News Analysis India

Tag: indian railways

  • Railways to roll out Tejas sleeper coaches; 500 to be manufactured in FY 21-22

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The railways will roll out Tejas sleeper type trains from February 15 with the introduction of the Agartala Rajdhani Special train, the ministry said on Friday.

    The railways has decided to replace the rake of Agartala-Anand Vihar Terminal Special Rajdhani Express with Tejas Sleeper coaches with upgraded facilities.

    It will offer better connectivity with the national capital.

    “Provided with smart features, the coaches of this New Sleeper Type Tejas Train will offer best in class travel experience. The start of the Tejas service is planned for February 15,” the railways said in a statement.

    With the introduction of this modern Tejas Sleeper type train for long distance journey, the Indian Railway is making a paradigm shift in the travel experience for the passengers, it said.

    It is planned that 500 such Tejas type Sleeper coaches will be manufactured at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) and Modern Coach Factory (MCF), production units of Indian Railways in FY 21-22 which will gradually replace the premium long distance trains over Indian Railways network, the statement read.

    The Tejas type Sleeper coaches have automatic plug door, stainless Steel Under-frame, bio-vacuum toilet system, air suspension bogies, fire alarm, detection and suppression system and other smart features.

  • Train service between Nepal and Bihar soon

    By Express News Service
    PATNA: The new rail line and gauge conversion work between Jayanagar in Madhubani to Kurtha in Nepal has already been completed and the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been prepared to run direct passenger trains between the stations, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal has said.

    Replying to a query in Rajya Sabha on Friday, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said that the work of gauge conversion project between Jayanagar and Kurtha was completed in October 2018 at a cost of 548 crore.

    “Now the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been prepared to run the train between Bihar to Nepal. The Nepal government has purchased two DEMU trains from the Konkan Railway Nigam Ltd to run them between the two stations”, the Railway Minister disclosed while answering a question raised by Bihar MP Sushil Kumar Modi.

    The Railway Minister further said that the date of operation of the trains will be announced after receiving approval from the Government of Nepal.

    Goyal said that the 18.6 km railway line project, being executed between Jogbani and Viratnagar at a cost of Rs 422 crore, was approved in 2010-11. The work of its first phase was completed in 2018 with an estimated cost of Rs 286 crore.

    The railway sources said that the development works for goods shed and other facilities have been started in Bathnaha Custom Yard and Nepal Custom Yard.

  • Highest ever allocation for Bengal in rail budget, state govt causing project delays: Piyush Goyal

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The allocation of Rs 6,636 crore to poll bound West Bengal is the highest ever funds earmarked for the state in the history of Indian Railways, minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday, blaming successive state governments for the delay in rail projects in the state.

    West Bengal has 53 ongoing projects including new lines, gauge conversion, doubling projects costing Rs 48,275 crore for 4,463 km. “The allocation for West Bengal is the highest ever in the history of Indian Railways. It is 2.5 times the average amount allocated between Budget 2009-2014 and 26 per cent more than last year,” he said while addressing a press briefing.

    “Projects there remain incomplete or are delayed because the state governments – first it was the Left front government and now the TMC– have been unable to provide land to us. Projects which are 45 year old are pending in the state. I appeal to Mamata didi to expedite the process and give us land,” he said.

    Goyal said that due to non-availability of land, as many as 34 projects in the state have received only token allotment in the budget 2021-22. With an eye on the upcoming Assembly polls in the state, Goyal said that there was no shortage of funds for West Bengal.

    “I want to assure the people of West Bengal that there is no shortage of funds for projects in the state. Only there should not be any shortage of land and local issues are sorted then projects will be completed on time,” he said.

    Goyal further took a dig at pre-BJP budgets where the Railway Budget was separate and said that at that time there was a tendency to announce rail projects for political gains and not for the need of the people. “Once someone became a minister, he would announce projects without first checking if there were funds available, if land was available and if the project was feasible. That is the reason why none of the projects which were announced then could be completed and there would be major cost overruns. So, inspired by politics this harmed the railways,” he said.

    “Now, we have decided that we will start a project only after we have the land required for it. We have identified critical and super critical projects which would be completed in a focussed manner. Over the next four years, the Railways will emerge as a vibrant contributor to the Indian economy,” he added.

  • Indian Railways longest freight train ‘Vasuki’ creates new record in SECR zone

    Express News Service
    RAIPUR: The South-East Central Railways (SECR) zone in Chhattisgarh breaks its own previous record by successfully operating the longest ever freight train by amalgamating five rakes of goods trains as one unit of around 3.5 km.

    Named as ‘Vasuki’, it covered the distance of 224 km between the railway stations of Bhilai and Korba and took about seven hours.

    The ‘Vasuki’, comprising of 300 wagons of long haul rake of five goods trains, ran with the help of one pilot, one assistant loco pilot and a guard.

    The nation’s most profitable railways zone SECR had earlier operated 177 loaded wagons “Super Anaconda” of 2 km long freight train on 29 June 2020, then connecting three goods trains using the latest technology of Distributed Power Control System (DPCS). 

    SECR also successfully operated another trial ‘Shesh-Naag’ of 251 empty wagons with four electric locomotives that traveled a distance of 260 km from Nagpur to Bilaspur.  

    Under the given application of technology, the leading (front) diesel loco (engine) controlled the entire train along with the simultaneous functioning of the rear loco through electronic transmission while running on the rail network.

    “It was a great achievement of the Raipur Railway division of SECR. The concerned officials kept a close watch on any possibility of technical issue that might crop up as the long train passed through various stations”, said Shyam Sunder Gupta, Raipur Divisional Railway Manager (DRM).

  • Indian Railways refuses to slow down trains in Rajaji Tiger Reserve

    By Express News Service
    DEHRADUN: Turning down Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR) administration’s request to not raise the speed of trains passing through the reserve from 50 kmph to 100 kmph, the  Indian Railways has stated that the demand is not ‘feasible.’ 

    DK Singh, director of the RTR said, “We have raised the request again with the Indian Railway officials and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) officials have also requested the railway ministry to slow down the trains while passing through the reserve.”

    The officials of the RTR have written to the railways on Friday again. 

    Earlier, on January 7, the RTR administration had voiced its concerns on the railways’ decision to increase the speed of 18 pairs of trains plying between Haridwar and Dehradun on a 52-km track that passes through RTR. 

    Railway authorities have already agreed to keep the speed 35 kmph on an 18 km stretch which has been identified as sensitive by both the forest department and railways between 8 pm to 6 am. 

    The officials added that two areas within the 18-km patch- Motichur and Doiwala have witnessed death of around 12 elephants in last 20 years of duration. 

    Since the formation of Uttarakhand in November 18 elephants died in train accidents including two deaths in the year 2020.

    Interestingly, Uttarakhand high court in year 2016 had directed to set up a monitoring cell to track the movement of elephants and other wild animals and to inform railway authorities, to establish coordination between the forest department and the railways and also the railways should ensure that the speed of trains should not be more than 30 Kms/hr while passing of the train through Jim Corbett National Park. 

    Responding to the queries, Tarun Prakash, divisional railway manager of Moradabad railways said, “We have not received their request yet. Reducing the speed will bring down the number of trains plied on the route contrary to state government’s request. 

  • Indian Railways has made a masterplan for bumper earnings, work on mission mode

    Due to the Corona epidemic, ordinary people remained imprisoned in their homes. The economy of the country was also damaged, but in the meantime Indian Railways has made good money through freight movement during lockdown.  

    New Delhi: Due to Corona epidemic, common people remained imprisoned in their homes. The economy of the country was also damaged, but in the meantime Indian Railways has earned good during the lockdown. You must be thinking that when the railway is neither carrying passengers, nor its regular operations have started, then how would the railways have earned money? So the answer is far different planning of freight and railways.

    Earned the freight
    is earned by Yes, IR (Indian Railways) well during the lockdown and fiercely goods transported. Even at the same time, the Railways has earned more than last year’s total earnings. Yes, the Railways has taken some different steps for this.

    What steps did the Railways take?
    Indian Railways may not have run passenger trains at the time of lock down, but freight trains were fierce. And also waived the fare under special tarriff. Railways provided different fares for this in different categories. Wherein the container, ash transportation, cement, iron and steel transportation, transportation of food items, separate fare was charged. During this time, the Railways also gave a good discount.

    Railways gave fares from 5% to 50%
    , even in this era of Corona Pandemic, railways carried 4.3% more freight in August this year than in August last year. This year 81.33 million tonnes of goods were transported, compared to 77.97 million tonnes last year. Passenger trains have also benefited due to Corona. Due to this, the average speed of goods trains increased. According to the report, this year the average speed of goods trains has increased by 72%. Not only this, compared to August last year, in August this year, the speed of trains was 94% more.

    The benefit of railway’s tariff policy was given by the
    Indian Railways to give a lot of discounts to increase freight, in which 5% discount was given on the transportation of filled containers. At the same time, this discount was 25% on empty containers. At the same time, 40 percent discount was given on the transportation of ash from the cement factory, power plant. Railways also exempted the transportation of food items through tariffs. Apart from this, Kisan Rail was also run. 

  • Indian Railways: Railways provided major information for operating regular passenger mail, express and suburban trains

    New Delhi: Indian Railways will cease operating all its regular passenger trains till further notice. Despite the announcement of this indefinite closure of passenger trains, the operation of all the 230 special trains already running will continue undone. In a statement issued by the Indian Railways on Tuesday, it has been announced that the operation of all suburban trains along with all regular passenger mail and express trains will be canceled till further notice. 

    All special 230 trains will continue to operate

    In the statement issued by the Railways, it has been clearly said that 230 special trains running at present will continue to operate. Apart from this, limited operation of Mumbai local train services will also continue as before. Mumbai local is being operated for limited people on the demand of the state government. Railways says that the number of passengers on special trains running is being constantly monitored. As the demand of passengers increases, some more special trains can be started at that time. However, it has been decided to continue the operation of suburban trains along with all the regular trains, which was canceled before the lockdown.

    Special trains and special Rajdhani trains were launched from May 12   

    The fact is that during the lockdown itself, in the first phase, the operation of 12 pairs of special Rajdhani trains was started on 12 May, while the operation of 100 special trains was started on 1 June. The routes of these trains were selected according to this, so that all parts of the country could be connected. Whereas it was decided to start local trains in Mumbai on the demand of the state government to continue the necessary services to the local administration. She will also keep going.

    Permission of the Ministry of Home and Health to operate

    Indian Railways earlier canceled regular train operations till 12 August. The railways are estimated to suffer a loss of Rs 40 thousand crore during the current financial year 2020-21 due to the stoppage of passenger trains. But permission of the Ministry of Home and Health will also be required to start operating trains. 

  • Railway proposes RPF to safeguard Metros

    Cash starved Indian Railways has proposed that Railway Protection Force (RPF) be given the responsibility of securing the premises of all upcoming metro stations in the country. Presently Metro property is being managed by the elite Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

    The railway board has written to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs saying that the RPF which is already guarding the Kolkata Metro be made in charge of security for the new metros in Lucknow, Nagpur, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Indore, Bhopal and Hyderabad.

    “Having a single dedicated force for the Metro Railway is advantageous since the staff can be trained in the safety and security requirements of the metro. The RPF has specialised training because it is already securing sub-urban stations for years,” a senior railway official said.

    The official also pointed out that the move will also be cost effective. The CISF charges Rs 1.84 lakh annually per jawan for securing metro premises, while the RPF charges only Rs 78,000 per jawan yearly.

    Also, as the RPF is entrusted with the responsibility of protection and security of railway property, passenger area and has the power to arrest, investigate and prosecute criminals, it would be able to use them at stations as well.

    “The RPF with only 900 staffers is managing Kolkata metro which has a footfall of about five to six lakh commuters daily. They have both the expertise and the experience to manage and secure mass transport system like Railways, so they are equipped to deal with metros,” the official said. The RPF has a sanctioned strength of 74,456 personnel