Highlights of Railway Budget 2014

The first Railway Budget of National Democratic Alliance, which was elected to power in May 2014 for the second time, was presented by Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday. In its previous term i.e, between 1999 and 2004, the railways portfolio was given to NDA allies but this time it is held by BJP man Gowda. Here are the highlights of the Rail Budget:


 Reform Measures

Proposal to restructure Railway Board 
Aim to become the largest freight carrier in the world 
To complete all ongoing projects 

Trains, Fare & Tracks 

FY15 passenger fare revenue pegged at Rs 44,600 crore 
To introduce 6 AC, 27 Express trains in FY15 
First bullet trains to run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad sector 
Mumbai to get 864 additional state-of-the-art EMUs in 2 years 
Allocated Rs 100 crore for high-speed rail network 
To increase speed of some trains to 160-200 km/hr 

Investments 

To have diamond quadrilateral network for high-speed trains 
Rs 5,116 crore earmarked for projects in Northeast this Fiscal 
Propose Railways modernising via PPP projects 
To allot Rs 1,780 crore to eliminate unmanned level crossings 
Lifts, escalators via PPP route at all major stations 
Railways needs Rs 50,000 cr every year for 10 years 
CCTV in all stations to monitor cleanliness Proposal to st up food courts at stations 
To recruit 4,000 Women RPF constables 
To encourage corporate houses to adopt stations
To talk to industry to attract investment under PPP, BOT modes