With Revenue from Massive Fare Rise and Additional Taxes Indian Railways plans to invest over Rs 63,000 Crores in creating necessary amenities and passenger Safety.
Indian Railways plan to invest Rs.63,363 crore ($11.5 billion) in the new financial year beginning April 1, mainly on expansion of tracks and improving passenger safety, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said Tuesday.
“Safety is a necessary mandate for running trains,” said Bansal, while presenting his maiden rail budget in the Lok Sabha.
Among the steps announced by the minister to ensure safety were: elimination of 10,797 level crossings during the 12th Five Year Plan, improved signalling systems, anti-train collision systems, crash worthy coaches and strengthened bridges.
Following successful completion of initial testing, the indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System was proposed to be put to rigorous trials, he said.
“The thrust of the plan is on doubling of tracks, safety and passenger and staff welfare for which I have increased the outlay from about Rs.11,410 crore in 2012-13 to Rs.13,220 crore, an increase of 16 percent,” Bansal said while presenting the annual budget of his ministry in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.
Bansal said the railways would get Rs.26,000 crore budgetary support in the next financial year to finance its plan expenditure.
Other sources of financing include Rs.14,260 crore from railway’s internal resources and Rs.2,000 crore from railway’s share in road safety fund.
There is also a plan to raise Rs.15,103 crore from the market and mobilise Rs.6,000 crore through public-private-partnership (PPP) route to fund its expansion plans in 2013-14.
Bansal said 500 km of new railway lines would be built and 450 km of narrow and medium gauge lines would be converted into broad gauge in the 2013-14 fiscal.
The government has also set a target to double 750 km of single railway lines.
As many as 17 distressed bridges would be rehabilitated over the next one year.
The minister said even though the volume of passenger and freight traffic increased manifold, the number of train accidents per million train kilometres had decreased from 0.41 in 2003-04 to 0.13 at the end of 2011-12.
To improve the quality of food served in trains and stations, food testing laboratories and state-of-the-art base kitchens would be setup at all major stations.
“For effective quality control, arrangements are being made for tie up with food testing laboratories, in addition to third-party audit,” he said.
State-of-the-art base kitchens have also been proposed on railway premises for better monitoring of quality of meals.
Quality certification will now be insisted for all base-kitchens, the minister said.