Indian Minister Suresh Prabhu's second railway budget presented on 26th February, saw an optimistic set of announcements that leaned mostly in favour of women. Prabhu announced a 33 per cent sub-quota for women in all reserved categories on trains, and announced middle bay of all coaches to be reserved for them, to enhance security. A 24x7 helpline will be set up specifically for women, and for those with kids. The minister said that a children's menu as well as baby food and hot milk at railway stations would be introduced. 'Baby boards' will be put up in trains where new mothers can change diaper with ease.
Several new passenger amenities were announced, like automatic doors and a new pan-India Clean My Coach Service, which will enable passengers to SMS request for their toilets to be cleaned. The passenger-friendly initiatives announced in the budget got women across the country rooting for Prabhu.
Presenting the budget, Prabhu said the government would launch 44 new projects, valued at £9.21 billion, with enhanced efforts to monitor all the projects, in some cases even using drones. “The railways will generate 90 million man-days of employment in 2017-18 and 140 million man-days in 2018-19. Rail budget 2016 is a story of transformation, Prabhu announced. To make the sector an “engine of employment and economic growth” the minister said two locomotive factories would be set up at a cost of £4 billion each. “On the subject of 'Make in India', we have bid for two locomotive companies with and order book of £4 billion.” To improve quality for the consumer, the government will also spend £85 billion on modernisation of the railways over the next 5 years. The minister said he wants to increase e-ticketing speed from 2,000 tickets a minute to 7,200 a minute, and announced that as many as 1,780 automatic ticket vending machines will be installed.
Announcing partnership with Google, Prabhu notified the commission of Wi-Fi in 100 stations this year and 400 others next year. Also announced was the laying of 2,500 km of broad gauge lines to be completed in the running year, 30 per cent higher than that of the previous year. To take the projects forward, the Cabinet has approved joint ventures with 17 state governments. “Bankable railway projects are now assured of funding and should be completed in the next 3-4 years. To ensure no projects are ignored or lagging, we intend to use drones and GPS for monitoring physically remote projects.”
Other announcements included, overnight 'Uday' double-decker trains, Antodaya Express long-distance superfast train for unreserved passengers, Aastha circuit trains to connect important pilgrim centres, ticket cancellation through phone calls, separate toilets for “divyaang” people, GPS-based displays inside coaches, “rail speed network” to provide real time info to passengers, etc.
