New Delhi

The railway budget, however, spared passengers and goods movement from any increase in charges while it announced introduction of three new super fast trains and creation of dedicated north-south, east-west and east coast freight corridors by 2019. But, there was no mention of any new route across the country. 

The three new super fast trains announced by him include ‘Humsafar’, which will be a fully air-conditioned 3 AC service with option of meals. ‘Tejas’ will showcase the future of train travel in India with speeds up to 130 km per hour with on board services such as entertainment, local cuisine and WiFi. The two trains will ensure cost recovery through tariff and non-tariff measures, while ‘Uday’ will be an overnight double-decker along with ‘Utkrishit’ double-decker air-conditioned Yatri express on busiest routes. 

For improving quality of travel for unreserved passenger, a superfast ‘Antyodya’ express service would be introduced. Deen Dayalu’ unreserved coaches with potable water and higher number of mobile charging points would also be introduced. 

The three new freight corridors of North-South will connect Delhi and Chennai, East-West connecting Kharagpur to Mumbai and East Coast from Kharagpur to Vijawada. 

“It is proposed to put these three projects on high priorityd and ensure implementation in a time-bound manner through PPP mode,” Prabhu said. 

To boost customer interface, the Budget proposed interaction through social media and dedicated IVRS system and making travel comfortable by generating over 65,000 additional berths and installing 2,500 water vending machines. Wi-Fi facility has been provided at 100 station and 400 more will be covered soon, he said. 

As part of safety measures, 350 manned and 1000 unmanned level crossings have been closed. Totally, 820 road over bridges and rail under bridges have been completed in the current year and work is going on in 1,350 of them. As part of improving customer interface, work is underway to instal a hi-tech centralised network of 20,000 screens in 2000 stations. 

Provision of amenities and beautification of stations will be taken on priority in pilgrim centres like Chengannur, Dwarka, Gaya, Haridwar, Mathura, Nagapattinam, Tirupati, Velankanni and others. 

Here's the reaction of the top brass in Tamil Nadu on the railway budget

• “Hope with enhanced capital budget, double lining of Villupuram to Kanyakumari line would be expedited,” says Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
• “Minister has only referred to action on 139 announcements made last year. Not much info on projects,” says S Ramadoss, PMK Founder
• “Disappointing that long-awaited trains, doubling of track and electrification works have not been announced,” says Vijayakanth, DMDK Founder
• “No new trains to tourist destinations like Chennai, Coimbatore, Thanjavur, Madurai and Kanyakumari,” says GK Vasan, President, TMC

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