providing services to suburban passengers.

Seventy seven projects covering 9,400 km of doubling/tripling/quadrupling works along with electrification, covering almost all States, at a cost of Rs. 96,182 crore will be taken up. Traffic facility works a top priority with outlay of Rs. 2374 crore have been proposed. In order to accelerate the pace of Railway electrification, 6,608 route kilometres will be sanctioned for 2015-16, an increase of 1330% over the previous year.

As per the Budget proposal, the speed of 9 railway corridors will be increased from existing 110 and 130 kmph to 160 and 200 kmph respectively so that inter-metro journeys like Delhi-Kolkata and Delhi-Mumbai can be completed overnight. Average speed of freight trains in empty and loaded conditions, will be enhanced to 100 kmph for empty freight trains and 75 kmph for loaded trains.

Declaring safety of paramount importance for Railways, an action plan has been proposed for accident prone areas. The Budget also proposes 970 ROB/RUBs and other safety-related works to eliminate 3438 level crossings at a total expense of Rs. 6,581 crore, 2600% higher than the previous year. Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System will be installed on select routes at the earliest.

The Budget proposes constituting an innovation council called “Kayakalp” for business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovation in Railways besides setting up of Technology portal to invite innovative technological solutions. Four Railway Research Centers in select universities for fundamental research have also been proposed besides ‘Malaviya Chair’ for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi.

PPP cell of Railways will be revamped to make it result oriented, “Foreign Rail Technology Cooperation scheme” will be launched. Joint ventures will be set up with States for focused project development, resource mobilization, land acquisition, project implementation and monitoring of critical rail projects. In order to meet the requirements of new lines JVs will also be set up with major public sector customers.

Rail Budget has also proposed Coastal Connectivity Program in partnership with ports for Nargol, Chharra, Dighi, Rewas and Tuna. Besides this, projects worth Rs 2500 crore will be taken up through BOT/ Annuity route. These include Wardha- Nagpur 3rd line, Kazipet-Vijaywada 3rd line, Bhadrak –Nargundi 3rd line and Bhuj- Nalia Gauge Conversion.

In order to make Indian Railways more environment friendly, 100 DEMUs will be enabled for dual fuel – CNG and diesel. Locomotives running on LNG are also currently under development. Noise levels of locos to be at par with international norms; concerns related to wildlife to be addressed.

As a part of its social initiatives, now Rail stations and training centers will be made available for skill development. Incredible Rail for Incredible India will be launched and training of auto-rickshaw and taxi-operators as tourist-guides on the model of Konkan Railway will be taken up for tourism promotion. IRCTC will work on promoting the Gandhi circuit to attract tourists to mark the occasion of 100 years of the return of Mahatma Gandhi to India from South Africa. Kisan Yatra, a special travel scheme for farmers for farming & marketing technique centres has also been proposed.

According to Budget Estimates, Plan Outlay for 2015-16 has been proposed to Rs 1,00,011 crore, an increase of 52% over RE 2014-15 plan size. Out of this 41.6% resources will come from Central Government support while 17.8 % will be generated from internal resources.

– PIB

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• Rail Budget Seeks Course Correction, Avoids Populism
• No Increase in Rail Fare
• Stress on Resource Mobilization Through PSU Surplus, FDI and PPP
• Bullet Train on Ahmedabad-Mumbai Corridor Proposed, Speed of Trains to be Increased in Nine Sectors
• More Thrust on Passenger Amenities, Cleanliness & Efficient Station Management
• Multi Pronged Approach for Improving Safety & Security, 4000 Women RPF Constables to be Recruited
• Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing, WI-FI Services in Major Stations & in Select Trains, Mobile based Wakeup Calls for Passengers
• 58 New Trains Introduced; 11 Existing Trains Extended
• Railway University and Innovation Incubation Centre to be Set UP
• Top Priority to Transparency, e-procurement to be made
• Compulsory in Higher Purchase, Online Registration for Wagons in Next Two Months
• Highest Ever Plan Outlay of Rs. 65,445 Crore with Higher Allocation for Safety Measures

Increased passenger amenities, more safety measures, timely completion of projects and increased financial discipline are the main highlights of the Railway Budget 2014-15 presented by the Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda in Parliament today.

The Budget seeks course correction in the light of mismanagement, apathy, populism in starting projects and severe fund crunch that have inflicted the railways over the years, the Minister averred. For this, structural reforms will be introduced and resources will be mobilized through PSU surplus, FDI and PPP.

The Budget proposes multi-pronged approach to make Railway journey safe and secure and comfortable for passengers. More thrust has been placed on passenger amenities, cleanliness and efficient station management. Now all major stations will have foot-over bridges, escalators, lifts etc.

On safety and security, the Budget has proposed introduction of advance technology for rail-flaw detection to check causes of accidents, a significant amount has been kept for road-over and road-under bridges and a pilot project will be launched on automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches. In order to make women safer while travelling, the Railway will recruit 4000 women constables. Coaches for ladies will be escorted.

IT initiatives get a big boost in the Budget. Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing will be taken up with provision of platform tickets and unreserved tickets also over internet. The Railway has proposed real-time tracking of trains and rolling stocks, mobile based Wakeup Call System for passengers, mobile based destination arrival alert and Wi-fi Services in A-1 and A category stations and in select trains. Indian Railways has also planned paperless offices in 5 years.

In order to make Railway management more efficient, Budget has proposed setting up of Railway University for training in both technical and non-technical subjects besides establishing Innovations and Incubation Centre to harness the ideas generated from staff.

In a bid to modernise Indian Railway network, Bullet train has been proposed on Mumbai-Ahmadabad sector besides increasing speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select 9 sectors. The Railway has also planned setting up of Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail connecting major metros and growth centers of the country. Identified stations will be developed to international standards with modern facilities on lines of newly developed airports through PPP mode. Railway has also proposed harnessing solar energy by utilizing roof top spaces of stations, railway buildings and land.

To augment resources of Railways, the Budget has proposed schemes to facilitate procurement of parcel vans and rakes by private parties, special milk tanker trains, increased movement of fruits and vegetables in partnership with Warehousing Corporation and setting up Private Freight Terminals on PPP model.

The Railway has proposed to bring in more transparency in administration and execution of projects. The status of ongoing projects will be available online, E-procurement will be made compulsory for procurement of higher amount and online registration of demands for wagons will be introduced within next two months.

The Budget has passenger centric focus on suburban and metropolitan rail services. 864 additional state-of-the-art EMUs will be introduced in Mumbai in two years. Study to explore possibility of enhancing existing railway network for better connectivity needs of Bangaluru will be taken up.

The Railway Budget 2014-15 has proposed 58 new trains besides extending 11 existing trains. Provision has been made for 28 surveys for new lines and doubling or gauge conversion of lines. Higher funds have been proposed for ongoing projects in Northeast and remote areas. Special packaged trains on identified pilgrim circuits, two tourist trains and a special train featuring life and work of Swami Vivekananda has been proposed in the Budget.

According to the Budget estimates, the Railways will earn  1,64,374 crore through various resources and will spend  1,49,176 crore during 2014-15. The operating ratio is expected to be 92.5% which is 1% better than that in 2013-14.

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An outlay Rs. 63,363 crore has been proposed for 2013-14 rail budget which will be financed through Gross Budgetary Support of Rs. 26,000 crore, Railway’s Share in Road Safety Fund of Rs. 2,000 crore and internal resources of Rs. 14,260 crore.

Highlighting the importance of financially sustainability of Indian Railways for its efficient upkeep, operation and maintenance, Railway Minister, Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal said that we must be realistic in setting targets. He said that during the year the Railways shall have to borrow Rs. 15,103 crore from market and shall have to mobilize Rs. 6,000 crore through Public Private Partnership (PPP) route for its operations proposed in the Budget.

Expecting more revenue through freight and passenger tariff , the Railway Minister said that freight earning is expected to Rs. 93,554 crore, 9% higher than the previous budget year. Similarly passengers tariff earning is expected to increase to Rs. 42,210 crore.

Shri Bansal said that in view of expected growth of 11% and 10% in Other Coaching and Sundry earnings respectively, the Gross Tariff Receipts are expected to be Rs. 1,43,742 crore . While Ordinary Working Expenses for the year are expected to Rs. 96,500 crore. He said that the appropriation to the Pension Fund is estimated to Rs. 22,000 crore and the appropriation to Depreciation Reserve Fund has been kept at Rs. 7,500 crore.

Shri Bansal expressed the hope that Operating Ratio during the budget year will improve to 87.8% from the Revised Estimate of Rs. 88.8% and Railway would be able to close the financial year with the balance of Rs. 12,506 crore to Railway Funds.

NKP/NCJ/BR
(Release ID :92510)

Source: PIB

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