Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu proposed a spate of measures aimed at revamping the world’s fourth-largest rail network. Improving customer experience and safe travel were high on the budget speech agenda. In sync with PM Modi’s Swacch Bharat, Swacch Rail campaign was announced with a guarantee of ‘highest standard of cleanliness’.
Here’s all that you need to know about the Railway Budget 2015-16:
1. No increase in passenger fares; No new trains introduced.
2. Tickets can now be booked 4 months in advance.
3. CCTV cameras in women’s coaches and railway stations to ensure women’s safety; Nirbhaya fund allocation to be used for making train travel safe.
4. Online booking of wheelchairs at stations for elderly, sick and differently-abled.
5. Making railways differently-abled friendly by introducing more escalators. A special initiative is being launched whereby they can purchase concessional e-tickets after one-time registration.
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6. Open WiFi at 400 major stations across India.
7. Vacuum toilets to be introduced. 17000 bio-toilets to replace the existing ones.
8. 24×7 national helpline 138 for addressing passenger inquiries and problems; Mobile app for complaints.
9. Train protection warning system, train collision avoidance systems to be installed to prevent accidents.
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10. Multilingual e-ticketing to be enabled.
11. ‘Operation Five Minutes’ to ensure that a passenger travelling unreserved can purchase a ticket within five minutes via modified ‘hot-buttons’, coin vending machines and ‘single destination teller’.
12. SMS alerts for train arrival and departure of train timings.
13. Increase mobile phone charging facility in sleeper and general coaches.
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14. Train meal booking will now be made available on IRCTC.
15. Water vending machines to be made available. Solar power sourcing, water recycling plants to be set-up.
Indian Railways employs 1.4 million people, which is more than the entire population of Mauritius! And that is why the railway network needs a thorough revamping — it affects the second largest population in the world.