No hike in the passenger fare and freight rate has been proposed in the Railway Budget 2011-12. The Budget with highest ever plan outlay of Rs. 57,630 crore will have Rs. 9,583 crore for new railway lines and significant funds for passenger amenities.
Presenting the Railway Budget in Parliament today the Minister for Railways, Mamata Banerjee, announced a number of new initiatives including expansion of railway network, modernization of safety and security and welfare of railway employees.
To promote rail tourism, four special tourist trains called "Janam Bhoomi Gaurav" will be launched to connect important historical and educational places. These special trains, announced in the Rail Budget today, will ply on the following routes:
Howrah-Bolpur-Rajgir (Nalanda)-Pataliputra (Patna)-Varanasi (Sarnath)-Gaya-Howrah;
Bangalore-Mysore-Hassan (Space Facility, Belur, Halebid, Shravanbengola)-Hubli-Gadag(Hampi)-Bijapur (Gole Gumbaz)- Bangalore;
Chennai-Puduchcheri-Tiruchichirappali-Madurai- Kanniyakumari -Thiruvananthpuram-Ernakulam-Chennai; and
Mumbai-Ahmedabad-(Lothal)-Bhavnagar (Palitana)-(Alang)- Gir-Diu (Somnath-Veraval)-(Junagarh)-Rajkot-Mumbai.
As many as nine new Duronto trains, three Shatabdi Express trains and double-decker air conditioned services on two routes were announced by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today. The new Shatabdi Express would link Pune-Secunderabad, Jaipur-Agra and Ludhiana-Delhi while the AC double-decker services are proposed on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes.
The Duronto trains are Allahabad-Mumbai AC (bi-weekly), Pune-Ahmedabad AC (tri-weekly), Sealdah-Puri non-AC (tri- weekly), Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam AC (tri-weekly), Madurai- Chennai AC (bi-weekly), Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram AC (bi- weekly), Mumbai Central-New Delhi AC (bi-weekly), Nizamuddin- Ajmer non-AC (bi-weekly) and Shalimar-Patna (tri-weekly).
To mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda in 2013, Banerjee in her rail budget proposed introduction of new trains called "Vivek Express".
The first four such trains would be introduced on Dibrugarh -Thiruvantharam-Kanyakumari Express (weekly) via Kokrajhar, Dwarka-Tuticorin Express (weekly) via Wadi, Howrah-Mangalore Express (weekly) via Palghat and Bandra(T)-Jammu Tawi Express (weekly) via Marwar-Degana-Ratangarh-Jakhal-Ludhiana.
The Minister proposed extension of concessions for physically handicapped persons in Rajadhani and Shatabdi Trains. Now Press correspondents will also be entitled to avail 50 % concession with family twice in a year instead once in a year. At present the concession for senior citizens is extended to both men and women at 60 years of age, the Railway Minister proposed to reduce the age to 58 years in the case of women, besides increasing senior citizens concession from 30% to 40%.
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