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While the announcement of new trains is unlikely for the second consecutive year, the Railways <keyword id="2783177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Budget-2016">Budget 2016</keyword> will be more about upgradation and modernisation. 
 
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu is likely to focus on capacity creation with an increased outlay of about Rs 1.25 lakh crore. 
 
Out of the outlay, a significant amount will be set aside for safety upgradation, electrification, doubling and modernisation of yards to clear traffic bottlenecks. 
 
As Prabhu will have to rely on the External Budgetary Resources (EBR) for execution of the capacity augmentation projects, he has written to the chief ministers of 18 states for taking up rail projects through joint ventures route. 
 
The railways have earned Rs 136,079.26 crore as against the target of Rs 141,416.05 crore, a decline of 3.77 per cent. 
 
Prabhu will give details about the concerted efforts being undertaken by the railways to keep stations and trains clean and environment-friendly in his second budget speech in Parliament on February 25. 
 
All 400 stations being planned to be developed with private participation are likely to be announced as "green stations" with several environment-friendly measures like generation of solar energy, recycling of water, conversion of waste to energy and use of LED lights to be incorporated in the plan.

This year is going to be about upgradation and modernisation. Railway Budget 2016 to see Rs 1.25 lakh crore increased outlay

India’s Railway Minister <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Suresh+Prabhu">Suresh Prabhu</a> has put forth his second <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Rail+Budget">Rail Budget</a>. He wants to overhaul the <keyword id="6355455" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Indian-Railways">Indian Railways</keyword> for good, and make a difference. 
 That’s all fine, but if you’re a money man, here are some of the biggest and most important numbers from <keyword id="2783177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Budget-2016">Budget 2016</keyword>! 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

The Biggest Numbers from Railway Budget 2016

When Suresh Prabhu will present the Railway Budget 2016-17 on February 25, passengers would ease a bit as the minister is unlikely to hike fares. 
 
Instead, Prabhu will focus on strengthening the existing network and look out for innovative cash generation methods. 
 
This is the second time that the fares will remain unchanged. However, there was a hike in freight charges in the last one. 
 
Instead, the Railway Ministry will look at revamping 269 categories of concessions and monetise railway properties to generate funds. 
 
In a bid to raise funds, the ministry could give names of the coaches for branding. 
 
Also, the ministry has changed its children policy and from April 21, it is likely that children will be given a berth only on payment of full fare, unlike by present half-fare. 
 
Also, Prabhu is likely to announce the semi-high-speed 'Gatimaan' train, higher number of Suvidha trains, etc. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Railways Budget 2016: Suresh Prabhu not to burden passengers; will focus on innovation for revenue generation

Every year, we have the same boring faces reading out from a little piece of paper what is a totally "out-of-the-world plan" to make the Indian trains and stations an absolute beauty. 
 
By now, India should have been in the list of top 5 countries with world-class Railways, if not the first one. It's infrastructure should have been 100 times swankier than the T3 airport in Delhi. 
 
Plush railway stations with floor tiles so clean we could see our faces in it, and sleep in the train washroom if we liked to - the idea was sold to us many times. How we dreamt of a spick and span mode of travel..aaaaaaah. But, every time we got onto one of those bogies, reality struck us hard! 
 
Soiled toilets, rat-infested platforms. But, words echoed - "India will soon get bullet trains". 
 
Whennnnnn, we ask? Is there a deadline or is the deadline FOREVER? We have been getting one of those bullets for the last 5 years now, except that we don't have one till now. 
 
Yet, we sympathize with our ministers who claim to be working so hard in trying to getting us the cleanest platforms and wifi-ed stations and bio-toilets and........ so many more great things, you see! 
 
It will all come to us..*sigh*.. one day. Perhaps.. For now, here's a quick dose of the reality on the ground:

Railway Budget 2016: Expectation v/s Reality

Yes, it’s that time of February we all used to look forward to until tragedy struck last year. 
 
The time when we’ve managed to get over the afterglow (read: rejection and humiliation) of the most overrated event- Valentine’s Day and started looking forward to the country’s annual comedy event with hopes of laughing our heart out? 
 
No, I’m not talking about the AIB Roast. (Did you not notice that I clearly mentioned the word ‘çomedy’?) 
 
What I’m talking of instead is the Railway Budget. 
 
Wait a second. I know what you’re thinking. 
 
The Railway Budget is to the actual Budget what Uday Chopra is to Aditya Chopra- no one spares a moment to remember the former while the latter gets all the attention. 
 
But, here’s the thing- the drab, boring nature of the Railway Budget was easily forgotten due to the efforts of the Railway Ministers who burnt many a midnight oil to ensure they put up a comic display worthy of the people in the largest democracy- the people whose taxes would fund the whims and fancies of these ministers. 
 
But, this was until last year. 
 
This was until our honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to appoint Suresh Prabhu as the Minister of Indian Railways. To acquaint you a little more how grave this crime is, let me infuriate you with this piece of information- Prabhu is regarded as one of the best performing ministers in Modi’s cabinet. 
 
Yes, you read that right- ‘Best performing minister.’ 
 
Can someone please inform him that it is not even in his job description to perform? And, most importantly, has he learnt nothing from the greats- his predecessors? 
 
It all started when Suresh Prabhu, the Minister of Railways didn’t name a train after his alleged girlfriend, who also happened to be the sister of one of the ministers in his cabinet, like Nitish Kumar once (allegedly) did. 
 
I wonder if Prabhu has had the fortune of travelling by the Archana Express. 
 
Maybe he would have if he wasn’t so busy taking the Railway Budget like it was an issue that affected the lives of millions of Indian citizens and instead taken tips from previous ministers like Mamata Banerjee and Lalu Prasad Yadav and just come do an improv comedy act. 
 
Like Mamata Banerjee, he could’ve just thrown tantrums and threaten ministers who weren’t listening to him by telling them that ‘he would cut out the sops for their states if they didn’t listen to his speech.’ 
 
Infact, he could’ve done even better and just blame the House for goofing up the pronunciations like Banerjee famously did and claim that it was their shouting that affected her pronunciation. 
 
And, frankly, the cherry on the cake would’ve been had Prabhu treated the announcement of the Railway Budget as an opportunity to show off how good his English speaking skills are like the great Lalu Prasad Yadav did. The Budget could present himself as long as he could praise himself and his self-defined achievements. 
 
But, instead, Prabhu has forced us to pay attention to the Railway Budget, take it seriously and not wait for him to goof up or start a yelling match. He went as far as creating a Twitter account and instead of just using it to send Birthday wishes to fellow ministers or tweeting about his travels like Modi, he uses it to help and respond to queries. Can you believe that? 
 
If Mamata Banerjee or Lalu Prasad Yadav would have been presenting the Budget tomorrow, they would have been thinking of how best to cause the most amount of drama so that people forget that the Budget was ever presented. 
 
But not Prabhu. He’s busy chalking up one of the boldest Budget the Railways have seen till date and facing his challenges head on. 
I know, what you’re thinking- what a waste. 
 
And, at this point sirf Prabhu hi jaane kya hoga Indian Railways ka. 
 
(Image: PIB)

This article is a character assassination of Suresh
Prabhu, the efficient Railway Minister

<keyword id="6355455" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Railways">Indian Railways</keyword> is striving to recapture freight traffic, from where it gets its maximum revenues. As the Railway Minister <keyword id="6356597" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Suresh-Prabhu">Suresh Prabhu</keyword> unveiled Union Budget 2016 today, he said: “We switched to PPP based contracting last year, and private parties in non-operational areas are working with us.” 
 
“We have for the first time incorporated a statement in the 'Pink Book' of sanctioned works a list of partnership projects. We will win back our share in transportation sector. Every asset will be optimally monetized,” he further said. 
 The <keyword id="2666721" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-private-partnership-project">Public Private Partnership project</keyword> announcements the Railway Minister made are as follows: 
 
 - Proposal to undertake implementation of rail connectivity for ports of Nargol and Hazira under PPP for FY 2016-17 
- More dedicated freight corridors to accommodate increased freight transport demand 
- Freight earnings have been pegged at Rs 1.18 crore 
- Rs 1.1 lakh crore are the revised freight earnings - Time-tabled <keyword id="79683" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Freight-trains">freight trains</keyword> with credible service commitments 
- Proposal to set up 3 Freight Corridors 
- Finalized bids for setting up 2 loco factories with order book of about Rs. 40,000 crore 
- Railway electrification to be increased by 50 per cent to 2,000 kms next year 
- High average speed of freight trains 
- Cabinet nod to creation of Joint ventures with State government for undertaking rail based projects 
-Contracts worth Rs. 24,000 Cr awarded against Rs.13,000 Cr worth of contacts in last 6 years 
-Key customer managers to liaison with major freight stakeholders 
-East-West freight corridor may be extended by 5 km 
- At least 10 goods sheds will be developed by TransLoc in 2016-2017. Proposed to develop rail side logistics parks &amp; warehouses. It would be created in PPP mode to bring the required efficiency and investment but also help attract greater traffic to Railways. 
- Proposal inviting FM radio stations to provide train borne entertainment by installing PA systems in the trains 
- In partnership with Google, 100 railway stations in India to get access to free WiFi by the end of this year and 400 stations by the end of 2017. 
- Propose bidding process for station redevelopment under PPP

Railway Budget 2016: Total Private white-wash of public spaces

The Cabinet has given a green signal railway projects amounting to Rs 10,700 crore, which also includes construction of six railway lines and a bridge. 
 
Majority of the expenditure is expected to be met through extra budgetary resources. 
 
The Indian Railways is also planning to add four more dedicated freight corridors. 
 
Presently, the railways has undertaken Rs 81,459 crore projects to develop 3,342 km track comprising Eastern and Western DFC. 
 
Among the proposals cleared on Wednesday include doubling of a 190-km-long Hubli-Chickajur broad gauge single railway line. The total estimated expenditure will be Rs 1294.13 crore. The project is part of an important rail link of passenger trains between Mumbai and Bangalore and goods trains to the ports at Mangalore. 
 <keyword id="2598106" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Railway-minister-Suresh-Prabhu">Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu</keyword>, gearing up to present his second Rail Budget on February 25, will unveil a plan to cut expenses and at the same time increase non-tariff revenue substantially to wade through the difficult phase in the public behemoth.

You Searched For "Railway Budget" and got 7 results

This year is going to be about upgradation and modernisation. Railway Budget 2016 to see Rs 1.25 lakh crore increased outlay

BI India Bureau

The Biggest Numbers from Railway Budget 2016

Saikat Pyne

Railways Budget 2016: Suresh Prabhu not to burden passengers; will focus on innovation for revenue generation

BI India Bureau

Railway Budget 2016: Expectation v/s Reality

Saikat

Anushree

This article is a character assassination of Suresh Prabhu, the efficient Railway Minister

Poulomi Das

Railway Budget 2016: Total Private white-wash of public spaces

Anushree Singh

Budget 2016-17: Indian Railways gets nod for projects worth Rs 10,700 crore

BI India Bureau

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