Budget 2020: Big gift for travellers, Govt green-flags 150 private trains on PPP model

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today has announced the introduction of 150 private trains modeled on public-private-partnership (PPP). She was presenting the Budget 2020. This was something that Zee Business has been saying for some time and the same has come true today when Budget was announced. The Indian Railways subsidiary Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) had recently introduced the Tejas Express on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route. This train was started on 19 Jan 2020. Tejas Express starts at 6.40 am from Ahmedabad and reaches Mumbai Central around 1.10 pm. The return journey starts at 3.40 pm and it reaches Ahmedabad around 9.55 pm. This train also travels through stations like Nanded, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Vapi, and Borivali. The first private train of the Indian Railways was started between Lucknow and Delhi. (#BudgetOnZee)

#BudgetOnZee | ज़ी बिज़नेस की खबर पर लगी मुहर, बजट में वित्त मंत्री ने किया तेजस जैसी 150 नई प्राइवेट ट्रेनें चलाने का ऐलान#ZeeBusiness #Budget2020 #NirmalaSitharaman @AnilSinghvi_ pic.twitter.com/uQBHFVDJDS

— Zee Business (@ZeeBusiness) February 1, 2020

Facilities in Tejas Express
The Tejas Express has many facilities for passengers like wifi, CCTV, camera, coffee machine, LCD and other services.

The Tejas express on the Delhi-Lucknow route earned a good income in the first month of its launch. According to some news, the estimated profit from the train in the first month was around Rs 70 lakhs. The IRCTC had sold tickets worth Rs 3.7 cr in the first month of its launch. The train runs on six days in a week. The railways have been very excited with the response that the train had received.

Get Insurance onboard
The train is offering better food, onboard security, housekeeping, and infotainment facilities.  The passengers are also being given insurance of Rs 25 lakhs.

No need to worry about carrying luggage
The Tejas Express is planning to introduce a very important facility. If your reservation is confirmed in the Tejas express, it will ensure that your luggage is picked up from your homes. The passengers will have to pay a very small fee for it.

The Indian Railways has got a budgetary allocation of Rs 70,000 crore, its highest-ever outlay for capital expenditure amounting to Rs 1.61 lakh crore from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget for 2020-21 presented on Saturday.

Last year, the outlay for the railways was Rs 1.60 lakh crore while the Budget allocation was Rs 65,837 crore, the PTI reported. In the 2020-21 Budget, funds of Rs 12,000 crore been allocated for construction of new lines, Rs 2,250 crore for gauge conversion, Rs 700 crore for doubling, Rs 5,786.97 crore for rolling stock and Rs 1,650 crore for signaling and telecom.

The allocation for rail passenger comfort this fiscal is Rs 2,725.63 crore from Rs 1,881.39 crore in the revised Budget presented in July last year. In the 2019-20 financial year, the budgetary allocation for railway passenger amenities was Rs 3,422.57 crore.

The revenue expenditure which includes an estimated salary payout of Rs 92,993.07 crore will be about Rs 6,000 crore more than last year, the report said.

The railways have kept a target of commissioning new lines, gauge conversions and the doubling of board gauge sections in 2020-21 to 3,750 km against 3,150 km in 2019-20.

Watch Union Budget 2020 Live TV Streaming Below on Zee Business:

The officials said that the in 2020-21, electrification of 6,000 route km has been targeted.

The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was presenting her second budget and her first full budget in the Narendra Modi 2.0 government.