What commuters expect from Rail Budget 2016

With the rail budget round the corner, passengers are expecting improvement in basic facilities and on time schedule of the trains. The passengers are also expecting of no hike in fare from the upcoming railway budget. Security for the passengers specially women passengers is also a prime concern among the people. Meanwhile, Railway minister Suresh Prabhu is going to announce the railway budget on Thursday.

“Unhygienic conditions in the railway compartments and public facilitates is the main concern of the commuters. Even the food served in the railway are unhygienic. If we are paying money then there must be good service provided by the Railways too. I hope the railway minister will take of care of these issues,” said Neeti Nigam a regular passenger of the Northern Railway.

“The government should use Nirbhaya fund and increase the security on the ground rather than keeping surveillance through CCTV cameras,” she added.

The commuters further said railway stations are the gateways to tourists coming from all over the world and thus need facelifts. “The stations are the gateways to important tourist destinations from different parts of the country. Dirty train tracks, lack of seats on narrow platforms can be an unnerving experience for those, particularly foreigners, taking trains to destinations such as Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and Kathgodam and Haldwani in Uttarakhand among others, from where the road to the higher Himalayas start,” said Rohit Sharma, a tour and travel agent in Old Delhi Railway station.

“The garbage on platforms and the main station building, unclean platforms and the tracks littered with garbage shows that there is lot to be done. Human waste, dusty platforms make the situation worse for the commuters,” said Sharma.

Meanwhile, some passengers said the Railways must impose fine on those passengers/commuters who litter railway premises or coaches.