Budget 2017: Jaitley speaks on Railways
For the first time in 92 years, there will not be a separate Railway Budget as it has been incorporated in the Union Budget. The financial projections of the Indian Railways are as follows:
* Steps will be taken to launch dedicated trains for pilgrimage and tourism.
* Rail safety fund with corpus of Rs 100,000 crore will be created over a period of five years.
* Outlay for railways fixed at Rs 1,31,000 crore with Rs 55,000 crore Budget support.
* Our focus is on Swacchh Railways.
* Service charges for ticket booking on IRCTC withdrawn.
* All coaches of Indian Railways will have biotiolets by 2018.
* Railways will implement end-to-end transport solutions for certain logistics.
* Four areas of priority for Railways: Passenger safety, capital works, cleanliness & financial.
* A new metro rail policy will be announced, this will open up new jobs for our youth.
* Five special tourism zones to be set up in partnership with states.
* At least 25 stations expected to be awarded during 2017-18; 500 stations to be made differently abled friendly by providing lifts & escalators.
Stay tuned for more such updates.