Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of
Railways during a function held at Rail Bhawan today i.e. 29.09.2016, as a part of fulfilment of Budget Announcements
2016-17, launched and dedicated following services to the nation : -
- Liberalised station to station special freight rates policy
- Policy providing sub quota of 33 % to women within reserved
categories for the allotment in catering units.
- Policy giving preference to local domicile holders for commercial
licenses at stations.
- New system of allocating vacant berths after final charting to
wayside stations.
- Launch of the new “Train at a Glance” and new Time Table
effective from 1st October 2016.
Shri Rajen Gohain, Minister of State for Railways was especially
present on the occasion. Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mittal, Member
Traffic Mohd. Jamshed and other Railways Board Members and dignitaries were
also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh
Prabhakar Prabhu said that the Indian Railways is striving hard to achieve full
passengers’ satisfaction in all respects and today’s initiatives are part of
our such endeavours. He said that the introduction of new policy providing
sub-quota of 33% to women in catering units is a step towards women empowerment
and their increased participation in Railways. He said that Railways will
continue to introduce such new reformative steps.
Speaking
on the occasion, Minister of State for Railways Shri Rajen Gohain said that Indian
Railways being the biggest organization of the country has lots of complex
projects to implement throughout the country. But overcoming the difficulties
and complexities, Railways is implementing its budget announcements in a very
promised manner which is a landmark in itself.
Salient Features of the
initiatives : -
POLICY
PROVIDING SUB QUOTA OF 33 % TO WOMEN WITHIN RESERVED CATEGORIES FOR THE
ALLOTMENT IN CATERING UNITS
·
In
compliance of Budget Announcement 2016-17, a Sub Quota of 33% for women in
allotment of each of the reserved catering units is being introduced on Indian
Railways in order to extend economic empowerment for women.
·
Current
Status of Reservation at Minor Catering Units (Stalls / Trolleys / Khomchas)
·
A1,
A, B, and C Category stations – 25% of the Units are reserved for various categories
like SC (6%), ST (4%), BPL (3%), OBC (3%), Minorities (3%), Freedom Fighters
(4%) and Physically Challenged persons (2%).
·
D,
E and F Category stations – 49.5% of the Units are reserved for various
categories like SC (12%), ST (8%), OBC (20%) and Minorities (9.5%).
·
33%
sub quota reservation for women shall ensure allotment of minimum 8% stalls to
women at A1, A, B & C category station and minimum 17% at D, E and F
category station.
·
There
are approximately 8000 Minor Catering Units over Indian Railways.
·
Under
this provision, Railways shall ensure that women participation does not fall
below a specific level.
POLICY
GIVING PREFERENCE TO LOCAL DOMICILE HOLDERS FOR COMMERCIAL LICENSES AT STATIONS
In
compliance of Budget Announcement 2016-17, a process of giving weightage to
district Domicile Holders for commercial licenses at stations is being
proliferated at all stations over Indian Railways.
·
The
proliferation would help to build local ownership and rural empowerment along
with socio – economic development.
·
The
weightage to district domicile holders is being proliferated for allotment of
Catering Units at all categories of stations.
·
The
proliferation of weightage to district Domicile Holders at all category of
stations will ensure protection of livelihood of the small vendors.
·
The
allotment of Minor Units over Indian Railways will ensure local ownership and
will also promote regional / local cuisine, which is always a preferred choice.
·
The
weightage parameter would range from 20% to the local District Domicile holders
to 12% to the State Domicile holders in techno-commercial scores.
TRANSFER
OF VACANT BERTHS FOR OPTIMAL UTILISATION OF BERTHS
·
IR
is introducing the facility of transfer of berths remaining vacant after second
charting at the train originating station to the next and subsequent stations
for clearing the waitlisted passengers at such stations.
·
The
PRS system will automatically allot vacant berths available at the originating
stations after preparation of second chart to the subsequent stations where
waitlisted passengers are available. The passenger will get SMS on his
registered mobile indicating the coach and berth number allotted. This will
help passengers boarding at road side stations to get confirmed berths.
Presently they get their berths confirmed only if confirmed berths from the
pooled quota (PQ) allotted to the station are cancelled.
·
The
TTEs will be able to allot vacant berths on board after departure of the train
only upto the next station where quota is available for the train. In case no
person boards the train at the next station he can further allot/extend the
same to the next quota station.
·
At
present about 3 lakh berths per year go unutilised while there may be demand at
intermediate stations. This system will help in better utilization of available
berths at the time of departure of trains from the originating station and also
reduce the discretion available with TTEs in allotting the berths.
LIBERALISED
STATION TO STATION SPECIAL FREIGHT RATES POLICY
·
Section
32 of the Railways Act, 1989 empowers railway administration to quote Station
to Station Rate (STS) in respect of carriage of various commodities.
·
Railway
Board used to issue guidelines to Zonal Railways for implementation of STS
rates. Last guidelines on this subject were issued by Board in 2002, which were
in operation till 2006. In November 2015, Zonal Railways were advised to
exercise power vested with them to quote STS rates as per the Railways Act,
1989.
·
On
request from Zonal Railways and to enable them to garner more traffic from road
and other modes, broad guidelines are being issued to Zonal Railways for
finalising STS rates.
·
Salient
features of the proposed policy are as under:
·
Existing
as well as new traffic shall be eligible.
·
Concession
shall be granted up to a maximum of 30% on the incremental traffic over and
above the benchmark NTKM. Benchmark NTKM is defined as average NTKMs of
corresponding periods of previous 24 months.
·
Concession
shall be in the form of percentage discount over the Normal Tariff Rate (NTR).
It should be ensured that the concessional freight should not be less than the
NTR of Class 100.
·
Concession
shall be admissible to Block rake, two/multi point rake, Mini Rake etc.
·
Concession
may be granted for retention of traffic also up to maximum of 15%. In case of
container traffic, STS discount upto maximum of 15% shall be given to
commodities charged at Container Class Rate (CCR).
·
STS
scheme will be applicable for all terminals namely goods sheds, sidings, ports,
CRTs, PFTOs etc.
·
To
avail STS, Rail users shall be required to apply to the DRM with details, who
shall forward the same for approval of GM through CCM, COM and FA&CAO. If
Railway administration approves grant of concession under STS, an agreement
shall be executed between Railway and customer.
·
The
agreement shall be done for a maximum period of three years at a time and for
not less than one year. Any change in freight rate (excluding imposition of
any surcharge) shall not be applicable on the customer during the currency of
the agreement or for one year, whichever is less.
·
Commodities
excluded from STS are -
o
All
commodities with classification below Class-100.
o
All
commodities under Main Commodity Head “Coal & Coke”
o
Iron
ore (all types)
o
Military
traffic, POL and RMC
·
Targeted
customer: Food grain, Cement, Clinker, Dolomite, Limestone, Steel companies,
Fly ash, etc.
·
Expected
additional loading: 10 million tonne per annum.
LAUNCH
OF NEW TAG
The
launch of Trains at a Glance 2016- the new Time Table
effective from the 1st October has also been launched.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW
With over 66 thousand
kilometres of route ( 1/3 rd of which is electrified), more than 7000 stations,
above 10,000 locomotives and more than 60 thousand coaches, Indian Railways
runs above 13000 passenger carrying trains - to take about 23 million
passengers to their destinations - everyday.
The journey in Passenger
Operations in the last two years has been one of sustained
efforts to provide additional capacities, improve the quality of travel
experienceand to reach out to all types of passengers including those in far
flung areas. As can be seen, funds to the tune of 8.56 Lakh crore are already
tied up for these purposes for 2-15-19 and have started bringing
results.
Additional services
provided in last 2 years include 308 new trains, 99 extensions, 118 trains
whose frequency was increased and permanent addition of 1610 additional
coaches.
We have also met
additional demand by running more than 70 thousand special trains
including those to meet extra rush, election movements, military and
para-military movements, and tourist trains. Besides, more than 2.5 lakh extra
coach trips have also been provided - as per need.
We have been migrating to
better coaches - with more comfort and speed. 38 trains have been
provided the modern LHB coaches and 40 trains converted to the faster and
superior MEMU coaches.
We have also added trains
to new areas including Sri Mata VaishnodeviKatra, Arunachal Pradesh ,
Barak Valley and many more.
In the current Year, the
efforts to improve service levels in passenger operations have gained further
momentum. What has already been done in the current year includes premium
trains like Mahamana and Gatimaan express,aneven more accelerated transition to
superior coaches including the new DeenDayalu coaches started from August,
More Permanent augmentations, and further efforts to meet additional
demands.
The current year has seen
several large religious and other congregations of people which have been
managed effectively, to the comfort of our passengers , with record
running of special trains and extra coaches and effective overall bandobast,.
This includes the SimhasthaMela in Ujjain, the krishnapushkaram on the Krishna
Basin and so on. The arrangements for the ensuing Durga Puja rush are also
completely in place.
The highlights of the
improvements planned in the new Time table that will
come into effect from the 1st October, 2016, include most
importantly, the specifics of the 4 new brands of train products.
Further, in this
timetable, we have also reduced the journey times in 350 existing trains,
75 of which have made it to the superfast category.
We have converted 240
operational halts into commercial stoppages and have for the first time,
provided in the time table, train connectivities to the North Eastern states of
Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram.
Also incorporated in this
Time Table - are 36 pairs of new services, some of which have been
introduced in this financial year and some that will be coming soon- like the
10 pairs of Humsafar trains, 7 Antyodaya, 3 Tejas and 3 UDAY trains
besides a number of other mail express trains, extensions, increase in
frequency, diversions etc.
Infact, the 4
diversions mentioned at the end of the last slide shall become
effective from the 1 st October. These will cater to a long pending demand
of the people of Cuttack who will now get a direct connectivity instead of the
detour these trains were earlier taking.
The contours of the new
train products incorporated in the New Time Table are brought out here.
The Humsafar as you are aware would be the fully AC service
with optional catering,Antyodayathe long distance unreserved superfast
train for common man, Tejas will have all modern on board
features like entertainment , wifi and local cuisines, etc and UDAY will
be an AC doublecker train on the busiest routes.
Coming to the specific
routes and schedules of the new train products,
The 10 Humsafar Express
trains will run between……
1. Sealdah-
Jammu Tawi via Lucknow, Varanasi
2. Bhubaneshwar
– rishnarajapuram via Vijaywada
3. Gorakhpur
– Anandvihar via Lucknow
4. Howra
– Yeshwantpur via vijaywada
5. Durg-
Nizamuddin via Jhansi
6. Ahmedabad-
Chennai via Pune
7. Tirupati-
Jammutawi via Jhansi
8. Bandra-
Patna via Jabalpur
9. Sriganganagar-Trichurapalli
via Ahmedabad
10. Kamakhya-Bangalore
via Cuttack
The 7 Antyodaya
express trains will run between…
1. Darbhanga
– Jallandhar via Gorakhpur
2. Tatanagar-
LomanyaTilak Terminus via Bilaspur
3. Santragachi
– Chennai via Vijaywada
4. Bilaspur
– Ferozepur via Jhansi
5. Bandra
– Gorakhpur via Vadodra
6. Howrah
– Ernakulam via Vajaywada
7. Jaynagar
_ Udhna via Patna
The 3 Tejas trains will
run between….
1. New
Delhi – Chandigarh
2. Lucknow
– AnandVihar
3. Mumbai
CST - Madgaon
And The three UDAY Trains
will run between…..
1. Coimbatore
– Bangaluru via Salem
2. Bandra
– Jamnagar via Surat
3. Vishakhapatnam
- Vijaywada
****
AKS/DK
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