In a bid to encourage cashless transaction, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has initiated a lottery system where customers who buy tickets through might get a 100 per cent cash back.

Commuters who would want to avail of this scheme would have purchase the rail tickets through IRCTC and also pay through their app BHIM or UPI. Passengers while paying for their tickets should opt for one of the two apps at the payment option which would make them eligible for the lottery. Every month five persons chosen through a random draw would get all their money refuned. They would be individually contacted over phone and email.

Authorities said that with the initiation of this scheme, people would be more encouraged to buy tickets online and there will be less crowd at ticket counters. This step would be a shot in the arm to the Centre which has been trying to promote cashless transactions.

Sources at IRCTC said that the lucky draw scheme had been started at the end of last year and looking at the prospective the scheme had been okayed to be continued till March 2007 on a trial basis. After that a meeting would be conducted to decide where it would be continued. Prior to this IRCTC had been giving free travel insurance to passengers of all confirmed tickets purchased through IRCTC.

It was found out that at present nearly 60 per cent of all long distance tickets are purchased through e-ticketing system of IRCTC. They are hopeful that through this scheme the figure would reach at least 70 per cent.

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.

On the basis of GATE 2017 score, Indian Railways will recruit for Project Engineer post at Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd (MVRC). Online registration for the recruitment has begun and candidates can apply till 27 January 2018. A total of 18 vacancies are open in the disciplines of Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electronics & Telecommunication. ‘Though the project tenure is for 5 years, the initial appointment will be made for two years on contract basis with consolidated emoluments. The period of contract is extendable by three years with enhanced emoluments, depending upon the project requirements and performance of the candidate,’ clarifies the recruiting body.

Applicants must not be more than 30 years of age as on 27 December 2017.

Candidates must have qualified GATE 2017 and should have Bachelor Degree in the relevant engineering discipline with minimum 60 percent marks from recognized Govt. Universities or Institutions through full time regular courses only.

‘Engagement will be made on the basis of scores of Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering-2017. Based on GATE-2017 score and Organizational requirement, candidates will be short listed for verification of documents and discussions.’

COMMENTSGATE 2018: Admit Cards Released, Download Now

Candidates shall have to send their application in the prescribed format and email it to gate2017mrvc@gmail.com along with scanned copies of GATE 2017 admit card, GATE 2017 score card, Engineering Graduation Marksheet, Engineering Graduation Certificate, Date of Birth Certificate/Age proof and Caste Certificate (If belonging to reserved community.)

Travelling in a private two bedroom, lounge, kitchen and toilet setup aboard a train could soon be a reality with the Railways exploring ways to facilitate such luxurious journeys.

It will come at a price though, which officials say could be “exorbitant”.
Railways is set to give non-railway personnel a taste of traveling in its saloons or inspection coaches, and is exploring ways to promote it.

In a first of its kind meeting between Chairman Railway Board Ashwani Lohani and travel and trade associations held in Delhi today, the issue of how the luxurious saloons could be promoted for the use of the general public who want to travel in style, was raised.

Mr Lohani conceded that there was a demand for this kind of travel and asked his officers to plan to make at least two such saloons available in Delhi for tourism purposes.

He also asked IRCTC to chalk out routes on which they can be made operational. Mr Lohani also asked the railways’ tourism and catering arm to come out with a brochure on such coaches.

Officials say that saloons or inspection cars, perfect for two families to travel, are adequately built to facilitate stay for up to five days.

They comprise two bedrooms, a lounge, a pantry, a toilet and a kitchen.

They are now most commonly used by senior railway officials to reach accident sites and remote railway lines not connected by road or air.

The closest to this kind of luxury that a common passenger can avail is the tourist car, which can be booked by large groups, but has amenities essential only for an overnight journey.

COMMENTSThe Railways has a total of 336 saloon cars across railway zones, among them 62 are air-conditioned. Railway officials, however, ruled out using more such saloon cars for works other than official.

“This does not mean that we will push all our saloon cars for this purpose. They are extremely significant for inspection purposes and cannot be spared. With these two, we just want to give the common man an experience of travelling in luxury,” said an official.

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

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 timetable, 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.

China will invest 732 billion yuan ($113 billion) this year to expand its railway by 4,000 kilometers so that by 2025 the country will boast a 175,000-kilometer network.

China Railway, the nation’s state-owned railway company, said that 3,500 km of the new network are high-speed railway. The network will cover most of the cities by 2025, of which high-speed railway will total 38,000 kilometers, the national railway operator said yesterday.

Although the budget is below last year’s investment of 801 billion yuan, China is still expected to lead the world in developing a modern railway network by 2035, the operator said.

By the end of last year, China had 127,000 km of railway lines, including 25,000 km of high-speed rail — 66.3 percent of the world’s total by length.

The operator said that 60 percent of the railway will be double-track — which helps ensure safety and enhance efficiency by running one track in each direction instead of making trains in both directions share the same track — and 70 percent of the network will be electrified by 2020.

China now leads the world by proportion of electrified railway and is No. 2 by the number of double-track rails, according to peoplerail.com, the official railway news portal.

In 2017, a total of 3.04 billion passenger trips were made on railways, an increase of 9.6 percent year on year. More than 56 percent of those trips were made on high-speed railways.

China’s high-speed rail tracks will hit 38,000 km by 2025, up from present 25,000 km.

Tripura government sent a proposal to Indian Railways to utilize its surplus power for running the trains to reduce the dependency on non-renewable conventional sources of energy being used for the purpose.

While addressing a gathering of Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd (TSECL) last evening, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar indicated that train engines have been rolling mostly by using diesel and coal as sources of energy, which is increasing the emission of green house gases in the atmosphere and polluting the environment. As India is committed to comply with global green house gas reduction agreement, it has become necessary for every citizen of the country to lead a carbon neutral life style and to reduce the emission of gases causing damage to environment, Mr Sarkar attributed.

“Since Tripura is generating more electricity than it’s domestic requirement, we propose to utilize it as source of energy to run the trains to and from Agartala to other destinations of Northeast. The region has enough potential to generate more power from natural resources,” Mr Sarkar apprised.

He said Tripura has been generating about 800 MW power per day and another 125 MW is getting share from other states. At present the state is selling 160 MW power to neighboring Bangladesh and about 220 MW power is being used for domestic purposes.

Similarly, most of the states in northeast are also having their surplus generation of power. “Northeast is considered as clean hub of the country and it could be further enhanced if we reduce the burning of fossil fuel.

Tripura is marching ahead with CNG driven vehicles, pipeline cooking gas and clean power generation by using natural gas,” he pointed out.

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 said.

“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.
Officials said trials for this system have been done on the New Delhi-Guwahati and New Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani routes on six electric locomotives.

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.

Working on a pilot project with ISRO, the railways has installed space agency-developed integrated circuit (IC) chips on some train engines. The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (or NaVIC) will be used to warn road users of approaching trains through hooters installed at unmanned road crossings.

MUMBAI: With the pharmacists’ representatives from across the country starting an agitation recently in New Delhi demanding implementation of Pharmacy Practice Regulations, the issue of implementation of PPR has once again come into focus. The agitators led by pharmacist activist Vinay Kumar Bharti are seeking a direction from the central government to state governments to implement PPR and Drugs and Cosmetics Act to curb the malpractices prevailing in the lakhs of drug stores and thereby enhancing the status and practice of pharmacy profession in the country.

He mentioned that the Indian Railways having a number of medical facilities across the country has also adopted it successfully. The Apex body in Health Directorate is headed by the Director General Railway Health Services at Railway Board, New Delhi. At Zonal level, there are 16 Zonal Railways and each Zonal Railway is headed by one Chief Medical Director (CMD) with Chief Health Directors in some Zones and 2 to 3 Deputy Chief Medical Directors assisted by few Group ‘B’ officers. The Divisional level is headed by Chief Medical Superintendents. In some places Sr. Medical Superintendents are working as in-charge. There are total 125 Railway Hospitals and additionally 133 Private recognised Hospitals are available.

The pharmacy profession at present is regulated by two statutes namely the Pharmacy Act and the D&C Act. In a first serious attempt to bring some comprehensive changes to the outdated provisions in these laws and rules governing the pharmacy practice, the government notified the PPR in January 2015 for enhancing the practice of pharmacy profession in the country. The intention of PPR 2015 was to lay down a uniform code of pharmacy ethics, responsibilities of pharmacists towards patients, role of a community pharmacist, etc. One of the key provisions in the PPR is to empower the state pharmacy councils to appoint pharmacy inspectors in all the districts of every state in the country. As per the provisions of PPR, pharmacy inspectors are authorized to inspect the retail medicine outlets for checking whether medicines are dispensed by a qualified pharmacist or unqualified persons. Currently, drug inspectors of the state drug control departments are conducting such inspections at the retail outlets. PPR also prescribe a dress code of white apron with a badge having name, qualification and registration number for pharmacists. There are various other provisions in PPR framed with the intention of uplifting the status of the pharmacy profession.

But, it is a sad commentary that these regulations have so far remained on paper only. Even after almost three years since the PPR was notified, only Kerala and Haryana have implemented it so far and Karnataka has taken some steps to implement it.

Ever since the notification, the pharmacists have been demanding the implementation of PPR in their respective states but nothing has been done so far in this regard. As per PPR, no owner/registered pharmacist can deny inspection of their premises by pharmacy inspectors appointed by state pharmacy council under section 26A of the Pharmacy Act 1948.  The pharmacy inspectors are responsible to ensure implementation of section 42 of the Act which says only registered pharmacists are permitted to dispense the medicines on prescription of registered medical practitioners.  The PPR further says apart from dispensing drugs and maintaining record of drugs given to patients, pharmacists should also offer services like patient counseling and adverse drug reporting. Unfortunately, a significant number of retail stores in the country are being operated by non-pharmacists who rent pharmacy diplomas and degrees from graduates in this discipline. According to reports, one can get a pharmacy certificate in states such as Bihar, UP, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana, etc for annual fees ranging Rs 15,000 to Rs 70,000. As per the D&C Act, retail stores cannot dispense drugs in absence of a registered pharmacist. It is highly unethical for a registered pharmacist to lend his registration to any other person. He/she can function only at one place at a time. But non-pharmacists continue to operate medical shops with rented certificates of pharmacists. It is high time all the state governments enforced the PPR in letter and spirit to ensure due respect and recognition to the pharmacist community.

Commuters in Mumbai have felt the impact of the Maharashtra bandh called for by Dalit activists. The extent of the impact though varies from location to location. Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar called off Maharashtra bandh after a day of unrest at 4pm on Wednesday. This is the update at 5pm.

As many as 170 local train services were cancelled and 1,020 were delayed following ‘rail roko’ protests in different parts of the city as part of the protests by Dalit groups Wednesday.

As protesters gathered and blocked railway tracks at various stations, such as Palghar, Virar, Nalasopara, Dahisar, Malad, Goregaon, Andheri, Mahim, Dadar and Elphinstone Road along the Western Railway, as many as 60 services were cancelled and more than 200 trains were running late from 8 am to 4.30 pm.

“However, efforts were made to provide local trains at regular intervals of every 5 to 10 minutes during peak hours and throughout the day,” read a statement issued by the Western Railway.

As the protests picked up by afternoon, services of the newly-launched AC local were also discontinued owing to safety concerns. “Four services of air-conditioned local train, scheduled in the morning hours were operated as per the time table but afterwards looking to the crucial situation and to ensure safety of newly introduced AC local train as well as of commuters, the rake of AC local train was withdrawn in Mumbai Central Carshed and remaining eight services of this train were cancelled,” the release stated.

There was joint deployment of police, Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) on suburban and main lines. “Preventive arrests/ detention were made by GRP/Police with assistance of RPF while removing protesters from the station premises/ track. GRP is registering cases under the Bombay Police Act and provision of IPC… RPF has registered 13 cases under Railway Act of nuisance, obstructing train running against unknown persons in mob of protesters. The offenders will be identified by RPF on the basis of videography of protests and CCTV footage,” added the release.

Meanwhile, 110 suburban services were cancelled on the central line and the remaining 820 trains were delayed by about 20-25 minutes. However, 30 special services were run through the day. Services were disrupted intermittently at Thane, Diwa, Titwala, Vasind and Ghatkopar stations and all obstructions were cleared only by 4 pm.

Meanwhile, both up and down services on the harbour line were also disrupted in the morning due to an agitation at Govandi. According to officials, the services were disrupted 12 times through the day at various stations and 13 cases were registered by the RPF, three of which were filed for the agitation at Goregaon station.

The officials faced a tough time convincing protesters to get off the tracks. “We will conduct an inquiry and check the CCTV footage. There has also been a lot of damage to the railway property during the protests,” said Anup Shukla, Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, WR.

The station master at Mulund railway station said the last down local that left from Mulund was at 11.30 am after which the next train came at 3 pm.

“The fast down line was operating on the central line as it did not halt at Kanjurmarg where protesters had taken to the tracks. However, soon, there were limited trains on the fast line as well. By 3 pm, however, the Central Railway started limping back to normalcy on both up and down directions,” said the station master. Railway platforms across the central line were choc-a-bloc with commuters who had no other option but to wait for the next train as protesters had blocked various roads too.

A senior GRP officer said they followed a three-pronged strategy while dealing with the protesters. “Some of them told us that they just wanted to be on the tracks for 5-10 minutes, click photos and leave. In some cases, we reasoned with the protesters to get off the tracks since they were causing problems to students going for their exams and people who were in emergency situations. In the extreme cases, we threatened them of lathi-charge and told them we would arrest them if they did not get off the tracks,” he added.

The official said the central line was the worst hit. “There were protesters who had blocked the railway lines at Ghatkopar and Kanjurmarg. At Kanjurmarg railway station, they also threw the steel benches on the railway lines. We are in the process of identifying those who damaged public property after which FIRs will be registered,” he said.

Pallavi Lokhande, who was travelling from Kandivali to Churchgate, said, “Since these protesters are disrupting rail services, there isn’t much that the Railways can do to prevent it. But they could at least keep the commuters informed. There was a long disruption at Goregaon station but there was no announcement… When they knew there was a disruption ahead, they should have warned us and we would not have taken the train. So many commuters got down onto the tracks and walked back to the station.”

Suresh Kumar, a Goregaon resident, said, “I was expected to report to work today in Andheri. But when I reached the station, I saw the protesters and returned home out of fear.”

1. Central Railway: After smooth functioning of trains on Central, Western and Harbour Lines this morning, activists staged a rail roko at Thane station for close to ten minutes at 7:45am. Services resumed soon after. There were protests at Diwa, Titwala and Vasind railway stations also that led to delay in services. The suburban train services on Central Railway, Mumbai Division’s Main line and Transharbour line are running uninterrupted except for few minutes. Railway staff, RPF and GRP officials are deployed on the station to clear the path and train services have now resumed unhindered. Due to this agitation, central railway trains are running 10-20 minutes. Personnel are on the job to streamline services on Central Railway suburban services.

2. Harbour Line: Services on the Harbour line were hit post 11:20am. Reports suggest that protesters have staged a rail roko at Govandi station leading to disruption of train services on the harbour line. The service resumed at 11:40am. The Dahanu local scheduled to leave at 11:18am was stopped at Virar. Juinagar and Nerul stations have also reported some disruptions.Harbour line paths cleared and services restored.

3. Western Railway: Similar protests and disruptions were reported from Virar, Goregaon, Andheri, Elphinstone Road station on the western line. Trains are delayed by over 20 minutes as a result. Large number of protestors occupied the railway tracks at Nallasopara Station from about 9.55 hrs, disrupting rail traffic. Administration and Security Forces deployed to normalise the train operations. Railway tracks were evacuated and train operations resumed at Nallasopara/Virar from 10.30 hrs. Some protesters also disrupted dispatch and reception of suburban trains at Virar. Tracks were evacuated of protesters and train operations resumed at Virar and Goregaon from 9.05 hrs on WR suburban.

After four trips of AC local in the morning, remaining eight services of AC local suspended for the day in view of protests. AC local rake is withdrawn in BCT carshed. Other suburban services are being run amid intermittent protests at Elphinstone Rd, Goregaon, Andheri, Dadar, Malad. There is no cancellation of long distance trains.

By 5pm, local train services resumed on WR and CR section in Mumbai. Western Railway: Suburban and Long Distance services are running on all lines. Efforts being made to provide local trains at regular interval/every 10 mins during evening peak hours. Administration and Security Forces on alert and monitoring the situation. WR is geared up to run all services during evening peak hours as per regular time table for commuters to safely reach their destinations. Addl Security Staff deployed at stations. All lines are working. We wish safe journey to our commuters.

4. Central Railway: All paths clear on Central Railway. Services are being normalised. No need to panic… we are committed to ensure smooth operations of trains.

5. Goregaon : From 12.05 to 12..15 hrs traffic disrupted on Goregaon station. Disruption expected at Malad and security arrangements are there. In fact, 2000-3000 protesters are moving from Andheri to Goregaon in city area and they are again and again expected to move on railway track. Goregaon Up Local Line stopped from 13.38 hrs.

Bhayandar up local line train stopped from 13.58 hrs to 14.16 hrs, Goregaon DN local line stopped from 14.03 hrs to 14.20 hrs, DN through line train Bhayandar stopped 14.11 hrs Palghar protest began at 13.50 hrs blocking up and DN main line. Trains detained at various stations A) 93016 AT PLG, B) 93018 AT BOR, C) 22956 AT VGN.

6. Dadar: DN local Borivali stopped at 12.50 hrs started at 13.18 hrs, UP local Andheri – Churchgate stopped at 12.40 hrs started at 13.16 hrs.

7. Mahim Junction: DN Harbour wadala stopped outside Mahim at 13.08 hrs and started at 13.12 hours. Malad: DN local Borivali stopped from 12.44 to 12.52 hrs.

8. Mumbai Metro: At 11:30am services on the Mumbai Metro were also impacted. Services between Ghatkopar and Airport were impacted. By 5pm, Metro services from Versova to Ghatkopar resumed to normal.

9. BEST Buses, Thane Municipal Transport buses: 48 BEST Buses damaged due to stone pelting. Rasta roko at Bandra Kalanagar, Dharavi Kumbharwada, Kamraj Nagar, Santoshnagar Dindoshi, Hanuman Nagar Kandivali due to which road traffic affected. Police is deployed on railway station and on roads to control the situation.

10. Kalanagar Junction, Bandra: Commuters are advised to avoid Kalanagar and MMRDA Junction for some time due to Rasta roko. Rasta roko at kalanagar junction, Bandra, Dahisar, Akurli bridge, Kandivli, Panvel, Ghatkopar, Sakinaka road near Jagruti Nagar metro station.

11. Traffic situation in Western Suburbs: Agitations and morchas are observed on the streets due to which there is diversions, areas effected include Akurli bridge (Kandivali), Charkop (Kandivali West), Borivali, Dindoshi near santosh nagar, Kamraj nagar (Vikroli), Kherwadi jun. (BKC) at sai prasad hotel, MIDC near Vijay nagar (Jogeshwari), Arunkumar Vaidya Marg (Dindoshi), Kumbharwada Jun (Mahim), Oshiwara. Stone pelting incidents on JVLR near Powai on private cars.

12. Traffic situation in Central suburbs: In thane west, Thane Municipal Transport buses and autos are being shut by dalit activists. Only State Transport buses are playing. All shops except medical shops are shut. Young girls are also participating in enforcing the bandh. They stop autos plying with passengers and requested them to stop. Close to 500 protesters organised a bike rally in Thane. There are traffic diversions in Ghakopar, Thane, Kanjurmarg, Bhandup, Chembur, Mulund and Sion.

13. Autorickshaws, taxis, app-based cabs: Regular commuters found the roads relatively empty this morning and twitter was abuzz with discussions on how many made it to office in record time. Trains also saw fewer commuters compared to most days during rush hour. But many auto-rickshaw drivers were apprehensive of venturing long distances. Taxis too were cautious given the scale of damage witnessed yesterday with respect to autos and BEST buses. Many commuters took to twitter to complain about non-availability of app-based cabs as well as surge pricing.

14. Airport: Passengers are advised to report well in time for the flights keeping in mind possible hold-ups and roadblocks along the way.
Domestic carriers, including the government-owned Air India, have waived charges for ticket cancellations and no-show due to the ongoing unrest in parts of Maharashtra. Air India said it will not charge any fee for cancellation of tickets or rescheduling of a journey to/from Mumbai on January 2 and 3. Air India has decided to waive ticket cancellation/ rescheduling charges for its flights to and from Mumbai for today and tomorrow, a senior airline official said.

Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) leader Prakash Ambedkar has called for a `Maharashtra bandh’ to protest the state government’s “failure” to stop the violence at Bhima Koregaon village in Pune district. The event to mark 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle in Pune district, in which forces of the East India Company defeated Peshwa’s army, was marred by incidents of violence in which one person was killed.