Highlights of Rail Budget 2014

Here are the highlights of Rail Budget 2014: * Indian railways to become the largest freight carrier in the world. * Social obligation of Railways in 2013-14 was Rs 20,000 crore. * Gross traffic receipts in 2013-14 was Rs 12,35,558 crore; operating ratio was 94 per cent. * Focus in past has been on sanctioning projects rather than completing them, Railway minister says. * Indian Railways spent Rs 41,000 crore on laying of 3,700 km of new lines in last 10 years. * Fare revision will bring in Rs.8,000 crore; need another Rs.9,000 crore for golden quadrilateral project. * Railways also proposes to set up Food Courts at major stations. * Need to explore alternative sources of resource mobilisation and not depend on fare hike alone, Railway minister says. * Spend 94 paisa of every rupee earned, leaving a surplus of only 6 paisa. * With 12,500 trains, railways move 23 million passengers every day; equivalent to moving Australia's population. * Separate housekeeping wing at 50 major stations. * CCTV to monitor cleanliness activities. * Mechanized laundry will be introduced. * Dedicated freight corridor on Eastern and Western corridors. * 5400 unmanned level crossing removed. * Tourist trains to be introduced to link all major places of tourist interests across the country. * 4,000 women constables to be recruited to ensure safety of women. 17,000 RPF constables to provide safety to passengers. * Setting up of Railway University for technical and non-technical study. * Ultrasonic system to detect problem in track. * Proposal to start Bullet trains on Mumbai—Ahmedabad route. Speed of important trains will be also raised. * Diamond Quadrilateral project of high speed trains to connect all major metros. * E-ticketing system to be improved. Future e-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minute & to allow 120,000 simultaneous users * ​Wifi in A1 and A category stations and in select trains. Internet-based platform and unreserved tickets. * GIS mapping and digitization of Railway Land. Extension of logistics support to various e-Commerce Companies. * ​Bulk of future projects will be financed through PPP mode. * Facilitate transport of milk through rail. Special milk transportation trains in association with Amul and National Dairy Association Board. * One ticket to reach from Delhi to Srinagar. Uddhampur to Banihal by bus and Banihal to Srinagar by train. * Mumbai local to get 860 new, state-of-the art coaches. 64 new EMUs to be introduced. * Train connectivity to Char Dham. * ​Paperless office of Indian railways in 5 years. Digital reservation charts at stations. * ​ Ready-to-eat meals to be introduced in phased manners. * 27 Express trains to be introduced. * 5 Jansadharan , 5 Premium AC trains to be introduced.