Below are the major highlights and key take away from the 2014 Indian Railway budget presented in Lok Sabha by NDA Rail minister Mr. Sadananda Gowda on 8 July 2014. A lot of announcements are related to new trains including bullet trains, women safety and security, revamp rail infrastructure, measures to improve food & hygiene inside trains and FDI.
- Sadananda Gowda has started its Railway Budget 2014 presentation in Lok Sabha.
- Gowda has proposed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Indian Railways except in railway operations.
- A lot of future Indian Railway projects will be financed through public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.
- Gowda has proposed PPP mode for high speed trains in Indian Railways.
- Will outsource cleaning services in railways by persuading corporate houses to adopt railway stations and maintain them.
- Railways to build escalators, toilets & Lifts on all major railway stations in India
- Rail minister proposed to set up Food courts at major railway stations in India.
- Ready-to-eat meals to introduce in trains in phased manner.
- Installing CCTV camera’s to monitor cleanliness of railway stations.
- Installation of RO systems for drinking water facilities at all railway stations.
- Start online booking facility to book railway waiting rooms.
- To ensure passengers safety, 17,000 RPF constables will be
- To ensure women safety 4,000 women constables to be recruited
- Capacity for ticket bookings through e-booking to be enhanced
- E-ticketing capacity will be raised to 7200 tickets/minute; 1,20,000 users can log in simultaneously on railway portal
- Railways to introduce Wi-Fi services at all A-class railway stations in India
- First bullet train to be launched on Mumbai-Ahmedabad route
- To launch diamond quadrilateral of high speed trains.
- Hospital Management Information System to integrate all railway health units and hospitals
- Special milk tanker trains to be introduced.
- Special arrangement to store fruits and vegetables at controlled temperature.
- Proposed setting up of Railway University for technical and non-technical subjects, tie-up with technical institutions.
- Proposed to digitize Indian railway office in next 5 years. Digital reservation charts at stations
- Top 10 railway stations of India will be revamped as airports
- Internet and workstation facilities to be introduced on selected trains.
- Five Jan Sadharan trains to be introduced in India
- Five premium trains to be introduced in India.
