With the policy to encourage private freight terminals in place, the union railway ministry is now eyeing for smaller cargo which will help the ministry diversify its freight basket.

“Railways traditionally have been doing business in bulk commodities that too in ten major commodities like ore, cement and others,” Prabhu said addressing the third conference on logistic organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

The minister further said, “What is important now is that over a period, we will have to diversify the freight basket and to do that, we need smaller quantities of freight.”

Prabhu suggested that the public-private partnership initiatives can go a long way in achieving the aim of accommodating smaller cargo.

“Some players can bring in cargo to the railway point, and there are private freight terminals which can keep them and then it can go on the rail,” Prabhu said.

He stated that the vision document to make Indian Railways the best in the world by 2030 was ready, and that ground work had started. The minister said that the railways are working on a structured plan which will encourage multi-model transportation process.

“The multi-model transportation will help to connect ports and also contribute to bringing in even urban transportation into reality,” he said mentioning about the announcement to promote private freight terminals. He said adding his ministry is working with other ministries to make all these things a reality.

Referring to the new GST regime, Prabhu said, “many things have happened in India, and this is the right time to take those things ahead.”   “Five days ago, we created a unified market by bringing in a path-breaking legislation. Now we can move goods from one place to another without any hindrance,” he said.

Prabhu said the railway ministry was working with “All other colleague ministries to make multi-modal transportation model a reality.”

Prabhu also said that this is right time to think about logistics as a new destination for investment.

Passengers falling in front of a train is not so rare in Mumbai. Ten people die on the tracks every day on suburban railway system.

Some among those who fall on the tracks miraculously survive too. CCTV cameras at railway stations have often shown how some railway passengers literally cheat death.

On June 23, Ghatkopar station on the Central Railway saw a similar incident when a woman jumped in front of a train but when the train had passed, she was nowhere to be seen. Passengers were flabbergasted and failed to understand where she was. The CCTV cameras once again provided the answers. CCTV footage on the adjacent platform showed the woman exiting the station minutes after she fell under the train.

A closer examination of the CCTV footage shows the lady was flat on the tracks when she jumped in front of the train. Once the train stopped the woman, officials believe must have come out and then made a dash for the adjacent platform. Three minutes later, the woman was caught on CCTV on the adjacent problem exiting the station, which confirmed that she was alive and had indeed managed to pull off a miraculous and daring escape.

This episode comes nearly two months after a similar incident involving 19-year-old Pratiksha Natekar who also had a brush with death. The video of her standing on the tracks and getting hit by a train engine was widely circulated on social media. It was even reported that she was on earphones and didn’t hear the train coming. Ms Natekar had told NDTV that at the time, she was listening to music on her cellphone. And she has appealed to all to learn from her experience.

“I would appeal to everyone to not plug in earphones while using the railways. Don’t use headphones while boarding a train or waiting for a train,” Ms Natekar, told NDTV. In fact, it is best to use a foot-over bridge to cross tracks, added the girl, whose survival has been hailed as nothing less than miraculous.

Breathtaking scenery and breathtaking dangers – both will face Chinese engineers as they embark on building the world’s most difficult railway.

The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will be the second railway into Tibet region after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The railway line will go through the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the world’s most geologically active areas, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The construction and operation of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway must overcome the biggest risks in the world,” said You Yong, chief engineer of the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) who leads a scientific and technological support team to avoid disasters in the mountains.

The China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Ltd, which is designing the line, said it will run from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and enter Tibet via Qamdo. It will reach Lhasa, capital of Tibet.

The total construction length will be about 1,700 km and it will cost about $36.88 billion.

The Ministry of Railways has sanctioned a new broad gauge (BG) line between Jeypore and Nabarangpur in Odisha, officials said. The 38 km long new line project will be implemented on cost-sharing basis of 50 per cent each between the Railways and Odisha government.

As per the announcement of Budget 2016-17, Ministry of Railways sanctioned New BG line between Jeypore & Navarangpur  in Odisha. The length of the new BG line is 38 Kms. The cost of the project is 747.91 Crores. The project will be completed in 3 years. The project shall be implemented on Cost-sharing basis (50% by Ministry of Railways under GBS and 50% by State Govt. of Odisha)

The Project is important for connecting Navarangpur District of Western Odisha, with Jeypore, an existing Station on Kottavalasa- Kirandul line. This line will provide connectivity to important towns viz. Koraput, Jeypore, Jagdalpur, Dantewada. Further, the line is useful for connecting Navarangpur to Junagarh/Kalahandi District and result in short lead to many other places of Odisha, Chhattisgarh & Andhra Pradesh.

Further,  State Govt. of Odisha will be bearing entire cost of land and 50%  of the construction cost of the project.

The salient features of new BG line is as under:

The cost of the project is Rs 747.91 crore and is expected to be completed in three years.

The project is important for connecting Nabarangpur district of western Odisha with Jeypore in the southern region to an existing station on the Kottavalasa-Kirandul line.

The new line will provide connectivity to important towns like Koraput and Jeypore in Odisha and Jagdalpur and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh.

The line will also be useful for connecting Nabarangpur to Junagarh in the Kalahandi district.

Odisha government will bear the entire cost of land and 50 per cent of construction cost of the project.

The link will be a boon for transporting maize, rice, fertiliser, cement, wheat and others from various villages and towns en-route, the officials added.

On 11 Oct 2016, Ministry of Railways signed MOU with the Odisha State Government for new rail line from Jeypore to Nabarangpur & Malkangiri; Odisha Govt sharing 50% & 25% of costs.

A special court has taken cognisance of a charge sheet against some former officials of the Indian Railways and others for allegedly causing a loss of Rs. 19.5 crore to railways by selling cheaper packaged water in place of Rail Neer in Rajdhani and other super-fast trains.

Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal took note of the CBI’s final report in the matter, slapping charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption against the accused.
“Cognizance has been taken against the accused persons. Issue summons to the accused persons and notice to their sureties for August 17,” the court said.

Those named in the CBI charge sheet include then Chief Commercial Managers MS Chalia and Sandeep Silas, CEO of R K Associates, director of the company Rajeev Mittal, Sharan Bihari Agarwal, besides private companies Satyam Caterers, Ambuj Hotels, PK Associates, Sunshine Caterers, Doon’s Caterers, Vrindavan Food Products, Food World, and RD Sharma and Sons.

The agency claimed that the “accused had shown favour to these private firms in supply of cheap packaged drinking water (PDW) other than mandatory ‘Rail Neer’ on premium trains, including Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express”.

Here’s how we know that the Wadala-Jacob Circle Monorail is finally a step closer to becoming a reality soon: The MMRDA is going to approach the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) for the inspection of the line before it can be thrown open to the public. The last deadline that the corridor was supposed to meet and missed was in December.

The development was confirmed by additional metropolitan commissioner, Sanjay Khandare, who said, “The trial runs along the monorail phase II have already begun and they are going as per plan. By month end, we plan to approach the CRS for the safety certification of the line.” Not only will the CRS check the alignment, but also travel in the monorail and conduct various inspections, based on which the final clearance would be given.

Sources from MMRDA told mid-day that they planned to throw open the corridor to public post monsoon. In the coming months, more monorail rakes are also expected to arrive in the city, as the population using the two corridors – once operational in conjunction – is expected to double from the current ridership, which has been running in losses.

Kolkata will witness several changes in the traffic system in the heart of the city as construction of underground tunnels for the East West Metro railway begins this week in the bustling business zone.

One of the most important changes is the shutting down of the Brabourne Road flyover, which carries huge traffic round the clock from Howrah through Howrah bridge to the metropolis, for three days.

The critical construction of the underground corridor from the banks of River Hooghly towards Dalhousie in the heart of the city, through the highly congested Burrabazar area using a tunnel boring machine (TBM) would begin from the midnight of July seven.

Traffic that passes through the flyover will be diverted to other roads like Strand Road and Mahatma Gandhi Road as well as the second Hooghly bridge, which is located a few kilometres away from Howrah bridge.

The construction of the tunnel will require vacating two very old buildings, one each on Strand Road and Raja Woodmunt Street, on both sides of the flyover.

Some other buildings may also be vacated later as the TBM approaches the Dalhousie area through Brabourne Road, Mr Nandy said.

The high court had given the go-ahead to plans to temporarily shift the residents of these buildings during construction of the tunnel.

“We have made arrangements for the stay of the residents of these two buildings in a hotel and we will also provide food to them,” Mr Nandy said.

AFCONS, which is carrying out the construction work of the tunnel, had moved the high court seeking relief over delay owing to the issues related to occupiers who are not evacuating some old buildings in the Burrabazar area and permission for construction near or under the three heritage buildings in the Dalhousie area.

The 14.67 km-long East West Metro corridor connecting Howrah with Salt Lake Sector V has suffered delays in it’s completion schedule owing to various reasons.

A decades-old minibus stand in front of former state secretariat Writers’ Buidling, from where 16 routes to different parts of the city originated, will be dismantled, with the work starting on Wednesday.

“These buses will now do a round about of the Dalhousie area and move out after passengers alight and board,” city Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said.

Several tram routes, which travelled to and from Dalhousie area, the city’s oldest office district, will also be suspended for three years during which construction of the tunnels and Mahakaran station will be done.

Indian Railways is in the process of developing a Southern Freight Corridor (SFC), which would be connected to one of three corridors, Union minister Suresh Prabhu said on Sunday.

The three Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) planned by the Railways will provide logistics support to the ‘Make in India’ campaign and one of the corridors will be connected with the Southern corridor for the benefit of smooth movement of freight from Southern states, Prabhu told reporters here.

“The southern states will significantly benefit from the DFC as it will be connected to southern part of the country,” he said.

Stating that freight corridors will completely criss-cross the country boosting freight movement, Prabhu said, “We will have to develop a huge backbone of infrastructure for the logistics, if Make in India has to succeed.”

He said that 10 products were the mainstay of Railway’s income and two-third of the revenue came from the freight.

However the income from freight was on a declining trend in the last couple of years, despite increase in tonnage, and in order to augment revenue, freight rates will be reduced soon, Prabhu said.

To a query on plans to help farmers in distress, Prabhu said that the Railways has operated additional freight trains to lift onions from Maharashtra to help the farmers.

Noting that transportation of the produce was the biggest problem being faced by the farmers, the minister assured that Railways will extend any support required for them and asked Container Corporation of India to look into the issue.

Stating that the farmers, who are in difficulty, are of the top priority of the Government, Prabhu said that if required necessary cold chains and storage facilities can be extended to them.

To another question on GST implementation, he said “It is good for economy.”

A small tea stall near Vadnagar railway station in Gujarat is all set to become a tourist spot. This is the same tea stall where Prime Minister Narendra Modi sold tea as a child.

“Inside the Vadnagar railway station, there is a small tea stall, from where our PM had probably started his life’s journey. We also want to develop that tea stall as a tourism spot. Our aim is to put Vadnagar on world tourism map,” Union Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said.

The stall is located on one of the platforms of the Vadnagar Railway station.

Officials of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had visited the town on Sunday.

“Apart from being the birthplace of our Prime Minister, Vadnagar is an important historical centre having famous Sharmishta Lake and a step-well. ASI had recently found remains of a Buddhist Monastery during excavation, which is still going on,” Mr Sharma said.

Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Modi had often mentioned that he used to sell tea during his childhood at the Vadnagar railway station along with his father.

Earlier, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Ahmedabad Dinesh Kumar had said the entire project of developing Vadnagar and adjoining places in Mehsana district would cost over Rs. 100 crore.

“The development of Vadnagar railway station is one of the components of the Rs. 100 crore project to develop Vadnagar, Modhera and Patan as tourist destinations. As of now, the Ministry of Tourism has given Rs. eight crore to the state Tourism Department to develop the railway station,” Mr Kumar had said.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today termed the Goods and Services Tax as a great unifying factor, both in societal and political spheres in the country.

The GST was in the public domain for long and brought together all stake-holders like political parties, traders, industries and common people to debate and discuss, before coming into effect, despite some rhetoric by some of them at implementation stage, Mr Prabhu said.

Interacting with major industrial and trade associations, such as local chapters of CII and Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on GST, he said the country’s GDP growth to the tune of eight to nine per cent was inevitable and the new tax rates would contribute significantly towards this.

The one single change in the law made simple was unthinkable and unimaginable, as the major challenge for growth of industries and trades was taxes, he said.

Though some (political parties) were criticising GST, their coming together for shaping such a reform was commendable, he said.

Earlier, talking to reporters after attending a function at the local BJP office, Mr Prabhu said there would be more job creation and reduction in corrupt practices.