India coronavirus news and updates: The Northern Railways on Thursday cancelled a number of trains including a few Rajdhani trains, Shatabdi and Duronto Express from May 9th. The Railways said, trains are being cancelled as fewer people are travelling and coronavirus cases are rising. “The Northern Railways has decided to cancel the special trains due to poor patronisation and a surge in COVID-19,” a Northern Railways spokesperson said. Here are five important things you must know.

Railways cancel 28 trains: All you need to know

1. Eight Shatabdi Express trains, two Rajdhani Express, two Duronto Express and one Vande Bharat Express are among around 28 trains that have been cancelled “till further advice” by the Northern Railways.
2. Among these trains, there are Shatabdi trains from Delhi to places like Kalka, Habibganj, Amritsar and Chandigarh
3. Rajdhani trains from Delhi to Chennai, Bilaspur
4. Duronto trains to Jammu Tawi and Pune.
5. The Central Railways has cancelled 23 passenger trains including Nagpur-Kolhapur special up to June 29, the CSMT-Kolhapur special up to July 1, the CSMT-Pune special up to June 30.

Coronavirus cases and deaths in India hit a record daily high with 4,12,262 new infections and 3,980 deaths, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,10,77,410 and the number of deaths to 2,30,168, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Thursday. Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 35,66,398 comprising 16.92 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 81.99 per cent, the government data showed.

At least three Oxygen Express trains have arrived today in the National Capital Territory with the vital gas, bringing relief for COVID-19 patients gasping for breath across hospitals, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has said. The trains arrived a day after the Delhi High Court expressed its fury over the Central government’s failure to implement its order of ensuring that the city gets it quota of oxygen.

“#OxygenExpress has reached Delhi Cantt from Hapa, Gujarat via Green Corridor to provide continued supply of Oxygen for COVID-19 patients in the capital,” Mr Goyal tweeted this morning.

He also tweeted about another such train arriving from Mundhra, Gujarat.

In a third tweet, he posted the video of an Oxygen Express arriving from Tatanagar, Jamshedpur.

One such train, this time from Angul, Odisha, arrived last evening with a little over 30 tonnes of oxygen. The Oxygen Express trains have been rolled out across the country to ensure emergency supplies of the vital gas amid a major resources crunch that followed the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Such is the situation that scores of patients have died — at least 40 in Delhi alone — in recent days due to hospitals’ inability to provide timely oxygen.

The Delhi High Court on Saturday ordered the Centre to ensure that the national capital received its quota of oxygen by tonight.

The Rail Land Development Authority – Indian Railways’ special purpose vehicle for land monetization, recently invited bids for leasing three sites, in order to develop multi-functional complexes or MFC at Sikar, Bellary, and Bharatpur railway stations, for a period of 45 years. According to a statement shared by the organisation, the aim of developing multi-functional complexes at the three railway stations is to equip the land with better infrastructure and boost passenger-centric amenities. (Also Read: Indian Railways Adopts Form-Based Codes For Station Redevelopment Project )

The Sikar and Bharatpur railway stations are situated in Rajasthan and Bellary station is in Karnataka. According to Rail Land Development Authority, the deadline for the submission of bids is May 12, 2021. The sites identified for developing multi-functional complexes are near the railway stations or come within the station’s circulating area. As part of the development project, a combination of retail spaces, hotels, retail amenities or shops are outlined to be implemented on the multi-functional complex sites.

For the development project, the bidder will be selected through an online single-stage bidding process, which will be transparent, said Rail Land Development Authority. The developer for the project will be delegated to complete the construction at each site and commission the site within a period of two years. The reserve price of the multi-functional complex site at Bellary, Sikar, and Bharatpur are ₹ 1,068 lakhs, ₹ 241 lakhs, and ₹ 156 lakhs respectively.

The bidder will also be allowed to market and sub-lease the built-up area for lawful and legal activities. Passenger-centric facilities such as ATM, food stalls, medicine stores, budget hotels, variety stores, bookstalls are planned to be implemented as part of the project.

A train carrying three tankers loaded with liquid medical oxygen arrived at Kalamboli near Mumbai from Jamnagar in Gujarat on Monday, railway officials said.

The train, carrying about 44 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen, nearly 15 tonnes in each tanker, reached Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai at around 11.30 am, covering a distance of about 860 km in over 17 hours, they said.

This is the second ”Oxygen Express” to arrive in Maharashtra, which is facing shortage of the liquid medical oxygen due to a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases.

The first ”Oxygen Express” carrying seven tankers of the liquid medical oxygen reached the state from Visakhapatnam on April 23. Four of those tankers were offloaded at Nashik and three at Nagpur, considering the local need.

Informing about the ”Oxygen Express” which arrived on Monday, Western Railway officials said the Ro-Ro (Roll on-Roll off) goods train carrying three tankers of the liquid medical oxygen on BWT wagon left from Hapa at Jamnagar in Gujarat around 6 pm on Sunday.

After an overnight journey via Viramgam, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat, the train entered Maharashtra in the morning, they said.

“It is the first ”Oxygen Express” run by the Western Railway,” WR’s chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said, adding railway authorities provided an uninterrupted ”green corridor” to the train for swift movement.

The three oxygen tankers are supplied by the Reliance Industries in Jamnagar, he said.

“Necessary arrangements were made at the Hapa goods shed in a short time for the smooth movement of the train,” he said.

According to the Western Railway, authorities followed all safety parameters, keeping in mind the height of the gas tankers and monitored their pressure from time to time.

“As liquid oxygen is cryogenic, there are many limitations, like the speed at which it can be carried, acceleration and deceleration and loading restrictions,” Mr Thakur said.

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On April 18, the Railways had announced it will run ”Oxygen Express” trains over the next few days to transport liquid medical oxygen and oxygen cylinders across the country.

The Ministry of Railways has announced an award of ₹ 50,000 for Mayur Shelke, a Central Railway employee who saved a six-year-old boy by risking his own life.

Mr Shelke’s daredevilry in rescuing the child moments before a train streaked past was captured in a CCTV video which won the Internet.

Principal executive director of the Railway Board informed the Central Railway’s General Manager by a letter about the award for Mr Shelke’s “act of bravery, courage and presence of mind”.

“Shelke in absolute disregard of his own life rescued the child by running in face of the oncoming train and lifted the child to safety by placing him on the platform,” read the letter.

The incident took place at

He jumped down, ran towards the boy and hauled him onto the platform before pulling himself up. Two seconds later, the train sped past.

2 Comments CCTV footage of the heart-stopping incident went viral on social media. Central Railway authorities have already felicitated Mr Shelke for his act of bravery.

Two people were arrested on charges of theft in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur by Government Railway Police (GRP) on Monday and were allegedly made to walk barefoot together even after one of them tested positive for COVID-19.

The accused were made to walk barefoot on the street while a GRP personnel was seen wearing a PPE suit.

“The court ordered to get the COVID test done of the accused. We get their COVID test done from the Jabalpur District Hospital. One of the accused tested positive for COVID-19. Our vehicle broke down hence we had to take them to jail on foot,” a GRP official told ANI.

Asked why an ambulance was not called, the official said, “It was unfortunate that our vehicle broke down. But arranging an ambulance falls under the authority of senior GRP officials.”

Train services that were disrupted because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, will be gradually brought to track soon. People had to face a lot of inconvenience because of truncated train services. However, the Railways Ministry is now planning to restart all services.

The Indian Railways is now ready to roll out all the trains by adhering to the COVID protocols for passengers and staff.

More than 70 local trains of the Northern Railways started plying on Monday and now the superfast trains are also ready to chug on the tracks.

The railways today said there is no plan to curtail or stop train services and assured passengers that trains will be provided on demand amidst reports of migrant workers rushing to their hometowns, reminiscent of the days following the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.

Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma assured the passengers that there is no dearth of trains and the railways is ready to put them into service on a short notice.

“There is no plan to curtail or stop train services. We will run as many services as required. There is no cause for alarm. We can run trains immediately on demand if there is any rush. This rush is normal during the summer season and we have already announced trains to clear the rush,” he said at a press briefing.

With the number of COVID-19 cases on the rise, a sudden surge in passenger movement at railway stations was reported from across the country. Many travellers, speaking to the media, said the fear of an imminent lockdown was the reason behind their trips.

“There is no shortage of trains for those who want to travel. I assure everyone that trains will be provided on demand,” Mr Sharma said.

The Railway Board chairman also ruled out the need for a COVID-negative certificate to travel by train.

He said the railways has not received any communique yet from Maharashtra to stop or curtail the movement of trains in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases.

Indian Railways registered the highest ever freight figures in terms of both loading and earnings in the financial year 2020-21. According to a statement released by the Railway Ministry, the national transporter’s total freight loading was 1232.63 million tonnes in fiscal 2020-21, 1.93  per cent higher, compared to the corresponding period last year. The previous year’s figure for the same period was recorded at 1209.32 million tonnes. Along with loading, the railway authorities earned a sum of Rs 117386.0 crores in fiscal 2020-21, through freight loading, three per cent higher, compared to the same period last year.

The previous year’s earning figure through freight loading was registered at Rs 113897.20 crore. The Railway Ministry added that the national transporter’s freight loading was 130.38 million tonnes in March 2021, registering a growth of 27.33 per cent. Subsequently, through freight loading, Indian Railways earned a sum of ₹ 12,887.71 crore last month, which is 26.16 per cent higher, compared to the corresponding month’s earnings in the previous fiscal. The national transporter earned ₹ 10215.08 crore in March 2020.

As per official data, Indian Railways maintained the momentum of the highest ever freight loading for seven conductive months between September 2020 – March 2021. With few routes of the dedicated freight corridor opening up, Indian Railways has also registered a notable increase in the speed of freight trains on the existing network. Last month, the average speed of freight train was recorded at 45.6 km per hour, which is almost 83 per cent more, compared to 24.93 km per hour in the corresponding period of previous fiscal, according to the Railway Ministry.

The railway police in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi has arrested two people in a case related to the harassment suffered by the nuns belonging to a Kerala based congregation during a train journey last month.

“In the case of forceful deboarding of nuns and teenagers from coach B-2 of Utkal Express at Jhansi railway station on 19 March 2021, the district administration and police administration have detained Anchal Arjaria and Purgesh Amaria for involvement in the incident. Against will be taken against others also,” a statement from the Jhansi administration said.

A railway police official said on record last night the men had been arrested.

“Around 10 pm at night , a team of the railway police was carrying out a patrolling exercise at the Jhansi railway station when the were informed that two people had been discussing the March 19 incident and saying that the police did not act properly and let off the nuns. The men were questioned and the men got agitated and said they would plan a protest against the cops. This is why they have been arrested. The police has taken suo moto cognizance of this case and we will file an FIR and send them to jail,” Naeem Kham Mansoori, a senior official of the railway police, said.

Reports said the arrested men are affiliated to right wing groups in Jhansi.

The nuns and their two novices were heckled and forced to get off a train in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (who suspected them of conducting religious conversion) and people from other right wing groups on March 19. They were allowed to proceed only after an inquiry at the railway station established there was no conversion involved. The ABVP is the student’s wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of the BJP.

The incident – which took place just ahead of polls in Kerala – had generated outrage. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had demanded strict action against the accused in a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah.

After outrage, Mr Shah had promised action in the matter. “I want to assure the people of Kerala that the culprits behind this incident will be brought to justice at the earliest,” Mr Shah had said during a poll rally in Kerala.

Last week, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had dismissed as wrong the allegations that the nuns were “attacked” and alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was “making false statements” on the issue.

“There was no attack on any nun whatsoever…the Chief Minister of the state (Kerala) is completely lying and making false statements when he says that,” Mr Goyal told a press conference in Kochi.

According to officials in Jhansi, the nuns were detained after the ABVP activists gave a written complaint that two women were allegedly being taken forcibly for religious conversion.