Suresh Prabhu presents Rail Budget for 2016-17 in Parliament

Presenting his Second Railway Budget Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said that core objective is to become an engine of employment generation and economic growth at national level. He said Railway will generate 9 crore man-days employment by 2017-18 and 14 crore man-days by 2018-19. Minister announced New freight corridors Delhi-Chennai, Kharagpur-Mumbai and Kharagpur-Vijayawada. He said that he is happy to announce that action has been initiated on 139 Budget announcements last year.

There is an increase in seat quota this year; 50% up for senior citizens. Railways will increase the quota of lower berths for women and senior citizens. Safety record has become better. 20% less accidents this year than last year but a lot needs to be done.

Railway will introduce Deen Dayal coaches for long distance trains for unreserved passengers. Fully unreserved superfast trains will be introduced on dense traffic routes. Railway open cancellation facility through 139 helpline number. Journalists will get facility of e-booking of tickets on concessional passes.

Railway will include e-ticket facility for foreign debit and credit card holders. Railway is planning to introduce bar-coded



tickets on pilot basis to tackle menace of ticketless travel.

IRCTC will make available local cuisine of choice, hygienic food. The cleaning of toilets by requests through SMS. New policy of multi-purpose stalls at station to provide multiple services like milk and medicines.

Porters to not be called ‘coolies’ but ‘sahayaks’ now; will be trained in soft skills. Overnight double-decker trains to be introduced on business travel routes  WiFi services at 100 stations this year, 400 more stations over next two years. 2,500 water vending machines at railway stations.  Reserved middle bays in coaches for women security.  Introduced 1,780 automatic ticket vending machines, mobile apps  GoIndia smart cards for cashless purchase of UTS and PRS ticket.