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For Indian Union Budget 2008-09 .... Click here
For Indian Economic Survey 2007-08 .... Click here
Indian Railway Budget 2008-09
(26th February 2008)
Despite the populist overtones due to compulsions of election, Indian Railway Budget 2008-09 is a good budget. Railway Budget presented by Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav has been welcomed by most of the Industry/Trade associations. One of the associations has gone ahead and called it a `Pragmatic, Progressive & Futuristic Budget... Click here
Why everybody is pleased with railway budget? ... Click here
HIGHLIGHTS
Proposals relating to freight rates and passenger fares
Passenger
Reduction in passenger fares.
One rupee discount per passenger for fares up to Rs. 50 in Non Suburban
Second Class (ordinary and mail /express)
5% discount across the board for passenger fares beyond Rs. 50 for all Non
Suburban Second class (ordinary and mail/express ).
Increase in discount for travel in new design high capacity reserved coaches
Rationalization of AC class fares completed.
Relativity index of fares for AC-I class reduced from 1150 to 1000 and from 650
to 600 for AC-II tier. Reduction in fare:
o AC I 7%
o AC II 4%
o For popular trains and during peak period the above reduction will be half
as in the previous year
Freight
No across the board increase in freight rates.
Highest class 210 reduced to 200 concluding rationalization process.
5% reduction in freight rates for Petrol and Diesel
Fly ash- reduction in classification from class 140 to 120; 14 % reduction in freight
rate .
Liberalization of Traditional Empty Flow direction incentive scheme
30 % discount on entire traffic in place of incremental traffic booked from goods
shed
Some commodities excluded
Increase in discount on incremental traffic booked from private sidings from
30% to 40%
Composite base freight rate to be charged for all unclassified commodities in place of
highest class:
Tank Wagons Class 200
Flat Wagons Class 180
Open (including Hopper) Wagons Class 160
Covered Wagons Class 150
6% freight concession for traffic booked from other states for stations in North Eastern
states.
Special lump sum rates for Merry-Go-Round (MGR) services for customers who will
provide track, OHE and terminals at both ends.
Passenger Services
10 new Garib Raths to be introduced.
New Trains : 53 pairs
Extension of Trains : 16 pairs
Increase in Frequency : 11 pairs
Special train from Anandpur Sahib and Patna Sahib to Gurudwara Sachkhand Sahib
during tercentenary function of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Gurta Gaddi.
Special train between Pune and Delhi for Commonwealth Youth Games being held in
Pune from 12th October to 18th October 2008.
300 additional services in Mumbai suburban
Initiatives in Passenger Business
Improvements in ticketing
Termination of queues at ticket counters targeted in two years
Increase in UTS counters to to 15,000 and ATVM s to 6000 over two years
Ticket booking on mobile phones.
Extension of Jansadharan Ticket booking seva
E-ticket for waitlisted passengers
Ticket on Go Mumbai Card in Mumbai Suburban.
Passenger Amenities
Provision of on-line coach indication display board; on-line train arrival departure
information board; on-line reservation availability information board.
Provision of discharge-free green toilets in all 36,000 coaches in XI Plan Period at a
cost of about Rs 4,000 cr.
LHB design coaches for all Rajdhani and Shatabadi trains over next few years.
Provision of LHB coaches with stainless steel bogies in Mail/Express trains.
Special stress on cleanliness - on-board cleaning in passenger trains.
Extending the public address system in passenger coaches of select mail/express trains.
Increase in the height of a number of platforms;
Provision of platform shelters at all D category stations.
Provision of foot-over bridges at all high-level platforms.
Increase in length of 30 more platforms.
Provision of multi-level parking, lifts and escalators at major stations.
Concessions
Senior citizen concession for women enhanced to 50% from existing 30%.
Free MST to girl students up to graduation level in place of 12th standard and for boys
up to 12th standard in place of 10th standard
Ashok Chakra Awardees also to be provided the facility of traveling in Rajdhani and
Shatabadi trains on card passes issued to them.
AIDS patients traveling to nominated ART centres for treatment to be given 50%
concession in second class passenger fares.
Initiatives in Freight Business
Target for loading kept at 850 Million Tonnes (MT) in 2008-09 incremental loading
of 60 MT or more, consecutively for the fourth year.
Blue Print prepared for High Density Network: Phased execution of capacity
augmentation including dedicated freight corridors, doubling, third and fourth lines,
bye passes, flyovers, automatic signaling works etc over next 7 years at cost of about
Rs 75,000 cr
Coal routes: Most routes to be made fit for 25t axle load trains. Focus on throughput
enhancement works serving important coal links- many new works proposed.
Port Traffic Mission 300 MT: Top priority being given to port rail connectivity
projects.
Steel Udyog Mission 200 MT: targeted traffic of 200 MT by 2011-12. New and
dedicated iron ore routes to be upgraded/constructed for 25-ton to 30-ton axle load
trains. Throughput enhancement works of doubling and trebling of lines also being
undertaken.
Cement Industry Mission 200 MT: targeted traffic of 200 MT by 2011-12. New
lines, throughput enhancement through gauge conversion and extension of lines to
serve cement clusters in various regions.
Container Business- Mission 100 MT : Increased investments expected in container
rolling stock and ICD s by CONCOR and other operators
Dedicated Freight Corridor: Work on Eastern freight corridor from Ludhiana to
Dankuni (Kolkata) and Western freight corridor from Delhi to JNPT to start in 2008-
09.
Procurement of Rolling stock: All-time high of 20,000 wagons, 250 diesel and 220
electric locomotives to be manufactured.
New design wagons of high capacity to be produced.
New Wagon Leasing Policy and new Wagon Investment Scheme formulated to
increase availability of wagons in the system.
Discounts for development of Bulk and non-bulk goods terminals
Railways to mark presences in Door to Door Logistics services
Empowered Strategic Business Unit to be set up at the Apex Level- single window
system for emerging business opportunities and client support
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