The next Rail Budget to be presented early next year could contain a proposal for raising fares to pass on the burden of rising power cost to passengers.
The Railway Minister has announced that there is an urgency to attract FDI in Railway projects.
Train running information system will be installed at rail premises to facilitate dissemination of information about trains on real time basis.
To cover most of the gap, the road ministry plans to raise $7 billion.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation is set to face a decline of Rs 300 million ( Rs 30 crore) in revenues from sale of online rail tickets in the coming financial year as a result of the reduction in service charge announced in the Rail Budget last month.
Also on the anvil is abolition of distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure and replacing it with capital and revenue expenditure
Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal announced introduction of 19 new train services, extension of three and increase in frequency of five trains acceding to demands of MPs.
"This budget is most directionless budget presented by the Union railway minister Lalu Prasad...it's nothing but jugglery of words," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaj Hussain said. "Railway minister should also present an outcome and performance budget after each railway budget so that people could know which of promises made during his rail budgets were actually implemented," party general secretary Ananth Kumar said.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu faces a stiff dilemma on whether to raise fares and freight rates in his second Rail Budget.
"In the proud history of independent India, it is for the first time that the returns on the capital investment in the Railways will reach 21 per cent," the railway minister announced as he presented his 5th Rail Budget.
The clarification comes in wake of media reports that Finance Ministry is contemplating to merge the Railway and General budgets and change the financial year.
Opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India, on Wednesday slammed the Rail Budget terming it a mockery while the Congress said the budget is futuristic and reflects the concerns of the 'aam admi'.
The Railway Budget will be presented on February 25 while the Union Budget will be presented on February 29.
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The introduction of fuel adjustment component in passenger fares will merely add Rs 450 crore.
The projects include commissioning of new lines, gauge conversion and doubling of existing tracks in certain busy stretches.
As part of the housekeeping scheme, there will be attendants in each coach to address problems related to hygiene like maintaining clean toilets and keeping coaches spick-and-span.
Bansal said he would also pursue for the approval of projects identified as being of national importance, including the Bilaspur-Manali-Leh, Jammu-Poonch via Akhnoor, Tanakpur-Bageshwar and Parsuramkund-Rupai.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presented the Railway Budget at the Parliament on Thursday.
Announcing the resignation of Dinesh Trivedi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he regretted the departure of the railway minister who had presented a budget which promised the "vision" outlined by his predecessor Mamata Banerjee.
Arguably one of the toughest engineering challenges in hand, the Indian Railways plans to complete the Chenab bridge in Jammu and Kashmir by 2016, making it the world's highest rail bridge.
The aim is to reduce working expense by about 15 per cent.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday presented the Railway Budget.
Railways internal resources generation has been reduced due to various factors, including cost escalation and pay commission load.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu is all set to present his second Railway Budget on February 25.
In his interim Railway Budget for 2009-10, Lalu announced the extension of 2187/2188 Jabalpur-Mumbai-Jabalpur biweekly Garib Rath Express to Allahabad. The trouble, however, is that the Jabalpur-Mumbai-Jabalpur Garib Rath does not exist!
Total subsidy bill could come down to around Rs 2 trillion.
To ease congestion and bottlenecks at Metros, the Railways propose to develop mega terminals at Chitpur in Kolkata and Anand Vihar in Delhi, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar announced
The change in leadership at the railway ministry comes at a time when the national transporter is grappling with low passenger earnings even as it is trying to increase freight loading and open up its doors to private investment. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took charge from Piyush Goyal who got the railway portfolio in 2017 after Prime Minister Narendra Modii dropped Suresh Prabhu from the Union Cabinet. Completing freight corridors, negotiating land for the bullet train, and speeding up monetisation plans would be some of the major focus areas for Vaishnaw.
'On the tax front, most of the Budget proposals are sensible'.
Railways Minister Sadananda Gowda will present his maiden Rail Budget on July 8 in Parliament.
The railway minister said the target of 700 km of new lines in the current year (2012-13) had to be scaled down to 470 km due to inadequate resources.
Though there was no fare hike proposal in the Rail Budget this time, passengers will have to cough up more for travelling on new trains with added facilities in the coming days.
The Bhartiya Railway Mal Godam Shramik Sangh said they will resort to disrupting railway services across the country if the government does not heed to their demands.
The BJP, Left parties and Trinamool Congress on Wednesday slammed the government for the hike in passenger rail fares and demanded its immediate rollback.
In Jammu & Kashmir, the minister proposed to set up a bridge factory.
In the current fiscal, as per the revised estimate, these two companies raised Rs 14,942 crore (Rs 149.42 billion) from markets.
As per convention, Railways releases the new time table -- Trains at a glance -- every year on July one across the country. Sources said this year the Railway Time Table Committee, comprising senior officials from various zones, will sit after the Railway Budget is tabled in Parliament.
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The estimated market borrowing by these two companies during current fiscal were pegged at Rs 13,800 crore (Rs 138 billion) from markets, as per the interim Railway Budget for 2014-15 tabled in February.
The train is scheduled to be flagged off on October 4.\n\n
