Takeaways from Rail Budget: No passenger fare or freight hike this year

The biggest takeaway from today’s Rail Budget is that passenger fares and freight rates will remain unchanged. Here are the key highlights : 1. Arunchal, Meghalaya to have better connectivity soon. So basically Arunchal, Meghalaya to have better connectivity soon, i.e :both states are set to come on the Railway Map in FY14. Moreover, extension to north-eastern states has been a priority 2. Railway minister promises passenger service to religious tourist destinations Vaishno Debi and Katra shortly 3. Rail minister Kharge announces 2,702 km of new railway lines 4. Three new factories in Chhapra, Rae Bareily and Dankuni have become operational [caption id=“attachment_1346041” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  New facility for commuters. Reuters[/caption] 5. Railways successfully met impact of Sixth Pay Commission. Kharge says  unlike other  departments, railways met the full expenditure of Sixth Pay Commission from internal accruals. 6.  Kharge spoke  about a rail tunnel that connects Jammu with Kashmir (which was inaugurated in June last year). He also said initiatives for freight corridors on eastern and western routes is an innovation in rail transport and will reduce transport time by half 7.Completed electrification of 4,556 kms versus aim of 4,500 kms, says Railway Minister. 8. Fiscal year 2014-2015 annual plan will be Rs 64,300 crore against Rs 59,359 crore in FY14. Budgetary support for FY15  pegged at Rs 30,200 crore 9. IRFC to borrow Rs 12,800 crore from market. Rail Vikas Nigam to borrow Rs 1000 core 10. 17 new premium passenger trains and 38 express trains to be introduced in FY15 11. All rail stocks are down since no major announcements were made 12. FY15 public-private project investment seen at Rs 6005 crore 13. Gross traffic receipts for the year FY14 14.  FY15 goods Earnings seen at Rs.1.06  lakh crore, Rail minister pegs total traffic receipts at Rs.1.65  lakh crore in FY15 15. Railways to pay Rs 9,100 crore dividend to exchequer this year 16. FY15 pension outgo seen at Rs 27,000 crore against Rs 24,000 crore in FY14 17. Freight loading target for FY15 seen at 1101 million tonne 18. Rail Minister pegs total expenditure for FY15 at Rs 1.45 lakh crore 19. FDI being enabled for world class Rail Infrastructure.