The Indian Railways said today it has terminated the contracts of 15 caterers and debarred 16 catering contractors this year till November amidst complaints of over-charging and poor quality food served on trains.

The ministry, which often receives complaints from passengers over catering issues on its official Twitter handle, is known to respond to them on real-time basis.

According to the official data, the national transporter has imposed fines amounting to Rs 8.96 crore from January to October 2017, which was more than double the amount – Rs 4.05 crore – levied last year between January and December.

“The ministry is very concerned about complaints regarding catering. We have given instructions that strict action must be taken against those caterers against whom complaints are made and proven. We have zero tolerance towards such issues regarding food on our trains,” said Railway Ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena.

Vinod Kumar Yadav, General Manager, South Central Railway called upon to focus on up gradation of  infrastructure facilities to ensure safety and punctuality of train operations. He conducted intensive review meeting on Safety, Punctuality and freight loading today i.e., 11^th December, 2017 at Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad along with Principal Heads of Departments. The Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) of all the 6 Divisions on SCR viz., Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntur, Guntakal and Nanded joined the meeting through Video Conference.

Vinod Kumar Yadav, speaking on infrastructural developmental aspect,  suggested DRMs to focus on up gradation of  all the staff training institutes in  the zone on priority basis. He advised officials to adopt advance teaching methods and training technology to enhance the skills of staff as part of ensuring safety.

Vinod Kumar Yadav, held a review of all the safety aspects on the Zone including minor incidents of unusual happenings like yard derailments, weld failures, rail fractures and gate open cases etc., He instructed the officials to concentrate on the works related to safety to avoid all unsafe working conditions to bring the zone to incident free zone in terms of safety. Vinod Kumar Yadav while reviewing the punctuality of the zone, stated that, the unscheduled traffic blocks will effect the punctuality of the zone and instructed the officials to properly plan and strictly avoid traffic block bursts.

The General Manager also reviewed the works related to elimination of Unmanned level crossings (UMLCs) over the zone and instructed to achieve the targets within the prescribed time frame and complete the pending procedures of tenders related to UMLC gates. He held a detailed review of the performance in freight loading over the zone and instructed all the DRMs to improve the loading and reach the target. Earlier General Manager released  SCR Booklet on Instructions for New Line Opening/Electrification/Double/Triple Quadruple lines.

John Thomas, Additional General Manager; K.V.Siva Prasad, Principal Chief Engineer; N. Madhusudana Rao, Principal Chief Operations Manager; Smt. Padmini Radhakrishnan, Principal Financial Advisor (PFA); M.G.Sekharam, Principal Chief Commercial Manager; Vinay Mohan Shrivastava, Principal Chief Signal & Telecommunications Engineer; Arjun Mundiya, Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer; D.K.Singh, Principal Chief Safety Officer; N.V. Ramana Reddy, Principal Chief Personnel Officer; Dr. K.H.K.Dora, Principal Chief Medical Director and Sanjay Sankrityayan, Chief Security Commissioner were amongst the Officials present.

To make train ticket booking facility “quick and easy”, Indian Railways has introduced a facility that enables users to pay for tickets at railway counters through UPI/BHIM app. This facility was already available for passengers who wanted to book tickets online through IRCTC, the e-ticketing arm of the Railways. In a tweet, Union IT minister said, “Now you can book railway tickets and pay using UPI/BHIM App. Railway bookings becomes quick and easy.”  The minister also highlighted the benefits of paying for Railway tickets through UPI/BHIM App: “No worry of losing cash and card, easy to use and supports payment through multiple banks and safe to use as no need to share bank account or credit card number.”

harat Interface for Money or BHIM app is developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). The BHIM app is inter-operable with other Unified Payment Interface (UPI) applications and bank accounts. In less than a year, the number of daily transactions through BHIM app has reached 2.8 lakh.
Train Ticket Reservation Through BHIM/UPI: 10 Things To Know

1) The facility to book train tickets at railway counters though the BHIM app was implemented from December 1, 2017.

2) The Railways said this facility will be available for booking of reserved tickets from Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and season tickets (monthly/quarterly) from Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) counters.

3) There would be no transaction charges for a period of three months from passengers for the new train ticket booking facility.

4) Passengers will be able to receive information on the fare to be paid at the railway counters by sharing their travel details..

5) If a customer opts to pay through UPI/BHIM, the counter person will select UPI as payment option and request for passenger’s Virtual Payment Address (VPA).

6) The railway counter person will enter the Virtual Payment Address (VPA) to initiate the transaction in the terminal.

7) The passenger will receive a payment request on the mobile to confirm payment. The passenger will be required to accept the payment request and the passenger’s linked account will be debited the fare amount.

8) Once the transaction is successful and verified on the system, the counter person will print the ticket and hand it to the passenger.

9) Besides promoting the government’s initiative of increasing digital/cashless transaction, the new payment mechanism at railway counters will offer additional payment option to customers availing railway services. There is no need to share bank account or credit/debit card number.

10) The BHIM app is easy to use and supports payment through multiple banks on a real time basis.

After WAP 5 electrical locomotive, WDP 3A and WDP 4BH diesel locomotives have been added to the list of engines cleared for operation of premier trains at the speed above 130 kmph.

The addition of indigenously made locomotives to the high-speed engine category will ensure that premier trains such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi, AC Express and Duronto Express will not run with lower-category locomotives.

According to official sources, the Research Designs and Standard Organisation (RDSO) of the Indian Railways in November approved the high-speed WDP 3A diesel locomotive for operating premier trains at the speed of 140 kmph and 160 kmph. The WDP 4BH locomotive has also been cleared for operating the premier trains at the 130-kmph speed.

More than 50 per cent of premier trains in the country are currently hauled by the WAP 5 electrical locomotive, which can pull trains at the speed of 160 kmph. When the trains don’t get the WAP 5, the WAP 7 loco, which has been cleared for operation speed of upto 130 kmph, is used for hauling the premier trains in the Southern Railway.

“When more diesel engines can haul trains at higher speed, premier trains and other superfast trains will get the high-speed locos. Soon, Tondiarpet, Tiruchy Golden rock and Erode diesel loco sheds may get such high-speed locomotives. “ said official sources.

Though the highly busy tracks in the Southern Railway including Chennai-Salem and Chennai-Gudur can withstand the train speed of 140-150 kmph, trains with 24 coaches are allowed to run at the speed of 110-110 kmph. Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains with 12 coaches are permitted to run on the speed of upto 130 kmph.

“Premier trains will maintain their punctuality, only when they use the locos cleared for operation at the speed above 140 km. The move helps increase the train speed in highly congested sections,” added official sources.

Research Designs and Standard Organisation (RDSO) of the Indian Railways has approved the high-speed WDP 3A diesel locomotive for operating premier trains at the speed of 140kmph and 160 kmph. The WDP 4BH locomotive will operate premier trains at 130kmph.

Tondiarpet, Tiruchy Golden rock and Erode diesel loco sheds may get such high-speed locomotives.

The Indian Railways is expected to post total revenue of Rs 1.8 Lakh crore in the current fiscal year, slightly short of initial target but 10% more than what it reported last year.

A spike in coal loading and strong showing in the passenger category are driving the performance, Railway Board’s Member-Traffic Mohd Jamshed told. In the year ended March 31, 2017, the railways posted revenue of Rs 1.64 lakh crore.

The target set in the government’s budget for this was Rs 1.88 lakh crore, which has now been revised to Rs 1.8 lakh crore.

Slower economic growth has not dented the railways’ business to the extent expected. The economy grew 6% in first half of fiscal 2018, down sharply from 7.7% in the same period last year.

It expects Rs 1.12 lakh crore of the total revenue to come from freight loading and Rs 48,000 crore from passenger traffic. The remainingRs 20,000 crore would be from non-fare revenue cell, scrappage, monetising of railway land and compensation from the finance ministry for operating loss-making strategic rail lines in Kashmir and the north eastern states.

In the last financial year, it made Rs 1.04 lakh crore by loading nearly 111 crore tonnes of freight and almost Rs 46,000 crore from passenger traffic. The remaining Rs 14,000 crore came from non-fare segments.

In the current financial year, the railways is expecting to load 115.5 crore tonnes of cargo.

Though this would be 1 crore tonnes short of its target of 116.5 crore tonnes, the railways is hopeful of an uptick in the last quarter as loading picks up generally in February and March.

“Last year we saw unprecedented growth in March. We could expect the same this year. However, a lot depends on foggy months of December and January,” Jamshed said.

In the non-fare segment, the railways is expecting to generateRs 2,000 crore as licencing fee from the Rail Land Development Authority, the organisation responsible for monetising railway land.

Dynamic pricing in select trains and the launch of several new premium trains have helped boost revenue from the passenger segment, Jamshed said.

The railways is losing Rs 800 crore a year after service charges were waived on digital ticket booking, he said

Twenty-five per cent of the crew members running Indian Railways are not picked according to rules, according to official data, prompting the transport behemoth to ask railway zones to adhere to norms.

The zones have to choose their crew from the Crew Management System (CMS) of Railways which has a database of 89,000 crew members and provides information about their status and availability for train operations, be it freight or passengers.

The railway board in a directive said that while on an average, 75 per cent of the crew are chosen by zones according to rule, it was still below satisfactory.

In the letter, the board has “expressed concern” that train drivers, assistant drivers, guards who form the basic functioning team responsible for train operations are not booked by zones according to rules mandated by the public transporter.

The CMS system provides two options of choosing crew members – the ‘fetch crew as per rule’ option and the ‘fetch all’ option.

Under the ‘as per rule’ option, zones are supposed to book crew who meet certain criterion – those who are not due for a periodical medical examination (PME), or due for transport refresher, are fit for the section, have road learning, have competency to work loco and are rested.

For the ‘fetch all’ option, the crew needs to meet just two parameters – they should not be due for medical examination and should have completed a transport refresher.

“The board feels that any crew member who is part of railway operations be it freight or coaching should be in optimum condition, both health wise and in expertise.

So, he should tick all the boxes under the ‘fetch as per rule’ option. With safety of passengers being priority, the board feels that this cannot be compromised with,” a senior official said.

While on an average 75 per cent of such crew members have been picked under the ‘fetch crew as per rule’ option in 2017 across zones, the average has fallen in certain zones like South Eastern Railway has booked only 56 per cent under the rule, East Coast Railway has chosen 61 per cent and Central railways only 66 per cent.

This, the board has said, is ‘below satisfactory’.

However, compared to last year, the zones have in fact shown improvement in booking crew as per rule.

A report of CMS for the period January 1, 2016-June 30, 2016 has shown that South Eastern Railway has picked a mere 4.49 per cent crew as per rule, in Eastern Railway it was 5.25 per cent and in South Railway it was only 7.45 per cent.

“Board desires that zonal railways shall make all efforts to book crew as per rule in the CMS,” the letter sent out last month has said.

Shortage of Loco Pilots hits train operations

Shortage of loco pilots, assistant loco pilots, and crew controllers in the Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division has hit operations and made travelling a nightmare for commuters, especially short-distance passengers. The shortage of loco pilots and assistant loco pilots has been put at 15% of the 642 sanctioned posts, which has been exposed by the cancellation of two pairs of passenger trains and two pairs of Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMU) services for two months starting from Saturday. Cancelled services With Railways making no alternative arrangements for the eight cancelled services, short-distance daily commuters on the Ernakulam-Kollam stretch who depend on these trains are at the receiving end. Railways authorities cite operational reasons such as ensuring crew for freight and ballast trains for the cancellation of the trains.

This will help create a maintenance corridor-line block between two express trains to replace defective rails, sleepers, and take up critical maintenance works. Low patronage Railways have also cited low patronage as another reason for the move. “The lack of proper planning on the part of the divisional authorities and the delay in recruitment of assistant loco pilots by the RRB Thiruvananthapuram have resulted in the cancellation of trains, loss to Railways, and hardships to commuters,” says P.N. Soman, Zonal Organising Secretary of the All India Loco Running Staff Association. Reluctance to relieve He said the reluctance of the authorities to relieve 60 assistant loco pilots who were working in Hubli, Chennai, Salem, Palakkad, and other divisions and had sought transfer to Kerala had compounded the problem.

In the Palakkad division, 13 assistant loco pilots from Karnataka recruited by the Bengalaru Railway Recruitment Board had joined the Mangaluru and Kozhikode depots. “The train crew is working under heavy pressure and are being denied 40-hour rest in a week, which will affect the safety of rail operations,” he says. No steps had been taken to replace those declared medically unfit and those who are seeking voluntary retirement from services.

“A fresher needs eight years to become a full-fledged loco pilot to take over mail and express train and the present situation is going to turn worse,” Mr. Soman says. According to the officials in Railways, the possibility of alternative train services and additional stoppages for regular trains are being ascertained. The train services may also be restored earlier based on the review of works

Stinking and non-functioning toilets on Indian Railways — one of the world`s largest rail networks — may soon become a thing of the past. The national transporter is upgrading its bio-toilets to imported bio-vacuum toilets — the kind found in aircraft — an official said. The first 100 coaches with the new toilets will be attached to important trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi and would be rolled out from January 2018.

“These bio-vacuum toilets will be odour-free and cut down water usage by over one-20th,” he said.

The official also said that the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) will roll out the first 100 coaches fitted with bio-vacuum toilets and that these will be attached to premium trains like the Rajdhani and Shatabdi expresses.

He also said there would be lesser chances of such toilets getting blocked.

The railways` initiative to upgrade the existing bio-toilets came after pesistent complaints from passengers that these were getting blocked due to dumping of waste such as plastic bottles, paper and the like in the toilet pot.

Explaining the need of shifting to bio-vacuum toilets, the official said: “Saving water is a priority for the railways.”

“In bio-toilets, the water requirement per flushing is up to 15 litres. And the water doesn`t generate enough pressure to discharge the waste from the pots, resulting in a foul smell and blockage of the pot.

“The bio-vacuum toilet only requires about half a litre of water and all the waste is cleared through suction,” the official said, adding these had been tried out on a pilot basis in some trains.

The official said that the manufacturers of the bio-vacuum toilets have assured railways that the fabrication units would be set up in India.

Before the introduction of bio-toilets, lack of cleanliness on Indian trains, particularly in the toilets, was always a big issue. Until then, trains had no system to treat human waste, which was emptied on to the rail tracks.

In bio-toilets, human waste wasn`t supposed to be emptied on to the tracks but digested by anaerobic bacteria, which convert it into water and bio-gases that are released after disinfection. However, it was found that this hardly worked in practice.

The bio-toilets have been deployed in Indian trains over four years to 2017, at a cost of Rs 1,305 crore, but these are no better than septic tanks, IndiaSpend reported last week quoting a two-year-long study by the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M).

A staggering 93,537 “bio-digesters” — as the toilets are called –have been installed in mainline express and mail trains. However, sanitation experts and various studies — including those commissioned by the railways — have pointed out that most of the bio-toilets are ineffective or ill-maintained and the water discharged is no better than raw sewage.