Minister of Railways Launched and Dedicated Various Services to the Nation

Union Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, launched and dedicated a number of services to the nation during a function held at Rail Bhawan as a part of fulfillment of Budget Announcements 2016-17.

About various Services,

• Liberalized 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.

Liberalized station to station special freight rates policy,

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 finalizing STS rates.

Salient features of the proposed policy areas 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).
• 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.

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)
• 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.

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.
• At present about 3 lakh berths per year go unutilized 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.

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.

About 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

The three UDAY Trains will run between

1. Coimbatore – Bangaluru  via Salem
2. Bandra – Jamnagar via Surat
3. Vishakhapatnam – Vijaywada