Railway Budget 2011-12: Passenger Concerns

The Railway Budget 2011-12 was presented in the Lok Sabha on 25 February 2011 by the Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee. In the Railway Budget 2011-12 special thrust was given to ensure greater amnesties to passengers as well as to provide them with better experience at the stations. The measures adopted for benefit of the passengers are as follows:

•    The budget proposed upgradation of stations so as to provide safe drinking water, pay & use toilets, high-level platforms, better accessibility for the physically challenged among several facilities.
•    The Railway Ministry proposed to set up more MFCs with budget hotels at Bangarpet, Secunderabad, Amethi, Ramnagar, Ajmer, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Thiruvananthapuram, Kamakhya, Gaya, Rae Bareli etc.
•    The budget proposed introduction of a pan-India, multi-purpose Go-India smart card on a pilot basis. The Smart card will be one single window package for the passenger to pay for tickets for long distance, suburban, metro etc journeys. The Card can be used in booking counters, vending machines, internet etc.
•    The budget proposed extension of Rail Yatri Sevaks with modern trolleys to six more stations- New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.
•    The budget informed about the launch of a new portal for e-ticketing by Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). Booking charges through this portal would be cheaper with a charge of only Rs 10 for AC classes and Rs 5 for others.
•    The budget made provision for internet access on Howrah-Rajdhani Express as a pilot project.
•    The budget proposed extension of Train Management System to New Delhi, Bangalore, Secunderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow stations to provide information on running of trains.
•    The budget proposed introduction of advance booking of retiring rooms.
•    The budget proposed to introduce a new Super AC class of travel to cater to the corporate travellers.