No Hike In Fares In Suresh Prabhu's Customer-Focused Railway Budget
In Suresh Prabhu's Rail Budget speech, read at bullet-train speed on Thursday morning, customer comfort and satisfaction were high-density keywords.
There was no fare hike though the Rail Minister recorded early in his speech that the Railways loses Rs 30,000 crore on subsidising passenger fares. With crucial elections in five states this year, he walked a tightrope in his just over an hour long speech between populist measures and the cash-strapped Railways' urgent need for finances to fund modernisation and better passenger facilities.
"We will exploit new sources of revenue beyond tariff revenue," Mr Prabhu said.
He announced several customer-oriented services and measures like smarter ticketing, a clean-my-coach service through SMS, automatic doors, baby-sitting facilities including hot water and milk at stations and a kids menu, disabled-enabled toilets, and 33 per cent reservation for women within the reserved quota.
"Every customer is our brand ambassador," Mr Prabhu said and also announced four new types of trains - the Humsafar, Tejas, Antyodaya Express and Udayg in the country by 2020.
After the budget, the minister said his three focuses are "revenue, norms and structure".
In his speech, Mr Prabhu said the core objective is "to become an engine of economic growth, create employment and improve customer experience at the individual level".
Minister Prabhu presented an ambitious set of numbers. The Railways' investment target, he said, is Rs 1.2 lakh crore and it hopes to generate Rs 1.84 lakh crore in revenue. Life Insurance Corporation or LIC has committed an investment of 1.5 lakh crore.
The minister said 2,800 km of new tracks will be commissioned during 2016-17, much higher than the average of 200 km of tracks added per year since the Independence.
Congratulating Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and his team on presenting the budget that "caters to all sections of society", PM Narendra Modi tweeted:
