Railway Budget 2014: Important highlights

 

Railway Minister Gowda presented the Rail Budget in Parliament on Tuesday. Here are some highlights:

• Revamping railway reservation system into next generation e-ticketing, Wi-Fi services in major stations and in select trains, mobile based wakeup calls for passengers
• 58 new trains introduced; 11 existing trains extended
• Top priority to transparency, e-procurement to be made
• Foot over-bridges, escalators and lifts at major railway stations through PPP
• Battery operated cars for differently-abled at all major stations.
• NGOs, corporates to help provide passenger amenities
• With 12,500 trains, railways move 23 mn passengers every day; equivalent to moving Australia`s population
• 4,000 women constables recruited in RPF to make travel in women`s coaches safer
• Pre-cooked ready-to-eat meals to be introduced
• Food courts to be introduced at major stations to provide regional flavour; pilot project on New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi routes
• 40% increase in expenditure on cleanliness; CCTVs to monitor cleanliness at stations
• Special train on teachings of Swami Vivekananda
• Innovation Incubation Centre to be set up