Indias Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee presented the new Railway Budget for the year 2010-11 in the

parliament on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. This was second budget presented by Dr. Mamta Banerjee in this Lok Sabha. The earlier Budget was presented by her on July 3, 2009. Before this , she was India Rail Minister in NDA government and had presented the Rail Budget in 2000 which was her first railway Budget. Mamta is also known to start Duronto express and Yuva Express. The second Budget was presented without any increase in passenger fares or freight tariffs. A marginal reduction in service charges for sleeper and air-conditioned class tickets was announced. A cut of Rs.100 per wagon in the freight of food grains, and kerosene was also announced. Which seemed to be Mamtas reply to the rising food & petroleum prices. The Minister has also come up with a promise to set up a task force which shall be clearing PPP (Public Private Projects) for the railways within 100 Days. The overall theme of the budget was Good Intentions for a Better Future The following pages deal with the Railway Budget 2010-11 in brief and GKToday takes an opportunity to provide its readers an insight into what railways did in this year & what are the Good Intentions of the Indian Railways along with some policy measures which dont seem to be very specific.

1. Understanding Railway's Income 2. Understanding Railway's Expenditure & profits 3. Were The committments Fulfilled? 4. Adarsh Stations and Other Passenger Amenities / Facilities 5. Safety & Security, Sports, Culture & Heritage,Staff Welfare & Health, Training 6. Railway Research , Industrial Relations, Kisan Vision Project 7. Modified Wagon Investment Scheme, Proposals for Environment 8. Dedicated Corridors 9. Other Projects, New Services , Concessions etc. announcements

Railway Budget 2010-11 : Understanding Railway's Income

Freight Loading Target: The Freight Loading target of 882 MT was set in Budget Estimates of 2009-10 which was presented in July 2009. In the revised estimates (RE 2009-10) this target was 890 MT.Thus in the revised estimates which are called actual estimates, the Freight Loading Target was 8 MT more than the budgetary estimates.

In the Budget estimates for the year 2010-11 The Railways has a target of 944 MTof Freight Loading, which is 54 MT more than the Revised estimates of 200910. The following graphic presents this:

Gross Traffic Receipts :

The Target for Gross Traffic Receipts was set of Rs. 88419 Crores in Budget Estimates of 2009-10. However It was not achieved and Gross Traffic Receipts as per revised Estimates of 2009-10 were Rs. 88356 Crores. This Rs. 88356 crore comprised of Freight Earnings Rs. 58716 Crore, Passenger Earnings Rs. 24057 Crore, Other Coaching Earnings Rs. 2526 Crore, and Sundry other earnings Rs. 2982 Crore, Clearing of Railways Outstanding Dues Rs. 75 Crore.

The above Breakup is as follows:

Gross Traffic Receipts : Budgetary Targets for 2010-11 For 2010-11 the railways has set for itself a Gross Traffic receipt target of Rs. 94765 Crores, which include, Freight Earnings =Rs.62489 Crore, Passenger Earnings =Rs.26127 crore, Other Coaching Earnings =Rs. 3171 Crore, Sundry Other earnings =Rs. 2778 Crore & Clearing of Railways Outstanding Dues =Rs. 200 Crore. Summary: The following table summarizes the above datas. All are important so please go through them carefully:

Railway Budget 2010-11: Understanding Railway's Expenditure and Profit

The Profit of the Indian railways has fallen short this year. In 2009-10 Budget Estimates Indian Railways projected a profit of2642.26 Crore Rupees. How? The following break up makes you understand , how the profit decreased in 2009-10. The Budget Estimates for the year 2009-10 were as follows:
Gross Traffic Receipts (a) = Rs. 88419 Crore This Gross Traffic Receipts had to be utilized as follows: (B)Ordinary working expenses = Rs. 62900 Crore (C) Appropriation to Depreciation Reserve Fund = Rs. 5325 Crore (D) Appropriation to Pension Fund = 13440 Crore

(E)A total of B,C & D gives Total Working Expenses of Railways =Rs. 81665 Crore
(F)This working expenses is deducted from Gross Traffic Receipts to come at a figure which is called Net Traffic Receipts = Rs. 6754 Crore (G)Net Miscellaneous Receipts (which mainly include safety charges on passenger fares, subsidies, and other earnings) Net Miscellaneous Expenses etc. is added to this figure = Rs. 1376.48 (H) Adding F & G gives a figure called Net revenue= Rs. 8121.48 Crore

(I)Out of this net revenue railway had planned to pay the dividend liability =Rs. 5479 Crore

When I deducted from H , gives Excess/shortfall or generally we call it profit / loss: =Rs. 2642.26 Crore

Out of This money Rs. 2000 crore had to be added to development Fund & Rs. 642.26 Crore to Capital Fund.

Please note that the Operating ratio in Budget estimates of 2009-10 was 92.5.

After understanding the above datas , please have a look on the following table which gives a difference in estimated (Budget Estimates 2009-10) and actual (Revised Estimates 2009-10) Expenditures and earnings of Indian Railway:

The above Table shows that in 2009-10 Indian railways earned Rs. 951 crore instead of its estimated earnings of Rs. 2642.26 Crores as estimated in the Budget 2009-10. Now next question is How Railways would meet the shortfalls?
1. Railway Minister says that an additional borrowing of Rs. 350 Crore by Indian Railway Finance Corporation would be necessary. 2. With this Total market Borrowings of Indian railways would be from Rs. 9170 crore to Rs. 9520 Crores. What does Indian Railway Plan for 2010-11? The following are the Budget Estimates of 2010-11. Please note that as we

discussed in the previous paragraph, how much Railway earned in 2009-10, the same will be calculated in next year.

So, Indian Railway estimates Gross Traffic Receipts for year 2010-11 worth Rs. 94765 Crore and estimated earnings are Rs. 3173 Crores, out of which Rs. 2800 Crores will be added to the Development Fund and Rs. 373 crore will be added to the Capital Fund. What is Annual Plan for 2010-11?

1. Indian railways have also proposed an annual plant worth Rs. 41426
Crores. This is Highest investment plan ever made. This is Rs. 1142 Crore more than the plan of last year. 2. The plan money will come from Gross Budgetary Support of Rs. 15875 Crore, Diesel Cess of Rs. 877 Crore, Internal Resources of Rs. 14523 Crore and EBR of Rs. 10151 Crore. (EBR is extra budgetary Resources which include 9120 crores) 3. In incorporates Rs. 4411 crore for New lines, Rs. 1302 Crore for Passenger amenities, Rs. 1001 crore for Metro projects. 4. The plan also inlcudes acquisition of 18000 wagons. 1021 kms of new lines to be completed, and 9 new line projects have been announced.

Performance of Railway PSUs: As per the Budget paper, all the eleven PSUs under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways have performed well in 2008-09 and achieved a combined turnover of Rs 13,641 crore, earning a net profit of Rs 1,328 crore and paid a dividend Rs 286 crore to the Railways.

Railway Budget 2010-11: Were the Committments Fulfilled?

New Trains:
1. Out of 120 new trains, extensions and increase in frequencies which were announced on July 3, 2009 in the Railway Budget 2009-10, 117 would be flagged off by end of March 2010. (remaining 3 on completion of gauge conversion works)

Recruitment Reforms:
1. Recruitment Policy of the government has been revised and some measures initiated. 2. The question papers will be set in English, Hindi, Urdu as well as Local language of the state. 3. The examination for same posts will be held simultaneously by all RRBs. 4. There is a fee waiver for women, weaker sections of the society and poor people whose annual income is less than Rs. 50,000 per annum.

Izzat Ticket Scheme:

1. The Izzat scheme which was announced in July 2009 which provides monthly Izzat Tickets of Rs. 25 (for travel up to 100 kms) for the people from the unorganized sector with an income of less than Rs. 1500 per month had been implemented within 3 months of the announcement. 2. Concessions to press correspondents, and extension of students concessions to madarasas, was also implemented within 3 months of announcements.

MFCs
1. Work has initiated on 67 Multifunctional Complexes (MFCs).

Tickets Through Post Offices & Mushkil Asan:

1. There were two promises made in the budget 2009-10 with an aim to taking ticketing to grassroots. One of them was to introduce ticketing through the Post offices and another was introduction of mobile ticketing vans called Mushkil Asaan. The first target was not fulfilled because Railway says it has Financial Problems , however the minister says scope of Mushkil Asaan will be expanded to accommodate the first initiative as well. 2. The proposed expansion of Mushkil Asaan includes to induct e-ticket based mobile vans for issuing tickets in Government medical college hospitals, High courts, Distracts courts, University campuses, IT Hubs, IITs and IIMs.

3. Railway also proposes to open ticket centres at District headquarters and village Panchayats.

4. Railways will spend Rs. 1302 crore in 2010-11 on passenger amenities.

Janta Ahar :
1. Catering Policy is under revision. The Railways had introduced Janta Ahar which was to provide economically priced food in many stations. But railways got the complaints and now decided to provide catering departmentally.

What is Janta Ahar?

1. Janta Ahaar is a scheme of Indian Railways of opening Food Plazzas at various stations with cheap food like Janata meal of poori-bhaji at Rs.10, Bread pakora and plain dosa costing Rs. 10 each, and masala dosa Rs. 15. Aalu chop which is priced as low as Rs.3. 2. The Four Jan Ahaar outlets came up at Howrah, Chennai, Bangalore and Secunderabad by November end 2009 and the scheme included that the restaurants being run by various operators will be taken over as and when their contracts end, and the space utilized for setting up the Janata Ahar plazas.

3. However the scheme got complaints. In some cases the Flagship Janta
Food was not available. The scheme does not seems to be a nice idea , if not implemented well.

Railway Budget 2010-11: Adarsh Stations and Other Passenger Amenities / Facilities
94 more stations declared as Adarsh Stations . Development of Adarsh stations has started. Please note 375 Adarsh stations were announced in Budget 2009-10. These Adarsh stations will have all basic facilities like drinking water, toilets and ladies dormitories. 10 More stations to be developed as World Class Railway Stations . Please note that 50 Railways stations were selected in Budget 2009-10 for developing them as World Class Stations. 93 new multifunctional complexes in Year 2010-11. Few Pilot projects on multi level parking complexes will be started in 2010-11.

6 Bottling plants at Ambala, Amethi, Mal, Nasik, Farakka & Trivandrum through PPP route planned to provide Fresh water at cheap rates.

SMS updates on Reservation status and punctuality of trains. SMS updates on movement of wagons to freight customers. Double Decker train sets in Delhi and Kolkata in Pilot projects. RFID Technology for tracking of wagons carrying coal and Iron. Introductiion of modern trolleys at all important stations which shall be handled by uniformed attendants to assit senior citizens and woman passengers.

Streamlining of iron rakes. Allotment of Iron rakes on scientific basis.

Railway Budget 2010-11: Safety & Security, Sports, Culture & Heritage,Staff Welfare & Health, Training
Safety & Security
1. Railways will adopt a twin strategy by adopting the highest level of technology and pressing into force well-trained manpower, as emphasized in Vision 2020.

2. Anti-collision device (ACD) has already been installed on NF Railway and is

now proposed to be extended to three more zonal railways. 3. 4 projects of Train protection warning system (TPWS) covering 828 route-kms for improving safety and preventing collision accidents will be implemented during 2010-11. 4. Developing crashworthy coaches and locomotives, and will provide automatic fire and smoke detection system in 20 pairs of long-distance trains as pilot project.

5. There are 17000 unmanned level crossings. Manning of around 3,000 level
crossings was approved in 2009-10 and a further 1,000 level crossings will be taken up in 2010-11. Railways wants to cover all unmanned level crossings by 5 years. 6. More under-passes, limited height sub-ways besides ROB/RUBs will be constructed in 2011. 7. Railways will explore the possibility of using jute geo-textiles wherever the soil formation of the railway track is unstable and weak.

8. Railways will raise 12 companies of women RPF personnel to be named

Mahila Vahini. 9. RPSF will also be strengthened. Priority will be given to women especially those belonging to minorities, SC/ST, OBC, and economically backward classes

Sports :

1. Indian Railways is the first recipient of the newly instituted,prestigious

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar, awarded for the encouragement of sports.

2. Railways will set up five Sports Academies at Delhi, Secunderabad,

Chennai,Kolkata and Mumbai. 3. Railways will provide astro-turfs for the development of hockey at more places. Railways will provide increased employment opportunities. 4. Indian Railways will be the Lead Partner of the Commonwealth Games being hosted by India & to mark this event and also to spread the message, Railways proposes to run a Commonwealth exhibition train.

Culture & Heritage

1. Railway Cultural & Heritage Promotion Board will be set up which will be responsible for coordinating and supervising all culture & heritage related activities on the railways.

2. On the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Railways

will set up a Rabindra Museum at Howrah and Gitanjali Museum at Bolpur. Bolpur station will be remodeled inspired by the Shantiniketan architecture.

3. A Shambhu Mitra Cultural Complex with performing arts and a music

academy will be established at at Howrah.

Staff Welfare & Health

1. A new scheme of House for All, that will provide residences to all railway
employees in the next ten years with the help of Ministry of Urban Development was announced. 2. Railways has recently signed two Memorandum of Understanding with Ministry of Health and Ministry of Human Resource Development for setting up of hospitals and educational institutions on surplus railway land. 3. With the cooperation of these ministries, it is expected that about 522 hospitals and diagnostic centres, 50 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 10 residential

schools on the pattern of Navodaya Vidyalaya, model degree colleges and technical and management institutions of national importance will be set up. 4. Outpatient Departments (OPD) and diagnostic centres , Secondary-level General Speciality Hospitals & . Tertiary-level Multi-speciality Hospitals will be set up at various stations.

5. Railways has 80,000 women employees. Railways proposes to set up 50

crches for children of women employees and 20 hostels. 6. Railways will also provide more numbers of community centres and stadiums.

7. Railways has decided to enhance the contribution to Central Staff Benefit

Fund from Rs 350 per employee to Rs 500. The increased allocation will be used for welfare of gang men and similar categories and their families 8. The scope of safety-related retirement scheme will be expanded to cover all safety category staff with a grade pay of Rs 1800.

9. Railways will extend the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to all licensed
porters, vendors and hawkers, who are from the unorganized sector and are socially challenged.

Training :

1. A state-of-the-art advanced loco pilot training centre will be set up at

Kharagpur.

2. An advanced railway track training centre at Beleghata for training of

gangmen and gatemen will be opened. 3. Four multidisciplinary training centres will be opened at Cuttack, Coochbehar, Malda and Jabalpur

Railway Research , Industrial Relations, Kisan Vision Project

Railway Research
1. RDSO (Research, Design and Standards Organization) will be revamped and will be brought in line with modern research organization.

2. A Centre for Railway Research will be be set up in Indian Institute of

Technology, Kharagpur for research in key areas of railway technology and to give a thrust to indigenization. For this an MOU on 13th February was signed with IIT Kharagpur.

3. Railways will establish strong research partnerships with premier institutes like IITs, NITs, CSIR and DRDO.

Industrial Relations

1. Railways will modernize and augment the capacity of Chittaranjan Locomotive

Works (CLW) from its present level of 200 locomotives to 275. 2. A centre for excellence in the design, development and evaluation of new technology required for electric rolling stock will also be set at Chittaranjan

3. New coach factories will be set up at Rae Bareilly, Kancharapara and

Palakkad. 4. A Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) factory in JV/PPP mode would be set up at Sankrail. 5. Integral Coach Factory, Chennai would be further modernized and expanded by installing a second unit so as to equip it to manufacture a larger number of technologically upgraded coaches from its present level of about 1500 coaches per year. 6. A wagon repair shop for undertaking periodic overhaul of wagons will be set up at Badnera to handle the maintenance work of the large fleet of wagons that will be acquired in the future. 7. Centres of Excellence in Wagon Prototyping will be developed in Railway Workshops and first such Centre of Excellence will be set up at Kharagpur Workshop. 8. A new Rail Axle Factory through PPP/JV mode will be set up in New Jalpaiguri to achieve self-sufficiency in axle manufacturing, eliminating the present dependence on imports. 9. A Design Development and Testing Centre for Wheels will be set up at Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore.

10. A new MLR (Mid-life rehabilitation ) workshop at Anara (Adhra) will be set up
with an annual capacity of 250 coaches. 11. Five state-of-the-art wagon factories in JV/PPP mode will be set up at Secunderabad, Barddhaman, Bhubaneshwar/Kalahandi, Guwahati and Haldia. 12. Two two workshops for POH of high axle load wagons required for moving traffic on the western and eastern Dedicated Freight Corridors will be set up at in Maharashtra and Dankuni. Kisan Vision Project:

1. Kisan Vision Project has been initiated by identifying six locations, namely
Dankuni, Mechheda, Nasik,New Jalpaiguri, New Azadpur and Singur for implementation as pilot projects.To meet the requirement of Refrigerators , Railways will set up a refrigerated container factory, on a PPP mode at Budge.

Modified Wagon Investment Scheme, Proposals for Environment

1. Railways will introduce a modified wagon investment scheme for high capacity general purpose and special purpose wagons. It will also cover iron ore, coal and cement. A detailed scheme will be notified shortly. 2. A policy to permit private operators to invest in infrastructure, on the lines of container train operators, and run special freight train for commodities such as automobiles, vegetable oil, molasses, chemicals and petrochemicals and bulk traffic like fly ash and cement will be notified shortly. 3. Automobile and ancillary hubs will be set up at 10 locations. The first such auto hub has been launched. 4. Roll-on-roll-off service will be extended. 5. To provide multi-modal door-to-door service to freight customers, one rake of road-cum-railer vehicle will be introduced on trial basis. 6. Railways is considering a premium tatkal service for parcel and freight movement. 7. Need for special wagons for iron ore, fly ash, automobiles will be examined.

Environment:
1. Railways has earlier taken up the distribution of 2.6 million CFLs and setting up 10 eco-parks.

2. At least ten rakes with green toilets will be introduced and installed on diesel
locomotives a GPS-based optimized driver guidance system for 8-10% saving in fuel consumption. 3. Railways will work closely with the Prime Ministers National Action Plan on Climate Change and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.

4. 10 Rail Eco-parks to conserve, protect and promote Railways wetlands and

forest areas have been planned. Out of these 10, Naopara was recently inaugurated.

Dedicated Corridors, International Cooperation

1. Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India will be revamped shortly for implementation of the Dedicated Freight Corridor project. 2. Agreement for the main loan for phase I of Western Corridor of DFC will be signed soon with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) 3. There will be no forcible acquisition of Land. 4. For north-south (Delhi, Haryana, UP, MP, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu), east-west (West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra), east-south (West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh) and southsouth (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa) Corridors Preliminary Engineering-cum-Traffic Survey (PETS) will be taken up in 2010-11. 5. On the line of the dedicated Freight Corridor which was declared as Diamond Rail Corridor, Railways is planning for Dedicated Passenger Corridor (DPC), which the minister declares as the Golden Rail Corridor of the Indian Railways. 6. High speed passenger corridors will be taken up in coming few years. A National High Speed rail authority for planning, standard setting, implementing and monitoring these projects will be set up.

International Cooperation:
1. Trans-Asian Railway network will be provided a rail link between Akhaura on Bangladesh side and Agartala on Indian side. 2. Railway training institutions will be opened for the benefit of railway personnel from south and south-east Asian countries.

Railway Budget 2010-11: Other Projects, New Services , Concessions etc. announcements
1. 75% concession to Technicians of Regional Films Industry in sleeper class. 50% in higher class. 2. 100% concession to Cancer patients in 3AC and sleeper class. 3. 50% concession for spouse of correspondents.

4. Service charge in E-tickets reduced to Rs. 10 for sleeper class & rs. 20 for AC class. 5. Reduction of Rs. 100 per wagon in freight charges for food grains for domestic use. 6. 101 new suburban services 7. More services in Kolkata & Chennai area. 8. Sanskriti Express which shall run across the country and also proposed to take it to Banlgadesh to mark 150th anniversary of Kabiguru Rabindra Nath Tagore. 9. Renaming the ladies Special trains as Matrabhoomi Specials 10. 3 Unreserved Trains for common people with name : karmabhoomi Express 11. New weekly express train service Janmabhoomi Express between Ahamadabad & Udhapur. 12. Tourist Bharat Tirth special trains for 16 routes. 13. 6 new long route and 4 new short route Duronto Trains 14. 54 new trains services 15. 28 New passenger trains. 16. 9 MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) 8 DEMU (Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit) to be started. 17. Extension of 21 trains and increase in frequency of 12 trains. 18. No increase in passenger fares. 19. No Increase in freight tarrifs.