Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurates/ launches various facilities/ services

As mentioned in the Budget Announcements 2016-17, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched following services from Rail Bhawan on 1^st September 2016. The several services are as follows

NOMINATING TRAIN SUPERINTENDENT :

Train Superintendent (TS) will be made single person responsible for all facilities on train. All railway personnel and Supervisors of all out sourced agencies shall report to the TS for effective control and supervision to ensure improvement in on board services offered by Railways.

• The incharge from C&W and Electrical Departments would assist the TS in supervision of onboard services and redressal of complaints and shall be designated as Assistant Train Supervisor (ATS). Arrangement to display contact numbers of TS in all coaches for seeking any assistance will be provided with arrangements to input the number at the start of the journey.
• DCM(Chg)/ Delhi division will act as “Product Manager” for all Rajdhani services starting from and terminating at NZM/NDLS/DLI. He will monitor the one window service being provided by Train Superintendents of respective Rajdhanis and would liaise with the concerned officers in Delhi division/NR headquarters / other Zonal Railways over which the trains run, for various deficiencies like watering, AC, mobile chargers, bedrolls and linens, catering, timely placement, pre-cooling, punctuality of train etc.

RETIRING ROOMS HOURLY BOOKING :

Retiring Room can be booked for a minimum period of three hours up to a maximum period of 48 hours.Hourly booking is not allowed for the principle block of 12 hours period
i.e. from 2100 hours to 0900 hours and the tariff would be charged on hourly basis.

1. Passenger can book retiring room for the desired period
2. Effective use of Retiring Room
3. Better Utilization
4. Increase in revenue

The proposed tariff to be charged as follows,

EXPANDED COMMODITY BASKET FOR CONTAINER TRAFFIC :

Container traffic was started on Indian Railways in the early eighties to garner piecemeal domestic traffic, which had been lost with the shift in IR’s policy to move from piecemeal mixed train operations to end to end block train operations.

• All container traffic is charged at Freight Any Kind (FAK) tariff except for a few notified commodities under the group of cement, iron and steel, POL, alumina and stones, which are charged at an intermediate tariff known as container class rate (CCR).
• This has been done to ensure that these notified commodities, which are moved in Indian Railways general wagons in significant volumes, is not diverted for transportation in containers at the concessional FAK rates.
• It is expected that in case of some of the commodities like iron and steel scrap and asbestos which are presently not moving by rail, good volumes can be attracted to containers.

LIBERALIZED SIDING POLICY :

Key Features,

• Make the process industry friendly.
• Minimizing  delays, fixing timelines
• Ensuring transparency and objectivity.
• Sharing costs and burdens
• The changes will benefit both Railways and  the  industry.

Key policy changes

1. Standardization of the process of construction, various steps / activities involved in setting up of a siding have been  identified and listed as detailed guidelines along with time-frame.
2. The coordinating officer for each activity has been nominated.
3. Rationalization of the charges to be levied by railways.
4. DRM has been entrusted with the task of a realistic assessment of land required for connectivity purpose.
5. Siding is for end-user and only one co-user can be permitted by zonal railway.
6. Single Window Clearance to customers at zonal level. CTPM  in the zonal railway nominated as NODAL officer.

OPTIONAL TRAVEL INSURANCE FOR TRAIN PASSENGERS :

The facility is reserved for passengers of Indian Railways who book e-ticket, excluding suburban trains, through its official website, irrespective of the class of the ticket.

• The facility is available only for confirmed and RAC tickets.
• Coverage for all passengers excluding children below 5 years of age and foreign citizens.
• The scheme is also applicable for Vikalp trains, short termination and diverted route. In case of short termination, if the passenger opts for alternate mode of transportation arranged by Railway upto the destination station, then this part of the journey of the passenger shall also be covered under the policy taken.
• Coverage for train accident and untoward incident cases will be as per definition under Sections 123 read with Sections 124 and 124A of The Railways Act, 1989 subject to the qualification that the coverage will be valid from the actual departure of train from the originating station to actual arrival of train at the destination station including process of entraining and detraining the train.
• Premium of less than Rs.1/i.e. 92 paisa.

Coverage :

1. Death or permanent total disability       –           Rs.10 Lakh
2. Permanent Partial Disability                  –           Rs.07.5Lakh (upto)
3. Hospitalization Expenses                       –           Rs.02 Lakh(upto)
4. Transportation of mortal remain            –           Rs.10,000/-

Scheme implemented in partnership with Shriram General Insurance Company Limited, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. And Royal Sundaram General Insurance company Limited selected through transparent bidding process.