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15,000
killed on rail tracks every year: Report
NEW DELHI, February 22, 2012: Voicing safety concerns over
encroachments along rail tracks and trespassing which claim nearly
15,000 lives every year, a high-level railway panel has suggested
amendments to existing acts and setting up of a task force in Mumbai
where such deaths are highest. "No civilised society can accept
such massacre on their own railway system," the Anil Kakodar-led
safety committee said and suggested amendments in the Public Premises
Eviction Act and the Railway Act by which encroachers will be penalised.
"The committee was informed that a large number of
accidents takes place due to unlawful trespassing. The estimation is
almost 15,000 persons get killed every year in such a manner in the
entire railway system of which about 6000 death are only in Mumbai
suburban section" It made these suggestions while taking into
account the problems faced while removing enrichment due to political interference.
Terming as "massacre", the huge number of deaths
especially in the Mumbai section, the committee said that reluctance
of Indian Railways to own these casualties, which do not fall under
the purview of train accidents but are nevertheless accidents on
account of trains can by no means be ignored. It said the "grim
system on Mumbai suburban sysem has to be tackled on a different war
footing where trespassing takes places mostly on account of lack of
barricading, fencing, absence of adequate number of pedestrian
overbridges and reluctance to replace pedestrian level. Meanwhile,
exposing a big hole in railway safety, a high-level committee has said
the @tracks do not match safety parameters while coaches and rail
bridges are becoming unsafe.
Indian Railways logs on to Facebook
NEW DELHI, February 13, 2012: Expanding its online reach, Railways' Delhi division has come
up with a dedicated page on social networking site Facebook where passengers can check out availability of berths, train
timings and other related information. "We have opened a page on Facebook to inform passengers about the status
of vacant berths as well as the arrival and departure of trains. The page is linked with the National Train Inquiry Service and constantly
updated," said a senior Delhi division official. Besides the status of berths and train timings, the page will also
provide detailed information about arrivals and departures at the exact platform number at New Delhi, Nizamuddin and Old Delhi stations.
Aiming at preventing misuse of available seats by "unscrupulous
elements", Railways has asked other zones to resort to such innovative
measures and give adequate publicity regarding the facility of booking
vacant accommodation available on trains at current ticket counters. "Our aim is to create further awareness among passengers about this
facility as due to lack of adequate awareness, it is being misused by unscrupulous elements for providing confirmed accommodation to
passengers at a premium by using the current counter facility, said the
official. Railways has advised passengers traveling on short notice to use the
facility of current reservation counters situated at the train originating main stations. |
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"The vacant reserved seats available on train after preparation of
reservation charts can be booked at the current ticket counters of the
train originating stations before departure of trains," the official said.
According to Railway rules, a reserved ticket can be booked across the
passenger reservation system counters all over the country as well as through the Internet only upto the time of preparation of reservation
charts. After preparation of reservation charts, the berths available, if any,
can be booked at the current counter available at major stations.
The reservation charts are normally prepared three to four hours before
the schedule departure of the train. In case of trains leaving early morning, the charts are prepared on the previous night. Source: Times of India
World's first mobile emission testing vehicle in rail sector commissioned
CHENNAI, February 7, 2012: Indian Railways, on Monday, took the
first stride towards framing emission standards for long-haul diesel
locomotives and diesel power cars plying along suburban routes on its
system with the commissioning of an Emission Test Car (ETC) at the
Integral Coach Factory (ICF) here. The ETC, said to be the
world's first mobile emission testing vehicle in the rail sector, will
put the Indian Railways on a par with global rail systems in terms of
green milestones and also pave the way for the Research Designs and
Standards Organisation (RDSO) to lay down standards and monitor
locomotives for compliance with emission norms. The ETC which uses
mass emission measurement equipment supplied by Horiba from Japan will
test locos for oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter, total
hydrocarbons, methane hydrocarbons, smoke opacity, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The ETC can be deployed at any diesel shed across the 17 zones
of the Railways. Sanjiv Handa, Member (Mechanical), Railway Board, also launched the phase I of the Enterprise
Resource Planning initiatives in Indian Railways.
Railways may soon book tickets on phone
PATNA, January 30, 2012: Train passengers may not have to very
soon face the travails of standing in long queues at reservation
counters to procure tickets. Railways is seriously mulling over an
idea to book tickets on phone for any destination and class at the
country level. According to a Railway Board official, while online
ticket booking facilities for e-ticketing and cell phone ticket
booking have evoked impressive response from passengers across the
country, the idea to book tickets on phone calls is gaining importance
among railway circles. "Efforts are going on to make this project
a reality now," he said. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation
(IRCTC) is
working on the project seriously to make it come true. There is every
possibility that a new inquiry number - 138 - would be used at the
country level for booking tickets on phone calls. Passengers booking
their tickets by phone calls would have to use cash cards purchased
from IRCTC counters, an IRCTC official said, adding delivery of
tickets could be from either the PRS (passenger reservation system) or
collection centres. Thus, railway tickets would be made available at
the passengers' doorsteps. Phone calls could be made from all telecom operators, sources said.
Sam Pitroda has recommended raising passenger fares
New Delhi, January 24, 2012: Sam Pitroda, adviser to the Prime Minister, has
reportedly recommended raising passenger fares and linking rail tariffs
to inflation from next year. The first part is wholly welcome, the second, not so much. Fares and freight must reflect costs and
productivity, which are affected by competition, managerial efficiency
and investment in technology and modernisation. Frequent revisions of fare and freight are warranted, not removing pricing freedom by fixed
linkage to an index like the wholesale price index.
The fuel part of the Railways' costs needs to be fully passed on, but it
is entirely possible that system-wide efficiency improvements could help
reduce other elements of cost, so that the final required change in fare/freight might be quite different from any change in the general
price index. Passenger fares are heavily subsidised and have not been raised for eight years, forcing the Railways to draw down heavily from
reserves meant to replace aged assets. Such a compromise on safety is unacceptable. The Railways should make
large-scale investments to modernise and improve service quality. It should spend more money on track renewals and new rolling stock, invest
in electrification and computerised signalling systems, especially for
high-speed operations. Investments can be stepped up only when finances
are robust. A crucial reform, therefore , is to end the practice of freight and upper-class passengers subsidising lower-class passengers.
The Pitroda panel has done well to suggest reforms on multiple fronts.
Indian Railways to go on green drive
Bangalore, January 17, 2012: The Railways is adopting an
environment -friendly attitude and is now mulling over combating energy crisis.
It is planning to set up a solar energy producing plants and self-sustaining hydro-electric plants at vacant railway lands in the country.
The plans were announced by Union Railway Minister H Muniyappa at the Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight organised at the Bangalore Palace
Grounds. Muniyappa said: "Conservation is only one part of the energy
crisis. To combat the crisis, we have to develop alternative energy sources that can be used instead of fossil
fuel," he said. He added that this was important considering over 100 million tonnes of fuel are used
in India every day and this number will only grow with rapidly increasing manufacture of
vehicles.
The minister said: "We can conserve energy by reducing the use of
private transport. Considering that the use of fuel by railways is much
less compared to other vehicles, by 2020, we hope to expand our total reach to at least 2 lakh, so that more people can use the railways
instead of depending on buses, cars, and private transport for
commuting," he said. "The fact that India imports over 83% of the totally consumed fuel is
important when we consider that although 5% of our fuel is mixed with ethanol, petrol would only last for about 48.2 years and gas in about
58.6 years," said B Ashok, coordinator for the Indian Oil. Source:
DNA
Five killed, 9 injured in Brahmaputra Mail accident
Sahibganj/Guwahati, January 11, 2012 (PTI): Five persons were killed and nine
others, including a child, injured in a collision between the Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail and a stationary goods train, about 25 km
from Sahibganj in Jharkhand. The accident occurred at 5.50 AM when the Brahmaputra Mail was on its
way to Delhi from Dibrugarh.
The sources said that the Brahmaputra Mail was passing through Karonpuroto station under Malda Division of Eastern Railway when a
stationary goods train parked on the main line, started rolling back and
hitting the mail train. However, Superintendent of Police (Rail) Praveen Srivastav, said, "A
bogie of 14055 Bramhaputra Mail derailed and dashed against a stationary
goods train". Condoling the loss of lives, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi has
announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the seriously injured. Rs 10,000 will be paid
to passengers with minor injuries.
Fire crackers help railways deal with fog
New Delhi, January 9, 2012: In these
high-tech times, Indian Railways continues to rely on the age-old
practice of bursting fire crackers on tracks to alert train drivers
during dense fog. "Fire crackers continue to help us deal with
fog. New technology supplements the decades old practice," said Y
S Rajput, senior PRO, Northern Railway. According to Rajput, the Delhi
division buys around 1.5 lakh fire crackers every year for use during
periods of dense fog. Railway officials said the firecrackers are tied
on the tracks before a signal and burst under the weight of the
engine. The blast alerts the driver to slow down the train and look for the signal ahead.
The crackers are usually placed around 300-500 metres before an
electric signal. Officials said though the railways now use electronic
signal system for the purpose, the bursting of firecrackers helps the
drivers during dense fog when visibility drops to less than 250 metres.
The blast alerts the driver to slow down train and look for the signal
ahead.Fire crackers help railways deal with fog Fog is a major cause
of disruption of train movement in north India and leads to
rescheduling and cancellation of trains, causing inconvenience to
lakhs of passengers every year. Source: ibnlive
IRCTC launches mobile ticketing website
New Delhi, January 3, 2011: Indian Railways
Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has come up with a new
way that lets passengers book tickets through mobile phones anywhere, anytime.
Passengers, who wish to book rail tickets, can go to the
mobile website of the Indian Railways - https://www.irctc.co.in/mobile.
The IRCTC mobile website is said to be convenient and easy to
use, and can be accessed from any browser enabled mobile having basic
GPRS activated on phone. With just a few clicks, users can book tickets using their mobile phones.
The website offers various features. People can book
tickets by providing source and destination, check booking history and
cancel tickets. Payment can be made using credit or debit card. Users
can use their existing IRCTC user id and password to login to the
website. The IRCTC mobile website can be accessed from any browser
enabled mobile having basic GPRS activated on phone. IRCTC
launches mobile ticketing website. There are already three apps
- PAYMATE, ngpay and ATOM - which allow users to buy rail tickets
using their mobile phones, and the launch of IRCTC mobile website is
an addition to the already existing mobile ticketing apps.
Railways takes Measures to Ensure Cleanliness in Trains and Stations
New Delhi, December 16, 2011: Indian Railways always endeavour to improve upon the standards of
cleanliness and hygiene in coaches and stations. For further improving
upon the standards of cleanliness in coaches, schemes like Intensive mechanized cleaning, On Board
House-Keeping Services (OBHS) and cleaning attention to trains during their stoppage at “Clean Train Stations” etc.
have also been launched. Indian Railways have also planned multi-pronged
action by synergizing technology, education of users and provision of better mechanized equipments to improve upon the standards of
cleanliness at stations.
Regular inspections/checks are carried out at various levels to monitor
the standard of cleanliness and upkeep of coaches and stations and punitive action is taken wherever warranted. Besides, special drives are
also launched from time to time to intensify the level of cleanliness in
coaches and stations and corrective action is taken wherever deficiency
is noticed.This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri
Bharatsinh Solanki in written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
Fuel hike may affect rail fare: Muniyappa
CHITRADURGA, December 12, 2011: The frequent increase in fuel
prices has put the Indian Railways in the dock. It is now planning on
increasing fares in proportion to the fuel price hike. It is also
planning to impose higher fares on busy routes. In an exclusive chat
with Express on Saturday, State Minister of Railways KH Muniyappa
hinted at the price hike. He said: “Due to the wavering trend of
petroleum prices in the international market, railways is reeling
under crisis and there is an urgent need to overcome the burden.
However, in view of our social obligation, the ministry will take a
suitable decision which will not affect the people.” “Since eight railway budgets, the ministry has not increased a
single rupee and has provided maximum satisfaction to the public with
its service motto,” he added. Muniyappa also said that with considerable pressure from a
cross section of the society and MPs, the ministry is thinking of
providing better services and increasing the charges. "We are
keen on implementing this issue and the ministry will shortly take a
decision,"
Government to unveil special train to ferry fruits
PUNE, November 28, 2011: Having lost fruits and vegetables worth crores to poor
infrastructure and transport, India will soon unveil a special insulated
and ventilated train next month that ferries fruits and flowers from
Mumbai to New Delhi and hauls vegetables on its way back. The train is a joint initiative between the National Horticulture Board
(NHB) and Container Corporation of India, or Concor, a Union government
enterprise that provides inland transport and cargo-handling facilities.
The train will link the Turbhe yard of Concor near the Vashi market in Mumbai via
Nasik- Bhusawal to the New Azadpur market in New Delhi. On return journey, it touches Agra and
Surat.
Bananas from Maharashtra and potatoes from Delhi will be the core
cargo throughout the year. Seasonal produce such as pomegranates,
grapes, flowers, carrots, peas and mangoes will also be carried by the train.
Most fruits, vegetables and flowers are damaged during transport on
ordinary freight trains, resulting in losses for growers, transporters
and buyers alike. The train will have insulated and ventilated freight containers designed
by a company called Transafe and manufactured at its Kharagpur workshop
in West Bengal. The design has been vetted by Central Institute of Postharvest Engineering Technology,
Ludhiana.
20 injured as train derails in Kashmir Valley
Srinagar, November 23, 2011 (PTI): At least 20 people were injured on
Wednesday when a train from Qazigund to Srinagar derailed in Kulgam district, the first such incident since
train services were launched in Kashmir Valley in 2008. The engine and two bogies of the train derailed at Sedura village, 55 km
from here, as the driver overshot the intended station stop by nearly 200
metres, officials said. They said 20 people sustained minor injuries in the mishap.
“All the injured persons were evacuated to a hospital,” a senior police
official in Kulgam said.
A team of Railway officials has rushed to the spot to investigate the
cause of the mishap. “We are heading to the scene of the accident. The cause of derailment
will be known only after the investigations are complete,” Chief Area
Manager, Northern Railways, Opender Singh said.
Official sources said preliminary investigations have found that there
was some problem with the brakes of the train. The first train service was
introduced in the Valley in October, 2008. Today’s mishap is the third
involving railways since yesterday. Seven persons were killed when two coaches of the Doon Express caught fire in
Jharkhand yesterday. In another incident on Wednesday, four passengers were injured when the
Howrah-bound Koraput-Howrah Express collided with a goods train at Jharsuguda Station in
Odisha.
Howrah-Dehradun express train caught fire- 7 burnt to death
Ranchi, November 22, 2011 (IANS): At least seven people including two children were charred to death when
two AC coaches of the Howrah- Dehradun express train caught fire early on
Tuesday in Giridih district of Jharkhand, police said. "Seven people, including two children, died after two coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun
express caught fire. Four bodies have been identified. The fire has been
extinguished," D Parwa Lakra, deputy commissioner of Giridih, said.
According to railway sources, one of the two deceased was identified as
Archita Kumari who hailed from Asansol in West Bengal.The incident took place between Nimiyaghat and Parasnath railway
stations. Two AC coaches caught fire around 2.30 am. A blast in a gas cylinder of one of the coaches is said to be the reason behind the incident.
AC coach number B1 caught fire first which spread into the second AC bogey B2. Both
coaches were badly burnt. High rising flames could be seen.
"The AC of the coach was switched off and someone switched on the
heater. We started feeling suffocated. We informed the TT about it. But
no timely action was taken," a passenger travelling in the train told news
channels. Train services have been partially affected.
Railways minister announces new trains
KOLKATA, November 16, 2011: Railways minister Dinesh
Trivedi, on Friday, announced the introduction of 26 new trains,
including a weekly Porbandar-Santragacchi Express within a week or so.
These trains will be flagged-off by local public representatives from
various stations. On Sunday, Trivedi will flag-off a
Howrah-Bolpur Kavi Guru Express from Kolkata. The routes of eight
trains will also be extended and the frequency of five will be
increased. The extensions and increase in frequency will come into immediate effect, the minister said.
In the 2011-12 Railway Budget, Mamata Banerjee had announced
the introduction of 132 new trains, extension of routes for 33 and increase in frequency for another 22. Of these, 42 new trains have
been introduced. In order to cater to the surge of passenger traffic that is seasonal in nature, Indian Railways has followed a strategy of
running trains on demand. Recognizing the need to bridge the extremely
large gap between supply and demand on one hand and limitations of terminal capacity and line capacity on the railways on the other, a
close watch is kept on the wait-list of passengers and on social and cultural events in the region.
Railways, SAIL intend to set up coach factory at Singur
Kolkata November 1, 2011: Even as the legal battle for the
erstwhile Nano site at Singur is still on, West Bengal Chief Minister,
Mamata Banerjee, has said that Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and
Indian Railways is looking to set up a metro coach factory at the
location. "I had a discussion with the Railways Minister, Dinesh
Trivedi, regarding the setting up of a metro rail coach factory at
Singur. Railways has already showed keenness on this, at the same
time, SAIL, too, has given a letter. Singur land is with us. But since
a court case is on, there are some legal bindings. We will
be happy if Railways, SAIL and the state government can form a joint
venture. We are committed to returning 400 acres to the unwilling
farmers," Banerjee said, as part of her briefing on an industrial evolution set to engulf West Bengal.
Even if the venture materializes at Singur, it will not happen
in the near term, and Banerjee realizes it as well. Banerjee won the
first round of the court battle against Tata Motors, as the Calcutta
High Court upheld the validity of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and
Development Act that revoked the agreement between Tata Motors and the
West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation for the Singur land.
But the judgment has been stayed till November 2, giving the company
time to file an appeal. Source: Business Standard
Indian Railways has planned to revamp its catering policy
New Delhi,
October 27, 2011: Deepak Chhabra, Chief Commercial Manager, East
Central Railway said, " Indian Railways has planned to revamp its
catering policy across the country with a new, soon to be implemented
policy which will serve a variety of meals to on-board
passengers". According to Mr.Chhabra the new policy will help
Railways keep a tab on the quality of food served to passengers since
it has taken control of catering from Indian Railway Catering and
Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The Railway Board decided that the menu
would now be different each day of the week on the Patna-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.
"Railways would change the menu card each day for
passengers travelling by the prestigious Shatabdi Express and Duronto
Express,” Chhabra said The Railway Board has ordered the review of
menu cards in all mail and express trains with an aim to maintain
uniformity in menu card and rate in each zone of railways. “Railways
has set up a team of commercial trained inspectors under each division
at every zone, to carry out surprise check of food quality served to
passengers,” Chhabra said.
Indian Railways launched a real-time train information system
NEW DELHI, October 20, 2011 : The Indian Railways on
Wednesday launched a real-time train information system (RTIS) for a
dozen important trains through which passengers can access the
accurate train running information. Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi
launched the facility at the Economic Editors' Conference here. The
facility will not only be available to passengers on these trains but
also to the public who are accessing the website “http:/www.simran.in”,
and through SMS from railway enquiry number 139.
Passengers will be provided with the information about the
location of the train, its running position — on time or late, next
stop, nearest approaching / crossed station and the speed. This
facility has been provided for 12301 Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani
Express, 12302 New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express, 12305 Howrah-New
Delhi Rajdhani Express, 12306 New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express, 12313
Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, 12314 New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani
Express, 12951 Mumbai Central-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, 12952 New
Delhi-Mumbai Central Rajdhani Express, 12953 Mumbai Central-
Nizamuddin A K Rajdhani Express, 12954 Nizamuddin A.K.-Mumbai Central
Rajdhani Express, 12003 Lucknow-Delhi Shatabdi Express and 12004 New
Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi Express. The Railways intends to provide this
facility in all passenger and freight trains by December 2012.
Clerks behind counters in railway ticket scandal
New Delhi, October 10, 2011: The Indian Railways is
pressing charges of forgery against 15 employees for allegedly
booking tickets in bulk, which is illegal and is usually done by
unscrupulous staff out to make a quick buck. The manipulations
were detected at 10 to 12 smaller stations in the Northern Railway
zone, where passengers had come to book tickets for east and
north- bound trains for Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath. A senior
official of Northern Railways' commercial department said:
"The fraud was detected at Haridwar, Nazibabad, Meerut,
Kotdwar, Modinagar, Gurgaon, Badgam, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Ambala
and Ferozepur. There is a heavy rush from these regions during the
festive season for east-bound destinations such as Bihar, West
Bengal and eastern UP." "We found that errant railway
clerks had booked multiple tickets between 8 am and 8.02 am,"
the official added. Source: India Today
Indian Railways to get its most powerful diesel locomotive
NEW DELHI, September 26, 2011 (ET): Locomotive major Electro-Motive Diesel Monday said it has
completed the design for a high-horsepower locomotive for the Indian
Railways. According to the company, the new design - WDG5 - would be developed
into the most powerful diesel locomotive in the country with a power
output of 5,500 bhp. "This diesel locomotive has an output of 5,500 bhp, which will make it
the strongest diesel locomotive ever to run on the Indian rail network,"
the company said in a statement. The company further said that the locomotive has a tractive effort of
560 kn and can pull more load at higher speeds with less emissions than engines which are currently in use.
The design entails the usage of modern technologies like electronic fuel
injection and more. "It includes electronic fuel injection, radial grids and high adhesion,
lightweight fabricated bogies," Lehman said. The interiors of the locomotive would have crew-friendly features and
modern controls. "It has modern driver interface and crew-friendly features, such as an
air conditioned cab and toilet, which is another first for the Indian Railways' fleet."
Railways most corrupt government organisation, says cvc annual report
Delhi, Septeber18, 2011: The CVC's annual report for the year 2010 reveals that every third official penalised for
corruption in the country belongs to the railways. Surprisingly, public sector banks like the Canara Bank, Vijaya Bank, State Bank
of India and the Punjab National Bank, besides the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD),
which have high public interface, follow the railways in the CVC's roll call of dishonor.
The excise and customs department, which is perceived
to be more corrupt than a bank, comes behind the DDA and MCD in
the CVC's corruption index. Out of the 2,982 officers who faced
action last year, as many as 911 belong to the railways. In fact,
the corruption index in railways literally doubled from 2009 when
509 railway officers had faced the heat for corruption on CVC's
advice. Canara Bank, Vijaya Bank, SBI and PNB together saw 406 of
their corrupt officials punished in some way in 2010, the CVC report says.
Indian Railways leads the chart here too, with 321 of its
officers not seeing any action against them despite the CVC's
advice given over six months ago. Railways is followed by 305
officers of the Central Board of Excise & Customs and 174
officers of the Central Board of Direct Taxes - both under the
Finance Ministry - who have also not been acted against by their
respective organisations for over six months despite the CVC's
advice.
Train
mishap near Chennai, 10 dead, 72 injured
New Delhi, September 14, 2011: In the third major
rail mishap in a span of two months, 10 persons were killed and 72
others injured when a passenger train rammed into a stationary
train near Arakkonam, derailing five coaches on Tuesday night.
Rescue operations are over and work is on to restore the rail
track. However, bad weather is slowing down the process.
The accident took place at about 9.30 last evening, when
the Chennai Beach-Vellore local rammed into the Arakkonam-Katpadi
train - which was stationary at that time. A compensation of Rs 5
lakh for familes of the dead and Rs 1 lakh for the injured has
been announced. Union Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi will be
reaching the site later on Wednesday morning. "Initial
reports suggest that the driver may have jumped the signal, but
this is not confirmed yet. Our officials have reached the site.
Compensation of RS 5 lakh will be given to victims' families and
RS 1 lakh to the injured. The state Chief Secretary is looking
into it. We will confirm the casualty figures only after looking
into detailed probe reports," said Trivedi.
Railways mulling over passenger fare hike
New Delhi, September 5, 2011 (IANS): The Indian
railways considering an 8-12% hike in passenger fares. The move
comes as a desperate bid by the railways to pull itself out of the
red and the hike could be across the board. "We are actively
considering an increase in passenger fares for all classes,"
Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal told IANS. "The hike
should happen at the earliest. We have already lost five months this financial year."
Indian Railways, which runs 10,500 trains and ferries
2.2 crore passengers each day, last hiked passenger fares in
2002-03. As part of fare rationalisation in 2002-03, minimum fare
for second class mail and express trains went up from Rs15 to
Rs16. For long distance trains up to 341 km, the hike ranged from Re1 to Rs6.
Explaining his point, the railway board chairman said
the "investible surplus" of Rs13,000 crore this year was
expected to drop to Rs.4,000 crore after the government revised
its economic growth target from 8% to 7.5%. He felt that this
would affect the railways' development plans. Railways Minister
Dinesh Trivedi, sources said, is seized of the matter. Once he
approves the fare hike, the proposal will be put up before the
cabinet.
Railways to remove slums from near tracks
New Delhi, September 2, 2011 (IANS): The railways want to remove slums from its
property 'in a humane manner' and are taking steps to prevent more slums
from coming up, parliament was informed Friday. Minister of State for Railways Bharatsinh Solanki said the
rehabilitation and resettlement of such slum dwellers would be done
through railways' Sukh Griha Scheme or other such schemes. The issue had been taken up with ministry of housing and urban poverty
alleviation 'to arrive at a policy solution to relocate these slums', the minister told the Rajya
Sabha. 'Railways are also engaged in a continuing exercise to prevent fresh
encroachment by protecting railway land and property by providing boundary wall,
fencing and tree plantation,' he said. |
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Wi-Fi fittings for
Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express
New Delhi,
August 28, 2011: The Indian Railways is planning to make the New
Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express the first Wi-Fi-enabled train in the
country. "Internet browsing using the Wi-Fi technology is
planned to be introduced in the Howrah- Rajdhani Express as
a pilot project by December-end," a member of the Railway
Board said. The Wi-Fi facility, available at the international
airports in the country, enables laptop users to access the Net
without plugging into a regular connection, or having to use a data card.
"Both business travelers and commuters will be
interested in using wireless services on trains as it will enable
them to productively use the nearly 24 hour travel and be in touch
with the global community and share their experiences in real
time," the official said. They said the facility would be
initially available in three rakes of the train and extended to
other trains depending on the success of the project. The
estimated cost of the project is Rs 6.30 crore, and the railways
have awarded the contract for the equipment and their
installation. The officials said browsing of the Net would be
through a satellite- based system using Wi-Fi for the distribution
of Internet bandwidth.
Salman
Khan to become Indian Railways brand ambassador
Mumbai, August 25, 2011: Given Salman Khan’s love
for /rail gaadi/, the Indian Railways are planning to rope
in the megastar to bring about a much needed face lift to one of the biggest transportation system in India.
Action superstar Salman Khan is often seen running,
romancing or beating the pulp out of baddies against the backdrop
of our very own Indian Railways, so the top officials of the
department are reportedly contemplating to ask the star become
their brand ambassador. A source close to Salman revealed,
"The Indian Railways is used as a mode of transport by a very
large number of population. And, as a star, Salman has a huge
appeal among the masses. So it`s a perfect brand fit.”
"His movies like ‘Tere Naam,’ ‘Wanted,’
‘Dabangg’ - all have important scenes in trains or railway
platforms," the source added. However, Salman’s business
representative was very evasive about the deal. On contacting the
rep said, "It`s too premature to talk anything about it right now."
Indian
Railways offering live television services on-board next year
New Delhi August 22, 2011: Indian Railways will redefine
the travelling experience of passengers on premium trains by
offering live television services on-board next year. The
country's largest Direct-to- Home (DTH) service provider, Dish TV,
which has recently executed a pilot project on the Kalka Shatabdi,
is in the fray to bag the contract. Reliance Big TV, too, has
evinced interest. Sanjay Behl, chief executive officer, Reliance
DTH & IPTV, said, "Reliance Digital TV has capability to
provide services in cars, buses and trains. We are keen to
evaluate all tenders in this regard, including that of the Indian Railways."
To begin with, the services would be introduced on eight
Delhi-bound Shatabdi trains and then in Rajdhanis and Durontos.
Passengers would be able to surf through as many as 70 channels
covering genres such as entertainment, cricket and news. "The
service will be provided free of cost. The contractor would have
to pay a stipulated licence fee to the railways and in lieu would
get airtime for advertising content on trains," said a senior
Northern Railways official. Live television services are
already offered by DTH operators on premium inter-city buses,
luxury trains and ships. But this would be the first time the
service would be rolled out on a mass scale on trains.
Railways Propose to Set up Mechanized Laundries at Important Locations
Ministry of Railways 18-August, 2011:
Indian Railways always endeavour to provide good quality linen to the
passengers in trains. Bedrolls/linen sets are washed after every use.
However, some complaints and references/suggestions have been received
on the Railways regarding quality of washing of bedrolls. The number of
complaints received in 2009-10 was 1382; in 2010-11, 961 and in the year
2011-12 (till June) it was 207.
Such complaints/suggestions, whenever received, are acted upon
appropriately and suitable penal action is initiated against the concerned contractor/staff responsible for the lapses on their account.
Regular inspections/checks are carried out at various levels to monitor
the quality of linen provided to the passengers. Railways are also in
the process to set up mechanized laundries at important locations to
further improve upon the quality of washing of linen. This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri K.
H. Muniyappa in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
Railways to have electronic security system soon
NEW
DELHI, August 12, 2011 (PTI): The railways on Friday said it is in
the process of having an integrated security system for electronic
surveillance at vulnerable stations to ensure security and safety
to passengers. "We are implementing an electronic security
system. This is going to be implemented soon," railway
minister Dinesh Trivedi said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
He was answering questions on measures taken by the Railways to
provide security and safety to passengers.
The integrated security system will consist of electronic
surveillance of vulnerable stations through close-circuit
television camera network, access control and anti- sabotage
checks, he said. "The system has been approved to strengthen
surveillance mechanism at 202 sensitive and vulnerable railway
stations and it is under implementation," Trivedi said. He
also said that his ministry was committed to doing "anything
and everything" to see that vacant positions related to
security were filled up. "Efforts are on to augment the
Railway Protection Force cadres for which employment notifications
have been issued for recruitment of 11,952 vacancies of constables
and 511 sub- inspectors," he said.
Indian Railways will soon be introducing double-decker trains
Bhopal, August 08, 2011: The Indian Railways will soon be introducing double-decker
trains between Bhopal and Beena. The department is likely to start a
feasibility survey next month. The decision to introduce the high capacity rail double-decker trains
was taken due to the huge rush of passengers on this route. If the
railways get a positive response in the survey, the double-decker service is likely to begin by the end of this year.
According to an estimate over 25 thousand people commute on the
Bhopal-Beena route daily. From businessmen to students and vendors a
large number of people are dependent on the rail services to travel on
this route. People coming from Beena to Bhopal usually depend upon
trains like Malwa, Vindhyachal, Amritsar-Dadar and Kushinagar Express.
Double-decker trains are already in operation between Howrah and
Dhanbad. The Eastern Railways had introduced double-decker AC coaches to cater to
the heavy rush of travelers on this popular route.
Three
killed in train crash in West Bengal
Kolkata, July 02, 2011: At least three people have
been killed and 200 injured in a train collision in the Malda
district of West Bengal. Officials said the accident happened when
the engine and some coaches of the Guwahati to Bangalore express
derailed and were then hit by another train.
The crash took place in Malda district about 350km (210
miles) north of Kolkata. This is the third serious rail accident
in northern India this month. The express train "suffered the
derailment of one engine and six coaches," said Amil Saxena,
a spokesman for the railways ministry. "After derailing, the
coaches were thrown into the path of the oncoming Azimgarh-Malda
express. It came after about four to five minutes. It seems the
driver was alert and he tried to put on the emergency
brakes." Some passengers are reported to be trapped in the wreckage. Accidents are common on the state-owned Indian railway, an
immense network connecting every corner of the vast country. It
operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day.
Delhi HC directs Railways to introduce bio-toilets, rehabilitate
New Delhi, July 29, 2011
(UNI) : The Delhi High Court On July 27 directed the Indian Railways to
introduce bio-toilets in the trains and rehabilitate thousands of
scavengers engaged for doing the menial job. A bench comprising
Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjive Khanna, who were
hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Safai
Karamchari Andolan, a federation of state-level
organisations of manual scavengers across the country said
‘Railways should seriously think of the rehabilitation of these
manual scavengers.’ Taking note of the status report filed by
advocate Rajiv Nanda, who is appointed as amicus curie by the
court to assist it, the court expressed its displeasure at the
slow pace of roll out of the bio-toilets, which retain human waste
and treat it with bacteria, converting it into gas and water. The
report said the railways were slow to implement the Bio-Toilets as
an extra burden of Rs 1,600 crore will have to be shelled out by the Railways Ministry.
'Presently there are about 50,000 coaches in the trains run
by Indian Railways, of which 43,000 coaches are engaged in the
passengers service, this means that there are a total of 1,72, 000
toilets which are functioning today using technology which is
completely unacceptable, in that it requires the use of manual
scavengers to clean the human excrete which is directly discharged
on to the railway tracks,' the report. The Court said the Railways
should install the bio-toilets as fast as they can and fixed September 21 as next date of hearing.
New
Delhi-Mumbai travel time will be reduced to 6 to 7 hours.
MUMBAI, July
21, 2011: According to railway officials, the infrastructure for
the Golden Rail Corridor, which will have trains running at
semihigh speed (160-200 kmph) between New Delhi and Mumbai , is
likely to cost around Rs 5,000 crore. The cost, they say, is
relatively low as the railways will not have to acquire land for the project.
Once the project takes off, the New Delhi-Mumbai travel
time will be reduced to six to seven hours. At present, Rajdhani
Express , the fastest train on the Indian railway , runs at
120-130 kmph and takes at least 16 hours to cover a distance of
1,400 km between the two cities. Sharat Chandrayan, chief public
relations officer, WR, said, "A delegation from the Japanese
government that visited India last week is satisfied as far as the
commercial viability of the project is concerned. Another team
will soon visit the country to study the technical aspects of the project."
A high-speed train runs above 250 km/hour, for which
separate infrastructure , including the tracks, is required. For
this, land acquisition is necessary. "These semi-high speed
trains will run on existing tracks, so land need not be acquired .
No major changes need to be made in the existing track design. The
loop design (at points and crossings ), however, will have to be
modified to ensure that the train is able to change the track at a
speed of 100 kmph or above. As of now, trains are not allowed to
go beyond 30 kmph while changing tracks," he said.
Japan team
studies feasibility of semi high-speed Indian rail in Gujarat
AHMEDABAD, July 15,
2011: A delegation from Japan was in Vadodara on Wednesday to
explore the feasibility of semi high-speed Indian rail development
in the country. The delegation's visit to the Vadodara railway
division comes on the background of the decision of Indian
Railways to consider increasing the speed of trains from the
existing 160 kilometres per hour (Kmph) to 200 Kmph on Delhi-Mumbai route.
Vadodara railway division is set to become the hub of all
the studies that will be carried out by Japan government's
delegation as the Ratlam-Surat zone is being taken as a sample
zone to conduct feasibility study of semi high speed rail
development in the country. The feasibility study will cover the
existing 1,400-km Delhi-Mumbai corridor via Mathura, Kota, Ratlam,
Vadodara and Surat. The three-member delegation that visited
Vadodara railway division included experts from Mitsubishi Research Institute.
Train crash in Uttar Pradesh kills more than 60 people
Fatehpur,
July 11, 2011 (BBC): At least 69 people have been killed and
almost 250 injured in a train derailment in near Fatehpur. A dozen
coaches of the Kalka Mail passenger train left the rails near the
town of Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh. Rescue workers and locals have
been working through the night to try to free trapped passengers from the badly damaged carriages.
The train was travelling from Howrah near Kolkata to the
capital Delhi and derailed at more than 100kmph (62mph). Among the
bodies removed from the damaged coaches were those of two Swedish
passengers. A third Swede is among scores of injured receiving
treatment in hospital in the local town of Kanpur. Some coaches mounted each other and others were badly
crushed in the accident, making it difficult for rescuers to reach
victims. Specialist medical and engineering teams along with
cutting equipment and cranes have been sent to the crash site,
local reports said. The cause of the derailment, about 120km (75
miles) south-east of Uttar Pradesh's capital, Lucknow, was not immediately clear.
Indian
Railways to roll out new e-ticketing service
NEW DELHI, July 05, 2011: Indian Railways is all set
to roll out its own e-ticketing service, which will have no room
for travel agents and will be reserved for individual users.
"Unlike the e-ticketing service of IRCTC, the new service by
Indian Railway will have no role of travel agents and commercial
organisations. Only individual users will be allowed to book on
the portal," said a Railway official. Travel agents in the
IRCTC service have been accused of blocking tickets to sell them
at a premium. Railways to bar travel agents from booking tatkal
tickets during peak hours on the IRCTC portal.
Under the new railway e-ticketing service, individual
customers would need to register themselves for the first time for
availing the services. The registration will be free of charge. A
maximum of eight transaction per user ID per month will be allowed
in the beginning, the official said, adding, the service charges
levied will be Rs five per ticket for sleeper class and Rs 10 per
ticket for all other classes. IRCTS charges Rs 10 per ticket for
sleeper class and Rs 20 per ticket for all other classes. The new
service will be available on its web portal www.indianrailways.gov.in. Its launch will be announced after
necessary clearance for payment gateway transaction, the official said.
On offer is also a service for booking tickets on the
mobile platform. Customers desirous of utilising the facility and
having Internet facilities will have to download mobile ticketing
application on mobile phones from Indian Railway's website, the
official said. Tracking facility for freight trains running and
parcel status by customers would be other features
that the portal is expected to introduce shortly.
India Railways new train time table announced
New Delhi, April 01, 2011: Indian Railways new train time
table will come into effect from Friday (July 1). With the new
time table coming into effect, the arrival/departure timings of
some trains have been altered. The train numbers too stand
changed. Information regarding new train time table and the number
of trains that have been changed can be obtained from railway
enquiry number 139 or the various railway websites.
Trains whose departure timings have been changed are
Dehradun Jan Shatabdi (12055), New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani (12314),
Lucknow-Barauni (15204), Howrah-Kathgodam Bagh express(13019),
Avadh express (19038) and Muzaffarpur-Bandra T. express (19040)
from Lucknow junction station. The number of Varanasi-Anand Vihar
Garib Rath has been changed from 12551/12552 to 22407/22408. Now
the Pune-Maduadih express will run as a superfast train with a new
number - 22131/22132. Lucknow-Allahabad Intercity Express has been
extended upto Vindhyachal, while Lokmanya Tilak (Terminus)-Allahabad
Express has been extended upto Faizabad.
About 11 new trains would be introduced that would pass
through the North Central Railway region. The timings of the
trains have been changed but the dates when these trains strart
will be declared later. These trains include 12293/12294 allabhad
lokmanya tilak terminus ac duranto express;22029/22210 mumbai
central new delhi ac duranto express;12035/12036
Railways
blocks 4.6L user IDs for e-ticket fraud
MUMBAI, June 27, 2011: The Indian Railway Catering and
Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which looks after online booking of
tickets, has blocked over 4.6 lakh user IDs and 71,484 e-mail IDs
since March to curb malpractices in train reservations. In a bid
to prevent touts from cornering reserved tickets, the IRCTC has
enhanced its cyber surveillance and has been disabling IDs, which
are found to be violating laws. Public relations officer of the
IRCTC, PC Bihari, said, "Users of these IDs will no longer be
able to book tickets through our website."
An IRCTC user ID can be created only if a person has an
e-mail ID. Once users complete the registration formalities on the
IRCTC website, they receive a password on their personal e-mail
IDs. Authorized agents have been provided separate user IDs by the
IRCTC for online booking on a commission basis. In March, the
IRCTC barred its authorized agents from booking tatkal tickets
online between 8 am and 9 am after many citizens complained that
they were finding it difficult to book tickets on the railway
website. The agents, however, found their way around the system by
creating multiple user IDs so that they could book tickets during the restricted slot.
An IRCTC official said, "The agents were able to
corner a large chunk of tickets which they sold at exorbitant
rates to the customers." Many agents had procured
software which let them to book tickets within seconds. The fraud
was detected and the main distributor was arrested on June 7.
Indian Railways will Start a 100 Bln-Rupee Bond Sale by
September
New Delhi, June 21, 2011: India’s Ministry of Railways
will start a 100 billion-rupee ($2.2 billion) domestic sale of
tax- free bonds by September to help upgrade and expand Indian
train network. The offering will be divided between a private
placement and a later tranche for retail investors, Rajendra
Kashyap, managing director of finance arm Indian Railway Finance
Corp., said in a June 17 interview in New Delhi. Plans for the money include spending as much as 53 billion
rupees on laying additional rail lines, 21 billion rupees for
widening tracks and 8.5 billion rupees for electrification, he
said. About 1,300 kilometers of (808 miles) of new lines are due
to be laid this year to meet rising travel and freight demand in
the world’s second-fastest growing major economy.
Maoists
strike Bihar railway station
Patna, June 16 (IANS) Maoists Thursday set ablaze a portion
of a railway station and blew up four mobile phone towers during a
24-hour shut down called by them to protest the arrest of one of
their top leaders in Bihar, police said. A group of armed rebels attacked Nadaul railway station in
Jehanabad district, about 50 km from here, on the Patna-Gaya
route. Besides ransacking the station, they set afire a portion of
the booking counter and the panel room, police said. They also
blew up four mobile towers in Gaya district, about 100 km from
here. Unconfirmed reports suggests they attacked a police station
in Gaya, besides another tower in Aurangabad district. The rebels
are protesting the arrest of Jagdish Yadav alias Jagdish Master,
politburo member of the outlawed Communist Party of India
(Maoist). He was arrested June 12 from Gaya.
Mumbai-Delhi
Rajdhani a money-spinner
Mumbai, June 12, 2011: The Mumbai-Delhi route of the
Rajdhani Express earned the most revenue for the Western Railway (WR)
in 2010-11 according to their list of the top 10
revenue-generating trains. All the revenue data is for one-way
journeys. The WR earned around Rs63 crore from the Rajdhani’s
Mumbai-Delhi route. The Rajdhani Express connects Mumbai-Delhi
provide the best of services in terms of coaches, the quality of seats, and air conditioning.
The WR’s monthly earning of the Rajdhani’s Mumbai-Delhi
route is around Rs 5.24 crore while its daily earning is around
Rs17.2 lakh. Looking at the Rajdhani’s popularity, the research
and design wing of the Indian Railways has proposed air
conditioning facilities inside each cabin apart from other
amenities like ovens, LED lights, laptop charges and water
coolers. “Passengers inside every cabin will be able to regulate
the AC,” said a senior WR official, on condition of anonymity.
The railways are also looking at improving the body of the train
after a Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express caught fire recently.
Railways
hikes capacity of Rail Neer plant at Khagaul
PATNA, june 7, 2011: The Rail Neer (mineral water) plant at
Khagaul has proved to be a good revenue earner for the railways.
The railways has increased its production capacity to one lakh
bottles daily to cope with the growing demand in other zones.
According to Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Danapur
division, L M Jha, the Khagaul Rail Neer plant, which is the
second plant of the Indian Railways, maintains a world-class
standard. The plant is quite nvironment-friendly too. It has been
supplying Rail Neer to Ranchi, Dhanbad, Bhubneshwar, Kolkata and
Guwahati in the eastern region, he said. Lauding the functioning
of the plant, the DRM said it has been fulfilling the needs of all
five divisions of East Central Railway (ECR). The maximum
consumption is under Danapur division as a large number of mail
and express trains either originate or pass through Patna
Junction, he said.
Indian Railways to launch new web portal soon
New Delhi, June 4, 2011: The Indian Railways will soon
launch a new web portal, which would contain information related
to passenger services , for the convenience of travellers. The
information will primarily include journey planners, E-ticketing,
retiring room booking and train arrival/departure information and PNR status.
"The new web portal will provide a web-based complaint
management and SMS complaint management," said a senior
Northern Railway official. The telephone number 132 has been taken
over by Northern Railway for the purpose of web facilitation. It
is to be an all-India number with accessibility from all mobiles
and landlines across the country. After the launching of the
portal, passengers can dial 132 for lodging complaints against
railway services, the official said. All complaints which are
presently being received on SMS either on 9717630982 or on 57886
shall be received later on at the three digit number. "It
will be ensured by the Railways that this number is integrated with the web portal," he said.
The portal will offer services to the rail users for
freight services which includes information to the customer about
the rakes. "This will also provide tracking facility of the
rakes on the portal," the official said. On the parcel
services front, the portal will provide information about the
parcel rules, parcel charges calculator, parcel rates and parcel
tracking information also. All the earlier 35 railway websites
have been linked to the portal and made online,.
Railways all
set to introduce green toilets
PATNA, May 31, 2011: The Indian Railways recently signed an
MoU with the Defence Research and Development Organization ( DRDO)
to develop environ-ment-friendly toilet system to improve further
hygienic condition in toilets on running trains across the
country. According to a Railway Board official, the design of the
proposed new toilet system has been developed by the DRDO. The
railways has decided to manufacture two rakes fitted with
eco-friendly toilet system. The rail-ways would first put these rakes on
trial and then the newly developed technology would be gradually
introduced in superfast trains, he said. The Board official said
that the objective behind introducing the new system is to
maintain zero discharge toilet system ( ZDTS on running
trains. The Research Design and Standard Organization (RSDO) and
IIT, Kanpur, have jointly developed its design.
The concept of providing green toilets on running trains
has been the pilot project of the railways. It will be introduced
gradually in most of mail and express trains in different zones of
the railways, he said. During the trial of the new system, it was
observed that the response of passengers travelling by
Bundlekhand-Varanasi Express was good. The
railways would manufacture more such new bogies fitted with
eco-friendly toilets soon, the sources said.
Railways to invite Rs 10,000-cr bids for Delhi-Mumbai
freight corridor
New Delhi May 26, 2011: Work on the much-delayed dedicated
railway freight corridor is expected to begin with contracts worth
Rs 10,000 crore to be awarded before the end of the current
financial year. The contracts would be for the western arm of the
Rs 77,000-crore Dedicated Freight Corridor project. The western
arm includes the 1,500- kilometre-long Delhi-Mumbai stretch
that is expected to ease and ramp up Indian Railways freight
traffic between Dadri near Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT)
in Mumbai traversing through Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
"Overall, Rs 10,000-crore bids would be invited by us
this year for awarding civil engineering contracts for package I
& II of the first phase of the western corridor. This will be
followed by bids for awarding electrification and signaling works
in six months," said a senior executive of Dedicated Freight
Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL), a company set up in
2006 under the aegis of the railway ministry. Freight traffic on
the Golden Quadrilateral linking Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah"
and its two diagonals Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai- Howrah
carries more than 55 per cent of revenue earning freight traffic
of Indian Railways. The existing routes of Howrah-Delhi on the
eastern corridor and Mumbai-Delhi on the western are highly
saturated creating the need for dedicated routes.
Indo-Bangla rail-link an outlay of Rs 251 crore
AGARTALA, May 22,2011 : The Northeastern Frontier
Railway (NFR) contemplating to undertake works for laying rail
tracks connecting Agartala with Bangladesh's Gangasagar by October
next year. The Centre has already earmarked an outlay of Rs 251
crore to implement the dream rail link, Kishore Ambuly, Special
Secretary, Transport department said here on Saturday.
Taking to reporters at the Civil Secretariat here, Ambuly
said that while the DoNER would pump in an amount of Rs 105 crore
for construction of rail link in the Indian side, the Ministry of
External Affairs (MEA) will provide Rs 146 crore to carry out the
project in the Bangladesh side. He said that another round of
joint survey would be conducted next month to officially notify
the proposed alignment. Earlier, a joint team comprising
representatives from both sides had conducted survey in November
last year. Sources in the NFR said, the Detailed Project Report (DPR)
is almost ready and will be submitted to the Ministry of Railways
and Railways Board for final approval. ?We are hoping to start the
work by October this year, said an official of NFR.
US firm ARI to develop high axleload wagons for Indian Railways
Chandigarh,
May 12, 2011: A joint venture of US firm ARI and Amtek Auto are
building a wagon plant near Chandigarh. ARI will work with RDSO to
assess Indian operating conditions, and will train IR staff in
design, testing and manufacturing methods, quality assurance and
maintenance. The US firm said the contract will run for ‘several
years’ with ‘almost half of the steps’ completed within two years.
‘We believe this agreement will assist in establishing
ARI as a high quality and dependable producer of freight railcars
for use in th e
Indian market’, said ARI President & CEO James Cowan on May
5. ‘We remain committed to identifying and seizing new
opportunities both domestically and abroad. The economy and
railcar market have been challenging over the last couple of years
and ARI is responding to those challenges with an expanded market
strategy.’ IR has announced that rolling stock procurement
in the 2010-11 financial year was the highest since independence
in 1947, with the acquisition of 16 628 wagons, 3 079 coaches and
267 diesel and 230 electric locomotives. New line construction
reached 709 km while 837 km was converted to broad gauge, 3 km
ahead of target.
Train derails in Madhya Pradesh, villagers save lives
Bhopal, May 9, 2011 (IANS) Timely help of local villagers
saved several lives as five coaches of Mumbai-bound Udyog Nagri
Express derailed in Madhya Pradesh's Vidhisha district early
Monday, police said. Thirty passengers were
injured, seven of them critically, in the accident. The train (No.
12173) was coming from Lucknow when it derailed near Sorai
station, over 70 km from here, around 6.30 a.m. Monday.
'As soon as we heard the sound of the train getting derai led
and passengers crying for help, we reached the spot. We provided
them water and took them to hospital for treatment,' Chandrapal
Singh, a local, told reporters. 'The railway officials reached the
spot only after two hours,' he added.
Coal
India Ltd proposes to build three new rail links
New Delhi, May 4, 2011: Coal India Ltd proposes to build
three new rail links having a total length of 350 km to connect
its coal fields in the interiors. This could require an investment
of Rs 2,000-Rs 3000 crore depending on the terrain. “The new
rail links would connect coal fields in the Ib Valley, North
Karanpura and Mand-Raigarh coal fields,” said Mr N.C.Jha,
Chairman, Coal India These coal mines are in Orissa,
Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. Sources in the Indian Railways said
construction cost for a new rail line, excluding the land cost,
ranges between Rs 5-7 crore a km in a flat terrain. However, in a
difficult, hilly terrain the costs could shoot up to as high as Rs
20 crore a km. “The new policy announced by Railways in February
is quite favourable, even though we will not get back the interest
(during construction) part,” Mr Jha said.
Special
trains started to carry strike- hit passengers
New Delhi, April 29, 2011: Indian Railways has started
operating special trains on busy routes to carry passengers
stranded by strike of crew members of national air carrier Air
India. Starting Thursday, railways are operating two pairs of
trains from New Delhi to Mumbai, and from New Delhi to Kolkata. A
pair of special trains will also be run between
Mumbai and Hyderabad from Friday.
The special trains are equivalent to Rajdhani Express
trains of railways and fully air-conditioned. "will keep
watch on the waiting list of the trains and attach additional
coaches to clear extra rush subject to operational feasibility and
availability of coaching stock. All zonal railways have been
directed to take necessary steps to clear extra rush," a
release stated on Thursday. More than 800 pilots of Air India are
on strike from Wednesday, resulting in cancellation of 100
flights.
Railway
introduces non-stop goods trains
PATNA, April 22, 2011: Indian Railways has introduced
non-stop goods trains for the first time across the country. The
special feature of these goods trains is that the load combination
of two goods trains is amalgamated to carry more freight from one major station to another.
According to a Railway Board official, Railway Board
chairman Vivek Sahai has taken the decision to run non-stop goods
trains with their load increased from the normal 58 wagons to 116
or 80 wagons. The main objective behind it was to increase railway
revenue as well as expedite transportation of freight consignments, he said.
According to ECR CPRO Dilip Kumar, the ECR has been
successfully running five such goods trains from Dhanbad division
on an experimental basis. Three such non-stop goods trains are
originating from Barwadih and one each from Gomoh and Asansol
stations. The ECR has a major share in freight loading,
particularly coal loading from the Dhanbad division. |
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