|
|
HIGHLIGHTS OF RAILWAY
BUDGET, 2007-08
2006-07:
Review of Performance and Revised Estimates
- Record
breaking performance in the first nine months of the year 2006-07
- Freight
earnings register growth of 17%. Incremental loading of 59 MT
likely to be achieved
- Growth
in Passenger Earnings, Other Coaching Earnings and Sundry Earnings 14%,
48% and 11% respectively
- Gross
Traffic Earnings register an unprecedented growth of 17%
- In Revised
Estimates Passenger Earnings, Other Coaching Earnings, Freight Earnings
and Sundry Earnings expected to be Rs 17,400 cr, Rs 1,726 cr and Rs
42,299 cr, Rs. 1,695 cr respectively
- Gross
Traffic Revenues projected at Rs 63,120 cr are 16% higher than the previous
year and 5.5% higher than the Budget Estimates
- Cash Surplus
before dividend expected to be Rs 20,000 cr
- Net Revenue
expected at Rs 14,870 cr and Net surplus after payment of dividend expected
at Rs 10,627 cr
- Operating
Ratio likely to be 78.7% - best ever for IR and one of the best in world
Railways
- Year end
fund balances likely to increase from Rs 12,000 cr in 2005-06 to Rs
16,000 cr
- Return
on capital set to reach historic level of 20%
- In spite
of reduction in Passenger fares, the losses in passenger business expected
to come down
2007-08
Initiatives
taken for improvement in Freight Business
- Target
for freight loading kept at 785 Million Tonnes (MT) in 2007-08
- Mission
200 MT - Railways’ target higher share in transportation of Cement and
Steel - 200 MT each by 2011-12
- Mission
100 MT - container traffic target of 100 MT by 2011-12
- Planning
for Triple-stack container trains on diesel route and double-stack container
trains on electrified route
- Railways
offer to run Merry-go-round systems of power plants
- Upgradation
of Freight terminals handling more than 15 rakes per month.
- 22.9 tonnes
and 25 tonnes axle-load freight trains to run on more routes
- Production
of wagons of higher axle-load and payload to commence
- Wagon
manufacturers to be encouraged to design wagons with higher payload
and new technology
- Majority
of air-brake trains to be examined in accordance with premium CC or
premium end-to-end examination system
- Implementation
of Unit Exchange Maintenance for rolling stock to improve productivity
- Zonal
Railway to engage independent marketing agencies for exploring further
possibilities in freight business
Initiatives
in passenger business
- 800 more
coaches to be attached in popular trains
- Plan to
provide cushioned seats in unreserved second class coaches
- Increase
in unreserved second class coaches from four to six in every new train
– Efforts will be made to increase unreserved second class coaches in
existing trains also.
- Facility
for reservation of lower berths for senior citizens and women above
45 years traveling alone
- Increase
in provision of special coaches (SLRD & SRD) for Physically challenged
passengers
- Vendor
coaches for sections frequented by milk and vegetable vendors and other
retail sellers
- More convenient,
comfortable and high capacity new design passenger coaches will be manufactured
- Concession
of 50% in second class for candidates appearing for main written
examination conducted by SSC and UPSC
Facilitating
travel by passengers
- Countrywide
Train Enquiry call centres – Common Tel. No. 139
- Pilot
project for providing hand held terminals to TTEs in reserved coaches
to update PRS with onboard vacancies for giving reservation to passengers
at ensuing stations without delay
- Expansion
of reserved ticketing facilities
- PRS
counters to be opened at premises of Post-offices and Defence organizations
to be operated by them
- e-ticketing
services through State Government’s e-services, Petrol pumps, Bank’s
ATMs etc.
- Expansion
of Unreserved Ticketing facilities
- UTS
counters to be increased to 8000 in the next 2 years
- 6000
Automatic Ticket Vending Machines to be installed and linked to
UTS in metropolitan cities in the next 2 years
- Coupon
system for ticket distribution to be extended to Kolkata and Chennai
- Pilot
project on Central Railway for issuing suburban tickets through multi-purpose
smart cards
Passenger
Amenities at Stations
- 300 more
stations to be developed as modern stations.
- Year 2007
declared ‘Cleanliness Year’ - Special campaign to ensure cleanliness
in station complexes, passenger trains, railway lines, waiting rooms
etc.
11th
five-year plan – Railways’ new profile
- Target
of 1,100 MT freight loading and 840 crore passengers in the terminal
year of 11th Plan.
- Focus
would be on doubling transport capacity and reducing unit cost of transportation
by increasing volumes.
- Short-term
strategy- investing in low cost high return projects for eliminating
bottlenecks and ensuring intensive asset utilization
- Mid
and long-term strategy – twin pronged approach of network
expansion and modernization and technical upgradation
- Public-private
partnerships projects will play an important role.
- Construction
of Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Ccorridors at a cost of Rs
30,000 cr will commence from 2007-08 for completion during the 11th
plan.
- Pre-feasibility
surveys for East-West, East-South, North-South and South-South Corridors
- Most of
the metre-gauge lines will be converted into broad-gauge by the end
of this five-year plan.
- High speed
Passenger Corridors to be constructed to run trains at more than 300
km/hr speed.
- Expansion
of suburban services through completion of MUTP Phase-1 and initiating
MUTP Phase-2 through joint funding
- Efforts
to provide air-conditioned suburban trains in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai
and escalators at important stations
- The production
of rolling stock will be doubled compared with previous plan.
Production of high-horse power and energy efficient locos to be increased.
- Manifold
increase in investment in IT to increase earnings, ensure effective
utilization of human and physical resources and facilitate long-term
policy decisions
- Commercial
portal to be developed over next 3 years for better yield management
- Integrated
time bound implementation of all FOIS modules by 2010.
- ERP package
for workshops, production units and select Zonal Railways
Railway Safety
- Number
of rail accidents has decreased despite substantial increase in volume
of traffic
- Majority
of Special Railway Safety Fund works will be completed by March, 2007.
Balance to be completed by March, 2008.
- Testing
of Anti-Collision Device in last stages
- General
Managers empowered to sanction subways costing up to Rs 50 lakhs on
unmanned level crossings for reducing accidents.
- Production
of improved crashworthy coaches will be increased.
Railway Security
- Number
of trained dogs will be increased in the existing dog squads.
- Door frame
and hand held metal detectors to detect explosives being installed in
many sensitive divisions and CCTV, smart video cameras etc for
sensitive stations
- 8,000
vacancies will be filled in the RPF on all India basis.
- Jagjivan
Ram Railway Suraksha Bal Academy (Lucknow) has been recognised as Centralized
Training Institute.
Staff Welfare
- Per-capita
contribution to Staff Benefit Fund will be increased from Rs 30 to Rs
35 per year.
- Condition
of Railway Staff colonies to be improved
- 50 room
rest houses will be built near the Railway hospitals in the four metropolitan
cities for stay of relatives of the patients.
- An extensive
training programme will be launched to inculcate market and customer
oriented approach in frontline staff.
- A committee
has been constituted to improve promotion prospects of Group ‘D’ employees.
- Previous
service tenure of ex-servicemen and central government employees recruited
by Railways, will be added to their existing service tenure in the Railways
while calculating eligibility for post retirement complimentary passes
Organisational
and Human Resource Development
- Training
of Railway employees and officers to be reoriented towards changing
economic and competitive environment
- Institutions
of GMs, DRMs, CAOs (Construction) to be strengthened and empowered for
development as business units, profit centres and project units respectively.
- Railway
Staff College, Vadodara will be renovated as heritage building
- A Railway
chair will be established at IIM/Ahmedabad for research in railway infrastructure
and management
Special Recruitment
Drives
- 95% of
the vacancies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been filled
through special drives and 75% of backlog in the promotional quota has
been cleared.
- Action
is being taken to fulfill the stipulated 27% quota of the OBC candidates.
Passenger
Services
- 8 new
Garib Raths to be introduced
- New Trains
: 32 pairs
- Extension
of Trains : 23 pairs
- Increase
in Frequency : 14 pairs
Annual Plan
2007-08
- The Annual
Plan of Rs 31,000 cr is the largest ever Annual Plan so far, which
includes:
- Support
of Rs 7,611 cr from General Revenues.
- Internal
Generation of Rs 17,323 cr.
- Extra
Budgetary Resources of Rs 5,740 cr.
- The thrust
of the annual plan is to maintain the high growth in traffic, by focusing
on early completion of works for throughput enhancement on high traffic
density routes, improvement of traffic facilities and enhancing
sectional capacity.
- High
Density Network to be made suitable for running of Heavy Axle load
trains
- Enhanced
line capacity planned for on busy routes by implementing IBS, Automatic
Signaling etc.
- Increase
in speed of trains through fly-overs, bypass, yard redesign etc.
at busy junction stations, will be built and will be modified
- 200
Diesel, 200 Electric engines and 11,000 wagons to be produced
- · Outlay
on project related Plan heads : New Lines Rs 1,610 cr, Gauge conversion
Rs 2,404 cr, Electrification Rs 300 cr, Metropolitan Transport Projects
Rs 722 cr.
- Outlay
on Safety related Plan heads : Track renewal Rs 3,360 cr, Bridges Rs
597 cr, Signal & Telecommunication works Rs 1,597 cr, Road over/under
bridges Rs 551 cr and manning of unmanned level crossings Rs 500 cr.
- Important
Targets : New Lines 500 kms, Gauge Conversion 1800 kms, Doubling 700
kms.
- Rs 2,725
cr required for four National Projects
Other Important
Announcements
- New Electric
Loco works to be set up at Madhepura.
- Wagon
Bogie Complex to be set up at Dalmia Nagar.
- Shortfall
of rolling stock bogies to be met by setting up of Joint venture
company with Kerala Government at Alleppey.
Railways
emerging International image
- Railways
to impart training to railway personnel of African countries
- Chairman
Railway Board elected as first chairman of Asian Railway Association
and also as first non European President of International Railway
Union (UIC )
Proposals
relating to freight rates and passenger fares
Freight Business
- No across
the board increase in freight rates
- Highest
class 220 reduced to 210
- Freight
rates of diesel and petrol to come down by about 5 per cent
- Minerals
and Ores (iron-ore, lime-stone and dolomite) - reduction in classification
from class 170 to 160
- Wagon
load class rates for commodities up to class LR1: reduced from
class150 to class120
Schemes Announced/
Modified
- Commodity
based freight policy-exclusive package for cement traffic
- Dynamic
Wharfage and Demurrage rates - reduction in wharfage rates and relaxation
in loading/unloading free time at select terminals.
- Discounts
up to 40% on incremental loading of bagged consignments in open wagons
in empty flow direction.
- Discount
of 20 per cent during lean season and 15 per cent during peak season
under Two Leg Freight Discount Scheme for covered wagons in up and down
directions.
- Distance
between unloading points in Two Points Rake Scheme to be increased from
200 to 400 kms during lean season.
- Facility
for loading less than block rakes under Empty Flow Direction Scheme.
Empty Flow Discount extended to all commodities except coal, coke and
iron ore.
Empty Flow Direction Freight Discount will be given at 30 per cent throughout
the year for traffic lead of more than 700 kms.
Passenger
Business
- Reduction
in passenger fares.
- Fares
of second class in non-suburban ordinary passenger and non-superfast
mail/express trains reduced by one rupee per passenger
- AC
First Class : 3% reduction in busy season , 6% in lean season
- AC-2Tier
Class : 2% reduction in busy season, 4% in lean season
- Reduction
in fares for all classes of high capacity new design reserved coaches
:
- AC3-Tier
& AC CC: 4% reduction in busy season and 8% in lean season
- Sleeper
Class: 4% reduction in all seasons
- Above
discounts for busy season shall be applicable in popular trains throughout
the year.
- Superfast
charge on Second Class tickets reduced by 20 per cent (from Rs. 10 to
Rs. 8).
- Tourist
ticket to be introduced in Mumbai Suburban Services with facility for
unlimited travel.
- Charges
for e-tickets booked on the internet reduced.
|
