Highlights of Railway Budget 2011-12
Posted on: 25/Feb/2011 3:07:42 AM
Highlights of the railway budget for 2011-12 presented in the Lok Sabha on Friday by railway minister Mamata Banerjee:
Highlights of the budget:
* No increase in fares.
* Outlay of Rs.57,630 crore for 2011-12, the highest investment in one year.
* Railways to set up a bridge factory in Jammu and Kashmir considering need for large number of bridges on railway projects in the state.
* 1,500 trains cancelled, 3,500 re-scheduled last year due to protests, other reasons.
* `Go India` smart card ticket project to be launched this year.
* Three new Shatabdi trains will be introduced on Pune-Secunderabad, Jaipur- Agra and Ludhiana-Delhi routes,
* New Duronto trains will be introduced on Allahabad-Mumbai, Pune-Ahmedabad, Sealdah-Puri, Madurai-Chennai, Chennai- Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai Central-New Delhi routes.
* Online ticketing charge reduced from Rs 20 to Rs 10 for AC and from Rs 10 to Rs 5 for non-AC
* 12000 acres will be provided for the East-West freight corridor
* Tax-free bonds for 100 billion rupees to be issued by Indian Railway Finance Corporation in 2011/12
* A coach factory to be set up in Palakkad, Kerala
* New railway line capacity to be increased to 700 km
* 700 MW captive gas-based power plant planned for railways in Maharashtra
* A metro coach factory in Kolkata has also been announced
* 16,000 ex-servicemen to be inducted by March in the Railways for the first time.
