Highlights of Indian Union Railway Budget for the year 2015-16

• Indian Railways to become the prime mover of economy again
• Resources mobilization for higher investments
• Decongestion of heavy haul routes and speeding up of trains- emphasis on gauge conversions, doubling, tripling and electification
• Projects Delivery
• Passengers’ amenities
• Safety
• Transparency and System Improvement
• Indian Railways to continue to be the preferred mode of transportation for the people and
• Sustainabilty

The following are the Goals for Indian Railways to transform over next five years :

• To deliver a sustained and measurable improvement in customer experience.
• To make Rail a safer means of travel.
• To expand Bhartiya Rail ‘s capacity substantially and modernise infrastructure.
• To increase daily passenger carrying capacity from 21million to 30 million: increase track length by 20% from 1,14,000 km to 1,38,000 km: grow our annual freight carrying capacity from 1 billion to 1.5 billion tonnes.
• To make Bhartiya Rail financially self -sustainable. Generate large surpluses from operations not only to service the debt needed to fund our capacity expansion, but also to invest on an on-going basis to replace our depreciating assets.

The Following are some of the Highlights of the Indian Union Railways Budget for the year 2015-16:

• There is NO INCREASE or NO DECREASE in Passenger Railway Fares
• There are no Details of New Trains and Increased Frequencies of Trains in the budget and the same will be announced later after review in the Parliament
• Rs 8.5 Lakshs Crores will be invested in Railways in the next 5 years
• Advance Reservation of tickets can be made 120 days/4 months in advance
• Unreseserved Tickets can be purchased within 5 minutes, by ‘Operation 5 Minutes’ Scheme
• A New Department for Cleanliness will be formed and professional agencies will be engaged and the railways staff will be trained in integrated cleaning
• Bio-Toilets and Airplane-Type Vaccum Toilets will be fitted in trains
• More toilets will be provided in Railway stations
• Disposable Bed linen will be designed by NIFT and bed linen can be booked online
• Surveillance cameras will be fixed in selected coaches and ladies compartments for women’s safety without compromising on privacy
• Wi-Fi will be provided in more Railway Stations- in all B Category Stations
• Mobile Phone Charging Facilities will be provided in all compartments of all the trains, including the General Compartments
• Wheel Chairs for Senior Citizens can be booked online
• Satelite Railway Terminals will be set up in major cities
• Centrally managed Rail Display Network will be introduced in more than 2000 Railway stations in the next 2 years
• All India 24/7 Helpline: 138 from March 2015 and Toll Free No For Security: 182
• 3438 Railway crossings will be replaced by construction of 917 Road Under Bridges and Over Bridges at a cost of Rs 6581 crores
• 4 Railway Research Centers will be started in 4 Universities
• Capacity in identified trains will be augmented to run with 26 coaches
• More General class coaches will be added in identified trains
• National Institute of Design/NID will design user friendly ladders for climbing upper berths in Sleeper 
• Quota of lower berths for senior citizens will be increased
• Travelling Ticket Examiners/TTE’s will be instructed to help senior citizens, pregnant women and differently-abled persons in obtaining lower berths
• The Middle bay of coaches will be reserved for women and senior citizens
• The newly manufactured coaches will be Braille enabled
• The coaches will be built with wider entrances for the ease of differently-abled passengers
• Speed of 9 railway corridors to be increased from existing 110 kmph to 160 kmph and from 130 kmph to 200 kmph