Railways aim at two-locomotive Rajdhanis to save time, increase berths

Railways aim at two-locomotive Rajdhanis to save time, increase berths

by | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance

Indian RailwaysBy 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

Railways to introduce flexi fare pricing

Railways to introduce flexi fare pricing

by | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate finance, News

 

Rajdhani ExpressNew Delhi: (IANS) Indian Railways on Wednesday said that it will introduce flexi fare pricing in its Rajdhani, Duranto and Shatabdi trains from September 9.

“The base fares will increase by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold subject to a prescribed ceiling limit. There will be no change in the existing fare for 1AC and EC class of travel,” a railway ministry statement said.

According to the statement, other supplementary charges like reservation, superfast, catering and service tax will be levied separately.

“The changes in fares shall come into force from September 9, while the revised fares will not apply to tickets already issued in advance for journeys to commence on or after September 9,” the statement said.

The railways further said that vacant berths left at the time of charting would be offered for current booking.

“Tickets under current booking shall be sold at the last price sold for that class and other supplementary charges like reservation fee, superfast charges, catering charges, service tax etc., as applicable shall be levied in full,” the statement said.

The railways pointed out that flexi fare will be displayed to the passenger during the booking in case the fare of lower class becomes more than that of higher class to give more travel options.

“The last price for every class of tickets for the particular train should be printed in the reservation chart for the purpose of charging of difference of fare in the train or charging the passengers of the train without ticket etc.,” the release said.

The railways said that the present limit of berths set aside for “Tatkal” quota in these trains shall be operated as per the existing guidelines.

“No additional charges as “Tatkal charges” will be levied,” it said.

“The berths assigned under the Tatkal quota shall be booked at the rate of 1.5 times of the base fare for all classes (2S, SL, 2A, 3A and CC) except 1AC and EC. There shall be no Premium Tatkal Quota in these train services.”

The railways added that normal concession as applicable for respective concessional ticket will be admissible on the base fare of the ticket at each stage.

“There will be no change in the existing refund rules,” the statement added.