Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal presented the 2013-14 Rail Budget in Parliament.
Following are the highlights of the Budget :
— Sixth seeven new Express trains to be introduced
— Twenty six new passenger services, 8 DEMU services and 5 MEMU services to be introduced
— Run of 57 trains to be extended
— Frequency of 24 trains to be increased
— First AC EMU rake to be introduced on Mumbai suburban network in 2013-14
— Seventy two additional services to be introduced in Mumbai and 18 in Kolkata
— Rake length increased from 9 cars to 12 cars for 80 services in Kolkata and 30 services in Chennai
— Five hundred km new lines, 750 km doubling, 450 km gauge conversion targeted in 2013-14
— First ever rail link to connect Arunachal Pradesh
— Some Railway related activities to come under MGNREGA
— For the first time 347 ongoing projects identified as priority projects with the committed funding
— Loan of Rs 3,000 crore repaid fully.
— A new fund-Debt Service Fund set up to meet committed liabilities.
— Freight loading of 1047 MT, 40 MT more than 2012-13
— Passenger growth 5.2 percent in 2013-14
