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This project was declared in 2008. It took GoI 7 years to approve the project.
And there's still people out there who'd say "meh, bhashan only, still nothing has changed" !This project was declared in 2008. It took GoI 7 years to approve the project.
At least the NDA government took just 9 months to approve the project. I hope now the outdated land bill do not create any problem.
The Indian Railways will this week firm up two Memorandums of Understanding providing for investments to the tune of Rs 30,000-crore, in pursuit of railway minister Suresh Prabhu's plan to raise resources through extra budgetary resources (EBR) to ramp up the public transporter's creaking infrastructure.
One of these agreements will be signed between the Railways and the state-run Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India.
The Railways wants LIC to park its `1 trillion worth surplus funds to develop its infrastructure over the next five years.
"The response to Prabhu's idea of raising resources from 'outside the Railway budget' has been phenomenal"¦ Japan has offered to park 4% of its pension funds for infrastructure development in the Indian Railways and an agreement is likely to be finalised next month," highly placed sources told HT.
A joint statement signed in the presence of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian premier Narendra Modi on September 1 last year — during the latter's visit to Tokyo — enlists Japan's offer of financial assistance worth 50 billion yen ($500 million) for infrastructure development in India.
While outlining the biggest-ever plan outlay of Rs 1,00,011 crore for 2015-16, the Railways minister presented an ambitious target of raising Rs 17,655 crore by way of market borrowings under EBR.
"Plans to raise resources through EBR are very much on course. These funds will be utilised for decongesting the High Density Networks (HDNs) of the Indian Railways"¦ Next year, we should be in a position to double the plan size," minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha told HT.
Railways' freight earning grows by 13% to Rs 95,136 cr
I have very high hopes from Suresh Prabhu. I heard his speech in both houses in reply to railway budget discussion. It seems this man means business. I hope like his much talked about power sector reforms in 2003; we can see similar path breaking ideas and achievements for Indian railways. Kudos to PM MODI for hand picking this man to head Railway ministry.
The trouble has always been inconsistent and adhoc implementation.
More good news for people of MumbaiOne VERY VERY WELCOME development is that the railways have started the process of introducing Mumbai local trains with automatic doors. That is a big boon for safety. Initially the coaches with doors will be ladies compartments.
All bogies need to have doors that close automatically. That will increase the safety record drastically.
The new trains will run at a speed of 70-80 kilometers per hour between Churchgate and Borivli, and go up to 105 kilometers per hour on the Borivli-Virar-Dahanu stretch. This will reduce travel time significantly, and will result in more journeys through the day, with lesser waiting time between trains.
At 11:32 this morning, the first Bombardier train rolled out of Churchgate station. Among the feature that have seen a marked improvement are the new seats, and new holding bars including those near the doors. The new coaches have comparatively more space than the current ones, especially between seats. This may help commuters during peak hours.
Passengers who boarded the Chandigarh-Delhi Shatabdi Express on Thursday morning were surprised after they came to know about a slick touchscreen entertainment unit provided on back of the seats.
A facility like this was earlier provided mostly in the aircrafts.
According to Indian Express, from this week onwards, all those boarding the Shatabdi Express in areas under the Northern Railway are in for infotainment on wheels. Passengers can watch films and television serials directly via satellite on these entertainment units.
A 'live TV' section is also a part of the format, which will ensure that the passengers on long journeys can follow all major sporting events live. News channels too would be introduced soon, an official said.
The installation contract for the pilot project has been given to a private company. "This is one of the more interesting additions this year, something that is currently seen only on aircraft. We will neither charge any extra money from the passengers nor will invest anything into it. It's a commercial publicity model for which we will charge a 20 per cent licence fee from the advertisers," Neeraj Sharma, chief public relations officer, Northern Railway, said. The Railways will earn Rs 1 crore per train in five years, the official said.
In this year's budget, there was a 60 per cent increase in the allocation of funds for passenger amenities. However, this business model does not dig any hole into that fund.
These entertainment units have been installed only on those Shatabdis that have LHB coaches (one with wider windows) as opposed to ICF coaches manufactured by the Railways.
However the first experience of this newly introduced facility didn't pleased the passengers much. They were disappointed with glitches and the sound quality as well.
The Railways will not be providing the passengers with headphones as of now but they can use their own. However, these will soon be available on a rent of Rs 20 per journey.
Surprise inspections, hefty fines and strict vigil have ensured that New Delhi railway station looks clean and tidy and meets commuters' expectations. When TOI visited the country's largest and busiest station, it was in for a surprise to see clean tracks, stink-free washrooms and comfortable waiting rooms.
Thanks to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Northern Railway has taken a slew of measures to raise the sanitation standard of the station. Arun Arora, divisional railway manager, Northern Railway has taken a slew of measures to raise the sanitation standard of the station. Arun Arora, divisional railway manager, Northern Railway, said, "Keeping the station premises clean is a collective responsibility of the rail administration, vendors and commuters. He said these initiatives had been taken over the past two months on the lines of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and that the administration aimed at making the station one of the clean stations in the country.
"Our surprise visits have made an impact. The staff have become punctual and perform their duties properly. Also, our teams have intensified efforts to catch those found littering and fine them up to Rs 500. We have also issued strict instructions to the vendors to keep emptying their bins at regular intervals. Stickers and bills have been removed from walls ad metal poles are being polished regularly," Arora added.
He said such steps were helpful in reminding even the commuters to maintain cleanliness at the station.