Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda Tuesday listed four new ways to mobilise resources to upgrade and expand projects in his maiden budget.
According to Gowda, the cash-strapped railways will mobilise resources for infrastructure creation and upgradation through the funds of the railways' state-run public sector companies (PSUs).
The minister further said that large private investments, including foreign funds, will be attracted into the sector.
The fund inflows for modernisation of railway infrastructure will also be generated through promoting public-private partnership (PPP) models.
The minister added that a planned tax holiday scheme which will incentivise investments for railways projects that have a long gestation period will also be promoted.
Currently, the Indian Railways is facing a huge cash crunch of Rs.26,000 crore amidst a decline in growth in passenger earnings.
In the interim budget, Mallikarjun Kharge, the then railway minister, had set a revenue target of Rs.1.65 lakh crore that included Rs.1.06 lakh crore from goods tariffs and Rs.45,255 crore from passenger fares and the balance from other sources.
Recently, the new government increased railway passenger fares by 14.2 percent and freight carriage charges by 6.5 percent. However, it will need more funds from international lenders to finance long gestation projects.
Cleanliness, hygienic food top priority: Gowda
Enhanced cleanliness at stations, battery operated cars between platforms and online facilities on board were among the passenger amenities Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda promised in his 2014-15 budget on Tuesday.
“Battery-abled cars will be introduced in the platforms for the differently-abled and senior citizens for easy mobility. Considering that we have a large number of business travellers, we plan to introduce work stations in various trains. A pilot will be launched this year,” he said.
Gowda added that there will also be proper water supply and toilets at all railway stations.
Giving importance to the catering services in the train, ready-to-eat meals could be served on demand enroute. “Catering is a major issue of concern. A third party audit will be introduced for monitoring of quality control. Hygiene and taste of food will not be compromised.”
First bullet train on Mumbai-Ahmedabad route
Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda Tuesday said that the first dedicated bullet train project will be launched on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route for which many feasibility studies have been conducted.
"The Indian railways is on its way to achieve the long dream of the people of India to have bullet trains. The first such train project will come up on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route," Gowda said, presenting his maiden railway budget in the lok Sabha.
The minister proposed an outlay of Rs.100 crore for infrastructure development for the projects.
"For the bullet train projects infrastructure upgradation is needed and for this an initial budgetary allowance of Rs.100 crore is proposed," Gowda said.
He added that other proposed routes for running the new bullet train services include Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Chandigarh, Mysore-Bangalore-Chennai, Mumbai-Goa and Hyderabad-Secunderabad.
Gowda also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of a "Diamond Quadrilateral" which aims to connect the four metros of the countries with high speed trains. The trains on these routes will have a speed of about 160km-200km per hour.
Railway reservations to be overhauled through e-ticketing
The Indian Railways' reservation system will be overhauled through e-ticketing systems, Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda said Tuesday, presenting the railway budget for 2014-15 in parliament.
"We will allow 120,000 users to simultaneously book online", Gowda said after he began his budget presentation quoting the philosophy of Kautilya about the happiness of the ruler lying "in the happiness of the people."
The proposed overhaul of the e-ticketing systems would support 7,200 tickets per minute as against the current 2,000 tickets per minute, Gowda said.
Expanding the scope of online booking, the railway minister announced that the facility of online booking of railway retiring rooms would also be made available.
Automated ticket machines will be tried out, Gowda further said.
Indian railways runs 125,000 trains including for freight.
58 new trains to be introduced this fiscal
Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda Tuesday announced the launch of 58 new trains this financial year in his maiden budget presented in the lok Sabha.
"Railways proposes to introduce 58 new trains which includes five Jan Sadharan trains, five premium trains, six AC (air conditioned) express trains, 27 express trains, eight passenger trains, two MEMU (mainline electric multiple unit) commuter railway services and five DEMU (diesel-electric multiple unit) services this year," the minister said.
He said that special trains would continue to run to meet the holiday and festival rush, including services for Melmaruvathur, Velankanni and Jhalawar.
The minister further proposed to extend the run of 11 existing trains.