Change in Days of operation and timing of Vivek Express

Temporary Augment

Railways extends 3 DEMU trains to Katra

The new rail section between Udhampur – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra has been opened for people from Friday.
The following DEMU trains presently running between Pathankot – Jammu Tawi to Udhampur will be extended to run to and fro Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra.

DEMU Train To Katra

The 74909 Pathankot – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Daily DEMU train will depart from Jammu Tawi daily at 7:45 AM to reach Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra at 9:55 AM the same day, while in the return direction, the 74910 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra- Pathankot Daily DEMU train will depart from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra at 2:50 PM to reach Jammu Tawi at 4:55 PM the same day.

The 74905 Pathankot – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Daily DEMU train will depart from Jammu Tawi daily at 12:10 Noon to reach Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra at 2:10 PM the same day, while in the return direction, the 74908 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra- Pathankot Daily DEMU train will depart from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra at 9:45 AM to reach Jammu Tawi at 11:55 Noon the same day.

The 74907 Pathankot – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (5 days a week except Saturday and Sunday) DEMU train will depart from Jammu Tawi at 5:20 PM to reach Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra at 7:35 PM the same day, while in the return direction, the 74906 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra- Pathankot (5 days a week except Saturday and Sunday) DEMU train will depart from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra at 7:30 AM to reach Jammu Tawi at 9:25 AM the same day.

The 74909/74910 Pathankot – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Daily DEMU, 74905/74908 Pathankot – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Daily DEMU and 74907/74906 Pathankot – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra DEMU trains will stop at Udhampur and Chak Rakhwal stations enroute on extended portion in both the directions from 4th July 2014.

Konkan Railway..TVC Rajdhani crosses Mangala express at Sangameshwar

Indian Railways..EMD crosses Alco at Ghatkopar

Rail Budget 2014: Indian Railways to borrow Rs 11,790 crore in 2014-15

NEW DELHI: Indian Railways will borrow less at Rs 11,790 crore from market through its two companies IRFC and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd for capital expenditure during 2014-15.

The estimated market borrowing by these two companies during current fiscal were pegged at Rs 13,800 crore from markets, as per the interim Railway Budget for 2014-15 tabled in February.

Thus, there has been downward revision in the market borrowing plan by Rs 2,010 crore for the current fiscal.

"As I have increased internal resource component of Plan, I propose to scale down market borrowings... to Rs 11,790 crore," Railways Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said in his proposals while presenting the Rail Budget today.

Resources from PPP are kept at the interim (budget) level, he said.

Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) will raise Rs 11,500 crore in 2014-15 for investment in rolling stock and projects, the Railway Budget document tabled in Parliament said.

Besides, the other financial firm under Indian Railway, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), plans to raise Rs 290 crore through market borrowing.

During 2013-14, IRFC raised Rs 14,688 crore while RVNL mopped up Rs 254 crore from the market.

Besides, Railways expects to mobilise Rs 6,005 crore through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) route during 2014-15.

Apps and Sites That Make Train Travel Better

 The Railway Budget 2014, presented on Tuesday is being seen as a mixed bag, but it addressed a lot of digital developments. The budget laid plans for Wi-Fi in stations and on trains, and also discussed upgrade of IRCTC's online ticketing infrastructure, raising the number of bookings from 2,000 per minute to 7,200, and supporting 1,20,000 simultaneous users. Setting up regional food courts, and letting people order the food via SMS or email while on board the train could have a big impact, while a mobile-based wake up call, and destination arrival alerts could come in very handy for travellers.
Some of these facilities are already available thanks to private companies. We took a look at the best websites and apps for people traveling on trains, which can make rail journeys better. Here are five of our favourites:

1. Travel Khana

The new Railway budget has made provisions for improving the quality of food on the trains, which includes ready-to-eat meals of known brands and improved and modernised regional food courts that'll let you order food using SMS or email. You can already get food delivered to your train though, thanks to Travel Khana, a Web-based service which lets you place an order and then track the food until delivery when the train reaches the selected station. For example, if you select the Punjab Mail between Delhi and Mumbai, then Travel Khana lets you order breakfast at Gwalior, lunch at Jhansi or Bhopal, and dinner at Itarsi or Khandwa, with multiple restaurants at each location. At present, Travel Khana has ties with over 1,000 restaurants across India, and offers food deliveries to trains in 80 cities, and has options for group bookings.

2. Indian Train Alarm

Another item in the budget is a mobile-based wakeup call systems, and destination arrival alerts. This will be very useful for travellers who need to disembark at stations late at night, to make sure they don't miss their stops. In case you want to take advantage of this facility right away, the Indian Train Alarm app can help make sure that you're up when your station is approaching. Available on the Google Play store for free, the lets you set an alarm based not on the time, but rather location. You can choose from over 2,500 Indian stations listed in the app, or mark your station on the map.

Making use of the location services on an Android-based smartphone, users can set alarms that go off 5, 10, 15, or 25 kilometres from the chosen station, with a half kilometre margin for error. The best part about the app is that it works even without Internet access.

3. Rail Radar

Rail Radar is a service that was initially launched by the government, but the plug was pulled on the programme last year. Luckily, it was relaunched by Rail Yatri, the company that made the app. The service lets you see where all trains in the country are, in real-time, on a map. It uses different colours to mark trains that are running on time or running late, and you can track individual trains. Rail Yatri also has an Android app which features live train information, integrates with Travel Khana for food bookings and includes features such as a speed check for your train.


 4. NTES (National Train Enquiry System)

If you don't need to see the trains on a map and just want to quickly check timings and status, then the NTES website and Windows Phone apps are a good choice instead. You can check train statuses on the website and via the app. It allows users to check the timings for trains, or get live updates from stations, train schedules, and check for cancelled, diverted or rescheduled trains. If you're an Android user, you can instead use the Indian Train Status app, which uses information from the NTES in order to provide similar information to the users, in addition to a Launch Map feature that launches the default Android Maps application and uses Google maps to show real time location of the selected train. 

5. PNR Status Rail Flight Tracker

This app from online travel agency Ixigo is available for free on the Google Play store, and helps you stay on top of your travel plans. It can check your inbox for messages from IRCTC (and also major airline booking sites) and find all PNR details. Once that's done, the app keeps a record of your travel dates, and helps you view, manage and track your trip status. The app can also alert you if a booking changes status (from wait list to confirmed) and also informs you about delays or cancellations. In case your PNR isn't in your inbox, you can also add it manually, and then track all updates.

These are our five favourite sites and apps for train journeys, but if you have a favourite that we missed, let us know in the comments.

Rail Budget 2014: Six new trains for Bihar

PATNA: Unlike the earlier years, the rail budget 2014-2015 has failed to enthuse people of Bihar which has given the maximum number of railway ministers namely Jagjiwan Ram, Ram Subhag Singh, L N Mishra, Kedar Pandey, Ram Vilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Digvijay Singh (minister of state). The funds allocation for Bihar projects is also all-time low.

 

In the name of new trains, Bihar has got four Jansadharan Express proposed to be run on Darbhanga-Ahmedabad, Jayanagar-Mumbai, Saharsa-Anand Vihar (Delhi) and Saharsa-Amritsar routes. New weekly trains on the Patna-Ahmedabad and Chhapra-Lucknow routes have also been announced. Besides, Anand Vihar-Sasaram Garib Rath has been extended up to Gaya. Otherwise, Bihar has got nothing in this rail budget.

The state used to get a bundle of new trains during the period of former railway ministers Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad. Lalu had once given about 27 new trains to Bihar. During his tenure, Bihar had got all major railway factories, except for coach manufacturing. Railway projects worth over Rs 35,000 crore were allocated to Bihar during Lalu's period.

 

In 1996-97, the then railway minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, had introduced Hajipur railway zone while ECR was created during Nitish's regime. He was also instrumental in modernizing railways. Funds for safety were also raised during his tenure. The superfast Sampoorna Kranti Express was his brain child whereas AC Garib Rath was Lalu's baby as a gift to common people to travel in AC. During the past 10 to 12 years, rail budget was known as Bihar's budget in railway parlance. But now Bihar is no more the main beneficiary.

Patna Junction has not been given any superfast train for Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. About one lakh passengers travel daily from Patna Junction to different destinations. Yet, Patna was denied any Duronto or Premium train. This rail budget is also silent on the issue of starting electric loco manufacturing factory at Madhepura and diesel loco manufacturing factory at Marhaura in Saran district. More funds were expected to complete Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge, but it is not even mentioned.

Technology to Help Make Indian Railways More Modern and Efficient: Gowda

Bullet trains are set to become a reality in India with the first service between Mumbai and Ahmedabad as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government sought to make Indian Railways - one of the world's largest - run like a "commercial enterprise but serve like a welfare organization".

 

 In the Railway Budget presented to parliament Tuesday, Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda unveiled many new measures to make Indian Railways, which runs about 20,000 trains and ferries 23 million passengers daily, a modern, efficient and commercially viable utility.

He presented proposals, subject to parliamentary approval, for introduction of 58 new trains, paperless office in five years, digital reservation charts, Wi-Fi in select stations and trains, wake-up call for passengers, separate freight terminals, office-on-wheels for business travellers, more money for cleanliness and safety, food courts at stations, expansion of rail tourism and better connectivity in hilly areas and north-eastern states.

He also promised a diamond quadrilateral project of high-speed rail connectivity between the four metros. He said some identified stations will be developed like modern airports.

Having already hiked passenger fares by 14.2 percent and the freight carriage charges by 6.5 percent, which is expected to fetch additional resources of Rs. 8,000 crore, Gowda focused on ways to earn revenues from other sources, such as allowing foreign equity in areas excluding operations, as also public-private partnerships. Details, he said, would be worked out.

He said Rs. 500,000 crore ($83 billion) will be required over the next 10 years to fund the modernisation plans of the network, as against the actual spend of Rs. 18,400 crore in the past 10 years, but noted that freight and passenger fare hikes alone could not fetch such large requirements.

 

But Gowda also made it clear that commercial viability cannot be sidestepped. "An organization of this magnitude vested with varied responsibilities, is expected to earn like a commercial enterprise but serve like a welfare organization. These two objectives are like the two rails of the railway track, which travel together but never meet," he said in his hour-long speech.

Prime Minister Modi was quick to react. "The Railway Budget keeps in mind the development of India. We can see the great use of technology also," he tweeted, adding: "This budget strengthens institutional mechanism. It focuses on transparency and integrity."

Ranked among the world's top five, the Indian railroad network ferries 23 million people and 2.65 million tonnes of goods daily, or 1.1 billion tonnes annually, from 7,172 stations on 12,617 passenger and 7,421 freight trains over more than 64,000 route km.

With a network stretching from Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir in the foothills of the Himalayas to the southern tip of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, the Indian Railways is also among the largest employers with an estimated 1.4 million people on its rolls.

Shifting to finances, Gowda pegged the total receipts at Rs. 1,64,374 crore and the total expenditure at Rs. 1,49,176 crore while expecting a 4.9 percent growth in freight and a small growth in passenger traffic this fiscal. He projected an operating ratio, or the amount spent to earn one rupee, at 92.5 paise - one paisa more than in 2013-14.

"The Indian Railways will improve system capabilities in e-ticketing to support 7,200 tickets per minute as against 2,000 tickets and allow 120,000 simultaneous users at any point," the minister said, adding that coin-operated vending machines will also be launched.

As regards the high-speed projects, the minister said Indian Railways would require more than Rs. 900,000 crore crore ($150 billion) to complete the golden quadrilateral network and about Rs. 60,000 crore ($100 billion) for introducing one bullet train alone.

"It is the wish and dream of every Indian that India runs a bullet train as early as possible. Madam Speaker, Indian Railways is on its way to fulfil that long cherished dream. We propose bullet trains by starting off with an already identified Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector, where a number of studies have been done," Gowda said.

Modi, in his election speeches, had talked about introducing bullet trains, after seeing them run in Japan and China, if he came to power.

Gowda also listed four new ways to mobilise resources allowing foreign equity, more public-private partnerships, commercial funds augmentation by state-run railway firms and extending tax holidays for long gestation projects

With a poor track record on safety, the Railway Budget also proposed a multi-pronged approach to make train journey safe, secure and comfortable for passengers, with more thrust on passenger amenities, cleanliness and efficient station management.

In a report presented in 2012, an official committee chaired by noted scientist Anil Kakodkar had put the number of rail-related deaths at 15,000 people per annum. "No civilized society can accept such a massacre on their railway system," the report said.

Bullet trains, FDI in rail and branded food: Full text of Railway Budget 2014-15

Sparing passengers of any further fare hike, Railway Budget for 2014-15 proposes to attract private domestic and FDI in infrastructure projects and pursuing private-public partnership to boost the finances of the cash-strapped railways.

Bullet Trains In India

Having hiked fares to the tune of 14.2 percent recently, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda who presented the new government's first budget in Lok Sabha said he plans to leverage railway PSU resources by bringing in their investible funds in infrastructure projects.

He announced plans to introduce a bullet train in Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector and setting up of a Diamond Quadrilateral network of high speed rail connecting major metros and growth centres. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been provided for initiating the project.