76 percent Citizens approve of Rail Budget 2016 • 24% citizens find it Below Expectations in a survey of 19,000 citizens
• Top budget focus and key citizen inputs on Services/amenities accepted
• Ticketing policy changes not accepted still awaited by citizens
March 7, 2016, LocalCircles (www.localcircles.com), India’s largest citizen engagement platform today announced that 76% citizens have approved the Rail Budget announced on Feb 25th and find it meeting or exceeding expectations.
Over 150,000 citizens in the Make Railways Better circle hosted by LocalCircles had called for Services & Amenities as the top focus for Rail Budget 2016. The budget presented by Minister of Railways had Services and Amenities focus at the core of it. However ticketing policy changes suggested by citizens were not included in the budget and still remain a top area of citizen concern.
Overall 13 of the 21 recommendations collectively made by citizens were accepted and the 8 pending recommendations are mostly in the area of ticketing policy.
Below is a summary of what has been accepted in Rail Budget 2016 and what is still pending.
Citizen recommendations accepted in Rail Budget 2016
- • Services and amenities for common citizens will be the top focus
- • The senior citizen lower berth quota has been increased by 50% to 120 berths per train
- • CCTV monitoring will be done on station tatkal ticket counters to catch touts and make sure that tickets are available for genuine travellers
- • More electronic display boards will be installed in trains and on stations for real-time information flow
- • Water vending machines will be made available at 2500 stations across the country
- • Tie-ups will be made with insurance companies to provide on-demand and optional travel insurance for all online tickets
- • Wifi internet service will be made available at 100 stations this year and 400 more stations in the next 2 years
- • More mobile charging points will be made available inside trains
- • All Railway tendering and procurement will be made paperless and will be done electronically
- • More ticket/platform ticket vending machines will be installed on stations
- • More satellite terminals will be developed to decongest busy terminals
- • Increased CCTV surveillance will be provided at all major railway station
- • Scanners will be installed on stations where passengers will be able to scan the barcodes/mobile codes
Citizen recommendations pending with Railways
- • No announcements on emergency quota online booking process
- • Advance booking timeline of general tickets has not been chanced
- • The limit of booking 6 tickets per month per user has not been changed
- • Citizens wanted a mobile check-in process to identify empty seats and reduce TTE corruption
- • Citizens wanted the emergency quota tickets to be sold at premium tatkal rates
- • The citizen ask of the RPF doing regular rounds in trains to enhance security is still pending
- • The ask of 50% refund on Tatkal ticket cancellation is still open
- • Citizens want railways to develop an effective way to curb non-ticket/non-platform ticket holder’s access to platforms
Below are the results of the Poll on Citizen Acceptability of Rail Budget 2016.
Poll Question: How did you find Railway Budget 2016?
About LocalCircles
LocalCircles is India’s leading citizen engagement platform that connects citizens at local, city and national level to participate in governance and make their urban life better. LocalCircles has more than 1,000,000 citizens connected on it across the country. All data and poll results are an exclusive copyright of LocalCircles so please give due credit.
March 7, 2016, LocalCircles (www.localcircles.com), India’s largest citizen engagement platform today announced that 76% citizens have approved the Rail Budget announced on Feb 25th and find it meeting or exceeding expectations.
Over 150,000 citizens in the Make Railways Better circle hosted by LocalCircles had called for Services & Amenities as the top focus for Rail Budget 2016. The budget presented by Minister of Railways had Services and Amenities focus at the core of it. However ticketing policy changes suggested by citizens were not included in the budget and still remain a top area of citizen concern.
Overall 13 of the 21 recommendations collectively made by citizens were accepted and the 8 pending recommendations are mostly in the area of ticketing policy.
Below is a summary of what has been accepted in Rail Budget 2016 and what is still pending.
Citizen recommendations accepted in Rail Budget 2016
- • Services and amenities for common citizens will be the top focus
- • The senior citizen lower berth quota has been increased by 50% to 120 berths per train
- • CCTV monitoring will be done on station tatkal ticket counters to catch touts and make sure that tickets are available for genuine travellers
- • More electronic display boards will be installed in trains and on stations for real-time information flow
- • Water vending machines will be made available at 2500 stations across the country
- • Tie-ups will be made with insurance companies to provide on-demand and optional travel insurance for all online tickets
- • Wifi internet service will be made available at 100 stations this year and 400 more stations in the next 2 years
- • More mobile charging points will be made available inside trains
- • All Railway tendering and procurement will be made paperless and will be done electronically
- • More ticket/platform ticket vending machines will be installed on stations
- • More satellite terminals will be developed to decongest busy terminals
- • Increased CCTV surveillance will be provided at all major railway station
- • Scanners will be installed on stations where passengers will be able to scan the barcodes/mobile codes
Citizen recommendations pending with Railways
- • No announcements on emergency quota online booking process
- • Advance booking timeline of general tickets has not been chanced
- • The limit of booking 6 tickets per month per user has not been changed
- • Citizens wanted a mobile check-in process to identify empty seats and reduce TTE corruption
- • Citizens wanted the emergency quota tickets to be sold at premium tatkal rates
- • The citizen ask of the RPF doing regular rounds in trains to enhance security is still pending
- • The ask of 50% refund on Tatkal ticket cancellation is still open
- • Citizens want railways to develop an effective way to curb non-ticket/non-platform ticket holder’s access to platforms
Below are the results of the Poll on Citizen Acceptability of Rail Budget 2016.
Poll Question: How did you find Railway Budget 2016?
About LocalCircles
LocalCircles is India’s leading citizen engagement platform that connects citizens at local, city and national level to participate in governance and make their urban life better. LocalCircles has more than 1,000,000 citizens connected on it across the country. All data and poll results are an exclusive copyright of LocalCircles so please give due credit.
