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Before concluding his speech, Suresh Prabhu quoted Gautam Buddha as saying that whenever one contemplates a journey, there are two mistakes one can make: not starting and not going all the way. "We have already started the journey and I intend to go all the way and we will not rest till we take Bhartiya Rail to a destination called samridhi or success," the Minister said.
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Spelling out his strategy, the Railway Minister said it would rest on three pillars of 'Nav Arjan, Nav Manak and Nav Sanrachna (new revenue, new norm and new structure)'. (AP)
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Budget 2016: Rising rural distress because of back-to-back droughts has put considerable pressure on the Finance Minister to spend more on social schemes, while at the same time he has to win back foreign investors craving for faster reforms. The Rail Budget for 2016-17 was presented by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on February 25. (AP)
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Railway Budget 2016: "It is all over. It has derailed. There is nothing in the Rail Budget. It has cheated people. Let the financial Budget be presented, it will be further finished…," Lalu Prasad told reporters here. (Reuters)
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Rail Budget 2016: While the falling revenue collection and increasing demand for funding various capacity augmentation projects as well as the requirement for improving Indian Railways passenger services demand hiking of passenger fares, a section in Railway Ministry does not favour any such move, saying an increase at this juncture will not be a very good idea as elections are round the corner in four states and diesel price is on the downslide. (Image Source: Reuters)
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Rail Budget 2016: Gross traffic receipts for the coming fiscal have been fixed at Rs 1.84 lakh crore with passenger earning growth pegged at 12.4 per cent and earning target budgeted at Rs 51,012 crore. The freight traffic is pegged at an incremental tariff of 50 million tons, anticipating a healthier growth in the core sector of the economy. Goods earning is accordingly proposed at Rs 1.17 lakh crore. Earnings on account of other coaching and sundries have been projected at Rs 6,185 crore and Rs 9,590 crore respectively.
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Rail Budget 2016: Pension outgo has been budgeted at Rs 45,500 crore in the coming year. Revenue generation has been targeted at Rs 1.84 lakh crore. Financial performance for the current year has reflected a savings of Rs 8,720 crore, neutralising most of the revenue shortfall. Operating ratio has been targeted at 92 per cent for the coming year as against 90 per cent in 2015-16, restricting the growth of ordinary expenses by 11.16 per cent after building in impact of 7th Pay Commission recommendation, planned reduction in diesel and electricity consumption.
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Rail Budget 2016: The three new freight corridors of North-South will connect Delhi and Chennai, East-West connecting Kharagpur to Mumbai and East Coast from Kharagpur to Vijawada. "It is proposed to put these three projects on high priority to ensure structuring, award and implementation in a time-bound manner through innovative financing schemes including PPP," Prabhu said in his more than hour long speech. Before the current financial year ends on March 31, almost all contracts for civil engineering work would have been awarded.
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Rail Budget 2016: Contracts worth Rs 24,000 crore have been awarded since he assumed office against Rs 13,000 crore worth of contracts in the last six years. Presenting his "vision", Prabhu promised that by 2020 long-felt desires of the common man will be fulfilled. The objectives include reserved accommodation on trains on demand, time-tabled freight trains, high-end technology to improve safety record, elimination of all unmanned level crossings, improved punctuality and higher speed of freight trains and zero direct discharge of human waste.
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Rail Budget 2016: As part of improving customer interface, the Budget proposed interaction and feedback through social media and dedicated IVRS system and making travel comfortable by generating over 65,000 additional berths and installing 2,500 water vending machines. Wi-Fi facility has been provided at 100 station and 400 more will be covered in the coming year. As part of safety measures, 350 manned level crossings and 1000 unmanned level crossings have been closed. 820 road over bridges and rail under bridges have been completed in the current year and work is going on in 1,350 of them.
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Suresh Prabhu on Indian Railways: "Cleanliness has improved substantially in all parts of Indian Railways. It has improved inside the coaches. We have launched an SMS service named 'Clean my coach' which has been launched on all India basis. We have already started implementing the programmes which were announced during the budget," he said.
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Rail Budget 2016: Provision of passenger amenities and beautification of stations will be taken on priority in pilgrim centres like Ajmer, Amritsar, Bihar Sharif, Chengannur, Dwarka, Gaya, Haridwar, Mathura, Nagapattinam, Nanded, Nasik, Pali, Parasnath, Pri, Tirupati, Vailankanni, Varanasi and Vasco. The Railway also intends to run 'astha' circuit trains to connect pilgrim centres.
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Rail Budget 2016: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the Rail Budget, which proposes no fare hike, caters to all sections of the society and showcases a vision to reorganise and rejuvenate the national transporter with the aim of providing trains with higher speed and safety. Hailing the Rail Budget 2016-16 as "passenger-centric" as it entails no fare hike, Modi said it will play an important role in the country's rejuvenation.
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Rail Budget 2016: Modi said the budget caters to all sections of the society and "stands out because it is an infrastructure-led and employment generating budget". The government's efforts to comprehensively transform railways will gain even more momentum with this "development-oriented" Budget, he said. "Rail Budget showcases a vision to reorganise, restructure and rejuvenate Railways with new processes, structures, norms and sources of revenue," Modi said. He said 'Vision 2020' in the budget will make the railways free from capacity constraints with higher train speed, punctuality and safety. "In the last year, we have seen lot of success and this budget is an effort to further improve on this," he said, while noting that along with IT, investment has been given importance.
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1. Indian Railways fares: The Railway fares will be same in case of all distances within that distance slab. Minimum distance for charge of 200 Km. in Sleeper Class will not be applicable in case of Sleeper coaches declared as unreserved coaches by Zonal Railways in notified trains and in specified sections. In such cases, actual fares as shown in the concerned column will be levied/charged.
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Rail Budget 2016: "Launch of unreserved, superfast trains, Antyodaya Express and Deen Dayalu coaches illustrate our unwavering commitment to serving the poor," the Prime Minister said. "The boost to investment outlay shows our government's long-term vision for the Railways and the nation," he added. Regarding announcement to strengthen rail connectivity in Manipur and Mizoram, he said it was "gladdening" as connectivity in Northeast is "one of our core priorities".
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Rail Budget 2016: Talking to reporters after giving finishing touches to the budget on Wednesday, Prabhu said the Rail Budget will cater to the needs of all satisfactorily as a lot of effort has gone into its preparation. "It has been prepared in the interest of the nation and the railways taking into considerations the ground reality consideration before finalising it," he added.