Railway Budget 2016: Highlights

New Delhi, Feb 25: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu began presenting his ministry's budget for the next fiscal year in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, promising to address the issues concerning all stakeholders -- citizens, employees and industry, among others.

[Live: Suresh Prabhu presents Rail Budget 2016]

Children's menu, baby foods, baby boards to be made available for travelling mothers. Here are more Highlights of the Railway Budget 2016:

• No hike in passenger fares, freight rates.
• Rs 8.5 lakh crore to be spent in 5 years for modernisation of rail infrastructure.
• To invest Rs 1.21 lakh crore in 2016-17.
• Aastha circuit trains to connect important pilgrim centres.
• 400 stations to have wifi, 100 in next fiscal.
• E-ticketing capacity raised to 7,200/min, from 2,000/min.
• CCTV surveillance for all major stations.
• Cleaning of coach on demand soon.
• E-booking tickets on concessional passes for journalists.
• Bar-coded tickets, scanners on pilot basis.
• E-ticketing facility on foreign debit/credit cards.
• Sale of tickets through hand held terminals soon.
• Beautification stations at pilgrimage centres, including Ajmer, Puri, Varanasi, Nagapattinam.
• FM Radio stations to provide train borne entertainment.
• Rail Mitra Seva for old and disabled passengers.
• Optional travel insurance for rail passengers.
• Janani Sewa for providing food for children.
• Smart coaches with automatic doors, bio vacuum toilets, improved aesthetics.
• Mobile app to deal with ticketing issues, complaints.
• Information boards in trains, GPS based digital display inside coaches.
• SPV with Japan for Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet train.
• Rs 30,000 crore spent on passenger fares.
• Children's menu, baby foods, baby boards to be made available for travelling mothers.
• Railways intend to start Rail Bandhu magazines.
• Railways to increase lower berth quota for senior citizens by 50%.
• Railways introduce-- Humsafar, Tejas and Uday Express.
• For unreserved passengers, Railways to introduce-- Antyodaya, for long-distance travel.
• Deen Dayalu unreserved coaches with water, mobile charging points
• World's first bio-toilet at Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express.
• Dedicated frieght corridor for North-South, East-West and East Coast.
• Railways to shift to completely paperless contract system in 2016-17.
• 2,000 km rail route to be electrified in 2016-17.
  Outlay for railway electrification increased by 50 per cent; 2,000-km route to be electrified next fiscal.
• Railways to generate 9 crore mandays in financial year 2017-18 and 14 crore mandays in 2018-19.
• Railways to get Rs 40,000 cr budgetary support from the government.
• Indian Railways will generate employment of Rs 9 core man days in 2017-18 and 14 crore man days in 2018-19.
• 17,000 bio-toilets at 475 railway stations by the end of financial year.
• All India 24*7 helpline for women.
• Making all-out efforts to translate dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi into reality.
• Aiming to achieve operation ratio of 92 percent.
• Saving of Rs.8,720 crore from last year's estimates.
• Envisaging capital expenditure of Rs.1.21 lakh crore.

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— IndiaMART (@IndiaMART) February 25, 2016

@thekiranbedi Highlights of #RailBudget2016 pic.twitter.com/IlLH9GbAo8

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