The Metro Railway in Kolkata said today that it will restart services on receiving the go-ahead from the Union Home Ministry and the Railway Ministry.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday that the Metro Railway authorities can resume services, maintaining all COVID-related safety protocols.

“We will start the process of resuming services once we receive directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Railway Ministry,” Metro Railway spokesperson Indrani Banerjee said.

After receiving the go-ahead, the Metro authorities will discuss the modalities of running the services in the city with the West Bengal government, she told news agency PTI.

The chief minister announced a series of relaxations on Wednesday. Regarding the resumption of Metro and local train services, she said that the Railway authorities should speak to state officials to work out the modalities.

Metro Railway, which forms an integral part of the city’s public transportation system, stopped services as the nationwide lockdown began in March to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Nearly two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Gareeb Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan, the Indian Railways has engaged a total of 12,276 workers under this scheme till August 21. It has also generated more than 6,40,000 mandays of work under the scheme in six states, the Ministry of Railways said on Sunday.

“Till August 21, a total of 12,276 workers have been engaged under this scheme. The ministry has also released the payment of ₹ 1,410.35 crore to the contractors for the projects,” the Ministry of Railways said on Sunday.

Six states where mandays of work have been generated include – Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, an official release said here today.

Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is closely monitoring the progress in the schemes. Close to 165 Railway infrastructure projects are being executed in these states.

Till August 21, a total of 12,276 workers have been engaged under this scheme. The ministry has also released the payment of ₹ 1,410.35 crore to the contractors for the projects, the ministry further said.

Nodal Officers in each district as well as in the states have also been appointed for close coordination with state governments.

Among the works that have been identified for the execution of this scheme include – construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings, development and cleaning of silted waterways, trenches and drains along the track, construction, and maintenance of approach road to railway stations, among others, it said.

“This Abhiyaan of 125 days, is being undertaken in mission mode and involves focused implementation of 25 categories of works/ activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers in 6 states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Odisha. Public works are being undertaken during this campaign will have a resource envelope of ₹ 50,000 crores,” the release by the ministry added.

The scheme is a convergent effort between 12 ministries/departments to speed up the implementation of 25 public infrastructure works and works relating to the increase of livelihood opportunities, the ministry said further.

Earlier, while launching the project on June 20, the PM had said, “Today is a historic day, a scheme for the welfare and for the livelihood of the poor has been started. It is dedicated to the workers, to the youths and women living in villages. The majority of these include those who have returned to their villages during the lockdown, they want to develop their village through their efforts and skill.”

“The country understands both your feelings and your requirements. The program is started through Khagaria today is a medium to meet your requirements. It will be run in 116 villages in six states,” he added.

The Indian Railways’ private train project which is currently underway will bring in 150 trains for private players to operate and is expected to see private investment of around Rs 30,000 crore. 109 pairs of routes have been formed into 12 clusters that will cover a majority of the railway network.

Around 23 global biggies, including Bombardier, Alstom, Siemens, NIIF, GMR and ISquared Capital, are in the race for Railways’ privatisation pie.

As an ancillary push for the Make in India initiative, the project aims to upgrade passenger experience to world-class standards with modern train rakes manufactured in the country. The first-of-its-kind venture is scheduled to begin operations by 2023.

Here we take a look at what all will change — fare, number of stations, etc — after the project is rolled out.

Competitive pricing
Indian Railways has said that there will not be a fare regulator for private trains and market competition in the transport system would address risks of prohibitive pricing, adding that economic regulations may have an impact on project revenues.

“PTOs (Private train operators) are likely to compete with all modes of transport and are not likely to operate in a monopolistic environment. Accordingly, though PTO(s) will have autonomy to determine and levy fares, travelers would always have a choice for alternative trains/modes of transport. Such competitive tension should address such risk of prohibitive pricing by PTO(s),” a study of the private train project read.

The study further states the possibility of a rail regulatory body being set up in the country. Railway board chairman VK Yadav had earlier stated that the ministry is still considering setting up a regulatory authority sometime in the future.

Even in response to queries from potential PTOs who attended the pre-application meetings, the Railways said that it has no plans of capping fees. It also maintained that the national transporter will have a share in train tariff which is a large part of the gross revenue.

 

“Till August 21, a total of 12,276 workers have been engaged under this scheme. The ministry has also released the payment of ₹ 1,410.35 crore to the contractors for the projects,” the railways said.

Nearly two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Gareeb Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan, the Indian Railways has engaged a total of 12,276 workers under this scheme till August 21. It has also generated more than 6,40,000 mandays of work under the scheme in six states, the Ministry of Railways said on Sunday.

“Till August 21, a total of 12,276 workers have been engaged under this scheme. The ministry has also released the payment of ₹ 1,410.35 crore to the contractors for the projects,” the Ministry of Railways said on Sunday.

Six states where mandays of work have been generated include – Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, an official release said here today.

Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is closely monitoring the progress in the schemes. Close to 165 Railway infrastructure projects are being executed in these states.

Till August 21, a total of 12,276 workers have been engaged under this scheme. The ministry has also released the payment of ₹ 1,410.35 crore to the contractors for the projects, the ministry further said.

Nodal Officers in each district as well as in the states have also been appointed for close coordination with state governments.

“This Abhiyaan of 125 days, is being undertaken in mission mode and involves focused implementation of 25 categories of works/ activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers in 6 states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Odisha. Public works are being undertaken during this campaign will have a resource envelope of ₹ 50,000 crores,” the release by the ministry added.

The scheme is a convergent effort between 12 ministries/departments to speed up the implementation of 25 public infrastructure works and works relating to the increase of livelihood opportunities, the ministry said further.

Earlier, while launching the project on June 20, the PM had said, “Today is a historic day, a scheme for the welfare and for the livelihood of the poor has been started. It is dedicated to the workers, to the youths and women living in villages. The majority of these include those who have returned to their villages during the lockdown, they want to develop their village through their efforts and skill.”

“The country understands both your feelings and your requirements. The program is started through Khagaria today is a medium to meet your requirements. It will be run in 116 villages in six states,” he added.

 In its endeavour to boost freight revenues, the Indian Railway is mulling an innovative model that will also provide a time bound delivery of the material or commodity.

Sources told Zee Media that Railways may adopt the Domino’s Pizza delivery model to boost freight revenues, which means that the national transporter will ensure time bound delivery of the products and goods and in case there is delay, the Railways will pay adequate compensation for it.

The compensation model will be on hourly basis, which means that Railways will provide a fixed time frame for delivery of commodities, failing which, it will compensate the customers on delay of every hours. For example goods from Mumbai needs to be delivered to Delhi that will take a maximum of 3 days (72 hours). However, if the goods are not delivered within those 72 hours, the Railways will pay compensation for every delayed hour after the expiry of the set deadline.

Railways plans to implement the model on limited sector and gradually take it forward after the completion of the Dedicated Freight Corridor by 2021.

Sources further told Zee Media that Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has asked the his team to take the idea forward, which in long run will benefit the national transporter in terms of revenue generation.

The move is aimed to attract steel, coal, iron ore, cement companies to select railways for their preferred mode of transportation. Railways also eyes to attract e-Commerce companies, Auto Sector and Pharma Sector for its freight delivery model.

Indian Railways has expanded its basket of freight that is used by it to move goods from from one location of country to another. In a first, Pepsi bottles were transported in 5 parcel vans from Azara Station in Assam to Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh on August 15.

In order to attract more companies to choose Indian Railways as the means of transportation to move the commodities in country, Indian Railways has announced a series of benefits, ranging from lenient freight rates to even promise of freight delivery in a fixed time frame.

20% of the vacancies in the level 1 posts is reserved for candidates who have completed their apprenticeship, Southern Railways has notified. “It may be noted that Railways engage apprentices in workshops and Production units and impart them technical training with the objective of developing skilled manpower. Employment in Railways is not guaranteed on completion of Apprenticeship,” it also said.

“However, in 2016 it was decided by Railway Board that 20% of the vacancies in case of direct recruitment to posts in Level-1 shall be filled by giving preference to Course completed Act Apprentices,” it has added.

The notification has been released in response to the protests held by railway apprentices at Ponmalai workshop, Tamil Nadu demanding employment in the railways.

“In pursuant to this new rule, 597 vacancies were earmarked for Apprentices and notified through employment notification no: CEN No: 02/2018,” the Southern Railways has said and has added that for this recruitment 3,627 applications were received from apprentices out of which 2,839 appeared for the exam. After the completion of selection tests, only 54 candidates who had met the minimum qualifying marks were selected against the notified vacancies of 597.

It has also clarified on the allegations that there is discrimination against Tamil Nadu candidates from being recruited for job vacancies existing in Southern Railways. On this, it has said, there are no reservations in any railway recruitment board (RRB) based on the origin of state or state of residence. Citing a recruitment notified in 2018, notified as CEN 02/2018, as an example it has said that for the RRB Chennai zone 51% of the applicants were from Tamil Nadu and of the total selection 17% are from Tamil Nadu.

The Railways has procured Ninja unmanned aerial vehicles for monitoring its assets and ensure safety for passengers, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal has said.

The Mumbai Division of Central Railway has recently procured two Ninja UAVs for better security and surveillance in railway areas like station premises, railway track sections, yards, workshops.

“Eye in the Sky: Improving Surveillance System, Railways has recently procured Ninja Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. With real-time tracking, video streaming and automatic failsafe mode, the drones will enhance monitoring of the railway assets and ensure additional safety for passengers,” Mr  Goyal said in a tweet.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has planned extensive use of drones for the purpose of railway security, a statement from the ministry said.

Nine drones have been procured by RPF so far at a cost of ₹ 31.87 Lakh at South Eastern Railway, Central Railway, Modern Coaching Factory, Raebareilli and South Western Railway, it said.

It is further proposed to procure 17 more drones in future at a cost of ₹ 97.52 Lakh. Nineteen RPF personnel have so far been trained in operation and maintenance of drones out of which four have received licenses for flying drones. Six more RPF personnel are being trained, the ministry said.

The purpose of the drone deployment is to provide a force multiplier and aid the deployed security personnel, it said.

While it can help in inspection of Railway assets and safety of yards, workshops, car sheds, it can also be used to launch surveillance on criminal and anti-social activities like gambling, throwing of garbage, hawking in railway premises, it added.

“It may be deployed for data collection, analysis of such data collected may prove to be extremely useful in vulnerable sections for safe operations of trains. The drone may be pressed in service at disaster sites for helping in rescue, recovery and restoration and coordinating of efforts of various agencies,” the ministry said.

“It is very useful while undertaking mapping of railway asset to assess the encroachments on railway property. During large scale crowd management efforts, it may give vital inputs like crowd magnitude, probable time of arrival and dispersal based on which crowd regulation efforts may be planned and executed,” the statement said. “Drones were used to enforce lockdown and monitor the movement of migrants during the COVID-19 lockdown,” it said.

A drone camera can cover large areas which requires 8-10 RPF personnel. Thus, it may lead to substantial improvement in utilisation of scarce manpower.

Drone beats have been designed based on railway asset, sensitivity of area, activity of criminals. Any suspicious activity if noticed is intimated to the nearest RPF post of division to apprehend the criminal live.

One such criminal was apprehended on a real time basis in Wadibunder Yard area while he was trying to commit theft inside railway coach stationed in the yard, the Railways said.

Private entities have to pay heavy penalties in case the trains they operate are delayed or reach the destination early, according to a draft key performance indicators for private operators released by the Railways.

The draft document released on Wednesday states that private train operators have to maintain 95 per cent punctuality through the year.

Private operators also have to pay penalties for misreporting their revenue or in case of train cancellations for reasons attributable to them.

According to the draft, if the arrival of a train at its destination is delayed by over 15 minutes it will be deemed to have lost punctuality.

In this case, the private operator has to pay the Railways extra haulage charge worth 200 km for every one per cent “reduction in punctuality” compared to the guaranteed punctuality, the document states.

The Railways has said the haulage charge – the fee that private operators will pay to use Railways” infrastructure – will be ₹ 512 per km.

If a private train reaches destination at least 10 minutes in advance, the operator will have to pay the Railways penalty in the form of haulage charge for 10 kilometres.

Officials said these measures are to ensure that private trains maintain punctuality.

The draft document also states that if a train doesn’t reach its destination on time because of the Railways, the private operator will be paid for every one per cent reduction of punctuality compared to guaranteed punctuality by the private entity in the form of haulage charge for 50 km.

In the event of cancellation of a train service due to the reasons attributable to the operator, it will pay the Railways one-fourth of the haulage charge for such train service as damages.

However, if a train is cancelled because of the national transporter, it will pay the private operator the same amount, the document said.

But, if the loss of punctuality of a train is attributable to both the Railways and the private entity, it shall be treated on account of the entity having more than 70 per cent contribution in the total loss of punctuality of that train.

In case the punctuality of a train is affected because of reasons such as bad weather, cattle run over, human run over, law and order, public agitation, miscreant activity, accident, heavy traffic at level crossing gates, and operation of passenger alarm system, neither will be liable to pay damages.

The document also states that since the Railways will share revenue with the private entity to ensure that it was reporting gross revenue honestly and faithfully, the national transporter will depute its representatives to the project and offices of the private operator.

“If verification of revenues pursuant to this demonstrates that the Gross Revenue is more than the amount reported by the concessionaire by more than 1 per cent thereof, the difference between such amount reported by the Concessionaire and the gross revenue shall be multiplied by 10 and the product thereof shall be paid as damages by the concessionaire to the government,” it said.

Twenty-three firms including Alstom Transport India Ltd, Bombardier Transportation India, Siemens Limited, GMR Infrastructure and some PSUs have shown interest in operating private trains in the country, and they attended a pre-application meeting Wednesday as a first step, the Railways said.

Other companies that attended the meeting on running private trains in 12 clusters included defense PSU BEML, the railways” IRCTC, the State-run BHEL, Spanish coach and component maker CAF India, Medha Group, which had also bid for the Train-18 project, Sterlite, Bharat Forge, JKB infrastructure and Titagarh Wagons Limited, the national transporter said.

During the meeting, the companies put forth several queries including on flexibility in clusters, eligibility criteria, bidding process, procurement of trains, fares, operations and maintenance, timing of trains and halts.

Officials of the Railways and the NITI Aayog provided clarifications on the queries, the national transporter said in a statement.

The private entities will be selected through a two-stage competitive bidding process comprising Request for Qualification (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP).

The due date for opening of RFQ is September 8.

The pre-application meetings have been designed by the Railways to clarify any queries that prospective private train operators might have before they apply for ‘Request for Qualifications”.

The first pre-application meeting was held on July 21 which was attended by 16 players.

The Railways has said that the private players will decide the fares on these trains and there will be no prescribed upper limit.

Responding to the queries, the Railways emphasized that a complete freedom will be given to private players in terms of procurement of trains which can either be purchased or taken on lease.

The Railways also clarified that risks with regard to operation of trains shall be allocated to the parties best suited to manage them.

After the first pre-application conference, the Railways had reduced the RFQ fee by one-tenth for participating in more than one project, removed restriction of up to three projects per bidder and clarified that leasing of trains is allowed.

It had also shared traffic data, draft concession agreement, draft feasibility report and draft manual for standards and specifications of trains.

As part of the Bidding Process, the Railways conducted the second pre-application conference on Wednesday.

The other companies which attended the Wednesday meeting are: Gateway Rail, Hind Rectifiers Limited, Iboard India Private Limited, ISQ ASIA Infrastructure investments PTE. LTD, Jasan Infra Private Limited, L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd (L&T IDPL), Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL), National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, and PSGG Technologies Pvt Ltd.

The conference started with a discussion on the overview of the terms of the RFQs and contours of the project followed by a detailed exchange on the queries raised by the prospective applicants.

“Applicants queries with regard to the definition of Gross Revenue were also addressed. Regarding haulage charges, MoR (Ministry of Railways) informed the indicative haulage charges @ ₹ 512.31 per train km for 2019-20 with indexation,” the statement said.

The Railways has invited 12 RFQs for private participation in operation of passenger trains over 109 origin-destination pair of routes through introduction of 151 modern trains (rakes).

These new trains will be in addition to the existing ones operated on the network.

This is the first initiative of private investment for running passenger trains on the Railways network. The project would entail a private sector investment of about ₹ 30,000 crore.

The Railways has stated that all regular passenger train services will remain suspended till further notice, but 230 special trains will continue to be in service.

“This is to bring to the notice of all concerned that as decided and informed earlier as well, regular passenger and suburban train services will continue to remain suspended till further notice,” a statement from the Railways said.

“It may be noted that 230 Special Trains, which are running at present, will continue to operate. Local trains in Mumbai, which are presently being run on limited basis only on the requisition of state government, will also continue to run,” it said.

The occupancy of special trains is being monitored on a regular basis and additional special trains may be run based on the requirement, the national carrier said.

However, all other regular trains and suburban trains run before the lockdown will remain suspended for the time being, it said.

All special trains – 12 pairs running on the Rajdhani routes since May 12 and 100 pairs operating since June 1 – will continue.

The limited special suburban services which began recently in Mumbai to ferry essential services personnel identified by the local authorities will also continue to run, officials said.

Earlier, the national transporter had suspended all services till August 12.

With the suspension of passenger trains indefinitely, Indian Railways has estimated a loss of around ₹ 40,000 crore in its passenger business for this fiscal.

The extension of the suspension comes at a time when active COVID-19 cases in India stand at 6,39,929, while 15,83,489 people have recovered, according to the Union Health Ministry. On Tuesday, a single day spike of 53,601 COVID-19 cases pushed India’s virus caseload to 22,68,675 with the death count climbing to 45,257.