India’s first indigenous train set will be ready and running on the tracks by December next year, a senior railway board member said on Thursday.

The train set, which is much like the Metro trains running in Delhi, but built on a much higher scale, will run at a speed of 160 km/hr.

Unlike the Metro trains, the 16-coach train set will be able to cover long distances.

A train set, much like a Delhi Metro rake, comprises of many coaches that are individually powered by a propulsion system, eliminating the need for a locomotive.

“This will be India’s first indigenous train set and will be rolled out on the tracks by December 2018,” said Ravindra Gupta, a member of the Railway Board. Initially it will be a chair car, but eventually, even sleeper will be introduced, he said.

Mr Gupta said that the advantages of train sets are that they will be more comfortable, will have faster turnaround as well as faster speed thus reaching their destination quicker than the average trains.

For the first time in railways, these train sets will have automatic doors that will open and close at stations, wide windows, and ergonomically designed seating.

All the coaches will be equipped with bio-toilets and will be completely air-conditioned.

The first train set is likely to be pushed into service either in the Delhi-Lucknow or Delhi-Chandigarh sector.

The 309 km Nadikudi-Kalahasti railway line, envisaged as an alternative route to the Kazipet-Vijayawada and Vijayawada-Gudur-Tirupati, Chennai grand trunk route, will be a game changer for the coastal region, Divisional Railway Manager V.G. Bhooma said on Thursday.

“The railway line can decongest the busy Chennai-Howrah line passing through the coastal region vulnerable in times of cyclones and can spur development in Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore and Kurnool districts,” he said.

The ambitious railway project taken up in the last decade, this connects Nadikudi railway station on the Secunderabad-Guntur railway line with Srikalahasti in Chittoor district located on the Gudur-Katpadi railway line.

With most of the land acquisition done, the electrification of Guntur-Nandyal stretch is in progress.

“With the laying of Nadikudi-Srikalahasti railway line, we are opening a new and exciting avenue for freight movement across the northern corridor and this is the most exciting thing happening in the year 2018,” Ms.Bhooma told.

Among the major development works taken up in the Guntur Railway Division is the electrification of Guntur-Tenali railway line which is expected to be completed by December, 2018. The electrification of Guntur-Pagidipalli railway line is expected to be completed by February, 2019.

The DRM said that passenger amenities at the Guntur railway station were a top priority. She said that all the railway platforms would have escalators and within a year, three escalators would be set up on platforms 1,2,3 and 4. Platform no. 8 would be expanded to facilitate stoppage of trains having 24 carriages.

The Railways have already tied up with Ola Cabs facilitating a smooth onward journey to passengers.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) Board of Directors has approved a $335 million (Rs 2,159 crore) loan for a 100% electric metro project that will reduce traffic and pollution and increase employment and mobility in India. The investment in the Bangalore Metro Rail Project-Reach 6 (R6) is AIIB’s first metro project and its first joint financing partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB). EIB is the project’s lead financier with Euro 500 million in funding.

In May 2016, AIIB and EIB signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a framework of cooperation to conduct regular dialogues and explore joint infrastructure project financing. The Bangalore Metro Rail Project-R6 is the first project resulting from that framework.

By expanding the city’s metro system, the project will provide high-capacity north-south connectivity through the centre of Bengaluru, India’s third most populated city with a population of 9.6 million. Primary beneficiaries will be the commuters who travel along the corridor, with residents and commercial establishments along the line as secondary beneficiaries. Travel times for some journeys impacted by the lack of a metro system are expected to drop from two hours today to 15 minutes when the R6 line is completed.

“We are investing in this metro project because of its potential to greatly improve the mobility of commuters and further economic growth through better connectivity,” said AIIB Vice President and Chief Investment Officer D.J. Pandian.

“The project’s impact on the reduction of fuel consumption and traffic congestion will also help reduce local air pollution and noise and make Bengaluru a more liveable city. We look forward to continuing to review metro projects in India, and across Asia, that will support connectivity and introduce greener methods of transportation,” he said.

R6 is a key part of Phase-II of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project and a key component of the future rail link to the international airport. Operations will be entirely electric, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping mitigate climate change effects. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited is the entity implementing the project.

In an effort to go ‘green’ and cut power consumption, the Indian Railways on Tuesday said it planned to make all stations 100 per cent LED lit by 31 March 2018.

The railways said it was actively working to provide 100 per cent LED lighting in railway staff colonies, stations and platforms.

“The ministry of Railways has decided to make all railway stations 100 per cent LED lit by the end of current financial year by March 31, 2018. It is a huge initiative to provide energy efficient lighting which will eventually greatly help in the conservation of environment as well,” the railways said in a statement in New Delhi.

Separately confirming the development, South Central Railway general manager Vinod Kumar Yadav said that all railway stations in the jurisdiction of SCR will be entirely LED lit by March, 2018.

Speaking at the National Energy Conservation Seminar held at Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad as part of the ‘Energy Conservation Week’ being celebrated by SCR, he said the zone has been a pioneer in installation of energy efficient gadgets like LED lighting, Brushless DC electric motor energy saving fans, inverter type AC’s.

He added that SCR was focusing on generating power from renewable resources like solar, wind and daylight pipe technology, apart from saving with energy efficient systems to save conventional energy resources.

Light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs are more energy efficient and have a longer lifespan than standard bulbs.

Till November 2017, about 3,500 railway stations had already been provided with cent per cent LED lights. About 20 lakh such lights have been installed, the railways statement said.

The initiative will reduce consumption by about 10 per cent of the total energy being utilised for non-traction uses, conserving about 240 million units of electricity, which will save the railways about Rs 180 crore annually, it said.

The Railways has also issued directives to Zonal Railways to provide LED light fittings to residential quarters.

Zonal Railways had distributed about 20 lakh LED lights to railway staff till October, 2017, under the government’s Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) Scheme.

The railways also aim at providing these lights on all coaches/EMUs. Already, the lights in 1300 non-AC second-class and 3-tier sleeper coaches have been fully converted to LED.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, non-gazetted employees of Secunderabad-based South Central Railways will be taken on a foreign trip on government expense purely for recreation purposes, a report said today.

The South Central Railways (SCR) has proposed a six-day “recreation tour” of Singapore and Malaysia for non-gazetted serving employees, including gangmen and trackmen.

Employees with lowest-pay level and those approaching retirement will be given preference for the tour, a circular said.

While the employees have been asked to pay 25% or Rs 15,000 via demand draft, the remaining 75% expense will come from the Staff Benefit Fund, a report in The Indian Express said.

The zonal railway has tied up with a private tour operator selected for being the lowest bidder among three vendors for the tour.  The total package is for around Rs 59,000 including airfare, hotel stay and entry fee to Universal Studios and the like, the report said.

The Staff Benefit Fund is created from railway coffers every year and given to all zones for philanthropical purposes but does not extend to a pleasure trip in a foreign land, the daily quotes sources as saying.

The SCR gets Rs 800 per employee towards creation of this fund from the Railway Ministry through Budget for its estimated 80,000 employees. The ministry has alloted Rs 100 crore for the purpose which is distributed among all the zones. There are strict rules that govern the Staff Benefit Fund and for what purposes they can be used.

“There is no provision of a foreign recreation tour in staff benefit fund. It is not done and can’t be done,” said Shiv Gopal Mishra, head of All Indian Railwaymen’s Federation, a union of Indian Railways employees.

They are usually used for scholarships of wards of lower-rank employees, women empowerment activities including seminar, camps, training programmes and gender sensitization camps, recreation other than sports, recreational facilities at institutes and clubs among other purposes.