Mamata Banerjee's Railway Budget 2010 Speech Live Updates - Text

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

Mamata Banerjee 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: http://bombay-local.blogspot.com/2010/02/mamata-banerjees-railway-budget-2010_24.html

• 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