2016-17 Union Railway Budget Thursday February 25,2016

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's second railway budget, set to be presented at noon today Thursday
February 25,2016

10 things to look out for in the Railway Budget

1) Finances: A slump in passenger and freight revenues has hurt railways' finances. Total revenue is up just around 6 per cent in the first 10 months of 2015-16 fiscal, below the double-digit pace in the past.

2) Salary Hike: Mr Prabhu needs to provide an extra Rs. 28,450 crore in wage bill to implement the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission for 2.6 million railway employees and pensioners.

3) Resources for expansion: The railway minister had announced an ambitious plan last year, which involved spending Rs. 8.5 lakh crore over 5 years for the modernisation of railways. Mr Prabhu needs to lay down a concrete plan about fund raising in his budget.

4) Budgetary allocation: Mr Prabhu is unlikely to get big assistance from the finance ministry by way of budgetary support. Last year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had provided Rs. 40,000 crore for railways. This was cut by a fifth after Mr Prabhu's ministry failed to spend money in time.

5) Train fares: A sharp hike in passenger fares may not be possible ahead of four state elections this year, analysts say. Moreover, the railways needs to guard against raising fares for AC travel frequently because of the stiff competition from airlines.

6) Premium trains: There's speculation that the railway minister may raise additional funds by running more premium trains on higher fares in popular routes.

7) Freight fares: For years, freight fares have been kept high to cross-subsidise passenger fares in the country. However, raising freight fares will be difficult at a time when economic activity continues to be sluggish and fuel prices have come down sharply.

8) Bullet train: Mr Prabhu may give more details about India's first bullet train project on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. The Rs. 98,000 crore project will get nearly 80 per cent funding from Japan.

9) Safety: The railway minister may announce new initiatives to bolster security with an aim to reduce accidents. Allocation for safety devices and warning systems may be hiked. Mr Prabhu will have to take call on whether to impose safety cess for strengthening safety measures to prevent accidents.

10) Make in India: The pace of strategic projects like Dedicated Freight Corridor, announcement on north and south freight corridors and Diamond Quadrilateral project, would be keenly watched. These corridors would enable smooth execution of government's futuristic projects like Make in India

 Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, along with MoS Manoj Sinha, at Rail Bhawan

2016 Railway Budget 

 

* Expect saving of Rs 8,720 this year

* Operating ratio at 92% FY17 as against 90% in current year

* Traffic revenue target at Rs Rs 1.85 lakh crore

* Capital plan of Rs 1.21 lakh crore

* Expect revenue growth of over 10% this year

* Rs 8,720 crore saving in fuel cost like power

* Commission 2,800km of new tracks in next year, almost 30% higher than last year

* Rs 8.5 lakh crore to be spent over 5 years for modernization of railway infrastructure

* Generate Rs 9 crore mandays in FY17-18, Rs 14 crore mandays in FY18-19

* Railway electrification increased by 50%; 2,000km route to be electrified next fiscal

* 7km of broad gauge lines in 2017 against average of 4.3km

* Completely paperless contract system in 2016-17

* WiFi in 100 stations this year and 400 other stations next year

* Railways to get Rs 40,000 crore budgetary support from govt

* Rs 30,000 crore is the loss on subsidizing passenger fares

* 20% less accidents this year

* To have CCTV surveillance at all stations, 300 major stations covered this year

* Enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system - from 2000 tickets a minute to 7200 a minute (to support 120,000 concurrent users)

* 44 new projects valued at Rs 92,714 crore to be implemented this year

* 2 locomotive factories at the cost of Rs 40,000 crore to be set up

* 17 states agree to form JVs with Indian Railways for construction of rail-over-bridges

* 124 MPs have committed to contribute from MPLADS for passenger amenities

* 400 stations to be re-developed through PPP

* Overnight double-decker train Uday Express to be introduced on busiest routes, carrying capacity to be increased 40% more

* Lower berth quota for senior citizens to be increased by 50%

* Will introduce sub-quota of 33% for women in each of the reserved categories in catering

Tech initiatives announced by Suresh Prabhu in Rail Budget 2016

1. 400 railway stations to be equipped with WiFi - of which 100 will have the facility this year. This will be done in partnership with Google under the later's ambitious RailWire project.
2. Railways will install 1,780 automatic ticketing machines
3. E-catering service to be increased from from 40 stations now to 408 soon
4. E-booking of tickets for accredited journalists announced.
5. Ticket cancellation via phone calls soon
6. Online booking of retiring rooms to be made possible
7. Camera surveillance in all stations in phases
8. 20,000 screens across 2000 stations will be installed to provide real-time information to passengers and generate revenue through advertisements.
9. Railways intends to use drones and GPS for monitoring physically remote projects.
10. Anti-collision device on all high density networks by next year
11. Bar-coded tickets to be introduced at select stations on pilot basis.
12. Proposes to invite FM radio stations to provide train-borne entertainment via public address systems.

Top 10 Railway Budget Announcements For Aam Aadmi

 

 

1. Four new trains introduced - Humsafar, Tejas, Uday and Antyodaya. Humsafar will be fully air-conditioned with optional meals, Tejas will be high-speed, Uday will be double-decker and Antyodaya will allow travel without reservation.
2. Using a clean-my-coach service, passengers can send an SMS to get the cleaning staff to clean a coach during the journey.
3. Bar-coded tickets and scanners will help tackle ticket-less travel and also reduce hassles for passengers.
4. Tickets can be cancelled on the phone soon, using the 139 helpline. Around 1,780 automatic ticketing machines will be set up.
5. Disabled-friendly toilets will be introduced in stations.
6. A children's menu will be introduced on a pilot basis on trains. Hot milk, water and baby food will be available in stations.
7. 33 percent quota for women in reserved quota in Railways will be introduced.
8. It will be easier for senior citizens to get lower berths.
9. 400 railway stations will be equipped with Wi-Fi, 100 this year. 400 stations will also be re-developed through public-private partnership.
10. There will be camera surveillance in all stations.

Railways to Hit Global Markets via Rupee Bonds to Fund Capex

 

 

Railways is scouting for new ways to generate funding including through offshore rupee bonds as part of its ambitious Rs. 1.21 lakh crore capital expenditure plan for 2016-17.

Besides, the public sector behemoth is also looking at forming joint ventures with states, signing new PPP agreements and engaging multilateral and bilateral agencies to mop up investments, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu said while presenting the Railway Budget for 2016-17.

Prabhu further said that this magnitude of investment calls for abandoning business-as-usual approach and continually innovating to find new ways of sourcing funds and executing projects.

"This year our investment would be close to double of the average of previous years -- a feat never achieved earlier. For the year 2016-17, the capital expenditure plan has been pegged at Rs. 1.21 lakh crore," Prabhu said.

"Be it by forming joint ventures with states, developing new frameworks for PPP, scouting international markets for rupee bonds or engaging with multi-lateral and bilateral agencies, Indian Railways will be at the forefront of infrastructure growth in the country," he said.

This would be the first time, that the Indian Railways will go to the international markets to fund its investment plans

Railways' Earning Falls Short of Target by Rs. 15,000 Crore

Railways' revenue from passenger fares as well as freight rates is expected to fall short of the Budget target by Rs. 15,744 crore in the current fiscal.

While it had budgeted to earn over Rs. 1.83 lakh crore in 2015-16, as per the revised estimates it is going to earn about Rs. 1.67 lakh crore.

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu attributed the shortfall to tepid economic growth due to global slowdown.

"Historically declining model share of Indian Railways, which dropped from 62 per cent in 1980 to 36 per cent in 2012, is continuing to exert pressure on the institution," Prabhu said presenting the Rail Budget for 2016-17.

Indian Railways has budgeted to earn from fares and freight Rs. 1.84 lakh crore, which is about 10 per cent increase over the revised estimated for the current fiscal, ending on March 31,2016