The Railway Ministry on Friday rolled back its decision to replace services of Garib Rath in Kathgodam-Jammu and Kathgodam-Kanpur route by mail or express trains, and the services of the low-cost no-frills AC train will be resumed from August 4, officials said.

It said due to temporary shortage of coaches on Northern Railway, two pairs of weekly trains of Garib Rath service were temporarily operated as express services.

“Services of Train no. 12207/08 Garibrath Express between Kathgodam and Jammu Tawi and Train no. 12209/10 Garibrath Express between Kanpur and Kathgodam restored with effect from August 4, 2019,” the rail ministry tweeted following protests over discontinuation of the two trains recently.

An official from the ministry said no plans are underway to replace the Garib Rath trains, 26 of which are operational across the country.

The initiation of Mail or Express trains in the said route also means that train fare would go up passengers. For example, a Delhi-Bandra Garib Rath ticket that was priced at Rs. 1,050 will cost Rs. 1,500 – Rs. 1,600 in case of Express trains.

Garib Rath — touted to be poor man’s no frills AC three-tier train — was planned to be phased out by the national transporter and replace those with express trains with higher fares.

The train was started in 2006 by then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and the target was middle and lower income classes. The first ”Garib Rath” was flagged off from Bihar”s Saharsa to Amritsar in Punjab.

However, the manufacture of new coaches for the train has already been stopped putting a question mark on their continuance as the present coaches are 10-14 years old and require heavy maintenance for which railways have to incur heavy cost.

Touting it the largest recruitment drive for Paramedical staff by the carrier, Indian Railway will begin the computer-based test (CBT) for recruitment of paramedical staff tomorrow. The RRB Paramedical examination will be conducted in three shifts over three days – July 19, July 20, and July 21. As per a release by Indian railways, more than 4.39 lakh candidates have applied for 1923 posts that were advertised by Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) in march this year.

The Test will be held in 345 Test Centres in 107 towns/cities across the country. The marks of the candidates will be normalized since the exam will be conducted in nine different shifts.

As per the data released by the National Carrier, 62 per cent of the total applicants are female. Also, more than 50 per cent candidates will be appearing for the exam for Staff Nurse post. There are also 28 number of Transgender (TG) candidates in the fray.

The largest number of candidates who have applied for this recruitment are from Uttar Pradesh (64,596 applicants) followed by Rajasthan (62,772 applicants), Maharashtra (38,097 applicants), and Kerala (35,496 applicants).

This is also the first recruitment by Indian Railways in which reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) will be available to eligible candidates. Against 10 per cent of the total vacancies earmarked for EWS candidates, 4,654 EWS candidates will be appearing in the Tests.

The examination will be conducted in 15 different languages including English and Hindi. A candidate will be able to view the questions in English and in the language they have opted as the medium of test.

More than four lakh additional berths will be available to railway passengers every day from October, thanks to a new technology that will allow power generation cars to be replaced with sleeper coaches, senior officials said Wednesday.

Currently, most trains have power cars housing diesel generators, which supply electricity to coaches for various purposes including lighting, fans and air conditioning.

Indian Railways now plans to introduce a new technology, known as “Head on Generation” (HOG) where power supply is tapped from overhead power lines and distributed to train coaches. “Head on Generation” is already in use worldwide. Currently, the power tapped from overhead tension wires through an equipment known as pantograph is used only to run the engines.

Officials say by October this year, over 5,000 coaches of the Indian Railways will be modified to run on the new technology so that they will be able to accept power coming from the overhead cables via the engines.

This will not only enable trains to shed their power cars and make way for more coaches but also save the national transporter more Rs. 6,000 crore in fuel bills annually, officials said.

A power car needs 40 litres of diesel per hour per non-AC coach while an AC coach needs 65-70 litres of diesel per hour. Around three units of electricity is provided by one litre of diesel, so a non-AC coach uses around 120 units of electricity per hour.

The new system, which is ecofriendly, with no air or noise pollution will reduce carbon emissions by 700 MT per year per train, officials said.

“In regular practice, two power cars equipped with Diesel Alternator sets are placed at either ends of the rake run in for example every Shatabdi Express. After we move to the HOG system, there will be a need of only one power car for standby purpose only.

“Another power car can be removed and replaced with an extra passenger coach without increasing the train length. Once all Linke Hoffman Busch coaches are on this system, we have calculated an increase of more than four lakh berths every day through this and thus additional revenue as well,” the official said.

There is no proposal to privatise Indian Railways, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

The response of the Railway to a question on privatisation came against the backdrop of a proposal of the national transporter to give two trains to private operators.

In a written reply, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said “no specific passenger train has been identified to be run by private payers so far.”

However, sources have said that Railways have identified New Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express, but no official announcement has been made.

Responding to a supplementary, Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi said further studies on the issue are on and trials will be held in the coming days.

In his written response, Mr Goyal said, “…there is no proposal to privatise Indian Railways”.

He was asked whether he is aware that a report submitted to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018 had highlighted challenges presented by largescale privatisation to protection of human rights.

In a separate written reply, Goyal said that as on April 1 this year, there were 189 new lines projects totalling 21,443 kilometres in various stages of planning/ approval/ execution, which will connect areas not covered so far under railway network.

“Launching of new railway projects to cater to the increasing passenger footfall and to connect areas not covered so far under railway network is a need-based ongoing process subject to commercial justification, operational requirement, technical feasibility and resource availability,” he said.

The Central Railway division of the Indian Railways on Sunday will block a large number of routes on its suburban sections for carrying out the maintenance work.

Trains departing from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) will be diverted on the line between Matunga and Mulund stations.

An official press note said that all fast and semi-fast trains departing from the CST between 9.53 am and 2.42 pm will be diverted on Dn slow line between Matunga and Mulund stations.

These trains will halt at all stations between Sion and Mulund stations and are likely to reach their destination 20 minutes late as against their scheduled arrival time.

“Dn fast trains beyond Thane will be re-diverted on Dn fast line from Mulund,” the official statement further read.

“All Up fast and semi-fast services leaving Thane from 10.46 am to 3.18 pm will halt at Mulund, Bhandup, Vikhroli, Ghatkopar, and Kurla stations in addition to their respective scheduled halts and will arrive destination 15 minutes behind schedule,” added the statement.

All slow trains functional in CST between 11 am and 5 pm will arrive at their destination 15 minutes after their scheduled arrival.

“Dn Harbour line services to Vashi/Belapur/Panvel leaving Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus from 10.34 am to 3.44 pm and Up Harbour line services towards CST leaving Panvel/Belapur/Vashi from 10.21 am to 3.47 pm and will remain cancelled,” said the statement.

However, special local trains between Panel-Mankhurd will not be affected during the block period.

Passengers that were to travel through Harbour line have been permitted to travel through the Trans Harbour line or the mainline between 10.00 am and 4.30 pm.

The Central Railways has also issued a warning: “Due to these blocks, suburban trains are likely to be more crowded than usual. Passengers are requested not to take any risks while travelling.”

“Passengers are also requested to avoid travelling on the footboard, the rooftop of locals and not to board extremely overcrowded trains.”

A similar mega block was operated by the central block on June 16, which had also affected the movement of several trains

Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman today proposed public-private partnerships in Railways to build more tracks and increase connectivity across the country.

Indian Railways, the largest rail network in the world, has been owned by the government since its inception by the British in 1853.

Over the last years, following huge losses, the government has initiated several efforts to reverse the tide.

Last year, railways minister Piyush Goyal, who is handling the portfolio in the second term of the Narendra Modi government, said his focus was to increase the capacity of railways though enhanced signalling and adding more lines, along with cost-cutting in the loss-making passenger sector.

The railways’ revenue comes from the freight section, but much of it is lost in subsidies in the passenger sector.

In the run-up to the budget, the opposition alleged that the government big initiative for privatisation will begin with the railways.

An editorial in the CPM mouthpiece People’s Democracy suggested that the Niti Aayog has announced that 46 public sector enterprises will be sold off or shut down as per a 100 day action plan. According to an action plan proposed by the Railway Ministry, private passenger trains will be operated within 100 days, the editorial said.

On Tuesday, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi opposed a railway ministry proposal in the Lok Sabha to corporatise its production units, including the Modern Coach Factory in her Lok Sabha constituency of Rae Bareli, alleging that it was the “first step” towards the privatisation of railways.

Raising the issue in Zero Hour in parliament, she accused the government of selling the country’s assets to private players at throwaway prices.

“Those who don’t understand the real meaning of corporatisation…. It is actually the first step towards privatisation. They are selling the country’s assets to a handful of private players at a throwaway price. This will leave thousands unemployed,” she said.

After the weather department predicted very heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday in Maharashtra, the central railway cancelled four intercity express/passenger trains and diverted the route of one train.

“Central Railway has decided to cancel the following intercity express/passenger trains due to IMD forecast of very heavy rains on 29.6.2019 and 30.6.2019 and to have sufficient headway en route due to heavy rains,” read an official press note from Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Pune Railway.

Trains that have been cancelled include Mumbai-Pune Pragati Express, Mumbai-Pune Sinhagad Express, Bhusaval-Mumbai Passenger train and Pune-Panvel Passenger train.

Train route for Bhusaval-Pune Express is now re-scheduled via Daund-Manmad, said PRO of Pune Railway.

“Passengers are requested to kindly note and bear with the Railway Administration for the inconvenience caused,” read an official statement.

According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai city received 127 mm rainfall, western suburbs received 170 mm rainfall and eastern suburbs received 197mm rainfall, in the last 24 hours.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) Mumbai said very active monsoon conditions are prevalent over the west coast, with deep westerlies, and heavy rainfall expected in Mumbai, Thane and other areas around the west coast.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will unveil the Budget 2019-20 on July 5. In September 2016, the government scrapped the 92-year-old practice of presenting rail budgets and general budgets separately. And in 2017, Arun Jaitley became the first finance minister to present a combined Union Budget with Rail Budget as part of it. This year’s Budget – the first full budget by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government after returning to power in May- will also include announcements for the Railways. (Also read: 10 Things To Know About First Budget Of Independent India)

Here are some key announcements made for Railways in Interim Budget 2019, Budget 2018 and Budget 2017:

Interim Budget 2019

1. Railways saw an allocation of Rs. 64,587 crore and capital expenditure of Rs. 1.58 lakh in Interim Budget 2019.

2. The capital support from the Budget for the railways was proposed at Rs. 64,587 crore in 2019-20.

3. In the budget, funds worth Rs. 7,255 crore were allocated for construction of new lines, Rs.2,200 crore for gauge conversion, Rs. 700 crore for track doubling, Rs. 6,114.82 crore for rolling stock and Rs. 1,750 crore for signalling and telecom.

Budget 2018

1. Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a capital expenditure of Rs. 1.48 lakh crore for the Indian Railways in his Budget 2018 speech.

2. He also proposed a target of doubling 18,000 km of lines.

3. 36,000 km of rail track renewal were targeted while 4,267 unmanned railway crossings on broad gauge routes were targeted to be eliminated in the next two years.

4. 600 stations were earmarked for modernisation by the Indian Railways.

Budget 2017

1. For financial year 2017-18, the total capital and development expenditure of Railways were pegged at Rs. 1,31,000 crore.

2. For passenger safety, a Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh creation was announced with a corpus of Rs. 1 lakh crore over a period of five years.

3. It was proposed that 500 stations will be made differently-abled-friendly by providing lifts and escalators.

4. It was also proposed to feed about 7,000 stations with solar power in the medium term.

5. ‘Coach Mitra’, a single-window interface to register all coach-related complaints and requirements was also announced.