News Analysis India

Tag: indian railways

  • No charges will be levied from states for COVID-19 isolation coaches: Northern Railways

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: No charges will be levied from states for COVID-19 isolation coaches, said Northern Railway General Manager Ashutosh Gangal on Sunday. “To my knowledge, no charges will be levied from states for COVID isolation coaches. Health ministry guidelines don’t mention any such thing,” Northern Railway General Manager Ashutosh Gangal said.

    He further said, “We have purchased oxygen cylinders, we can provide two cylinders in each coach. Thereafter refilling and other things will be taken care of by the state governments.” The Indian Railways has converted 4,002 train coaches as a COVID-19 care-cum-isolation facility to provide assistance to state governments amid surging coronavirus cases in the country.

    Pictures for the same were shared by Union Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal on Sunday. “Railways is devoting all its resources for fighting COVID-19. Isolation coaches have started functioning at Nandurbar, Maharashtra with COVID-19 patients being admitted,” he added.

    Additionally, as some states are facing scarcity of medical oxygen amid surging COVID-19 cases in the country, the Railways is getting ready to transport Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) and oxygen cylinders across the key corridors.

    A meeting was held between Railway Board officials and State Transport Commissioners along with representatives of industry on the “issues related to transportation of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO)” on Saturday.

  • Not wearing masks on railway premises now punishable under Railway Act, fine up to Rs 500

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Not wearing masks on railway premises and in trains can attract a fine of up to Rs 500, with the national transporter now incorporating it as an offence under the Railway Act, according to an order issued on Saturday.

    This is the latest in a slew of measures that the railways has taken to ensure compliance of the various COVID-19 protocols issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs to restrict the spread of the virus.

    “One of the specific guideline is to wear masks in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for movement of trains as brought out by Indian Railways on May 11, 2020, says that it should be advised to all passengers that they shall be wearing face cover/ mask at entry and during travel,” order issued by the railways said.

    The mandatory use of masks and the fine will now be listed under the Indian Railways (Penalties for ctivities affecting cleanliness at Railway Premises) Rules, 2012, which also has the provision of fines for those found spitting on rail premises, it said.

    “In view of the COVID-19 situation, controlling spitting and act of similar nature due to any person not wearing mask and entering railway premises (including trains), is important to avoid creation of unclean and unhygienic conditions which may cause danger to life and public health, ” the order said.

    “Accordingly, to prevent spitting and act of similar nature and thus, to ensure wearing of face masks or face cover by all persons at railway premises (including trains), fines (up to 500) under Indian Railways (Penalties for activities affecting cleanliness at Railway Premises) Rules, 2012, shall be imposed by railway officials…,” it stated.

    The order also said that this would come into immediate effect for a period of six months till further instructions are issued in this regard.

    A record single-day rise of 2,34,692 cases and 1,341 fatalities have pushed India’s COVID-19 tally to 1,45,26,609 and the death toll due to the viral disease to 1,75,649, the health ministry said on Saturday.

    The number of active coronavirus cases in the country has surpassed the 16-lakh mark, the ministry’s data updated at 8 am showed.

    Registering a steady increase for the 38th day in a row, the tally of active COVID-19 cases has climbed to 16,79,740 in the country, accounting for 11.56 per cent of its total caseload, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 87.23 per cent.

  • No plan to stop train services, numbers will be increased on demand: Railway board chairman on Covid surge

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The railways on Friday said there is no plan to curtail or stop train services and assured passengers that trains will be provided on demand amidst reports of migrant workers rushing to their hometowns, reminiscent of the days following the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.

    Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma assured the passengers that there is no dearth of trains and the railways is ready to put them into service on a short notice.

    “There is no plan to curtail or stop train services. We will run as many services as required. There is no cause for alarm. We can run trains immediately on demand if there is any rush. This rush is normal during the summer season and we have already announced trains to clear the rush,” he said at a press briefing.

    ALSO READ | Uddhav government contests Centre’s claim over Maharashtra’s vaccine wastage; inoculation drive stopped in Pune and Mumbai

    With the number of COVID-19 cases on the rise, a sudden surge in passenger movement at railway stations was reported from across the country.

    Many travellers, speaking to the media, said the fear of an imminent lockdown was the reason behind their trips.

    “There is no shortage of trains for those who want to travel. I assure everyone that trains will be provided on demand,” Sharma said.

    The Railway Board chairman also ruled out the need for a COVID-negative certificate to travel by train.

    He said the railways has not received any communique yet from Maharashtra to stop or curtail the movement of trains in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Arch of world’s highest railway bridge completed over river Chenab in J&K

    Express News Service
    SRI NAGAR: The Indian Railways on Monday achieved a major milestone by completing the arch closure of the world’s highest railway bridge over river Chenab in J&K.

    The 5.6-metre last piece of metal was fitted at the highest point and joined the two arms of the arch that currently stretch towards each other from both the banks. 

    It completed the shape of the arch that will then loom over the treacherous river Chenab in Jammu, flowing some 359 metres below. The bridge is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project.

    It is 35-metre higher than the Eiffel Tower in France and the bridge is expected to be completed by next year.

    The overall weight of the arch is 10,619 MT, and the bridge is being constructed at the cost of `1,486 crore.

    After completion of the Arch work, the engineers will now remove the stay cables, fill concrete in the arch rib, erect steel trestle and start viaduct and track laying work.

    The officials said the laying of arch closure was the biggest civil-engineering challenge faced by any railway project in the country.

  • Railway services to pre-COVID levels likely over next 2 months; currently 66 per cent trains operating

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Railways is likely to restore its train services to pre-COVID levels over the next two months, provided the state governments give their nod and the coronavirus pandemic is under control, sources said Thursday.

    They also said these are likely to be special trains only and not regular services.

    Currently 66 per cent of trains are operational, albeit as special trains.

    The special trains being run by the railway have marginally higher fares, offer no concessions except in certain categories and operate as fully reserved services.

    All regular passenger services of the Railways remain suspended since the lockdown was announced in March last year.

    But the national transporter started special train services in a phased manner since May 2020.

    As of now, 77 per cent of mail, express trains are in service, 91 per cent of suburban trains are running while only 20 per cent of passenger trains are currently on tracks.

    “Over the next two months, we would like to reach the pre-Covid level of services with our special trains. However, this depends on approval from states as well as the status of the coronavirus pandemic,” said an official.

    The pre-Covid average of mail, express trains was 1,768 per day, now it is 1,353 per day, while before the pandemic, 3,634 passenger trains were running daily, only 740 are in service per day currently.

    However, while pre-Covid, 5,881 suburban trains were in operation per day, now, 5,381 trains are on track.

    India recorded its highest daily rise in COVID-19 cases this year with 72,330 new infections being reported in a span of 24 hours, taking the total tally of cases to 1,22,21,665, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

    The single-day rise in cases is the highest recorded since October 11, 2020, while the death toll increased to 1,62,927 with 459 daily new fatalities, the highest in around 116 days, the data updated at 8 am showed.

    Registering a steady increase for the 22nd day in row, the active cases have increased to 5,84,055comprising 4.78 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 93.89 per cent, the data stated.

    As many as 74,383 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours on October 11, 2020.

  • Privatisation of railway services, infra to benefit corporates; make it sick like Air India: Opposition

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Opposition parties on Wednesday warned that privatisation of various railway infrastructure and services would only benefit corporates and result in depletion of the PSU behemoth’s financial resources which would eventually make it sick like Air India and Indian Airlines.

    They were also of the view that roping in private players would not help in improving quality of services for the common man and rather would result in fare hike.

    Participating in the discussion on working of Indian Railways in Rajya Sabha, Congress leader Naranbhai J Rathwa claimed, “It (privatisation) was all out to benefit corporate houses at the expense of selling the Railway’s property.” He said there is no emphasis on developing railway infrastructure and the focus is on “privatisation”.

    After Tejas Express, Niti Aayog has suggested running private trains and developing railway stations which was not fair, he said.

    Rathwa, a former Minister of State for Railways, said it pained him that instead of augmenting this excellent mode of transportation, the government was hell bent to privatising it with so many jobs at stake.

    “…As many as 3,000 posts are at stake at the South Eastern Zone while 11,000 posts are set to be abolished in 16 zones while talks are to give Jabalpur station on contract,” he said.

    DMK leader P Wilson said, “Although, the railway minister claims that railways will not be privatised, when activities of railways are privatised, the income of railways will deplete, resulting in financial crisis for Indian Railways which eventually will become like Air India and Indian Airlines.”

    Citing an example he said, “Catering services were privatised nearly two to three decades back yet there are complaints from passengers. So privatisation does not mean improvement in services or efficiency.”

    He further said, “You are promoting few crony capitalists in India and entire material resources are left at the disposal including the railways. The centralisation of wealth in this nation and natural resources only with them (capitalists) is very dangerous and working against the citizens of this country.”

    He also said privatisation of trains on some routes would result in undue burden on the common man in the form of increased ticket fares.

    Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP) also opposed privatisation of railways saying one the one hand, youths are jobless and on the other, few capitalists would own railways.

    Ram Nath Thakur (JDU) was of the view that the mandated facilities are not being provided to passengers having reserved tickets.

    Manoj Jha said the government should resist the temptation to offer assets (public or railways) to capitalists through the monetization of these assets.

    He said history will “judge you (the government) by the benefits provided by you to commoners and by benefits provided to corporates”.

    Jha also asked as to when would railways operations return to pre-COVID stage and all other services are restored.

    Anil Desai (Shiv Sena) said by allowing private players to participate in the functioning of the Railways under the PPP mode, the government is moving towards privatisation of the public transporter.

    He said that private players would use the infrastructure for their own benefit.

    Desai also noted that there was no need for the bullet train from Mumbai-Ahmedabad and instead the government should focus on improving the existing railways infrastructure.

    Rajmani Patel (Congress) said the government is purposely not making any effort to improve the financial health of the Railways and a case is being built for its privatisation.

    Sanjay Singh (AAP) said the government is moving towards privatising railways and that it would lead to issues for the general public.

    He appealed to the government not to leave the Railway employees at the mercy of the private sector.

    Jharna Das Baidya (CPI-M) said the Northeast has not been given any new project in the Budget.

    Countering the opposition’s charges, Dushyant Gautam (BJP) said Railways has worked for the benefit of the common people.

    He noted that even during the coronavirus pandemic, Railways constantly worked for transporting people as well as essential commodities.

    He said Railways has introduced various schemes even for the benefit of the women, blind and differently-abled people.

    Sujeet Kumar (BJD) demanded that that freight traffic should be rationalised and optimised and connectivity to the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir regions be improved.

    Kumar also demanded rail connectivity to Odisha districts and praised the humanitarian work done by Railways during Covid-19 pandemic while bringing back migrant workers.

    Ram Vichar Netam (BJP) said the Railways played an unprecedented and praiseworthy role in bringing migrant labours and suffered a huge loss of Rs 37,000 crore during COVID-19 pandemic.

    As many as 4,100 Sharmik Special trains were run on mission mode, he said.

    K R Kumar (TDP), Neeraj Shekhar (BJP), Banda Prakash (TRS) and Subhash Chandra Bose Pilli also participated in the discussion.

  • India’s first AC railway terminal to be functional soon: Union Minister Piyush Goyal

    By PTI
    BENGALURU: The country’s first centralised air-conditioned railway terminal in Bengaluru would be operational soon, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday.

    “Named after one of the foremost civil engineers, Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya, the nation’s first centralised AC railway terminal in Bengaluru is set to become operational soon,” Goyal tweeted.

    According to railway officials, the new coach terminal was planned at Baiyappanahalli in the city to meet the demand to introduce more express trains connecting Bengaluru.

    “Byappanahalli is the third coach terminal sanctioned in 2015-16, which has been named after Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya who was an engineer par excellence and contributed tremendously to nation-building,” the Chief Public Relation Officer of South Western Railway said.

    Built at an estimated cost of Rs 314 crore, it was supposed to be opened by February-end but due to certain reasons, it was put on hold.

    Once this terminal is operational, more long distance trains from Bengaluru to other metros like Mumbai and Chennai and also trains connecting Bengaluru to all districts within Karnataka can be run, the officer said, adding the terminal would help decongest KSR Bengaluru and Yesvantpur stations in the city.

    According to her, a modern station building with centralised air-conditioning and airport like faade has been constructed.

    State-of-the-art passenger amenities are being provided to make journey a pleasant experience.

    The station building is of 4,200 square metre covered area to cater to daily footfalls of 50,000.

    The terminal has seven platforms apart from eight stabling lines and three pit lines enabling the terminal to operate 50 trains daily.

    Vijaya said the terminal has a grand canopy over the station building concourse on the lines of Bengaluru International Airport.

    It has a fully air-conditioned entrance lobby and a well-marked parking space for four-wheelers and two-wheelers with a capacity of 250 and 900 respectively.

    The officer said it has an upper-class waiting hall and reserved (VIP) lounge, food court, escalators, lifts connecting all platforms to facilitate passenger movement to all seven platforms, foot-over-bridge connecting all platforms, along with two subways.

  • Railways ensures 100% compliance of payment of minimum wages to contract workers through Shramik Kalyan Portal

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Indian Railways has ensured 100 per cent compliance of payment of minimum wages to contract workers through e-application Shramik Kalyan Portal, the Ministry of Railways informed on Thursday.

    Rs 3,49,590 lakh of wage amount and about 6 crores man-days were registered on Indian Railway Shramik Kalyan e-application as on Tuesday, it said.

    A total of 15,812 contractors and 3,81,831 contract workers also registered on this portal till Tuesday.

    Indian Railway Shramik Kalyan e-application has been developed and launched on October 1 2018.

    “E-Application ensures the compliance of provisions of the Minimum Wages Act and also ensures that contractual workers working in Indian Railways get their rightful due by enforcing the contractors to regularly upload wage payment data into e-application. This helps Railways as Principal Employer, to keep vigil over wages disbursed by contractors to contract workers,” read the release.

    “As of March 9, a total of 15,812 contractors and a total of 3,81,831 contract workers are registered on this portal. Along with this, a total of 48,312 no. of letter of acceptance (LOA), Rs 3,49, 590 lakhs (More than Rs 3495 crores) wage amount and about 6 crores man-days are also registered on this portal across Indian Railways,” it said.

    The ministry said all Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) working under the Ministry of Railways are also using this e-application.

    “The Portal enables all the contractors of different units of Railways i.e., divisions, workshops, PUs, PSUs to register themselves on e-application and subsequently add Work Orders issued by different Railway units to them,” said the release.

    The contractors have to create a profile of each contract worker engaged by him for the work and update the wages provided to him on regular basis.

    “There are checks in the portal to ensure that wages paid by the contractors conform to Minimum Wages fixed by the Government of India from time to time. Railways’ bill passing authorities, before passing the contractors’ bills, have to check whether the contract workers wage data have been uploaded by the contractor on e-application or not. For ensuring compliance of the same, necessary changes have also been made in the contract conditions,” said the Ministry.

    “Provision is available in the e-application to generate ID of the contract worker and also to send SMS from time to time about wages paid to him and contribution made to EPF and ESIC,” read the release.  

  • Rail Coach Factory starts production of new AC three-tier economy coaches

    By PTI
    KAPURTHALA: The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) here has started manufacturing air-conditioned three-tier economy class coaches capable of running at an optimum speed of 160 kilometres per hour, a senior official said on Tuesday.

    The production began after successful oscillation trials of the coach conducted on the Nagda-Kota-Sawai Madhopur section at a speed of 180 kmph, RCF General Manager Ravinder Gupta said.

    The RCF rolled out the first prototype economy class air-conditioned three-tier coach on February 10 and handed it over to the Research Development and Standard Organisation (RDSO) for its trials, he said.

    After three weeks of aggressive trials, the RDSO has found it successful, Gupta said.

    The Railway Board has placed an order of 248 such coaches, he said.

    The RCF will roll out 50 coaches by the end of March, and the remaining would be manufactured during the next financial year, the official said, adding these coaches will be fitted with super-fast and express trains.

    He said passenger berth capacity has been increased from 72 to 83 in these coaches.

    Foot-operated taps, flush and other features have been added, the official said.

    To overcome the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, RCF engineers have been working to make the coaches virus-free by making changes in the air filtration system, he said.

  • Slightly high fare of short distance trains to discourage unnecessary travel: Railways

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: After concerns were raised over a rise in the ticket fares of short-distance passenger trains, the railways on Wednesday said the “slightly high fares” are only to discourage unnecessary travel.

    Since the coronavirus-triggered lockdown was eased, the railways is running only special trains.

    It started with long-distance trains and now, even short-distance passenger trains are being run as special trains.

    As a special provision in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fares of these trains have been fixed at par with the price of unreserved tickets of mail and express trains for the same distance, a statement from the railway ministry said.

    The railways, which has now started operating passenger or local train services, has come under fire from daily commuters, who are feeling the pinch of the rise in the fares.

    For example, a ticket from Amritsar to Pathankot costs Rs 55 now.

    Earlier, it was priced at Rs 25.

    Similarly, a ticket of a passenger DMU between the Jalandhar City railway station and Ferozpur costs Rs 60 now, while it used to cost Rs 30 earlier.

    “Railways would like to inform that these slightly higher fares for passenger and other short distance trains had been introduced to discourage people from avoidable travels and those which are not most necessary.

    “Covid is still around and in fact, worsening in some states. Visitors from many states are being subjected to screening in other areas and discouraged to travel. Little higher price is to be seen as a pro-active measure of Railways to prevent crowding in trains and stop Covid from spreading,” the statement said.

    It may be recalled that the Indian Railways stopped regular train operations on March 22, 2020 as a measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus and a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which came into force from the next day.

    The railways is constantly increasing the number of passenger-carrying trains in a graded manner.

    Full restoration of the regular services of passenger trains to the pre-COVID times is to be considered keeping in view a range of factors and operational circumstances.

    Currently, the railways has operationalised almost 65 per cent of the mail and express trains and over 90 per cent of the suburban services as compared to the pre-lockdown times.

    On an average, 1,250 mail and express trains, 5,350 suburban services and more than 326 passenger trains are presently in operation on a daily basis.

    The statement from the ministry said the short-distance passenger trains account for less than three per cent of the total number of trains being operated.

    “Keeping in view the prevailing COVID situation, after introduction of Mail/Express trains, Railways is gradually operationalising passenger trains, taking all necessary precautions and making additional efforts.”

    “It may be noted that passenger operations have always been subsidised by Railways. Normally, Railways bears a loss on every journey by a passenger. Officials maintain that despite the hike, Railways still remained a cheaper option to travel,” it added.

    Trains are being run under the most challenging circumstances due to COVID-19 and many are being operated in spite of a low occupancy for the benefit of people, the railway ministry said.

    The railways has also taken special care about those travelling by paying the lowest fare on trains so that even in the times of COVID-19, they bear the least burden.

    Besides other classes, the trains that are being run have a large number of “2S” (second seating) coaches that have the lowest fare in the reserved category.

    Forty per cent of the passengers have travelled in the “2S” class in much better travelling conditions compared to the pre-COVID unreserved travelling situations, officials said.

    “With a view to regulate rush at stations and in trains, passenger trains are being charged slightly more fare than pre-Covid times and a close watch is being kept on its patronisation. The situation is being constantly monitored to ensure restoration of services in keeping with the protocols necessary to be followed during Covid times,” the statement from the ministry said.

    The passengers of the long-distance or mail and express trains that are being operated as special services are, however, paying 10 to 30 per cent higher fares since the services began post lockdown.

    These fares are being charged under the ticket and refund rules of 2015, which stipulate a higher fare for special trains.