Indian Railways News

Indian Railways News

After Air India, Ashwani Lohani Will Now Head Railway Board

Air India chief Ashwani Lohani, viewed as something of a turnaround specialist, will take over as the new Chairman of the Railway Board after the resignation of its current chief AK Mittal in the shadow of several train crashes.

Mr Lohani, 58, belongs to the 1980 batch of the Indian Railways Service Mechanical Engineers.

Mr Mittal reportedly resigned yesterday after he was asked to go on leave by the ministry over the Utkal Express derailment on Saturday. 23 people died when 13 coaches of the train jumped track around 100 km from Delhi. This morning, over 70 were injured in another derailment.

Hours after reports of Mr Mittal’s resignation surfaced today, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu tweeted that he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and suggested that he had offered to quit after two accidents in five days. Mr Prabhu said PM Modi had asked him to “wait”.

Mr Lohani is the senior-most railway official with more than one year in the board.

He was handpicked for the Air India top job reportedly by the Prime Minister and was the first choice to replace Mr Mittal. Officials say under Mr Lohani, the struggling airline posted an operational profit of Rs. 500 crore last year and improved its performance. The government has announced that it may privatize the airline.

He has also served in the National Rail Museum and holds the Guinness Record for successfully running the ‘Fairy Queen Express’, the world’s oldest working steam locomotive. He is credited with the turnaround of the Madhya Pradesh tourism department.

Mr Lohani is believed to have four engineering degrees and he has written two books.

After the train accident on Saturday, the Railways Ministry sent three top officials on leave, suspended four local officials and transferred another over lapses.

Railways to introduce designer, easy to clean blankets soon

Plagued with complaints of dirty blankets, the Indian Railways has firmed up an action plan to increase the frequency of washing blankets and replace the existing ones with designer, lightweight blankets in a phased manner.

Besides, used blankets would be sanitised on a regular basis before being given for further use.

Though the directive is to wash the blankets every one or two months, a CAG report had recently highlighted the unhygienic condition of blankets which were not washed for even six months.

However, smelly blankets may soon become a thing of past on trains.

 The railways have roped in the National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFT) to design lightweight blankets with less wool content. A trial of ‘thin, cold washable blankets’ is also being carried out in the Central Railway zone as a pilot project.

“Our aim is to provide washed blankets along with fresh linen in trains for each journey,” said a senior Railway Ministry official in the housekeeping directorate who is involved in the task.

Currently about 3.90 lakh sets of linen are provided per day comprising two bedsheets, a towel, pillow and blanket for each passenger in AC classes.

The plan envisages increasing the frequencies of washing of blankets to begin with and replacing the existing ones with the newly designed lightweight blankets made of soft fabric in a phased manner, he said.

Railways have already started changing the cover of blankets in some sections while frequency of washing is being increased from monthly to fortnightly and weekly, said the official.

Railways had recently held a meeting on linen management which was attended by various stakeholders including mechanised laundry operators, suppliers of cleaning chemicals, linen suppliers and senior railway officers.

It was decided to implement the plan for improvement of linen management with aim of providing clean, hygienic and good quality linen to passengers travelling in AC classes.

Preparations are are being made to introduce lightweight blankets made of soft fabric and these will be washed after every use, the official said.

There are about 50 mechanised laundries operational at the moment and ten more will be opened shortly.

FIR against unknown persons in Utkal Express derailment, charges include ‘death due to negligence’

An FIR has been lodged against unknown persons under various sections including 304A of IPC (death due to negligence) in the tragic Utkal Express derailment.

Other charges include 287 – negligent conduct, causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety, causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal security and mischief causing damage.

Sections under the Railways Act include 151 – damage to or destruction of certain railway properties and 154 – endangering safety of persons travelling by railway by rash or negligent act or omission, as per ANI.

Thirteen coaches of the high-speed Utkal Express yesterday jumped the rails, with one of them crashing into a house adjacent to the track near Khatauli in UP, leaving 23 dead and over 100 passengers injured.

Meanwhile, building on overnight search and rescue operation, the railways today deployed high-tech cranes and scores of workers to clear the tracks even as the sleepy town of Khatauli tried to come to terms with the train tragedy.

Two heavy duty 140-tonne cranes were pressed into service at the crack of the dawn to clear derailed coaches, from which the survivors were rescued and bodies pulled out till late last night.

Linesmen and other workers brought from nearby places, shovelled away the unwanted stones as new concrete sleepers were laid to reinforce the ill-fated tracks.

“The train had 23 coaches out of which 13 had derailed. It was running at a speed of about 100 kmph when the accident took place,” said Delhi Division DRM, RN Singh, as per PTI.

Six of the derailed coaches were damaged severely.

A posse of security personnel from the UP Police, the the RPF, the PAC, the RRF, has been deployed at the site of the accident since it occurred last evening.

Soon, train travel from Mumbai to Delhi in just 13 hours

Soon, passengers will be able to travel Delhi – Mumbai route via train in just 13 hours. A new move by Indian Railways will cut down the current time taken to travel one of the busiest railway journey route by three hours, making it a simple overnight journey.

Currently, Rajdhani Express covers the distance in about 16 hours.

Railways conducted a trial using Rajdhani’s Linke Hofman Busch (LHB) coaches and now assessing the results.

The new project is will use 14-coach train, pulled by a single engine, with a capability of 200 kmph.

Currently, speed restrictions, signaling systems and track conditions, force trains to under-perform in terms of speed. This new train will reportedly travel at a speed of 180 kmph.

In a ‘soft trial’, the train took about 13 hours with two operational halts to complete the journey.

The second, “more serious” trial will happen after the Railway Board meeting, reported the Indian Express.

If this takes off, similar plans will be unveiled for Delhi-Howrah routes.

Railways earns additional Rs 540 crore in less than a year

The Railways has earned an additional revenue of Rs 540 crore in less than a year through the flexi fare scheme and there is no plan to discontinue it, a senior ministry official said.

The scheme, launched on September 9 last year, is applicable in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains, allowing 10 per cent of the seats to be sold at normal fare and thereafter increasing it by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold with a ceiling of 50 per cent.

“We have earned money from flexi fare and there is no reason why we should discontinue it. In fact, we have gained 85,000 additional passengers in these trains since we launched the scheme, showing that even passengers are not averse to the scheme,” said a senior official of the ministry.

The official told PTI that from September 2016-June 30, 2017, the Railways earned an additional revenue of Rs 540 crore.

The scheme, which officials say will be continuously reviewed, saw a revision last December after the Railways took note of vacant seats in such trains.

The Railways made changes in the flexi fare structure to attract last minute travellers and introduced a range of discounts.

The 30 per cent tatkal charges have been waived for these premium trains, a 10 per cent rebate on basic fare has been offered on vacant berths after preparation of first chart in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto to lure last minute travellers, provision of tatkal quota has been reduced to 10 per cent from 30 per cent of the total berths available and there is also a provision for discounted fares for some trains.

“The scheme now comes with a lot of discounts for passengers and it is a success. However, there is always scope for more reviews,” the official added.

The numbers show a positive trend – during September 2016-June 2017, Duronto trains earned Rs 140 crore more than the amount earned in the same period last year while Shatabdi trains earned Rs 120 crore more.

There are total 42 Rajdhani trains, 46 Shatabdi and 54 Duronto trains.

“Just to give an indication of how much the railways is expected to gain from the scheme – we have earned an additional revenue of Rs 240 crore from April-June this year, which is around Rs 80 crore additional revenue per month. This comes to around Rs 960 crore per annum. These are good signs,” the official said.

Anduril Technologies introduces ”pay on delivery” for Tatkal tickets

Payment provider for Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), Anduril Technologies Private Ltd, on Wednesday, announced that the users can now book tickets under Tatkal quota for train journeys and pay for them later via cash, debit or a credit card by opting to have tickets delivered at their doorstep.

“Pay on delivery for Tatkal tickets is going to be a huge benefit to for millions of train travellers who need to book under the Tatkal quota. Users already understand that every second is precious while booking a train ticket under Tatkal and we are confident that the option to book first, pay later will find significant adoption among users,” said Anurag Bajpai, CEO at Anduril Technologies.

The new `pay on delivery` feature abolishes transaction failures. Often, the money gets debited and the ticket is not issued on account of multiple reasons. With the Pay-on-delivery option, users will pay only when the tickets are booked.”

This move by IRCTC also aims to encourage people that buy tickets off the Railway Reservation Counters to move to online medium,” added Bajpai.IRCTC processes 130,000 Tatkal transactions daily, and a majority of these tickets are booked within minutes of Tatkal quota being opened for booking.

The `pay on delivery` feature evades the use of a payment gateway and will help users make the bookings in just a few seconds. This service was previously available for general reservations only.

Railways starts process of phasing out of blankets in AC coaches

After the CAG rap, the Railways has begun the process of doing away with providing blankets in AC compartments and is instead regulating the temperature inside the coaches so that passengers don’t shiver.

The ‘no-blankets rule’ has now been implemented in the third AC coach of the Jammu Mail, a senior official of the railway ministry said.

“The ministry has started the process of gathering data from passengers on the viability of not having blankets on trains. Once we find how many of them ask for blankets and how many say that they can do without these, we will come to a decision about replicating the project in other trains,” the official said.

The Railways is using thermal control and regulating the temperature in the third AC compartment of the Delhi-Jammu train to around 24-26 degree Celsius from the current 19 degrees so that passengers are comfortable and do not need blankets.

The step to phase out blankets from trains was taken after severe criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report recently about dirty blankets and bedrolls.

Senior officials said that eventually the plan is to replace blankets with cotton sheets which would be enough for passengers given the revised temperatures being maintained in the compartments.

The no-blanket move would also be more economical for the Railways – it takes Rs 55 to clean the bedroll while passengers are charged just Rs 22 for it.

However, officials said blankets will be carried in the trains in case these are needed by passengers.

Soon, travel from Delhi to Chandigarh by train in two hours

The Indian Railways is going full steam to achieve the target of covering the 245-km long Delhi-Chandigarh distance in flat two hours despite many curves on the proposed semi-high speed route.

The Delhi-Chandigarh corridor, one of the busiest routes in north India, is slated to be first semi-high speed project being taken up by the state-owned transporter to run trains at maximum speeds of 200 kmph with French help.

There are about 10 major curves spanning over 32 km on the existing Delhi-Chandigarh rail route.

The public transporter will not go for land acquisition required for straightening up several curves on the Delhi- Chandigarh semi-high speed corridor and instead opt for slowing down while negotiating the track, according to the railways.

 The earlier plan was to straighten up these curves to facilitate uninterrupted speed on the semi-high speed route, said a senior Railway ministry official involved with the semi-high speed project.

However, since it requires acquiring land for the purpose which is a time-consuming process, railways decided not to go for land acquisition to avoid delay.

In a recent review meeting with the French team, it was decided to avoid land acquisition and instead make some adjustment on curves as much as possible on the existing railway land, he said.

However, the official said, despite curves, the target of reaching Chandigarh in two hours will be achieved.

SNCF, the French railways, has been assigned the task of submitting the execution strategy and implementation model with detailed cost of the semi-high speed project involving upgradation of the Chandigarh route.

The French team will submit the final report with details of cost analysis and technical parameter by October.

According to a rough estimate, it is likely to cost over Rs 10,000 crore with about Rs 46 crore per kilometre for running trains at 200 kmh, which includes rolling stock and signal and track upgradation on the

Chandigarh corridor.

Currently, the Shatabdi Express covers the 245 km distance in about three hours and 30 minutes travelling at a maximum speed of 110 kmh.

Commissioner of Railway Safety inspects Utkal Express Accident Site

Commissioner, Railway Safety Shailesh Pathak on Monday visited Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar where 14 coaches of Kalinga Utkal Express derailed on Saturday claiming 22 lives. Pathak and his team inspected the accident site and also met the local people.

Meanwhile, the two-day long statutory enquiry into the rail accident will begin on Tuesday in Divisional Railway Manager’s office in Delhi. The railways had on Sunday sent on leave three senior officials, suspended four officials and transferred one official following the train tragedy.

At least 22 people died and over 156 injured when the Haridwar bound train coming from Puri in Odisha derailed on Saturday evening.

Railways amending Guidelines on Safety checks

With yet another train derailment claiming 23 lives, the Railways is going back to drawing board, amending guidelines on safety checks to avoid repeat of such incidents in future. There have been at least 23 rail accidents across India since 2014.

Sources opined that though one might see a proactive Railway ministry on social media, the ground situation speaks a different story. Now, with the rescue work at Utkal Express mishap site over, the Railways feels that it is time to plug the loopholes and fix the problem areas.

“We will issue necessary safety guidelines once the Commissioner of Railway Safety is through with his probe report,” said Vinod Kumar, Advisor (Safety), Railway Board. The Central and Western Railway officials claim that they too are expecting some sort of guidelines on maintaining safety in the days to come.

Guidelines apart, one of the possible causes behind this derailment is said to be the lack of coordination between the rail authorities and gangmen who maintain tracks. Sources said the gangmen alone cannot be faulted as across Indian Railways there is a practise of gangmen being asked to do personal chores at rail quarters and bungalows.

Not just this, the Railways pays little heed to the rail representatives and associations. For instance the Railway ministry has appointed commuter representatives and formed committees who discuss problems related to train travel. These are called Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (for the entire zone like CR, WR), Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (Mumbai Division), which are meant to discuss the issues faced by commuters.

“For the last two years, there has been only two meetings with the Railways,” said Subhash Gupta, member, ZRUCC. These members take stock of the issues faced by people and then discuss it with the railway authorities.

“Ideally, these meetings should take place once in every three months, but it rarely happens. Moreover, the rail authorities show scant interest in holding such meetings,” said Madhu Kotian, member, ZRUCC.

Blaming the Railways for the accidents, they claim that the latter pay little heed to their suggestions concerning rail safety.

Dharmendra Kumar new Director General of Railway Protection Force

Senior IPS officer Dharmendra Kumar was appointed as new Director General of Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Monday, an official said.

Dharmendra Kumar, a 1984 batch Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre officer, will be replacing Surendra Kumar Bhagat who serving the post since May 2016.

Dharmendra Kumar will be the 32nd Director General of RPF.

At present, Kumar is serving in Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) as Additional Director General.

“His appointment will be effective from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” a Home Ministry statement said.

Kumar had earlier served as Special Commissioner, Special Unit in Delhi Police before joining CISF.

He was Special Commissioner, Law and Order when a bomb blast took place in Delhi High Court in 2011