2014 Railway Budget Highlights; Requires 5 Lakh Crores in 10 Years for Modernization

NEW DELHI: Highlights of the railway budget presented by Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda in the Lok Sabha :

* Would require 5 lakh crores in 10 years for modernization

* Receipts in 2013-14 were 139, 550 crore; expenditure was 130,321 crore

* Spend 94 paisa of every rupee earned, leaving a surplus of only 6 paisa

* With 12,500 trains, railways move 23 million passengers every day; equivalent to moving Australia's population

* Target to become largest freight carrier in the world

* Receipts in 2014-15 estimated at 164,374 crore, expenditure at 149,176 crore

* Fare revision will bring in 8,000 crore; need another 9,000 crore for golden quadrilateral project

* Backbone of supply chain of defence establishment

* Carry one billion tonnes of freight every year

* Decline in traffic growth in 2013-14

* 4,000 women constables recruited in RPF to make travel in women's coaches safer

* Pre-cooked ready-to-eat meals to be introduced

* Food courts to be introduced at major stations to provide regional flavour; pilot project on New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi routes

* Forty percent increase in expenditure on cleanliness; CCTVs to monitor cleanliness at stations

* Special train on teachings of Swami Vivekananda

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