Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
The Railway Budget unveiled big proposals to make train journeys a pleasant experience for millions of people.
Besides announcing private domestic and FDI in infrastructure projects and pursuing private-public partnership to boost the finances of the cash-strapped railways, the government plans to launch bullet trains, make stations & trains cleaner, make ticketing faster and easier and offer the best food onboard.
As Indians eagerly wait to see a makeover, here’s a look at trains and stations of world's fourth largest railway network.
India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
In the last 30 years as many as 676 projects were sanctioned worth Rs 1,57,883 crore (Rs 1.57 trillion).
Of these, only 317 projects could be completed and 359 projects remain to be completed.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
There are 4 projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for various reasons.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
Funds to the tune of about Rs 5 lakh crore (Rs 50,000 crore) per year for next 10 years, are required for ongoing projects alone, Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda said in his Budget speech.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
The Indian Railways carries 23 million passengers a day. The Railways plans to meet the demands of millions of travellers with better amenities.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
The government plans to allow private operations in dedicated freight lines and rail connectivity projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) models to make services more efficient.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
One of the reasons for the downfall is that passenger fares were kept lower than costs.
This loss kept on increasing from 10 paise per passenger kilometre in 2000-01 to 23 paise in 2012-13, as the passenger fares were not hiked to meet the cost of operations.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
The Railways has an ambitious plan of attracting Rs 1 lakh crore in the 12th Plan period ending March 2017.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
The government is in the final stages of drafting a policy on FDI in the Indian Railways, expected to soon get Cabinet approval. Fares would be subject to the scrutiny of the ministry of railways and the recommendations of the proposed Rail Tariff Authority, says a report in Business Standard.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
Though private sector participation in the railways' mass passenger operations would not be allowed, certain exceptions would be recognised for infrastructure and capacity augmentation, including high-speed and other PPP projects, said a senior Railway Board official, says a Business Standard report quoting Railway officials.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
The Railways have allocated an outlay of Rs 5,116 crore (Rs 51.16 billion) for projects in the North-East. This is 54% jump over allocations in the previous year.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
The Railways will set up an Innovations Incubation Center to harness the ideas from the staff of Indian Railways and convert them into practical solutions to increase efficiency of the system.
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India's overcrowded trains and stations: Will this change?
Photographs: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
Anticipating a healthier growth of economy, the Railways hopes to achieve total receipts of Rs 1,64,374 crore (Rs 1.64 trillion) and would peg total expenditure at Rs 1,49,176 crore (Rs 1.49 trillion).
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