Title - CR Related Budget Announcements 2012-2013

CR Related Budget Announcements 2012-13
MRVC Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has successfully completed its flagship project of MUTP Phase I costing Rs.4,500 crore with the cooperation of Government of Maharashtra and other stakeholders.  The work o­n MUTP Phase II at a cost of Rs.5,300 crore is also progressing well and its completion will further boost the suburban transport services in Mumbai. A road map for MUTP III has been prepared to further strengthen and augment the suburban rail infrastructure and MRVC would carry out feasibility study for construction of faster corridors o­n CSTM-Panvel and Virar-Vasai-Diva-Panvel sections through innovative financing mechanisms. The proposed 72 km link between Virar-Panvel 3rd line in the PPP mode will open new avenues for development of northern part of Mumbai and facilitate commuters to transit between eastern and western parts of the city.
Feasibility of a spur from Panvel to Navi Mumbai airport will also be examined.  Mumbai Suburban Railway System has sound potential for mobilizing additional resources from commercial utilization of land and air space, thus providing funds for infrastructure development. MRVC to initiate a pilot project for commercial development.  SUBURBAN Works will be taken up to facilitate running of 12-car rakes o­n Harbour line. A new double line work of Belapur-Seawood-Uran is in progress, which will provide direct passenger connectivity to JNPT.
With a view to further enhancing the carrying capacity of suburban services in Mumbai area, 75 new services in the Churchgate-Virar, Virar-Dahanu Road, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus-Kalyan-Kasara and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus-Kalyan-Karjat sections, Harbour and Trans-Harbour line will be run.
Under Izzat Pass Scheme any person with less than Rs.1,500 monthly income can avail benefit of this scheme with a monthly pass for Rs.25 o­nly. To give relief to the poorest sections of the society, propose to extend the travel distance from 100 km to 150 kms under Izzat Scheme, thus covering all designated suburban sections keeping the rate of Rs.25 unchanged.
COOPERATION WITH STATE GOVERMENT Elevated Suburban Corridor in Mumbai The financial modelling of an elevated rail corridor from Churchgate to Virar to be executed through PPP mode in coordination with the Government of Maharashtra is being firmed up. The proposed project will enable introduction of premium AC suburban rail services. A prefeasibility survey for a similar corridor between CST and Kalyan (55 km) is also proposed to be taken up in due course.
Following new line projects with cost sharing by state government have been sent to Planning Commission for appraisal and ‘in principle’ approval:
1) Manmad-Indore via Malegaon & Dhule
2) Pune-Nasik
Projects being executed with State Cooperation:-
Wardha-Nanded (via Yevatmal-Pusood)
Ahmednagar-Beed-Parli Vaijnath
High Speed Initiatives Construction of  High Speed Passenger Rail corridors in the country for running trains at speed of 250-350 kmph. As decided earlier, pre-feasibility studies o­n six corridors have already been taken up. o­ne more corridor to be studied this year is Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur. Study of Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor has been completed and we are working o­n finalisation of financing of this project.  PASSENGER AMENITIES
Setting up of new Rail Neer Plant atAmbernath in Maharashtra to facilitate smooth supply of water at stations;
List of Adarsh Stations to be taken up in 2012-13:-
Ahmednagar, Burhanpur, Jalgaon, Khandwa,
List of new Express Trains, Passenger Trains, MEMU, DEMU, Extension of run and increase in frequency of trains:-
New Express Trains: 1. Kamakhya-Lokmanya Tilak (T) AC Express (Weekly) via Katihar, Mughalsarai, Itarsi
2. Dadar (T)- Tirunelveli Express (Weekly) via Roha, Coimbatore,Erode
3. Visakhapatnam-Sai Nagar Shirdi Express (Weekly) via Vijayawada,Manmad
4. Indore-Yesvantpur Express (Weekly) via Itarsi,Narkher,Amravati,Akola,Kacheguda
5. Amravati-Pune Express (Bi-weekly) via Akola, Purna and Latur
6. Sai Nagar Shirdi-Pandharpur Express (Tri-weekly) via Kurduwadi
7. Solapur-Yesvantpur Express (Tri-weekly) via Gulbarga
Extension of Trains
1) 11017/11018 Dadar-Yesvantpur Express to Puducherry (3 days) via Jolarpettai- Katpadi-Villupuram & to Tirunelveli (3 days) via Dharmapuri-Erode
Increase in Frequency
1. 17003/17004 Hyderabad-Kolhapur Express 2 to 7 days
2. 16535/16536 Yesvantpur-Solapur Express 3 to 7 days
3. 12187/12188 Jabalpur-Mumbai (CST) Express 2 to 3 days
FARE  Rationalise the fares to cause minimal impact o­n the common man and to keep the burden within tolerance limits in general.  o­nly 2 paise per km for suburban and ordinary second class.  mail express second class will be by o­nly 3 paise per km;  sleeper class by o­nly 5 paiseper km;  AC Chair Car, AC 3 tier & First Class by o­nly 10 paise per km;  AC 2 Tier by o­nly 15 paise per km; and  AC I by o­nly 30 paise per km. 
CORRESPONDING RATIONALISATION IN MINIMUM DISTANCE AND FARE CHARGEABLE IN VARIOUS CLASSES HAS ALSO BEEN PROPOSED.
Decided to incorporate a rounding off mechanism in the fare structure. For all ordinary and mail/express trains, rounding off will be to the next nearest five rupees.
However, for the suburban passengers, I propose to permit a limited exception in the form of downward rounding off also in a few cases. By way of example, a fare of Rs.11 will become Rs.10 and Rs.6 will become Rs.5. The minimum fare chargeable and the platform ticket will now be Rs.5.
The increase in fares for suburban second class passengers travelling 35 km will be o­nly Rs.2.  For non-suburban second class ordinary passenger travelling a distance of 135 km, increase will be Rs.4 o­nly. For second class mail/express passenger travelling a distance of 375 km, the addition to the fare will be o­nly Rs.12 and  for a 750 km journey by sleeper class o­n mail/express train will be o­nly Rs.40.  AC3 tier passenger travelling a distance of 530 km will be required to pay an additional Rs.57. The increase for AC 2 tier and AC I passenger travelling over same distance will be Rs.84 and Rs.163 respectively.
FUEL ADJUSTMENT COMPONENT (DYNAMIC) Contemplating a system of segregating fuel component in the cost associated with passenger services and call it FAC (fuel adjustment component). The FAC will be dynamic in nature and will change in either direction with the change of fuel cost. I must also be forthright and take the House into confidence in mentioning that in the event of any further increase in input costs of railways, it will not be possible for us to keep the passengers cushioned from the impact of such increases.
NEW LINES  Proposed to be completed in 2011-12:-
1) Chandurbazar-Narkhed (Part)
Targeted for completion in 2012-13
1) Ahmednagar-Narayandoh
2)Gulbarga-Sultanpur
Sent to Planning Commission for appraisal
1) Ballarsha to Surjagad(Etapalli)
2) Dhule-Amalner
3) Gadag-Wadi
4) Khandwa-Dhar via Khargone,Badwani
5) Kinwat-Mahur
6) Manmad -Indore via Malegaon & Dhule
7) Pune-Nasik
8) Rotegoan-Puntamba
NEW LINE SURVEYS  To be taken up during 2012-13:
1) Nanded-Latur Road
2) Railway link between proposed Airport at New Mumbai and Thane
3) Nasik - Sinner.
4) Malegaon-Satana-Saki-Chinchpara
5) Rail link between Raipur-Dhamtari BG line upto Jagdalpur via Banskot, Amravati, Kondagaon. Rajnadgaon and Dongargaon upto Chandrapur(Maharastra) via Maanpur village.
6) High Speed Rail Corridor (HSRC) between Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad.
7) Shirdi – Shahpur - Ghoti
GAUGE CONVERSION
Projects sent to Planning Commission:
1) Nagbhir-Nagpur
DOUBLING WORKS  for completion during 2011-12:-
1) Pen-Kasu
2 Panvel-Apta
for completion during 2012-13:-
1) Apta-Jite
2) Kasu-Roha
New Doubling Projects sanctioned in 2012-13:-
1) Wardha (Sevagram) – Nagpur 3rd line
NEW SURVEYS FOR DOUBLING PROJECTS  Sanctioned in 2012-13:-
1) Amla-Chhindwara
2) Vasai-Thane-Diva along with electrification
3) Gadag-Solapur
NEW RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION PROJECTS Sanctioned in 2012-13:-
1) Amla - Chhindwara- Kalumna
NEW RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION SURVEYS sanctioned in 2012-13:-
1) Londa-Miraj-Pune including Miraj – Kolhapur &
2) Panvel-Pen-Roha
GENERAL
To fast track elimination of level crossings in the next five years, I have decided to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named Rail-Road Grade Separation Corporation of India.
Passenger amenities from Rs.762 crore in 2011-12 to Rs.1,102 crore in 2012-13.
Indian Railway Station Development Corporation to redevelop 100 stations in the next five years. 
To facilitate easy movement of passengers, installation of 321 escalators at important stations of which 50 will be commissioned during 2012-13;
12 State of Art mechanized laundries already set up and 6 more to become functional during year 2012-13;
Introduction of Alternate Train Accommodation System (ATAS) as a pilot project to accommodate waitlisted passenger o­n alternate trains;
Upgradation of 929 stations as Adarsh Stations including 84 stations proposed in 2012-13  490 stations have been completed so far;
Construction of Multi-functional Complexes at 24 locations completed;
Sale of PRS tickets through 151 post offices;
Complete the unfinished task of installation of Integrated Security System at all 202 identified stations during 2012-13. 
FOCUS o­n
i. Safety; ii. Consolidation; iii. Decongestion & Capacity Augmentation iv. Modernization; v. To bring down the Operating Ratio from 95% to 84.9% in 2012-13 and to 74% in the terminal year of 12th Plan which would be an improvement over the best ever achieved by Indian Railways.
Five focus areas. Strengthening of the basic infrastructure of Indian Railways resulting in safety, decongestion, capacity augmentation and modernization of system, creating more efficient, faster and safer railways. The areas are: a. Track; b. Bridges; c. Signalling & Telecommunication; d. Rolling Stock; and e. Stations & Freight Terminals
HUMAN RESOURCE & WELFARE
Railway is a 24x7 service available to the rail-users. To run services at this scale, the employees have to put in long hours of duty without any respite round the year and the compulsion of job creates high stress levels. I therefore intend to introduce a wellness programme for them at their work places for early detection of risk factors, prevention and early treatment of diseases caused due to high blood pressure and sugar levels, obesity and other lifestyle related ailments.
IR have recruited over 80,000 persons to fill up some of such vacancies.
During 2012-13, more than o­ne lakh persons are proposed to be recruited. With these recruitments, Indian Railways will also be wiping out the backlog vacancies of SC/ST/OBC and physically challenged persons and complying with the instructions of DOP&T.Railway PSUs
InductIon of 2 new Board Members viz. PPP/Marketing and Safety/Research.
CONCESSION
Extend 50% concession in fare in AC 2, AC 3, Chair Car and Sleeper Classes to patients suffering from ‘Aplastic Anaemia’ and ‘Sickle Cell Anaemia’.
Extend the facility of travel by Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains to Arjuna Awardees.