Speech of Shri Lalu Prasad

Introducing the Railway Budget 2006-07

On 24^th February 2006 

1.       Mr. Speaker Sir, I rise to present the Budget Estimates 2006-07 for the Indian Railways at a point in time when, there has been a historical turn around in the financial situation of the Indian Railways. Our fund balances have grown to Rs. 11,000 cr and our internal generation, before dividend has also reached a historic level of Rs. 11,000 cr. With this unprecedented achievement, we are striding to realize the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s dream of making Indian Railways the premier railway of the world. Sir, this is the same Indian Railways which, in 2001 had deferred dividend payment, whose fund balances had reduced to just Rs. 350 cr and about which experts had started saying that it is enmeshed a terminal debt trap. You might term this a miracle, but I was confident that :

 “Mere zunu ka natija zaroor niklega,

            isee siaah samandar se noor niklega.”

2.       Sir, the whole nation can see today that track is the same, railwaymen are the same but the image of Indian Railways is aglow. This has been the result of the acumen, devotion and determination of lakhs of railwaymen. Sir, the general perception so far has been that Railways’ finances cannot be improved without increasing second class passenger fares.  But my approach is entirely different. In my view, improvements can only be brought about by raising the quality of services, reducing unit costs and sharing the resultant gain with customers. Therefore, instead of following the beaten path, we decided to tread a new one.

          “Hum bhi dariya hai, apnaa hunar hame maloom hai,

            jis taraph bhi chal padenge, rastaa ban jayega.”

Financial turn around of Indian Railways

3.       Sir, I take pride in informing this House that in the first nine months of the year 2005-06, the Railways’ output has been record breaking. The growth in freight loading is 10% and in freight revenues it is over 18%. Based on the trends up to now, the freight loading target is being increased from 635 mt to 668 mt and the goods revenues target from Rs. 33,480 cr to Rs. 36,490 cr.  Thus, Railways would achieve incremental freight loading of 111 mt in two years itself, which will be 133% higher as compared to the incremental loading of 83 mt of entire Ninth Five Year Plan period. Tenth Plan targets of 624 mt loading and 396 billion tonne kilometers have been surpassed one year in advance. Sir, I not only hope but firmly believe that we would surpass the Tenth Five Year Plan’s incremental target of 63 billion tkm for freight business by over 200%. 

4.       According to Revised Estimates, Passenger Earnings, Other Coaching earnings and Sundry Other earnings are likely to register growths of 7%, 19% and 56%, respectively. Gross Traffic Revenues are expected to be Rs. 54,600 cr, which are higher as compared to the previous year and Budget Estimates of the current year by 16 % and 7%, respectively. 

5.       Ordinary Working Expenses are likely to increase by Rs. 1,200 cr, mainly due to post-budgetary increase in fuel prices. Lease charges paid for rolling stock taken on financial lease have till now been shown as operating expenditure, without segregating  interest and principal repayment component. As mentioned in my speech last year, to bring in more transparency and better accounting practices, necessary changes in accounting system have been made to reflect expenditure on lease charges accordingly, with necessary approval. These changes in the accounting system have effected a reduction of Rs. 1,616 cr. in the operating expenses. Overall, Revised Estimate of Ordinary Working Expenses has been kept at Rs. 35,184 cr, which is Rs. 416 cr lesser as compared to the Budget Estimates. As a result of these changes in the accounting system, an improvement of around 3% is also reflected in the operating ratio. 

6.       According to the Revised Estimates of the current year, Indian Railways’ internal resources before dividend, would reach a historic level of Rs. 12,966 cr. Even after setting aside the effect of the accounting changes mentioned earlier, this amount would be Rs. 11,350 cr. Fund balances would be at a record level of Rs. 11,280 cr and the operating ratio is expected to improve to 83.7%.

Technological Upgradation and Modernisation

7.         The technological upgradation in every field of Railway working will be given the utmost priority so that the reliability of services can be improved to gain customers’ confidence and also bring down the operating and maintenance costs. 

8.         Wagons are Railways’ revenue earning assets.  While the Railways modernized their locomotives and coaches in nineties, wagons presently deployed still use the technology of the eighties.  It is not possible to load our covered and open wagons beyond 64 tonnes, except with certain heavy commodities.   RDSO is designing new high capacity wagons.  Commodities like coal can be loaded up to 70 tonnes in these new wagons.  Prototypes of these wagons will be developed in the coming year and trials will be completed.  Regular production of the new wagons, with payload to tare weight ratio of even better than 3:1, will start from 2007-08.  All possible efforts will be made to start manufacturing aluminum and stainless wagons also in 2006-07 to improve the payload to tare weight ratio. 

9.       Sir, while this is an important achievement, it is not enough.  In the future we have to manufacture 25 tonne axle load wagons which can carry loads up to 80 tonnes and whose payload to tare weight ratio is around 4:1. We need to manufacture special wagons to increase Railways’ share in the transportation of commodities like motor vehicles, petrochemicals, etc.  At present this technology is not available in our country.   Therefore, transfer of technology will have to be encouraged for developing such wagons for which the Railways will provide the necessary policy framework.

Use of modern Signaling and Telecommunication Technology

10.     The advanced railways of the world are extensively using modern signaling and telecommunication technology to enhance safety, streamline train operations and increase line capacity. Using such technologies is cost effective. I, therefore, have decided that modern signaling and telecommunication means will be used for improving safety and enhancing line capacity on trunk and main routes. A multi disciplinary team will be constituted for an in depth study of various advanced signaling and telecommunication alternatives. This team will submit its report within three months. After reviewing the report, a policy will be framed for deciding extensive use of these technologies.

Use of IT in improving Railway Services

11.     There has been a remarkable improvement in operating efficiency of freight transportation with the help of Freight Operating Information System.  In the first phase of this project Rake Management System has been implemented at all major locations.  In the second phase, Terminal Management System will also be implemented at all major locations. Apart from this, work is also progressing speedily on control charting, crew management and Coaching Operations Information System. Next year, all efforts will be made to implement Control Charting System on all the divisions.  The complete computerization of Control Office, Coaching Operations Information System and interfacing of both these systems with National Train Enquiry System will directly benefit passengers and other rail users.

12.     Railways run more than 2500 ordinary passenger trains everyday. From the point of view of speed and line capacity, MEMU and DEMU trains are more suitable in some circumstances. Therefore, I have decided to introduce MEMUs and DEMUs in future. This will not only enhance line capacity of various rail sections, but will also reduce the journey time.

Public Partnership and Public-Private Partnership Schemes

13.     Today, when Indian Railways are scaling historic heights in freight and passenger business, we will not allow resource constraints to hamper expansion of rail network. We will encourage public partnerships and public-private partnership schemes for effecting significant improvements in rail services and development and expansion of rail network. To this end, a level playing field under a transparent policy will be provided to investors by further simplifying the policy of public-private partnership. This is the need of the hour :-

          “Ek kadam hum badhe, ek kadam tum,

            aao milkar naap de, phasle chand tak.”

14.     We invite State Governments, local bodies, ports and private sector to invest in rail projects. Ministry of Railways will make available many models of public partnership and public-private partnership. Till now, such projects were being implemented by SPVs under MOU agreements. Under this policy, eligible rail projects will also be awarded through open bidding so that a level playing field can be provided to all the parties by making the entire process competitive and transparent. It has also been decided to encourage such partnerships for unviable projects by arranging viability gap funding. At present, many partnership projects involving an investment of few thousand crore rupees, are under implementation. We would like to expand and develop the railway network by increasing the extent of this partnership many times over.
 

15.     We are constructing 500 ROBs on cost sharing basis with many State Governments. Sir, through this august House, I request all State Governments and local bodies to come forward for the construction work of ROBs. I would like to assure the House that Railway would not lag behind in making available its share of Rs. 7,500 cr. out of total amount of Rs. 15,000 cr required for construction of one thousand ROBs. All proposals that are received from State Governments, for construction of ROBs, with cost sharing commitment, which fulfill necessary conditions would be processed without delay.
 

16.     Our policy of permitting private parties to run container trains has been well received. 14 applicants have deposited Rs. 540 cr as registration fee. All the eligible applicants will be permitted to run container trains before 31^st March and model concession agreement will also be prepared by the end of the current year. Through this august House, I would like to assure all stake holders that a level playing field would be made available without any discrimination.
 

17.     I am happy to inform the House that the first double stack container train in Indian sub-continent would be inaugurated in the first week of March which is likely to make rail-based container transportation more economical and competitive.
 

18.     Rail linked container depots and integrated logistic parks will have to be created to make the new container policy successful and increase railways’ share in non-bulk freight business. Railways have enough land in its goods sheds, which could be made use of for this purpose. In this regard, we would encourage creation of such facilities under public-private partnership schemes by making a transparent policy in a short time.  With the help of this policy, we would be able to mobilize sizeable investments in container depots and container wagons.
 

19.     Last year I had announced a new Wagon Investment Scheme. This scheme has become popular among customers and so far proposals have been received for manufacture of 25 rakes at an investment of Rs. 250 cr.
 

20.       For transportation of specific commodities like motor vehicles, special wagons are needed which are presently not included in this scheme. New container train operators would also need container flat wagons in sizeable numbers. Under the present policy, customers can avail the benefits of wagon investment schemes and new container policy only by procuring wagons directly whereas in other modes of transportation, practice of leasing trucks, aircrafts, etc. is also prevalent. Therefore, we will have to develop a strong wagon leasing market for which we will take suitable policy initiatives.
 

Record Breaking Output in Freight Business

21.     In the current year, we are fast moving towards establishing a new record of loading 668 million tonnes, with a historic growth of 11%. This is the second consecutive year when we have increased our market share with a growth rate higher than the growth rate of the economy. This record breaking performance has been possible through reduction in wagon turn round time and through additional loading of 4 to 8 tonnes per wagon.  This has enabled an increase of 100 mt in our loading capacity and generation of over Rs.5,000 cr in freight revenues. This is the foundation of our financial turn around.

22.     With the increase of just 1 tonne in the loading capacity of a wagon, our annual loading capacity goes up by about 1 crore tonnes. In the last two years, we have increased the loading capacity of key wagons by 4 tonnes per wagon and enhanced the Railways’ annual loading capacity by 4 crore tonnes. Further, by starting 23 tonne axle load BOXN freight trains on identified routes, we have made our presence amongst the few countries which run heavy axle load trains. I would like to congratulate the entire railway family and particularly, the civil and mechanical engineers for their historic achievement. Sir, due to these historic policy decisions, the unit cost of our freight traffic in the current year is lower than in 2001 not only on constant but also on current prices.  Despite heavy increase in diesel prices and additional burden of thousands of crores of rupees on account of salaries and pension, Railways have reduced their unit cost which is a historic achievement. In a competitive environment, one can be successful only by sharing the benefits of reduction in per unit cost with customers. This is what we have done.

23.     Sir, I am happy to inform the House that it has been decided to run 25 tonne axle load trains on two routes, for the first time in the Indian sub-continent, in the coming year as a pilot project. These primarily non-passenger routes are Dallirajhara to Bhilai and Daitari to Banspani. Next year, after taking stock, 23 and 22.3 tonne axle load trains will be introduced on important traffic routes, in a phased manner. Simultaneously, over the next five years, the feeder routes to the new freight corridor will be strengthened to make them fit for 25 tonne axle loads.

24.     Sir, the changes made last year in the system of train examination have yielded positive results. Taking this further, on certain identified routes the validity of brake power certificate for closed circuit rakes has been increased from 6000 to 7500 km. With a view to increase the average lead of railway freight, Preferential Traffic Schedule has been modified and it has been decided that freight booked for distances beyond 800 kms. will be given priority within the class.
 

25.     The development of terminals and execution of traffic facility works on the highest priority has been taken up in order to reduce the wagon turn round time. Efforts have been made to introduce round the clock working in major sidings and goods terminals and enable them to handle full rakes. Apart from this, the system for wagon maintenance and freight train examination and also crew links and locomotives of trains are being rationalized. In fact, the team-work, coordination and synergy of the various departments in the Railways has enabled this historic achievement. 

26.     To maintain double digit growth in the coming year, these measures would be further intensified. To ensure continued improvements in the wagon turn round time adequate fund allocation would be made to terminal improvement and traffic facility works. Information technology as a management tool would be extensively used in freight transportation, to enable a keen watch to be kept on the rakes, effective pipeline management and terminal management. 

27.     In order to meet the rising demand of traffic, an increase of about 25% will be made in the wagon manufacture next year. In addition to this, thousands of new wagons will be got manufactured and made available for traffic through wagon investment scheme and new container train operators. It is expected that the largest number of wagons will be manufactured in the year 2006-07 and a new milestone will be established. Considering the pace of growth of our freight traffic, expansion of the production capacity of wagons in the near future is essential. Similarly, it is proposed to increase the production of electric locomotives by 17% and diesel locomotives by 5%.  Production of high power locomotives is also being increased to ensure optimum utilisation of line capacity.  

Reduction of Losses in Passenger Business
 

28.     Sir, we have succeeded in increasing profits in the freight segment by adopting the “increase volumes- reduce unit costs” strategy. It has been decided to adopt the same strategy in the passenger business too, and work towards cutting losses. It has been decided to cut down losses in the coaching services by about Rs. 1000 cr in the coming year and by 50% in the next three years by increasing the number of coaches and occupancy of trains, reducing travel time and reducing losses in the catering and parcel segments.

29.     Hon’ble Members have continuously been requesting to increase the speed and  reduce the travel time of popular passenger trains. Sir, the All-India railway timetable was first published in the year 1866 by the “Bradshaw company”. The benefits of modern rolling stock, signaling and track structure, however, have yet not been fully reflected in the existing timetable to increase the speed of passenger trains. Hence, I had decided to re-work this all-India timetable de-novo, that is, with Zero base in the current year. This work is proceeding on high priority and for this, computerized simulation techniques, as necessary, will be employed. As a result of the review conducted so far, it has been decided to convert more than 200 mail/express trains to superfast mail/express category by increasing their speeds. With the preparation of a new time table on zero base, the journey time of a majority of the Shatabdis, Rajdhanis will reduce and certain Mail/Express trains is likely to decrease by up to four hours.

30.     Sir, efforts are also being made to reduce the travel time of New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express in two phases, by one hour in each, so that Howrah Rajdhani Express departs after office hours and reaches Howrah before office time. Similar efforts are being made to reduce the travel time of all Rajdhani Expresses including  New Delhi-Patna Rajdhani.

31.     Spare coaches made available by increased train speeds and better utilisation of rake links are being used for augmenting the number of coaches in popular passenger carrying trains.  The number of coaches in about 190 popular passenger carrying trains is being increased up to 23-24 coaches. With the augmentation of these trains by about 500 coaches waitlisted passengers can get confirmed reservation thereby enabling Railways to earn Rs. 200 cr additionally every year.

32.     The running of longer passenger trains results in reduction in the unit cost per train kilometre and increase in the revenues per train kilometre. Hence, a project to increase the platform lengths at 200 stations at a cost of Rs. 60 cr has been approved to enable running of more 23-24 coach length trains. In addition, it is proposed to extend the platform lengths on about 250 more stations.  Sir, there will be no fund constraints in completing these projects and, in the course of the year, all infrastructure necessary to run longer trains will be put in place.

33.     To improve the load factor of AC classes I had started a pilot project from 26 January 2006 for upgradation of lower class passengers to higher class without any additional payment.  From today this is available on all Rajdhanis and mail/express trains. Both Indian Railways and the passenger would gain together by this scheme :

          “Hum na haare par wo jeete, aisa hai prayas

            musafir ho rail ka raja, hum sabki ye aas.”

Reduction in losses in Parcel and Catering Business

34.     While we do provide inexpensive transport to the traveling public, we do not provide free food nor do we book parcels at very low rates.  Yet the Railways incur losses of over Rs. 1000 cr on these.

35.     Policy of leasing out the pantry cars and catering units at large stations through open bids has yielded good results and the license fee received from pantry cars has increased manifold. As in the current year, next year also, the process of awarding licenses for pantry cars and catering units at major stations through open bids will be continued further.

36.     Apart from regular meals, modern facilities to make available catering items will be made available at stations and trains. Food plazas, food courts, etc. will be opened and automatic vending machines will be installed to dispense cold drinking water and other beverages.  This will not only improve catering facilities but will also help in cutting its losses.

37.     The present capacity utilization in case of parcel is less than 25%, which is causing a loss in this business. During the current year, we have reduced these losses by registering a growth of 30% in parcel earnings through better capacity utilization. To achieve our objective the leasing policy of brake and parcel vans have been liberalized. To improve the capacity utilization, open tenders will be invited with the reserve price initially set at the scheduled parcel rates, and in case of inadequate response this would be reduced to 50% in the first instance and finally to 25%.  Now parcels can be loaded and unloaded at all stations where the halt is 5 minutes or more and the leaseholders can themselves prepare the loading manifest.   To eliminate the incidence of theft in luggage vans all brake vans carrying parcels and luggage will be strengthened with steel walls.  Assistant Guards cabins could also be leased out to the lease holders of brake van and parcel van, apart from the courier companies. The 150 kg ceiling for booking luggage in the brake van has also been removed.

38.       Generally, ordinary passenger trains have brake vans at both ends, each with four tonne capacity. Most of these brake vans are running vacant due to lack of demand. It has been decided that the luggage portion of all such brake vans of ordinary passenger trains would be converted to second-class compartments. Over a two-year period this would result in savings of around 300 GS coaches and also reduce parcel losses.

Year of Passenger Service with a Smile : 2006

39.     Sir, we have decided that the year 2006 shall be the year of Passenger Service with a smile

          “Mun me bhav seva ka, hotho par muskan,

            Behtar seva wazib daam, rail ki hogi yeh pehchan.”

Strategy to shrink queues at booking counters

40.     More than 10,000 tickets are being issued everyday through the internet. From today the facility of i-ticket and e-ticket has been made available on all mail and express trains.  The charges leviable on issue of e-tickets have been reduced by Rs. 20 per ticket in higher classes and by Rs. 15 per ticket in sleeper class. Passengers can now buy i-ticket and e-ticket through Rail Travel Service Agents also. The extension of this facility will help reduce queues at PRS counters.

41.     At present, PRS is functioning at 1290 locations in the country while UTS is functioning at 380 locations.  By the end of the current year, in all 1310 PRS centres and 425 UTS centres will be operational.  It is proposed to open 800 more UTS centres at all ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ & ‘D’ category stations and some important ‘E’ category stations in the coming year.  A pilot project is on the cards to install 200 automatic ticket vending machines in Mumbai suburban area of Central and Western Railways.  These machines will be connected with the UTS and will dispense tickets automatically through smart cards.

42.     To make unreserved tickets available freely, we have formulated a ‘Jansadharan Ticket Booking Scheme”. Under this scheme pre-paid UTS counters will be made available to unemployed youth. Apart from this, under the ‘Gramin Ticket Booking Service’, agency will be given at roadside stations to unemployed rural youth for issuing tickets. These two schemes will be introduced on identified stations on pilot basis.

Improvement in passenger amenities

43.     To modernize the passenger amenities, we have decided to make all ‘A’ & ‘B’ category stations as model stations. It has been decided to take the help of architects in all divisions to make station buildings more beautiful, comfortable and with modern look.  Sir, I would like to assure the House that passenger amenities works will not suffer from any fund constraints and the public will see a visible difference in the get up and available facilities at all major stations in next two years.
 

44.     Sir, about 1.60 cr passengers travel on Indian Railways everyday. Apart from increasing non-fare revenues from commercial publicity, catering, parking, banking, etc. the stations offer immense possibilities as regard their beautification and modernization. To exploit this fully, modern facilities, such as ATM, cyber cafes, etc. would be provided at all major stations speedily.     

45.     A new policy for commercial publicity has been drawn up, under which the publicity rights for an entire division would be given to a single agency selected through open tender. Initially this would be implemented as a pilot project on a few divisions. A pilot project is on to upgrade retiring rooms, waiting rooms, station buildings, lavatories, etc. under public-private partnership schemes, at a few station. This would be further expanded. 

Modern facilities in Passenger Trains

46.     LHB design passenger coaches of new technology are available only in Lucknow-New Delhi Shatabdi Express and Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani and August Kranti Express. In the coming year, along with Patna and Sealdah Rajdhani, some more Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains will be run with these modern coaches.

47.     Four popular trains would be provided with the world-class passenger amenities and interiors. These four trains are Hazrat Nizamuddin-Gwalior  Taj Express, New Delhi-Patna Sampoorn Kranti Express, Chennai Bangalore Vrindavan Express and New Delhi-Barauni Vaishali Express. Passengers will relish the experience of traveling in this modern, done-up coaches.

48.     During rebuilding of coaches, it is proposed to provide facilities such as more comfortable seats, public address system and electronic information display, better lights, etc. The aesthetics of the coach interiors will be improved by using modern materials in coach flooring, inside walls and roof.

49.     IRCTC has been entrusted with the entire responsibility of providing all passenger amenities in Mail and Express passenger trains. Corporation will award license through open bidding to provide all services including catering, bedroll and cleanliness of trains and toilets.  These services will also be made available on such mail and express trains, which do not have a pantry car.  Feedback forms taken from passengers will be monitored through a computerized system and all possible efforts would be made to improve services based on these suggestions. All these activities will be started on a few trains as a pilot project. On successful implementation, it would be extended to other trains.

Railway Safety

50.     Sir, I am happy to inform the House that overaged tracks and bridges and track circuiting works on all stations on A, B and C routes will be completed by March 2007.  After completion of these railway safety works, light rails on golden quadrilateral and its diagonals will be replaced by heavy rails and the works of multi-aspect colour light signaling will be completed at all the stations located on A and C routes. The balance works under Special Railway Safety Fund will be completed by March, 2008. Sir, what is even more gratifying is that the renewal of assets becoming due after 2001 is being sanctioned on a concurrent basis and executed.  Thus, all the renewal works due up to 2004 have been sanctioned.  With the completion of above safety works there has been a remarkable reduction in railway accidents and the number of consequential trains accidents has come down from 473 in 2001 to 234.  Sir, we are making sufficient fund provision under Depreciation Reserve Fund and I am confident that now the railways will not be short of funds for completing their safety related works.

Railway Security

51.     The Railway Protection Force (RPF) is deploying escort parties for about 1000 passenger trains everyday. Access control and security at about 600 stations is being provided through the RPF. In order to provide security to women passengers, the Railways are providing special squads in compartments reserved for women in the suburban rail area also special arrangements are being made for the security of women. In view of the important role of the RPF in the security of passengers, the modernization of this force is being given special attention. On Republic Day this year, 7 RPF employees were honoured for exceptional work with bravery medals by His Excellency, the President of India.

Staff Welfare

52.     Sir, with their continuous hard work 14 lakh railwaymen have effected a historic turn around in the financial position of the railways.  In my New Year message to railway men I had assured them that to the extent possible their expectations would be met in the current year. 

“Kaamgaaro ki lagan se, hai tarakki sabki,

hausla inka badhao, ki yeh kuchh aur baddhe.”

53.     For the valuable contribution made by the railwaymen to the turnaround of the Indian Railways, I propose to increase the contribution to Staff Benefit Fund for the next year by almost  nine times from the present level of Rs. 26 per employee to Rs. 226 per employee. To expand the facilities in staff quarters and staff colonies, the allocation is proposed to be enhanced significantly.

54.     Sir, due to non-availability of community halls in railway colonies, non-gazetted employees face many difficulties for occasions such as marriages etc.  For the facility of employees we have decided to construct 100 community halls.

55.     Adequate funds would be made available for speeding the construction works of officers and staff quarters, community centres, staff institutes and officers’ clubs in the headquarters of all new zones, divisions and other areas including the headquarter of East Central Railway at Hajipur. These construction works will be completed in a time bound manner, after acquisition of the land. 

56.     Sir, the running staff are required to stay in running rooms, which are often far from their headquarters.  Away from their homes, the running staff face difficulties in arranging their food at odd hours.  Therefore, based upon consensus achieved after consultations with all concerned staff federations food at nominal rates will be made available to running staff during duty hours.

57.     Sir, gangmen and keymen maintain the track in difficult conditions.  I myself have seen them working in adverse conditions like severe summer and biting cold.    Therefore, for about 1 lakh such employees, I have decided to make available quality shoes, socks, gloves, summer/winter uniforms and necessary implements.

Improvement in medical facilities

58.     It has been decided to set up one new super-specialty hospital with facilities in cardiology and nephrology at Patna in East Central Railway.  Apart from this, three new divisional hospitals at Agra, Raipur and Nanded and construction of Phase I of new hospital building at Integral Coach Factory, Perambur have been sanctioned.  It has been decided to construct guest rooms in Central Hospitals and super-specialty referral hospitals. It is proposed to make available sufficient funds to provide artificial limbs, etc. to physically challenged employees.   

Human Resource Development

59.     The staff strength of railways has, compared to 1990, come down by about 3 lakhs, while the throughput in this period has gone up considerably. As a result the staff productivity in this period has approximately doubled. To maintain improved productivity Railway’s manpower needs have to be rationalized in such a way that there is no shortage of manpower in safety and operation and no staff are idling on unnecessary posts. At the same time, the railway employees have to be equipped with multiple skills and not just single skill. Given the growth rate of our throughput, we have to succeed in doubling the per employee productivity again in the next 7-8 years.

Special Recruitment Drive for filling up vacancies SC/ST/Backward Classes

60.     Sir, a special recruitment drive is on in the current year for filling up vacancies scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.  So far over 6,000 vacancies have been filled.  As per the new decision of the government, a special drive will be launched to fill up the backlog of vacancies in the other backward castes next year.   

Extension of the period of concession in the maximum age limit of the candidates belonging to SC/ST/ Backward Classes 

61.     Owing to socio-economic condition, candidates belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes living in rural areas are not able to apply for Government jobs within the prescribed age limit. Hence, I have extended the period of concession of the maximum age limit, expiring on 3^rd  February, 2006, by a year.

Railway Recruitment Boards

62.     To simplify the recruitment process in railways, the application form has been simplified. Candidates can now also download the application form from the RRB website or use a photocopy of the Employment Notification.  On-line examinations have been successfully organized by RRB, Bangalore and Chennai, for recruitments in certain categories.  It is planned to expand this to other categories of posts and other recruitment boards.

63.     Sir, the average candidate seeking a job in the Railways finds it difficult to obtain necessary verification of certificates from gazetted officers. Hence, it has been decided that it would now not be necessary for candidates appearing in RRB examinations to send attested copies of the certificates along with the application except caste Certificate. 

Concessions

64.     In the last budget, I had announced 50% concession in Second Class fares to farmers and milk producers for travel to institutes of national level in other parts of the country for the purpose of training/learning better agricultural practices and dairy farming. Considering the requests received from farmers all over the country, I propose to give this concession in Sleeper Class also.

65.     It is proposed to give 50% concession in Second Class & Sleeper Class fares to persons who have lost their limbs in accidents or due to any other causes, for travel to institutes of national level, for transplantation of artificial limbs like Jaipur Foot, etc. along with one attendant.

Public Sector Undertakings

66.     The performance of Public Sector Undertakings has been satisfactory during the year 2004-05 also.  During 2004-05, Indian Railway Finance Corporation registered a turn over of Rs. 1959 cr, posted a net profit after tax of Rs. 405 cr and paid a dividend of Rs. 115 cr.  Container Corporation of India Limited registered a turnover of Rs. 2052 cr with a net profit of Rs.429 cr and paid a dividend of Rs.94 cr.  IRCON International Ltd. has registered a turnover of Rs.1014 cr with a net profit of Rs. 62 cr and paid a dividend of Rs.20 cr. RITES Ltd. registered a turnover of Rs.240 cr with net profit of Rs. 41 cr and paid a dividend of Rs.12 cr. IRCTC earned incomes of Rs.128 cr as against Rs.70 cr during the previous year and posted a net profit of Rs. 5 cr.  RailTel Corporation of India registered a revenue of Rs. 65 cr against Rs. 26 cr in the previous year. RVNL incurred an expenditure of Rs. 393 cr on capital account on works in progress. The total revenues of KRCL have increased from Rs. 245 crores to Rs. 288 crores showing on increase of 18% compared to the previous year.  

Outstanding achievements of Railways in sports 

67.     An international World Railway Badminton Championship was organized by Railway Sports Promotion Board in November 2005 at New Delhi.  Indian Railways emerged as champion in this competition. In the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship 2005 held at Cape Town, South Africa, Indian Railway wrestlers won 6 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals. Apart from this, Indian Railway sportspersons  have, this year, won nine national titles in athletics, basketball, diving,  handball (Women), Kabaddi(Women) and powerlifting.

68.     The Neelgiri Mountain Railway has been declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO. This, along with Darjeeling Himalayan Railway have been described  as Mountain Railways of India.

69.     While presenting the Budget for the current year, I had announced that free training would be imparted to railway personal of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral, Technical and Economic Cooperation) countries. The training programme has received overwhelming response and has generated good will for Indian Railways. It has been decided to extend this training programme to Mekong-Ganga Cooperation countries as well.     

Passenger Services

70.     Sir, on the 18^th of February “the Thar Express” has been introduced between Munabao in India and Zero Point railway station near Khokhrapar in Pakistan.  This weekly broad-gauge express passenger train would help cultivation of people to people contact of the two countries.

71.     People of all religions and communities from all corners of the country visit dargah of Khwaja Garib Nawaz Hazrat Muinuddin Chishti Saheb in Ajmer to pay their obeisance. For the convenience of devotees, I propose to run Garib Nawaz Express from Ranchi, Kishanganj and Bangalore (Yashwantpur) to Ajmer.

72.     Indian Railways have started running 150 kmph speed trains in Delhi - Agra Section.  Now the journey between Delhi – Agra can be covered  in just 1 hour 56 minutes.  Soon a 150-kmph passenger train will be started on the Delhi-Kanpur-Lucknow  route   also.   Next  year the maximum speed of some mail/express trains connecting towns such as Ajmer, Jaipur, Varanasi, Chapra etc will be increased from 110 kmph to 120 kmph.