Media Group visit to National Rail Museum

Shri Ashwani Lohani interacting with the media

The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Ashwani Lohani interacting with the media persons on the occasion of the Media Group visit to National Rail Museum, Chanakyapuri, in New Delhi on April 05, 2018. (Photo and details by PIB)

Indian Railway Catering Scam in Pantry Cars

Ret'd IAS Shivendra K. Sinha exposed the fraud in Rail

From Social Media: 16 Feb 2017:: (Rail Screen Bureau):

Last week i was travelling from Visakhapatnam to Howrah in Yesvantpur-Howrah Express. Ordered Veg. meal from the pantry car, as per waiter it was Rs.90/- only.

I have always in mind that these people are charging very high for the meals but never took it seriously. But this time i determined to enquire about it.

Googled about the rate card and menu, found this website,

IRCTC Help: IRCTC Latest Food Menu Rates

I was shocked when I saw the rates -

Veg meals which pantry car person was selling at Rs 90 was priced only Rs 50/-

Non-Veg meals pantry car rate was priced Rs 100 is only Rs 55/-

Two more options are also available as Standard Thali Meals- Veg and Non-Veg atRs 35 and Rs 40.

After meals , I handed over Rs 50 to the waiter, but he was demanding 90.

I asked him about the RATE CARD, he refused to have any such thing.

Shown him the above website and rates, he was like Rs. 50 will be ok but DON’T TELL ANYONE.

I was so furious, travelled all the way from 13th coach to 1st coach to the pantry car.

And on my way, informed co-passengers who were taking the meals from pantry about this scam.

Met the Pantry-In-charge. Enquired about this. he was also telling the same story, rate cards are missing right now but will shortly get the new one.

About the Jacked price of meal he was mum. Lodge a complaint in his Complaint register , which he handed over to me after half an hour.

Initially he was pleading not to write the complaint but after writing the complaint, he was like nobody will see this , it will go into dustbin that’s it.

To my surprise, against my complaint (he is obliged to give reason in writing - triplet complaint copies - one has to handed over to customer) he wrote “taken only Rs 50 from customer Bill No XXX and this customer writes complaint every time he travels. “

The same situation is in almost every train, pantry car meals price are jacked up as no one question them, no one ask about the rate card.

As per one of the estimate, every day around 25 million passenger travel from Indian Railways , if only 0.5% of these passengers takes either lunch or dinner from pantry cars , even extra rupees 30 on each plate will make these people rich by Rs 37,500,000.

Calculate for yourself for 100% passengers complaining.

Or just multiply Rs 37,500,000 by 200 and again by 365...

ENORMOUS!

Please do insist for Bill every time you ordered any food from a Railway pantry car.

Please do try to forward this to all, as so many depend on Rail travel & can't afford Air travel.

Indian Railways need to launch “Zero Accident Mission”Shri

29-August-2015 12:27 IST

Suresh Prabhu in the Railway Convention

The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu addressing at the inauguration of the Railway Convention on “Advances in Command Control & Communication Systems for Main Line, Metro & High Speed Transit Systems”, organised by the Institution of Railway Signal and Telecommunication Engineers (IRSTE), (India) and Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE), (Indian Section), in New Delhi on August 29, 2015.

New Delhi: 29 August 2015: (PIB):

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu addresses valedictory session of International Railway Convention on “Advances in Command, Control and Communication Systems for Main Line, Metro and High Speed Transit Systems” 

Two day International Railway Convention on “Advances in Command, Control and Communication Systems for Main Line, Metro and High Speed Transit Systems” concluded today. Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu addressed the valedictory session. It was organized by Institution of Railway Signal and Telecommunication Engineers (IRSTE), (India) and Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE), (Indian Section) in association with Indian Railways. 

The conference was yesterday opened by a keynote speech by the Chairman of the Railway Board, Shri A.K.Mittal and Member Electrical Shri Naveen Tandon. The event was also attended by Addl. Member (Signal), Shri S. Manohar, Addl. Member Telecom, Shri K.S.Krishna Kumar, Hon. Secretary IRSTE & CAO/IRPMU Shri Kundan Choudhary and other dignitaries. 

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that main thrust of any transport organisation should be on safe and secure transportation with zero scope of accidents. Indian Railways need to launch “Zero Accident Mission”. This requires integrated approach involving use of cost effective advanced technology and properly trained manpower. He further said that new advances in command, control and communication system can play a very vital role in evolving safe and secure operation environment on Indian Railways where there should be no scope of accidents even in case of human errors. 

Hon’ble Minister laid emphasis on development of suitable technology to control accidents at unmanned level crossings by providing suitable indications about approaching trains and any obstruction on track. He pointed out that in such conferences we should focus on Global Bench marks and assess our standing as compared to Global standards. We should try to develop indigenous cost effective system having global standards suitable for Indian Railways. He requested to foreign delegates and companies to come, collaborate and manufacture in India. India has advantage of skilled man power, big market and large manufacturing base. In addition to internal consumptions such manufacturing hubs should have export potential. 

At the end Hon’ble Minister said that Indian Railways “Zero Accident Mission” should have a definite time frame 

Railway Signalling & Telecommunication Engineering comprises of a whole range of technologies to provide cost effective solutions in enhancing Safety and Line Capacity as well as disseminating train running information to passengers so as to make their journey safe, comfortable and convenient. Indian Railways under the modernization plan for Signaling and Telecom assets have adopted modern S&T solutions like Centralized Operation of Signalling system, Electronic Interlocking, LED signals, Block Proving by Axle Counters. Throughput enhancement has been achieved by providing Automatic Block Signalling and IBS (Intermediate Block Signalling) on high density routes. To prevent the incidences of Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD) and Over-speeding, Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) based on based on European Train Control System (ETCS L-1) has been successfully implemented as Pilot projects on select corridors and further implementation on suburban sections with dense traffic movement has been planned. Indian Railways is also in the process of indigenously developing Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) as a cost effective solution for automatic train protection. 

The Conference gave the opportunity to the participants, Signalling and Telecommunication professionals as well as representatives from the industrial and research sectors, such as Efftronics, RTVision, Railel, Huawei, TechnoSatComm, Siemens, Thales, Hitachi, Frauscher, EMC etc from various countries to benefit from an open, relevant and comprehensive information exchange on the state-of-the-art, technologies, needs and requirements, as well as the vision of future systems. 

The two days of the Convention, led by around 20 renowned speakers debated subjects such as: 

• Signalling Trends on Main Line and Metros- Opportunities for Make in India 

• Modern Control, Command and Communication technologies for Main Line, Metro and High Speed Systems 

• Advance Automatic Train Protection technologies like ETCS, CBTC 

• High Availability Systems and Smart Signalling Systems 

• Centralized Traffic Control System on Indian Railways 

• Challenges in adoption of Electronic Interlocking in Indian Railways and their possible solutions 

• Train Management System on Indian Railway 

• Signalling on Kolkata Metro 

• Modern Railway Communication and Ensuring Safety in Communication 

• Empowering through Knowledge and Skill Development 

The conclusions and outputs during the Convention provided the Railway Train Control, Command and Communication domains with a clear vision on the challenges ahead to meet the need for enhanced Safety, Reliability and Line Capacity, the technologies available world-wide and the need for empowerment through knowledge and skill development. 

****

AKS/MKV/MN

Railways Year Book

Released at a function in New Delhi 

The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Arunendra Kumar releasing the “Railways Year Book”, at a function, in New Delhi on August 24, 2013.  (PIB)

Golden Jubilee Celebrations

The Chief Guest, Smt. Madhu Bansal lighting the lamp to inaugurate the Golden Jubilee Celebrations and the Annual Women’s Day Award Function of Railway Women’s Welfare Central Organisation (RWWCO), in New Delhi on April 05, 2013. The President, RWWCO, Smt. Poonam Mittal is also seen. (PIB)

Running of Tourist Trains

21-March-2013 14:48 IST

Presently, tourist trains like Palace on wheels, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, Deccan Odyssey, Golden Chariot, Maharajas’ Express, Bharat Darshan and Mahaparinirvan Express are in operation in association with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation/State Tourism Corporations offering package tours. The itineraries of these trains, covering important tourist destinations, are decided time to time by the respective tourism corporation subject to market potential and operational feasibility by the railways. In addition, regular passenger carrying trains connecting various tourist destinations are also available. 

Trains connecting various places, including tourist destinations, are regularly introduced subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility and availability of resources. 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today. 

AKS/HK/BS

Signing of MOUs between Railways and States

21-March-2013 14:49 IST
MoUs have been signed for construction 

During the last three years and current year, three Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) have been signed for construction of new railway lines with State Governments of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. Details are given as under:- 

On 31.05.2011, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Ministry of Railways and State Government of Rajasthan for construction of new line from Ratiam (Madhya Pradesh) to Dungarpur via Banswara (Rajasthan) (189 km). The overall physical progress of the project is 1%. 

On 27.02.2012, a MoU has been signed between Ministry of Railways and Government of Chhattisgarh to develop three corridors through project specific Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). The three corridors: Surajpur-Parsa-Katghora-Korba (150 km); and (3) East West Corridor: Gevra Road-Pendra Road (122 km). 

On 14.02.2012, a MoU has been signed between Ministry of Railways and State Government of Jharkhand for construction of new line from Hansdiha to Godda (30 km). Government of Jharkhand has been requested for providing land free of cost for this project. MoU for execution of 6 cost sharing projects of Jharkhand has been extended on 14.02.2012. 

Trains connecting various places, including tourist destinations, are regularly introduced subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility and availability of resources. 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today. AKS/HK/BS