Indian Railways’ is heading towards a successful journey of speedy development with the addition of brand new railway coaches and much more. This is all thanks to our beloved railway minister Suresh Prabhu for understanding the concerns of a common man, several times in a row. At the dawn of 2016, a number of advancements flooded the internet in terms of design, processes, execution, and fast paced services.
Unlike before, this year the Indian Railway ministry concentrates not just on becoming efficient, but also on entertainment, and organization; there are proposals for introducing FM radio stations to facilitate train borne entertainment, customer service charters, installation of hi-tech centralised networks of 20,000 screens on 2000 stations and a lot more.
Here are the main highlights of the 2016-17 budget:
- 1,780 automatic ticket vending machines to be installed across platforms.
- All stations will be brought under CCTV surveillance to ensure safety.
- WiFi will be introduced at 100 stations this year and 400 stations next year.
- Deen-Dayalu coaches will be added for unreserved travellers on densely populated and long routes.
- The number of mobile charging ports and provision for potable water bottles will be increased.
- Railway will introduce the “Clean My Coach” service through SMS.
- The ministry will extend cancellation facility through the helpline 139.
- Braille-enabled train wagons will be implemented for differently-abled people.
- Tickets will now be barcoded.
- Local cuisine of choice will be made available to passengers.
- Social media will be used intensely to encourage transparency.
- 17,000 bio-toilets in trains and additional toilets on 475 stations will be provided before the close of this financial year.
- Over 65,000 berths will be added via new coaches; 17,000 additional bio-toilets by FY16.
- “Coolies” will now be called “Sahayaks”, and will be trained in soft skills.
- Prabhu also introduced a kids menu, baby food and hot water for the benefit of travelling moms.
- Indian railway employees will now wear uniforms for all customer-facing roles. These uniforms will be redesigned.
Location/ train specific:
- World’s 1st bio-vacuum toilet developed by Railways will be used in Dibrugarh Rajdhani.
- Northeast area, especially Mizoram and Manipur will be connected to the broad gauge.
- Humsafar Express to be introduced — full air-conditioned third AC service with operational services for meals.
- “Tejas” to be introduced, this will showcase the future of train travel in India with operating speeds of 130kmph and above with world-class on board services.
- Railways to introduce Utkrisht double-decker air-conditioned Yatri (Uday) express with increased carrying capacity of almost 40%.
- Aastha circuit trains will be introduced to connect important pilgrim centres.
- India’s first rail auto hub to be introduced in Chennai.
To execute all the mentioned operations, the ministry is likely to borrow Rs 20,000 crore. Furthermore, LIC has also agreed to invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore to fund railway projects. Indian Railways also anticipates to surpass the ambitious target of commissioning 2,500 km of broad gauge lines, almost 30% higher than last year. That said, Indian railways will generate employment for 14 crore man days in 2018-2019 adhering to the related fields of development.
The expected revenue for this year is Rs 1,84,820 crore. Not just this, the ministry will also set aside Rs 50 crore to fund startups by railway employees.
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About the author:
Shewali loves to cook. She is mostly travelling; if not blabbering or gorging. That’s all folks!
