Page 6 - Indian Railways

Siemens India to make 1,200 horsepower electric locomotives for railways

Siemens, India will manufacture 1,200 electric freight locomotives of 9,000 HP each for the railways, according to the terms of a contract valued at Rs 26,000 crore, the national transporter said on Saturday. The Indian Railways has issued a letter of award (LoA) for the manufacturing and maintenance of the 9,000-HP electric freight locomotives to Siemens, India. "Railways factory at Dahod, Gujarat will manufacture 1,200 high horsepower (9,000 HP) electric locomotives over a period of 11 years. It would entail manufacturing of 1,200 locomotives and maintenance of these locomotives for 35 years. The estimated value of contract is about INR 26,000 crore (about 3.2 billion USD), excluding taxes and price variation," the railways said in a statement. An agreement with Siemens, India will be signed within 30 days of the issuance of the LoA. The prototype locomotives are to be delivered in the next two years. The Dahod unit will be fully constructed for manufacturing these locomotives ..

Nearly 80% reserved Railway tickets are sold online: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronic & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha said that about 80 per cent of railway reserved tickets are booked online.Vaishnaw said, "mobile application on various platforms is also available for booking reserved and unreserved tickets as well as provision of other railway services."The digitalisation of railway services and databases is an ongoing process."The information technology applications of Indian railways cater to transportation services (passenger and freight), fixed infrastructure (project, operations and maintenance), rolling stock (manufacture, operations and maintenance) and resource management (finance, materials and human resources)," he further added.Vaishnaw said that the digital initiatives and on-ground services are seamlessly integrated through well-documented instructions and manuals.

Railways aims to boost MSME markets through DFC infrastructure project

Indian Railways has undertaken a mega-infrastructure project namely the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), comprising Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC- from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust 1506 Km) and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor(EDFC- from Ludhiana to Sonnagar-1337 Km) covering 2843 route Km in totality.This information was given by the Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronic & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.A total route length of 1610 Km (799 Km of EDFC and 811 Km of WDFC) has been completed out of total 2843 Km till October, 2022.In this regard, a pilot project for 'JPP' has been launched on 31.03.2022, by attaching a Parcel Van in Tapti Ganga Express (19045/46) between Surat and Varanasi.Joint Parcel Product (JPP) has been launched by Indian Railways in collaboration with India Post which aims to target business-to-customer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets focusing on ...

Railway to modernise 1,000 small stations under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme

The railways is planning to modernise 1,000 small yet important stations under the new "Amrit Bharat Station Scheme". This is apart from the ambitious plan to revamp 200 big stations under a separate redevelopment programme. Officials said the small stations would be identified not just for their footfalls but also based on the cities they cater to. "The aim is to identify developing cities with potential and envisage railway stations as city centres that would link not just various parts of the city but also between different cities in the future. The plan is to map everything connected to it -- bridges and different modes of transport. "The idea is to start modernising stations in a cost-effective manner. According to need, the divisional railway managers (DRMs) will take a call on modernisation works in a phased manner," an official said. A special fund will also be earmarked with the DRMs for this purpose. According to the scheme document, it aims at preparing master plans of

Dense fog, biting cold waves cover North India; 21 trains running late

Parts of North India including the national capital witnessed cold wave conditions with dense to very dense fog observed over Punjab, Haryana, northwest Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar

Parliament panel raises concerns over production of electric locomotives

Raising concerns over missed targets in electric locomotive production during this financial year, a parliamentary standing committee has asked the Railway Ministry to closely monitor the manufacturing capacity of production units. The Standing Committee on Railways, in its report presented in Parliament on Thursday, noted that with the national transporter heading towards 100 per cent electrification on broad-gauge lines, the requirement of diesel locomotives would reduce substantially, while that of the electric ones would increase to a great extent. The committee also noted that the Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) and the Patiala Locomotive Works (PLW) were given targets to manufacture 450 and 200 electric locomotives for 2022-23 and 2023-24 respectively. While BLW manufactured 104 electric locos during the 2021-22 financial year till February 2022, PLW manufactured 331, it said. "The committee are of the firm belief that manufacturing of electric locos should be accorded highest

Indian railways to start tracking 30,000 wagons using GPS: Report

The officials said that theft of goods has been a long-standing concern of the Indian Railways and the "missing wagons" also lead to disputes with the companies

Railways announces 51 special trains to Kerala to cater to extra rush

Indian Railways on Tuesday announced 51 special trains to Kerala to cater to the extra rush of passengers during the upcoming Christmas-New Year season. In a statement, the Southern Railway announced 17 special train services to different places in Kerala for Christmas and New Year. "Apart from the special trains notified by Southern Railway, other zonal railways have notified a total of 34 services to Kerala -- 22 special trains by South Central Railway, eight special trains by South Western Railway and four special trains by East Coast Railway," it said. With this, a total of 51 special trains will be operated serving the state of Kerala during the Christmas/New Year season, the statement said. These special trains will be operated during the period from December 22, 2022 to January 2, 2023. Earlier in the day, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor had criticised the Railway Ministry for not recognising the people's demand for more trains during the season and sought Railway Mini

Govt likely to sell 11% stake in IRFC by FY24 as part of disinvestment plan

Senior officials say govt plans to bring own shareholding down to 75%;

Job seekers made to count trains in New Delhi, duped of over Rs 2.5 cr

At least 28 people from Tamil Nadu were deployed at different platforms of the New Delhi Railway Station every day for eight hours for a month to count the arrival and departure of trains and their coaches, unaware they were victims of an employment scam. They had been told that this was part of their training for positions of travel ticket examiner (TTE), traffic assistants and clerks, and each of them paid amounts ranging between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 24 lakh to get the jobs in the Railways, according to a complaint filed with the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW). For the one-month training which took place between June and July, the victims were duped of Rs 2.67 crore by a group of fraudsters, according to the complaint lodged by 78-year-old M Subbusamy. Subbusamy, an ex-serviceman, had put the victims in touch with the alleged fraudsters, but he has claimed that he was unaware that the entire thing was a scam and he too had fallen for their trap. "Each candidate paid mone

IRCTC stock is still richly valued despite fall since news of OFS

While business prospects remain unchanged, one-year average target price of analysts is Rs 600

Railways should adopt digital tech for safer, convenient services: Murmu

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday said that Indian Railways should also adopt the latest digital technologies and explore new avenues to add advanced features for safer, time-saving, more convenient and high-quality transportation services. Addressing probationers of Indian Railways, who had called on the president at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here, Murmu asked them to ensure that people travel in comfort so that they carry fond memories. "You need to attend to the needs of differently-abled persons, women and the elderly and provide them with a safe and convenient travel experience. Indian Railways has to play a key role in bridging the gaps and realising the dream of an inclusive Atmanirbhar Bharat," she said. Murmu said that today with India moving ahead at national and global levels, the country is witnessing a greater movement of people and goods. "This is going to increase in the future. Therefore, Indian railways should also adopt the latest digital technologies and explore ne

Will rail ticket discount for senior citizens be restored soon? Check here

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Indian Railways used to offer 40 per cent concession to males aged 60 or above and 50 per cent to females if they were at least 58-years-old

Indian Railways wins 9 awards for its efforts towards energy conservation

Indian Railways has won nine National Energy Conservation Awards for the year 2022, with the South Central Railways bagging the first and second prize in railway stations category. These awards were given for the best energy management practices and presented by President Droupadi Murmu at a function held by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the aegis of Ministry of Power on Wednesday. The first prize was awarded for Kacheguda station (Telangana) and the second to Guntakal railway station (Andhra Pradesh) for energy conservation measures in railway stations category, a statement from the Ministry said on Thursday. Certificate of merit was awarded to the Kanpur Central Railway Station (NCR), Rajahmudry Railway Station (SCR) and Tenali Railway station (SCR) under this category. Under the buildings category, Ajmer Workshop of North Western Railway was awarded the first prize. Certificate of merit was awarded to railway hospital Guntakal (SCR), Electric Traction Training Centre, ..

Centre to sell up to 5% stake in IRCTC via OFS to garner Rs 2,720 crore

Floor price fixed at Rs 680/share, an over 7% discount to Wednesday closing price

IRCTC received over 5,000 food-related complaints in past 7 months: Govt

The IRCTC has received more than 5,000 complaints related to quality of food in trains in the past seven months, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. Replying to a query in Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said between April 1, 2022, and October 31, 2022, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation received a total of 5,869 complaints of food quality in trains. "On receipt of any complaint of food quality, appropriate action, including penalty, is taken against the service provider of IRCTC. "It is the continuous endeavour of Indian Railways to provide good quality and hygienic food to passengers as per norms and standards prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)," the minister said. He also informed that the 'Optional Catering Service' has been introduced in all premium trains (Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Gatiman, Tejas, Vande Bharat) with effect from September 2019. "In this scheme, passengers are being provided with the option, at the

Vaishnaw says Railways' expenses high, hints at no senior citizen allowance

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday hinted that the concessions given to the senior citizens in the railways may not be restored as of now as he said that Rs 59,000 crore subsidy for the passenger services were given last year and pension and salary bills of the public transporter are very high. Vaishnaw was responding to a question by independent MP from Maharashtra Navneet Rana in Lok Sabha on when the concessions given to the senior citizens in train travel will be restored. It has been suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The minister said the railways had given Rs 59,000 crore subsidy for passenger services, which is a big amount and larger than the annual budget of some states. He said the annual pension bill of the railways is Rs 60,000 crore, the salary bill is Rs 97,000 crore while Rs 40,000 crore is being spent on fuel. We have given Rs 59,000 passenger subsidy last year, new facilities are coming. If new decisions are to be taken, we will

Podcast: How long will the rally in railway stocks sustain?

Will railway stocks be able to hold on to their recent gains. Listen to this podcast to know more

Rail stocks may chug along till budget; book profit selectively: Analysts

Railway stocks: In the upcoming budget, the railways has reportedly sought gross budgetary support (GBS) of Rs 1.5-1.8 trillion over the Rs 1.37 trillion figure earmarked during Budget 2022-23

Railways' diesel consumption reduced by 50.29% in FY21 compared to FY20

The Railways has reduced its diesel consumption by more than 50 per cent in 2020-21 in comparison to its previous financial year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. In his reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said in 2018-2019, the Railways' diesel consumption was 26,41,142 kilo litres, which reduced by 10.44 per cent in 2019-2020, which further reduced by 50.29 per cent to 11,75,901 kilo litres in 2020-21. He further said in 2018-2019, the fuel bill was Rs 18,587.14 crore while in 2019-2020, the bill was Rs 16,377.60 crore. This reduced to Rs 11,438.70 in 2020-2021, the minister said. Vaishnaw said the completion of electrification projects depends on various factors like clearances from concerned departments of state governments or central ministries, completion of transmission lines by state power utilities and resolution of law and order issues during execution, which are beyond the control of the Railways ministry. "Therefore, it is not feasible to fix