Railway budget 2014 News

The Narendra Modi government's maiden Rail Budget will be discussed by both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Monday.

As smart cards are increasingly becoming popular among the people, the Railways has now launched Go-India Smart Card.

Terming the rail budget as growth- oriented, India Inc on Tuesday said the emphasis on forging public-private-partnerships and attracting FDI will give a boost to infrastructure development and generate jobs.

Having already effected a steep hike, the railway budget for 2014-15 spared passengers of any fresh revision in fares and freight rates but pitched for reforms by proposing private and Foreign Direct Investment and Public Private Partnership (PPP) to meet the resource crunch.

As many as 58 new trains, including five new 'Jansadharan' trains and an equal number of premium group of trains have been proposed in the Rail Budget presented by Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda Tuesday.

Full text of Railways minister Sadananda Gowda presenting the Railway Budget 2014 in the Parliament.

Hailing the Railway Budget as "well thought-out" and non-populist, global consultancy KPMG Tuesday said it provides the much needed strategic financial headroom required for the railways to make critical investments in its modernization and expansion plans.

The Railway Minister also announced a slew of measures for giving passenger friendly services.

The minister said, he proposes to introduce specially packaged trains for these circuits.

Looking to attract funds for infrastructure development, the Railways Ministry would seek approval of the Union Cabinet to relax foreign direct investment policy to overcome cash crunch.

The government Tuesday said it will expedite the construction of three critical rail lines to facilitate faster transportation of coal to power plants, thereby helping in bringing nearly 100 million tonnes of incremental traffic to Railways.

Aiming at boosting domestic tourism, Railways Tuesday announced several tourist trains connecting pilgrim centres across the country

Government today proposed "highest ever" plan outlay of Rs 65,445 crore to the railways for the current fiscal, with a budgetary support of over Rs 30,000 crore.

Introduction of bullet trains starting off with the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector and an ambitious plan to have a Diamond Quadrilateral network of high speed rail connecting major metros and growth centres are on the anvil.

The Railway Budget today proposed to introduce ready-to-eat meals of reputed brands on-board trains to improve food quality and cancel vendors' contract if services were not up to the mark.

Indian Railways will borrow less at Rs 11,790 crore from market through its two companies IRFC and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd for capital expenditure during 2014-15.

Modi said the budget "keeps in mind the development of India. We can see the great use of technology also".

Bullet trains would require completely new infrastructure, higher speed for existing trains will be achieved by upgrading the present network.

India unveiled plans Tuesday to open up its railways to foreign investment and introduce the country`s first bullet train in a budget for the network closely watched for clues about new Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s economic priorities.

Gowda proposed to introduce Quality Assurance Mechanism through Third Party Audit by NABCB certified agencies.