Category Archives: Indian Railway

Indian Railways is the fourth largest Railway in the world and mass transporter of freight and passenger. Know more about the Life line of the nation…

2600 More Shramik Special Trains in next 10 days

  • Indian Railways to operationalise 2600 More Shramik Special Trains in next 10 days.

  • The decision is going to benefit around 36 lakhs stranded migrants.

  • Indian Railways has run 2600 Shramik Special Trains in last 23 days.

  • Around 36 lakhs stranded migrants have been transported till now to their home States.

While the country is battling with the pandemic COVID-19, Indian Railways is leaving no stone unturned to bring respite to the severely affected during this crucial time. In a constant endeavour to provide relief to migrants to reach home State,In a major decision, Ministry of Railways has decided to operationalise  2600 more Shramik Special Trains in next ten days across the country as per the needs of State Governments.This initiative is expected to benefit 36 lakh stranded passengers across the country.

Indian Railways  started running “Shramik Special” trains from 01 May 2020

It may be noted that Indian Railways  started running “Shramik Special” trains from 01 May 2020,  to move migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places due to lock down. These special trains are being run from point to point on the request of both the concerned State Governments as per the standard protocols for sending and receiving such stranded persons. The Railways and State Governments have appointed senior officials as Nodal Officers for coordination and smooth operation of these “Shramik Specials”. 

Indian Railways has run 2600 Shramik Special Trains  in last 23 days

Around 36 lakhs stranded migrants have been transported till now to their home States.

Indian Railways  beginning train services from 1st June

It is to be noted that apart from Shramik Special Trains, Ministry of Railways has started 15 pairs of Special Trains wef. 12.05.2020 and announced 200 train services to be started from wef 01st June, 2020.

CORONA TIME QUIZ

Corona time quiz

IR operationalises its most powerful indigenous locomotive

Built in Madhepura, Bihar

Indian Railways operationalises its most powerful 12,000 HP indigenous locomotive. Built in Madhepura, Bihar with state of the art facilities, India becomes 6th country to manufacture high HP loco indigenously.

Feature of indigenous locomotive WAG12B
  • Indian Railways operationalises its most powerful 12000 HP made in India locomotive

  • Proud moment for Indian Railways, as it became 6th country in the world to join the elite club of producing high horse power locomotive indigenously.

  • It is the first time, high horse power locomotive has been operationalised on broad gauge track in the world.

  • The locomotive has been produced under Make in India programme.

  • The locomotive has made its maiden commercial run between Deen Dayal Upadhaya Station to Shivpur on 18.05.2020

  • Manufactured by Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL), locomotive operated from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn

  • These locomotives are state of the art IGBT based, 3 phase drive and 12000 horse power electric locomotive.

  • These high horse power locomotives will help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving average speed and loading capacity of freight trains

If you can answer 6 or more of these 10 CORONA time questions, your knowledge is pretty damn solid!

Are you ready? Take CORNA TIME Quiz – 1

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CORONA Time Quiz – 1

Can you answer these Simple quiestions

quiz is a form of game or mind sport, attempt to answer questions correctly.

Welcome to your Corona time quiz#1

Name

1. PM Modi announced a stimulus package, equivalent to about 10% of India’s GDP?

2. What are the most common symptoms of COVID-19?

3. Indian Railways decided to run “Shramik Special” trains form?

4. Indian Railway, resumed its Train services (100 Pair Trains) from?

5. Post COVID-19, use of Face mask may be the new normal?

6.

Recently, Indian Railway operationalises its most powerful ‘made in India’ locomotive?

7. Indian Railways suspended its all passenger trains from midnight of?

8.

Due to Corona pandemic, Govt. employees will not get a hike in Dearness Allowance till?

9.

How much of GDP is spent on healthcare in India?

10.

Indian Railways celebrated its foundation day on 16th April 2020?

Train ticket through reservation counters resumed from May’22

Indian Railways is going to open reservation counters for booking of reserved tickets in a phased manner.

  • Zonal Railways have been instructed to decide and notify the opening of reservation counters in a phased manner tomorrow along with dissemination of information about their locations and timings as per local needs and conditions
  • Opening of booking centers will mark an important step in graded restoration of passenger railway services.

Indian Railways has also allowed booking of Reservation Tickets through the Common Service Centers and Ticketing agents w.e.f 22.05.2020. Running of Shramik Special trains will continue to be handled by local State Governments as per the existing protocols. Zonal railways may adhere to standard social distancing guidelines and observe the hygiene protocols in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: PIB Release dtd 21.05.2020

Most powerful locomotive 12000 HP operationalises- Made in India

  • Indian Railways operationalises its most powerful 12000 HP made in India locomotive

  • Proud moment for Indian Railways, as it became 6th country in the world to join the elite club of producing high horse power locomotive indigenously.

  • It is the first time, high horse power locomotive has been operationalised on broad gauge track in the world.

  • The locomotive has been produced under Make in India programme.

  • The locomotive has made its maiden commercial run between Deen Dayal Upadhaya Station to Shivpur on 18.05.2020

  • Manufactured by Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL), locomotive operated from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn

  • These locomotives are state of the art IGBT based, 3 phase drive and 12000 horse power electric locomotive.

  • These high horse power locomotives will help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving average speed and loading capacity of freight trains

New Design Locomotive at Madhepura Factory

The loco is named WAG12 with Number 60027. The train departed from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Station at 14:08 hrs in long haul formation for Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway, consisting of 118 wagons which travelled from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn to Barwadih via Dehri-on-Sone, Garhwa Road.

It was a proud moment for Indian Railways, as it became 6th country in the world to join the elite club of producing high horse power locomotive indigenously. It is the first time, high horse power locomotive has been operationalised on broad gauge track in the world. The locomotive has been produced under Make in India programme. The Madhepura factory is the largest integrated Green Field facility built to the highest standards of quality and safety with production capacity of 120 locomotives and spread across a massive 250 acres.

Source: PIB Release dated 19.05.2020

23.5 lacs passengers transported through “Shramik Special” trains

Indian Railways  transports  more than 23.5 lacs passengers to their home states through “Shramik Special” trains in 20 days
Indian Railways operationalise 1773 “Shramik Special” trains till 20th May, 2020 (till 10:00 hrs) across the country
A total of 205 “Shramik Specials”, highest so far in a single day,  were operationalized with more than 2.5 lacs passengers

Indian Railways decided to operate “Shramik Special” trains form 1st May 2020. 

Subsequent to the Ministry of Home Affairs order regarding movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places by special trains, Indian Railways had decided to operate “Shramik Special” trains form 1st May 2020. 

These 1773 trains were originated from various states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh UT, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Puducherry UT, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.

Also, these Shramik Special Trains were terminated in various States like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand,  West Bengal,

Screening of passengers

Proper screening of passengers is ensured before boarding the train. During the journey, passengers are given free meals and water.

Source: PIB release date 20.05.2020

Train Services resumption from 1st June 2020, only E-ticketing

LIST OF 200 (100 PAIRS) MAIL/EXPRESS TRAINS TO BE RUN FROM 01/06/20

Booking of all these trains will commence from 10 am on 21/05/20.

Graded Restoration of Train services…

Highlights:-
  • Move to help migrants as well who wish to travel other than Shramik Trains.
  • These rules are for trains other than Shramik trains, which will continue to run in bigger numbers.
  • 100 pairs of Trains listed- see the list here.
  • Norms made for Booking of Tickets & Charting, Quota, Concessions, Cancellation & Refunds, Health Screening, Catering, Linen etc
  • Booking of all these trains will commence from 10 am on 21/05/20.
  • Other regular Passenger services including all mail/express, passenger and suburban services shall remain cancelled until further advice.
  • There will be no unreserved coach in the train.
  • Fare shall be as normal and for General (GS) coaches, being reserved, second seating(2S) fare shall be charged and seat will be provided to all the passengers.
  • Only online E-Ticketing will be done through IRCTC website or through Mobile App. No tickets will be booked across the reservation counter on any Railway Station.
  • The ARP (advance reservation period) shall be maximum 30 days.
  • Only passengers with Confirmed tickets shall be allowed to enter the Railway station.
  • Screening to be done before boarding and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to enter /board the train.
  • Concessions for four categories of Divyangjan concession and 11 categories of patient concessions are permitted in these special trains.
  • On arrival at their destination, the travelling passengers will have to adhere to such health protocols as are prescribed by the destination state/UT
  • No Linen, blankets and curtains shall be provided inside the train.
Detailed Instructions for beginning of Train Services…

Ministry of Railways (MoR) in consultation with Ministry of Health & Family welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) has decided that train services on Indian Railways shall be further partially restored w.e.f. from 01st June 2020.

Indian Railways will start operations of 200 passenger services as listed in the annexure (attached below). These trains shall run from 1/6/2020 and booking of all these trains will commence from 10 am on 21/05/20.

These special services shall be in addition to the existing Shramik special trains being run since 01st May and Special AC trains (30 trains) being run since 12th May 2020.

Other regular Passenger services including all mail/express, passenger and suburban services shall remain cancelled until further advice.

Train Type: Special trains on the pattern of Regular Trains

These will be fully reserved trains having both AC & Non AC classes. General (GS) coaches shall also have reserved seat for sitting. There will be no unreserved coach in the train.

Fare shall be as normal and for General (GS) coaches, being reserved, second seating(2S) fare shall be charged and seat will be provided to all the passengers.

Booking of Tickets & Charting:

i.          Only online E-Ticketing will be done through IRCTC website or through Mobile App. No tickets will be booked across the reservation counter on any Railway Station. Booking of tickets through ‘agents’, (both IRCTC Agents and Railway Agents) shall not be permitted.

ii.         The ARP (advance reservation period) shall be maximum 30 days.

iii.        RAC and Wait list will be generated as per extant rules however waiting list ticket holders shall not be permitted to board the train.

iv.        No unreserved (UTS) tickets will be issued and no tickets will be issued onboard to any passenger during the journey.

v.         No tatkal and premium tatkal booking shall be permitted in these trains.

vi.        First chart shall be prepared at least 4 hours before scheduled departure and second chart shall be prepared at least 2 hours((unlike present practice of 30 minutes) before scheduled departure. Only online current booking shall be permitted in between first and second chart preparation.

vii.       All passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to enter /board the train.

viii.      Passengers travelling by these special services will observe the following precautions :

1.         Only passengers with Confirmed tickets shall be allowed to enter the Railway station.

2.         All passengers must wear face covers/masks at the entry and during travel.

3.         The passengers shall reach the station at-least 90 minutes in advance to facilitate thermal screening at the station. Only passengers who are found asymptomatic will be permitted to travel.

4.         Passengers shall observe social distancing both at the station and on trains.

5.         On arrival at their destination, the travelling passengers will have to adhere to such health protocols as are prescribed by the destination state/UT

Quota Permitted:

All quotas shall be permitted in these special trains as has been permitted in Regular trains. Limited number of reservation (PRS) counters shall be operated for this purpose. However, normal ticket booking cannot be done through these counters.

Concessions: Only four categories of Divyangjan concession and 11 categories of patient concessions are permitted in these special trains..

Cancellation and Refund rule: Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare) Rules, 2015 shall be applicable.

In addition following instructions already issued regarding Refund of fare in case passenger is not found fit for travelling due to symptoms of Corona shall remain applicable.

As per MHA guidelines all passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers shall be allowed to enter/board the train.

If during screening a passenger has very high temperature/symptoms of Covid-19 etc., he shall not be allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets. In such case full refund shall be provided to passenger as under:-

(i)         On PNR having single passenger.

(ii)        On a party ticket if one passenger is found unfit to travel and also all  other passengers on the same PNR do not want to travel in that case full refund shall be granted for all passengers.

(iii)       On a party ticket if one passenger is found unfit to travel however other passengers on the PNR want to travel in that case full refund of fare shall be granted to passenger who was not allowed to travel.

For all the above cases, TTE certificates as per extant practice shall be issued to the passenger at the entry/checking/screening point itself mentioning “Number of passengers not travelled due to symptoms of Covid 19 in one or more passengers”

After getting TTE certificates, online TDR shall be filed for refund of not travelled passengers, within 10 days from the date of journey and the original

TTE certificate issued shall be sent by the passenger to IRCTC as per extant provision and full fare for the part passenger/full who have not travelled shall be refunded by IRCTC in the customer’s account.

For the above purpose, CRIS and IRCTC shall make necessary changes for filing of TDR for non-travelling passengers due to covid-19 symptoms. One option ‘part/full passenger not allowed to travel by Railways due to very high temperature/covid-19 symptoms’ will be available.

Catering:

No catering charges shall be included in the fare. Provision for pre paid meal booking, e-catering shall be disabled. However, IRCTC shall make provision for limited eatables and packaged drinking water on payment basis only in limited trains, having Pantry car attached. Information to this effect shall be made available to passengers during time of booking ticket.

Passengers are encouraged to carry their own food and drinking water.

All static catering and vending units (Multi Purpose stalls, Bookstalls, Misc./Chemist stalls etc) at Railway stations will remain open. In case of Food Plaza and Refreshments rooms etc, cooked items may be served as take away only with no sit-down eating arrangements in place.

Linen and Blanket:

No Linen, blankets and curtains shall be provided inside the train. Passengers are advised to carry their own linen for the travel. The temperature inside AC coaches shall be suitably regulated for this purpose.

Zonal Railways have been instructed to ensure that there are separate entry and exit gates at Railway stations to the extent feasible so that there is no face to face movement of passengers. Zonal railways will be guided by standard social distancing guidelines on stations and trains and observe the safety, security and hygiene protocols.

All passengers must download and use the Aarogya Setu application. Passengers are advised to travel light.

As per MHA guidelines the movement of the passenger(s) as well as the driver of the vehicle transporting the passenger(s) to and fro the Railway Station shall be allowed on the basis of the confirmed e-ticket.

Source: PIB Release date 20.05.2020

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Tejas Express- India’s first private train flagged off between Lucknow-Delhi

Beginning of new era in Indian Railway…

The Chief Minister of state, Sh. Yogi Adityanath said  on the inaugural run of the train that “It is the first corporate train of the country. I congratulate the first batch of passengers travelling in it and hope such initiatives are taken to connect other cities as well,”

Tejas Express takes 6.15 hours between the two cities than 6.40 hours taken by Swarn Shatabdi train. The Tejas Express is currently the fastest train on the route. However, the difference of 25 minutes will not make any sense.

Pricing is dynamic…

The minimum ticket  is priced at Rs 1,280 for AC chair car passengers and Rs 2,450 for executive chair car and dynamically changes as per demand. Due to dynamic pricing the ticket will be costlier than the normal Shatabdi trains on the route.

Tejas Express- offers airplane like features

The new IRCTC Tejas Express train has several new features and it’s a more premium version of the Shatabdi Express category of air-conditioned chair cars. It features modern onboard facilities with automatic doors. This will also going to offer airplane like features. 

Tejas will run on time

The IRCTC has promised to run this train on time with 100% punctuality and passengers will be paid for any delay on an hourly basis. Also, Rs 25 lakh free insurance will be provided for each and every passenger.

May be the beginning of the privatisation of Indian Railway!!!

According to the Railways Act, 1989, the Central government is the competent authority to decide on tariff and not the IRCTC, but in Tejas express IRCTC has announced the tariffs, that to sufficiently higher than existing Shatabdi train on the same route.

This is possibly the start of the privatisation of the Indian Railway. The Railway has also announced to run 150 more trains in private mode. The path the biggest challenge today is that all main routes are saturated, running at over 100% capacity. Since new trains cannot be added, existing trains would have to be handed over to private players. This will mean higher fare paying passengers will displace the poorer sections. This can be addressed if private players are asked to run trains with mixed composition, AC and non-AC as well as unreserved classes.

Top 10 cleanest railway stations in India 2019

Railway Ministry has released the latest 2019 survey that ranks the cleanest railway stations in India. Rajasthan’s Jaipur station has topped the list again of cleanest railway stations in India. The survey states that Jaipur has been ranked first in the Station Cleanliness Survey 2019 with an overall cleanliness score of 931.75. Jodhpur has been ranked second with a score of 927.19 and Durgapura is third with a score of 922.50. In the suburban group of stations, Maharashtra’s Andheri station has topped the list. The North-Western railway zone has maintained its rank of the cleanest railway zone in India from 2018. The survey has been carried out by the Quality Council of India, an independent agency .

GREEN REPORT – 2019 – click here.

Top 10 cleanest railway stations in India 2019: List

  • Jaipur (NWR)
  • Jodhpur (NWR)
  • Durgapura (NWR)
  • Jammu Tawi
  • Gandhinagar Jaipur (NWR)
  • Suratgarh (NWR)
  • Vijayawada
  • Udaipur City (NWR)
  • Ajmer (NWR)
  • Haridwar

Total 7 stations are in the top 10 list.

Top 10 cleanest suburban railway stations in India 2019: List

  • Andheri
  • Virar
  • Naigaon
  • Kandivli
  • Santragachi
  • Currey Road
  • Dombivli
  • King’s Circle
  • Borivali
  • Santacruz

Top 10 stations that have shown improvement in cleanliness 2019 (Non-suburban category)

  • Faizabad
  • Ayodhya
  • New Farakka
  • Phaphund
  • Sasaram Jn.
  • Shahganj
  • Singrauli
  • Udhna
  • Bapudham Motihari
  • Anugraha Narayan Road

Top 10 cleanest railway zones in India 2019

  • North Western Railway
  • South East Central Railway
  • East Central Railway
  • South Central Railway
  • South Western Railway
  • Northern Railway
  • Northeast Frontier Railway
  • West Central Railway
  • East Coast Railway
  • Western Railway

Parameters for measuring cleanliness…

This was third such audit cum cleanliness survey conducted by Indian Railways to increase level of cleanliness under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan by identifying unclean spots, improve cleanliness standards and propel healthy competition among railway stations. It was conducted by Quality Council of India (QCI) with help of their partners.

The parameters adopted for conducting survey were Evaluation of Process of cleanliness in main entry area, parking, main platform, waiting room (33.33%), direct observation by QCI assessors of cleanliness in these areas (33.33%) and passenger feedback (33.33%). The cleanliness rankings of stations is  reward for stations that have performed well and gives impetus for further improvement for stations that not made into e top rankings.

CRS Report on Derailment of Train No 14003 at Harchandpur station on 10.10.2018

New Farakka Express derailed near Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh around 6 am on 10.10.2018

In the derailment at least seven people died and around 35 injured after nine coaches and the engine of the New Farakka Express (Train No. 14003) derailed near Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh at around 6 am on 10.10.2018. Several passengers on the train were trapped. more…

Immediate Recommendations of CRS

The Commissioner of Railway Safety , Shri S. K . Pathak conducted the enquiry and Immediate Recommendations are issued

“In accordance with Rule 3 of Statutory Investing into Railway accidents Rules issued by Ministry of Civil Aviation, after the preliminary investigation of the above subject accident and based on the facts revealed in the inquiry by the witness, followings immediate recommendations are made to Railway Administration in the interest of safety in train operation:- 

(Read below …… or click for Download)

  1. Railways should decide on a reasonable time as well as reasonable number of attempts after which a point not responding to command given from control panel is to be declared as failed. Necessary changes in data logger software should be done to log such point failure in data logger exceptional report. Action as per G&SR should be ensured after point is declared as failed.
  2. Provision of Magnetic Lock in Relay room door to keep electronic log of number of times the door is opened must be ensured in working condition at all stations having data logger. Failure of this magnetic lock shall reflect in DRM’s daily position.
  3. All the location boxes provided at each end of yard in point zone should be replaced by the location hut which should house signalling gears pertaining to various points on one end of the yard. The location huts must also be kept under double lock with one key being in the possession of SM and it should be opened by S&T staff only after following same procedure as prescribed for the relay room opening. 
    Recommendations No. 2 and 3 will ensure that there is no tempering in  signalling circuit either in relay room or in location boxes.
  4. Drivers should be trained to ensure that use of SA-9 brake (Independent loco brake) in case of emergency should not be restored to unless completely unavoidable. More particularly, SA-9 must not be used on turn outs and curves as this may exerts excessive unbalanced forces & torque due to momentum of the trailing load.
  5. Data logger terminal with report printing and simulation facility should also be available with Chief Controller Coaching in the control room so that immediate access of data is available with chief controller also.
  6. Training of Data logger architecture, usage, interpretation and report generation should be given to operating control officials.”

Conclusion of CRS report…

More or less these recommendations are already in place and Data logger is being used extensively for these purposes…

Point flashing, and point failure is being monitored through Data logger today also.

Relay Room Door lock is also being monitored through Data logger and it is part of daily position of Sr.DSTEs.

The Location huts at point zone is good recommendation but its practicality restrict the implementation of this recommendation. It wont be possible to maintain the signalling gears without the key of huts. it is always not possible to construct location hut due to site constraints. maintenance of location huts is also subjective of various other factors.

Why not operation of trains should be S&T department???

Recommendation no. 5 & 6 are basically indicates the operation of trains should be with S&T department, who has the access to data at all the times even in emergency. And also S&T department has the trained employees, who understand the  data. Basically the Chief controller of operation must have access to data and knowledge of data interpretation, which can be very well done by S&T department.