Highlights of Indian Railway Budget 2012-13

Travelling will be costlier from this year onwards, whether it is by air or surprisingly by railways even. The rail budget presented by Union Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi on March 14 raised the rail prices after almost 10 years. He is all set to utilise the money to modernise a cash-strapped railway system and pay more importance to safety and security measures.

However, Trivedi’s party boss Mamata Banerjee is displeased with the price hike and has demanded a roll-back. Defying her orders Trivedi has refused a roll-back and has instead sent his resignation on the same night he presented the budget. This is the first time in Indian history that such an incident has taken place.

If there is no roll back and the budget remains as it is, for a family of four travelling around 2000 kilometres, for example, from Delhi to Mumbai and back in an AC 3 tier coach, every year, the family’s commuting expenses would go up by Rs 800.

If a person is entitled to AC first class, the rail budget is expected to go up by Rs 600 every six months for Mumbai to Delhi and back trip. After the March 14^th rail budget, a Mumbai Rajdhani AC-I ticket will cost about Rs 3600. This would close the gap between an AC first class ticket and an Economy Air Fare.

For low-cost travelling, in sleeper class, a Mumbai-Delhi train ticket will be costlier by about Rs 50, on a ticket that is priced Rs 442, for one way.

It is an 11% hike in sleeper tickets, and an 8% hike for AC 3 tier ticket from Delhi to Mumbai. This is higher than the current inflation rate of 6.9%.

Following are the key points that can be highlighted upon if the Railway Budget presented by Dinesh Trivedi remains as it is.

• 30 paise hike per km for AC 1-tier
• 15 paise per km for AC –tier
• 10 paise per km for AC chair car/ AC3-tier and first class
• 5 paise per km for sleeper class
• 3 paise per km for mail/ express second class
• 2 paise per km for suburban and ordinary second-class travel
• Platform ticket price Rs. 5 from Rs 3

There would be several facilities that a passenger would be entitled to if he/ she is travelling in a train.

• Escalators at major stations
• Passengers in the waiting list to be provided alternate trains
• Laundry services, AC lounges, coin/ currency operated ticket vending machines to be introduced
• Next halt station and expected time of arrival to be displayed on-board
• Meals could be booked through SMS or emails
• For differently-abled passengers introduction of special express coaches and mails
• Guru Parikrama special trains would be introduced that would cover Sikh pilgrimage centres like Amritsar, Patna and others
• Anaemia and sickle cell-diseased patients to get 50 per cent concession in AC classes
• More than 1 lakh employees to be recruited
• An independent rail safety authority to be formed

New 75 express trains have been announced, which include two double-decker trains and a Shatabdi express. Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Shatabdi Express, Chennai-Bangalore AC double-decker Express and Habibganj-Indore AC double-decker Express trains were also announced during the rail budget announcement.

This time there are trains for every region. For north-eastern part there is Dibrugarh-Kolkata Express, Kamakhya-Lokmany Tilak AC express, and Kamakhya-Tezpur Intercity Express among others.

Seventy five additional trains to run in Mumbai suburb alone. For Kolkata Metro, Dinesh Trivedi announced 50 new services that would be introduced in the 2012-13. He also announced 18 additional trains to be run in Chennai.

Following is a list of 75 new Express and Passenger Trains that were introduced in the rail budget 2012.

1. Kamakhya-Lokmanya Tilak (T) AC Express (Weekly) via Katihar, Mughalsarai, Itarsi
2. Secunderabad-Shalimar AC Express (Weekly) via Vijayawada
3. Bandra (T)-Bhuj AC Express (Tri-Weekly)
4. Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Udhampur AC Express (Tri-Weekly) via Ambala, Jalandhar
5. Coimbatore-Bikaner AC Express (Weekly) via,Roha,Vasai Road,Ahmedabad,Jodhpur
6. Kakinada-Secunderabad AC Express (Tri-weekly)
7. Yesvantpur-Kochuveli AC Express ( Weekly)
8. Chennai-Bangalore AC Double-decker Express (Daily)
9. Habibganj-Indore AC Double-decker Express (Daily)
10. Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Shatabdi Express (6 days a week) via Malda Town
11. Kamakhya-Tezpur Intercity Express (Daily)
12. Tiruchchirappalli-Tirunelveli Intercity Express (Daily) via Madurai,Virudunagar
13. Jabalpur-Singrauli Intercity Express (Daily) via New Katni Jn.
14. Bidar-Secunderabad Intercity Express (6 days a week)
15. Kanpur-Allahabad Intercity Express (Daily)
16. Chhapra-Manduadih Intercity Express (Daily) via Phephna, Rasra, Mau, Aunrihar
17. Ranchi-Dumka Intercity Express (Daily) via Deoghar
18. Barbil-Chakradharpur Intercity Express (Daily) via Dongoaposi, Jhinkpani
19. Secunderabad-Belampalli Intercity Express(Daily) via Kazipet
20. New Jalpaiguri – New Cooch Behar Intercity Express (5 days a week)
21. Ahmedabad-Ajmer Intercity Express (Daily)
22. Dadar (T)- Tirunelveli Express (Weekly) via Roha, Coimbatore,Erode
23. Visakhapatnam-Chennai Express (Weekly)
24. Visakhapatnam-Sai Nagar Shirdi Express (Weekly) via Vijayawada,Manmad
25. Indore-Yesvantpur Express (Weekly) via Itarsi,Narkher,Amravati,Akola,Kacheguda
26. Ajmer-Haridwar Express (Tri-weekly) via Delhi
27. Amravati-Pune Express (Bi-weekly) via Akola, Purna and Latur
28. Kacheguda-Madurai Express (Weekly) via Dharmavaram,Pakala,Jolarpettai
29. Bikaner-Puri Express (Weekly) via Jaipur,Kota,Katni Murwara, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur
30. Secunderabad-Darbhanga Express (Bi-weekly) via Ballarshah, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Ranchi, Jhajha
31. Bilaspur-Patna Express (Weekly) via Asansol, Jhajha
32. Howrah-Raxual Express (Bi-weekly) via Asansol, Jhajha, Barauni
33. Bhubaneswar-Bhawanipatna Link Express (Daily) via Vizianagaram
34. Puri-Yesvantpur Garib Rath Express (Weekly) via Visakhapatnam, Guntur
35. Sai Nagar Shirdi-Pandharpur Express (Tri-weekly) via Kurduwadi
36. Bhubaneswar-Tirupati Express (Weekly) via Visakhapatnam,Gudur
37. Visakhapatnam-Lokmanya Tilak(T) Express (Weekly) via Titlagarh,Raipur 59
38. Howrah-Lalkuan Express (Weekly) via Mughalsarai,Varanasi,Lucknow
39. Kolkata-Jaynagar Express (Weekly) via Asansol,Jhajha,Barauni
40. Dibrugarh-Kolkata Express (Weekly)
41. Firozpur-Sriganganagar Express (Daily) via Fazilka,Abohar
42. Jaipur-Secunderabad Express (Weekly) via Nagda, Bhopal, Narkher, Amravati, Akola
43. Okha-Jaipur Express (Weekly) via Palanpur,Ajmer
44. Adilabad-Hazur Sahib Nanded Express (Daily) via Mudkhed
45. Shalimar-Chennai Express (Weekly)
46. Mysore-Sai Nagar Shirdi Express (Weekly) via Bangalore,Dharmavaram,Bellary
47. Valsad-Jodhpur Express (Weekly) via Palanpur,Marwar
48. Porbander-Secunderabad Express (Weekly) via Viramgam,Vasai Road
49. Bandra (T)-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Express (Weekly) via Palanpur, Phulera
50. Hapa-Madgaon Express (Weekly) via Vasai Road,Roha
51. Bikaner-Bandra (T) Express (Weekly) via Jodhpur,Marwar,Ahmedabad
52. Ahmedabad-Gorakhpur Express (Weekly) via Palanpur,Jaipur,Mathura,Farrukhabad, Kanpur
53. Durg-Jagdalpur Express (Tri-Weekly) via Titlagarh
54. Mannargudi – Tirupati Express (Tri-Weekly) viaThiruvarur,Villupuram,Katpadi
55. Gandhidham-Bandra (T) Express (Weekly) via Morbi
56. Kota-Hanumangarh Express (Daily) via Jaipur,Degana,Bikaner
57. Jhansi-Mumbai Express (Weekly) via Gwalior, Maksi, Nagda
58. Secunderabad-Nagpur Express (Triweekly) via Kazipet
59. Kanpur-Amritsar Express (Weekly) via Farrukhabad, Bareilly
60. Chappra-Lucknow Express (Tri-Weekly) via Masrakh,Thawe,Padrauna
61. Karimnagar-Tirupati Express (Weekly) via Pedapalli
62. Anandvihar-Haldia Express(Weekly) via Mughalsarai, Gomoh, Purulia
63. Barrackpore-Azamgarh Express (Weekly) via Jhajha, Ballia, Mau
64. Indore-Rewa Express ( Tri-weekly) via Bina
65. Running of independent train between Jabalpur-Hazrat Nizamuddin by delinking from
12405/12406 Bhusawal- Hazrat Nizamuddin and 12409/12410 Raigarh-Nizamuddin Gondwana Express
66. Darbhanga-Ajmer Express (Weekly) via Raxaul, Sitapur, Bareilly, Kasganj, Mathura
67. Solapur-Yesvantpur Express (Tri-weekly) via Gulbarga
68. Chennai-Puri Express (Weekly)
69. Hyderabad-Ajmer Express (Weekly)via Manmad, Itarsi, Ratlam
70. Asansol-Chennai Express (Weekly) via Purulia, Sambalpur,Vizianagaram
71. Shalimar-Bhuj Express (Weekly) via Bilaspur, Katni, Bhopal
72. Amritsar- Hazur Sahib Nanded Express (Weekly)
73. Santragachi-Ajmer Express (Weekly) via Kharagpur, Chandil, Barkakana, Katni, Kota
74. Malda Town-Surat Express ( Weekly) via Rampur Hat, Asansol, Nagpur
75. Dwarka-Somnath Express (Daily)

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