Lalu presents Railway Budget 2008-09 - Live

New Delhi, Feb 26: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad presents his fifth people-friendly Railway Budget on a lighter point. Aiming for a populist budget, Lalu confirms that the Budget was made keeping 'aam admi' in mind.

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14:02 pm

- House adjourned till 3 pm

13:59 pm

- Special trains to Ananthapur Sahib, Patna Sahib and Nanded

- Railways to undertake Rs 2,50,000 cr plan for technical modernisation

- Salsa-Amritsar Garib Rath tri-weekly

- 5 pc cut in petrol, diesel freight

- AC-3 tier fare cut by 3 pc

- New Delhi-Jammu Tawi train now daily

- AC III fare cut by 3 pc

- AC II fare down by 4 pc, to cut sleeper fare by 5 pc

- AC I fare cut by 7 pc

- Second class fare cut by 5 pc beyond 50 kms

- TV, internet services on trains in future

- 2500 old signals to be replaced by railways

13:54 pm

- MPs start walking out of LS as Lalu speaks

- Railways to bring in led displays in stations on train arrivals/departures

- Railway vision document 2025 to be ready in next 6 months

- 155 new Rail lines to be completed

- 8.25 per cent increase in loading in nine months

- Cleanliness drive on rajdhani and shatabdi trains

- Railway to acquire land for its projects on the lines of National Highways authority

- 6 laks bulbs to be replaced by CFL lamps by Railways to save energy

13:52 pm

- Speaker asks Lalu to lay down Part one of the speech

- Protests in LS over train allotment

- Railway vision document 2025 to be ready in next 6 months

- Licenced porters to be absorbed as class IV employees

- Bangalore-Coimbatore train extended to Ernakalum

- Varanasi-Ranchi via Rourkela train up to Sambhalpu

- Mathura-Lucknow train extended to Patna

- Bhubaneshwar-Mumbai express bi-weekly

- Proposal to spend Rs 6.5 bn on metro transport projects

- Proposal to spend Rs 17.3 bn on new lines

- Bagalkota-Jaswantpur train now daily

- Salsa-Amritsar Garib Rath tri-weekly

- New Delhi-Jammu Tawi train now daily

13:45 pm

- To extend 16 passenger trains to new destinations

- 155 km new lines seen completed in FY08

- Expanding use of automated signal system

- New train Saharsha- Janasebharan Expess weekly

- New train Malda-Patna Express tri-weekly

- New train Amritsar-Kochuveli Express weekly

- Kurla-Howrah frequency up from once a week to twice a week

13:41 pm

- New Itarsi-Katni passenger train daily

- Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani to run tri-weekly

- BBU-NDLI Rajdhani tri-weekly

- New daily Ahmedabad-Patan express

- Chennai-Salem new train daily

- Ranchi-Bhagalpur new train tri-weekly

13:37 pm

- Special train from 12-18 Oct between Pune-Delhi for Commonwealth Games likely

- Indore-Udaipur via Ratlam new train tri-weekly

- New weekly Puri-Darbhanga express

- Khajuraho-Delhi new train tri-weekly

- New weekly Varanasi-Rameswaram express

- Machhlipatnam-Bangalore new train tri-weekly

- Amravati-Mumbai express new train bi-weekly

- Orders from 6 countries for Indian coaches

13:28 pm

- 53 New trains in 2008-09

- 10 new Garib Raths

- Divisional railway hospitals in Jaipur, Hubli to be upgraded

- One more rail captive power plant in Bihar

- Planning automotaive signal in Ghaziabad-Kanpur segment

- N Railway main hospital in Delhi to be fully air-conditioned

- New Western freight corridors from Delhi to JNPT, Nhava Sheva cleared

- Profit to be used to modernise railway stations

13:24 pm

- New rail coach manufacturing unit in Kerala

- SC/STs got more jobs than quotas available to them this year

- Container train operators to be up to 50-55 trains

- Mother Child Health Express to be started

- Staff benefit fund to be upped 10 times in 2009

13:17 pm

- 50 pc concession for AIDS patients

- Coolies promoted to Gangmen

- Gangmen to be promoted to man-level crossings

- 50 pc concession for senior women citizens

- Free Rajdhani, Shatabdi travel for Ashok Chakra winners

- Free season tickets to girls till graduation

13:11 pm

- All unmanned crossings to be now manned

13:09 pm

- New Delhi, Mumbai Cent, Ptana, Secunderabad to be promoted as world-class stations

- Metal detectors, baggage scan at key stations

- 16,548 old railway tracks to be renewed

- Railways show a surplus of rs 68,778 cr in last 4 years

- Ticket confirmation via mobile phones likely

- Heightened security at sensitive stations

- 50 big terminals in Mumbai, Pune, Ghaziabad

13:02 pm

- CCTVs at major Railway stations

- Railways to have new wagon leasng policy

- Railways to consider BoT based projects

- B-type station to have professional designed shelters

12:56 pm

- Considering a railway link from Ennore network

- Plan 20,000 kms high-density network

- Pvt Cos can make terminals on rail land

- Only stainless steel coaches by 2010

- More lines to be networked in North India

- Expectable 15,000 wagons this year

- Auto signalling at Nagpur-Gondia stretch is on progress

- Go Mumbai card to be sold at BEST Bus Stations

12:54 pm

- Mulling ticket confirmation via mobile phone

- In talks with foreign Cos for new wagon designs

- Railways to spend Rs 4000 cr for Green Toilets by 11th plan

12:49 pm

- 448 station to be provided with shelters and sheds

- New coaches in Rajdhani by 2010

- New coaches in Shatabdi in 2011

- Indian Railways employees at 1.4 mln in 2007-08

- Upgradation of 203 medium level platforms to high level

- Upgradation of 281 low level platforms to medium level

- Railways to issue wait-lested e-tickets

- 6000 automated ticket selling machines in 2 years

- Electrification of more routes in North India

- Indian Railways employees at 1.4 mln in 2007-08

- SmartCard system to be extended to all Railways

- Foot overbridge on all high-level platforms

12:44 pm

- 560 Railway station platforms to be lenghtened to accomodate longer trains

12:40 pm

- Customers are our God

- Earnings from passenger trains have increased to 14 pc

- Aim to have no 'Q' for ticketing in 2 years

- High level platform in 135 stations

- Express trains to have public adress system

- House keeping in Shatabdi to be outsourced

- Multi-level parking in 30 stations

- Escalators, lifts in 50 stations

- Arrival time to be printed in tickets

12:36 pm

- High-level, low-level platforms to be increased

- Multi-level parking at 36 railway stations

- Railway plan size soars from Rs 11,000 cr to Rs 30,000 cr

- Reservation through mobiles likely

- 15,000 automated ticket machines in 2 years

- Planning smartcard based ticket system

12:30 pm

- Modular toilets to be installed in trains

- e-ticket booking increased to 3 lakhs from 1 lakh in 1 year

- Touchscreen, colour display boards at stations

- Long distance trains to display next stations, ETA by 2009

- People suspecting us can see records

- To link trains through IT, communication by 2009

- Online info boards in overnight trains to display news

- All Rajdhani, Shatabdi expresses will get more sophisticated coaches

12:26 pm

- Railways to introduce multi-purpose smart Mumbai card

- Online info boards in overnight trains to display news

12:23 pm

- Ticket reservation possible from anywhere

- Railway earns Rs 14,000 cr in profit in loading

- Everybody is happy with our performance

12:20 pm

- Siiting companies given Railway licenses

- Additional 20 bn earned on freight services

- Turned the Railways around into a profit-making organization

- No of passenger trains increased in peak season

- 790 tonnes pay load target achieved

12:16 pm

- Productivity of Railways is increasing

- Working on increasing the participation of Railways

12:13 pm

- Railways profit due to UPA Govt policies

- 49,250 cr invested in new projects

- Operation ratio of Railways is at 76 pc

12:10 pm

- Railways have made a profit of Rs 25,000 crores

- Railways set up new profit record in 2007-08

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