The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Thursday filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its proposed initial public offering (IPO).

Market sources said the IPO will be worth Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 600 crore.

According to the DRHP, IRCTC is the only entity authorised by the Indian Railways to provide catering services to railways, online railway tickets and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India.

The central public sector enterprise has also diversified into other business segments like e-catering, executive lounges, and budget hotels.

The issue comprises of two crore equity shares with a face value of Rs. 10 each through an offer for sale by the President of India acting through the Ministry of Railways (the selling shareholder).

Out of the net offer, equity shares may be reserved for eligible employees but not exceed five per cent of the post-offer paid-up equity share capital of the company.

The book running lead managers to the offer are IDBI Capital Markets and Securities Limited, SBI Capital Markets Limited and Yes Securities India Ltd.

Up to 50 per cent of the offer will be available for the allocation to qualified institutional buyers.

Further, up to 15 per cent of the offer will be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to non-institutional bidders and 35 per cent of the offer will be available for the allocation to retail individual bidders.

IRCTC operates one of the most transacted websites in the Asia Pacific region with transaction volume averaging at 25 million per month and 7.2 million logins a day. Over 1.4 million passengers travel on a daily basis of which 71.42 per cent book their tickets online.

After the Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express, the railways has decided to hand over the operations of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central Tejas Express to its subsidiary, IRCTC, as a test case, ahead of the implementation of its plan to rope in private players in the running of certain trains, sources said on Tuesday.

The IRCTC, the railways’ tourism and catering arm, will also have the flexibility to decide the passenger fare on these trains — Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central Tejas Express and the Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express, the sources added.

According to a blueprint prepared by the Railway Board to hand over the two trains to the railways’ tourism and catering arm for a period of three years as a pilot project, no concessions, privileges or duty passes will be allowed on these trains.

The railways also said on-board ticket checking on IRCTC trains will not be done by the railway staff.

However, it said the trains will be uniquely numbered and operated by the railways’ operating staff — loco, pilots, guards and station masters. The services of these two trains will be at par with the Shatabdi Express trains and given a similar priority, the sources said.

Bringing in private train operators to provide world-class passenger service was a proposal mooted by the railways in its 100-day plan. Sources said handing over the two Tejas Express trains to IRCTC was a first step towards that.

IRCTC will have the rights for advertisements inside and outside the coaches, including branding of the trains. It can also make modifications inside the rake without affecting its structural safety.

IRCTC will be allowed to use the railways’ web portal for ticketing for a year and the revenue accounts of these two trains would be maintained separately, the sources said. The Railway Board has instructed IRCTC to develop its own ticketing system simultaneously.

The trains will have 18 coaches each. However, IRCTC will be allowed to run the trains with a minimum of 12 coaches for a period of one year. The haulage charges would be calculated per trip, based on the number of coaches used on each trip or 12 coaches, whichever is higher.

IRCTC will also pay for the custody of trains, including spares.

The Railway Board has, however, clarified that in case of any accident, the IRCTC passengers will be treated at par with railway passengers and will be eligible for accident-related claims. It will also provide assistance and restoration in case of an accident.

The railways will also provide maintenance for the trains.

Three members of a family were shot dead and two injured when a Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel allegedly opened fire on them in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district, police said on Sunday.

Ramgarh Superintendent of Police, Prabhat Kumar said RPF personnel Pawan Kumar Singh on Saturday night allegedly opened fire from his 9mm pistol on railway porter Ashok Ram and his family at their house near Barkakana railway junction.

Ram (55), his wife Lilawati Devi (52) and pregnant daughter Meena Devi (27), died on the spot while another daughter Suman Devi (25) and son Chintu Ram (20) were injured, the SP said.

The family of Ram stay at the railway barrack quarters in Barkakana police station area while the personnel is posted at Barkakana junction of the East Central Railway (ECR), Mr Kumar said.

The two injured have been referred to a hospital in Ranchi.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, North Chhotanagpur Division, Pankaj Kamboj, along with other senior police officers, visited the incident site.

The RPF personnel, a resident of Karath village in Bihar’s Bhojpur district, is missing, police said.

Bittu Ram (30), another son of Ashok Ram, told visiting reporter that they run a milk business and the personnel is one of their customers.

The personnel was not given milk on Saturday as he had an outstanding amount Rs. 1,200. Angered at being denied of milk, the personnel opened fire, he claimed.

Sunil Kumar Gupta, RPF inspector, said the personnel was deployed as a security aide of assistant commandant of RPF at Barkakana.

Angry locals blocked the Ramgarh-Ranchi via Pithoria highway early on Sunday demanding immediate arrest of the accused, a job for a dependent of those killed in railways and adequate compensation to the family, the police said.

They also blockaded the railway tracks for some time, affecting train services, the police added.

A man and a married woman who were allegedly in a relationship were found dead on a railway track today, the police said.

According to the family members, Surendra (25) and Ramkali Pal (23) left the house on the pretext of defecating on Friday evening. They are were found on the tracks near Ken river in the morning, senior police official Alok Mishra said.

While the woman was married in June, the man was not married. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, Mr Mishra said.

Various Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) have released the RRB JE result for the first stage Computer-Based Test (CBT) held in May and June months of this year. The results have been released separately on various portals of RRBs like RRB Bhopal, RRB Guwahati, RRB Jammu, RRB Bangalore and RRB Patna. Along with the RRB JE results, the Boards have also released the score cards of the first stage CBT. Next process in the JE recruitment is the second stage CBT.

According to the schedule released along with the RRB JE result, the second stage CBT will be held from August 28 to September 1 in five days-time.

The RRBs are conducting recruitment for the posts of Depot Material Superintendant (DMS) and Chemical and Metallurgical Assistant (CMA) along with the Junior Engineer or JE recruitment.

RRB JE result 2019: Schedule for second stage CBT

Candidates who have been shortlisted through the RRB JE results will be allowed to appear in the second stage. RRB JE second stage CBT will be held on the schedule given here:

Viewing of the exam city and date intimation begins on: August 17, 2018

Downloading of Free Train Travel Authority for SC/ST Candidates (This is only to make travel arrangements in train and not an e-Call letter): August 17, 2018

Download of RRB JE admit card for second stage: 4 days prior to the exam

Activation of Mock Link for second stage CBT: August 17

Schedule of second stage CBT: August 28 to September 1

Candidates may login with their credentials on the dates mentioned here through the link to be provided on the official websites of RRBs for knowing their exam city, date, session, downloading Free Train Travel Authority (for SC/ST candidates only) and RRB JE admit card.

RRB JE result 2019: CBT examination scheme

Duration of the second stage CBT will be 120 minutes (160 minutes for eligible PwBD candidates accompanied with scribe) and there will be a total of 150 questions. Detailed section wise marks and syllabus has been published on the official notification released on the RRB portals on December 29, 2018 at para 13.2. The questions will be of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ). Negative marking will be applied to 1/3rd for every incorrect answer.

Samjhauta Express, the bilateral train service between India and Pakistan, reached Old Delhi railway station nearly 5 hours after its scheduled arrival time. This is because the train departed for Delhi from Attari with 117 passengers in the early hours of Friday after a delay of around five hours.

The Samjhauta Express train was supposed to leave at 8 pm but was delayed due to immigration check.

The Samjhauta Express train with 76 Indian and 41 Pakistani nationals departed from Attari at around 1 am, chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Northern Railways said.

Following heightened tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370, which accorded a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Islamabad unilaterally decided to suspend the train services on its side on Thursday.

However, Indian Railways clarified that the train service has not yet been suspended but Pakistan authorities refused to send their crew to India citing security concern.

The Samjhauta Express was standing at the Wagah side of the border in Pakistan with around 110 passengers. An Indian engine brought the train from Wagah to Attari.

The Samjhauta Express, commonly called the friendship express, is a bi-weekly train – running on Thursday and Monday – between Delhi and Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan. Services began in 1976 under the Simla Agreement signed between the two countries.

The word Samjhauta means “agreement” in both Hindi and Urdu.

Last time, the operations of Samjhauta Express were suspended on February 28, following the Pulwama terror attack that was carried out by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 Indian soldiers on February 14. However, services resumed later.

In a humanitarian gesture, an autorickshaw driver in Mumbai drove his vehicle on to the Virar railway station platform to help a woman who went into premature labour.

The driver was identified as Sagar Kamlakar Gawad, 34, a resident of Dongarpada in Virar

According to police, the incident occurred on Sunday morning when a seven-months pregnant woman and her husband were travelling in the compartment reserved for disabled persons. Due to delay in services caused by incessant rains in the area, the train had halted at the station when the woman started developing labour pain.

“Seeing his wife’s condition, the husband started panicking and rushed out of the compartment to ask for help. He found Gawad, whose auto was parked in the space allotted by Western Railway (WR) right next to platform number two. He urged Gawad to help him, following which, he brought his autorickshaw on the platform and rode towards Sanjeevani Hospital in Virar,” said police inspector Praveen Kumar Yadav, Virar RPF.

Sagar Kamlakar Gawad was charged under Sections 154 (rash travelling or negligent act) and 159 (disobedience of drivers) of the Railway Act, 1989.

 Railway recruitment boards (RRB) will release the answer key for the computer based test held for paramedical category posts. As per the latest notification released by the RRBs on the paramedical category recruitment, the answer keys will be released on August 5. Candidates who took the exam can download the answer keys along with the question paper and response sheet from the official website of the RRBs. In addition to this, candidates can file objections against the official answer key, if they find any.

In order to file objections, candidates have to pay Rs. 50 per objection submitted. “In case the objection raised is found to be correct, the fee paid against such valid objection will be refunded to the candidate. The refund will be made to the bank account number from which the candidate has made the online payment,” said the RRBs.

The objection window will close on August 8. “Candidates are advised to raise objection(s), if any, well before the final date and time i.e., 08.08.2019, 23.59 hrs. after which no representation from the candidates on the questions/options/keys etc., will be entertained,” the notification added.

With not just one but four major recruitment announced this year and Junior Engineer recruitment announced at the cusp of last year, Railway Recruitment Boards’ hands are full. The recruitment process for paramedical posts has already begun with computer-based tests starting on July 19. However, any updates on the exam dates for other recruitment are yet to be released.

Reports suggest that the computer-based test for RRC Group D posts will be conducted around September-October 2019. The application status for RRC Group D 2019 recruitment has already been released.

The tentative exam dates for RRB NTPC and RRB Ministerial and Isolated categories posts was between June and September. With July almost over and the computer-based test for paramedical posts concluded, it is highly likely that RRBs would announce the examination date for one or both remaining recruitment.

About the RRB JE recruitment that was announced in December 2018, RRBs have completed the computer-based test process, released provisional key, invited objection, and have released the final answer key after resolution of the objections received. The result for the RRB JE 2018 exam will be released shortly.

Candidates who qualify in the first stage CBT for RRB JE recruitment will have to appear for 2nd stage CBT. The details for the second stage CBT for RRB JE recruitment is expected to release alongside the result for first stage CBT.