In a historic move, the Indian Railways and the Ministry of Health has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build hospitals and OPDs at railway stations and on Railway land.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
With the Union government clearing the way for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the railways, the Railway Board is devising a plan for operations, maintenance and construction projects.
'I am glad to announce that these cities are now going to become green smart cities.'
Private sector entities will now be able to construct, operate and maintain railway tracks in the country under a new policy framed by the ministry to promote investment in railway infrastructure projects.
'Indian Railways will run 200 non-AC trains daily as per the time table from June 1 for which online booking will start soon,' Goyal said in a tweet. He also said that within the next two days Indian Railways will double the number of Shramik Special Trains to 400 per day.
About a million railway employees participated in the strike ballot of NFIR. In December, 800,000 employees participated in the strike ballot conducted by another leading union, the All India Railwaymen Federation, with 96 per cent voting in favour of a strike.
With this, the second bidding process for the station's re-development has also collapsed, informed sources in the railway ministry said.
The Centre could further moderate its divestment target for 2024-25 (FY25), as it does not expect large receipts from asset sales - except some ongoing strategic ones, including IDBI Bank, which could spill over into next financial year. Also, it may drastically reduce its FY24 divestment target of Rs 51,000 crore. "We are still evaluating the Budget estimates for FY25. "New big-ticket asset sales are unlikely.
A senior ministry official informed: "The minister had said in the Budget last year that a comprehensive policy to regulate catering services would be formulated. Accordingly, a policy is being worked on. It will be announced before the Railway Budget next month."
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the Indian Railways' wholly-owned listed subsidiary, is eyeing partnerships to offset recurring costs incurred in train operations, which is part of its two-year-old diversification from core catering and ticketing businesses. To this end, it is courting public sector undertakings such as Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) and others to create a special purpose vehicle for the routes for which IRCTC has bid. The Railway ministry opened bids for public private partnerships in passenger train operations in July 2021 and received bids to operate 29 pairs of trains with around 40 modern rakes that would entail an investment of Rs 7,200 crore.
The train crash on Friday, involving the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train, is one of the deadliest such accidents since independence.
The incident occurred on the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train in which two months ago a man had set fire to his co-passengers, which resulted in three deaths including a toddler, leading to speculation that it might be a case of sabotage and connected to the earlier one.
The Election Commission (EC) has raised certain questions on the government's proposal to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in the construction and maintenance segments of the railways.
The police lodged a suo motu case against unknown persons in connection with their involvement in the mishap, a police officer said.
RailYatri offers a host of travel-related services to a 4.5 million user base. Shine Jacob finds out what's next for the app.
A passenger should not have to wait for more than five minutes to buy a ticket from stations.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has ordered an inquiry into the matter.
Though the Railways is yet to declare any five-year action plan, it is clear the government is not in a position to hand-hold it for any major expansion or upgrade. The issue, however, is how far the Railways can function within the PPP format. Recent history highlights some of the challenges.
At the helm of India's most enterprising ministry, Mamata Banerjee promises the best service from the Indian Railways.
At least four people, including two children, were killed and many injured in Dhaka on Friday when suspected arsonists set on fire a passenger train coming from Benapole, a port city bordering India, officials said, a day ahead of Bangladesh's general elections that have been boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Due to onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent unprecedented lockdown, e-catering services were suspended on March 22, 2020.
Passengers who are disallowed from travelling on trains because of symptoms associated with the novel coronavirus will also receive full refund for their tickets, the railways has said.
A notification issued by the railway board in the evening said new fares would come into effect from May 5.
After defence, the Commerce and Industry ministry has started the exercise to relax foreign investment norms in the railways sector by permitting 100 per cent FDI in high-speed train systems and dedicated freight lines.
To boost domestic manufacturing under the Make in India initiative and reduce dependency on imports, the government is expected to announce in the Budget an increase in the minimum local content requirement for public procurement, with certain sectors being granted exceptions. Currently, firms producing goods, services, or works with at least 50 per cent local content are classified as Class-I local suppliers and are preferred the most in government procurement.
Sule, citing Railway Ministry documents, said the largest number of Shramik Special trains -- 1033 -- were operated from Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra (817) and Punjab (429).
IRCTC to restore service charges on e-tickets from Sep 1; Rs 15 for non-AC, Rs 30 for AC classes.
Addressing a press conference on measures taken during 21-days lockdown imposed from March 25 to contain the spread of Covid-19, MHA joint secretary Punya Salila Srivastva said the situation of essential goods and services is under control. To strengthen this situation, the home ministry has written to state governments that both inter-state and intra-state movement of trucks and goods carriers should be allowed during the 21-day countrywide lockdown announced by the central government irrespective of the cargo being essential or non-essential.
The best way for the railways to become more professional will be to get corporatised.
The railways is expecting a revenue of Rs 1,84,820 crore during the current financial year (FY17).
Expresses inability to provide land for train terminal in Bandra-Kurla Complex, a cash cow for MMRDA
If the finance ministry finally allows the railways to expand its list of goods exempted from the service tax ambit, instead of a complete rollback to the 10 per cent service tax imposed on frieght movement, it could come as a reprieve for Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.
These coaches, officials said, will be "economical" and in between the current AC three-tier and non-AC sleeper class.
The freight earning's accounts for two-third of the total earnings of IR.
The government has increased the budgetary allocation.
Presenting the Railway Budget for 2010-11 in Parliament, the minister said outpatient departments and diagnostic centres will be set up in several stations across India.
Freight corridor project slipping, needs supervision revamp, says Plan panel.
