Updated
New Delhi, Jul 8 (IANS): Bullet trains are set to become a reality in India with the first service between Mumbai and Ahmedabad as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government sought to run Indian Railways - one of the world's largest - like a "commercial enterprise but serve like a welfare organization".
In the Railway Budget presented to parliament Tuesday, Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda unveiled many new measures to make Indian Railways, which runs about 20,000 trains and ferries 23 million passengers daily, a modern, efficient and commercially viable utility.
He presented proposals, subject to parliamentary approval, for introduction of 58 new trains, paperless office in five years, digital reservation charts, wi-fi in select stations and trains, wake-up call for passengers, separate freight terminals, office-on-wheels for business travellers, more money for cleanliness and safety, food courts at stations, expansion of rail tourism and better connectivity in hilly areas and northeastern states.
He also promised a diamond quadrilateral project of high-speed rail connectivity between the four metros.
He said some identified stations will be developed like modern airports.
Having already hiked passenger fares by 14.2 percent and the freight carriage charges by 6.5 percent, which is expected to fetch additional revenue of Rs.8,000 crore, Gowda focused on ways to earn from other sources, such as allowing foreign equity in areas excluding operations, as also public-private partnerships.
Details, he said, would be worked out.
He said Rs.500,000 crore ($83 billion) will be required over the next 10 years to fund the modernisation plans of the network, as against the actual spend of Rs.18,400 crore in the past 10 years, but noted that freight and passenger fare hikes alone could not fetch such large requirements.
Gowda also made it clear that commercial viability cannot be sidestepped.
"An organisation of this magnitude vested with varied responsibilities, is expected to earn like a commercial enterprise but serve like a welfare organisation. These two objectives are like the two rails of the railway track, which travel together but never meet," he said in his hour-long speech.
Prime Minister Modi was quick to react. "The Railway Budget keeps in mind the development of India. We can see the great use of technology also," he tweeted, adding: "This budget strengthens institutional mechanism. It focuses on transparency and integrity."
India Inc. largely welcomed the budget, saying it is reform oriented and opens up vast opportunities for the public-private partnership in a whole gamut of areas, including cleanliness, upkeep of major stations like the airports, and IT infrastructure. The industry bodies also lauded the government's promise of encouraging domestic as well as foreign investments in the sector.
However, the stock markets reacted negatively with benchmark Sensex plunging by nearly two percent. Railway-related stocks tumbled on lower than expected increase in plan outlay. Texmaco Rail & Engineering slumped by 20 percent. Most other scrips fell at least five percent.
Gowda pegged the total planned outlay for fiscal 2014-15 at Rs.65,445 crore, which is just 1.8 percent higher than Rs.64,305 crore announced by his predecessor in the interim budget presented in February.
Ranked among the world's top five, the Indian railroad network ferries 23 million people and 2.65 million tonnes of goods daily, or 1.1 billion tonnes annually, from 7,172 stations on 12,617 passenger and 7,421 freight trains over more than 64,000 route km.
With a network stretching from Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir in the foothills of the Himalayas to the southern tip of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, the Indian Railways is also among the largest employers with an estimated 1.4 million people on its rolls.
Shifting to finances, Gowda pegged the total receipts at Rs.164,374 crore and the total expenditure at Rs.1,49,176 crore while expecting a 4.9 percent growth in freight and a small growth in passenger traffic this fiscal. He projected an operating ratio, or the amount spent to earn one rupee, at 92.5 paise - one paisa more than in 2013-14.
"The Indian Railways will improve system capabilities in e-ticketing to support 7,200 tickets per minute as against 2,000 tickets and allow 120,000 simultaneous users at any point," the minister said, adding that coin-operated vending machines will also be launched.
As regards the high-speed projects, the minister said Indian Railways would require more than Rs.900,000 crore ($150 billion) to complete the golden quadrilateral network and about Rs.60,000 crore ($100 billion) for introducing one bullet train alone.
"It is the wish and dream of every Indian that India runs a bullet train as early as possible. Madam Speaker, Indian Railways is on its way to fulfil that long cherished dream. We propose bullet trains by starting off with an already identified Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector, where a number of studies have been done," Gowda said.
Modi, in his election speeches, had talked about introducing bullet trains, after seeing them run in Japan and China, if he came to power.
Gowda also listed four new ways to mobilise resources -- allowing foreign equity, more public-private partnerships, commercial funds augmentation by state-run railway firms and extending tax holidays for long gestation projects
With a poor track record on safety, the railway budget also proposed a multi-pronged approach to make train journey safe, secure and comfortable for passengers, with more thrust on passenger amenities, cleanliness and efficient station management.
In a report presented in 2012, an official committee chaired by noted scientist Anil Kakodkar had put the number of rail-related deaths at 15,000 people per annum. "No civilized society can accept such a massacre on their railway system," the report said.
“Battery-abled cars will be introduced in the platforms for the differently-abled and senior citizens for easy mobility. Considering that we have a large number of business travellers, we plan to introduce work stations in various trains. A pilot will be launched this year,” he said.
Gowda added that there will also be proper water supply and toilets at all railway stations.
Giving importance to the catering services in the train, ready-to-eat meals could be served on demand enroute. “Catering is a major issue of concern. A third party audit will be introduced for monitoring of quality control. Hygiene and taste of food will not be compromised.”
Railway budget highlights
* Receipts in 2014-15 estimated at Rs.164,374 crore, expenditure at Rs.149,176 crore
* Fare revision will bring in Rs.8,000 crore; need another Rs.9,000 crore for the diamond quadrilateral project
* Receipts in 2013-14 were Rs.139,550 crore; expenditure was Rs.130,321 crore
* Spent 94 paise of every rupee earned, leaving a surplus of only 6 paise
* Twenty three railway projects underway in the northeast; Rs.5,116 crore allocated for this in 2014-15 - a jump of 54 percent from the previous fiscal
* Diamond quadrilateral to be launched for high-speed trains; Rs.100 crore allocated for taking project forward
* First bullet train to run on Mumbai-Ahmedabd route
* Trains on select routes to be speeded up to 160-200 km per hour
* Ticketing to be further modernised to issue 7,200 tickets per minute
* Dedicated freight corridor projects to be closely monitored
* Social service obligations of the railways rose from 9.4 percent of gross traffic receipts in 2000-01 to 16.6 percent in 2010-11; in 2012-13 these stood at Rs 20,000 crore.
* Would require Rs.5 lakh crores in 10 years for ongoing projects
* In the past, focus was on sanctioning projects rather than completing them; in the past 30 years, 676 projects worth Rs.157,883 crore sanctioned, of which 317 completed and 359 incomplete and would require Rs.182,000 crore
* It is estimated that over Rs.40,000 crore would be needed for track renewal, elimination of unmanned railway crossings and for road-under and road-over bridges.
* To strengthen security in trains and at stations, 17,000 RPF constables have been recruited; 4,000 women constables to also be recruited. RPF teams in trains to be provided mobile phones.
* Railways to interact with industry to attract investment in PPP mode through BOT and Annuity route; 8-10 capacity augmentation projects on congested routes to be identified for this
* Port connectivity taken up on priority in PPP mode
* Fifty eight new trains, among them five Jan Sadharan trains, five premium trains and six AC express trains to be introduced; run of 11 trains to be extended
* Special festival trains to continue
* Banihal-Katra link in Jammu and Kashmir to be taken up; in the interim, a bus system has been introduced to enable travel to Srinagar on a single ticket
* Wi-Fi at select stations and on some trains
* Paperless railway offices in five years
* Indian Railways hold vast land assets which need to be digitised and GIS mapped for better management and usage; resource mobilisation using land assets will be explored through PPP mode
* Innovation Incubation Centre to be set up
* Pre-cooked ready-to-eat meals to be introduced
* Food courts to be set up at major stations to provide regional flavour; pilot project on New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi routes
* Forty percent increase in expenditure on cleanliness; CCTVs to monitor cleanliness at stations; cleaning activities at 50 major stations to be outsourced to professional agencies; separate housekeeping wing to be set up; onboard housekeeping services on 400 trains appreciated
* Special train on teachings of Swami Vivekananda
* Railways backbone of supply chain of defence establishment
* Carry one billion tonnes of freight every year; target to become largest freight carrier in the world
* Decline in traffic growth in 2013-14
* With 12,500 trains, railways move 23 million passengers every day; equivalent to moving Australia's population
* Open mind to correct shortcomings