Today in Delhi, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presents his second Railway Budget in the Parliament for the year 2016-17.
Prabhu said I am happy to announce that action has been initiated on 139 budget announcements made last year. Highlights of Railway Budget 2016-17 are as follows:
- 8.5 lakh crore to be spent over 5 years for modernization of railway infrastructure: Suresh Prabhu
- Expect revenue growth of over 10% this year, says Railway Minister
- Rail Budget’s 3 Rs are-restructure, reorganize and rejuvenate
- New locomotive factories to be set up with an order book of 40,000 crore rupees
- 1,600 km of electrification this year and 2,000 km in the next year are proposed
- Mizoram and Manipur to be brought under broad gauge soon
- Improving efficiency yardsticks & procurement practices
- Schemes being given assent in 6-8 month instead of two years to increase efficiency
- Entire bidding process for railway projects will be done online from 2016-17
- 44 new projects valued Rs. 92,714 crores to be implemented this year
- Elimination of all unmanned Railway Crossings by 2020
- World’s first bio-vacuum toilet implemented by Indian Railways
- Broad Gauge lines at the rate of over 7 km /day against an average of about 4.3 km/day in last 6 years
- New train between Varanasi and Delhi, Mahamana Express with modern refurbished coaches.
- We have begun the process of starting WiFi services at railway stations
- The common people have always been the focus of all our initiative
- I intend to go all the way on reforming
- Railway confirms free WiFi in 100 stations by end of this year
- Railway-17: Chengannur railway station to be renovated
- Suresh Prabhu concludes his speech on Railway Budget 2016
