Tag: Indian Railways.

  For the first time in the 167 years since the inauguration of the Indian Railways, on its birthday, trains rested for the first time without carrying any passengers. Though freight trains are running as usual, the first passenger train in India was the day before. On the evening of April 16, 1853, at exactly 3.35 pm, the first passenger train from Mumbai's Bori Bandar station to Thane was operated.

The Indian Railways has made available railway parcel vans for speedy mass transportation of essential items by e-commerce entities and customers including state governments. The parcel vans will transport essential items including medical equipment, medical supplies and food in small parcels. The parcel special trains will be timetabled and will ply on select routes to ensure an uninterrupted supply of essential items. The zonal railways are identifying and notifying routes for these Parcel Special trains. Currently, the trains are running on 65 routes.

Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal informed that Indian Railway (IR) Ministry plans to electrify allbroad gauge (BG) routes by December 2023. Key Points: As a target to electrify 4,310 km of BG route in the year 2023-2024 (till December 2023), it is planned to electrify a total of 28,810 km of BG route. As part of its solar mission, it plans to source approximately 1000 megawatt (MW) of solar power & to source around 200 MV of wind power, based on the techno-commercial assessment. Out of this power, about 82 MW(101.42 MW of solar & 103.4 MW of wind power) is already set up on the network Apart from the above to reduce the fuel burden of IR, it also planned to install land-based solar plantson unused rail land across India to meet its energy requirements for traction and non-traction purposes.

Indian Railways has launched its first ‘Restaurant on Wheels’ at the circulating area of Asansol railway station in West Bengal for the use of passengers as well as the general public. The Restaurant on Wheels was developed by refurbishing two over-aged MEMU coaches.

Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board, launched HRMS (Human Resource Management System) Mobile application (app) through which all employees of Indian Railways can view and access data related to their services. The app was designed and developed by CRIS (Centre for Railway Information System).

The Railways plans to run a new train, Ramayana Express, with Ramayana-themed interiors and religious songs playing on board to give the passengers a feeling of ‘traveling in a temple.’ The train is likely to be launched after March 10, said Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav, adding that the train schedule will be released in the coming week. The train will originate from different locations, north, south, east and west, so that people from across the country can avail its services.

The Union Minister Piyush Goyal announced that Indian Railways will run 100% on electricity by 2024. In such case, Indian Railways will be the first Railways to run 100% on electricity. Also, the Indian Railways has planned to make the network zero-emission network by 2030.

The East Coast Railways commissioned the first waste-to-energy plant of Railways sector of India. It is the fourth such plant in the country. The plant has been set up at a cost of Rs 1.79 crores with Polycrack technology. Poly Crack Technology In Polycrack Technology, waste is processed and reformed in 24 hours. The only drawback is that it requires larger area. The technology involves de-polmerization, cracking, reforming, scrubbing, particle filtration and rapid quenching. The major benefit of the method is that it does not require pre-segregation.

Vinayan, an officer of the Indian Railways Traffic Service, has been posted as Executive Director, National Mission for Clean Ganga at the Joint Secretary level in the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, New Delhi.

The indian Railways launched an integrated helpline number 139 for quick grievance and enquiries by the passengers during journeys. Key Points: It is an integrated form of existing helpline numbers (except 182) particularly to avoid the inconvenience over multiple helpline numbers and will be easy to connect with Railways for all their needs during travel. The helpline number will be available in 12 languages and it will be based on an interactive voice response system and it can also be used for general complaints, accidents and safety issues.