Railway Budet 2015-16 - Analysis and Highlights

This year's Railway budget speech was a heavy dose of honesty. Railway minister Suresh Prabhu speech shown the real condition of railways. There were no fake promises.

He clearly told that during last 10 years 99 railway projects were started which took Rs.60,000 crore investment. Out of them only 1 project has been completed. Railway minister clearly stated that He don't want to waste  taxpayers resources so there were no big and fat promises.

Financial Performance for the year 2014-15

1. Total Receipts were ` 1,39,558 crore 
2. Total Expenses - 1,30,321 crore,
3. Operating ratio - 93.6%

Budget Estimates for 2015-16

1. Total receipts - 1,64,374 crore 
2. Total expenditure - 1,49,176 crore.
3. Operating ratio - 88.5%

Highlights

1. There will be no hike in passenger fares in the year 2015-16
2. No new trains
3. Social service obligation rose from 9.4% of Gross Traffic Receipts in 2000-01 to 16.6% in 2010-11
4. Bullet train to be introduced in Mumbai-Ahmedabad route
5. CCTVs to be installed to monitor cleanliness 
6. e Ticketing system to be upgraded. Right 2000 tickets can be booked per second. It is proposed to increase this limit to 7200 per second. This system will be able to handle 1,20,000 users simultaneously.
7. Ultrasonic system to be installed to detect problems in tracks
8. 17,000 toilets to be replaced by bio-toilets 
9. Track capacity to be increased to 1.38 lakh km
10. Railways to raise finances via PPP, FDI
11. 4,000 women constables to be recruited in RPF
12. Battery operated cars to be provided at major stations for Physically disable people
13. Nation wise helplines to be installed. Toll free number -182 (It will be active from 01-03-2015)
14. Tickets can be booked 4 months prior to travel, earlier it was 2 months
15. Senior citizens to get lower births
16. Entry gates will be broader
17. Disposable bags will be provided for sleeper passengers
18. Mechanical designing of new engines that would consume less fuel
19. Water vending machines to be installed at stations
20. e Tickets will be available in local language
21. WiFi facility will be provided at railway stations

New Trains

A) Jansadharan Trains

1. Ahmedabad – Darbhanga Jansadharan Express via Surat
2. Jaynagar – Mumbai Jansadharan Express
3. Mumbai – Gorakhpur Jansadharan Express
4. Saharasa – Anand Vihar Jansadharan Express via Motihari
5. Saharasa – Amritsar Jansadharan Express

B) Premium Trains

1. Mumbai Central – New Delhi Premium AC Express
2. Shalimar – Chennai Premium AC Express
3. Secunderabad- Hazrat Nizamuddin Premium AC Express
4. Jaipur – Madurai Premium Express
5. Kamakhya – Bengaluru Premium Express

C) AC Express Trains

1. Vijayawada-New Delhi AP Express (Daily)
2. Lokmanya Tilak (T) – Lucknow (Weekly)
3. Nagpur – Pune (Weekly)
4. Nagpur – Amritsar (Weekly)
5. Naharlagun – New Delhi (Weekly)
6. Nizamuddin – Pune (Weekly)

D) Express Trains

1. Ahmedabad – Patna Express (Weekly) via Varanasi
2. Ahmedabad - Chennai Express (Bi-weekly) via Vasai Road
3. Bengaluru – Mangalore Express (Daily)
4. Bengaluru – Shimoga Express (Bi-weekly)
5. Bandra (T) – Jaipur Express (Weekly) Via Nagda, Kota
6. Bidar – Mumbai Express (Weekly)
7. Chhapra – Lucknow Express (Tri-weekly) via Ballia, Ghazipur,
8. Varanasi
9. Ferozpur – Chandigarh Express (6 days a week)
10. Guwahati – Naharlagun Intercity Express (Daily)
11. Guwahati – Murkongselek Intercity Express (Daily)
12. Gorakhpur – Anand Vihar Express (Weekly)
13. Hapa – Bilaspur Express (Weekly) via Nagpur
14. Hazur Saheb Nanded – Bikaner Express (Weekly)
15. Indore – Jammu Tawi Express (Weekly)
16. Kamakhya – Katra Express (Weekly) via Darbhanga
17. Kanpur – Jammu Tawi Express (Bi-weekly)
18. Lokmanya Tilak (T) – Azamgarh Express (Weekly)
19. Mumbai _ Kazipeth Express (Weekly) via Balharshah
20. Mumbai – Palitana Express (Weekly)
21. New Delhi - Bhatinda Shatabdi Express (Bi-weekly)
22. New Delhi – Varanasi Express (Daily)
23. Paradeep – Howrah Express (Weekly)
24. Paradeep – Visakhapatnam Express (Weekly)
25. Rajkot – Rewa Express (Weekly)
26. Ramnagar – Agra Express (Weekly)
27. Tatanagar – Baiyyappanahali (Bengaluru) Express (Weekly)
28. Visakhapatnam – Chennai Express (Weekly)

E) Passenger Trains

1. Bikaner – Rewari Passenger (Daily)
2. Dharwad – Dandeli Passenger (Daily) via Alnavar
3. Gorakhpur – Nautanwa Passenger (Daily)
4. Guwahati – Mendipathar Passenger (Daily)
5. Hatia – Rourkela Passenger
6. Byndoor – Kasaragod Passenger (Daily)
7. Rangapara North – Rangiya Passenger (Daily)
8. Yesvantpur – Tumkur Passenger (Daily)

F) MEMU services

1. Bengaluru – Ramanagaram 6 days a week (3 Pairs)
2. Palwal – Delhi – Aligarh
3. DEMU services
4. Bengaluru – Neelmangala (Daily)
5. Chhapra – Manduadih (6 days a week) via Ballia
6. Baramula – Banihal (Daily)
7. Sambalpur – Rourkela (6 days a week)