Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee presented the Railway Budget for 2011-12.
Highlights: * No hike in passenger fare and freight rates.* Highest ever Plan outlay of Rs 57,630 crore proposed for Railways.
* Rs. 9,583 crore provided for new lines.
* 1300 km new lines, 867 km doubling of lines and 1017 km gauge conversion targeted in 2011-12.
* 56 new Express Trains, 3 new Shatabdis and 9 Duronto trains to be introduced.
* AC Double Decker services on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes.
* New Super AC Class to be introduced. * A new portal for e-ticketing to be launched shortly. ...
Highlights of the Railway Budget
Image: Better accessibility of stations.* Booking charges will be cheaper with a charge of only Rs 10 for AC classes and Rs 5 for others.
* Pan-India multi-purpose smart card 'Go India' to be introduced.
* 236 more stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations.
* 47 additional suburban services in Mumbai and 50 new suburban services proposed for Kolkata.
* Two new passenger terminals in Kerala and one each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal proposed.
* Feasibility study to raise speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph to be undertaken.
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Highlights of the Railway Budget
Image: More coach factories planned.* A special package of two new trains and two projects for the states managing trouble free run of trains through out the year.
* Anti Collision Devise (ACD) sanctioned to cover 8 zonal railways.
* GPS Based 'Fog Safe' Device to be deployed. * All unmanned level crossing up to 3000 to be eliminated.
* All India Security Help line on a single number set up.
* All state capitals in the North-East except Sikkim to be connected by Rail in next seven years.
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Highlights of the Railway Budget
Image: Rail based industries to be set up.* A Bridge Factory in Jammu & Kashmir and a state-of-art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering is proposed at Jammu.
*A Diesel Locomotive Centre will be set-up in Manipur.
* A Centre of Excellence in Software at Darjeeling proposed under the aegis of CRIS.
* Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and New Bongaigaon proposed.
* Additional mechanised laundry units to be set up at Nagpur, Chandigarh and Bhopal.
* 700 MW gas-based power plant to be set up at Thakurli in Maharashtra.
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Highlights of the Railway Budget
Image: Rlys to construct 700 km rail track each year.* 10,000 shelter units proposed for track side dwellers in Mumbai, Sealdah, Siliguri, Tiruchirapalli on pilot basis.
* Concession to physically handicapped persons to be extended on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.
* Concession of 50 per cent to press correspondents with family increased to twice a year.
This is what Mamata's rail has in store for you
Image: More concessions on offer.* Medical facilities extended to dependent parents of the Railway employees.
* Scholarship for girl child of Group-D railway employees increased to Rs 1200 per month.
* 20 additional hostels for children of railway employees to be set up.
* Recruitment for 1.75 lakh vacancies of Group 'C' and 'D' including to fill up backlog of SC/ST initiated, 16,000 ex-servicemen to be inducted by March 2011.
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This is what Mamata's rail has in store for you
Image: Year of Green Energy.* 2011-12 declared 'Year of Green Energy' for Railways.
* Freight loading of 993 MT and passenger growth of 6.4 per cent estimated for 2011-12.
* Gross Traffic Receipts at Rs 1,06,239 crore, exceeding one lakh crore mark for the first time estimated.
* Ordinary Working Expenses assessed at Rs 73,650 crore.
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