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Rail Budget 2013: How Rail Minister made your life easier
The Railway Minister has announced a slew of measures that would help to make ticket booking and travelling easier for passengers.
No fare hike: No passenger fare hike has been announced for the moment
Free Wi-Fi: On select trains, customers would be able to avail free Wi-Fi facility
Status: SMS alert service being rolled out shortly to intimate passengers about reservation status
Ticketing: The Railways will extend Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS), Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs), Coin-operated Ticket Vending Machines (CO-TVMs) and schme of Jan-Sadhara n Ticket Booking Sevaks (JTBSs)
Online tickets: Internet booking to be provided from 0030 hours to 2330 hours
Better website: Indian Railways will create a next generation e-ticketing system by end of this year that would be able to handle three time more booking than the current capacity
Station upgradation: Railways has identified 104 stations for upgradation in cities with more than one million population and of religious significance. This means, these stations the Railways will give attention to all aspects related to cleanliness, according to the Budget highlights the government released
Better toilets: Progressive extension of bio toilets for all trains
Sanitation: On board housekeeping facilities and clean stations
Aadhaar for bookings: Railways will use Aadhaar database for bookings and validation of passengers
Pantry: Third party audit and tie up with food testing laboratories for food quality control; ISO certified state-of-the-art base kitchens to be set up in railway premises
Catering: Centralised Catering Services Monitoring Cell set up with a toll free number (1800 111 321)
Suggestions/complaints: The Railways has introduced 1800-111-310 toll free for suggestions and complaints
On-board cleanliness: Railways is starting a pilot project on select trains to facilitate passengers to contact on board staff through SMS/phone call/e-mail for coach cleanliness and real time feedback
On-board announcements: Provision of announcement facilities and electronic display boards in trains
Special A/C coaches: Special A/C coaches called 'Anubhuti', will be introduced in select Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains to give excellent ambience with commensurate fare
Lifts/escalators: 179 escalators and 400 lifts at A-1 and other major stations to be installed facilitating elderly and differently-able
Braille stickers: Affixing Braille stickers with layout of coaches including toilets, provision of wheel chairs and battery operated vehicles at more stations and making coaches wheel-chair friendly