Indian Railway Current News

Indian Railways concerned over drop in steel cos’ input movement

Kolkata, July 22, 2008: The Indian Railways has taken up the issue of drop in the movement of raw materials with the major steel producers. Iron ore loading in first quarter dropped by about 20 per cent; the hot metal production in some of the major steel plants too declined during the period.

In the first quarter, according to Joint Plant Committee sources, the hot metal production in SAIL plants dropped by 8 per cent and in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd’s Visakhapatnam plant by 7 per cent. While Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant posted more than 3 per cent growth in production, the overall production by major steel producers slumped by nearly 4 per cent during the period.
Source: The Hindu


Indian help for railway sector

COLOMBO, July 22,2008: The Indian Government has pledged US $ 168 million to Sri Lanka to develop the island’s railways sector. The financial assistance, provided under the Indian Credit Line (ICL) will be used to upgrade Sri Lanka’s coastal railway line hit by the 2004 tsunami and to strengthen the operating fleet of the Railways Department.

Accordingly, the existing rail track from Kalutara to Matara is to be replaced by an improved track made of concrete sleepers and new rails, while a new, advanced signal system will also be installed. The Indian Rail Construction Company has taken up the renovation project estimated to cost US $ 78 million.

Among the other benefits to be received under the ICL are 20 new diesel electrical power sets and three engines for the Railways Department, to be purchased from Rail India Technical and Economy (RITE). Three locomotives required for track maintenance and maintenance machinery worth US $ two million will also be provided under the scheme. The agreement relating to the supply contract was signed between RITE representatives and Transport Ministry Secretary Thilak Kollure yesterday, in the presence of Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma.

Source: Sri Lanka News

Ordinary train with AC coach

ADRA (Purulia), July 18, 2008: The long-standing demand to accommodate a three-tier air-conditioned (3A) coach in the 315 and 316 passenger trains, running between Howrah and Chakradharpur, through Purulia was granted at last. A three-tier air- conditioned (3A) coach has been introduced in the 315 and 316 passenger trains from Howrah and from Chakradharpur which would run only during the night, on Monday and Tuesday respectively.

"It will run regularly," Mr Basudeb Acharia, MP of Bankura and, also the chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways, informed: "This is the first time in the history of Indian Railways that an AC sleeper coach has been accommodated inside a passenger train."
Earlier an express train, 'Rupasi Bangla' ran regularly between Howrah and Purulia. It is the first train in the last 150 years of Indian Railways that might become a local train (passenger special) between Purulia and Chandil of South Eastern Railway. The passenger special has introduced stops at six different stations and also boasts of an air-conditioned chair car coach which is a rarity in the Indian Railways. Mr Om Prakesh Chaube, divisional railway manager of Adra in South Eastern Railway, also admitted: "Such kind of train services are the rarest in Indian Railways~ an express train with super charges, running between six or more stations at a local fare."
Source: Statesman

India’s First Ginger Rail Yatri Niwas with modern facilities

July 17, 2008: Shri K.C.Jena, Chairman, Railway Board inaugurated the renovated New Delhi Rail Yatri Niwas, India’s first Ginger Rail Yatri Niwas here today. The renovated Rail Yatri Niwas developed by Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) and the Roots Corporation Limited (RCL), stands tall sparkling new at the Ajmeri Gate side of the New Delhi Railway Station in new earthly hues and shiny warm reds. This hotel was originally built in 1988 as part of Indian Railways efforts to offer hotel rooms to the railway passengers at reasonable prices.

The hotel was stripped to its bare shell and renovated with an investment of about Rs. 10.5 crores to offer the customers 109 SMART BASICS rooms and a plethora of additional facilities. A guest at the hotel now has a choice of well fitted orange and blue theme rooms with LCD TVs, posturepedic mattresses, anti allergy pillows, tropical duvets, Smart Bev Tea Coffee Maker, complimentary bottles of water and an access card to enter the room. The hotel also offers a gymnasium and a meeting room for the convenience of its guests.

Additionally, it will offer 24 x 7 restaurant, that will offer an array of food from across India and different parts of the world. A book store for catering to a traveler’s intellectual appetite and a 24 x 7 medical store. The rooms will be offered at an incredible price of Rs. 1199/- inclusive of taxes. Fifty per cent of the rooms will be offered at Rs. 999/- per room per night inclusive of taxes. This hotel will also have four bedded rooms where each bed will be offered at Rs.250/- for a night. It is located above the Delhi metro station. Rail travelers can call on the Toll Free Number 1800 2093333 OR 011 – 66633333. Bookings can also be made through an email at reservations@gingerhotels.com
Source: PIB Press Release


Indian Railways trains to have internet soon

July 16, 2008, The day is not too far off when you can access internet on trains. If the pilot runs being conducted on the Mumbai-Ahemedabad train turns successful, passengers will have the luxury of logging on to their computers on running trains. Hughes Communications India, a provider of satellite broadband services, was awarded the mandate to set up the first dedicated VSAT (very small aperture terminal hub) for the Indian Railways.

Mr Krishna of Hughes says: “Satellite dishes will be installed at the front and tail-end of the train.” Hughes has successfully installed this architecture in over a 100 trains in Europe. The slew of facilities the Railways are planning to introduce are disaster communication systems on accident relief trains (ART), streamlining the unreserved ticketing system (UTS) and providing freight operating information system (FOIS) even in remote locations.

The commissioning of the dedicated VSAT hub will allow the Railways connect 1,000 locations across 19 states as against 200 earlier. This new system will help the Railways have voice and data connectivity for their services in remote stations where fixed and mobile network of telecom operators had not reached.
Source:The Economic Times

Railways may use bio-diesel at Rs 31.34/litre

New Delhi, July 12, 2008: Indian Railways is likely to procure bio-diesel at Rs 31.34 a litre, which is about Rs 3-3.50 lower than the price it currently pays for high-speed diesel. Railways had floated a tender in the second half of 2007 to procure 50,000 kilo litres of bio-diesel. Initially, Railways plans to use bio-diesel at ten per cent blending levels in all its 38 mainline locomotive sheds on a pilot basis. “If the project is successful, the blending levels can be moved further up,” said sources.

Bulk of the bio-diesel to be procured is expected to be an imported crude
palm- oil derivative, the technology for which is patented by a publicly listed Malaysian firm Carotech Bhd. Carotech Bhd has formed a 50:50 joint venture with an Indian firm, Khard Soaps Pvt Ltd, called Khard-Carotech, which is expected to supply bulk of the Railways’ requirement (about 44,000 kilo litres). The Malaysian firm has a patented technology and produces bio-diesel (Caro Diesel) derived from crude palm oil — a renewable biological resource, for use in diesel engine, according to Carotech’s Web site.
Source: The Hindu


UNESCO declares Kalka-Shimla Railway line as a

‘World Heritage Site’

New Delhi/Chandigarh: July 11, 2008: The 96-km Kalka Shimla Railway, considered to be the engineering marvel of the 19 century, was declared a ‘World Heritage Site’ by UNESCO, in a meeting held at the Quebec City, Canada, earlier this week. The Indian delegation at the meeting was led by Mathew John, Secretary, Railway Board,

Ministry of Railways. Speaking about the Kalka-Shimla line, Ravinder Kumar Sexana, Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM), Ambala Division (Northern Railway) said, “With this decision, the Indian Railways has secured World Heritage status for their fourth line. The other three being the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in West Bengal, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway near Ooty and the Chhatarpati Shivaji Terminal in Mumbai.”
The two-member UNESCO team comprising Dr Robert Leen, a consultant of UNESCO from Australia and Ian Walker with officials of the Northern Railway visited KSR track for inspection on September 10, 2007, and were impressed by the old system at the Barog railway station. During its six-hour journey on the 96 km narrow gauge route fro Kalka to Shimla, the line runs through 102 tunnels, several arches, including 33 major bridges and picturesque stations like Dharampur, Barog and Solan.

Constructed in 1903, the Kalka-Shimla rail is one of the most significant hill railways in the country.

India's Larsen & Toubro gets $242 million order

MUMBAI, July 8, 2008 (Reuters): Indian engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro Ltd said on Tuesday it had received an order worth 10.47 billion rupees ($242 million) from the Indian Railways. The contract, to set up a cast steel wheel manufacturing plant in the eastern state of Bihar, will have a capacity of 100,000 units per annum, it said in a statement. The project is expected to be completed by L&T's Railway Business Unit in two years, it said.

World Bank team to assess Eastern Corridor project

New Delhi, July 06, 2008 (PTI): A six-member World Bank team will be here this month to hold discussions with Indian Railways about the funds for the ambitious dedicated Eastern Freight Corridor project. Indian Railways, which has approached the World Bank for funding the Rs 12,000 crore Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project, will present a detailed report of the plan to the visiting team. While the World Bank team will be here on July 14, another delegation from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will also visit India on July 8 to assess the engineering and environment aspect of the Western Corridor of the DFC.

The JBIC is expected to fund the 1,483 km long Western Freight Corridor project estimated to cost about Rs 16,000 crore. The DFC to be commissioned as part of the long term railway strategy aims at separating freight and passenger corridor, a senior Railway Ministry official said. The corridor will be used exclusively for operating freight trains at a maximum permissible speed of 100 kmph.

There are certain World Bank guidelines which need to be adhered for receiving any fund, said the official. All the procedures including land acquisition, compensation, tendering process, procurement involved in the Eastern Freight Corridor are expected to be discussed with the World Bank officials during their visit, said the official.

The Indian Railways have announced an increase in haulage charges

MUMBAI, July 4, 2008 (Reuters): The Indian Railways have announced an increase in haulage charges for containerised cargo in privately-owned wagons from August, a move which will force container rail operators to raise prices, the companies said.

According to a railway circular issued on Tuesday, the freight rate will go up 14-16 percent from August 1 for a distance of 1,000 kilometres and beyond and for weight categories of 20 tonnes and beyond per twenty- foot-equivalent units (TEU). "We will definitely increase the rates because we cannot afford it," Prem Kishan Gupta, deputy chairman and managing director of Gateway Distriparks said on Friday.

"Interest rates have gone up and other costs have gone up so it has to be passed on to the customer, if it becomes applicable," he said. The Indian Railways charges a haulage fee from container train operators to haul trains over India's rail system. The Indian Railway provides the locomotive, crew and passage on its system.

Indian Railways funds to touch one lakh crore

SIVAGANGA, July 03, 2008: Lauding the aggressive marketing policy of the Indian Railways, Union Minister of state for Railways R Velu said here tonight that it had created surplus fund to the tune of Rs 25,000
crore in the financial year ending 2008 and it would touch one lakh crore when the UPA Government completes its term.

Participating at the inaugural function of the newly converted Broad Gauge (BG) section between Karaikudi and Manamadurai, he attributed the 12 per cent growth rate of the railways to the same aggressive
marketing policy. In the last five years, most of the Medium Gauge sections had been converted into BG sections and only the Madurai-Bodi Section, stretching to 90 km remained to be converted.

The Central Government had also permitted 4 new lines, including Chennai-Cuddalore. After the completion of Trichy-Madurai, Madurai-Thoothukudi-Maniyaachi-Nagercoil electrification, he would take efforts for the electrification of Trichy-Karaikudi-Manamadurai BG sections.

Lucknow division gets 3 new trains

LUCKNOW, July 02, 2008: Indian Railways has given three new trains originating from Lucknow division in July 2008 time table. A weekly Express train (4260/4259) between Varanasi and Rameshwaram and two tri-weeklies, a Garib Rath Express train (2213/2214) between Varanasi and Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi) and an air-conditioned Express train (2233/2234) between Lucknow and New Delhi, are the new trains given to the division. However, the date of introduction for the trains is yet to be decided.

Train no 4260/4259 will operate from Varanasi on Sunday and from Rameshwaram on Wednesday, while train no 2213/2214 will operate from Varanasi on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and from Anand Vihar on
Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Train no 2233/2234 will operate from Lucknow on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday and from New Delhi on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Train no 4265 (Varanasi-Dehradun Express) will be an alternative train for Dehradun-bound passengers from Varanasi and Lucknow, after Doon Express. The train will not have an extended stoppage at Lucknow as before. So far, it was operating as a commuter train between Varanasi and Lucknow and as mail/express train between Lucknow and Dehradun. Also, train no 8103 Tata-Amritsar Express, from Varanasi, has been scheduled for morning in the 08:00-08:15 am slot than the previous 00:45-01:05 slot.
Source: The Times of India