Indian Rail budget 2016 highlights

New Delhi - Indian Railways to spend Rs.1,21,000 crore on capital expenditure next fiscal

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu began presenting his ministry's budget for the next fiscal year in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, promising to address the issues concerning all stakeholders -- citizens, employees and industry, among others.
"These are challenging times," Prabhu said in the opening remarks of his second rail budget speech, adding that the strategy will involve three pillars -- exploring new avenues to raise revenues, improve efficiency and totally recast decision-making.
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@PIB_India Here are the highlights of the 2016 Railway Budget pic.twitter.com/QW7ReR9v16
- Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) February 25, 2016
"Cooperation, collaboration and communication, are the hallmarks of Indian Railways' journey forward," the minister said. "We will be at the forefront of infrastructure investment in the country."

• IRCTC to begin marriage catering service in phased manner
  
• New R&D organisation to be established
  
• E-catering to be extended to all stations
  
• Local cusine of choice to be made available to rail passengers
  
• LIC to fund Rs.1.5 lakh crore over five years on favourable terms
  
• Two elevated tracks envisaged from Churchgate and CST on Mumbai's suburban railway system
  
• Specialised teams envisaged in specific areas to improve efficiency
  
• All-India 24X7 helpline for women
  
• Fully unreserved trains to be operated on high-density corridors
  
• Local art to be highlighted at railway stations
  
• Academic facility at Vadodara being upgraded to university level
  
• Railways to generate 9 crore mandays of employment in 2017-18 and 14 crore mandays in 2018-19
  
• To increase lower berth quota for senior citizens by 50 per cent
  
• Dedicated freight corridors envisaged for North-South, East-West and East Coast alignments
  
• Social media being increasingly used to ensure transparency
  
• Online booking of retiring rooms made possible
  
• 17,000 additional bio-toilets to be provided by the end of current fiscal
  
• Finalised bids for two new loco factories under Make in India initiative
  
• WiFi facilities at 100 more stations this year and 400 stations next year
  
• 2,800 km of broad gauge track conversion envisaged
  
• Seven km of broad gauge lines to be commissioned every day during 2016-17
  
• Hope to commission 19 km of new broad gauge track every day by 2018-19
  
• Budget that reflects the expectations of the entire nation
  
• Making all-out efforts to translate dream of Prime minister Narendra Modi into reality
  
• Aiming tom achieve operation ratio of 92 per cent
  
• Saving of Rs.8,720 crore from last year's estimates
  
• Envisaging capital expenditure of Rs.1.21 lakh crore
  

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