The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley while presenting the General Budget 2017-18, in Parliament informed that this Budget is the First combined Budget of Independent India that includes the Railways.
For 2017-18, the total capital and development expenditure on Railways has been pegged at Rs. 1,31,000 crores. This includes Rs. 55,000 crores provided by the Government.
The Railways will focus on four major areas, namely, passenger safety, capital and development works, cleanliness and finance and accounting reforms. For passenger safety, a ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ will be created with a corpus of Rs.1 lakh crores over a period of 5 years, to be funded by seed capital from the Government, Railways’ own revenues and other sources.
Further, Jaitley informed that the Government will lay down clear cut guidelines and timeline for implementing various safety works to be funded from this ‘Kosh’. Unmanned level crossings on Broad Gauge lines will be eliminated by 2020. Expert international assistance will be harnessed to improve safety preparedness and maintenance practices.
Talking about the proposed steps for modernization and upgradation of identified corridors in his Budget Speech, Shri Jaitley said that Railway lines of 3,500 kms will be commissioned in 2017-18, as against 2,800 kms in 2016-17 and steps will be taken to launch dedicated trains for tourism and pilgrimage.
In the next 3 years, the throughput is proposed to be enhanced by 10%. Further, the Minister added that Railways have set-up joint ventures with 9 State Governments and 70 projects have been identified for construction and development.
Emphasizing the Government’s focus on ‘Swachh Rail’, the Finance Minister informed that a series of steps are proposed to be taken to enhance cleanliness in Railways, of which, an SMS based ‘Clean My Coach Service’ has already been started. It is now proposed to introduce the ‘Coach Mitra’ facility, a single window interface to register all coach related complaints and requirements.
Further, the Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that by 2019, all coaches of Indian Railways will be fitted with bio toilets. Pilot plants for environment friendly disposal of solid waste and conversion of biodegradable waste to energy are being set-up at New Delhi and Jaipur Railway Stations and five more such Solid waste management plants are now being taken-up.