abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
NEW TRENDS IN PASSENGER AMENITIES:
To take care of the unreserved segment of the passengers, a new pilot project on computer based unreserved ticketing has been launched this year. Of the 13 million passengers served by the network everyday, nearly 12 million are unreserved passengers.
To cater to this huge segment, computer based ticketing systems has been launched for all stations in Delhi area and in due course throughout the country. With this, unreserved tickets can be issued even from locations other than the boarding station and will reduce crowds at booking offices and stations.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation with the assistance of Centre for Railway Information Systems has launched On-line ticketing facility which can be accessed through website irctc.co.in. Computerized reservation facilities were added at 245 new locations.
At present these facilities are available at 758 locations in the country covering about 96 per cent of the total workload of passenger reservation. Computerized Reservation related enquiries about accommodation availability, passenger status, train schedule, train between pair of stations etc. have been made web enabled.
Indian Railways Finance Corporation Limited secured excellent rating for fourth year in succession by the Department of Public enterprises on the basis of the performance targets. Besides, Standards and Poor’s, the international credit rating agency, also reaffirmed the sovereign ratings to IRFC. The Corporation has been making profits and paying dividends.
Private Sector Participation:
The participation of both private and public sectors in developing rail infrastructure has gone up. A joint venture company was formed with Pipava Port authorities to provide broad gauge connectivity to Pipava Port. MoUs have been signed between Ministry of Railways and the State governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand in developing rail infrastructure in these States.
Telecommunication – New Trends:
To give improved telecommunication systems on Railways, Optical Fibre based communication systems has been adopted and laying OFC has increased to 7,700 route kilometer this year. Rail Tel Corporation has been created to make a nationwide broadband multimedia network by laying optical fibre cable along the railway tracks. This system will provide better operational and passenger amenities and additional revenue to Railways.
New Technologies:
India became the first developing country and the 5th country in the world to roll out the first indigenously built “state-of-the-art” high horse power three phase electric locomotive when the first such loco was flagged off from Chittranjan Locomotive Works (CLW). CLW has been achieving progressive indigenisation and the cost of locomotives has come down to the level of Rs.13.65 crore.
Doubling/Quadrupling of Railway Lines
Doubling/quadrupling of railway lines is being carried out on the saturated sections of Indian Railways to increase freight and passenger carrying capacity on these sections. Doubling of 1089 km of track was completed in the Eighth Plan. It has been planned to complete another 2,500 km in the Ninth Plan.
Computerized Passenger Reservation Facility
"Computerized passenger reservation" facility has been extended to cover over 92 percent of all reservations done on the system. A major step in this direction is the extension of this facility even to state capitals not having a direct rail links, e.g., Shillong, Itanagar, Kohima, Gangtok, Port Blair.
Social obligations and care for weaker sections Senior citizens, students, disabled persons etc. enjoy concessional benefits from Railways. New initiatives in this area during the last three years include reduction of age limits for special concession to senior women citizen from 65 to 60 years, blind and mentally challenged persons can now travel in AC classes on concessional rates. Free second class Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) for school going children upto tenth standard for travel between home and school was also introduced.
To take care of the unreserved segment of the passengers, a new pilot project on computer based unreserved ticketing has been launched this year. Of the 13 million passengers served by the network everyday, nearly 12 million are unreserved passengers.
To cater to this huge segment, computer based ticketing systems has been launched for all stations in Delhi area and in due course throughout the country. With this, unreserved tickets can be issued even from locations other than the boarding station and will reduce crowds at booking offices and stations.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation with the assistance of Centre for Railway Information Systems has launched On-line ticketing facility which can be accessed through website irctc.co.in. Computerized reservation facilities were added at 245 new locations.
At present these facilities are available at 758 locations in the country covering about 96 per cent of the total workload of passenger reservation. Computerized Reservation related enquiries about accommodation availability, passenger status, train schedule, train between pair of stations etc. have been made web enabled.
Indian Railways Finance Corporation Limited secured excellent rating for fourth year in succession by the Department of Public enterprises on the basis of the performance targets. Besides, Standards and Poor’s, the international credit rating agency, also reaffirmed the sovereign ratings to IRFC. The Corporation has been making profits and paying dividends.
Private Sector Participation:
The participation of both private and public sectors in developing rail infrastructure has gone up. A joint venture company was formed with Pipava Port authorities to provide broad gauge connectivity to Pipava Port. MoUs have been signed between Ministry of Railways and the State governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand in developing rail infrastructure in these States.
Telecommunication – New Trends:
To give improved telecommunication systems on Railways, Optical Fibre based communication systems has been adopted and laying OFC has increased to 7,700 route kilometer this year. Rail Tel Corporation has been created to make a nationwide broadband multimedia network by laying optical fibre cable along the railway tracks. This system will provide better operational and passenger amenities and additional revenue to Railways.
New Technologies:
India became the first developing country and the 5th country in the world to roll out the first indigenously built “state-of-the-art” high horse power three phase electric locomotive when the first such loco was flagged off from Chittranjan Locomotive Works (CLW). CLW has been achieving progressive indigenisation and the cost of locomotives has come down to the level of Rs.13.65 crore.
Doubling/Quadrupling of Railway Lines
Doubling/quadrupling of railway lines is being carried out on the saturated sections of Indian Railways to increase freight and passenger carrying capacity on these sections. Doubling of 1089 km of track was completed in the Eighth Plan. It has been planned to complete another 2,500 km in the Ninth Plan.
Computerized Passenger Reservation Facility
"Computerized passenger reservation" facility has been extended to cover over 92 percent of all reservations done on the system. A major step in this direction is the extension of this facility even to state capitals not having a direct rail links, e.g., Shillong, Itanagar, Kohima, Gangtok, Port Blair.
Social obligations and care for weaker sections Senior citizens, students, disabled persons etc. enjoy concessional benefits from Railways. New initiatives in this area during the last three years include reduction of age limits for special concession to senior women citizen from 65 to 60 years, blind and mentally challenged persons can now travel in AC classes on concessional rates. Free second class Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) for school going children upto tenth standard for travel between home and school was also introduced.