Rail Budget 2015: Suresh Prabhu woos commuters, promises better food, AC trains and no fare hike

In what will be music to the ears of the lakhs of commuters of Indian Railways, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has decided not to increase passenger fares in this fiscal across all categories.

In his maiden Budget as railway minister, Prabhu has not only promised to improve facilities such as better seats and station areas,  but also promised to better the digital interface to make it the entire experience of train travel more customer-friendly.

Prabhu said the railways would develop an integrated customer portal for passengers to have ease of information and ticketing. The minister has also made a move towards encouraging paperless ticketing.

Making another passenger-friendly announcement, Prabhu said that passengers will be allowed to book their tickets 120 days in advance instead of the present 60 day limit. He also appealed to private bodies to invest in passenger amenities, and asked other MPs to also donate from their funds for this purpose.

Prabhu said the railways was starting a SMS alert service for passengers about arrival and departure times of services. He said the number of mobile phone charging points would be increased in general coaches as well, amid cheers from his parliamentary colleagues. Better food facilities and water dispensers will be brought in at stations, Prabhu said.

“As a part of Digital India initiative, Wi-Fi will be made available at Category B stations as well,” he said. The Wi-Fi facility would be available in 400 stations.

Prabhu said that they would also introduce services to make buying unreserved tickets easier on long distance trains as well as suburban railways like in Mumbai as well. Debit card machines could also be brought into ticket counters to make cashless transactions a reality soon.

The railway minister promised a air-conditioned train on Mumbai’s suburban railways soon.

To make the food quality in trains better, Prabhu announced that passengers would be able to book quality meals from branded eateries while booking their travelling tickets through the IRCTC website.

Prabhu also promised that the quota of lower berths for senior citizens and pregnant women would be increased. He said TTEs would be instructed to help such passengers as well in securing lower berths.

Cleanliness have been a major issue facing the railways with authorities struggling to keep the stations and rakes clean. The minister said that steps would be taken to introduce airplane like vacuum toilets in trains. Prabhu said that 17,000 bio-toilets would be replaced gradually.

The minister also announced 182 as the toll number for security-related calls and 138 as the national helpline for railway-related issues. Both these numbers would be operational on a 24x7 basis.