The Congress and the NCP slammed the MNS for forcibly evicting illegal hawkers from a railway bridge and claimed that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is “hand-in-gloves” with the Raj Thackeray-led party.

“The Chief Minister was well aware of the threats given by Raj Thackeray and given his track record, the Chief Minister should have ordered the roundup of MNS workers before their given deadline ended.

“But, the CM is hand-in-gloves with the MNS and hence, North Indians are allowed to be tortured,” Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam told reporters here.

He added that the government has failed to enforce the Street Vendors Act, which seeks to protect hawkers.

“Had they enforced it, there would have been a survey done and illegal street vendors would have automatically been evicted by law. However, the chief minister is protecting goondaism,” he said.

“The CM should take action against MNS workers or the Congress will hold protests to protect the rights of street vendors,” Mr Nirupam added.

Thackeray had on October 5 met railway officials and had submitted a list of issues related to Mumbai locals with a deadline of 15 days.

“If things don’t get better, we will see,” Mr Thackeray had said.

NCP leader Dhananjay Munde questioned if the “violence” by MNS workers was in connivance with the Chief Minister.

“What Raj Thackeray’s party workers did can be analysed later. The first question is what has the government done after 23 people lost their lives on Elphinstone bridge.

Was responsibility fixed on those responsible,” the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council questioned.

“The Chief Minister keeping silent despite a threat by Raj Thackeray and now his men indulging in violence raises a doubt and makes us question if there is connivance between both of them,” he added.

A group of activists claiming to be affiliated to the MNS today drove away more than two dozen illegal hawkers from a railway bridge in Thane.

Around 25 activists descended on the Satis bridge this morning and evicted the hawkers, numbering about two dozen, who were selling their wares there.

The Railway Board has ordered a review of all rail bridges in the country that need repair after it was found that out of the 275 such bridges, only 23 had speed restrictions on them. The board had earlier sought details of the condition of bridges and found that trains would pass on the 252 dilapidated bridges in their usual speed, posing a safety hazard.

“CBEs (chief bridge engineers) should specifically review the position in respect of all bridges… and firm up the action plan for their rehabilitation on priority,” the board’s order said.

The railways has three ratings for its bridges — overall rating number (ORN) 1, 2, and 3. Bridges with ORN-1 rating require immediate building or rehabilitation, ORN-2 are required to be rebuilt on a programmed basis while ORN-3 bridges need special repairs.

“It seems that proper time-bound planning has not been done by the Railways for rehabilitation of these bridges which creates a doubt whether correct condition rating appropriate to the actual condition of the bridge has been assigned or not,” said the board’s order last month.

The board said it has found that in most cases, no speed restriction has been imposed and special inspection schedule has also not been prescribed by the chief bridge engineers.

The Railway Board said a large number of bridges needing rehabilitation existed on some zonal railways for long. The Central Railways has 61 such bridges, East Central Railways has 63, South Central Railways has 41 and Western Railways has 42 bridges that need rebuilding.

Pulling up the zonal railways for allegedly not following procedure, the board has said that there are many bridges where speed restrictions have been imposed on condition basis even when they have not been categorised under ORN-1 or ORN-2.

A 2015 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had found that delays in sanctioning of bridgeworks and completion of sanctioned bridgeworks resulted in operation of train services with speed restriction resulting in extra operational costs.

At least four vehicles and a railway-track laying machine were set ablaze allegedly by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district on Friday, police said.

The incident happened around 7:30 pm near Kamaloor railway station, where track-laying work was underway on the Kirandul-Visakhapatnam route, a police official told PTI over phone.

Around two dozen armed Maoists reached the construction site and torched the vehicles and the track-laying machine, he said.

The attackers fled after the incident, he said.

Bhansi is located around 450 kilometres from Raipur. Security personnel were rushed to the site after the railway staff there informed them about the incident, the official added.

The running time of over 500 long distance trains will soon be cut short by up to two hours, a senior railway official said today.

Following Railway Minister Piyush Goyal’s directions, the Indian Railways incorporated “innovative timetabling” under which the running time of trains will reduce by 15 minutes up to two hours.

The timings under the new timetable will be updated in November.

“Our plan is to maximise the use of the existing rolling stock. It can be done in two ways – if we have a train that is waiting somewhere to return, we can use it during the lie over period. In the new timetable around 50 such trains which will be run like this. Fifty-one trains will immediately see reduced run time from one to three hours. This will go up to more than 500 trains,” the official said.

The railways has started internal audits through which 50 mail and express trains will be upgraded to super-fast services.

The audit exercise is part of an overhaul of the rail system to increase the average speed of existing trains, the official said.

Trains such as the Bhopal-Jodhpur Express will reach 95 minutes early while the Guwahati-Indore Special will complete its 2,330-km journey 115 minutes early and the 1929-km journey of the Ghazipur-Bandra Terminus Express will be completed 95 minutes earlier.

The halt times of trains at stations have also been reduced by the Indian Railways. In another move to reduce travel time of trains, the Railways has decided that trains will not stop at stations with low footfall.

Travel Time Of Over 500 Long Distance Trains To Soon Be Cut By Up To 2 Hours
Following Railway Minister Piyush Goyal’s directions, the Indian Railways incorporated “innovative timetabling” under which the running time of trains will reduce by 15 minutes up to two hours.
All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: October 20, 2017 17:35 IST

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Travel Time Of Over 500 Long Distance Trains To Soon Be Cut By Up To 2 Hours

The Indian Railways is trying to increase the average speed of existing trains
New Delhi:
Highlights

Railways is using ‘innovative timetabling’ to cut travel time of trains
The new timetable will be updated in November
The Railways is taking steps such as reducing the halt time at stations

The running time of over 500 long distance trains will soon be cut short by up to two hours, a senior railway official said today.

Following Railway Minister Piyush Goyal’s directions, the Indian Railways incorporated “innovative timetabling” under which the running time of trains will reduce by 15 minutes up to two hours.

The timings under the new timetable will be updated in November.

“Our plan is to maximise the use of the existing rolling stock. It can be done in two ways – if we have a train that is waiting somewhere to return, we can use it during the lie over period. In the new timetable around 50 such trains which will be run like this. Fifty-one trains will immediately see reduced run time from one to three hours. This will go up to more than 500 trains,” the official said.

The railways has started internal audits through which 50 mail and express trains will be upgraded to super-fast services.

The audit exercise is part of an overhaul of the rail system to increase the average speed of existing trains, the official said.

Trains such as the Bhopal-Jodhpur Express will reach 95 minutes early while the Guwahati-Indore Special will complete its 2,330-km journey 115 minutes early and the 1929-km journey of the Ghazipur-Bandra Terminus Express will be completed 95 minutes earlier.

The halt times of trains at stations have also been reduced by the Indian Railways. In another move to reduce travel time of trains, the Railways has decided that trains will not stop at stations with low footfall.

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

The railways is also in the process of reviewing permanent speed restrictions.

The Indian Railways will soon cut short the running time of over 500 long distance trains by up to two hours, a senior railway official said today.

The new timings will be updated in the November timetable of the railways, he said.

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.

“Our plan is to maximise the use of the existing rolling stock. It can be done in two ways – if we have a train that is waiting somewhere to return, we can use it during the lie over period.

“In the new timetable around 50 such trains which will be run like this. Fifty-one trains will immediately see reduced run time from one to three hours. This will go up to more than 500 trains,” the official said.

The railways has started the exercise of an internal audit through which 50 mail and express trains will be upgraded to super-fast services.

This is part of an overhaul of the rail system of increasing the average speed of existing trains, he said.

Trains such as the Bhopal-Jodhpur Express will reach 95 minutes early while the Guwahati-Indore Special will complete its 2,330-km journey 115 minutes early and the 1929-km journey of the Ghazipur-Bandra Terminus Express will be completed 95 minutes earlier.

The national transporter has also reduced the halt time of trains at stations. Similarly, trains will not stop at stations where footfall is less.

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.

The railways has also in the process of reviewing permanent speed restrictions.

The Railway Board has empowered Divisional Railway Managers (DRM) to re-engage retired rail personnel for appropriate posts in the sector. In a letter dated October 16, the board gave the power to the DRMs to employ pensioners at their discretion. “Divisional railway managers are empowered to re-engage retired employees. Railway should give publicity to such re-engagement by putting it on railway websites,” the letter said. The board said those re-appointed can only be in service till they are 62. The retirement age of employees is 60.

The monthly remuneration of such employees would be determined by “reducing pension from his last pay drawn”, it said.

The board has also laid down some conditions for re- engagement.

Retired employees being re-appointed should not have been covered under voluntary retirement schemes such as the Safety Related Retirement Scheme or Liberalised Active Retirement Scheme for Guaranteed Employment for Safety Staff, the letter stated.

“While re-engagement of such staff, medical fitness of the appropriate category should be obtained from the designated authorities as per existing practices,” it said.

The Northern Railways has already released a notification inviting retired railway employees to apply for 4,500 vacant positions in various departments.

The board’s letter also said suitability or competence of the staff should be adjudged before the re-engagement and their safety record as well as other operational requirements adequately addressed.

The offer for re-engagement, the board said, stands till September 14, 2018, and they have to be discharged once selected candidates join from the Railway Recruitment Board.

Robbers struck a compartment of the Haridwar Express train and looted jewellery, cash and mobile phones from members of two families near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, the police said.

The incident took place on Wednesday night when five members of the two families were returning home after performing post-death rituals in Haridwar, they said.

The families came to know of the loot in the morning at the Kota railway station.

Following the incident, the Government Railway Police (GRP), Kota has lodged a zero number FIR against unidentified persons.

Sanjay Jaiswal, a resident of Vigyannagar area, along with his wife and son, and Rajesh Sain, a resident of the Mala Road area here, accompanied by his brother were victims of the loot, SHO, GRP, Kota, Ganga Sahay said.

The much-awaited Rajdhani Express, connecting Agartala with New Delhi, would be launched soon, Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) sources said today.

A train with 19 coaches, two power vans and two pantry cars reached Agartala railway station on Saturday, the sources said.

“The coaches have arrived but the date of inauguration and the name of the dignitary who would be launching the service are yet to be finalized. The process for ensuring a hassle-free journey has begun,” the chief Public Relations Officer of NFR, Pranab Jyoti Sharma told PTI over phone.

Chief operations manager AK Biswas, who looks after freight and passenger train operations, also expressed his ignorance over the date of launch of the new service.

The finance ministry plans to reimburse the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s (IRCTC) for losses incurred from waiving off service charges on online tickets.

Compensation of around Rs 80-100 crore, which is the actual cost and not the margins borne by IRCTC, is likely to be offered. IRCTC has quoted costs of Rs 600 crore per year including actual costs plus margin.

IRCTC is hoping the ministry’s gesture will wipe out financial glitches ahead of it’s IPO.

“In the earlier model, of the Rs 600 crore IRCTC used to collect as service charges annually, 50 percent used to go to the railways and the balance was retained by IRCTC. However, since processes are now mostly computerised, cost of operations has reduced,” a ministry of railways official told the paper.

The service charges at Rs 20, Rs 40, Rs 80, and Rs 120 for the tickets, were waived off in November last year after demonetisation. Till date, it is unclear whether the ministry will bear the cost of online ticketing services for every year. Customers cannot be levied with the service charge till March 2018.

The Railways and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will work together to ensure improved safety standards of the food being served in trains. The food regulator said it will also get a third party safety audit done soon.

“Our role will be to partner with the Railways and bring in systemic changes and improvements. Therefore, we will be getting a third party food safety audit done soon. This is not going to be an accounts or a performance audit, but a food safety audit which will help us understand the gaps within their systems in terms food safety,” Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI told.

The Railways was in the news recently when an incident in the high-profile Tejas Express was reported wherein 24-26 people were hospitalised after “food poisoning”. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), however, denied any food quality issues in its preliminary probe report. Incidentally, CAG in its report, earlier had also termed the food served in trains as “unfit” for human consumption.

In the new catering policy, IRCTC has called for zones of the Indian Railways or IRCTC to ensure good quality and hygienic food to passengers.

However, ensuring quality processes across the supply chain for food served is a huge challenge, given that Railways has over 7,000 stations and moves over 2.2 crore passengers every day.

IRCTC serves about four-five lakh meals a day in about 350 trains where it has pantry cars. It will be modernising its base kitchens at 12 locations — where the proposed meal production is expected to be 5.7 lakh a day.

Third party audit of mobile units and base kitchen is to be undertaken by zonal railway periodically, by hiring an independent agency in accordance with Catering Policy 2017.

As regards the premium Tejas Express, which runs between Mumbai and Goa, catering services are optional for passengers and are factored in the fare. However, if a passenger asks for catering services at a later stage, an extra ₹50 per cent per service is levied, in addition to the cost of catering charges.

To spruce up its catering quality, IRCTC plans to set up new kitchens and upgrade the existing ones, which will be owned, operated and managed by it, and it shall be fully accountable for all issues pertaining to the base kitchens and quality of food.

All four base kitchens under departmental operation of Zonal Railways (Nagpur, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai Central and Balharshah) and all kitchen units — refreshment rooms at A1 and A category stations, Jan Ahaar, Cell Kitchens shall be handed over to IRCTC on ‘as is where is basis’.

It also plans to introduce station based e-catering, pre-cooked food (‘ready to eat’ meals) , operation of centralised Catering Service Monitoring Cell for prompt redressal of passenger grievances relating to catering.