The service charge exemption on railway tickets booked online has been extended till June 30.

“We have received instructions from the Ministry of Information and Technology advising the railways to extend the incentives at least till June 30, 2017,” said a Railway Ministry official.

Service charges on booking train tickets online through IRCTC ranges from Rs 20 to 40 per ticket.

The government waived the service charges after demonetisation in November last year to encourage digital modes of booking.

Approximately, an amount of Rs 184 crore has not been realised from passengers on account of service charge and service tax thereon on reserved tickets booked online from November 23, 2016 to February 28, 2017, according to railways data.

In case you are bored of meals offered on board in Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express trains, here is something that will make your day. The Indian Railways has come up with a service which allows travelers to prebook meals from their favorite pizza or burgers chains.

As per reports, the meals can be booked online, on call or SMS. The food can be ordered online through website www.ecatering.irctc.co.in.

The order will be delivered to the customers inside the time of train’s halt at any specified station and the food aggregator will be responsible for the delivery.

Ordering Meal

Online

• Click on www.ecatering.irctc.co.in.
• Enter PNR number or station where the food should be delivered
• Select food operator, choose from menu and place order
• OTP received to be verified during delivery

Phone Call

• Place order on number ‘1323’ and verify through OTP received vis SMS
• On delivery pay through cash

SMS

• Text ‘MEAL’, and then type PNR number to 139
• Place your order
• Verify through OTP
• Pay through cash on delivery

Indian Railways’ new Humsafar trains will come with USB charging points, baby nappy changing pads and information display screens. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday inspected a new rake of Humsafar Express with additional features at Delhi Safdarjung Railway Station. First announced in Rail Budget 2016-17, Humsafar Express trains will be a fully air-conditioned third AC train service with an optional service for meals. Besides the nappy changing pads in two toilets per coach, Humsafar Express will also come fitted with CCTV surveillance systems. Humsafar Express was one of the four new train projects announced in 2016, along with Uday Express, Tejas Express and Antyodaya Express.

Here are 10 things to know on the Humsafar Express:

The cost of a Humsafar AC 3 Tier coach is estimated at Rs. 2.58 crore, as against Rs.2.39 crore for a normal LHB AC 3 Tier coach.

The new rake inspected by Mr Prabhu on Wednesday included many features in additional to those planned for the Humsafar Express. The new rake came with a single piece side lower berth, instead of a two-piece model previously. “Humsafar trains were already good, but we wanted to further improve the design for better passenger experience,” Mr Prabhu said on Wednesday.

The new coaches had a mobile charging point for each berth including USB charging points. Earlier, there were three chargers for eight passengers.

Each berth was provided with reading light, in contrast to only the lower berths previously.

Among some of the other features given in the new coaches were a convenient upper berth climbing arrangement, display monitor screens for the CCTV installed in the coach, and dustbins in each bay inside the coach.

In addition to these, according to a press release by the Ministry of Railways, all the existing features of Humsafar Express coaches will continue to be available.

Some of the features planned for the Humsafar Express include an anti-graffiti coating and distinctive 3D numbering on the exterior, colourfully coordinated seats, berths, partitions, curtains, improved/hygienic toilets and film type mirrors, deodorizers, dustbins and sleek bottle holders in the cabins.

Besides, the Humsafar Express coaches will also come with CCTV surveillance cameras in the common areas of coaches, integrated braille displays, hygienic lavatories with odour flushing systems, GPS-based passenger information systems, passenger announcement systems, fire and smoke detection systems, auto vending machine and mini pantries with ovens/fridges.

A total of 11 Humsafar trains have been announced by the railways ministry in the new time table, of which six are running with a composition of 16 AC 3 Tier coaches and 2 power cars, the press release noted.

The railway minister is scheduled to flag off two Humsafar Express trains – Tirupati-Jammu Tawi (train No. 22705/22706) and Howrah-Vijayawada (20889/20890) from Vijayawada on Thursday. The remaining Humsafar trains will also be introduced in due course, the ministry said. Indian Railways plans to manufacture 10 Humsafar rakes in the current financial year at Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli and Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala.

To enhance passenger experience, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has launched a mega project to overhaul nearly 40,000 old coaches. Under its “Mission Retro-Fitment” project, the Indian Railways will equip the coaches with better interiors, safety features and amenities including LED lights, anti-graffiti paint coats, branded fittings, powered Venetian blinds and smoke alarm systems. Besides new safety features, “Mission Retrofitment is an endeavour to provide better travel experience as the interiors of the coaches would be refurbished,” the minister said.

Here are 10 things to know about Mission Retro-Fitment:

1) Indian Railways plans to induct about 40,000 coaches with upgraded interiors by 2022-23, the transporter in a press release.

2) The programme includes refurbishing of coaches which includes upgradation with improved interiors. The approximate cost for this task is estimated at Rs. 30 lakh per coach.

The Railways will soon launch an overnight double-decker train service equipped with modern facilities to attract business travellers.

The public transporter is looking to connect metropolitan centres through the new service, Uday Express, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said today at the ‘Smart Railway Conclave’ here.

We will be launching Uday Express for business travellers who would start in the night and reach in the morning so that they can save on hotel cost,” Prabhu said, adding that it will have improved amenities.

Currently railways has undertaken a large number of projects to provide better onboard amenities for passengers.

“We are moving ahead with a holistic strategy and we are doing it in a most challenging situation. Whether it is catering, booking tickets, cleaning of coaches, all these are happening in a smart way in the railways,” he said.

He said railways has suffered from under investment and lack of capacity expansion in the past.

He said the challenge now is to make better use of latest technology. “Technology was always been there but now the scale has multiplied now. Use of right technology is the game changer.”

The Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) which was languishing for years was made to progress rapidly and it is expected to be operational by 2019, he said.

Highlighting the importance of investment in the rail sector, Prabhu said “Every rupee invested in railways has six time multiplying effect on economic and job creation sector.”

A huge capital expenditure of Rs 8.56 lakh crore was planned out for five years out of which more than Rs 3 lakh crore is being spent now, he said.

To enhance passenger experience, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has launched a mega project to overhaul nearly 40,000 old coaches. Under its “Mission Retro-Fitment” project, the Indian Railways will equip the coaches with better interiors, safety features and amenities including LED lights, anti-graffiti paint coats, branded fittings, powered Venetian blinds and smoke alarm systems. Besides new safety features, “Mission Retrofitment is an endeavour to provide better travel experience as the interiors of the coaches would be refurbished,” the minister said.

Here are 10 things to know about Mission Retro-Fitment:

1) Indian Railways plans to induct about 40,000 coaches with upgraded interiors by 2022-23, the transporter in a press release.

2) The programme includes refurbishing of coaches which includes upgradation with improved interiors. The approximate cost for this task is estimated at Rs. 30 lakh per coach.

Several people were killed when a train operated by a subsidiary of French industrial group Bollore in Benin collided with a speeding bus, authorities said on Wednesday.

The Benirail train was travelling on the railway that runs from the capital Cotonou to the northern city of Parakou when it collided with the bus, which was exceeding the speed limit, early on Tuesday morning, Ramani Kassoumou, a senior official at the National Centre for Railway Security (CNSR), told Reuters.

Air-conditioned local trains will start plying on the suburban sections of Mumbai from September this year.

“The trial runs are underway and if everything goes as per our plan, which is most likely, then the commercial operations of this silver-blue coloured AC local would start from September this year,” said member, rolling stock of the Railway Board, Ravindra Gupta.

Gupta was interacting with the mediapersons from Mumbai at Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.

“We will be procuring nine more AC rakes taking the total to 10. They would be plying on both Central and Western Railway corridors,” said A K Mittal, chairman, Railway Board.

Railways has, however, not fixed the fare structure.

Mohammad Jamshed, member (traffic), railway board, said “we are working on it (fares) and the suggestions for fares would be taken into account after considering the needs of Mumbaikars. We will decide the fare which will be in the favour of the Mumbaikars.”

Equipped with GPS and micro-processor-based software system, this 12-car local has a seating capacity of 1,208 and standing capacity of 4,936 passengers. Around 108 to 112 passengers can travel in one coach.

Built at a cost of Rs 54 crore, the train doesn’t have first class and general class division; the entire rake would be vestibule-connected (in two parts of six coaches each) and can run at the top speed of 110 kmph.

Rail travellers can now book tickets by mVisa payment method which allows them to scan a quick response (QR) code and pay through smartphones.

Users can securely link their visa debit, credit or prepaid account to the mVisa application on their smartphones and make their travel bookings by simply scanning their mVisa QR code on the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation website.

IRCTC, a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, is offering a promotion offer until September 4 that will give Rs. 50 cashback to consumers booking their tickets through mVisa scan and pay on the IRCTC website.

“The key to our success as India’s largest e-commerce organisation has been our ability to embrace new technologies that help us drive consumer engagement across our platform,” IRCTC CMD AK Manocha said on Tuesday.

India is currently one of the major smartphone markets in the world, with over a billion smartphones expected to be sold in the next five years.

“Considering the phenomenal penetration of smartphones in India, moving to a mobile based payment solution such as mVisa was thus a natural choice for IRCTC,” Manocha said.

The increasing popularity and adoption of mobile devices presents a huge opportunity for the growth of mobile-based digital commerce.

The mVisa payment solution on IRCTC can potentially empower millions of consumers spread across Indian cities, towns and villages, to make payments using just their smartphones from the comfort of their homes.

Several people were wounded when shots were fired at a commuter rail station near the southern German city of Munich on Tuesday and one person was detained, police said.

“Several people were injured by shots. A female police officer was badly wounded” at an S-Bahn station in Unterfoehring, a northeastern suburb of the Bavarian city, police tweeted, and that the scene was now “secured”.

Police has confirmed that there was ‘no political or religious motive’ behind the Munich shooting.

“The sole male perpetrator was motivated by personal reasons. There is no political or religious background here,” Munich police spokesman Marcus da Gloria Martins told reporters.

It was not immediately clear whether it was a police officer or an assailant who had fired. Police said they had cleared the station.

German Police also tweeted following the incident.