Rail Budget 2011: What does Mumbai get?

Mumbai local train commuters have quite some reasons to be pleased with Mamata Banerjee's Rail
Budget 2011.

Here are the highlights of the railway budget that will affect Mumbaikars directly:

1. Fast corridor on the Harbour line 
2. New suburban line on the Virar-Diva-Panvel route
3. A third line on the Kalyan–Kasara stretch
4. Another line on Pen-Kasu route and Panvel-Apta routes, to be completed by March 
5. 47 additional services on the Thane-Vashi, Thane-Panvel, Borivali-Virar, Andheri-Virar, Bandra-Virar and Churchgate-Borivali sections will be run. 
6. It is also proposed to augment 107 suburban services in Mumbai area from the present 9 car EMUs to 12 Car EMUs.

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Railway Budget 2010 - Mamata Banerjee's Speech

Before we start watching the Rail Budget 2011, let’s have a look at what Mamata Banerjee had to say in the last year’s budget. How much of it has been implemented and how those promises have affected us will give us an insight into how much we should expect from the Rail Budget 2011.

Last year, Mamata Banerjee started the speech by saying she had 2 considerations in mind: Viability of projects and social responsibility.

She announced Mission 2020 of short term and long term goals.

Here are the highlights, announcements and proposals of Mamata Banerjee's Railway Budget 2010 speech: 

• No hike in passenger fare
• Free travel for cancer patients in Third AC and sleeper class; 75 percent concession for companion
• A special task force to be set up to clear investment proposals within 100 days.
• Railway exams to be conducted in Hindi, English and Urdu languages
• Considering that bottled water turns out to be expensive for the passengers, Mamata Banerjee proposed 6 bottling plants that would help provide clean and fresh water at much cheaper rates. Plant locations - Ambala, Thiruvananthapuram, Farakka, Amethi and Nasik
• No privatization of railways
• Rs 1300 Crores to be allocated for amenities for passengers
• Improvement of security of women passengers
• 5 sports academies to be set up
• RFID technology for freight transport
• Launching of Double Decker trains (pilot launch)
• Ex-servicemen to be inducted to RPF (Mamata announced this after quoting Lata Mangeshkar's song  Zara yaad karo qurbaani)
• Insurance facility for licensed porters
• Women's RPF wing to be formed 
• Railways to set up Rabindra Museum in Howrah, Geetanjali Museum in Bolpur  
• Bharat Tirth train to mark Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary
• Special train during Commonwealth Games
• 101 new suburban trains in Mumbai
• New suburban trains in Chennai
• New train service to Bangladesh
• No increase in freight tarriff 
• High-speed dedicated passenger corridors
• Freight reduction on foodgrains and kerosene
• Houses for railway employees of 10 years
• 10 new Duronto trains  
• 54 new trains in 2010
• New tourist trains on tourist routes
• 80000 new wagons
• New Janmabhoomi train between Ahmedabad and Udhampur
• New Karmabhoomi train for working class
• Matribhoomi special trains for women
• Service charge on AC fares to be Rs 20 instead of Rs 40
• Mobile e-ticketing facility at hospitals, courts, universities, IITs, IIMs
• Design, Development and Testing centre to be set up at Bangalore
• Railway research centre at IIT Kharagpur
• 13000 unmanned level crossings to be converted to manned level crossings

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What do you expect from Railway Budget 2010?

Mamata Banerjee will present the Railway Budget 2010 today, on 24th February 2010. Rumours are that there might not be increase in passenger fares but the freight charges might go up. Also, with her focus on West Bengal elections, she might be biased towards her state.

One interesting thing is that across the TV channels and newspapers, when people were asked what are they expecting from the budget, they hoped that Mamata Banerjee did not INCREASE the fares. I hope the same. But did you notice one thing? No one requested her to DECREASE the fares, bringing to light the fact that people believe (me too) that the fares are just perfect and they do not wish to pressurize the Railway Minister with unnecessary demands. Now that people are not causing inconvenience to Mamata Banerjee, she too must add to their comfort! She claims that the budget is prepared in the best interest of the common man. Let's see!

 What do I expect from the Rail Budget?

• Much better security 
• Better frequency of some trains
• Ideal railway stations will all basic amenities including most definitely super clean toilets
• Strict measures to ensure that people do not cross tracks
• Training to railway personnel to be polite to commuters specially senior citizens (click to read an incident)

Do drop in your comments about what you expect from the Rail Budget.

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Mamata Banerjee’s Rail Budget 2009 - Highlights or Lowlights

Minister of Railways Mamata Banerjee presented the much awaited Railway Budget 2009-10 on July 3. Here are the highlights / lowlights of the Railway Budget which she says will have approach for 'inclusive growth' and expansion of rail network to take development to every corner of the country:

1. Passenger fare and freight tariff are not decreased (wonder why all the sites are being too positive by saying ‘not increased’)

2. 50 world-class stations (let’s see, by the way who’s defining ‘world-class’ here)

3. 57 new train services, extension of 27 trains (btw by when will these services start?)

4. Increase in frequency of 13 trains (only 13? Is this enough? Maybe…)

5. Proposal for 7 new railway lines, gauge conversion of 17 lines and doubling of 13 lines (no idea what this doubling bit means)

6. Proposals to be processed for 53 new railway lines, 3 gauge conversions and doubling of 12 lines (now what will happen to these proposals is a different thing)

7. Improvement in Tatkal scheme - advance booking period to be reduced from 5 days to 2 days, minimum charge to be reduced to Rs 100 from Rs 150 (this is good… amazing)

8. Improvement in quality of railway catering (I hope so… most of the people I meet prefer to pick up eatables sold at the stations where the trains halt instead of ordering food from pantry; some people I know would rather stay hungry; I however don’t have much issues with the pantry food available in the trains I travel by)

9. 12 non-stop and point-to-point long-distance ‘Duronto’ trains and air-conditioned double-decker coaches for inter-city travel (interesting!)

10. Ticket availability – tickets will be available at post offices and mobile ticketing vans (this is cool, why wasn’t it ever proposed earlier?)

11. Introduction of women RPF Squads (commandos)

12. Safety - modernization of signals, digital ultrasonic flaw detectors, track renewals (great as long as it works out)

13. Izzat – a travel with dignity scheme where people in unorganized sector with monthly income up to Rs 1,500 can get monthly season ticket of Rs 25 for travel up to 100 kilometers (this is good, I have no idea how much paperwork would this involve)

14. Student concession to be extended to students of Madrassas; Kolkata students to enjoy concessional monthly season tickets facilities for Kolkata Metro Rail (I think there should be dedicated student coaches at rush hours)

15. Ladies special EMU trains in Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata during rush hours (mahila ka budget, mahilaayon ke liye!)

16. Yuva trains

17. Media / press to get concession of 50% instead of 30% (aish hai!)

Source: myPOPKORN, Indian Express , The Economic Times

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