Highlights from Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's Speech

● No increase in passenger fares

● SMS alert to be introduced for train timings

● To introduce air-conditioned coaches for suburban trains

● Wi-fi to be available at 400 railway stations

● To revamp station redevelopment policy completely

● To have bidding system for redevelopment of stations

● To develop 10 satellite railway stations this year

● On-board entertainment facility could be extended on Shatabdi trains

● Mobile charging stations will be introduced general class coaches

● Wagon-making scheme to be reviewed to make it easier for private investment

● To improve cleanliness & design of bed linen

● All India 24x7 grievances helpline 138 to start soon

● 7,000 more toilets to be replaced by Bio-Toilets, New toilets at 650
stations, more vacuum toilets

● Passenger travelling unreserved can procure a ticket within 5 minutes

● Mobile application to address complaints of people is also being developed

● Hand-held devices for ticket checkers for moving towards paperless ticketing

● Centrally managed railway display network in over 2000 stations in next 2 years

● We are committed to provide rail connectivity to North Eastern states

● CCTVs to be introduced in select trains and suburban trains for women safety

● Train Protection Warning System, Train Collision Avoidance System

● Tickets can be booked 120 days in advance instead of 60 days

● Plan expenditure to go up to a record Rs 1.1 lakh crore in 2015-16 from
Rs 66,000 crore in the previous year

● Railways plans to spend over Rs 8 lakh crore over five years

● We will introduce train sets saving 20% of journey time, similar to bullet trains in design, and that can run on existing tracks

● Feasibility report of high speed train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad expected by mid-2015

● The speed passenger trains across nine corridors will be increased to 160-200 km from 110 km

● Railways to go through transformation in five years; to increase track capacity by 10 per cent to 1.38 lakh km

● To monetise assets rather than sell them

● To set up full-fledged Railway University in FY16

● Rs.2000 crore for Coastal Connectivity Program; Rs.2500 crore through BOT/Annuity route

● 6608 kms of track to be electrified

● Projects worth Rs 96,182 crore to expand capacity of 9,420 km rail lines

● Drawing up comprehensive policy to tap latent advertising potential