The first Railway Budget of National Democratic Alliance, which was elected to power in May 2014 for the second time, was presented by Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday.
In its previous term i.e, between 1999 and 2004, the railways portfolio was given to NDA allies but this time it is held by BJP man Gowda. Here are the highlights of the Rail Budget:
Reform Measures
Proposal to restructure Railway
Board Aim to become the largest freight carrier in the world
To complete all ongoing projects
Trains, Fare & Tracks
FY15 passenger fare revenue pegged at Rs 44,600 crore
To introduce 6 AC, 27 Express trains in
FY15 First bullet trains to run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad sector
Mumbai to get 864 additional state-of-the-art
EMUs in 2 years Allocated Rs 100 crore for high-speed rail network
To increase speed of some trains to 160-200 km/hr
Investments
To have diamond quadrilateral network for high-speed trains
Rs 5,116 crore earmarked for projects in Northeast this Fiscal
Propose Railways modernising via PPP projects
To allot Rs 1,780 crore to eliminate unmanned level crossings
Lifts, escalators via PPP route at all major stations
Railways needs Rs 50,000 cr every year for 10 years
CCTV in all stations to monitor cleanliness Proposal to st up food courts at stations
To recruit 4,000 Women
RPF constables To encourage corporate houses to adopt stations
To talk to industry to attract investment under PPP, BOT modes
