Indian Railways News

Indian Railways News

Home First Finance IPO Opens Today

Home First Finance’s initial public offering (IPO) opens for subscription today i.e. January 21. The public issue will close on January 25. This will be the third IPO in 2021 after the public offers by Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) and Indigo Paints. The shares of Home First Finance are likely to be listed on the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty on February 3.

Meanwhile, Indigo Paints IPO opened on the previous day i.e. January 21 and was subscribed by 1.90 times on the very first day of bidding.

Home First Finance’s ₹ 1,153.71-crore IPO comprises a fresh issue of ₹ 265 crore and an offer for sale of ₹ 888.72 crore by promoters and existing shareholders.

Investors can bid for a minimum one lot of 28 equity shares and in multiples up to 13 lots. The shares are being offered in the price band of ₹ 517-518 per share. A total of up to 50 per cent of the issue will be reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), 35 per cent for the retail category and 15 per cent for non-institutional group.

Founded in 2010, Home First Finance is an affordable housing finance company that provides home loans to customers in the low and middle-income segments. It operates in 60 districts across 11 states and a Union Territory and had a sizeable presence in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Comments Axis Capital, Credit Suisse Securities (India), ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company are the book running lead managers to Home First Finance’s IPO. KFintech Private Limited is the registrar to the issue.

Indian Railway Finance Corporation IPO Opens Today

Indian Railway Finance Corporation’s initial public offer (IPO) opens for subscription today i.e. January 18. The IPO will be open until January 20 and the shares will be offered in the price band of Rs 25-26 per share. The shares will be listed on the bourses on January 29, 2021.

The IPO consists of sale of up to 178.20 crore shares, including a fresh issue of up to 118.80 crore and offer-for-sale of up to 59.40 crore shares by the government. IRFC will raise ₹ 4,633.38 crore at the higher range of the price band of ₹ 25-26 per share.

Investors can bid for a minimum one lot of 575 shares and in multiples up to 13 lots, amounting to 7,475 shares. The net proceeds from the share sale will be used by the company to meet its future capital requirements and for general corporate purposes.

DAM Capital Advisors, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India), ICICI Securities and SBI Capital Markets are the book running lead managers to the public issue.

Incorporated in 1986, IRFC is the market borrowing arm of Indian Railways that finances purchase of rolling stock assets, leasing of railway infrastructure assets and lending to other entities under the Ministry of Railways.

Eastern Railways To Begin E-Catering Services At Select Stations Soon

Cooked food supply to passengers in trains under e-catering services, which were suspended as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-19, will resume soon in the Eastern Railway (ER) zone, an official said in Kolkata on Sunday.

The e-catering services will be restarted soon at Howrah, Sealdah, Kolkata, Durgapur, Asansol, Malda and Bhagalpur stations under the jurisdiction of the ER, he said.

There are plans to add Barddhaman, Bolpur and Jamalpur in the list of stations from where the e-catering services are provided, the ER spokesperson said.

With the resumption of several long-distance and special trains, there was a growing demand to resume the services for supplying “hot, healthy and hygienic food to the passengers in the trains by nominated vendors of IRCTC”, he said.

The Railway Board has allowed IRCTC to resume the services at selected stations, he said, adding that this will be provided in strict adherence to the COVID protocols.

Under e-catering, services are provided by a large number of food aggregators empanelled by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd, he said.

A New Look Delhi Railway Station: Stunning Photos Shared By Piyush Goyal

Union Railway Minister Piyush Goel has revealed what New Delhi Railway Station could look like in a few years once it is revamped according to the Central government’s plan. The swanky, futuristic new landmark of the national capital is likely to be a world away from today’s congested, dusty one if his projection is anything to go by.

The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) is set to hold virtual roadshows for the 95-year-old station’s redevelopment, seeking participation from investors and developers the world over in the estimated $680 million project. The online events will be organised between January 14 and 19 and will seek bids for 61 other such projects, too.

Based on this Mr Goyal on Thursday tweeted a few pictures – artists’ impressions – of what the station would look like, saying, “Envisaging an enriched passenger experience with complete integration of different modes of transport, take a look at the future of New Delhi Railway Station.”

“The project is attracting interest from various stakeholders, and we intend to sustain the momentum through virtual roadshows,” RLDA Vice-Chairman Ved Parkash Dudeja said in the release.

RLDA is a statutory body set up in 1989 under the Railway Ministry to develop assets based on the national transporter’s land bank that could be put to commercial use to generate revenue.

New Delhi Railway Station would be developed on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer model, RLDA has said, for a concession period of 60 years. The project is expected to incur a capital expenditure of around $680 million, the release said.

The station, located in the heart of Delhi, is close to the national capital’s prime commercial hub, Connaught Place, and is connected to the Indira Gandhi International Airport through a Delhi Metro line. It was opened in 1926 and handles around 5.2 lakh passengers every single day arriving or departing on over 350 trains, according to Norther Railways.

10 Suspected Rohingya Arrested From Rajdhani Express In Bengal

Ten people, suspected to be illegal Rohingya immigrants, were arrested from a Rajdhani Express train at the New Jalpaiguri station in West Bengal, a railway official said on Wednesday.

Among them were three men, two women and five children, he said.

They had allegedly crossed over on January 10 from Comilla in Bangladesh to Sonamura in Tripura and had boarded the train at Agartala on January 11 with the help of an agent, the official said.

They had fled from the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh’s Cox Bazar.

All of them were handed over to the GRP at New Jalpaiguri for appropriate legal action, the spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier Railway said.

The train superintendent during ticket checking on the Agartala-New Delhi Rajdhani Express found them to be suspicious and informed the railway police, he said.

Comments As the train arrived at New Jalpaiguri around 1.40 pm on Tuesday they were arrested and immediately de-boarded.

Kumbh Mela 2021: Check Out The Special Trains And Latest News

The Indian Railways will run special trains for the Kumbh Mela set to start at Haridwar on Makar Sankranti, January 14. “Indian Railways has started preparing for the Kumbh Mela 2021…special trains will operate on various routes for devotees and tourists to reach Haridwar…,” the Railways tweeted in Hindi and posted pictures of preparations. The railway station at Haridwar has been cleaned and painted for the Maha Kumbh Mela happening after a gap of 12 years. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Utarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on Friday launched an awareness campaign in Haridwar. According to an official statement, eight teams of the SDRF have been deployed in the ‘Kumbh Kshetra’ to carry out the campaign and educate more than 11,000 local residents, devotees and others combating the pandemic situation.

Kumbh Mela 2021: Special Kumbh trains

02369/02370 Howrah-Dehradun-Howrah Super Fast Special will run 5 days a week from January 13
02369 Howrah-Dehradun-Howrah Super Fast Special will run till April 29. Train will not run on Tuesday and Friday.
02370 Howrah-Dehradun-Howrah Super Fast Special will run till April 30. Train will leave Dehradun at 10:10 PM; won’t run on Wednesday and Saturday.
02327/02328 Howrah-Dehradun-Howrah Super Fast Special 
02327 Howrah-Dehradun-Howrah will run from January 12 to April 30 every Tuesday and Friday
02328 Howrah-Dehradun-Howrah will run from January 13 to May 1 from Dehradun at 10:10 PM on Wednesdays and Saturdays
03009/03010 Howrah-Yoganagari Rishikesh-Howrah (daily) will run from January 12
03009 Howrah-Yoganagari Rishikesh-Howrah will run till April 30
03010 Howrah-Yoganagari Rishikesh-Howrah will run from Yoganagri Rishikesh at 8:50 PM from January 14 to May 2
03239 Patna-Kota Special will run from Patna every Monday and Friday
03240 Kota-Patna Special will run from January 12.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Saturday asked officials to deploy a special Covid officer for the Kumbh Mela. Reviewing preparations for the Maha Kumbh, Mr Rawat authorized officials and the Garhwal commissioner to sanction works worth up to ₹ 2 crore and ₹ 5 crore. The Chief Minister also said a committee of experienced engineers and senior officers should be set up to help the Garhwal commissioner sanction works related to Kumbh.

Woman Sells Social Distancing Signs Taken From Train As Crop Tops

A fashion student from the UK has gone viral for trying to sell a rail company’s social distancing signs as crop tops. Mhari Thurston-Tyler turned social distancing seat covers from Chiltern Railways into crop tops and tried to sell them on shopping app Depop for 15 pounds each, reports BBC.

Depop said the item “clearly violates our terms of service” and warned Ms Thurston-Tyler not to sell prohibited items on the app.

The blue seat covers from Chiltern Railways – a British train operating company – encourage passengers to maintain social distancing and read: “Keep this seat free to maintain social distancing when possible”.

Ms Thurston-Tyler’s Depop listing, which has now been removed, advertised the seat covers as “social distancing railway crop top.”

“Got a few of these, can do sizes,” she wrote. “Message me before buying or with questions / offers.”

The listing went viral on social media after being shared by Depop Drama’s Twitter and Instagram accounts.

She told Metro News that she found the signs discarded on the floor outside London’s Marylebone station.

“I am struggling financially and thought I could try and make some money off it so put it on Depop,” she said. “‘I also thought it would be an interesting article of clothing a few years down the line as it is quintessentially not normal and extraordinary as a concept to me.”

She said she refunded a customer who bought the crop top for 15 pounds and took down her listing as she did not want to be accused to theft.

Comments “I didn’t steal it but I understand it’s not right to re-sell it,” she said.

Golden Quadrilateral-Golden Diagonal: Trains To Operate At Speed Of 130 Kmph

Indian Railways authorities have increased the maximum speed to 130 km per hour for operating trains on the 1,280 km long route out of the total 1,612 km long Golden Quadrilateral – Golden Diagonal (GQ-GD). The route covers the entire GQ-GD route over the South Central Railway zone, except the Vijayawada – Duvvada section, where a signaling up-gradation task is in progress, according to a recent statement released by the Railway Ministry. According to the approved plan of increasing the speed of trains to 130 km per hour, the South Central Railway zone will boost the maximum speed limits along the following routes:

1. Golden Diagonal (Grand Trunk) Route – 744 route km:
Ballarshah to Kazipet – 234 route km
Kazipet-Vijayawada-Gudur – 510 route km

2. Golden Quadrilateral Route (Chennai-Mumbai section) – 536 route km:
Renigunta to Gooty – 281 route km
Gooty to Wadi- 255 route km

The maximum speed limits along the high-density network between 132 km section of Secunderabad – Kazipet had been increased to 130 kmph. Including both the up and down rail lines in these sections, a total of 2,824 kms or 1412 route km is now capable to operate trains with a speed of 130 kmph. It covers the entire Golden Quadrilateral – Golden Diagonal route over South Central Railways, except the Vijayawada – Duvvada section, where the signaling up-gradation task is in progress.

Comments Meanwhile, the Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways network recently announced that the speed of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Mumbai – Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Superfast special or the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express has been decided to be increased, including the provision of an additional halt at Gwalior on the route. It would result in reducing the overall travel time of the journey and improving passenger’s experience.

Indian Railways Extends Time Limit For Claiming Refund On Cancelled Train Tickets

Indian Railways has extended the time limit beyond six months and up to nine months from the date of the journey for cancellation of passenger reservation system (PRS) counter tickets and for claiming refund of fare across reservation counters. According to a statement released by the Railway Ministry, the time limit is extended for the tickets between the journey period – March 21, 2020 to July 31, 2020. The relaxation has been given for the submission of PRS counter tickets up to six months from the date of the journey. This relaxation is applicable only for the regular timetabled trains cancelled by Indian Railways.

In case of those train tickets cancelled through 139 or through the official e-ticketing IRCTC website, the time limit for surrendering of such tickets for the above-mentioned journey period, across reservation counter, is upto nine months from the date of journey. After the lapse of six months from the date of the journey, many railway passengers may have deposited the tickets to the claims office of zonal railways through ticket deposit receipt (TDR) or through the general application along with original train tickets. The full refund of fare on such PRS counter tickets will also be allowed for such passengers.

Earlier, the guidelines for cancellation of tickets and refund of fare in view of the COVID-19 situation were issued. As per instructions for trains cancelled by Indian Railways, the relaxation has been given for submission of the PRS counter tickets upto six months from the date of journey, instead of three days excluding the day to journey. In case the PRS counter tickets are cancelled through 139 or through the IRCTC website, the refund across the counter will be provided upto six months from the date of journey.

The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) introduced a new rule for train ticket booking in November 2020. Seats are now available five minutes before the train leaves the station, as the railway authorities restored the pre-COVID system of preparing the second reservation chart half an hour before the departure time of the train.

Indian Railways Freight Loading Records 8.54% Growth In December 2020

Indian Railways freight loading in December 2020 registered an 8.56 per cent growth as compared to figures recorded in the same month of 2019. According to a statement released by the Railway Ministry, Indian Railways freight loading was 118.13 million tonnes last month, which is 8.54 per cent higher as compared to 108.84 million tonnes loaded in 2019 for the same month. Indian Railways authorities earned Rs 11788.11 crores from the freight loading which is also ₹ 757.74 crores, almost 6.87 per cent higher as compared to earnings in the same month of 2019, which was reported at ₹ 11030.37 crore.

With these figures, Indian Railways freight loading for the month of December 2020 breached the loading figures and earnings registered during the same month in 2019. The total freight loading of 118.13 million tonnes registered last month, included 50.67 million tonnes of coal,  6.13 million tonnes of foodgrains, 15.31 million tonnes of iron ore,  4.3 million tonnes of mineral oil, 5.23 million tonnes of fertilizers, and 7.46 million tonnes of cement (excluding clinker).

Meanwhile, recently, the first fully operational section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor’s (EDFC) Bhaupur – Khurja section was inaugurated on December 29, where Indian Railways’ indigenous Alstom’s WAG 12 e-locomotive was flagged off for the opening run on the freight corridor. The section has a 351 km long track and has been built at a cost of ₹ 5750 crore. The Bhaupur – Khurja section will increase the speed of goods trains and decongest the Kanpur-Delhi rail line.

Along with the freight corridor, an operation control centre situated at Prayagraj was also inaugurated, which will be the nerve-center of the entire eastern dedicated freight corridor project. It is one of the world’s largest centres for railways and is built by multinational rolling stock manufacturer Alstom.