Officials in the railway ministry are discussing a proposal by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to cut the premium on Tatkal (instant) tickets and reduce its booking period to give the railway budget an aam aadmi touch.
On an annual basis, we'll seek out solutions to Indian Railways' most critical problems through 'innovation challenge': Suresh Prabhu
The Centre on Monday made public the rules under the recently-notified anti-paper leak law, mandating the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to prepare norms, standards and guidelines for the computer-based tests among others.
Under the plan, there will be 151 private trains covering 109 routes which may entail investments worth Rs 30,000 crore.
Prabhu said the Ministry was preparing a plan till 2030.
Indian Railways has tied up funds for the next two years for its ambitious modernisation programme.
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.
Cleanliness of stations will be rated as per certain parameters finalised by the Railways.
'The Railway Board -- and every official in the ministry -- functions according to the whims and fancies of the Railway Minister,' former railways minister Dinesh Trivedi tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar in an exclusive interview. 'It is the system that needs to be changed. It has to go from a one person-oriented ministry to an organisation-oriented ministry. The system should be transparent.'
Public-sector enterprise stocks have seen a good run thus far in 2023-24 (FY24), with the S&P BSE PSU Index surging by over 26 per cent during the period, compared to an 11 per cent increase in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
'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.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will take a final call on whether to break the tradition of presenting a separate Rail Budget, by merging it with the General Budget.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
Sources said the selection committee could meet either on March 13 or 14 depending on the convenience of the members and the appointments are likely to be made by March 15.
'These are people whom very few give importance and they were doing a mammoth job for the nation.'
A notification issued by the railway board in the evening said new fares would come into effect from May 5.
The 61-year old is credited with initiating big-ticket reforms as power minister, including the Electricity Act of 2003, under then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Ramesh asked the PM why river Ganga is "dirtier than before" even after spending Rs 20,000 crore on the Namami Gange project.
The statement by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) comes in the backdrop of collapse of under-construction Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarkashi on November 12.
Indian Railways is currently implementing a project that involves laying of a broad gauge line connecting Nangaldam to Talwara in Himachal Pradesh.
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.
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.'
The chief justice, who received a WhatsApp message about the case, heard the matter at his residence at 8 pm on Sunday and gave directions to constitute a bench comprising himself and Justice Srivastava.
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).
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.
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.
Due to onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent unprecedented lockdown, e-catering services were suspended on March 22, 2020.
With this, the second bidding process for the station's re-development has also collapsed, informed sources in the railway ministry said.
'Heavy rains are not the primary reason for landslides in Wayanad.' 'There are all sorts of (human) intervention going on in that area.'
The police lodged a suo motu case against unknown persons in connection with their involvement in the mishap, a police officer said.
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 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."
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday started its investigation into alleged criminal negligence leading to the Balasore train accident which claimed 278 lives after registering a first information report (FIR), officials said.
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.
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.
Wielding a broom, the prime minister took part in the drive along with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuriya.
Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday assumed charge as the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister for the second consecutive term and is slated to soon present the final Budget for FY '25 that is going to set the tone for the Modi 3.0 government's priorities and direction for Viksit Bharat. Upon her reaching the North Block office, Sitharaman was greeted by Finance Secretary T V Somanathan and other top officials. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was also present. Chaudhary assumed charge on Tuesday evening.
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