Rail Budget 2016: Prabhu introduces bar-coded tickets to reduce waiting time for passengers

Watch Video | Railway Budget 2016: Here’s What Suresh Prabhu Announced For The Passengers

What comes as a major relief to commuters is that Prabhu has not announced a hike in passenger fares. He also announced several new trains with a focus on improving passenger facilities. Senior citizens have a reason to rejoice as Prabhu has announced that the quota reserved for that category will be increased by 50%.

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The Railway Minister also announced a number of new initiatives be it in railway infrastructure, passenger amenities or measures to revive its finances by going digital.

Reviewing the tariff structure for its freight business, Prabhu said “these are challenging times, maybe the toughest.” He mentioned that the Indian Railways wants to expand the basket of commodities it transports to boost revenues.

Prabhu said the freight business, which provides two-thirds of Indian railways’ revenues, was struggling as capacity constraints bite and industrial demand slows. “We need to look beyond the current approach to expand the basket (of commodities). We will make sure we recapture the traffic.”