The Indian Railways is mulling a mobile app that will predict if waitlisted train tickets have any chance of getting confirmed, officials said on Sunday. Railway Ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena told news agency IANS (Indo-Asian News Service): “The railways is working on an application that will predict if the waitlisted ticket can be confirmed or not.” Mr Saxena said that the prediction will be based on the passenger operations and booking pattern data of the last 13 years.

He further said the CRIS (Centre for Railway Information Systems) is developing the complex application for the railways where a user will be informed about the chances of the waitlisted ticket getting confirmed at the time of booking the ticket on the railways new user-friendly website and application.

According to the railways, about 13 lakh tickets are booked every day against a reserved accommodation of 10.5 lakh berths across all classes.

railway official said that the idea of predicting chances of waitlisted tickets getting confirmed was of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.

Railways has launched the main arch of the world’s highest bridge on the River Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district which will provide direct connectivity to the Kashmir valley.

The iconic bridge will soar 359 metres above the bed of the River Chenab and will be 30 metres higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The bridge forms the crucial link in the 111-km stretch between Katra and Banihal which is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla section of the Kashmir Railway project

“We have begun the work on installations of main arch between two sides of the bridge. We have launched the main-arch”, MK Gupta, Member Engineering, Railway Board told reporters Kauri, Reasi district yesterday.

“The iconic bridge is being constructed on River Chenab on the Katra-Banihal section as part of the flagship Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project,” Mr Gupta said.

The launch of the main arch is a noteworthy endeavour as it entails carrying heavy segments from two ends of the bridge – Kauri end and Bakkal end – and involves the world longest cable crane arrangement.

The 1.3-km-long bridge is being constructed at a cost of Rs. 1,250 crore. “It is part of a big project. The work is being done by AFCONS through Konkan railways. We will complete it by May 2019”, Mr Gupta said.

“The work has been launched simultaneously from both the sides. The design of the bridge has been made to sustain earthquake of magnitude 8 on the Richter scale”, he said.

National and international consultants have been engaged during various stages of the project. Detailed geo-physical studies, seismic studies and slope stability studies have been included.

The erection of the bridge is a project in itself. To achieve these pylons were erected on either side of the river, and two auxiliary self-propelled cable cranes were used to tow temporary auxiliary ropes across these pylons, they said.

“The ropes were used to support the partly finished arch parts. Both the embankments of Chenab facing downstream have hard cherty dolomite and quartzite forming steep cliffs”, a top engineer said.

The launch is typically performed in a series of increments so that additional sections can be added to the rear of the superstructure unit prior to subsequent launches, he said.

Mr Gupta said that three massive workshops for undertaking fabrication of steel structure has been commissioned at Srinagar end of bridge and one at Katra end of the bridge.

“For launching purpose, arrangements in the form of pylons with cable cranes spanning the entire gorge have been completed successfully. The cable crane assembly including pylons at span of 915 meters is the longest in the world. For the first time a Railways viaduct was launched on curve of 2.74 degree”, he said.

The officials said that more than 1,300 workers and 300 engineers have been working round-the-clock to complete the bridge by May 2019.

The construction started in 2004, but the work was stopped in 2008-09 on the aspect of safety of rail passengers due to frequent high velocity winds in the area.

The officials said that it was finally decided to stop train operations when the wind velocity touches 90 kmh with the help of the automatic signalling system and anemometer (instrument to measure the velocity of winds).

He said the bridge under construction can withstand winds up to 260 kmph and its lifespan will be 120 years.

On the other side of the Chenab river, the Railways is constructing three big tunnels of various lengths T2 (5.9 KM), T3 (9.37 km) and T14 (13 km).

Railway projects account for over 60% of the 331 central sector projects that are facing cost overrun of Rs 1.5 lakh crore due to various reasons.

A total 202 projects of railways are facing total cost overrun of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, as per the flash report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation for July, 2017.

The statistics ministry monitors central sector projects envisaging an expenditure of Rs 150 crore and above each on regular basis.

According to the report, the total original cost of these 202 projects was Rs 1,05,424.13 crore. The total anticipated cost of these projects is estimated at Rs 2,55,634.29 crore which indicates overall cost escalation by 142.48%.

The ministry monitored 350 projects of Indian Railways in July this year.

The study stated that as many as 33 projects of Railways out of the monitored 350 projects reported time overrun or delay of 12 months to 261 months.

After railways, power sector reported second highest incidence of overall cost overrun. Out of the 125 projects monitored by Statistics Ministry in the power sector, 43 reported cost overrun of Rs 52,933.93 crore.

The total original cost of these 43 projects was Rs 89,432.27 crore which escalated to total anticipated cost of Rs 1,42,366.20 crore.

The report stated that out of the 125 power sector projects, 59 reported time overrun (delay) of 5 months to 134 months

To weed out the culture of coming late, the railway ministry will soon install Aadhaar-based biometric attendance system across its zones and divisions by January 31 next year. The railway board issued a letter in this regard to all zones on November 3.

According to the order, the biometric attendance system would be first implemented in the offices of all divisions, zones, Metro Rail Kolkata, railways workshop, factories and production units by November 30. “The plan is to put a check on the officials arriving late or not coming to work at all,” a senior rail official told PTI.

“Once the Aadhaar-based biometric attendance system is installed across the railway zones and divisions by January 31, 2018, this problem can be addressed,” the official added.

In the second phase, it will be implemented in all the offices of Railways, including public undertakings, attached and subordinate offices by January 31, 2018.

Currently, the system is already in place in the railway board and few zonal headquarters. The letter from the board also states the biometric system should be integrated and implemented in such a way that it can be monitored by the divisional railway manager’s office.

It has also instructed that CCTV cameras be provided with the biometric machine.

Meanwhile, from November 1, railways had started following a new time table to reduce halt timings of around 500 long-distance trains.

According to the new timetable, now the running time of popular trains will reduce by 15 minutes to two hours from tomorrow. Coupled with track and infrastructure upgrade, automatic signalling and the new Linke-Hofmann-Busch coaches that allow a 130 kmph top speed, trains are expected to run faster.

Following directions from railway minister Piyush Goyal earlier this month, the national carrier incorporated “innovative timetabling” under which running time of popular trains will reduce by 15 minutes to two hours.

The new timetable will also provide each railway division two to four hours for maintenance works.

Cracking the whip on latecomers, the railway ministry has said it will install Aadhaar-based biometric attendance system across its zones and divisions by January 31 next year.

The railway board issued a letter in this regard to all zones on November 3. According to the order, the biometric attendance system would be first implemented in the offices of all divisions, zones, Metro Rail Kolkata, railways workshop, factories and production units by November 30.

In the second phase, it will be implemented in all the offices of Railways, including public undertakings, attached and subordinate offices by January 31, 2018.

Currently, the system is already in place in the railway board and few zonal headquarters.

The letter from the board also states the biometric system should be integrated and implemented in such a way that it can be monitored by the divisional railway manager’s office.

The Railway Ministry has planned to install Aadhar-based biometric attendance system in all its zones and divisions by January 31, 2018, an official said on Sunday.

The railway official told IANS: “The Railway Board has came up with a plan to put a check on the officials arriving late or not coming to work.

“The plan is to install Aadhar biometric attendance systaem across all the railway zones and divisions by January 31, 2018.”

As per the order, the biometric attendance system would be first implemented in the offices of all divisions, zones, RDSO, Metro Rail Kolkata, railways workshop, factories and productions units by November 30.

While in the second phase, the system needs to be implemented in all the offices of Railways, including public undertakings, attached and subordinate offices by January 31, 2018.

Currently the system is available in the railway board and few zonal headquarters.

Just two weeks after a Swiss couple was brutally attacked in Uttar Pradesh, a German national has alleged assault by a railway supervisor in Sonbhadra district on Saturday. But the police said they were not convinced with the foreign national’s version that he was the victim.

Holger Ereek, who had arrived in Sonbhadra from Benaras to visit the Agori Fort, had alleged he was attacked at the Robertsganj railway station. But the accused, Aman Kumar, contradicted him, saying the German hit him first when he greeted him. “I am innocent… the German national punched me when I said ‘welcome to India’ to him. He even spit on me,” he alleged.

“This German national may have some problems… anger management issues, depression or some aberration,” Anand Kumar, a senior UP police officer told a media briefing in state capital Lucknow. “He was aggressive with a railway supervisor who intervened too… and later, the police post in-charge,” the Additional Director General of Police said.

“According to reports, the railway supervisor enquired the German national about his well-being, which angered him. The German hit the railway employee, who might have pushed him in retaliation,” Mr Kumar said.

A UP police statement said Mr Ereek was already facing a stabbing charge in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district in July last year. His passport and visa was also impounded in this case.

Refusing to speak to reporters, Holger Ereek, who has sustained minor injuries, said, “India have rules… the Supreme Court says privacy is a fundamental law. So please don’t disturb my privacy. I am here to launch an FIR and that’s it”.

“It was simply a squabble, it is not a serious incident,” Ram Pratap Singh, Superintendent of Police, Sonbhadra, told NDTV.

Last month, a Swiss tourist couple was attacked near Agra last month, sparking widespread outrage. Quentin Jeremy Clerc, 24, suffered a fractured skull and may have partial hearing loss, and his girlfriend Marie Droxz had a broken arm after they were hit with sticks and stones by a group that had chased them from a railway station in Fatehpur Sikri, the popular tourist destination right next to Agra.

As the couple lay wounded on the road after the attack, witnesses took videos on their mobile phones.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Tourism Minister KJ Alphons had written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was left confronting serious questions about safety in his state while on a visit to the Taj Mahal, where he also clicked photos with foreign tourists.

Passengers of Rajdhani and Shatabdi will now get text messages on their mobile phones if their scheduled trains get delayed by more than an hour.

Currently, the SMS messages are being sent to wait-listed passengers after the confirmation of their berths.

Railways made the much-needed facility operational on Saturday for all Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project, adding that the SMS facility would be extended to other trains too in a phased manner.

Developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), the information technological arm of the Railways, the SMS facility is considered to be an important service for passengers.

The official said in order to avail this facility, passengers are advised to mention their mobile numbers on the reservation slips.

It is a passenger-friendly free service for which the Railways bear the cost of SMS.

There was a trial run of the service on a few Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.

There were a few glitches found during the trial run which were addressed. Now the service is fully operational in all Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, he said.

There are total 23 pairs of Rajdhani and 26 pairs of Shatabdi trains running across the country.

Though Railways has increased the speed of many trains to reduce travel time, some trains are running late due to various reasons like track repair.

Days after BJP MP Hema Malini narrowly escaped a bull attack at the Mathura Junction railway station, the station manager has been suspended for allegedly failing to curb the menace, an official said today.

Station manager KL Meena has not only been suspended but also a probe has been ordered into the incident, Sanchit Tyagi, Divisional Commercial Manager North Central Railway, said.

Mr Tyagi said the BJP MP from Mathura was narrowly saved from the attack by a bull when she had gone to the railway station to check for the possibility of revamping the station.

PL Meena would look after the Mathura Junction railway station as the station manager in his place, he said.

The Railway Protection Force or RPF of Western Railway has developed and introduced a mobile application for the security of women commuters travelling between Churchgate and Virar suburban railway stations.

The free app, ‘Eyewatch Railways’, launched last month, has been developed by RPF of Western Railway in collaboration with Eyewatch Technologies Pvt Ltd. It can be downloaded on an android phone from Google Playstore and on iPhone from the Apple iStore, said chief PRO of Western Railway Ravinder Bhakar.

The application has been customised for the Railway Protection Force (RPF) to dispatch an immediate response by sending RPF personnel from the nearest station to help the Women Commuters, the official said adding, “Over one lakh passengers have downloaded the app so far.”

According to Mr Bhakar, this app has audio/visual stream facility as well, through which Eyewatch automatically records up to 60 seconds pre-alert audio and 20 seconds post-alert video.

“In addition to it, it displays the current battery (status of the user’s phone), network signal strength, blood group, type of emergency along with other important data that can be viewed on the web-based Eyewatch Control Center located at the RPF Control Room,” Mr Bhakar said.