Indian Railway has inducted three numbers of 09-3X Dynamic Tamping Express machines, the state of the art integrated track maintenance. These machines were inaugurated and flagged off by Shri M.K. Gupta, Member Engineering, Railway Board at Faridabad. Seven number of such machines are planned to be procured and inducted within next six months in the present fleet of 874 track maintenance machines over IR for deployment on heavy density Routes.

The New 09-3X- Dynamic Tamping Express costing about ₹ 27 Crore each is a latest high output integrated tamping machine having multiple functions, so far being carried out by different machines. It can measure pre & post track geometry, correct the track to required geometry, can tamp three sleepers simultaneously, stabilize and measure post tamping track parameters under load to ensure quality of work done. This eliminates the need for a separate stabilisation machine which reduces operating costs and track possession time. This machine will vibrate & compact the loose stone ballast after tamping for safe movements of trains. These machines have been manufactured in India under MAKE IN INDIA initiative with imported components. 42 more such machines have been planned to be included in Indian Railway maintenance fleet over next three years. This will further improve the safety, reliability and economy in maintenance of tracks over Indian Railways. This will also eliminate manual measurement of track quality after maintenance.

Three operations including manual interface is now combined in one machine.

For practical hands-on training to operate such advanced track maintenance machines a new 3D state-of-the-art tamping simulator has been installed and commissioned at Indian Railway Track Machine Training Centre Allahabad (IRTMTC) recently. This type of advanced technology simulator is presently available only in five countries including India. India Railway has planned complete mechanisation of inspection, monitoring, relaying and maintenance of track by 2024.

For the convenience of passengers during the summer vacation and with a view to clear the extra rush, Weekly Special train on Special fare will be run between Ahmedabad and Kanpur Central (Allahabad Division of NCR) from 9^th April, 2018 to 26^thJune, 2018. The details of the train is as under:-

• Train No. 02458/04151 Ahmedabad – Kanpur Central Weekly Special Train [24 services]

Train No. 02458 Ahmedabad – Kanpur Central Weekly Superfast Special train on Special fare will leave Ahmedabad at 13.50 hrs on every Tuesday and  reach Kanpur Central the next day at 11.10 hrs. This train will run from 10^th April to 26^th June, 2018.

Similarly, Train No. 04151 Kanpur Central–Ahmedabad Weekly Special train will leave Kanpur Central at 8.20 hrs on every Monday and reach Ahmedabad the next day at 09.20 hrs. This train will run from 9^th April to 25^th June, 2018.

The train will have I AC, AC 2 Tier, AC 3 Tier, Sleeper Class and Second Class General Coaches. This train will halt at Nadiad, Anand, Vadodara, Godhra Jn, Dahod, Ratlam, Bhawani Mandi, Kota, Sawai Madhopur, Gangapur City, Hindaun City, Bayana, Fatehpur Sikri, Agra Fort, Tundla, Shikohabad and Itawa stations in both directions. Train No 04151 will also halt at Nagda station.

Booking for Train No. 02458 Ahmedabad–Kanpur Central Weekly Superfast Special train on Special fare will be opened from 7^thApril, 2018  at all Passenger Reservation Centre and IRCTC website.

पश्चिम रेलवे चलायेगी अहमदाबाद और कानपुर सेंट्रल के बीच विशेष ट्रेन  

यात्रियों की सुविधा के लिए पश्चिम रेलवे द्वारा ग्रीष्मकालीन अवकाश एवं अतिरिक्त भीड को कम करने हेतु अहमदाबाद और कानपुर सेंट्रल स्टेशनों के बीच 9 अप्रैल, 2018 से 26 जून, 2018 तक साप्ताहिक विशेष ट्रेन चलाई जायेगी। इस ट्रेन का विवरण निम्नानुसार हैः-

• ट्रेन सं. 02458/04151 अहमदाबाद-कानपुर सेंट्रल साप्ताहिक विशेष ट्रेन (24 सेवाएँ)

ट्रेन सं. 02458 अहमदाबाद-कानपुर सेंट्रल साप्ताहिक सुपरफास्ट विशेष ट्रेन विशेष किराये के साथ अहमदाबाद से प्रत्येक मंगलवार को 13.50 बजे प्रस्थान करेगी और अगले दिन 11.10 बजे कानपुर सेंट्रल पहुँचेगी। यह ट्रेन 10 अप्रैल से 26 जून, 2018 तक चलेगी।

इसी प्रकार, ट्रेन सं. 04151 कानपुर सेंट्रल-अहमदाबाद साप्ताहिक विशेष ट्रेन कानपुर सेंट्रल से प्रत्येक सोमवार को 08.20 बजे प्रस्थान करेगी और अगले दिन 09.20 बजे अहमदाबाद पहुँचेगी। यह ट्रेन 9 अप्रैल से 25 जून, 2018 तक चलेगी। इस ट्रेन में फर्स्ट एसी, एसी II टियर, एसी III टियर, शयनयान तथा द्वितीय श्रेणी के सामान्य डिब्बे होंगे। यह ट्रेन यात्रा के दौरान दोनों दिशाओं में नडियाड, आणंद, वडोदरा, गोधरा जं., दाहोद, रतलाम, भवानी मंडी, कोटा, सवाई माधोपुर, गंगापुर सिटी, हिंडौन सिटी, बयाना, फतेहपुर सिकरी, आगरा फोर्ट, टुंडला, शिकोहाबाद एवं इटावा स्टेशनों पर ठहरेगी। ट्रेन सं. 04151 नागदा स्टेशन पर भी ठहरेगी।

ट्रेन सं. 02458 अहमदाबाद-कानपुर सेंट्रल साप्ताहिक सुपरफास्ट विशेष ट्रेन विशेष किराये के साथ की बुकिंग 7 अप्रैल, 2018 से सभी यात्री आरक्षण केन्द्रों एवंआईआरसीटीसी की वेबसाइट पर प्रारम्भ होगी।

HUBBALLI: Due to line 03 hrs line blocks from 06:00 hrs to 09:00 hrs excepted on Wednesday from 15^th April, 2018 to 14^th June, 2018 between Chikjajur Jn. – Sasalu for the working of blast cleaning machine, following trains will be regulated at convenient stations where passengers amenities are available:

1. Train No.56273, Arsikere – Hubballi Passenger will be regulated for 75 minutes except Wednesday.
2. Train No.56218, Harihar – Chitradurga Passenger will be regulated for 60 minutes except Wednesday.
3. Train No.16578, Harihar – Yesvantpur Express will be regulated for 110 minutes on Thursday & Friday.

Southern Railway is launching BAAT – Book Activate And Travel – mode of paperless mobile tickets for Chennai Suburban commuters today i.e. 7th April 2018. Southern Railway had launched a mobile APP for booking of unreserved tickets through the mobile phone in 2015. Passengers can download this App in their mobile from Google Play store and book their unreserved tickets using R wallet, which is an e-payment mode of Railways with no service charges. Using this App, passengers can buy two types of tickets viz., paper ticket and paper-less ticket. Today about 3 % of suburban tickets are booked through mobiles, crossing one million in January 2018.

In case of paper ticket, the passenger can book the ticket from the App and can take print out of the ticket from the ATVM machines, as well as UTS counters at stations. This facility is now available to buy season tickets and non suburban journey tickets also.

Booking paperless tickets on mobiles, normally requires GPS and Internet connection in the phone. Once the passenger books the ticket in paperless option, the image of the ticket is downloaded to the phone. The passenger can show the ticket image on the mobile phone and travel. However, for booking paper less ticket, the passenger has to be at least 25 metres away from the railway track and station platforms but within five kms from the station. This facility is provided through ‘geo fencing’

To overcome the difficulties faced by the passengers due to such geo fencing, a new feature called ‘BAAT’ (Book Activate And Travel) has now been launched as a trial measure at Chennai Central. By this feature, the passenger can book the ticket from anywhere either from office or home, without worrying about the distance restriction. The passenger can come to the station to an area earmarked as ‘BAAT Activation Zone’ and can ‘activate’ the ticket for travel. No internet or GPS is required for activation. Passenger also need not take print out of the ticket.

This facility is being launched at Chennai Central as a trial measure from Saturday, 7/4/2018. BAAT is expected to be another passenger friendly feature being bought out by Southern Railway to benefit over one million passengers every day in Chennai suburban area. Railway hopes to increase the percentage of mobile tickets to over 10 % of the total UTS tickets during the current year.

The Bhusawal Division of the Central Railways has bagged five efficiency shields, the highest number in the zone. The safety department has bagged the honours after a 14-year gap.

The Bhusawal Division received more shields than other divisions including Nagpur, Pune, Mumbai, Solapur.

The division has earned honours in the commercial, operating, security and cleanliness departments. The fifth shield came in the form of workshop efficiency, where the Nashik-based Traction Machine Workshop (TMW) bagged the honour of being the best maintained in the zone. “We are elated over the division receiving five honours. For us, it is more special as we have earned the security shield after 14 years,” Ajay Dubey, senior divisional security commissioner of the Bhusawal division, said.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) responsible for passenger security has bagged the honour for its splendid performance as it has achieved phenomenal rise detection and arresting criminals.

The numbers of criminal cases detected by the RPF stood at 193 in 2017, which was up by 371% compared to only 41 cases in 2016. Similarly, it arrested 246 criminals in 2017 as against 69 the previous year, registering a rise of 257%. “There was also a strict no-tolerance policy on crime against passengers and chain pulling cases. We arrested 34,223 people involved in unauthorized vending, chain pulling etc.,” the officer added.

The South Western Railway (SWR) Zone comprising Hubballi, Bengaluru and Mysuru railway divisions, has been declared the safest in the country by the Railway Ministry.

The ‘Safety Efficiency Shield’ is awarded annually by the Indian Railways. Three railway staff of the Zone have earned national honours.

SWR has emerged the topper out of 17 Railway Zones. It has registered only one railway accident in the financial year 2017-2018, said an official.

E Vijaya, Deputy General Manager-cum-Chief Public Relations Officer of the Zone will be conferred the Ministry of Railways award for her ‘Outstanding performance’ during the year.

Accounts Assistant Gururaj B Mokhasi and Track Maintainer Manjunath B Gunnanavar, will also bag awards for their exemplary performance on duty.  The awards will be conferred during the Railway Week celebrations set to take place next week at Bhopal.

A two-judge bench, comprising Justice V Ram Subramanian and Justice M Ganga Rao, on Friday granted time to South Central Railway to complete the task of interzonal voluntary transfers by May 31. The bench posted a batch of cases for the railways to report compliance to June 5.

The court by an order on October 31, had directed the Railway Recruitment Board to complete recruitment and had given Railways time up to February 28 to relieve various persons in the safety sector who had opted for interzonal transfer on loss of seniority basis. When Railways were found dragging its feet, the employees approached the Central Administrative Tribunal. In its present application, the Railways had sought time till August to implement the order.

BENGALURU: In order to ensure 50 per cent funding for the suburban rail project by the Centre, the state government has recently given a nod to provide the Floor Space Index of 5 sought by the Railways on the land near its stations. FSI refers to the total area on a plot which can be built.

Additional Chief Secretary of Urban Development department, Mahendra Jain, has conveyed this in a letter sent to the Chairman of Railway Board on April 2. The decision was taken during a meeting between the chief secretary and general manager of South Western Railway on March 21, the letter said.

The meet also decided that a Special Purpose Vehicle needs to be set up for the suburban project under the K-RIDE, a joint undertaking between the state, Indian Railways and I-deck.

The Russian Railways company became an Official European Supporter of the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia from June 14 to July 15, the company’s statement said Thursday.  Russian Railways has been named by FIFA on Thursday, as an official sponsor of the 2018 World Cup, which is being held in the country in June and July.

FIFA said the state railway monopoly would be a third-tier regional sponsor of the event, joining fellow Russian companies Alfa-Bank and Rostelecom. The Russian Railways obtained the status of Official European Supporter of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The agreement was signed by CEO and Chairman of the Board of JSC Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov, FIFA Chief Commercial Officer Philippe Le Floc’h and FIFA Director of Marketing Sales and Strategy Iain Downie,” the statement said.

According to the company, Russian Railways organizes transportation services for the tournament’s games, with a total of 75 free trains set to make 728 rides on 31 routes during the tournament. Russian Railways is offering 880,000 free journeys to match ticket holders traveling between venue cities and that half of those had already been booked, FIFA said in a statement.

It added that an additional 728 long-distance trains on 31 routes had been scheduled during the course of the tournament.

“Over 440,000 seats were offered to the fans in the free trains, and over 200,000 seats have been already booked,” the statement added, stressing that in order to book a free train ride fans need to obtain tickets to the games of the World Cup and receive their FAN ID.

This is the first time Russia will host the FIFA World Cup. The games will take place at 12 arenas in a total of 11 cities, namely Kaliningrad, Kazan, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, St.Petersburg, Volgograd, and Yekaterinburg.

Promoter MyHSR Corp announced on April 5 that it had selected the project delivery partners which will design and build the civil works for the Malaysian section of the Kuala Lumpur – Singapore High Speed Rail project.

A consortium of Malaysian Resources Corp and Gamuda has been selected for the northern portion of the alignment, while a consortium of Syarikat Pembenaan Yeoh Tiong Lay and TH Properties has been selected for the southern section.

The contracts are to be formally awarded following the satisfactory conclusion of negotiations between MyHSR Corp and the two consortia.

The PDPs would be responsible for designing and delivering the civil works at an agreed cost and schedule, undertaking planning, construction, testing and commissioning.

The tender called on November 22 2017 was open to all parties who had experience in railway design and construction, and were familiar with Malaysian railway construction practices and regulatory requirements, as well as the local supply market conditions. The tender also promoted involvement of Malaysian firms consistent with the government’s aim of encouraging the growth of local industries.

‘We are pleased to have selected two very capable consortia to work on the project’, said MyHSR Corp CEO Mohd Nur Ismal bin Mohamed Kamal. ‘The PDPs will bring both local and international experience, through their own experience in building railways in the country and through partnerships with high speed rail experts. Together, we will build the KL-SG HSR project.’

A separate procurement is underway for Malaysia and Singapore to appoint jointly the AssetsCo which would be responsible for designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining the rolling stock and railway systems, including the track, electrification, signalling and telecoms.

Passenger services of the 350 km high speed line are expected to start by the end of 2026.