Railways News

A CAG report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday shows railway funds dwindled from Rs.21,681-crore in 2007-08 to a mere Rs.1,770-crore in 2011-12 under charge of Trinamool Congress. Mamata Banerjee was criticized as a railway minister(2009-2011) as she stubbornly refused to increase fares despite rising costs and announced new trains and projects, most of them aimed at wooing her home constituency.

In yet another massive scandal revelation, a CAG audit has found that the state exchequer lost Rs.17,000-crore between May-2008 and March-2012 due to misuse of railway's dual-pricing policy for iron-ore transportation by the exporters. CAG found several ways by which the fraud was being perpetuated. The audit was done in three-zones where iron-ore loading is maximum - Southeastern, Southwestern, and East-Coast.

With Rs 54,462.79 Cr in earnings during April-August this year, railways have registered an increase of 10.92% in earnings as compared to the same period last year. The goods earnings saw an increase of 8.86% while the total passenger earnings grew by 13.48%. The total approximate number of passengers booked during the period were 3533.86 million, a decrease of 0.92%.

Following orders by Allahabad high court, Indian Railways is contemplating installation of automatic-doors in AC-coaches of some premier trains, similar to those in the Metro, to enhance passengers' safety and keep a check on criminal activities. A non-AC coach in Delhi division will be made operational with the system for trial purpose before a full launch, said a Railways official.

Due to re-modelling, Gorakhpur Junction, will soon have the world's longest railway-platform with its length of 1300m, beating Kharagpur's platform (1074m), the longest so far. Many trains have been rescheduled or cancelled till October-6 as the signalling system of Gorakhpur is being modernized. The doubling of railway lines between Lucknow-Chhapra(by March-2014) and alternate rail-route between Gorakhpur-Gonda(by 2013-end) will be completed.

Since the year 2006, 7942 (5587 boys and 2355 girls) children aged between 10-15 years have fled from home and been found on railway-station. Majority of the kids are from North India. 6817 children from a total of 7942 have been sent back home, with remaining sent to reform homes. In the past , GRP has helped rescue many children.

For the second time this year, Indian railways has decided to increase passenger fares in all mail and express trains by 2% and freight tariff by 1.7% across the board, applicable from October 7 and revised freight charges coming into effect from October 10. Revision is in accord with fuel adjustment component (FAC), announced in the last rail budget.

Railways earnings have increased by 11.41% to Rs 65,354.64 crore during April-September as compared to the same period last year, with a growth of 9.67% and 16.16% in the total goods earnings and passenger earnings respectively. Number of total passengers booked in the suburban sector saw an increase of 2.85%, while a 3.68% decrease was recorded in the non-suburban sector.

Number of train tickets booked in the past six months has decreased by 3.68% as compared to last year, despite trains running full. The number of non-suburban passengers was 1,982.35 million during April-September as against 2,058.03 million in the same period last year. Ticket-less journey is blamed to be the reason behind this decline.

A new racket has surfaced which guarantees the commuter ticketless travel for a monthly premium of about Rs 100. The racket offers an insurance scheme that pays the charges on a commuter's behalf if he/she is nabbed in any inspection by the Railway authorities or the police. This racket is mostly prevalent among office-goers and students.

In order to make booking e-tickets easier and faster for customers, IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) has launched a new e-wallet service. The service prevents the customers from going through a bank portal every time to book a ticket. In the new scheme, payment for the ticket can be made using the eWallet where user can deposit money.

Frustrated with the government's insensitive attitude towards its demands, All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) has decided to organize a secret 'strike ballot' on Friday and Saturday. In the secret ballot, all employees would vote for or against AIRF's proposal to call a strike. The result of strike ballot will be available on Monday, which will decide AIRF's next move.

The All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) is likely to go on an indefinite strike in Feb-Mar to push through its long-pending demands, said AIRF general secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra. The decision came after over 96% employees voted in favour of the move last week. If the AIRF goes ahead, it will be the first major strike in railways after 1974.

Indian Railways is grappling with manpower shortages as 1,42,311 posts are lying vacant in the safety category. According to sources, Southern division of Railways has 44,647 vacancies, Northern division needs 35,494 employees, East Division requires 33,713 employees and Western Division needs 11,259 people. The existing employees are being overworked, putting in up to 14 hours a day.

CBI has alleged that senior railway officials as well as members of railway unions are making illegal money in allocating "Emergency Quota" (EQ) tickets released by the railway ministry. "We have learnt that EQ tickets are being used by non-entitled persons," said a top CBI official. CBI on Wednesday registered a preliminary enquiry to probe the alleged scam.

Rail travellers will get branded 'ready-to-eat' meals from November in all express and mail trains. Railways is ready with the draft policy to allow reputed brands such as ITC, MTR, Maiyas, Kohinoor Foods and Kellogg's to serve meals on board. The branded food would be served to passengers as an 'add on' option in addition to other standard items.

Indian railways is bending the railways design and standards organisation (RDSO)-established standards on passenger safety, in view of PM Narendra Modi’s pet scheme of increasing speeds of passenger trains. “Train speeds will have to be gradually raised to 110, 130 and 160 kmph,” railway board chairman Arunendra Kumar said.

The much-awaited double-decker train between Lucknow and Delhi will run from the second week of November. Its final safety trial run will take place on October 18. The train has 12 coaches and every coach has the seating capacity of 110. It will run five days a week from Lucknow via Moradabad to Anand Vihar terminal.

The Indian Railways has tied up with Citibank to allow its credit card holders to avail train tickets on EMIs. The facility is available only via online ticket booking. While purchasing the ticket online, the website will give the option of payment via EMI. Railways will soon tie up with other banks to provide this facility to more people.