Kochi: Railway passengers have a reason to rejoice for the Union government has decided to waive service charge on tickets booked through the IRCTC website from April 1. The Indian Railway and the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) are finally budging to the demand to let go of the service charge as a means to encourage digital transactions.
In other Budget-related news, the decision to form a corups fund of about Rs 1,00,000 crore in five years to stress on rail safety is expected to shore up investment in this sector. The money will be mainly spent on works to upgrade and bolster tracks.
Jaitley also said that all train coaches will have bio-toilets by 2019.
Passengers can also expect to benefit from a single-window system to receive complaints related to coaches. A lack of a centralized system to address grievances has put passengers to hardships.
The railway plans to get back its lead in the cargo business by offering end-to-end services.
All main railway stations will have solid waste disposal plants by the end of the year. The plants were announced earlier as part of the Swach Bharat Mission but were never implemented.
The Budget has also laid down a plan to expand solar power generation to 7,000 railway stations across India.
The Budget has not failed to repeat a promise that unmanned railway crosses would be phased out by 2020. Kerala has almost done away with unmanned crosses by now.
Another predictable promise is the introduction of train services for tourism and pilgrimages.
Hopes are high after the government has earmarked more funds for infrastructure development.
The finance minister also said the railway has signed agreements with nine states for joint development projects and at least 70 schemes would be implemented thus. Kerala is pinning its hopes on eight such projects. Foremost among them is the suburban rail from Thiruvananthapuram to Chengannur.
Detailed data on the allocation for different projects is not yet out since the rail Budget came as a part of the general Budget this year. The Railway Ministry is expected to release the numbers by evening. We will have to wait until then to get a clear picture on the share entitled to Kerala.
