The new Railway budget 2009 has addressed some of the most important amenities that are needed for your rail travel. A common man should be quite happy with it. For one, the railways budget has not increased the fare at any level, which is actually a good news.

Highlights of Railway Budget 2009:

No increase in freight rates
No increase in passenger fares
Tatkal charges go down to Rs 100, booking time reduced from 5 days to 2 days
Unreserved ticketing systems to be expanded from 5,000 to 8,000 terminals
Junta khana (peoples’ food) to be provided in railway stations
Develop 50 stations with world class amenities : The problem with these kind of announcements is that you never know when and how well these will be executed. Having said that atleast half should see the light of the day which is a good news
12 new non-stop Turant point to point trains introduced : This will really affect negatively the already sagging Indian airline sector.
ATMs on 200 mid and small sized stations
Aim for 1300 km gauge conversion by 2010
AC double decker trains for inter-city travel
Railway Finance Corp to borrow Rs 9000 crore in FY 2010 : I don’t like Railways borrowing from the government, instead raise money either through IPO (I am sure if it happens it will one of the biggest IPO’s in the world), or let private equity come into picture, what say guys?)
Madrasa students included in concession scheme
To set-up North Eastern development funds
Ladies special trains to be introduced in Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi
Kolkata Metro to be expanded
Increased Budgetary support by Rs 5000 crores
AC ‘Yuva’ trains at Rs 299 and Rs 399 to be introduced : Excellent, excellent move, one of my favourites of this budget
Press correspondents to get 50% concession
To launch 57 new trains
Non-stop AC ‘Turant’ trains to connect major metros
Rs 25 ticket for those with monthly salary under Rs 1000 under the ‘Izzat scheme’ : Another big hit !
Ladies special trains during peak hours
To use Railway Land Bank for industrial development
To set up a new coach factory in Kanchrapara
Computerised tickets from post offices
3000 more unreserved ticketing terminals
At least one doctor on long distance train
Railways to set up cold storage cargoes
Mega logistics hubs in Eastern and Western corridor
Launch of premium faster parcel services in three routes
Aim to fulfill SC/ST backlog in jobs
18,000 wagons to be acquired by FY 2010
Railway hospitals to be upgraded
Commando battalion to be raised for security purposes
Integrated security schemes for 130 vulnerable stations
Railway recruitment board to be reviewed shortly
7 nursing colleges to be set up on railway land
Environmental friendly toilets on trains
49 stations of religious importance to be upgraded
Automatic vending machines to be set up at stations
Women commandos to employed for the security of women passengers
High-capacity double decker AC coaches on the cards
Automatic vending vans to be set up to make ticketing easy
Computerised ticketing from post offices
SMS update on waitlisted tickets
Tickets can be bought from Post Offices
Automatic train information systems on major cities
Specially designed coaches, escalators and elevators for the physically challenged
Depute doctors on long distance trains
Book stores, PCOs to be set up across stations
Infotainment services on Rajhandi and Shatabdi trains
To take the Private-Public partnership route to develop stations : An extremely important announcement, if it could be implemented properly
Priority for food and water on trains
Developing multi-functional complexes at stations
Priority to passenger amenities
To set up panel for financing unavailable rail projects
Improvement of trains amenities
More Garib Rath trains to be introduced
Measures to improve catering and on-board decoration
Special announcement for security on railways

SEE FULL TEXT OF RAILWAY BUDGET HERE

Apart from 12 non-stop train services between major cities, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee has introduced as many as 57 new trains in her rail budget for 2009-10.

They are :

1. Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad-Mumbai Superfast (bi-weekly).

2. Sriganganagar-Delhi-Nanded Superfast (weekly)

3. New Jalpaiguri-Sealdah Superfast (tri-weekly)

4. Bangalore-Hubli-Solapur Superfast (tri-weekly)

5. Howrah-Bangalore Superfast (weekly)

6. Pune-Daund-Solapur Superfast (daily)

7. Ranchi-Howrah (3 days via Ghatshila-Kharagpur and 3 days via Asansol) Intercity (6 days a week)

8. Kamakhya-Puri Express (weekly)

9. Jabalpur-Ambikapur Express (tri-weekly)

10. Gandhidham-Howrah Superfast (weekly)

11. Delhi-Sadulpur Express (tri-weekly)

12. Ajmer-Bhopal Express (by intergration of 9655/56 Ajmer-Ratlam and 9303/04 Ratlam- Bhopal express trains) (daily)

13. Bilaspur-Tirunelveli Jn. (Thiruvananthapuram) Superfast (weekly)

14. Mumbai-Karwar Superfast (tri-weekly)

15. Durg-Jaipur Express (weekly)

16. Dibrugarh Town-Chandigarh Express (weekly)

17. Delhi-Farakka Express (bi-weekly)

18. Hazrat Nizmmudin-Bangalore Rajdhani Express (tri-weekly) via Kacheguda

19. New Jalpaiguri-Delhi Express (bi-weekly) via Barauni

20. Mumbai-Varanasi Superfast (daily)

21. Mysore-Yesvantpur Express (daily)

22. Koraput-Rourkela Express (daily) via Rayagada

23. Agra-Ajmer Intercity Superfast (daily)

24. Mumbai-Jodhpur-Bikaner Superfast (bi-weekly)

25. Agra-Lucknow Junction Intercity (daily)

26. Hapa-Tirunelveli Jn. Superfast (bi-weekly) via Thiruvananthapuram

27. Gwalior-Bhopal Intercity Express (5 days a week) via Guna

28. Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram Express (tri-weekly) via Madurai

29. Howrah-Haridwar Superfast (5 days a week)

30. Varanasi-Jammu Tawi Superfast (daily)

31. Gorakhpur-Mumbai Superfast (daily)

32. New Delh-Guwahati Rajdhani Express (weekly) via Muzaffarpur

33. Veraval-Mumbai Link Service (daily)

34. Ranchi-Patna Jan Shatabadi Express (daily)

35. Jhansi-Chhindwara Express (bi-weekly) via Bina-Bhopal

36. Mumbai-Jodhpur Express (weekly)

37. Jamalpur-Gaya Passenger (daily)

38. Jhajha-Patna MEMU (daily)

39. Kanpur-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (6 days a week)

40. Bhopal-Lucknow-Pratapgarh Superfast (weekly)

41. Lucknow-Rae Bareli-Bangalore Superfast (weekly)

42. Shimoga-Bangalore Intercity Express (daily)

43. Madurai-Chennai Express (bi-weekly)

44. Guwahati-New Cooch Behar Express Intercity (daily)

45. Balurghat-New Jalpaiguri Express (daily) via Kishanganj

46. Alipurduar-New Delhi Jalpaiguri Express Intercity (Daily) via Siliguri

47. Dharmanagar-Agartala Fast Passenger (daily)

48. Rewari-Phulera Passenger (daily) via Ringus

49. Shoranur-Nilambur Road Passenger (daily)

50. Coimbatore-Shoranur Passenger (daily)

51. Mathura-Kasganj Passenger (daily)

52. Farakka-Katwa-Azimganj-Nawadwip Dham Express (daily)

53. Bangalore-Kochuveli Superfast (weekly)

54. Kolkata-Rampurhat Express (daily)

55. New Jalpaiguri-Digha Express (weekly)

56. Purulia-Howrah Express (bi-weekly)

57. Kolkata-Bikaner Express (weekly) via Nagore