Those travelling in AC coaches of trains will now have to shell out more from Wednesday , with the government deciding to impose 'Krishi Kalyan' cess of 0.5 per cent on service tax.
Two months after Dinesh Trivedi was removed as railway minister, his party Trinamool Congress continued to target him for hiking passenger fares and advised his successor Mukul Roy on Thursday to follow the policies of Mamata Banerjee in running the organisation. Trivedi was removed from the railway ministry a few days after he presented the rail budget, in which he hiked passenger fares.
In the Railways, people in various categories including senior citizens, patients, eminent artists and sportspersons are eligible for availing concessional fare facilities
In a stunning revelation, an officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation has alleged that his superior officer, a deputy inspector general, had tried tipping off former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla about raids being launched against him and others in connection with a jobs and transfer scam in the railway ministry.
The three-day India Mobile Congress (IMC) will showcase the widening convergence of telecom with new domains, such as semiconductors and deep tech, P Ramakrishna, the forum's chief executive officer, said on Tuesday. With more than 250 global and domestic exhibitors, the seventh edition is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors this year, he said. There will also be over 5,000 CXO-level delegates and more than 350 speakers.
At present, there is no specific substantive law to deal with unfair means adopted or offences committed by various entities involved in the conduct of public examinations by the central government and its agencies.
Moving ahead with the economic reforms, the Cabinet tonight cleared the long-delayed proposal for raising FDI limit in defence to 49 per cent and fully opened up the railway infrastructure segment, like high-speed trains, for foreign investment.
In a bid to woo foreign investors, the Indian Railways is planning to organise road shows in select countries showcasing opportunities for investment in the rail sector.
The Commonwealth Express comprising 11 coaches will leave for Amritsar to coincide with the arrival of Queen's Baton in the country from Pakistan on June 25.
"Earlier, governments were busy in vote bank appeasement but we are busy satisfying people," the prime minister said.
"Call it a craze, fever or national interest but HSR is our window to the outside world."
With land acquisition completed and infrastructure work streamlined, India's bullet train dreams are slowly, but finally, inching closer to reality.
The Centre received 5.59 lakh public grievances against various government departments in the first half of this year, with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) getting most of such complaints, according to an official report.
A fracture in the rail line was responsible for the Howrah-Kalka Mail accident that claimed 70 lives last month, the preliminary report submitted to Railway Ministry, claimed.
The railways is firming up plans to set up a traction motor factory in Vidisha and a wagon workshop in Visakhapatnam with an aim of stepping up its manufacturing activities in line with the 'Make in India' campaign.
Every class of passenger travel, except three-tier AC, loses money.
The railway ministry is planning to launch 15 more Duronto Expresses in the coming budget, as the end-to-end non-stop train has caught the fancy of passengers.
According to the latest Budget papers, the staff strength of central ministries and departments is estimated to rise by 276,796 to 3.44 million at the end of FY23, it would be up by 109,266 to 3.55 million in March 2024.
The system will give a boost to regional trade and business.
After the controversy surrounding the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa have trained their guns on the central government again by opposing a proposed amendment to the Railway Protection Force. They have joined Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to instruct the railway ministry not to proceed with the move.
Manoj Sinha, earlier minister of state for railways, will be tasked to conduct the auction and deal with issues like net neutrality.
'To avoid accountability and cover the mismanagement of the head of the department, they create this kind of sabotage theory.' 'If it's a sabotage theory, then the higher-level officials can go scot-free.'
Aiming at connecting Patna with high speed train, the Railways will undertake a pre-feasibility study of Delhi-Patna rail route, which would be conducted by a British firm.
"Railways has received a request from the government of West Bengal to set up a coach factory in Singur," Banerjee said while presenting the rail budget for 2010-11 in Parliament.
It will be mandatory for sleeper-class train passengers to carry identity proof from December 1, this year as Railways firmed up steps to prevent misuse of tickets by touts and facilitate hassle-free travel by bonafide people.
Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) and Oriental Consultancy along with Parsons Brinkhoff India has bagged the contract to conduct the pre-feasibility study on the proposed 664 km long Hyderabad-Vijaywada-Chennai route for running the high speed train, a senior Railway Ministry official said.
The Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thursday ruled out retrenchment of employees in railways and nationalised banks.
Three passengers were killed and over 15 injured when a passenger train derailed near Belgaum in Karnataka on Monday evening due to flash floods which washed out tracks, railways said, District Collector Anvu Kumar said.
New Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Sunday said his priority will be to improve the financial health of the national transporter and make it a preferred mode of journey in the country.
Against the backdrop of recent suicides and fratricides by jawans and stand-offs between them and officers, Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday asked the armed forces to adopt a liberal approach to jawans' pleas for leave and respond promptly.
Railway passengers would soon have access to movies, television content, music videos and audio tracks as RailTel and media group Eros International have come together for providing entertainment services to travellers.
Presenting the Railway Budget on Friday in the Parliament, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed an outlay of Rs 40,745 crore for 2009-2010, which is 2,840 crore more than the allocation proposed in the interim budget.
A certain type of TGV, called V150, holds the world record for the highest speed on any national rail system. This record has been in place since April 2007.
Railways initiate project for ad revenues of Rs 4,000 cr.
The pilot of the MMTS train was trapped in his cabin, which was badly mangled, and efforts were on to rescue him, they said.
Overall, the railways intend to build 66 MFCs at a cost of Rs 8 crore (Rs 80 million) each. MFCs would provide rail users with facilities like shopping, food stalls and restaurants, book stalls, telephone booths, medicine and variety stores, budget hotels and underground parking.