No hike in rail passenger fares: Suresh Prabhu

He said there is an investment plan of Rs 8,5 lakh crore in next five years, especially through banks and pension funds. 

He said the Railway is the backbone of India and it has to be modernized though legacy of decades will take time to heal.

"Some weaknesses have to be removed," he said. He said from about 20,000 suggestions to improve the Railway he has started working on the feasible ones.

He said over next five years the customer experience will change on the service quality, Railway will be made a safer means of travel and its infrastructure will be improved.

He said a 2030 vision document will be presented too.

He said Railway will partner with private sectors as well as PSUs to take it forward.

Prabhu spoke of vacuum toilets and bio toilets and harped on women safety through helpline number. He harped on cleanliness and use of smart cards.

He said it will be ensured that a passenger can buy a ticket in five minutes.

This is the second Railway Budget of the Narendra Modi government and the first to be presented by Suresh Prabhu.

Prabhu has been quoted in media earlier saying that the Railways need Rs. 6 lakh crore funds over the next 3 to 4 years and much of it has to come from FDI and PPP (public private participation) model. 

India has the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km (71,000 mi) of track over a route of 65,436 km (40,660 mi) and 7,172 stations.

In 2013–14, Indian Railway ferried 8.425 billion passengers  or more than 23 million passengers daily (roughly half of which were suburban passengers) and 1050.18 million tons of freight in the year.

In 2013–2014 Indian Railways had revenues of Rs 1441.67 billion (US$23 billion) which consists of Rs 940.0 billion (US$15 billion) from freight and Rs 375.0 billion (US$5.9 billion) from passengers tickets.