5 मई, 1992 को मुंबई उपनगरीय खंड पर विश्व की पहली लेडीज़ स्पेशल परिचालित करने का विशेष श्रेय हासिल करने वाली पश्चिम रेलवे 8 मार्च, 2018 को अपनी बहुमूल्य महिला यात्रियों और अपनी समर्पित महिला रेलकर्मियों को अंतर्राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस पर विभिन्न विशेष उपहारों की सौगात प्रदान कर ‘नारी शक्ति’ का उत्सव मनायेगी।

पश्चिम रेलवे के मुख्य जनसम्पर्क अधिकारी श्री रविंद्र भाकर द्वारा जारी प्रेस विज्ञप्ति के अनुसार महिला सशक्तिकरण के सामाजिक विचार को मजबूती प्रदान करते हुए अंतर्राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस के अवसर पर 8 मार्च, 2018 से पश्चिम रेलवे विभिन्न प्रभावी कदम उठा रही है। इन विशेष प्रयासों में सबसे अनोखा प्रयास यह रहा कि माटुंगा रोड स्टेशन पश्चिम रेलवे का पहला ऐसा स्टेशन बन गया है, जहाँ कार्यरत सभी कर्मचारी महिलाएँ होंगी तथा मुंबई-अहमदाबाद शताब्दी एक्सप्रेस में टिकट चैकिंग स्टाफ में सभी महिलाओं की तैनाती की गई है। साथ ही भारतीय रेलवे पर पहली बार पश्चिम रेलवे महिला कल्याण संगठन द्वारा ऑन बोर्ड महिला यात्रियों की सुविधा के लिए 12951 डाउन मुंबई-नई दिल्ली राजधानी एक्सप्रेस के एक II एसी डिब्बे में सैनिटरी नेपकिन वेंडिंग मशीन विशेष रूप से लगाई गई है।

श्री भाकर ने बताया कि अंतर्राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस के दिन महिलाओं की सामाजिक, आर्थिक, सांस्कृतिक एवं राजनीतिक उपलब्धियों के लिए विश्व स्तर पर उत्सव मनाया जाता है। यह दिन लैंगिक भेद-भाव खत्म करने के लिए भी जाना जाता है। पश्चिम रेलवे ने अपनी महिला रेलकर्मियों को चुनौतीपूर्ण पदों पर तैनाती कर उन्हें प्रोत्साहित किया है। पश्चिम रेलवे अपने बृहद कार्यबल में महिलाओं की प्रतिभागिता एवं उनकी भागीदारी बढ़ाने को हमेशा इच्छुक रही है। अंतर्राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस मनाते हुए पश्चिम रेलवे ने 8 मार्च, 2018 से मुंबई-अहमदाबाद शताब्दी एक्सप्रेस में सभी महिला टिकट चैकिंग स्टाफ की तैनाती का निर्णय लिया है।

वर्तमान में शताब्दी एक्सप्रेस में ऑन बोर्ड दो महिला टीटीई पहले से ही कार्यरत हैं। धीरे-धीरे यह व्यवस्था अन्य ट्रेनों में भी लागू होगी। महिला सशक्तिकरण के प्रयासों के तहत पश्चिम रेलवे ने माटुंगा रोड स्टेशन पर सभी महिला रेल कर्मियों की तैनाती की है। पश्चिम रेलवे ने वाणिज्य, परिचालन एवं सुरक्षा विभागों के अंतर्गत आने वाले अग्रपंक्ति कर्मचारियों में कुल 31 महिला कर्मचारियों की नियुक्ति की है।

वाणिज्य विभाग ने वाणिज्यिक गतिविधियों केसंचालन के लिए 13 वाणिज्य लिपिकों एवं 3 टिकट जाँच स्टाफ की नियुक्ति की है, वहीं परिचालन विभाग ने 11 परिचालन कर्मियों (स्टेशन मास्टर एवं पॉइंट्समैन) तथा सुरक्षा विभाग ने4 रेल सुरक्षा बल कर्मियों की नियुक्ति की है। ये महिला रेल कर्मी परस्पर मिल-जुलकर माटुंगा रोड स्टेशन पर सम्बद्ध विभाग की गतिविधियों का सुचारु संचालन कर रही हैं।

इनकेअतिरिक्त पश्चिम रेलवे ने रोटरी क्लब ऑफ बॉम्बे क्वीन के सहयोग से माटुंगा रोड स्टेशन के सौंदर्यीकरण की योजना भी बनाई है, जिसके तहत स्टेशन के बुकिंग ऑफिस, स्टेशनसुपरिटेंडेंट ऑफिस तथा पैदल ऊपरी पुलों के आसपास महिलाओं के सशक्तिकरण एवं उनकी विभिन्न क्षेत्रों में भूमिका की संकल्पना पर आधारित चित्रकारी उकेरी गई हैं।

इस तरह माटुंगारोड पश्चिम रेलवे पर इस प्रकार का पहला उपनगरीय स्टेशन एवं मुंबई में दूसरा उपनगरीय स्टेशन हो जायेगा, जहाँ कार्यरत सभी कर्मचारी महिलाएँ हैं।

यह भी उल्लेखनीय है कि सुश्री प्रीतिकुमारी पश्चिम रेलवे पर मुंबई उपनगरीय खंड की लोकल ट्रेन चलाने वाली पहली मोटर वुमन हैं, जो वर्तमान में भी आनी सेवाएँ दे रही हैं।

पश्चिम रेलवे अपने महिला यात्रियों का विशेष ख़याल रखती है तथा उनके सफ़र को सुरक्षित एवं आरामदायक बनाने के लिए प्रतिबद्ध रही है। भारत की पहली वातानुकूलित लोकलइन दिनों पश्चिम रेलवे के उपनगरीय खंड पर दौड़ रही है तथा पश्चिम रेलवे ने महिला यात्रियों को विशेष उपहार के तौर पर महिला डिब्बे को जीवंत हरे रंग से पेंट कर रेखांकित किया है

यह रंग पर्यावरण का प्रतीक है तथा गेटवे ऑफ इंडिया और वर्ली स्थित समुद्री लिंक के चित्र इसके साथ चित्रित किये गये हैं। मुस्कुराती महिला एवं रंग-बिरंगी रूप से चिह्नित किये गयेडिब्बों को महिलाओं के लिए आरक्षित डिब्बों के रूप में पहचानने में आसानी होती है। एक अन्य उपलब्धि के तहत भारतीय रेलवे पर पहली बार पश्चिम रेलवे महिला कल्याण संगठन द्वारा ऑन बोर्ड महिला यात्रियों की सुविधा के लिए 12951 डाउन मुंबई-नई दिल्ली राजधानी एक्सप्रेस के II एसी डिब्बे में सैनिटरी नेपकिन वेंडिंग मशीन विशेष रूप से लगाई गई है। अब इस ट्रेन की ऑन बोर्ड महिला यात्री पाँच रुपये का सिक्का डालकर इस ऑटोमेटेड वेंडिंग मशीन के माध्यम से एक बार में एक पैड प्राप्त कर सकेंगी।

रेलवे बोर्ड ने वर्ष 2018 को महिला यात्री सुरक्षा वर्ष के रूप में घोषित किया है। महिला यात्रियों की सुरक्षा पश्चिम रेलवे की पहली प्राथमिकता है। पश्चिम रेलवे ने उनके चेहरों पर मुस्कान लाने के लिए सीसीटीवी कैमरे, आपातकालीन परिस्थितियों में गार्ड से सम्पर्क के लिए महिला डिब्बों में टॉक बैक प्रणाली इत्यादि कदम उठाये हैं। अखिल भारतीय सुरक्षा हेल्प लाइन नम्बर 182 के प्रयोग के पूरक के रूप में तथा प्रभावी, विश्वसनीय एवं रियल टाइम संवाद के लिए आईवॉच रेलवे ऐप की मुंबई उपनगरीय खंड पर चर्चगेट से विरार के बीच शुरुआत की गई। यह लोकेशन वीडियो तथा ऑडियो को तुरंत भेज देता है, जिसे मुंबई सेंट्रल स्थित आरपीएफ कंट्रोल रूम के इमरजेंसी रिस्पॉन्स कंट्रोल सिस्टम में तुरंत देखा जा सकता है। पश्चिम रेलवे ने उपनगरीय खंड के यात्रियों की सुरक्षा विशेषकर महिला यात्रियों के साथ-साथ प्लेटफॉर्मों पर भीड़ नियंत्रण के लिए आरपीएफ के प्रयासों के पूरक के तौर पर हाल ही में महाराष्ट्र स्टेट सिक्योरिटी कॉर्पोरेशन के 232 कर्मियों तथा 97 लेडीज होमगार्डों की हाल ही में अपने सुरक्षा बल में शामिल किया है। इस प्रकार पश्चिम रेलवे के उपनगरीय प्रणाली पर महिला सुरक्षाकर्मियों की संख्या दुगुनी हो गई, जिससे महिलाओं में रोजगार के अवसर पैदा हुए हैं। पश्चिम रेलवे की महिला खिलाड़ियों ने भी विश्व स्तर पर नाम कमाया है। पश्चिम रेलवे की चार महिला हॉकी खिलाड़ी नौवीं महिला हॉकी एशिया कप विजेता भारतीय टीम की सदस्य रहीं, जबकि इंग्लैंड में खेले गये महिला क्रिकेट वर्ल्ड कप 2017 में इंग्लैंड के विरुद्ध खेले गये फायनल मैच में भारतीय टीम में पाँच क्रिकेटर पश्चिम रेलवे की रहीं। 5 मई, 1992 को पश्चिम रेलवे ने विश्व की पहली लेडीज़ स्पेशल लोकल ट्रेन परिचालित की और अब इस सेवा का लाभ उठाते हुए महिला यात्रियों को 25 साल से अधिक हो चुके हैं। वर्तमान में पश्चिम रेलवे पर एक दिन में 8 लेडीज़ स्पेशल सेवाएँ परिचालित हो रही हैं, जिन्हें अप एवं डाउन लाइनों पर सुबह एवं शाम के पिक आवर के दौरान समान रूप से बाँटा गया है।

अंतर्राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस के अवसर पर पश्चिम रेलवे द्वारा चर्चगेट स्थित प्रधान कार्यालय तथा मुंबई सेंट्रल, वडोदरा, अहमदाबाद, राजकोट, रतलाम एवं भावनगर

Speeding-up of trains is a constant endeavour and continuous process on Indian Railways which is dependent on the constant optimization of the investments made by Railways in modernization of technology, high powered locos, modern coaches (LHB, air brake, CBC), improved signaling system and better tracks.

During the year 2017-18, 51 train services have been speeded up by more than one hour.

Government has also identified six corridors on Diamond of the country (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkata) for high speed rail connectivity viz : (i) Delhi-Mumbai, (ii) Mumbai-Chennai, (iii) Chennai-Kolkata, (iv) Kolkata-Delhi and both diagonals i.e. (v) Delhi-Chennai and (vi) Mumbai-Kolkata routes. However, High Speed Projects are highly capital and technology intensive, therefore, the sanction of High Speed Projects is subject to its technical feasibility, financial viability and availability of resources.

At present, Mumbai-Ahmedabad Rail corridor is the only High Speed Rail Project sanctioned in the Country.

This information was made available in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Provision/augmentation of amenities at stations, including those for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) and elderly passengers is a continuous process. In order to provide better accessibility to Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) and elderly passengers, short term facilities as detailed below have been planned at all the stations:

• Standard ramp for barrier free entry.
• Earmarking at least two parking lots.
• Non-slippery walk-way from parking lot to building.
• Signages of appropriate visibility.
• At least one toilet (on the ground floor).
• At least one drinking water tap suitable for use by Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan).
• ‘May I help you’ Booth.

In addition, long term facilities as detailed below have been planned at ‘A-1’, ‘A’ & ‘B’ category stations:

• Provision of facility for inter-platform transfer.
• Engraving on edges of platform.

Details of railway stations provided with facilities for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) are as under:

Railways has decided to provide escalators at all the A1, A & C category stations (footfall 25000 or above). Additionally railways has also planned to provide elevators at 500 more stations. About 3800 disabled friendly Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design coaches are available in the fleet of Indian Railways (IR). These coaches have a suitably designed compartment & toilet adapted to the needs of the disabled/Divyangs. More disabled friendly coaches shall be added to the fleet of IR in the coming years. It is endeavoured to have at least one such ICR design coach in each Mail/Express train running with ICF coaches. Further, the fully air conditioned (WRRMDAC) Garib Rath trains have been provided with an Air conditioned disabled friendly compartment in the power cars.

For the assistance of visually impaired travellers, Integrated Braille signages, i.e. signages superimposed with Braille scripts are being provided in the newly manufactured coaches of Indian Railways (IR). In addition, retro-fitment of the same in existing coaches has also been taken up in a phased manner. Railways has provided 467 escalators at 171 railway stations and 318 elevators at 134 railway stations for senior citizens/disabled/ Divyangs.

This information was made available in reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Smt.Jaya Varma Sinha has taken over as the new Principal Chief Operations Manager of South Eastern Railway, this morning (7.3.2018).  Prior to this, she was the Principal Chief Commercial Manager of South Eastern Railway. She is the first woman to occupy the position of Principal Chief Operations Manager of South Eastern Railway, the Railway loading 13.5% of Indian Railways total freight traffic.

An Alumnus of Allahabad University, Smt. Jaya Varma Sinha joined Indian Railway Traffic Service in 1988 and worked in Northern Railway, S.E.Railway and Eastern Railway.  She also worked as Railway Adviser in the High Commission of India, Dhaka, Bangladesh for four years.  The Maitree Express from Kolkata to Dhaka was inaugurated during her tenure in Bangladesh.  She also worked as the Divisional Railway Manager, Eastern Railway, Sealdah Division and Sr. Deputy General Manager & Chief Vigilance Officer, South Eastern Railway.

As many as 40 participants of Indian Origin from Nine Countries called upon the Union Minister of Railways & Coal, Piyush Goyal in New Delhi today. The Know India Programmes (KIP) is an important initiative of the Government of India with an aim to engage and make the students and young professionals of Indian Diaspora, in the age group of 18 to 30years, feel a sense of connect with their motherland, to be motivated and inspired by transformational changes taking place in India and to give them an exposure to various aspects of contemporary India’s forms of art, heritage and culture.

The KIP – a 25-day orientation programme is organized by the Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with one or two States for 10 days orientation programme. The participants are selected on the basis of nominations received and recommendations of Heads of Indian Missions/Posts.  The participants are provided all the hospitality in India.

As part of the 46^th KIP, the participants visited Madhya Pradesh as the Partner State. The participants also visited Parliament House, President’s House in addition to an orientation programme at the Foreign Service Institute.

Piyush Goyal congratulated Ministry of External Affairs for conceptualizing this “Know India Programme” (KIP). Goyal said that KIP helps as a great learning tool for them for knowing their original motherland and sharing experiences for life.

The participants acknowledged that KIP has given them a useful opportunity to know the emerging opportunities in India and helping them understand the Indian traditions, heritage and their family history. The participants particularly mentioned that they had an enjoyable train ride from Delhi to Gwalior.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said today that the metro rail network in the county was expected to cross 700 km in the next few years.

Addressing an event here, the housing and urban affairs minister said from just 8 km in 2002, as many as 425 km of metro lines are operational as of now in 10 different cities across the country.

He also called for the need to devise technologies that would hep in constructing and operating metro systems in sustainable manner in the country.

“With many cities planning for metro rail and in next few years, the network length of the Metro in India is expected to cross 700 km,” said an official release, quoting the minister.

In addition to this, regional rail transit systems are also being planned to unclog the cities, the minister said.

He said Delhi Metro, with an operational network of 231 km, was carrying three million people every day and expressed confidence that within a year the network length in the National Capital Region will cross the 350 KM.

The Mysuru-Thalassery railway line project stands to be dropped in view of the ongoing agitation in Kodagu and other Cauvery districts in the state and its impact on the environment, if implemented. Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal is likely to make an announcement in this regard in the Parliament on Wednesday. According to Railway sources, the Minister has already written to the Kerala chief minister on the non-feasibility of the project.For the last few months, environmentalists, wildlife groups and activists from Kodagu and Bengaluru, and citizens have been up in arms against the development of the railway line and had launched several agitations.

The project would have sounded the death knell for Kodagu district, the birthplace of the Cauvery river, aggravated drinking water situation in several cities and towns and further fragmented the fragile wildlife habitat which is home to several species of animals, including tigers and elephants.On Monday, a delegation comprising office-bearers of Kodagu Ekikarna Ranga and trustees of Wildlife First – M K Chinnappa, Praveen Bhargav, former National Wildlife Board member and H N A Prasad — submitted a memorandum to the Railway Minister opposing the line through Kodagu district and appealed to him to drop the project.

They explained and submitted appropriate ecological justifications as to why the project should be scrapped. They said the project, if implemented, would have an enormous impact on the ecology, hydrology and the flora and fauna of the region and severely fragment the most important wildlife habitat in the country.The existing rail and road lines were sufficient to fulfil the needs of the people of the region, they had told the Minister. The delegation said Goyal categorically promised to them that the Railways would not implement the project.

“The Minister gave a categorical assurance and he was pretty clear about the ecological damage the rail project would have caused (if implemented). Further, he was concerned about both wildlife and water conservation and so forth. That is the assurance we got … he was very categorical and therefore, the issue rests at that point,” former National Wildlife Board member Praveen Bhargav told The New Indian Express.

Prasad, another member of the delegation, said they also met the Railway Board Chairman and apprised him of the issue. “A project, that has been in the offing since 1962, has not taken off for these very reasons as it would have been an ecological disaster. We requested them to introduce one more train between Bengaluru and Mangaluru as the existing rail link was enough. The Minister understood our concerns and said the project was neither possible nor feasible.”

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) of the Indian Railways has made a ‘Make In India’ manufacturing record by building over 2,239 coaches in the current fiscal year, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said in a recent post on Facebook.

According to the Minister, the factory is now looking at manufacturing a total of 2,500 coaches by the end of the current fiscal year and surpassing the previous best of 2,234 coaches achieved in the fiscal year 2016-17.

According to Goyal, the ICF has nearly tripled the production of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches. These coaches are comparatively safer and capable of withstanding accidents with minimum damage. While 400 LHB coaches were manufactured in 2016-17, over 1,100 of these coaches were built in 2017-18.

As the production of LHB coaches is being maximised, the Railways would stop inducting the relatively unsafe ICF coaches by the middle of 2018. ICF coaches currently form two-thirds of its 60,000-strong fleet.

Railways Coach factory in Rae Bareli has proposed manufacturing 5,000 LHB coaches every year, up from 1,000 coaches. With 20,000 LBH coaches currently in use, it would take the Railways around 5 years to replace all ICF coaches.

A study by Railway Board has found with focus on safety and infrastructure upgradation, some zonal railways have “prescribed over-inspections” on prolonged basis which is taking a toll on implementation work and stretching working hours of employees by several hours.

The study by Railway Board’s Transformation Cell found instances of prescribing over-inspections on a prolonged basis and it was revealed that officials require excessive duty hours per month to undertake laid down codal inspections, which is quite an onerous task to be performed alongside other functions.

“Instances of prescribing over-inspections on a prolonged basis have come to notice if Board, such over inspections on a prolonged basis are bound to result into lack of attention in other crucial areas related to implementation and monitoring,” said a communication by Railway Board to all zonal railways.

The Railway Board said that quality inspection is the sine qua non for Railway working.

“It is incumbent on Railway officials to perform this function in most effective and efficient manner, at a frequency laid down in codes manuals/instructions. Along with the inspections, quality follow up, implementation with due resource allocations to ensure compliance on a sustained basis is equally important. Therefore a reasonable balance of time between inspections, consultations, planning, designing, tendering and monitoring is essential,” it said.

The directions further said that without any dilution of the existing instructions, it should be ensured that inspection schedules already codified or as conveyed through manuals/special instructions are not increased on a regular basis.

“Also, it would be in fitness that officials other than general management/safety, concentrate on their respective domain rather than on other departments, in order to focus on their respective domain expertise and also not to unduly generate voluminous inspection notes for the field officials of other departments,”

To put the station redevelopment programme on track, Indian Railways is likely to infuse equity into its arm Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC), which is the designated nodal executing agency, so that the latter can raise funds from the market. While the transporter was already deliberating this idea, government think-tank NITI Aayog has also expressed the same view as it believes IRSDC may lack financial muscle.

A Cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultation is in circulation seeking to make IRSDC the nodal agency for the revamped station redevelopment programme. The programme proposes that IRSDC can start preliminary work of select stations to showcase the viability and then the stations can be auctioned to private builders. In case there are no takers, IRSDC will complete the project by sourcing funds.

However, NITI Aayog, through informal comments, has conveyed that IRSDC may not be able redevelop stations and at the same time cross-subsidise stations with weak commercial prospects.

A total of 600 stations are to be redeveloped wherein the developers will get railway land in return for commercial use for a proposed lease period of 99 years against a pre-determined rental. But all stations do not promise sizeable returns from commercial development and developers may not be willing to pay high lease rentals. The railways expects the returns it will get from stations with higher potential will help in cross-subsidising the others.

According to a railway ministry official, the railways will provide IRSDC an annual operation lease money which comes to around Rs 200 crore (for 25-30 stations) and it expects return on investment in the form of dividend at 15%. IRSDC, in return, will leverage the equity to raise funds from the market.

“IRDSC will make the investments and revenue will be kept by it. IRSDC will keep 10% of the revenue for itself and it should leave enough money to pay back loans and the railways,” added the official.

The ministry of railways is also seeking approval to nominate public-sector undertakings to overcome situations wherein the proposed nodal agency is unable to start work on multiple stations simultaneously or fails to find a financially viable plan, as reported earlier.

The station redevelopment model is being revisited as the ‘Swiss challenge’ bidding process evoked lukewarm interest. The revamped public-private partnership model is expected to offer more attractive terms for private investors (with longer lease period of 99 years as against the 45 years proposed earlier), residential premises being part of the assets created and multiple sub-leases being allowed rather than just one.