by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
By Anand Singh,
New Delhi : Aiming to increase the number of berths and save travel time, the Indian Railways is probing the idea of having two locomotives to haul its Rajdhani Express trains, one in front and the other at the rear, to increase their speed and save travel time, a railway ministry official said.
“We are experimenting with two electric locomotives powering the Hazrat Nizamuddin-Mumbai Rajdhani Express,” a senior railway ministry official in the know of the development told IANS
The official said that two locomotives were attached to the Rajdhani Express on February 13 after the Research Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO) gave its nod on February 7.
He said the train saved over 105 minutes of travel time between New Delhi and Mumbai. The train covered the 1,543 km distance in about than 17 hours from the previous 19 hours.
The Rajdhanis are currently hauled by a single locomotive with two diesel-powered generator cars at the rear to provide air conditioning and lighting within the train.
“After carrying out extensive tests, we have decided to remove the power cars. Power obtained from the overhead cables through the pantograph of the lead engine, will be converted for providing air conditioning and lighting. This will be done through what in technical parlance is known as a hotel load converter,” he said.
“By doing so we can attach two more AC-3 tier coaches in the train,” he said.
Rajdhani Express trains currently have 22 coaches with over 1,200 berths of various categories. “Once the power cars are removed, they will be replaced with two additional AC-3 tier coaches, adding 130 berths,” the official said.
The official pointed out that the push-and-pull technology now being tried out has been successfully adopted globally. This not only increases a train’s hauling capacity but also reduces the jerk when the brakes are applied as the load gets equally distributed through all the coaches,” he added.
A senior railway ministry official said that the railways has last year experimented with twin-locomotives on the Rajdhani, with both engines in front. However, it was found that this did not make for a smooth ride.
(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, News, Politics
Varanasi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday flagged off the world’s first diesel to electric converted locomotive here.
Modi was received at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Mahendra Nath Pandey and other senior officials.
After the flag-off from the Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) campus, he also interacted with differently abled persons.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to spend around six hours in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, during which he will launch projects worth Rs 3,300 crore.
He will also visit the Sant Ravidas temple.
This is Modi’s 17th visit to the temple town after becoming its representative in 2014.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the indigenously built Train 18, called the Vande Bharat Express, on February 15 from here, a Railway Ministry official said.
Train 18, the country’s first engine-less train manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, will be flagged off at 10 a.m. from the New Delhi railway station.
“He will also address people while flagging off the train,” the official said on Wednesday.
The passengers travelling from New Delhi to Varanasi in the executive class will be charged Rs 399 for morning tea, breakfast and lunch, while travellers in the chair car will need to pay Rs 344 for the same.
While the passengers travelling from New Delhi to Kanpur and Prayagraj will have to pay Rs 155 and Rs 122 for executive class and chair car, respectively.
From Varanasi to New Delhi, the passengers will be charged Rs 349 and Rs 288 in the executive class and chair, respectively. They will be served evening tea with snacks and dinner.
The Railway Ministry had earlier indicated that the fare of Train 18 would be 40-50 per cent higher than that of the Shatabdi Express.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had earlier said that the indigenously built train would complete the distance of 795 km in eight hours, 35 per cent faster than other fastest trains on route.
Train 18recently became India’s fastest train by hitting a speed of over 180 kmph during a trial run.
It would soon start replacing the Shatabdi Express trains and run between Delhi and Varanasi.
The gleaming blue-nosed train comes fitted with the world class amenities like high-speed on-board WiFi, GPS-based passenger information system, touch-free bio-vacuum toilets, LED lighting, mobile charging points and a climate control system that adjusts the temperature accordingly.
The 16-coach train will have two executive compartments which will have 52 seats each and trailer coaches will have 78 seats each.
The executive class will have rotating seats to match the direction of the train.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Large Enterprise, Markets, Online Marketing, Technology
New Delhi : IRCTC, the catering arm of the Indian Railways, has partnered with Magzter to provide unmatched online reading to its passengers while on the go.
In a statement, the Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which manages the online e-ticket booking portal www.irctc.co.in for the national transporter said: “Continuing with its passenger-friendly measures, the IRCTC has taken a new initiative to offer unmatched digital reading experience to its 6.6 crore plus users and visitors on its portal.”
“For this, the IRCTC has partnered with Magzter, the world’s largest digital magazine newsstand,” it said.
It said that under this partnership, IRCTC users can get unlimited access to 5,000+ best selling magazines and select newspapers on their smartphones and tablets in an exclusive offer.
These magazines spread across 40+ categories including automotive, business, comics, education, entertainment, fashion, fitness, lifestyle, news, politics, science, technology and travel, are meant to interest everyone in the family from 6 to 60+ years of age.
The good news is that IRCTC users/portal visitors are being given exclusive advantage of availing this facility at a heavily discounted price alongwith customised affordable packages and an exclusive seven-day free trial package.
One such exclusive offer for IRCTC users/portal visitors starts at Rs 20 plus GST per day journey.
The users can choose their packs from various durations – one day, one week, one month or a year, and indulge in unlimited reading.
In the special introductory offer, the IRCTC is providing its users a chance to choose their packs from various durations, which start at Rs 20 for a day.
For a week’s service of Magzter, a user needs to pay Rs 30, a month’s subscription is available at Rs 99 and a year’s at Rs 499.
The IRCTC said that the users can enjoy unlimited access to superlative content from all the major countries including India, USA, UK, Singapore, Australia, Canada and South Africa on the go.
“And once the magazines are downloaded on a device, they can be accessed even without an Internet connection which will come in handy when the users are travelling,” it said.
To enable the service, a user needs to login to the IRCTC website and needs to go into the Digital Magazine link under “IRCTC Exclusive” and from there he/she can select their desired subscription.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
New Delhi : The railway ministry on Wednesday described as factually incorrect and speculative in nature a report that the indigenously built trainset, the Train-18, is stuck due to a bitter departmental fight within the Railways.
A ministry spokesperson said that Train 18 is under procedural evaluation right now and to attribute the ongoing evaluation to inter departmental rivalry is “factually incorrect and speculative in nature”.
The spokesperson was reacting to a report which said that a fight between the electrical and mechanical wings of the Railways is so intense that, despite a conditional clearance from the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS) on December 21, the Railway Board is again planning to send it back to the CCRS to resolve the contentious issue of the Electrical Inspector General (EIG) safety certificate.
—IANS
