Theme of the Budget
Overcoming challenges –
Reorganize, Restructure Rejuvenate Indian Railways: ‘Chalo,
Milkar Kuch Naya Karen’
Three pillars of the strategy i.e. Nav
Arjan – New revenues, Nav Manak – New norms, Nav
Sanrachna – New Structures.
Financial Performance
2015-16- Savings of Rs.
8,720 crore neutralizing most of the revenue shortfall, expected OR 90%;
2016-17- Targeted Operating
Ratio (OR) - 92%, restrict growth of Ordinary Working Expenses by
11.6% after building in immediate impact of 7th PC,
reductions planned in diesel and electricity consumption, Revenue generation
targeted at Rs. 1,84,820 crore.
Investments and
Resources
Process bottlenecks overhauled including
delegation of powers to functional levels; average capital expenditure over
2009-14 is Rs. 48,100 crore, average growth of 8% per annum.
2015-16
investment would be close to double of the average of previous 5 years.
2016-17 CAPEX pegged at Rs. 1.21 lakh crore; implementation
through joint ventures with states, developing new frameworks for PPP, etc.
Vision
By 2020, long-felt desires of the common man
to be fulfilled i.e, reserved accommodation on trains available on demand, time
tabled freight trains, high end technology to improve safety record,
elimination of all unmanned level crossings, improved punctuality, higher
average speed of freight trains, semi high speed trains running along the
golden quadrilateral, zero direct discharge of human waste.
2015-16-Achievements
Action initiated on 139 budget
announcements of 2015-16.
Project execution
2015-16
- assured funding through LIC; commissioning of 2,500 kms Broad Gauge lines;
commissioning of 1,600 kms of electrification, highest ever. In 2016-17 -
targeted commissioning 2,800 kms of track; commissioning Broad Gauge lines @
over 7 kms per day against an average of about 4.3 kms per day in the last 6
years. Would increase to about 13 kms per day in 2017-18 and 19 kms per day in
2018-19; will generate employment of about 9 crore man days in 2017-18 and 14
crore man days in 2018-19. Outlay for railway electrification increased in
2016-17 by almost 50%; target to electrify 2,000 kms.
Dedicated Freight
Corridor
Almost all contracts for civil engineering
works to be awarded by March 31st 2016; Rs. 24,000 crore contracts awarded
since November 2014 as against Rs. 13,000 crore contracts awarded in last 6
years; propose to take up North-South, East-West & East Coast freight
corridors through innovative financing including PPP.
Tuna Port commissioned and rail connectivity
projects to ports of Jaigarh, Dighi, Rewas and Paradip under implementation;
implementation of rail connectivity for the ports of Nargol and Hazira under
PPP in 2016-17.
North East
BG Lumding-Silchar section
in Assam opened thus connecting Barak Valley with rest of the country; Agartala
brought on to the BG network. States of Mizoram and Manipur shortly to come on
BG map of the country with commissioning of the Kathakal-Bhairabi and
Arunachal-Jiribam Gauge Conversion projects.
Jammu and Kashmir
Work
on Katra-Banihal section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project
progressing satisfactorily- 35 kms of tunnelling out of total of 95 kms
completed; Decongestion work on Jalandhar - Jammu line in full swing and
doubling of two bridges to be commissioned by March 2016, while the other two
bridges will be completed by 2016-17.
Make in India:
Finalised
bids for two loco factories; proposed to increase the current procurement
of train sets by 30%.
Capacity Building for
the future through:
Transparency –
initiated recruitments online in 2015-16, process now being replicated
for all positions, social media being used as a tool to bring in transparency,
all procurement including procurement of works moved to the e-platform,
completed trial of process leading to award of tender electronically and to be
rolled out on a Pan-India basis in 2016-17.
Governance - delegation led to
compression of project sanction time to 6-8 months from 2 years earlier,
key result areas identified to judge performance of GMs and DRMs, performance
related MOUs signed with few Zones, to be replicated for all zones.
Internal audit measures -
specialised teams mandated to screen railway operations in specific
areas to detect inefficiencies and prevent wastages, every zone preparing 2
reports by March 31, 2016.
Partnerships – Cabinet
approval for JVs with State Governments, 17 consented and 6 MOUs signed
with State Governments. 44 new partnership works covering about 5,300 kms and
valuing about Rs. 92,714 crore have been indicated in the Budget documents.
Customer Interface
Interaction
and feedback through social media & dedicated IVRS system.
Making travel comfortable by generating
over 65,000 additional berths, installing 2,500 water vending machines;
introducing ‘Mahamana Express’ with modern refurbished coaches; 17,000
bio-toilets in trains; world’s first Bio-Vacuum toilet developed.
Improving
punctuality – operations
audit for Ghaziabad to Mughalsarai section.
Ticketing:
Introduced 1,780
Automatic Ticket Vending Machines, mobile apps & GoIndia smartcard
for cashless purchase of UTS and PRS tickets, enhanced capacity of
e-ticketing system from 2,000 tickets per minute to 7,200 tickets per minute
and to support 1,20,000 concurrent users as against only 40,000 earlier.
Social initiatives: One-time
registration for availing concessions while booking tickets online,
online booking of wheelchairs & Braille enabled new coaches introduced for
the Divyang, increased quota of lower berths for senior citizens and
women, middle bays reserved in coaches for women.
Wi-Fi
provided
in 100 stations, to be provided in 400 more.
Stations being redeveloped – financial
bid received for Habibganj, Bhopal; Cabinet approval for stations to be
taken up under PPP.
Security
through
helplines & CCTVs.
Safety - 350 manned level crossings
closed, eliminated 1,000 unmanned level crossings, 820 ROB/RUB completed
in the current year and work going on in 1,350 of them.
Other major
achievements
Energy:
annualized savings of
Rs. 3,000 crore to be achieved in the next financial year itself, a year
earlier than announced; achieved by procuring power directly at competitive
rates using IR’s status as Deemed Distribution Licensee.
Rail University –
initially identified the National Academy of Indian Railways at Vadodara.
Digital India: application
of Track Management System (TMS) launched, inventory management module
of TMS has resulted in inventory reduction by 27,000 MT resulting in saving of
Rs.64 crore and scrap identification of 22,000 MT equivalent to Rs.53 crore.
The Way Ahead
Improving quality of
travel
For the unreserved
passenger –
Antyodaya Express unreserved, superfast service.
Deen Dayalu coaches –
unreserved
coaches with potable water and higher number of mobile charging
points.
For
the reserved passenger –
Humsafar
- fully air-conditioned third AC service with an optional
service for meals Tejas - will showcase the future of train
travel in India. Will operate at speeds of 130
kmph and above.Will offer onboard services
such as entertainment, local cuisine, Wi-Fi, etc. through one service provider
for ensuring accountability and improved customer satisfaction
Humsafar
and Tejas to
ensure cost recovery through tariff and non-tariff measures
UDAY - overnight
double-decker, Utkrisht Double-Decker Air-conditioned
Yatri Express on the busiest routes, has the potential to
increase carrying capacity by almost 40%.
Ticketing:
Sale
of tickets through hand held terminals; e- ticketing facility to foreign debit/credit
cards; bar coded tickets, scanners and access control on a pilot basis.
Expansion of Vikalp – train on demand to provide choice of
accommodation in specific trains to wait-
listed
passengers. E-booking of tickets facility on the concessional passes available
to journalists; facility of cancellation through the 139 helpline post
verification using ‘One Time Password’ sent on registered phone number, to
improve tatkaal services CCTV cameras on windows and periodic audit of
PRS website.
Cleanliness
-‘Clean
my Coach’ service through SMS, ranking of A1 and A stations
based on periodic third party audit and passenger feedback; waste
segregation and recycling centres; ‘Awareness campaigns’; additional
30,000 bio-toilets; providing portable structures with bio-toilets at all
platforms of select stations for senior citizens, Divyang and women
travellers, plan to explore innovative means of providing and maintaining
toilets such as advertisement rights, CSR, voluntary support from social
organizations.
Catering and stalls at stations -IRCTC to manage catering services in a
phased manner; explore possibility of making catering services optional,
adding 10 more IRCTC operated base kitchens; to build local ownership and
empowerment, weightage will be given to district domicile holders for
commercial licenses at stations.
Stoppages:
convert
all operational halts into commercial halts for the benefit of the common man.
Rail
Mitra Sewa: expanding Sarathi Seva in
Konkan Railway to help the old and disabled passengers, strengthening
the existing services for enabling passengers to book battery operated cars,
porter services, etc. on a paid basis in addition to the existing pick up and
drop, and wheel chair services.
Measures
for Divyang: all stations under redevelopment accessible
by Divyang; to provide at least one Divyang
friendly toilet at each platform in A1 class stations during the next financial
year and also ensure availability of wheelchairs in sufficient numbers at these
stations.
Travel
Insurance to passengers - to offer optional travel insurance for
rail journeys at the time of booking.
Hourly booking of
retiring rooms - will
be handed over to IRCTC.
Janani
sewa: children’s menu items on trains, baby foods, hot milk and
hot water would be made available.
SMART (Specially Modified Aesthetic
Refreshing Travel) Coaches - design
and layout of our coaches to ensure higher carrying capacity and
provision of new amenities including automatic doors, bar-code readers,
bio-vacuum toilets, water-level indicators, accessible dustbins, ergonomic
seating, improved aesthetics, vending machines, entertainment screens, LED lit
boards for advertising, PA system.
Mobile
Apps - integrate all facilities into two mobile apps
dealing with ticketing issues and for receipt and redressal of
complaints and suggestions.
Improving customer interface- skilling our front-end staff and those
we employ through our service providers, information boards in trains
enumerating the on-board services and also GPS based digital displays inside
coaches to provide real time information regarding upcoming halts. Work
underway on installation of a high-tech centralized network of 20,000 screens
across 2000 stations for enabling real time flow of information to passengers
and also unlock huge advertising potential. All A1 class stations will be
manned with duly empowered Station Directors supported by cross functional
teams; to make one person accountable for all facilities on trains.
Pilgrimage centres: to
take up on priority the provision of passenger amenities and beautification
on stations at pilgrimage centres including Ajmer, Amritsar, Bihar Sharif,
Chengannur, Dwarka, Gaya, Haridwar, Mathura, Nagapattinam, Nanded, Nasik, Pali,
Parasnath, Puri, Tirupati, Vailankanni, Varanasi and Vasco; also intend to run
Aastha circuit trains to connect important pilgrim centres.
Porters- intend providing them
with new uniforms and train them in soft skills, henceforth, to be
called sahayak.
High Speed Rail: passenger
corridor from Ahmedabad to Mumbai being undertaken with the assistance
of the Government of Japan. SPV for implementing high speed projects will be
registered this month. Prime benefit would be providing IR with technology
advancements and new manufacturing capability.
Entertainment: propose
to invite FM Radio stations for providing train borne entertainment;
extend ‘Rail Bandhu’ to all reserved classes of travelers and in all
regional languages.
Passenger
traffic - Suburban traffic: in-principle approval for MUTP III
received. Early award of tenders for elevated suburban corridors between
Churchgate-Virar and between CSTM-Panvel; revive Ring Railway system in Delhi;
launching a new investment framework for developing suburban systems in
partnership with State Governments, development in Ahmedabad, Bangaluru,
Hyderabad Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram on the anvil.
Winning back the lost
modal share
Expanding the freight
basket of IR - to start time-tabled freight container,
parcel and special commodity trains on a pilot basis, container sector
would be opened to all traffic barring coal, specified mineral ores and
part-loads during the non-peak season. All existing terminals/sheds would be
granted access to container traffic, where considered feasible.
Rationalising
the tariff structure – undertake review of tariff policy to evolve
a competitive rate structure vis a vis other modes, permit
multi-point loading/unloading and apply differentiated tariffs to increase
utilization of alternate routes, explore possibility of signing long term
tariff contracts with our key freight customers using pre-determined price
escalation principles.
Building terminal capacity - proposed to develop Rail side
logistics parks and warehousing in PPP mode, 10 goods sheds will be
developed by TRANSLOC, the Transport Logistics Company of India, in 2016-17. To
soon inaugurate India’s first rail auto hub in Chennai. Encourage development
of cold storage facilities on vacant land near freight terminals. Local farmers
and fisherman would be given preferential usage of the facility. A policy in
this regard would be issued in the next 3 months.
Nurturing
customers - will appoint Key Customer Managers to liaison
with our major freight stakeholders; each Zonal Railway will develop
customer commitment charter indicating service level commitments of IR, will
explore the feasibility of opening up leasing of general purpose wagons.
Non fare revenues
Station redevelopment; monetizing land along
tracks; monetizing soft assets – website, data, etc; advertising – in 2016-17
target 4 times the revenue of 2015-16; overhaul of parcel business - liberalize
the current parcel policies including opening the sector to container
train operators; revenues from manufacturing activity - by 2020, aim at
generating annualised revenues of about Rs 4,000 crore.
Process Improvements
EPC projects standard
document finalized, will implement at least 20 projects through this
mode in 2016-17; by 2017-18, endeavour to award all works valuing above Rs. 300
crore through EPC contracts.
Performance output parameters based contracts
-
to review service contracts to integrate them and make them simpler and
outcome focused.
Leveraging technology for project management-
intend to use the latest drone and Geo Spatial based satellite
technology for remotely reviewing the physical progress across major projects;
monitoring of DFC to be operationalised through this mode in 2016-17.
System-wide Information Technology
integration - initiated system wide integration, both
horizontal and vertical, akin to an ERP through innovative partnership models.
Rail Development
Authority
To enable fair pricing of services, promote
competition, protect customer interests and determine efficiency standards;
draft bill to be ready after holding extensive stakeholder consultations.
Undertaking Navarambh
– a new beginning
Navinikaran - Structural Interventions
Organisational
Restructuring-
proposed to reorganize the Railway Board along business lines and
suitably empower Chairman, Railway Board. As a first step, cross functional
directorates to be set up in Railway Board to focus on areas like non-fare
revenues, speed enhancement, motive power and information technology; explore
the possibility of unifying cadres for fresh recruitment of officers;
strengthen PPP cell to improve ease of doing business with IR.
Sashaktikaran – Improving our planning practices
To
set up a Railway Planning & Investment Organisation for drafting medium (5
years) and long (10 years) term corporate plans; identify projects which
fulfill the corporate goal. Prepare a National Rail Plan to harmonise and
integrate the rail network with other modes of transport and create synergy for
achieving seamless multi-modal transportation network across the country
Aekikaran – Consolidation:
Forming a holding company of companies owned by IR. Shodh aur vikas - Investing
in the future: to set up a R&D organization, a Special
Railway Establishment
for Strategic Technology & Holistic
Advancement, SRESTHA. RDSO will now focus only on day to day
issues while SRESTHA would drive long term research.
Vishleshan – Analyzing
data: a dedicated, cross functional team called
Special Unit for Transportation
Research and Analytics (SUTRA) would be set up for
carrying out detailed analytics leading to optimized investment decisions and
operations
Navrachna – Innovation:
by
setting aside a sum of Rs. 50 crore for providing innovation
grants to employees, startups and small businesses.
Avataran - Seven
Missions for the transformation of IR
Missions will be headed by a Mission Director
reporting directly to the Chairman, Railway Board and heading a cross
functional team empowered to take all relevant decisions for a timely
targeted delivery. Annual outcome based performance targets for the Mission
would be announced and the Missions will finalise the implementation plans for
short, medium and long terms and proceed accordingly Mission 25 Tonne for 25 tonne axle load,
Mission Zero Accident for safety, Mission PACE (Procurement and Consumption
Efficiency), Mission Raftaar for higher speeds, Mission Hundred for
commissioning 100 sidings/ freight terminals, Mission beyond book-keeping for
accounting reforms, Mission Capacity Utilisation to prepare a blueprint for
making use of the capacity created once DFC is commissioned.
Sustainability and Social Initiatives: Human
Resources/ Skilling, Social initiatives, Environment
To
tie up with the Ministry of Health for ensuring an exchange between Railways
hospitals and Government hospitals; to introduce ‘AYUSH’ systems in 5 Railway
hospitals; provide gang men with devices called ‘Rakshak’ for intimating them
about approaching trains, also reduce the weight of the tools carried by them
while patrolling. To provide toilets and air-conditioning in cabs for our loco
pilots.
Set up two chairs – one C T Venugopal chair
on Strategic Finance, research and policy development and another Kalpana
Chawla chair on geo-spatial technology.
For youth - open our organisation to 100
students across Engineering and MBA schools for 2-6 months’ internships each
year.
Partnering
with Ministry of Skill Development - skill development on IR premises.
Undertaken energy audits for reducing energy
consumption in non-traction area by 10% to 15% - all new light provisions will
be LED luminaire and all Railway stations to be covered with LED luminaire in
next 2 to 3 years.
Action plan drawn up for environmental
accreditation, water management and waste to energy conversion. More than 2,000
locations provided with Rain Water Harvesting facility. In place of steel
sleepers on steel bridges environmentally friendly composite sleepers made of
recycled plastic waste will be used over all girder bridges.
32 stations and 10 coaching depots have been
identified for installation of water recycling plants in the coming years.
Tourism
Partnering with State Governments for operating
tourist circuit trains; recent upgradation of National Rail Museum, promotion
of tourism through Railway museums and UNESCO world heritage Railways.
To spread awareness about our National
Animal, the Tiger, complete packages including train journey, safaris and
accommodation to cover the wildlife circuit comprising Kanha, Pench and
Bandhavgarh will be offered.
Annex1 of the Speech details the financial
performance of the Indian Railways & the estimates of Receipts &
Expenditure.
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
2015-16:
Net reduction in Gross Traffic Receipts by Rs
15,744 crore in RE 2015-16 compared to the BE target of Rs 1,83,578 crore.
Passenger earnings scaled down keeping in view the persistent negative growth
trend since 2013-14 both in the suburban and non-suburban non-PRS segment of
travel.
Freight earnings impacted mainly on account
of low demand from the core sector resulting in resetting the target in R.E.
2015-16 to Rs 1,11,853 crore.
Stringent economy and austerity measures
adopted to contain the Ordinary Working Expenses (O.W.E.) due to which budgeted
Ordinary Working Expenses of Rs 1,19,410 crore decreased in the Revised
Estimates 2015-16 to Rs. 1,10,690 crore i.e. by Rs 8,720 crore.
BE provided for an appropriation of Rs.
34,900 crore to the Pension Fund. However, based on trend, the pension outgo
moderately decreased to Rs. 34,500 crore in RE.
Internal
resource generation diminished and appropriation to DRF moderated to Rs. 5,500
crore in RE from the BE 2015-16 provisioning of Rs. 7,900 crore. Excess of
receipts over expenditure in RE 2015-16 stands at Rs. 11,402.40 crore.
Plan size for 2015-16
is currently estimated at 1,00,000 crore i.e. the BE level.
Budget Estimates
2016-17:
The
intention to improve revenues and ensure appropriate investments which can
continue the road-map of decongestion and enhance line-capacity enhancement as
detailed in 2015-16. The focus is on enhanced CAPEX with a mix of various
sources of funding in order to ensure that the projects are given assured
funding.
Gross Traffic Receipts kept at Rs 1,84,820
crore . Passenger earnings growth has been pegged at 12.4 % and earnings target
budgeted at Rs. 51,012 crore. The freight traffic is pegged at incremental
traffic of 50 million tonnes, anticipating a healthier growth in the core
sector of economy. Goods earnings is accordingly proposed at Rs. 1, 17,933
crore. Other coaching and sundries projected at Rs. 6,185 crore and Rs. 9,590.3
crore respectively.
OWE provides for the
implementation of the 7th CPC. Pension outgo
budgeted at Rs 45,500 crore in 2016-17.
Higher staff cost and pension liability
impacts the internal resource position of the Railways. Accordingly,
appropriation to DRF from revenue placed at Rs 3,200 crore and that from
Production Units at Rs 200 crore. A withdrawal of Rs 3,160 crore from DRF on
net basis proposed though the gross expenditure to be met from DRF in the
Annual Plan estimated at Rs 7,160 crore. Rs 5,750 crore proposed to be appropriated
to the Capital fund. With a draw-down of Rs 1,250 crore from previous balances
in the fund, plan requirement of Rs 7,000 crore for repayment of principal
component of lease charges to IRFC met.
Railways are
preparing a Plan size of Rs. 1,21,000 crore in 2016-17.
Annex-2
of the speech details the Implementation of Budget
announcements 2015-16
(Sources:http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/)
