Railway minister Piyush Goyal is embarking on surprise visits and inspections of railway stations and trains, aiming to improve passenger services as well as hear grievances of rail staff.

During a midnight inspection of Churchgate and CSMT stations in Mumbai on Friday, the minister was “distressed” with the condition of restrooms and waiting places for loco pilots and RPF personnel.

This was not the first time, Goyal since taking over as railways minister in September, made a surprise visit. In October, he had travelled in the Kota Jan Shatabdi to get first-hand feedback from passengers.

On November 27, the minister travelled in Mumbai local train and has also visited Elphinstone Road railway station.

The minister’s strategy seems to be aimed at restoring the national transporter’s image which was seriously dented due to a series of accidents in recent past and off late, train delays.

Goyal’s visit also aimed at motivating employees whose morale is at an all time low due to poor working conditions and declining public image of railways.

With just around 17 months left for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the minister is racing against time to make a ‘visible impact’ in the functioning of railways with some officers suggesting that the ruling BJP dispensation is already at a disadvantage having changed railway ministers three times in the last three and a half years.

Sadananda Gowda and Suresh Prabhu were Goyal’s predecessors since BJP wrested power at Centre in 2014. The transporter suffered due to changed priorities and focus areas due to change in political leadership.

Along with making surprise visits to make officials accountable, Goyal has been trying to fast-track decision-making, pushing long pending reforms in taming and revamping the colonial-era rail bureaucracy, though sometimes these attempts have rubbed officials the wrong way.

Goyal’s ‘corruption in railways’ remark, which was clarified by his ministry later, caused damage to morale, some observers have suggested. So was the decision to call in the Army to build foot-over-bridges in Mumbai suburban after Elphinstone tragedy.

Goyal’s, along with chairman railway board Ashwani Lohani’s much-publicised call to end ‘VIP culture’ in railways did not go down well with many officers who believed it portrayed a negative image in public eyes and it could have been done without making as much ‘noise’.

Retired from the railways, but yet to turn 65? Now, retired rail employees can seek re- engagement with the national transporter till they attain the age of 65 years.

In a letter written by the Railway Board to all the general managers on Tuesday, the age limit of the retired employees seeking re-engagement has been enhanced from 62 to 65 years, allowing more of such employees to lend their expertise to the railways.

“The board has decided to enhance the maximum age limit for re-engagement of retired hands to 65 years from the existing age limit of 62 years.

The board, in a letter dated October 16, had empowered the divisional railway managers (DRMs) to re-engage retired rail personnel in appropriate posts.

These norms, however, would remain the same, the letter written by the Railway Board today clarified.

Retired from the railways, but yet to turn 65? Now, retired rail employees can seek re-engagement with the national transporter till they attain the age of 65 years. In a letter written by the Railway Board to all the general managers today, the age limit of the retired employees seeking re-engagement has been enhanced from 62 to 65 years, allowing more of such employees to lend their expertise to the
railways.

“The board has decided to enhance the maximum age limit for re-engagement of retired hands to 65 years from the existing age limit of 62 years.

“Further, it has also been decided to extend the validity of the scheme of re-engagement of retired employees to January 12, 2019 as against the existing validity up to September 14, 2018,” the letter stated.

The board, in a letter dated October 16, had empowered the divisional railway managers (DRMs) to re-engage retired rail personnel in appropriate posts. It had also said that those re-appointed could only be in service till they turned 62, which has now been extended to 65 years.

The retirement age for the employees is 60.

The monthly remuneration of such employees would be determined by “reducing the pension amount from their last drawn salary”, the letter written in October had stated. It had also said the suitability or competence of the staff should be assessed before their re-engagement and their safety record as well as other operational requirements should be adequately addressed.

These norms, however, would remain the same, the letter written by the Railway Board today clarified.

Retired from the Railways, but yet to turn 65? Now, retired rail employees can seek re-engagement with the national transporter till they attain the age of 65 years.

In a letter written by the Railway Board to all the general managers on Tuesday, the age limit of the retired employees seeking re-engagement has been enhanced from 62 to 65 years, allowing more of such employees to lend their expertise to the railways.

“The board has decided to enhance the maximum age limit for re-engagement of retired hands to 65 years from the existing age limit of 62 years.”

“Further, it has also been decided to extend the validity of the scheme of re-engagement of retired employees to January 12, 2019 as against the existing validity up to September 14, 2018,” the letter stated.

The board, in a letter dated October 16, had empowered the divisional railway managers (DRMs) to re-engage retired rail personnel in appropriate posts.

It had also said that those re-appointed could only be in service till they turned 62, which has now been extended to 65 years.

The retirement age for the employees is 60.

The monthly remuneration of such employees would be determined by “reducing the pension amount from their last drawn salary”, the letter written in October had stated.

It had also said the suitability or competence of the staff should be assessed before their re-engagement and their safety record as well as other operational requirements should be adequately addressed.

These norms, however, would remain the same, the letter written by the Railway Board clarified.

Travelling by trains is getting riskier by the day as crimes under Indian Penal Code (IPC) witnessed an increase of over 34% in two years, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report for 2016.

Incidence of IPC crimes, which include murder, rape, rioting, kidnapping and robbery among others, registered by Government Railway Police (GRP) in 2016 was 42,388 in comparison with 39,239 in 2015 and 31,609 in 2014.

Indian Railways will soon bring for cabinet clearance an ambitious, Rs. 18,000 crore ($3 billion) plan that involves fencing off the existing Delhi-Kolkata and Delh-Mumbai routes to speed up train movement in the country’s two busiest corridors.

Besides fencing, the proposal involves track and signalling upgrades and elimination of unmanned level-crossings along the two major trunk routes — Delhi-Mumbai at 1,384 kms Delhi-Howrah at 1,450 kms.

The cabinet is expected to consider the plan next month.

“The proposal has already been cleared by the extended Railway Board, NITI Aayog and the Finance Ministry. Now it awaits Cabinet clearance — after which the project will commence,” a senior Railway Ministry official said.

The ambitious project envisages taking train speeds up to 160 km per hour in the busy corridors.

While the overall cost for the Delhi-Kolkata route is estimated at Rs. 7,000 crore, that of the Delhi-Mumbai corridor is Rs. 11,000 crore. Of this, fencing alone will cost about Rs. 2,200 crore.

Fencing is a must for semi-high speed corridors as it prevents human or cattle interference on the tracks and ensures higher speeds and safety.

Describing it as a “paradigm shift” for the development of the rail network in the country, the official said once the route is fit for 160 kmph, the speed can be further upgraded up to 200 kmph.

According to the feasibility study, it is a remunerative project with both routes having a high rate of return.

The official said that while the rate of return for the Delhi-Howrah route — which runs through major cities such as Kanpur and Lucknow — has been estimated at 18 per cent, it has been pegged at 14.7 per cent for the Delhi-Mumbai corridor that has cities such as Vadodara enroute.

Currently, train speeds are greatly affected by network congestion. While the Railways is constructing dedicated freight corridors for the exclusive movement of the goods service, fencing off the existing Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata routes will enhance passenger movement on the existing tracks.