Ministry of Railways revises Child Fare Rule
Ministry of Railways revises
Child Fare Rule
New provision will come into effect from April, 2016
New provision will come into effect from April, 2016
Ministry of
Railways has decided to revise the child fare rule. Under the revised
provision, full adult fare will be charged for children of age 5 years and
under 12 years of age if for whom berth/seat (in reserved class)
is sought at the time of reservation. However, in case berth/seat is not sought
for the children of age 5 years and under 12 years of age at the time of
reservation, then half of the adult fare shall continue to be charged
subject to the minimum distance for charging.
Necessary changes shall be carried in the reservation form so that the
passenger can indicate their option for requirement of full berth/seat for
child or not.
There shall be no
change in the rule for child fare of unreserved tickets
i.e. fare for children of 5-12 years for unreserved tickets
shall continue to be half of the adult fare subject to the minimum distance for
charging.
Children under
five years of age will continue to be carried free (without berth).
The revised child fare rule shall be applicable for travel from April,
2016 onwards. Exact date of commencement
of this provision will be notified separately at a later date.
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Production of Passenger
Coaches by Indian Railways
The target for production of
coaches by Rail Coach Factories under the Ministry of Railways for the year
2015-16 is as below:-
|
Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai
|
1793
|
|
Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala
|
1595
|
|
Rail Coach Factory(RCF), Raebareli
|
500
|
|
DEMU Factory,
Haldia
|
46
(for furnishing only)
|
|
Total
|
3934
|
(b) All efforts
are made to ensure that the production of coaches in Rail Coach Factories is as
per the target. The Rail Coach Factory, Raebareli and DEMU Factory,
Haldia are still in the project stage and their outturn is planned to increase
gradually. However, in last ten years, the two established Rail
Coach Factories i.e. ICF, Chennai and RCF, Kapurthala cumulatively
produced
29225 coaches as
against the cumulative target of 29290 coaches which is a negligible
difference.
(c) In order to
meet further traffic demand, the following
steps have been taken by Indian Railways to enhance the
production of coaches;
· Setting up of DEMU Coach
Factory at Haldia.
· Setting up of Rail Coach
Factory at RCF/Raebareli.
· Augmentation of
existing production capacities of ICF/ Chennai and
RCF/Kapurthala.
· Sanction of projects for
setting up of Rail Coach Factories at Palakkad, Kanchrapara and Kolar.
Wagons are mainly
procured from private wagon builders and Public Sector Undertakings, with a
small percentage being manufactured in house by Indian Railways as well.
Further, recently, a Joint Venture company between Steel Authority of India
Ltd. (SAIL) and Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) has been made
functional for producing 1200 new wagons per year.
This
information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in
a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
****
Construction of Railway ROB /
RUB
During the last two years
(2013-14 & 2014-15), 405 Road Over Bridges(ROBs)/full height Road Under
Bridges (RUBs) have been completed.
There are sanctioned works for construction of 1492 Road Over Bridges (ROBs)/ full height Road Under Bridges (RUBs) as on 01.04.2015. Out of these, Railway portion as well as State Govt. portion has been completed in 184 ROBs/RUBs. In addition to this, Railway portion has also been completed in 150 ROBs/RUBs. Further, work has been taken up for 175 ROBs/RUBs. Work in remaining 983 ROBs/RUBs, including 39 ROBs on National Highways which are to be constructed by NHAI, are in different stages of planning.
Normally, Railway undertakes the construction of Railway portion of ROB/RUB whereas approaches are being constructed by the State Government. Funds for these works come from Central Road Fund (CRF) as a percentage of the cess collected on petrol and diesel by Ministry of Finance. The average annual allocation to Railways from Central Road Fund is ₹ 1,100 crore against the throwforward of ₹ 31,700 crore. To address the issue of constrains of funds, Ministry of Railways has approached Ministry of Finance for enhanced allocation of funds.
Proposals for construction of ROBs/RUBs in lieu of Level Crossings (LCs) are received at various levels in Zonal Railways from State Government and other Statutory Authorities. After completing various formalities with State Government/Statutory Authorities, regarding the consent for sharing of cost and closure of LCs, proposals received for construction of ROBs/RUBs in lieu of LCs are further processed for their inclusion in Railway Works Programme. This is a continuous process.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
There are sanctioned works for construction of 1492 Road Over Bridges (ROBs)/ full height Road Under Bridges (RUBs) as on 01.04.2015. Out of these, Railway portion as well as State Govt. portion has been completed in 184 ROBs/RUBs. In addition to this, Railway portion has also been completed in 150 ROBs/RUBs. Further, work has been taken up for 175 ROBs/RUBs. Work in remaining 983 ROBs/RUBs, including 39 ROBs on National Highways which are to be constructed by NHAI, are in different stages of planning.
Normally, Railway undertakes the construction of Railway portion of ROB/RUB whereas approaches are being constructed by the State Government. Funds for these works come from Central Road Fund (CRF) as a percentage of the cess collected on petrol and diesel by Ministry of Finance. The average annual allocation to Railways from Central Road Fund is ₹ 1,100 crore against the throwforward of ₹ 31,700 crore. To address the issue of constrains of funds, Ministry of Railways has approached Ministry of Finance for enhanced allocation of funds.
Proposals for construction of ROBs/RUBs in lieu of Level Crossings (LCs) are received at various levels in Zonal Railways from State Government and other Statutory Authorities. After completing various formalities with State Government/Statutory Authorities, regarding the consent for sharing of cost and closure of LCs, proposals received for construction of ROBs/RUBs in lieu of LCs are further processed for their inclusion in Railway Works Programme. This is a continuous process.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
****
Daytime Travel Facility to
Unreserved Travellers in Non-AC Sleeper Coaches
W.e.f. 16.04.2015, Zonal Railways
have been empowered to declare sleeper class coaches in identified trains as
Second Class unreserved Coaches on nominated sections during daytime where the
Sleeper class coaches are running empty or in locked condition due to
insufficient demand. Second Class fares are charged for travel in such coaches.
This facility is in addition to the facility of declaring requisite number of
sleeper class coaches as sleeper class unreserved coaches on specific sections
during daytime only, where sleeper class fares is charged on actual distance.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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Measures to Prevent Accidents
at Level Crossings by Indian Railways
Various measures taken by
Indian Railways to prevent accidents at level crossings are as under:
Progressive elimination of unmanned level crossings by (i) closing unmanned crossings having NIL/negligible Train Vehicle Units (TVUs), (ii) merger of unmanned level crossing with nearby unmanned/manned gates or Road Under Bridge or Road Over Bridge or Subway by construction of diversion road, (iii) provision of Subways/Road Under Bridges and (iv) phased manning of unmanned level crossings which cannot be eliminated by the above means based on the volume of rail road traffic (TVU), visibility conditions, etc.
Provision of basic infrastructure at unmanned level crossings, including appropriate visibility, width, gradient, level surface on either side from centre of the nearest track, whistle boards, road warning boards, surface of the approach road and speed breakers/rumble strips as per laid down standards.
Social awareness campaigns to educate road users with the use of various print and electronic media for observance of safe practices prescribed in Motor Vehicle Act and Indian Railways Act and joint ambush checks along with civil police to counter misadventure in front of approaching trains.
SMS Campaigns to create awareness amongst road users.
Ministry of Railways have decided to progressively eliminate all unmanned level crossings by Closure/Merger/Provision of Subways/Manning. Accordingly, in the last seven years and the current year (upto Oct.’2015), Indian Railway has eliminated 8170 unmanned level crossings, out of which 3205 unmanned level crossings by manning and 4965 unmanned level crossings by closure/merger/subways.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Progressive elimination of unmanned level crossings by (i) closing unmanned crossings having NIL/negligible Train Vehicle Units (TVUs), (ii) merger of unmanned level crossing with nearby unmanned/manned gates or Road Under Bridge or Road Over Bridge or Subway by construction of diversion road, (iii) provision of Subways/Road Under Bridges and (iv) phased manning of unmanned level crossings which cannot be eliminated by the above means based on the volume of rail road traffic (TVU), visibility conditions, etc.
Provision of basic infrastructure at unmanned level crossings, including appropriate visibility, width, gradient, level surface on either side from centre of the nearest track, whistle boards, road warning boards, surface of the approach road and speed breakers/rumble strips as per laid down standards.
Social awareness campaigns to educate road users with the use of various print and electronic media for observance of safe practices prescribed in Motor Vehicle Act and Indian Railways Act and joint ambush checks along with civil police to counter misadventure in front of approaching trains.
SMS Campaigns to create awareness amongst road users.
Ministry of Railways have decided to progressively eliminate all unmanned level crossings by Closure/Merger/Provision of Subways/Manning. Accordingly, in the last seven years and the current year (upto Oct.’2015), Indian Railway has eliminated 8170 unmanned level crossings, out of which 3205 unmanned level crossings by manning and 4965 unmanned level crossings by closure/merger/subways.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
****
New Rajdhani Train to Goa
A new Rajdhani Express train
connecting Delhi and Goa, viz. 22413/22414 Madgaon-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani
Express (Bi-weekly) having commercial stoppages at Kota, Vadodara, Surat, Vasai
Road, Panvel, Ratnagiri, Kudal, Thivim has commenced operations w.e.f.
15/11/2015.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
****
Provision of on Board
Housekeeping Services(OBHS) by Railways
Presently around 570 train
pairs are provided with On Board Housekeeping Services (OBHS) facilities across
Indian Railways.
OBHS is being provided on identified Mail/Express trains satisfying laid down parameters such as journey time/period, coach type etc. Zonal Railways identify additional trains for provision of OBHS scheme, as per requirements, which is an ongoing process.
As per the revised criteria, all important Mail/Express trains excluding purely overnight journey trains (running between 2200 hrs to 0600 hrs) are now eligible for coverage under this scheme.
Issue of notification of above revised eligibility criterion is the fresh step taken by the Government to facilitate Zonal Railways to provide OBHS facility on all important Mail/Express trains.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
OBHS is being provided on identified Mail/Express trains satisfying laid down parameters such as journey time/period, coach type etc. Zonal Railways identify additional trains for provision of OBHS scheme, as per requirements, which is an ongoing process.
As per the revised criteria, all important Mail/Express trains excluding purely overnight journey trains (running between 2200 hrs to 0600 hrs) are now eligible for coverage under this scheme.
Issue of notification of above revised eligibility criterion is the fresh step taken by the Government to facilitate Zonal Railways to provide OBHS facility on all important Mail/Express trains.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
****
Feasibility Studies by
Railways for High-Speed Railway Lines
A joint feasibility study for Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed corridor,
co-financed by Indian Railways and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
has been completed in July 2015.
Ministry of Railways had
undertaken/completed pre-feasibility studies on 7 identified corridors.
Further, the following corridors have been identified for feasibility
studies for high speed rail connectivity to the four major metros and
growth centers of the country: (i) Delhi-Mumbai, (ii) Mumbai-Chennai,
(iii) Chennai-Kolkata, (iv) Kolkata-Delhi and both diagonals i.e. (v)
Delhi-Chennai and (vi) Mumbai-Kolkata routes. Out of these, three studies have
been awarded in September, 2015.
|
S. No.
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Corridor
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Consultants
|
|
1
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Delhi-Mumbai
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M/s. The Third Railway
Survey and Design Institute (Lead) Group Corporation- Lahmeyer International
(India) Private Limited, India (Consortium)
|
|
2
|
Mumbai-Chennai
|
M/s. SYSTRA (Lead)-
RITES-Ernest and Young LLP (Consortium)
|
|
3
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Kolkata-Delhi
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M/s. INECO (Lead)- M/s.
TYPSA- Consultants and Technocrats Private Limited (Consortium)
|
Further, Ministry of Railways
have also decided to undertake feasibility study through Government to
Government co-operation route for Delhi-Nagpur with assistance of China.
(Work on any project can start
only after the sanction of project. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail
proposal has been submitted to an Empowered Committee on Innovation
Collaborations chaired by Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog to suggest the way forward.
This information was given by
the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a
question in Rajya Sabha today.
****
Railways Amends Ticket
Reservation / Cancellation Rules for the Benefit of Bona Fide Passengers
(a). With effect
from 12.11.2015, certain provisions of Railway Passengers (Cancellation of
tickets and refund of fare) Rules have been amended and comprehensive Railway
Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules 2015 have been
notified through Gazette Notification G.S.R. 836(E). dated 04.11.2015.
Important changes made in Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules are as under:-
(A). Doubling of Clerkage and Cancellation charges.
(B). Refund on cancellation of unused confirmed tickets:
(i). If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation between 48 hours and upto 12 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, 25% cancellation charges is levied subject to minimum flat cancellation charge.
(ii) If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation between 12 hours and upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train irrespective of distance, 50% cancellation charge is levied subject to minimum flat cancellation charge.
(iii). Refund on confirmed ticket will be granted only upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train.
(C). Refund on cancellation of unused RAC/Wait-listed tickets/Partially confirmed tickets:-
(i). When RAC/Waitlisted ticket/Partially confirmed tickets is presented for cancellation, the refund of fare net of clerkage charge is made upto 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.
(D). In case of cancellation of trains, automatic cancellation of booking and refund of the amount on e-ticket is granted to the customer’s account (i.e. one from which booking transactions were made). Filing of TDR would no longer be required in such cases.
(b) & (c). Representations are received at various Administrative levels of Indian Railways from time to time on which action as found feasible and justified is taken.
There shall be no inconvenience to passengers if tickets are cancelled within the prescribed time limits.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Important changes made in Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules are as under:-
(A). Doubling of Clerkage and Cancellation charges.
(B). Refund on cancellation of unused confirmed tickets:
(i). If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation between 48 hours and upto 12 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, 25% cancellation charges is levied subject to minimum flat cancellation charge.
(ii) If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation between 12 hours and upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train irrespective of distance, 50% cancellation charge is levied subject to minimum flat cancellation charge.
(iii). Refund on confirmed ticket will be granted only upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train.
(C). Refund on cancellation of unused RAC/Wait-listed tickets/Partially confirmed tickets:-
(i). When RAC/Waitlisted ticket/Partially confirmed tickets is presented for cancellation, the refund of fare net of clerkage charge is made upto 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.
(D). In case of cancellation of trains, automatic cancellation of booking and refund of the amount on e-ticket is granted to the customer’s account (i.e. one from which booking transactions were made). Filing of TDR would no longer be required in such cases.
(b) & (c). Representations are received at various Administrative levels of Indian Railways from time to time on which action as found feasible and justified is taken.
There shall be no inconvenience to passengers if tickets are cancelled within the prescribed time limits.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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