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Railway blankets washed once in two months: Minister

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Railways

New Delhi: Ever wondered why the blankets provided by the Indian railways during train journey stink at times? It may be because these are washed only once every two months.

Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour today that while bedsheets, bed roll and pillow covers are washed every day, the blankets are washed every two months.

His reply came to questions raised by various members of the Upper House regarding the quality and hygiene of laundry and linen supplied by the Indian Railways on trains.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari quipped that the earlier system of passengers bringing their own linen and pillows for train journeys seems to be better.

He was supported by a Congress MP who asked the Minister if this would be allowed.

In response, Sinha said it was a “good advice” and the Railways will not have a problem if passengers want to adopt the earlier practice.

The Minister pointed out that while they have 41 mechanised laundries, plans are underway to increase their number by 25 more in the next two years so that these can serve about 85 percent of the passengers who use Railway linen and bed sheets.

He pointed out that in places which are not covered by the mechanised laundries, the job has been outsourced.

(PTI)

Rail Budget: No changes in passenger fares, freight

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New Delhi: The Railway Budget for 2016-17 today spared passengers and goods movement from any increase in tariffs while it announced introduction of three new superfast trains and creation of dedicated north-south, east-west and east coast freight corridors by 2019.

Presenting his second Budget in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu promised rationalising of the tariff structure by undertaking a review to evolve competitive rates vis-a-vis other modes of transport and to expand the freight basket as a means of additional revenue mobilisation.

Unlike last year when he tweaked freight rates, Prabhu made no changes either in passenger fares or freight rates.

The three new superfast trains announced by him include ‘Humsafar’ which will be a fully air-conditioned 3AC service with option of meals. ‘Tejas’ will showcase the future of train travel in India with speeds up to 130 km per hour with onboard services such as entertainment, local cuisine and wifi.

The two trains will ensure cost recovery through tariff and non-tariff measures while ‘Uday’ will be an overnight double-decker along with ‘Utkrishit’ double-decker air-conditioned yatri express on the busiest routes.

For improving quality of travel for unreserved passenger, a superfast ‘Antyodya’ express service would be introduced. ‘Deen Dayalu’ unreserved coaches with portable water and higher number of mobile charging points would also be introduced.

He also announced setting up of a Rail Development Authority to enable fair pricing of services, promote competition, protect customer interest and determine efficiency standards. The draft Bill in this regard will be ready after holding extensive stakeholder consultations.

Outlining the Budget estimates for the coming year, the Minister put the plan size at Rs 1.21 lakh crore. The focus will be on capital expenditure with a mix of various sources of funding in order to ensure the projects are given assured funding.

Gross traffic receipts for the coming fiscal have been fixed at Rs 1.84 lakh crore with passenger earning growth pegged at 12.4 per cent and earning target budgeted at Rs 51,012 crore.

The freight traffic is pegged at an incremental tariff of 50 million tons, anticipating a healthier growth in the core sector of the economy.

Goods earning is accordingly proposed at Rs 1.17 lakh crore. Earnings on account of other coaching and sundries have been projected at Rs 6,185 crore and Rs 9,590 crore respectively.

Pension outgo has been budgeted at Rs 45,500 crore in the coming year. Revenue generation has been targeted at Rs 1.84 lakh crore. Financial performance for the current year has reflected a savings of Rs 8,720 crore, neutralising most of the revenue shortfall.

Operating ratio has been targeted at 92 per cent for the coming year as against 90 per cent in 2015-16, restricting the growth of ordinary expenses by 11.16 per cent after building in impact of 7th Pay Commission recommendation, planned reduction in diesel and electricity consumption.

The three new freight corridors of North-South will connect Delhi and Chennai, East-West connecting Kharagpur to Mumbai and East Coast from Kharagpur to Vijawada.

“It is proposed to put these three projects on high priority to ensure structuring, award and implementation in a time-bound manner through innovative financing schemes including PPP,” Prabhu said in his more than hour long speech.

Before the current financial year ends on March 31, almost all contracts for civil engineering work would have been awarded.

Contracts worth Rs 24,000 crore have been awarded since he assumed office against Rs 13,000 crore worth of contracts in the last six years.

Presenting his “vision”, Prabhu promised that by 2020 long-felt desires of the common man will be fulfilled.

The objectives include reserved accommodation on trains on demand, time-tabled freight trains, high-end technology to improve safety record, elimination of all unmanned level crossings, improved punctuality and higher speed of freight trains and zero direct discharge of human waste.

As part of improving customer interface, the Budget proposed interaction and feedback through social media and dedicated IVRS system and making travel comfortable by generating over 65,000 additional berths and installing 2,500 water vending machines.

Wi-Fi facility has been provided at 100 station and 400 more will be covered in the coming year.

As part of safety measures, 350 manned level crossings and 1000 unmanned level crossings have been closed. 820 road over bridges and rail under bridges have been completed in the current year and work is going on in 1,350 of them.

As a passenger-friendly measure, IRCTC will manage catering services in catering and stalls at stations in a phased manner. It will explore the possibility of making catering services operational, adding 10 more IRCTC operated base kitchens.

As part of improving customer interface, work is underway on installation of a high-tech centralised network of 20,000 screens across 2000 stations for enabling real-time flow of information to passengers and also unlock huge advertising potential.

Provision of passenger amenities and beautification of stations will be taken on priority in pilgrim centres like Ajmer, Amritsar, Bihar Sharif, Chengannur, Dwarka, Gaya, Haridwar, Mathura, Nagapattinam, Nanded, Nasik, Pali, Parasnath, Pri, Tirupati, Vailankanni, Varanasi and Vasco. The Railway also intends to run ‘astha’ circuit trains to connect pilgrim centres.

(Agencies)

82 percent rise in corruption complaints; Railways tops: CVC

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Railways

New Delhi: An unprecedented over 64,000 corruption complaints were received by the Central Vigilance Commission last year, a rise of 82 percent than the preceding year.

The Commission received 64,410 complaints, including 2,048 brought forward, during 2014. Despite the manifold increase in the volume of work being handled by the Commission, there has been no increase in the staff strength, the CVC said in its annual report 2014, which was tabled in Parliament recently.

The anti-corruption watchdog had received 35,332 complaints in 2013. There has been a rise of 82.29 percent in the corruption complaints in last year.

“It is for the first time that the Commission had received such a high number of corruption complaints,” a senior CVC official said.

Of the total of 64,410 complaints received by the CVC, 36,115 were vague or unverifiable, 758 were anonymous or pseudonymous and 24,012 were for officials not under CVC.

There were 1,214 verifiable complaints which were sent for inquiry or investigation to Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) who act as distant arm of the CVC, and CBI.

Railways has topped the list of government organisations against whom maximum number of complaints of alleged corruption–over 12,000–were received by the CVOs in last year.

As many as 12,776 complaints of alleged corruption against Railways employees followed by 6,836 against bank officials, 3,572 against Delhi government employees and 3,468 against Income Tax officials were received in 2014, as per the annual report.

About 45,713 complaints of corruption were received by the CVOs against government employees. Of these, 32,054 were disposed and 13,659 were pending. A total of 6,499 complaints were pending for more than six months, it said.

A total of 3,378 corruption complaints were received against officials working in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, 2,917 against employees working under Urban Development, 1,494 against those in Steel Ministry and 1,303 against Department of Telecommunications employees, the annual report said.

The CVC tendered advices in 5,867 cases during 2014. These include Commission’s advice of initiation of major penalty proceedings in 624 cases and minor penalty proceedings in 270 cases as its first stage advice. Similarly, Commission advised imposition of major penalty in 542 cases and minor penalty in 229 cases, it said.

There was a vacancy of 58 employees, as against the sanctioned strength of 296 in CVC, the annual report said.

The CVC had received 37,039, 16,929 and 16,260 complaints in 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively, according to its annual reports for respective years.

Similarly, 14,206 and 10,142 complaints were received in 2009 and 2008, respectively. In 2007 and 2006, the Commission had received 11,062 and 10,798 complaints, respectively. Also, 9,320, 10,735, 11,397 complaints were received by it during 2005, 2004 and 2003, respectively, as per the annual reports.

(PTI)

Rail Tatkal ticket booking timings revised; 50% refund on cancellation

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Rail Tatkal

New Delhi: Indian Railways has changed the timing for the booking of Tatkal tickets, and said that customers can get a refund of upto 50% on cancellation for the same.

As per the new schedule, the Tatkal booking for AC classes will commence at 10 a.m and close at 11 a.m, while for the non-AC classes, the Tatkal booking will commence at 11 a.m and close at noon.

Railways will soon launch its ‘Tatkal Special’ train service, travelling on which will be dearer than on normal trains.

The cash-strapped public transporter will make special trains on tatkal fares operational for certain busy routes.

While ‘Premium’ trains – tickets for which are priced as per a dynamic fare structure – are already operational, the Tatkal Special trains will be an additional service to cater to the rush.

The Railways has also relaxed the advance reservation period for Tatkal Special trains. The advance reservation period is of a minimum 10 days and a maximum of 60 days.

(ANI)

​Railway workers plan stir against Modi government's labour laws

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Railway workers

New Delhi: Voicing concern over Centre’s plan to introduce reforms in labour laws and liberalise FDI in railways, Hind Mazdoor Sabha has announced a nationwide indefinite strike of railway workers in November.

It will be the first general strike by railway workers in 41 years. Employees of other Central Government establishments are likely to join the stir.

“Amendments planned by the Centre to labour laws will paralyse workers as they won’t be able to form unions. If anyone tries to raise demands through strike, their protest will be termed illegal. They will be punished, penalized.

“Keeping in mind dilution of labour laws and liberalization of FDI in railways in addition to our 34 other demands, we have decided to call the strike across India,” HMS General Secretary Harbhajan Singh Sidhu said, referring to the amendments proposed to the Industrial Disputes Act and Centre’s plan to allow 100 per cent FDI in railways.

Sidhu said allowing FDI will lead to complete control of private parties over railway management and insisted the decision be rolled back.

HMS’s 34-point charter of demands include removing alleged anomalies in Sixth Pay Commission, imposing ban on outsourcing regular works on contract like track maintenance and recruiting personnel.

Sidhu said employees from departments of defence, postal services, coal, civil aviation, port and dock, income and sales tax too will join the railway men in the strike.

HMS said Indian Railway employees had last called for a strike in 1974. Around 17 lakh workers were believed to have participated in the 20-day strike affecting services.

“There has been no strike in Indian Railways after 1974. Whenever we announced battles, the Indian Government did accept our demands. But the Government is meting injustice to workers leading to our decision to go on strike,” Sidhu added.

(Agencies)

Railway launches mobile app for public complaints

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indian-railways

Bengaluru: A portal on Complaint Management has been launched by Railways in English and Hindi on Android platform.

The public complaints and suggestions are being monitored on a real time basis. Necessary instructions have been issued to concerned officials to finalize the complaints at the earliest.

Bonafide passengers can send their valuable suggestions also through this newly launched portal.

The Railway Mobile App has currently received wide publicity through Indian Railways and via social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha has urged public to make use of thie app.

(Agencies)

CBI sniff 4,000 crore scam in Railways, to file case soon

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indian-railways

New Delhi: Sniffing a major scam of at least Rs 4,000 crore in the railways, CBI is likely to file a case soon into alleged under-reporting of the actual weight of loaded goods wagons through the manipulation of software by officials.

CBI sources said that in the financial year 2012-13, railways transported 1,008 million metric tonnes of freight and earned Rs 85,262 crore through it, which constituted 67 per cent of the total revenue for the period.

The goods are required to be weighed at the originating station or en route or at the destination point with a view to plugging the leakage of revenue and to avoid over-loading of the wagons, the sources said.

An official in CBI said inputs were received that this system has been manipulated at several places in such a way that over-loading is concealed and weight of the wagon is shown to be within the permissible limit.

“Highly sophisticated methodology of crime by manipulating the software of the system is suspected,” the official said.

The sources said it is further suspected that the alleged manipulation has been done through collusion amongst railway officials, private vendors and freight operators.

“Even a 5 per cent under-reporting of actual weight of freight leads to a difference of Rs 4,263 crore by 2012-13 figures… It is not only causing huge financial loss to the exchequer but also (bringing) corresponding gain to private freight operators and is damaging railway tracks and wagons, thus adversely affecting railway safety,” an official said.

Railways had in consultation with Research Development and Standards Organisation (RDSO) installed 200 ‘Electronic In-Motion Weigh Bridges’ at various locations across the country to weigh the freight in transit.

Six vendors have been roped in by RDSO for setting up the bridges, which automatically measure the weight of goods train wagons passing through them at a speed of 15-km per hour, CBI sources said.

The agency recently carried out countrywide searches and surprise checks at major freight traffic points with the assistance of the vigilance department of the railways, CBI sources said.

The surprise checks were undertaken in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan and Gujarat, etc.

During the surprise operation, CBI found “systematic” under-weighing with the system programmed to give readings which were lower than the actual weight.

“It was found at some of the locations that the quantum of under-weighing increased with an increase in speed of the rake. The preliminary digital analysis of the forensic image taken at some of the locations has revealed old weighing logs showing past manipulations in weighing,” a CBI official said.

He said alleged manipulations in entries pertaining to wagon type have been revealed with consequences for the weighing.

“Systematic manipulation in weighing achieved through tampering of the software, EIMWB hardware, manual entries, etc. leads to significant loss of revenue for the railways,” he said.

CBI has already secured the locations of the in-motion weighing bridges to prevent the possibility of tampering, the sources said.

They said that test runs were conducted with rakes comprising freight wagons carrying different loads to check the accuracy of the readings. Besides, the ‘in-motion’ weighing was also done at different speeds.

CBI secured a forensic image of the hard disk of the weighing system to enable a digital forensic analysis for locating the ‘digital fingerprints’ (automatic weight logs, etc.) of past manipulation in weighing.

(PTI)

Railway Budget 2015: Prabhu announces slew of passenger friendly measures, but also hikes freight rates

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india-trains

New Delhi: Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu in his budget speech announced a slew of passenger friendly measures such as better ticket booking facilities and more general coaches for the benefit of travellers. Also in line with expectations, no hike in rail fares was announced.

Announcing multiple measures that are meant to improve passenger comfort Prabhu said, “We will throttle tout menace by increasing ticket booking time. We will raise reserved ticket booking window to 120 days versus 60 days now.” “We will ensure quick availability of passenger tickets. Also unreserved passengers can book tickets in 5 minutes,” he said.

Apart from this he said that Rs 120 crore will be spent to install lifts and escalators at major stations. Prabhu also said that more general class coaches will be added to benefit travelers.

Stressing on need to enhance customer experience, Prabhu in his budget speech said that Railways will hike allotment for passenger amenities by 67%.

Outlining his vision for Indian Railways, Suresh Prabhu in his budget speech talked about four main goals that PM Narendra Modi government will work on to get railways out of its abysmal state.

“We want to work on these four goals; to deliver a sustained improvement in customer experience; make railways a safer means of travel; modernise infrastructure of railways and expand capacity and finally make railways financially self-sustainable,” Prabhu elaborated.

Prabhu announced a 247 helpline for Indian Railways. “An all India 247 helpline 138 will be effective from 1/3/2015; Toll free No. 182 for security complaints,” Prabhu said.

Freight rates

Even as he chose to remain silent on freight in his speech and said he will keep passenger tariff unchanged, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu Thursday sought to hike goods rates on a host of items between 2.1 percent and 10 percent in his maiden budget, to garner 13.5 percent additional revenues on this count.

“Then freight structure for the Base Class-100 has been proposed to be increased by 10 percent,” an explanatory statement on freight, appended with the budget documents showed, indicating the hike sought in the most basic goods such as salt for human consumption.

The minister also proposed to reduce the number of classifications to ascertain freight rates, as also rationalise the distance slabs — a move that will see freight revenues jump from Rs.106,927 crore as per the revised estimates for this fiscal to Rs.121,423 crore.

Looking at some of the specific commodities, the revision in the class of freight and the tariff works out to 2.7 percent higher for cement, 6.3 percent for coal, 0.8 percent for iron and steel, 10 percent each for grain, pulses, urea and 0.8 percent for kerosene.

But in some cases there has ben a marginal cut as well – such as 1 percent for high speed diesel, and 0.3 percent for limestone, dolomite and manganese.

“Keeping in view the buoyant trend of freight loading during the course of the year, the revised target of freight loading for 2014-15 has been retained at the budget estimate level of 1,101.25 million tonnes,” said the explanatory statement on the budget.

The increment for 2015-16 has been kept to just 85 million tonnes.

(IANS)

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