After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of a 21-day lockdown across the country, Indian Railways on Tuesday said that its suspension of all passenger services will continue till April 14. However, freight movement will continue to carry essential commodities across the country, officials said.
A greater payment security mechanism for power generation companies to ensure timely payouts for supply of electricity will be in focus in 2022 as stricter rules are on the anvil for 24x7 power supply amid discoms' outstanding dues at a whopping Rs 1.56 lakh crore. Mounting outstanding dues of distribution companies (discoms) to electricity generation companies (gencos) have been a perennial issue affecting the entire value chain in the power sector and are also a hindrance for the ambitious goal of 24x7 power supply across the country even when the payment for coal is made in advance. The situation persists despite the fact that discoms' dues become overdue after 45 days of generating bills and they also have to pay penal interest on the overdue amount in most of the cases to gencos.
A maximum of over 2,200 infections were reported by the South Central Railway, followed by 1,323 cases in the Central Railway, 1,307 in the Northern Railway, 1,145 in the Southern Railway and 1,013 cases in the East Central Railway.
Local trains have been off bounds for the general public since March last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra state governments had earlier approached the Railways Ministry to explore whether liquid medical oxygen tankers could be moved by the rail network, they said.
The projects - Delhi-Varanasi, Mumbai-Nagpur, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Mysore, Delhi-Amritsar, Mumbai-Hyderabad, and Varanasi-Howrah - are expected to cost around Rs 10 trillion.
Robots are now being used increasingly in the integrated-shell assembly line and robotic bogie-fabrication line. The unit may soon see its phase-II expansion, which will increase its capacity to 2,000 coaches.
When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tables her Budget on February 1, the numbers could be something to cheer.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday questioned the private secretary of Railway Minister P K Bansal in connection with the alleged Rs 10 crore bribery scandal involving Railway Board Member Mahesh Kumar and the minister's nephew V Singla.
In its FIR registered against eight persons, including Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla, CBI said Kumar had agreed to pay "illegal gratification" of Rs 10 crore to co-accused Sandeep Goyal, a businessman, for his appointment at a more lucrative post of Member (electrical) of Railway Board.
This is the first time in past several decades that suburban trains have been stopped. Earlier in 1974, the suburban and long distance train services were stopped for around 20 days due to trade union strike.
The railways has sent on leave its three top officials, including a secretary-level Railway Board official, suspended four and transfered one in the wake of Utkal train derailment incident which appeared to have been caused by negligence.
In second class AC, third class AC and chair car, tea to cost Rs 20, up by Rs 5, breakfast Rs 105, up by Rs 8, lunch and dinner Rs 185, up by Rs 10.
The introduction of private players would mean that trains will be available on demand and that passenger waitlist will decrease.
The Railway Board is likely to utilise the undisputed 600 acres for setting-up a coach factory at Singur, the erstwhile site for the Nano project.
If such a replacement is done, for example, in the 50 Rajdhani trains, officials said, it will create around 14,400 additional berths for AC-III passengers.
On these routes, the train speed would also be increased to above 160 kmph over the next four or five years by revamping the entire signaling, tracks and fencing.
Under the plan, there will be 151 private trains covering 109 routes which may entail investments worth Rs 30,000 crore.
IRCTC to restore service charges on e-tickets from Sep 1; Rs 15 for non-AC, Rs 30 for AC classes.
'The rail network all across the state of Punjab is presently totally clear for uninterrupted movement of goods trains,' a home department statement said in Chandigarh. However, hours after the Punjab government's statement, the Railways accused it of 'misguiding' people over the extent of blockade of rail tracks in the state by the protesting farmers.
Railway board chairman Vinay Mittal has written to railway minister Dinesh Trivedi, seeking a fare hike to address earning concerns.
Piyush Goyal has begun his term as railway minister with characteristic energy, but not all his new initiatives are being praised
Railways on Wednesday said the sudden flow of water on the tracks caused the derailment of the two trains while they were crossing the swollen Machak river near Harda in Madhya Pradesh.
Railway Board Chairman JP Batra, Railway Board Financial Commissioner R Sivadasan and Officer on Special Duty Sudhir Kumar burn midnight oil and help in giving shape to Lalu's vision.
The only time in recent history when the railways undertook such a move was in 2016-17 when four officers were prematurely retired.
'There is tension between the zones all the time.'
While responding to Raj's tweet, Swaraj also tagged Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu who in turn expressed his inability to help the man.
On an annual basis, we'll seek out solutions to Indian Railways' most critical problems through 'innovation challenge': Suresh Prabhu
Five accused, including Railway Minister P K Bansal's nephew and suspended member (staff) in the railway board, were on Thursday remanded in judicial custody till May 20 by a Delhi court in connection with the Rs 10 crore railway bribery case.
"Here is an opportunity to look at it from a different perspective. It is an out of the box situation. It maybe a first of its kind situation.
Presently only persons working in essential services are permitted to use the local trains that are running in limited numbers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Partners for these JVs have been shortlisted among global contenders, he said, adding that they would be among world leaders in the respective product.
CRRC Pioneer Electric (India) Private Limited, whose bid for the project is a joint venture of the Chinese firm CRRC Corporation Ltd with a Gurugram-based company according to its website, is one of the six contenders for the tender for procuring propulsion systems or electric traction kits for 44 trains to function as the Vande Bharat Express or Train 18.
In a major initiative to bring transparency and speed up decisions on tenders, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has dissociated himself from the process and empowered zonal railways and heads of production units to finalise them.
The announcement came after marathon meetings held by the minister with senior railway board officials since Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to flag off the train soon, which will ply between Delhi and his Lok Sabha constituency.
Indian Railways under Piyush Goyal has chalked out a new plan for station redevelopment. Railway stations in 15 cities may soon offer residential apartments.
The railways ministry has a capex target of Rs 1 lakh crore for the financial year.
The pilot of the MMTS train was trapped in his cabin, which was badly mangled, and efforts were on to rescue him, they said.
Bullet trains are run by state-owned agencies in France and Germany.