Rail ministry pinning hopes on foreign partner and private capital
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.
'Our thrust would be on basic facilities first like sanitation'.
Trinamool Congress General Secretary and Minister of State for Shipping, Mukul Roy will be the new Railway Minister.
'You can never bring about a change if you only bring in outsiders. Consultants will never feel what changes are necessary and where,' says Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
With the Indian Railways registering better-than-expected growth in traffic operations this financial year on the back of a revival in the economy, its gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to cross the 9 per cent mark by the end of this financial year. This could lead to a rise in the freight rates of some commodities, say officials in the ministry.
The Railway Board has decided to create over 5,000 posts and impart advanced training to Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel to ensure security of passengers besides tackling terror threats.
The ministry has also decided to offer station for redevelopment by inviting open bids from companies.
Three years from now, Indian railway network will be based on sophisticated, hi-tech and indigenously developed infrastructure ensuring safety of every passenger.
SC agreed that if they were forced to seek clearances from the ministry of environment and forest, their projects will get delayed
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
The amount constitutes 45 per cent of the railways' total wage bill.
Suresh Prabhu on the priority being given to safety and the need for more funds for railways to move ahead.
Prabhu asks Indian Railways to save Rs 5,000 cr on energy bill.
Raiwalys in existential crisis but no stock market route: Prabhu.
Apprehending a "credible threat" from Maoists during the two-day bandh call given by them, railways on Tuesday said it has formed a special task force to meet any eventuality following an alert issued by the home ministry and intelligence bureau.
New service will also make waitlisted tickets a thing of the past.
Inviting private investment, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday said a transparent system is being put in place to facilitate it and moves are afoot to revamp the ministry's public-private-partnership (PPP) cell.
The Centre is likely to cut budgetary support to the railways by around Rs 5,000-10,000 crore for 2018-19, out of the total budgeted GBS of Rs 53,060 crore. Due to this cut in GBS, the railways is likely to depend more on borrowings, asset monetisation, and internal generation to meet the capex target of Rs 1.465 trillion for the current year.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the Union Cabinet has accepted the proposal of the Ministry of Railways for payment of PLB equivalent to 78 days' wages for 2010-11 for all eligible non-gazetted Railway employees.
'These are people whom very few give importance and they were doing a mammoth job for the nation.'
A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com brings you some fascinating facts and photographs from India's first international rail exhibition.
Magnets on the track push and lift the train up in the air by about 1 inch to 6 inches
Union Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi has blamed bureaucratic hurdles within his own ministry for the delay in fulfilling the railway ministry's ambitious plan to set up healthcare facilities along the rail network across the country.
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.
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.
While this benefit of easing fuel cost should have been passed on to consumers through the review of FAC due this month, the Railways does not intend to revise freight and passenger fares until the next Budget to be presented in February.
The Ministry of Railways has decided to introduce steam locomotives on all hill railways and on some other tourism circuits with the support of the Ministry of Tourism.
It is possible to be blind to this and pretend to carry on as if nothing has happened but that will not change the reality, asserts Aakar Patel.
The Railways on Thursday ordered a high-level inquiry by the commissioner of rail safety into the train accident in Uttar Pradesh, which left 33 people dead and 17 injured.
The announcement came after marathon meetings held by the minister with senior railway board officials since Friday.
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.
'We don't know how and why this happened as the route interlock signal works fine millions of times every day across India.'
Gandhi noted that lakhs of migrants continue to walk hundreds of kilometres to reach back their homes without food, water, medicines and cash. She also accused the central government and the Railways of completely ignoring the demands made by the Congress for ensuring the safe and free travel of migrant workers and labourers to their homes.
This comes as IR posted its worst operating ratio (money spent to earn every Rs 100) in 16 years, at 96.9 in 2016-17.
Among the proposals considered today includes a project to construct a railway link between Rohanpur and Singhabad to facilitate transit traffic from Bangladesh to Nepal through India. Railway ministry sources indicated that the ministry had no objections to opening the additional transit route to Bangladesh.
Seeking more funds, Railway Minister Mukul Roy requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to provide additional allocation to meet the rising demands of the Railways to achieve efficiency and provide more safety.
