Despite the hope that lessons will be learnt, the next accident invariably shows that nothing has been learnt -- or if learnt, they have been ignored, observes Prosenjit Datta.
Talking to reporters at Tiruchirapalli on Wednesday, Raj Kamal Rao, member (mechanical) Railway Board, said the joint ventures were for passenger coach manufacturing facility at Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, a diesel locomotive manufacturing unit at Madora in Bihar and for production of electric locomotives at Modepura in Bihar. The railway was in the process of producing stainless steel goods wagons instead of the mild steel ones, he said.
Indian Railways on Tuesday entered into a joint venture agreement with the NTPC for setting up 1000 MW captive power plant at Nabinagar in Bihar, a move that can help the exchequer save Rs 400-600 crore (Rs 4-6 billion) annually on power purchase from state electricity boards.
Despite its attempts to check theft, the Indian Railways lost properties worth around Rs 40 lakh owing to lax security measures at its godowns and yards last year.
With traffic growth slowing despite the economy doing well, and the minister saying he won't hike passenger fares, things don't look as good.
The Indian Railways is ready to provide the technology to extract bio diesel from Jetropha and Neem free of cost to any entrepreneur.
The service would enable one to know the passenger name record status, current train running positions, accommodation and availability and fare enquiry. The SMS service would come at a premium and would be charged at Rs 3 per message.
Indian Railways is currently implementing a project that involves laying of a broad gauge line connecting Nangaldam to Talwara in Himachal Pradesh.
CAG says Railways lost about Rs 4,300 crore in 2008-2012 because of improper documentation.
The performance of railways was 'below par' during 2004-05 to 2008-09 when the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief was at the helm of affairs, the White Paper laid by railway minister Mamata Banerjee revealed.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana counterpart Revanth Reddy visited some inundated areas in their respective territories.
The Asian Development Bank has given a loan of $313.6 million to the Indian Railways for strengthening its golden quadrilateral project, an official release said on Wednesday.
'The wave of terrorism is over in Kashmir. Local people do not support it.'
Vamshhi Krrishna joined an elite list during Andhra's Col CK Nayudu Trophy match against Railways.
Passengers have been long complaining of the IRCTC website crashing as soon as the booking commences in the morning.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation is planning to operate five more 'Bharat Darshan Village on Wheels' special tourist trains, Union Minister of state for Railway R Velu said on Monday.
Presenting his fourth Railway Budget in succession, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Monday said that the Indian Railways had registered a profit of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) for the fiscal year 2006-07.
IRG will provide four CFL bulbs to each house in railway residential colonies free of cost and earn carbon credits by registering itself with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change under Clean Development Mechanism project.
Cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit a stunning 171 not out in the recent women's cricket World Cup propelling India into the finals, has been promoted as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Western Railway.
With 1.36 million employees, the railways are one of the country's biggest employers, constituting 28 per cent of the total central government employees.
The bus careened and went down to a field behind the highway, leaving a few passengers slightly injured. Its occupants were brought back to Purulia town in West Bengal for medical treatment, a party leader said.
Malaysia awarded IRCON International Ltd to design, construct, commission and maintain the proposed electrified double-track rail at the country's Seremban-Gemas sector. IRCON's latest project comes after an earlier Ipoh-Padang Besar project in 2001-2003, for which the Malaysian government had considered the Indian company but later shelved the plan.
"The year 2009-10 imposes greater challenges", Railway Board chairman S S Khurana said. The railways get bulk of revenue from the freight traffic, which was impacted by the slowdown in the Indian economy on global financial concerns.
Recent derailments had brought the vulnerability of the national carrier into the limelight. For the railways, the fund allotment of Rs 1 lakh crore towards safety, is a welcome move, says Subrat Nath.
Ramesh asked the PM why river Ganga is "dirtier than before" even after spending Rs 20,000 crore on the Namami Gange project.
The change in leadership at the railway ministry comes at a time when the national transporter is grappling with low passenger earnings even as it is trying to increase freight loading and open up its doors to private investment. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took charge from Piyush Goyal who got the railway portfolio in 2017 after Prime Minister Narendra Modii dropped Suresh Prabhu from the Union Cabinet. Completing freight corridors, negotiating land for the bullet train, and speeding up monetisation plans would be some of the major focus areas for Vaishnaw.
Lalu Prasad said factors like size, workload, traffic other operative requirements, and not regional considerations, determine the creation of new railway zones.
As per convention, Railways releases the new time table -- Trains at a glance -- every year on July one across the country. Sources said this year the Railway Time Table Committee, comprising senior officials from various zones, will sit after the Railway Budget is tabled in Parliament.
Women are taking up responsible jobs in Indian Railways.
International para-athlete turned social worker Suvarna Raj on Sunday alleged that she was allotted an upper berth on a Nagpur-Delhi train even though she is physically handicapped.
This is the highest-ever bonus being paid to the employees for the good work done by them to take the Indian Railways to a new high, Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday.
Bombardier Transportation India Ltd is considering an association with the Indian railways
The volume of freight traffic in April-January shows an increase of 25.01 MT over the freight traffic of 730.96 MT carried during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 3.42 per cent.
With the country poised to import 142 million tonnes in 2011-12, the development holds significance as a tie-up with railways will help CIL in transporting the imported coal to its destinations.
'There are enough funds to solve this problem.'
The railways are planning to invest Rs 250,000 crore over the next five years to expand its network, modernise and upgrade the technology, all in a bid to provide world-class facilities to passengers. Consequently, investment in IT projects will be increased to several thousand crore rupees over the next five years, according to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad. A major part of this investment will be in the nature of public-private partnerships and domestic IT firms benefit.
The reassessed Plan size for the railways in 2012-13 has already shrunk to Rs 56,950 crore (Rs 569.5 billion) from Rs 60,100 crore (Rs 601 billion) after the first quarter.
While Uttar Pradesh has allowed 837 trains, Bihar has permitted 428 and Madhya Pradesh more than 100.
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