Page 4 - Railway Ministry

Train services affected as protestors block railway tracks in Jalpaiguri

Train services were affected as members of the All Kamtapur Students' Union (AKSU) blocked the railway tracks in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district on Friday morning to press for their demand for a separate state. The blockade at the Betgara station in the New Jalpaiguri-New Bongaigaon section of the Northeast Frontier Railway began at 7 am, officials said. The blockade has disrupted train services on the all-important route. Among the trains affected were the New Jalpaiguri-Guwahati Vande Bharat Express, they said. Officers of the RPF and the state police were talking to the protestors, and trying to persuade them to remove the blockade, they added. The protesters said the blockade would continue till 7 pm, but railway officials said they were hopeful of an earlier resumption of services. The protesters raised slogans against both the TMC and BJP for not fulfilling their demand. The AKSU is the students' wing of the Kamtapur People's Party United, which is agitating for a separat

Revamped stations will reflect, promote cultural heritage of city: Vaishnaw

Railway stations are an integral part of culture and people's day-to-day life and these should reflect, protect and promote an area's cultural heritage, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, citing redevelopment projects in Ayodhya and Puri. While the architecture of the facade of the redeveloped station in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh embraces tradition in a line with the upcoming Ram temple there, the redeveloped Puri station will reflect the traditional architectural features of the famed Jagannath Temple. "The more you gel a railway station with a city the better it is. Development should be such that cultural heritage should get a place in it. It should be protected and reflected significantly," the minister told PTI in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. He was in the city to review its station's redevelopment. In 2021, the Railway Ministry had launched the Amrit Station Scheme. Under it, 1,309 railway junctions are being redeveloped with a special focus on safety and amenities for ...

Every passenger gets 55% concession on train journeys, says Vaishnaw

Every passenger gets 55 per cent concession on train journeys, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said regarding demands to restore pre-Covid fare concessions for senior citizens and media persons. Without giving any direct reply to questions by media persons on the restoration of concessions, Vaishnaw said, "The Indian Railway is already offering 55 per cent concession on train fares to every train passenger. Vaishnaw was in Ahmedabad to review the progress of the ongoing bullet train project among other things. Before the COVID-19 lockdown imposed in March 2020, the Railways offered 50 per cent concession on train fares to senior citizens and government-accredited journalists. Railway operations were completely shut down during the lockdown but when its full-fledged resumption in June 2022, the Railway Ministry didn't restore these concessions and since then the issue has been raised on various platforms, including in both houses of parliament. Vaishnaw maintained a similar stand

Electrification of railways on the slow track, 41% of FY24 target met

Centre had planned 100% electrification by 2023, nearly there at 94%

93.83% of total 65,556 km broad gauge route electrified: Railways

Out of the total 65,556 km of the broad gauge route, 61,508 km or 93.83 per cent has been electrified, the Ministry of Railway said on Monday. During the calendar year 2023, the Indian Railways has achieved 6,577 route km electrification, it said in a statement. With a vision of providing an eco-friendly, faster and energy-efficient mode of transport, the railways is marching ahead towards 100 per cent electrification of broad gauge tracks, the statement said. "Until 2014, 21,801 km of the broad gauge network was electrified," it said. Highlighting the benefits of electrification of tracks, the ministry said it reduces operative cost and makes the railway an environment-friendly mode of transport. Electrification also improves movement of heavier freight and longer passenger trains because of better working capacity of electric locomotives, it added. The ministry is of the view that electrification reduces "dependence on imported crude oil, thereby saving precious foreign currenc

REC Ltd, RVNL sign Rs 35,000 crore MoU to finance infrastructure projects

REC will be financing diverse projects including logistics hubs, rail, road, port, and metro over the next 5 years

Investments worth Rs 14 trillion in the works for rail overhaul: Vaishnaw

We are increasing the passenger capacity to 10 billion. By 2030, waiting lists will not exist, said Ashwini Vaishnaw

Texmaco Rail & Engineering secures Rs 1,374 cr order from Indian Railways

Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd on Wednesday said it has secured an order worth Rs 1,374.41 crore from the Ministry of Railways for manufacture and supply of 3,400 wagons. The order is to be executed in three tranches by December 2025, the company said in a regulatory filing. "Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) vide its Letter of Acceptance has awarded an order to the company for manufacture and supply of 3,400 BOXNS wagons," it said. The first tranche of 1,133 wagons is to be delivered by December 31, 2024 while the second tranche of 1,133 wagons is to be delivered by June 30, 2025. The last tranche of 1,134 wagons is to be delivered by December 31, 2025. The total value of the order is about Rs 1,374.41 crore, the company said.

Railways give thumbs up to Rs 1 trn plan to do away with waiting lists

The Indian Railways plans to procure 7,000-8,000 new train sets over the next 15 years to make train travel more efficient and eliminate waiting lists

Rail would need over 30 bn units of power after full electrification: Govt

The railways would require around 30.13 billion units of electricity after 100 per cent electrification of its broad gauge lines, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has informed the Lok Sabha. In a written reply on December 13 to a query by BJP MP Rajesh Chudasama who wanted to know the electrification status, he said the railways is progressively procuring renewable energy from different sources for its present and future requirements. Chudasama also sought to know the expected consumption after 100 per cent electrification and "the manner in which Railways is likely to ensure that the increased electricity demand is met through renewable sources". In his reply, Vaishnaw said, "Based on the present electricity consumption for traction purposes of Indian Railways, the expected increase in electricity consumption after 100 per cent electrification is estimated to be about 30.13 billion units. The actual demand will depend on the future passenger and goods traffic over Indian ...

Railways filled up over 294,000 vacancies in last five years: Vaishnaw

More than 90% of the candidates recruited are in safety and operational categories, he added

RBI authorises Bandhan Bank to disburse pension to retired railway workers

City-based private lender Bandhan Bank on Wednesday said it has been authorised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to disburse pension to retired railways employees. In a statement, the bank said the lender will shortly integrate its system with the railways ministry to operationalise the pension disbursement process. The mandate will give the bank access to around 50,000 retirees each year across 17 zonal offices and eight production units of the railways across the country. Debraj Saha, head (government business), Bandhan Bank, said, "Indian Railways is one of the largest employers in the country. This will help pensioners to get access to competitive rates offered by the bank and other products of the lender.

Western Railway collects Rs 115.71 crore during ticket checking drives

In November 2023, the highest ever monthly ticket checking revenue of Rs 21.20 cr in the financial year 2023-24, was recovered through the detection of 2.94 Lakh ticketless and irregular passengers

Railways decides to stop engine compartment inspection by assistant drivers

To ensure safe operations, the Railway Board has decided to stop the age-old practice of engine compartment inspection by the assistant driver leaving the driver alone in a running train. Train drivers, also called loco pilots or LPs, have welcomed the decision, saying in view of the upgraded and modern cabin (engine), which triggers safety indication for any machine fault, manual inspection of various machine compartments inside the engine has become a redundant practice. "Taking safety as paramount into consideration, it has been decided by the competent authority that inspection of machine room/HT (High Tension) compartment after every neutral section by ALPs/Co LPs on run may be stopped, the board said in a letter addressed to the general managers of all railway zones. Loco pilots said that when engines that run on electricity with the help of overhead equipment (OHE) shift from one phase of electricity to another, they pass through a neural section where there is no power ...

Special Cleanliness Campaign: Railways earn Rs 66 lakh from scrap disposal

The Ministry of Railways generated a revenue of more than Rs 66 lakh through disposal of office scrap during the first 13 days of its Special Cleanliness Campaign 3.0, an official statement said on Sunday. As a result of scrap disposal, the ministry also managed to free 3,97,619 sqft of space that can be utilised for other purposes, it said. The Special Cleanliness Campaign 3.0 started on October 1 and will go on till October 31. The Railways' zonal headquarters, divisional offices, production units, Research Design and Standards Organisation, training institutes and more than 7,000 stations are being covered under the campaign, according to the statement. The Railways has set a target of conducting 10,722 cleanliness drives till October 31. As part of this campaign, special focus is on scrap disposal in offices and workplace, and a target of freeing 3,18,504 sq. feet of space has been set, the statement said. "To achieve these targets, more than 5,297 cleanliness campaigns have b

Railway ministry generates Rs 67 lakh revenue from scrap disposal

Bringing the best out of waste, the Ministry of Railways earned around Rs 66.83 lakh by selling scrap till October 13 under its Special Campaign 3.0

National average coal stock at season's low ahead of festival demand

Coal, rail ministries confident stock will replenish by mid-month

No politics behind orange Vande Bharat trains, says Rly minister Vaishnaw

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a recent interaction with journalists dismissed the notion that there is any politics behind launching orange-colour Vande Bharat trains, saying the choice of colours was informed by scientific thought. "For human eyes, two colours are supposed to be the most visible - yellow and orange. In Europe, almost 80 per cent of trains have either orange or a combination of yellow and orange," Vaishnaw said. "There are many other colours, such as silver, which are bright like yellow and orange but if we talk about it from the point of view of visibility to the human eye, these two colours are considered to be the best," he added. Vaishnaw asserted there is no politics behind it and it is a 100 per cent scientific thought. He said it is due to these reasons black boxes in aircrafts and ships are of orange colour. "Even rescue boats and life jackets, which National Disaster Response Force uses, are of orange colour." The Indian Railway launched its first

Higher coal movement takes rail freight growth to 6.7% in September

Much of this growth was led by coal freight, which rose by 9.4 per cent to 59.7 mt in September, owing to higher coal demand at thermal power plants across the country

Rail min sanctions FLS for new line between Japur Keonjhar Road-Dhamra port

The Ministry of Railways has sanctioned the final location survey (FLS) for a new line between Jajpur Keonjhar Road and Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district, a stretch of 96 km, official sources said. The ministry has sanctioned Rs 2.4 crore for conducting the survey. Important religious and tourist destinations like Akhandalamani temple at Aradi Pitha and Navigaya at Birajakhetra, Jajpur district headquarters town will be covered, an official release issued by the East Coast Railways said. Stating that this is a long standing demand of the people of Jajpur and Bhadrak districts, the official said the line will connect tourism spots of Jajpur, Kendrapara and Bhadrak districts. Apart from this, the proposed line will also economically viable for easy transportation of minerals from Keonjhar district, finished products from the industrial belt in Jajpur and Angul districts to Dhamra port and vice-versa. The proposed new railway line is a part of the vision 'Purvoday' of Prime Minister of