Indian Railways News

Indian Railways News

They Were Taking Selfies On A Rail Track. Then A Train Hit Them

A total of two people were killed and one was critically injured after being hit by a local train while clicking selfies near a railway bridge over the Cossye river in Midnapore on Saturday.

The injured person was rescued by the Railway Police and was rushed to the hospital.

Railway Senior Section Engineer Biswajit Bala said, “Everyone is forbidden to climb on this part of the railway line. Despite the ban, many people are taking selfies on the train tracks. However, they did not move and ran along the line. So this accident happened.”

An eyewitness said that a group of youth came to the place for a picnic and was taking selfies with their friends on the railway tracks when a local train from Midnapore to Howrah came on that line and hit them. Two of them died on the spot and one person is critically injured and is admitted to the hospital, he added.

Another Money-For-Government Job Racket Busted, Officials Under Scanner

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has busted another recruitment racket that offered government jobs in exchange for money. This time, officers in the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) are under the scanner for alleged irregularities and corrupt practices during Constable Driver/Tradesman recruitment of the SSB in 2016. At a time when the unemployment rate is at an all-time high in the country, this is the second recruitment racket the central agency has busted recently.

The probe agency had in February last year initiated a preliminary enquiry on the basis of a complaint from SSB against Sarwan Kumar, Inspector General at SSB, SK Sharma, Commandant and other officers of the border guarding force for alleged irregularities and corrupt practices.

As the preliminary enquiry revealed the involvement of Constable Mukesh Kumar Chaodhari, Constable Puran Mal Gurjar, and Anjali Sharma, wife of SSB Commandant Satish Kumar Sharma, along with other unknown public and private persons in the collection of money from candidates for getting them recruited, the agency has charged the accused invoking corruption charges.

The investigation has revealed that during the year 2017, Mukesh Kumar Chaodhari, Constable (Driver), then posted at 38th Bn Tawang, was sent on dak duty at the Force Headquarters of the SSB in New Delhi on the telephonic direction of Sarwan Kumar, the then IG, Tezpur SSB.

Thereafter, Mr Chaodhari remained at the Delhi headquarters from February 10, 2017, to March 23, 2017.

During this period, Mr Chaodhari came in contact with Mr Gurjar and Ms Sharma, and the three along with “other unknown public and private persons got involved in the collection of money from candidates” for getting them recruited in the exam, the CBI alleged.

The enquiry also revealed that during the said period, Mr Chaodhari came in contact with aspiring candidates and their relatives in Rajasthan and demanded  3 to 4 Lakhs from each candidate for their selection in SSB as Constable (Tradesman) and Constable (Driver).

“He assured these candidates for their selection with the help of his sources in SSB and during the period 2016-2017 Puranmal Gurjar, Constable was passing on telephonic instructions to M K Chaodhari for collection of money from the candidates with specific reference of ‘Madam’. It has also been revealed that the ‘Madam’ referred to is Anjali Sharma w/o Shri S.K. Sharma, Commandant”, the CBI alleged in its FIR.

Mr Gurjar was working as a helper to Ms Sharma at her Gurugram residence.

The examination of SSB for both posts was conducted at various places all over India.

IRCTC Q3 Net Profit Zooms 167% To ₹ 209 Crore

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of  208.80 crore in the third quarter (Q3) — ended December 2021 — for the financial year 2021-22, up 167.41 per cent against  78.08 crore reported in the same period last year.

On a quarterly basis, the catering and tourism arm of Indian Railways’ profit rose 31.68 per cent in Q3 from  158.57 crore in Q2.

Revenue from operations surged 140.77 per cent to  540.21 crore in Q3 FY22 as against  224.37 crore in Q3 FY21.

Total revenue for the quarter under review stood at  556.51 crore.

Catering business revenue surged to  104.65 crore, Internet ticketing segment recorded revenue of  312.86 crore, and Rail Neer revenue rose to  49.94 crore in Q3 FY22.

IRCTC also declared an interim dividend of  2 per share on a face value of  2 each for FY22. It said the dividend will be 100 per cent of the paid-up share capital amounting to  160 crore.

The record date of the payment has been fixed on February 18.

IRCTC shares settled 0.29 per cent higher at  838.10 on the BSE index.

Railways Ran More Migrant Trains From Gujarat Than Maharashtra

NCP MP Supriya Sule on Tuesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accusing the opposition of inciting migrants to flee from Mumbai during the COVID-19 lockdown, and claimed more trains were operated from Gujarat than Maharashtra for migrant workers during the pandemic-related curbs.

PM Modi said in the Lok Sabha on Monday that the Congress “crossed all limits” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and accused the party of instigating and scaring innocent labourers into fleeing to their native states from Mumbai.

He was replying to the debate on Motion of Thanks to President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament.

The Congress currently shares power with the Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra.

Talking to reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, Ms Sule said it is painful to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeting Maharashtra, that significantly contributed to his party winning 18 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections.

“The Indian Railways’ data reveals that 1,033 trains for migrant workers were run from Gujarat, while 817 Shramik trains were operated from Maharashtra,” she claimed.

Ms Sule also referred to a 2020 social media post of the then railway minister Piyush Goyal, who had targeted Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the issue of trains for migrant workers.

“Goyal in his Twitter post on May 24, 2020 said that 125 Shramik Special trains were ready to be allotted to Maharashtra for the migrant workers to return home. He had asked the state to give a detailed list of migrant workers within an hour to the Railways,” the Lok Sabha member pointed out.

Ms Sule further said BJP MP Harish Dwivedi last week proudly stated in his speech in the Lok Sabha that the Union government had operated trains for migrant workers to reach their homes safely.

“Then why PM Modi is selectively talking about Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in his speech?” she asked.

“It was painful for me to see PM Modi insulting Maharashtra when we were expecting him to speak on issues like China, unemployment. He is the prime minister of India and not of a party,” she said.

Railways To Make Products For Farmers, Small Businesses

Railways will develop new products for small farmers and MSMEs, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

Presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, she noted that efforts of central and state governments are leading to jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.

She further said national highways will be extended by 25,000 km during 2022-23, and the PM Gati Shakti for road transport master plan will be finalised in 2022-23.

Railways To Make Products For Farmers, Small Businesses

Railways will develop new products for small farmers and MSMEs, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

Presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, she noted that efforts of central and state governments are leading to jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.

She further said national highways will be extended by 25,000 km during 2022-23, and the PM Gati Shakti for road transport master plan will be finalised in 2022-23.

RRB NTPC Result Is Strictly As Per Provision Laid Down In Notification

After some candidates have raised concerns over the process of shortlisting of candidates for the second stage of the ongoing recruitment examination under Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs)’s Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) exam results, the Ministry of Railways has now released a clarification addressing the concerns. The ministry said the RRB NTPC result was “strictly as per provision laid down in notificatio

“The procedure for shortlisting of candidates for the second stage computer based test (CBT) had already been given elaborately under Para 13 of the original notification i.e., CEN 01/2019 published on 28.02.2019. In this employment notification, thirteen categories were advertised which were open to graduates and six of these for under-graduates. …. Every candidate was free to opt for all or any of these thirteen categories subject to conditions of eligibility,” a release from the ministry said.

“While the first stage CBT was a common examination for all the candidates, Para 13.2 of the notification clearly states that in the 2nd stage CBT there would be a separate examination for each group (viz., Levels 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) with differing graded levels of difficulty,” the ministry said on the concerns have been expressed by the RRB NTPC candidates that the Railway Board had in the exam notification mentioned that CBT stage 1 will be qualifying exam and candidates 20 times the vacancies will be shortlisted for CBT 2.

The release also said the notification had nowhere mentioned that 7 lakh distinct candidates will get shortlisted for 2nd stage CBT.

“Since a 2nd Stage consists of CBT of five different levels and a candidate can be shortlisted for more than one level as per eligibility, merit and option, the lists of 7 lakh roll numbers will have some names appearing in more than one list,” it said.

Regarding the the cut offs of the RRB NTPC results, the ministry said they have been prepared on the basis of normalized marks that are normally higher than raw score. “Also cut off depends upon the number of vacancies notified for that level/post. Since about 10,500 vacancies have been notified for 10+2 candidates across 21 RRBs as against about 35000 where Graduate candidates are eligible, cut offs for 10+2 have been higher than Graduate candidates based on normalized score,” it said.

Former SpaceX Engineers Are Making Electric & Self-Driving Railway Vehicles

Tesla is not the only company that’s run by Elon Musk. In fact, Musk used some of the money he made with SpaceX to invest in Tesla to eventually gain control of the electric car maker. And SpaceX has also been categorised by Musk as some of the most important work he is doing in his life. But as it happens some of his former SpaceX engineers have quit and formed a startup that’s looking to reinvent the railway industry.

Parallel Systems, founded by former SpaceX engineer, Matt Soule who partnered with a bunch of his former SpaceX colleagues, intends to disrupt the railway industry with electric powertrains and autonomous vehicle technology that’s taking over the consumer automotive space. The company has received $50 million in a Series A funding round and only recently came out of stealth

Their idea is to create a small autonomous electric-powered rail vehicle. The idea is for a cargo vehicle that enables one to drop the cargo on a Parallel Systems vehicle and have it move without the need for the entire train to be unloaded. Each container can do individually move 800 km or band together to be even more efficient.

This would allow smaller railroads to be reopened and new ones to be built to deliver cargo closer to customers and take some market away from trucks. These vehicles in question can also take in an impressive payload of 128,000 pounds which is twice the capacity of a semi-truck. So far though, their prototype vehicle can only do 80 km.

Bodies Of Man, Woman Found At Railway Track In Rajasthan

Mutilated bodies of a man and a woman were recovered from a railway track in the Bhimganj Mandi area in Rajasthan, police said on Monday.

It is suspected that the two jumped before a train to end their lives, they said.

However, no note confirming that the man and the woman died by suicide was found at the spot, police said.

Ajay Singh Meena (22) and Archana Meena (22), who were cousins, were going to Kota to collect educational documents from the University of Kota, they said.

Police received information on Sunday night that two bodies were lying on a railway track at Chambal river over-bridge, Station House Officer, Bhimganj Mandi police station, Laxmichand said.

On reaching the spot, police found that the faces of the victims were disfigured and their bodies mutilated, he said, adding they were identified on the basis of documents recovered from the site.

According to an initial inquiry, the man was pursuing ITI while the woman was an undergraduate student, the SHO said, adding the two were residents of Swaimadhopur district.

He said a cousin of the deceased is a police constable posted at Jawahar Nagar police in the city and they were to head to his house to stay there for the night and collect the documents from the university on Monday.

A case in the matter has been registered, Laxmichand said, adding the bodies were handed over to family members after post-mortem.

RRB NTPC Result: Over 7 Lakh Shortlisted For Stage 2 Of Railway Recruitment

The railways has shortlisted over seven lakh candidates for 35,281 posts for the Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) Level 2 exam, the national transporter said on Saturday. The total number of candidates selected for NTPC Level 2 is 7,05,620.

It said shortlisting of candidates has been done separately for each level based on options exercised and the educational qualifications of the candidates.

“For second stage computer based test (CBT) of each level, candidates have been called 20 times the community-wise vacancies notified against each RRB (Railway Recruitment Board),” it said.

“In case multiple candidates have obtained same marks at the cut-off, all have been called,” it said.

Based on merit obtained in second stage CBT, the candidates will be shortlisted for third stage exam in which eight times the number of vacancies will be called.

“The final result will contain a unique list of 35,281 notified vacancies and no candidate will be appointed against more than one post. A candidate who has been shortlisted for high level post cannot be debarred for appearing in second stage CBT of lower level post,” it said.