railway

the following is an exhibition special train that is launched by the
Indian Railways as a tribute to the Rabindranath Tagore on the occasion of his
150th Birth Anniversary?
[A]Sanskriti Express
[B]Gurudev Express
[C]Tagore Express
[D]Cultural Express
Sanskriti Express

Lalganj (Rae Bareli) Rail coach factory opens

November 9th, 2012

Rail Coach Factory was inaugurated by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at Lalganj in Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency.

Rae Bareli (Lalganj) factory is the 3^rd of its kind, after the Integral Coach Factory, Perambur, Tamil Nadu, and the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, Punjab. The total cost of the project is Rs. 2,500 crore, and Rs. 800 crore has already been invested.

ICF---SET UP IN 1955


1925---FIRST ELECTRIC TRAIN RAN BETWN MUMBAI---KHURLA

MADRAS TRAIN BETWN ---YEAR




FIRST SUPER  FAST TRAIN IN INDIA-----RAJADHANI

HIMSAGAR------JAMMU TAWI TO KANNIYAKUMARI

SATAPI----

SINGAGAT----








Indian Railways introduces New Tatkal guidelines to tackle
tout menace
New Tatkal guidelines have been introduced by the Indian Railway to deal with the menace of touts cornering the
tatkal tickets meant for common passengers.
As per the new guidelines
 Tatkal tickets booking will start at 10 AM on the previous day of journey from train originating station instead of
current timing at 8 AM
 The Tatkal tickets will be exclusively made available at all computerized reservation counters and unreserved
ticketing system counters between 10 AM to 12 noon
 Maximum 2 tickets can be booked per IP address between 10-12 AM. IP address check has helped in preventing
multiple bookings from same office complex or internet café
 Tatkal tickets cannot be booked on internet reservation system during the special time of 10 AM to 10.30 AM for
next day trains
 A limit of booking of a maximum of 4 passengers per PNR on Tatkal ticket has been imposed.
 During this exclusive period, no unauthorized agent including of IRCTC and RTAs will be allowed to book Tatkal
tickets.
 CCTV’s installed at booking centres will monitor any unusual activity
 Passengers who want to book tatkal tickets must bring self-attested Id proof as well as authenticate their mobile
numbers by the concerned authority











Railways to step-up limit for e-Ticket bookings
The Indian Railways have adjudicated to step-up the limit for online bookings per day from 3.5 lakhs to about 5 lakhs in
the next four months and later to 8 lakhs. Both IRCTC and CRIS along with Railways IT wing are working jointly in this
direction.
 This has been done in view of enhanced demand for rail e-Tickets.








17 ZONES IN INDIAN RAILWAY

RailRadar, Website launched by the Railways to track the position of train IT USES GOOGLE MAPS SOFTWARE

C.P. Joshi appointed to be the new Railway Minister

Mukul Roy new Railway Minister
Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy took over as new Railway Minister. He replaced Dinesh Trivedi,
who was forced to resign after his party criticised his proposal to hike the railway fares. Mr. Mukul Roy
was serving as Union Minister of State for Shipping and served as Minister of State in the Railway
ministry before Trivedi took over the ministry in July 2011.

‘Blu-Fi’ installed at Banglore’s Railway Station
In collaboration with RailTel and Telibrahma, the Bangalore Division of the South western Railway (SWR) has launched “BluFi” services in the City Railway station.
BluFi: (Bluetooth + WiFi) Via simply switching on Bluetooth on their mobile phones BluFi will permit passengers to receive a host of information, like videos, downloadable games, wallpapers etc and also Railway information so on.
Free Wi-Fi connectivity has also been provided by RailTel as part of their RailWire retail broadband initiative.

Red Ribbon Express

Red Ribbon Express is an AIDS/HIV awareness campaign train by the Indian Railways. The motto of the Red Ribbon Express is “Embarking on the journey of life”

History

The Red Ribbon Express was launched in India on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2007, by  Sonia Gandhi. The Red Ribbon Express became the first time information and awareness about HIV/AIDS was disseminated through a train service, Indian Railways. Initial talk of the .The idea of the Red Ribbon Express was developed by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, the National AIDS Control Organisation and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan in 2004.^[5]

The Red Ribbon Express’ second phase was flagged off by Sonia Gandhi on World AIDS Day, 2009.

[edit]Campaign

The Red Ribbon Express seeks to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS, promote safe sex and reduce discrimination against AIDS victims in India, especially those in rural regions. India has the third largest population of HIV/AIDS victims worldwide (with over 2.4 million people affected in 2007), after South Africa (5.7 million) and Nigeria (2.6 million).

The Red Ribbon Express, in its second phase, also devotes information to general health, hygiene and communicable diseases such as swine influenza, tuberculosis and reproductive and child health services.

Government has Launched Third Phase of Red Ribbon Express in New Delhi on 12th Jan 2012,Union Health & Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad launched the National AIDS Control Organisation's Red Ribbon Express Phase III

[edit]Partners

Partners involved in the Red Ribbon Express HIV/AIDS campaign include NYKS, NACO, Indian Railways, UNICEF, State AIDS Control Societies (SACS), National Rural Health Mission, Ministry of Railways (India), Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust, and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation

Indian Railway’s “Bheem” ready to roll out
What is “Bheem”?
 It is a newly-designed 5500 horse power (HP) diesel locomotive equipped with all modern
features including 100 km per hour running speed.
 Manufactured at Diesel Locomotive Works at Varanasi.
 Designed jointly by the Railways and EMD, a US-based company.
 Has a provision of toilet for crew, a first in railways.
 Has huge fuel capacity of 7500 litres to provide long runs without refuelling.
" Bheem" is currently undergoing safety trials. Its prototype has cost about Rs 17 Crore to the railways.
What is the objective of Indian Railways behind this move?
At present, Indian Railways has 4500 HP diesel locos for freight operation and with the induction of "Bheem",
the carrying capacity will increase substantially. Railways will manufacture 15 such locomotives in the current fiscal.

In a hunt to pull the interests of domestic tourists by making Maharaja Express affordable, IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) announced a cut in the journey along with discounted offers for twin travellers.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation have declared four trips in the festive season for the runnining financial year. The two trips scheduled for the year includes the one during Dussehra and the other during Diwali, commencing on 20 October 2012 and 27 October 2012. The trip named to be Indian Panorma will move on the route mentioned Delhi-Jaipur-Ranthamobore-Agra-Gwalior-Orchha-Khajuraho-Varanasi-Lucknow-Delhi). The offered package includes meals along with sight-seeing, 24-hour valet service, paramedics on-board and entrance fees to the sights. Beer, liquor and house wines will be served as complementary.

The other route of travel will cover Delhi-Agra-Ranthambore-Jaipur-Bikaner-Jodhpur-Udaipur-Balasinor-Mumbai and is named to be and Indian Splendour. The package with deluxe cabin start at a $ 5560 per person and the one travelling with a companion will be charged $8340 instead of $11120.

Packages with shortened distances and duration are named as Gems of India and Treasures of India and will commence from Delhi and travel through Agra, Ranthambore and Jaipur and terminate back at Delhi and have been priced at $ 3850 for one in deluxe cabin and with the discounted offer of 50 percent it will cost $7160 for two persons.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited introduced the Interbank Mobile Payment System (IMPS) for  making the payment of the bookings via mobile phones. On use of IMPS system, the user will be charged with Rs 5 for transactions of up to Rs 5000 and Rs 10 for transactions more than that.

The facility of booking via IMPS will be available to those with their phone number registered in the respective bank accounts as the M-Pin and the MMID (Mobile money identifier) will be required for furnishing the details required. This facility will ensure smooth and functioning of the booking criteria via SMSs.

Govt sets up Metro Advisory Board; board to be headed by Mr.

Sudhir Krishna

Government establishes Metro Advisory Board.

Objective: To formulate and co-ordinate the development plans for several metro rail networks all over India. To aid

and advise the central government in matters relating to Metro Railways.

The Board will be headed by the Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna and will have 5 members.

In its starting phase the Board will carry studies in 12 cities with over 20 lakh population. The cities are Ahmedabad,

Bhubneswar, Delhi, Dharwad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kohima, Mysore, Nanded, Patna, Surat and Vijaywada.

Sikkim Rail Project
 The government has clarified that the Rs. 1340 crore rail project connecting Rangpo in Sikkim to the rest of the
country via Sevoke in West Bengal is expected to be completed by 2015. This rail connection would be the first
step towards linking the capital of the small and landlocked border state of Sikkim to other parts of the nation.

New Chairman of the Railway Board: Vinay Mittal

Vinay Mittal took over as the new Chairman of the Railway Board

1975 batch Officer of Indian Railway Traffic Service

Mr. Mittal succeeded Mr. Vivek Sahai

Third Phase of Red Ribbon Express launched

 Government has launched the third phase of Red Ribbon Express in New Delhi.

 Red Ribbon Express is a train that is to create awareness among people about HIV/AIDS.

 Red Ribbon Express will cover 23 States and 162 halt stations during its year-long journey.

Rs. 19000 Crore approved for Katra – Quazigund Railway line project

 The Central Government has approved an additional fund of Rs. 19000 Crore for completion of Katra – Quazigund

Railway line project in Jammu and Kashmir.

 The decision was taken by Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure in New Delhi .

 Katra – Quazigund Railway line is to be completed by 2017.

Implementation of Levy on Railway Freight Service deferred

  

The implementation of levy on railway freight service was put off once again in the backdrop of high inflation. The levy is now likely to come into force from 1 April instead of 1 January as announced earlier.

The levy on transport of goods by rail was deferred for the sixth time. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the 2010-11 Union Budget had brought transport of goods by railway under the service tax net from 1 April 2010. However, the proposal was vehemently opposed by Railway Ministry fearing adverse impact on goods movement, forcing the government to defer it repeatedly.

Railway Ministry is of the opinion that any levy on freight service would adversely impact the industry. Movement of coal and cement among others goods would become costlier with the imposition of service tax.