No Hike In Railway Passenger Fares

Goods earnings is accordingly proposed at 1,21,423 crore, which includes rationalization of rates, commodity classification and distance slabs.

 Other coaching and sundries are projected at 4,612 crore and 7,318 crore. Gross traffic receipts are estimated at 1, 83,578 crore, a growth of 15.3 per cent.

Prabhu said that, over the next five years, Railways envisage an investment of 8.5 lakh crore for which a broad indicative investment plan has been prepared.

 “But the scale of investment needs is such that it will require us to seek multiple sources of funding. We will tap other sources of finance. Multilateral development banks and pension funds have expressed keen interest in financing new investments.

 “They seek sources of predictable and recurring revenue, which we can provide through the issuance of long debt instruments to fund revenue-generating railway projects,” the minister said.

 The 11 thrust areas include cleanliness, new toilets covering 650 new stations, bio-toilets, national fashion technology to design bed linen, online disposal of bed rolls, and 24x7 helpline number for security related complaints.

 An 'Operation five minutes' will be introduced for issuing unreserved tickets besides other initiatives like hot buttons, coin vending machines and concessional e-tickets for differently-able passengers.

 E-catering will be launched for select meals from an array of choices, ordering food through websites of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) at the time of booking tickets and integrating best food chains into the project.

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