Rail Budget 2015: 10 Things That Can Make Your Travel Easier
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in his maiden Rail Budget proposed a number of new services to provide more passenger amenities. The minister said Railways will spend Rs 12,500 crore on providing more amenities to passengers from 2015-19.
Ticketing and Reservation
Tickets can be booked 120 days ahead of travel date, instead of 60 days now.
The railway minister also proposed an 'Operation Five Minutes' initiative in which passenger travelling unreserved can purchase a ticket within five minutes. Vending machines and 'single destination teller' windows will be used to reduce the purchase time.
Railways will soon introduce a system through which people can check latest berth availability on running trains.
Integrated ticketing system on the lines of rail-cum-road tickets on Jammu- Srinagar route will be expanded.
IT Initiative
SMS alert service to be introduced for train arrivals and departures. The SMS service will inform passengers in advance the updated arrival/departure time of trains at starting or destination stations.
Wi-Fi to be available at 400 railway stations
Food
The e-catering service will be expanded to more trains to provide freedom for passengers to select their meals from an array of choices. Food can be ordered through the IRCTC website at the time of booking of tickets.
Water vending machines will be installed in more stations to ensure availability of clean drinking water at very low cost.
On-Board Entertainment System
On-board entertainment system will be introduced on select Shatabdi trains. Later, it will be extended to all Shatabdis, depending on the response.
Mobile phone charging facilities would be provided in general class coaches and the number of charging facilities would be increased in sleeper class coaches.
Air-Conditioned Suburban Service
Air-conditioned EMU service will be introduced on the Mumbai suburban sections.
Helplines and Safety
Toll free number 182 created for security-related complaint.
An all-India 24X7 helpline number, 138, will attend to the problems of passengers on a real time basis. Passengers will be able to call up for complaints while on trains. It will be functional soon.
Surveillance cameras to be introduced in select trains and suburban trains for women safety.
Reduction in Travel Time
The speed of 9 railway corridors will be increased from the existing 110 and 130 kmph to 160 and 200 kmph respectively so that inter-metro journeys like Delhi-Kolkata and Delhi-Mumbai can be completed overnight.
Railways plans to introduce modern train system called train sets to providing better riding experience and about 20 per cent savings in journey time. These new trains will be similar to bullet trains in design and can run on existing tracks. The first set of these trains would be introduced within the next two years.
Cleanliness
Railways will accelerate the shift to the use of bio-toilets in coaches. So far we 17,388 bio toilets have been installed and this year another 17,000 toilets is planned to be put in place.
The facility of online booking of disposable bedrolls at select stations is being extended to all passengers through the IRCTC portal on payment basis.
Train Capacity Increase
More berths will be made available through increase in number of coaches to meet the growing demand for seats. Further, capacity in select trains will be augmented to run with 26 coaches from the existing 24 coaches.
Station Services
The facility of self-operated lockers would also gradually be made available at stations. IRCTC also plans to provide concierge services at major stations for the assistance of passengers for their pick-up and drop.
