Indian Railways has set a target of December 2018 to link all its locomotives via ISRO satellites, making it easy to track trains and communicate with their crew in real time, officials said.

By year-end, all 10,800 locos of the railways will have antennas fixed on them and they will be monitored inside the driver’s cabin, senior officials of the national transporter told PTI.

“We have already tried it on 10 locos and by December 2018 we will have this system installed in all our locos,” a senior railway board member said.

The railways is also working with the Indian Space Research Organisation to use its satellite-based system to check accidents at unmanned railway crossings and track train movements.

Efforts are on to connect all state capitals in the Northeast with double track railway lines by 2020, the Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Jitendra Singh, told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Replying to questions, he said the government was seeking to develop the northeastern states by creating infrastructure and entrepreneurship facilities in the region.

Singh said rail connectivity between Aizawl and Imphal would be in place by 2020 when a double gauge track would be laid.

He, however, said work on setting up a railway station in Shillong had been stalled because of local protests and expressed the hope the issue would be resolved soon.

“In the next one year, we will have a double gauge rail track in all the states except, perhaps, Sikkim, because of topographic reasons… All state capitals in the northeast will be connected with double track railway lines,” he said.

Work on the double track in Imphal had started and would be complete by 2019, he said.

“A total sum of Rs 5,606 crore has been earmarked for it along with 15 new rail lines and six double track projects,” he told members in the Upper House.

Singh said Guwahati, Itanagar and Agartala already had double tracks, while Imphal would be double-tracked by next year.

Imphal and Aizawl would be connected by 2020, he said.

The minister also said the government was giving a boost to the industrial sector in the region.

Singh told the House the earlier government’s North East Industrial Promotion Policy was not being discontinued.

Indian Railways Recruitment 2018 for the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd (MRVC) has begun on its official website to fill job vacancies of Project Engineers in Civil, Electrical and Electronics & Telecommunications departments of MRVC. MRVC is a PSU (public sector undertaking) that comes under the purview of Ministry of Railways, India. Selected candidates will be recruited on a contract basis for 5 years project tenure with initial appointment for first 2 years extendable to next 3 years based on project requirement and candidate’s performance. Interested candidates can apply for the job posts on or before 27th January 2018 on the dedicated page of MRVC on Indian Railways’ website – mrvc.indianrailways.gov.in.

MRVC Recruitment 2018 – Vacancy Details

Project Engineer – Electronics & Telecommunications – 4 posts

Pay Scale 
The selected candidates will fall in the pay bracket of ₹40,000 to ₹1,40,000 with ₹40,000 basic pay and other fixed emoluments.

Eligibility 
The applicants must have qualified GATE 2017, along with a Bachelor’s degree in Civil, Electrical or Electronics & Telecommunications with minimum 60% marks via full time regular course in any recognized University or Institution.

Age Limit
The applicants must be less than 30 years of age as on 27th December 2017, however, age-relaxation rules apply as per reserved category laws prevalent for PSUs.

Application Process for MRVC Railways Recruitment 2018:

Step 1 – Visit the official notification – http://mrvc.indianrailways.gov.in/ticker/1514371868644MRVC%20vacancy.pdf

Step 2 – Download the application form given at the end of the above advertisement and take a print out

Step 3 – Affix a recent passport size photograph, complete the form and scan it along with GATE 2017 Admit Card and Official Scorecard, Engineering Graduation marksheet & certificate, date of birth certificate or age proof, and caste certificate (if applicable)

Step 4 – Send the application form and other documents via email to gate2017mrvc@gmail.com

Selection Process:
The applicants will be shortlisted on the basis of their GATE 2017 scores.

All railway stations — nearly 8,500 across the country, including those in rural and remote areas — will be equipped with Wi-Fi facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore ($110 million). As part of the government’s ambitious Digital India initiative, the national transporter has currently commissioned Wi-Fi services at 216 major stations enabling about seven million rail passengers to log on to the free Internet facility.

“Internet access has now become an important requirement in day-to-day working and we shall be providing this facility at all railway stations in the country,” a senior Railway Ministry official said. As per the plan finalized at a recent meeting, while 1,200 stations have been identified for this facility to primarily cater to rail passengers, about 7,300 stations have been earmarked to not only serve passengers but also local people in rural and remote areas.

New Delhi: With brick walls failing to solve the problem of garbage being thrown on tracks, the Railways has decided to deal with the menace once and for all by building concrete walls along the tracks.

Officials said that there is a rampant problem of throwing of garbage and plastic bags inside the railway boundary on railway tracks and the national transporter has been grappling with different ideas to deal with it over the years.

“The problem is very acute in metros where slums and habitation has come around railway tracks. We have tried to build brick walls and they have been damaged, said a senior Railway Board official.

“We also proposed wire meshes, which was shot down because they could be tampered with and were not durable. So now we have decided on concrete walls,” the official said.

The Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), under the ministry of railways, has already provided drawings of concrete walls that can be built by zonal railways across its boundaries.

The Civil Engineering department had written to the various zonal railways last November proposing to provide wire meshes along the boundary line to restrict throwing of garbage and plastic bags.

The zones were asked to explore the feasibility of the idea and provide their feedback.

Sources said the chief engineers of zonal railways had rejected the proposal and conveyed to the board that wire meshes would offer little resistance for people who threw garbage on the tracks as they can be tampered with.

Most of them recommended building concrete walls.

“Concrete walls are more durable and long lasting and hopefully they will be a deterrent,” the official said.

The railways is planning standardisation of trains in terms of number of coaches so that all trains can run on all routes, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday.

Soon, all trains in the Indian Railway network would have 22 coaches, making them suitable for running on any route, irrespective of the time taken by each to complete the journey, he added.

“All trains will have 22 coaches, the length of the platforms will be increased and other related changes will be carried out. The engineering department is looking into it,” Goyal told reporters.

Currently, coaches are of two kinds — ICF and LHB — and the number of coaches in a train could be 12, 16, 18, 22 or 26, depending on its demand, making it difficult for the railways to substitute one with the other, particularly in case of a delay.

“If the number of coaches is the same in every train, we can press any train — which is ready, has arrived at the station and undergone maintenance — into operation, instead of waiting for the same train to get ready,” a senior railway official explained.

He added that the railways had identified over 300 groups of trains and their routes in the first phase. The changes in the number of trains operating on a route and their timings will reflect in the new time-table, to be published in July.

“The advantage of having standard trains — all of the same composition — for example, the same number of general, sleeper and air-conditioned coaches, is that they can run on any route.

“In the first phase, we have segregated over 300 groups of trains and identified routes on which they can be run — mostly mainline, busy routes,” the official said.

He added that for a successful implementation of the plan, the railways would also have to standardise its infrastructure — the length of the platforms, filling and washing lines etc.

Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani on Monday said that train accidents had come down by 40-45 per cent in the current financial year as compared to the previous fiscal.

Hoping that train mishaps would further decrease, Mr Lohani said the transporter’s prime focus this year was to address safety and maintenance issues.

Speaking to reporters here, Lohani said that priority would be given to electrification, food served in trains and cleanliness of trains and railway premises.

He informed that by June, 500 railway stations would get Wi-Fi facility as part of the Union government’s Digital India initiative.

Train services were severely disrupted across West Bengal because of fog and blockades by tribal organisations across the state.

Thousands of passengers were stranded for hours, mostly at railway stations. Many were scrambling for food and water as the wait was indefinite.

From early morning, the Jharkhand Disham Party blocked roads and rail lines in the Malda-North Dinajpur sector, paralysing trains to and from north Bengal.

They also blocked trains on the Bengal-Jharkhand border in Purulia and East Burdwan districts.

The tribals were protesting against changes made in 2016 to land laws that allow non-tribals to buy tribal land in Jharkhand. However, no such changes have been made to land laws in West Bengal but the state was hit too.

Major trains from Kolkata to north Bengal, including Padatik Express and Darjeeling Mail, were held up at Malda and the Kolkata-bound Shatabdi Express were stopped at Kishanganj in Bihar.

While Eastern Railway services were worst hit by the blockades, Northern Railway services were thrown out of schedule by fog. Some trains were cancelled because corresponding trains were hours late.

Drones will now monitor railway projects, aid in crowd management and oversee maintenance work across its zones, railway officials said today.

Cameras (UAV/NETRA) will be used for various railway activities especially project monitoring and maintenance of tracks and other railway infrastructure, the national transporter said in a statement.

“Directions have been given to Zonal Railways to procure such cameras. This is in-line with Railways’ desire to use technology to enhance safety and efficiency in train operations”, it said.

Unmanned aerial vehicles or drones shall be deployed to undertake monitoring activities of relief and rescue operation, project monitoring, progress of important works, conditions of track and inspection related activities, the statement said.

It shall also be used to assess preparedness of non- interlocking (NI) works, crowd management during fairs, to identify scrap and also for aerial survey of station yards. It is going to be instrumental in providing real time inputs related to safety and maintenance of tracks and other railway infrastructure.