Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated/ launched various services facilities/initiatives as a part of fulfilment of Budget Announcements 2016-17

Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated/ launched various services facilities/initiatives as a part of fulfilment of Budget Announcements 2016-17 

Indian Railways has been working at a skyrocketing speed to ensure modernization of Railways, safety and security of passengers, improved passenger amenities, reduced expenditure, technological solutions etc.  In this direction, to mitigate the problems of the railway passengers and as a part of fulfillment of Budget Announcements 2016-17, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu in a programme held today at Rail Bhawan, launched and dedicated following services to the nation.

1. Making catering optional in identified Trains (Shatabdi & Rajdhani)
2. Announcement for Initiation of “Janani Sewa” – i.e. Hot Milk, Hot Water and Baby Food items at stations and children’s menu items on Trains.
3. Release of Brochure on “Passenger Business Initiatives”.
4. Release of Photo-Write- up on “Rail Hamsafar Saptaah”.
5. Inauguration of Passenger amenities of Western Railway through remote-

                    I.   Homing Platform at Bandra Terrminus Station.

                    II.  One Escalator and a booking office at Kandibali Station.

                    III. Two Escalators at Goregaon Station.

 Shri V.K. Thomas, Chairman, Public Accounts Committee was specially present on the occasion as Guest of Hounour. Chairman Railway Board Shri A. K. Mital, Member Traffic Mohd. Jamshed and other Senior Officials were present on the occasion.   

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu said that the Railways is committed to implement budget announcements in each and every aspect. He said that the new services introduced today will have great impact on the rail users as, on the one hand, one new service will reduce the tension of all mothers to arrange kids’ foods on board, on the other hand, the services of new escalators and optional catering service will enable the passengers to find the rail journey more comfortable.  He further said that the optional catering service will also help the passengers economically as now passengers would be in a position not to necessarily opt for food in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains consequently they will not be charged for the food. 

SERVICES LAUNCHED : -

     “Rail Hamsafar Saptaah, 26^th May – 1^st June,2016”

Under the guidance of  Minister of Railways  and Minister of State for Railways, Indian Railways undertook extensive interactive sessions as a major outreach effort with all the stakeholders, i.e. Passengers, Major freight customers and staff, during the week “Rail Hamsafar Saptaah, 26^th May – 1^st June,2016”.

            The enthusiasm and response of the stakeholders has been overwhelming. More than 300 ‘Passenger Amenity’ works were also commissioned during this week.  The broad-based coverage of these activities associated everybody, including Production Units, Undertakings, Press and Media across the length and breadth of the country.

            Some of the significant outcomes of these interactions are as under:

Day-1 (26^th May) – Cleanliness Drive:

            Railway Officers at different level inspected 3557 Railway Stations and 2022 trains, in which 293 NGOs were associated.  Besides, more than 54000 interactive sessions with passengers were also held.

Day-2 (27^th May) – Inspection of Catering Units, both mobile and static, including Base Kitchens:

            Inspection of 4063 static units, 234 Base Kitchens, 699 Pantry Cars, 9671 Water Booths were conducted.  More than 27000 passengers were also engaged in obtaining suggestions & feedback.

Day-3 (28^th May) – Passenger Amenities at Stations & in Trains and Passenger Grievance Redressal:

            1816 trains were inspected by officers, 52463 passengers were approached, 2637 grievances out of 3502 received, were redressed on the same day.

Day-4 (29^th May) – Punctuality and Ticket Checking Drive:

            With intensive monitoring, Mail/Express trains achieved a punctuality of 85.2% and 82.03% for Passenger trains.  3284 ticket checking drives were conducted,52754 ticketless passengers were held, thus yielding a penalty earning of Rs.2.17 crores.

Day-5 (30^th May) – Clean and Green Railway Colonies and workplaces with association of Railway staff and Unions:

            2305 cleanliness inspection of railway colonies and workplaces were conducted, more than 1 lakh trees were planted and 608 sporting events were organized.

Day-6 (31^st May) – Meeting with major freight customers:

            153 meetings were held with 1271 freight customers.

Day-7 (1^st June) – Dissemination of information to Electronic and Print Media:

            For disseminating information, 116 press conferences were held.

            Some of the pictures of activities undertaken during the “Rail Hamsafar Saptaah” have been compiled, giving an indication of our engagement with our stakeholder. 

            As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. 

Janani Sewa

·         In compliance of the Budget Announcement 2016-17, ’JANANI SEWA’ is being introduced on IR in order to mitigate the hardships of the mothers travelling with their infants.

·         Under this scheme, Railways shall ensure availability of essential y items like baby food, hot milk and hot water etc. at Railway Stations.

·         This facility is being introduced at over 25 stations including New Delhi, Mumbai CSTM, Mumbai Central, Howrah, Chennai Central, Nagpur, Pune, Surat,  Lucknow,  Moradabad etc. 

Children’s Menu Items

·  Minister of Railways in the Budget Speech 2016-17 announced to ensure availability of children’s menu items on trains.

·  IRCTC has included Children’s menu items (meal combos for children in 5-12 yrs age group) on trains passing through New Delhi, Howrah, Chennai Egmore and CSTM Mumbai Stations through e-catering and also through purchase across the counter.

·  These items can be ordered by the passengers through e-catering website of IRCTC,  a specified phone number, SMS, Mobile Apps and a four digit (1323) all India Toll Free Number.

Optional Catering Service

·Minister of  Railways in his budget speech 2016-17 had announced as under :

“Explore the possibility of making mandatory catering services optional in trains”

·  In pursuance of this objective, trial to be undertaken on 2 pairs of Trains i.e.

Ø  H. Nizamuddin to Mumbai Central August Kranti Rajdhani Express (Train No. 12954-53)

Ø  PUNE to Secunderabad Shatabdi Express (Train No. 12025-26).

· Optional Catering Service will be provided on trial basis to passengers from 09/06/2016 for journeys to commence on the opening day of ARP. (Advance Reservation Period - 120 days). Duration of trial is for 45 days.

·   Catering services will be included by default. Passengers have to specifically ‘opt out’ from the mandatory food option.

·  Catering apportionment charges will be excluded from the total ticket fare accordingly.

·         Impact on ticket fare is as under : -

Train No.	Type of Train	From - To	Existing Catering Service	Total Ticket Fare including Catering Charges			Catering  Charges included in ticket fare
				1A/EC	2A	3A/CC	1A/EC		2A/3A/CC
12953	Rajdhani,	BCT-NZM	Evening tea+Dinner+Morning Tea+Breakfast	4755	2870	2085	340	295
12954	Rajdhani,	NZM-BCT	Evening tea+Dinner+Morning Tea+ Breakfast	4755	2870	2085	340	295
12025	Shatabdi	PUNE-SC	Morning Tea+Breakfast+Lunch	2160		1095	260	220
12026	Shatabdi	SC-PUNE	Evening Tea+Dinner	2095		1050	195	175

‘SUHANA SAFAR’- A Brochure on Passenger Service Initiatives

· Recently a Brochure bringing out Freight Business initiatives was released by the Ministry of railways- which brought out the various steps taken towards Ease of doing Business with railways.

· The same was very well received by the stakeholders- Trade, Ministries of Govt of India, State governments etc- as a single point reference cum roadmap of the action taken/planed.

·  Hence need felt to bring out a similar brochure for Passenger Services

·   The brochure is divided into 5 segments covering 101 major initiatiatives taken over the last two Railway Budgets,  towards a delightful travel experience.

·    These segments are :

i. Tickets at a click-IT for ease and convenience- 28 initiatives

 ii. Meeting the Demand- More capacity more choices-21 initiatives

 iii. Towards a quality travel experience-Infrastructure, information ,security and more-34 initiatives

iv. Catering and Tourism services- More options better quality-16 initiatives

 v. Engaging with passengers-Connecting and responding online- initiatives in 2 major areas.

·  Copies of the brochure shall be distributed amongst all stakeholders.

INAUGURATION OF HOME PLATFORM & BOOKING OFFICE AT  BANDRA (t), ESCALATOR & BOOKING OFICE AT KANDIVALI AND THREE ESCALATORS AT GOREGAON STATION

Railway plays a pivotal role in the overall development of our country. It has contributed immensely in bringing together the people and dynamic cultures that co-exist in India. Western Railway is an important constituent of Indian Railways and serves the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with its Passenger, Mail Express, Super fast and Shatabdi and Rajdhani train services.

Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Railways through video conferencing from Rail Bhavan, New Delhi will inaugurate Home Platform & Booking Office at Bandra Terminus, Escalator & Booking office at Kandivali and Three Escalators at Goregaon station on 8^th June 2016.

Bandra Terminus : A major terminal of Mumbai

Bandra Terminus has been developed as an important coaching terminal of Western Railway in Mumbai, which is known as the financial capital of India. This terminal was commissioned on 1^st July, 1992. The state of the art station building has been commissioned with all passenger amenities like booking windows, PRS, waiting hall, cloak rooms, modern cafeteria, waiting rooms, retiring rooms, etc. to cater to the ever increasing passenger needs of Mumbai megapolis.

Bandra Terminus is the second major terminal after Mumbai Central on Mumbai Division of Western Railway that deals with long distance trains from Mumbai. It deals with 40 pairs of trains. Bandra Terminus, on an average, deals with 14,000 reserved and 6,000 unreserved originating passengers daily thereby generating earnings of Rs. 94.83 lakh and Rs. 10.99 lakh per day respectively. Earning from parcel traffic is Rs. 4.3 lakh per day.

The work of Remodelling of yard to provide New Home Platform at Bandra Terminus has been executed as part of the 6^th line work under MUTP-II.  Cost of work of construction of the Home Platform has been approx Rs 33.24 crore. Along with this, construction of Elevated Booking office at Bandra Terminus under trespass control measures in MUTP-II project has also been done at a cost of       Rs 1.5 crore.

Elevated Booking office & Escalator at Kandivali station

       In order to curb accidents due to trespassing major measures have been undertaken at suburban stations under MUTP II A.  An elevated deck with booking office with 5 windows and an escalator connecting to the deck has been constructed at Kandivali station. This elevated deck is between south BMC FOB and Railway FOB over local lines. The work has been executed at a cost of approx. Rs 5.1 crore.

            Kandivali station, has more than 1.72 lakh originating passengers per day. The daily average passenger earnings of Kandivali station is approx. Rs.10.06 lakh. Keeping in view the needs of the passengers, a new elevated Booking office has been constructed and an escalator has  installed at Kandivali station.

Escalators at Goregaon station

Goregaon station, has more than 1.54 lakh originating passengers per day. The daily average passenger earnings of Goregaon station is approx. Rs. 8.78 lakh. Three new escalators are being provided at Goregaon station for the benefit of passengers. With addition of these escalators, Goregaon station will now have six escalators connected to the elevated deck. The cost of provision of these additional escalators is Rs 1.6 crore approx. These escalators have been provided as part of the overall work of construction of Elevated Deck with booking offices, lifts, escalators etc. at Goregaon.


Source:PIBNEWS