WR LAUNCHES RAIL UPDATES THROUGH MOBILE APPS

In yet another initiative, WR has introduced another technology based system to disseminate passenger friendly information at the finger tips of the commuters anytime, anywhere and most easily i.e. o­n their mobile. Now passengers can get the useful information such as new trains, Holiday Specials, Sunday Blocks, extra coach attachment plan, waiting list clearing trend etc. o­n their mobile to help them plan their suburban and long distance journey.

            Western Railway has launched the service of WR updates through mobile application for making rail information available o­n finger tips. To make the WR information available o­n the mobile phones, WR, keeping pace with technology, is tying up with mobile application developers of most common apps, to include WR updates in their apps.

            Initially it has started the service of rail alerts through popular mobile apps m-indicator.. The rail alerts icon o­n m indicator provides latest news of WR such as new trains, holiday specials, blocks, disruptions, new services, waiting list clearance trend, extra coaches attachment plan etc. It is available for download from Google play store and www.mobond.com. The m-indicator already has 30 lacs users and is extensively used by suburban commuters. WR is also tying up with several other mobile application developers to include rail alerts in their mobile applications.

 Western Railway is also developing its own mobile application in house to provide above facility. Under waiting list clearance position a trend of clearance of waitlisted tickets from past few days for important trains is shown. o­ne can calculate the probability of getting his waitlist ticket confirmed. Under extra coaches, WR shows the plan for attaching extra coaches for next few days. This again helps the waitlisted passengers to estimate the chances of clearance of his waitlist ticket.

            Western Railway has been pioneer in field of IT and was the first railway to launch its own website. Apart from this, it has many credits to its name for information disseminating innovations. WR has also tied up with Hathway cable to provide availability position in important trains and holiday specials in form of scrolls. Also this information is uploaded o­n WR's website along with tentative plan for extra coaches.

New Shatabdi Express - New Delhi

Northern Railway announced New Shatabdi Express Non Stop Train between Chandigarh and New Delhi.The new 12046/12045 Chandigarh-New Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi Express (Non Stop) will run six days a week (except Sunday).

TRAIN DETAILS::

Train No.12046 Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabdi Express will depart from Chandigarh at 11.40 a.m. to reach New Delhi at 3.00 p.m. the same day. 

Train No.12045 New Delhi- Chandigarh Shatabdi Express train will depart from New Delhi at 7.15 p.m. to reach Chandigarh at 10.35 p.m. the same day.

Rat Bit a Lady in AC Coach

There are so many improvements and innovations being made by the Railways department to give a good travelling experience to the passengers but they seem to failing in the fight against pests and rodents. An incident that happened yesterday with a 64-year old lady created a lot of chaos among the passengers. She was bitten by a rat in an AC III tier coach of the Coimbatore-Chennai Cheran express. The incident happened at around 4'15 am when the trained reached Arakkonam railway station.

Meena Kumari was sleeping in the train while she was bitten by a rat on her toe. She had a cut on her toe and she screamed out. The fellow passengers rushed in to help her. They called the train ticket examiner and asked him to provide her with medical aid. But he said that she will be given treatment once the train reaches Chennai. As the train already moved from the station, the passengers pulled the chain and demanded for immediate medial support. So a doctor in charge at the station gave her an injection and medicine to avoid any infection.

This is not the only incident that happened in this regard. There are many that had not come into light. Pests and rodents have for long been troubling passengers on long-distance trains, particularly in AC coaches. Recently, several passengers of a coach of the Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram Duronto Express had to be shifted to other coaches after cockroaches and other insects started swarming all over more than 30 minutes after the train left Chennai Central.

Highlights of Railway's fare hike

Union Railways minister on Pawan Kumar Bansal on Wednesday announced the fare hike and said there will not be any hike at the time of Union Budget. The minister also said Railways department has increased the fare to maintain safety and cleanliness. "Railways will hike passenger fares


from January 21," says Bansal

Highlights of fare hike:

- Second class ordinary suburban fares up by 2 paise per km

- Second class ordinary non-suburban fares up by 2 paise per km

- Second class mail express - 4paise/km

- Sleeper class - 6 paise

- AC chair car - 10 paise per km

- AC 3 tier - 10 paise

- AC 2 tier - 15 paise increased earlier + 6 paise now

- AC first class - 10 paise earlier + 3 paise

- AC first class executive - 30 paise per km increased earlier + 10 paise per km now #ht

# Fare hike effective from midnight of 21st January, 2013

The govt has reportedly hiked Rail fares to generate revenue to fund railways' two ambitious projects - high speed bullet trains and dedicated freight corridor.

Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia was said to have told railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Monday that the money required to build the freight corridor would be around Rs. 1 lakh crore - almost four-time higher than the ministry initial estimate of Rs. 27,000 crore.

Railways do not have internal resources to fund a project of such a magnitude. The government is not in a financial position to provide so much of money as finance minister P Chidambaram has already announced that allocations for different ministries would not be jacked substantially.

So, the plan panel, which allocated money to different ministries based on finance ministry's consent, wanted railways to raise its own resources to fund the mega-project now delayed for years.

And, the panel wanted ministry to start preparations for increasing its financial kitty.

The way-out, according to the panel, was hike in rail fares across categories keeping in view the rising energy costs and ground realities.

The panel officials say top officials of the railway ministry agree with their view and upward revision of rail fare can be expected soon.

The panel believed that the fare increase would also help to fund the high cost bullet trains, which the ministry wants to introduce in public private partnership mode by 2015.

Seven corridors have been selected for conducting feasibility studies including Delhi-Mumbai rail-link.

Central Railway Plan To Start Rajdhani From CST

Railway commuters residing in the eastern suburbs,

Thane and Kalyan have been demanding that CR start the service. "The existing services from Western Railway (WR) are not much of help for those who live in the eastern suburbs and beyond," said a daily commuter.

Currently, two Rajdhani trains originate in Mumbai Central. "The proposal will come up for discussion in the timetable committee meeting to be held in the second week of January 2013," a senior official said.

"If the proposal is approved, then an announcement is likely to be made in forthcoming railway budget," he added.

Currently, only Punjab Mail travels to New Delhi from CST. The train traverses a distance of 1,544 km and halts at 56 stations during its 26-hour journey.

"The distance between Mumbai and New Delhi (by CR network) is only 1,535 km and can be covered within 20 hours. The Rajdhani will halt only at prominent stations this will help cut down the travel time," a senior CR official said.

The distance between Mumbai Central and New Delhi (through Surat and Vadodara) is 1384 km.

A train takes almost 16 hours to cover this stretch. August Kranti Rajdhani trains, which also take more or less the same time, and follow a similar route from Mumbai Central.

The railway board cites this reason for not introducing a Rajdhani-type train on CR. "Some are also of the view that those using the existing Rajdhani train between Mumbai Central and New Delhi are from the affluent classes. It has a huge demand because of which this route has become financial viability," an official said.

"There are doubts if a Rajdhani-class train on CR (through Bhopal) will enjoy the same patronage."

Countering this perception, a senior official said, "It is a misconception because berths in most of the 3-tier class train compartments on important routes get booked minutes after bookings open. We can also introduce more number of 3-tier coaches on CR Rajdhani as compared to WR Rajdhani to make it financially viable."

It is but natural that the premier train should also ply on the stretch on which the Indian Railway made it maiden journey between Boribunder and Thane on 16 April 1853.