Shatabdi Exp - janam-janam ka saath hai, agle shatabdi tak - Ananya D'Souza

29-05-2020
Indian Railways has been running Shramik special Trains o­n a daily basis throughout the country to ensure that migrants can travel back to their homes. It has been observed that some people who are availing this service have pre-existing medical conditions which aggravates the risk they face during the COVID-19 pandemic. A few unfortunate cases of deaths related to pre-existing medical conditions while travelling have happened.
In order to protect the vulnerable persons from COVID-19, in line with Ministry of Home Affairs, Order No 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated 17.05.2020, Ministry of Railways makes an...
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appeal that persons with co-morbidities (for example - hypertension, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, immune deficiency conditions), pregnant women, children below the age of 10 years and persons above 65 years of age may avoid travel by rail, except when it is essential.
Indian Railway parivaar is working 24 x 7 to ensure that rail services are provided to all the citizens of the country needing to travel. But safety of our passengers is our biggest concern. So, we seek the cooperation of all citizens in this matter. In case of any distress or emergency please do not hesitate to reach out to your railway parivaar and we will help you as always (Helpline number - 139 & 138).

29-05-2020
Ministry of Railways has decided to increase the advance reservation period (ARP) of all Specials notified from 30 days to 120 days
Booking of Parcel and luggage shall be permitted in all these 230 trains
The above changes shall be implemented with effect from 08:00 hrs of train booking date of 31st May 2020 o­nwards
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Railways has modified instructions for 30 special Rajdhani type trains started w.e.f. 12.05.2020 and 200 Special Mail Express to be introduced w.e.f. 01.06.2020 (total 230 trains). Ministry of Railways has decided to increase the advance reservation period (ARP) of all Specials notified from 30 days to 120 days. Booking of Parcel and luggage shall be permitted in all these 230 trains.
The above changes shall be implemented with effect from 08:00 hrs of train booking date of 31st May 2020 o­nwards.
Other terms e.g., Current booking, Tatkal quota allocation of seats to road side stations etc to be same as in regular time tabled trains. These instructions can also be viewed o­n the Indian Railways website-www.indianrailways.gov.in under the head commercial circulars in Traffic Commercial Directorate.
(Ch.Rakesh)
Chief Public Relations Officer

In the wake of thelockdown to contain the spread of the deadly Coronavirus, Western Railway's staff from various departments displayed grit and commitment through their exemplary services. Western Railway not o­nly continued to work at large by ensuring that essential commodities may be made available across the nation in this dire situation, but during this difficult time, Western Railway in coordination with IRCTC is also taking special care of the needy and poor persons, who reside near various station premises by providing free food.Several NGOs and Trusts have extended their generosity to help the needy across the Western Railway jurisdiction. With the Corona virus getting people to stopgoing to work and people facing shortage of financial and other resources, IRCTCgeared up it's base kitchens in Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad stations for preparing distress meals in huge quantities for the poor and needy people.
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to a press release issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar - Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, upto 28th May 2020, almost 6 lakh persons were fed by providing free meals and ensuring that they were not left without food in this difficult time. Free meals were being distributed over all the six divisions of WR by WR's commercial department,RPF, IRCTC, Charitable Trusts and NGOs. IRCTC’s base kitchen in Mumbai Central has prepared approx. 1.55 lakh free meals, whereas its base kitchen in Ahmedabad prepared above 1.05 lakh free meals for distribution. Mumbai Central division provided more than 2.15 lakh meals, whereasAhmedabad division provided above 2.66 lakh meal packets. Vadodara division provided about 77000 meals and Ratlam, Rajkot and Bhavnagar division provided approx. 12000 free meals each to the needy persons. This noble cause began from 29th March, 2020 with various NGOsand Charitable Trusts also chipping in. Some of the NGOs who have contributed towards this worthy cause were Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust, Mumbai; Jain Sangh, Vapi; Sahakar Charitable Trust, Valsad;Jay Manav Sewa Pariwar Trust, Nadiad;Ram Roti Society, Dahod; Mahakaal Prabandh Samiti, Ujjain; Chamunda Mata Mandir Samiti, Ujjain; Indian Relief Foundation, Nimach and Kashyap Foundation, Ratlam.As per Shri Bhakar, it is noteworthy that not just the needy were fed, but the passengers who travelled by the Shramik special trains were also taken care of by WR and provided free meals during their travel. 16.87 lakh passengers leaving from various stations under WR's jurisdiction, have been benefitted by this missiondistribution of free meal & packaged drinking water bottles in Shramik special trains. Thus in all, almost 23 lakh persons till now have been provided with free meals & water bottles over Western Rly.

SHRAMIK SPECIALS RUN BY WR
Western Rly has operated 1128 SHRAMIK SPLtrains from 2.5.2020 to 27.5.2020, which have carried approx. 16.87 lakh passengers to their desired destinations. o­n 27th May, 2020, WR operated 30 Shramik Specials which were bound forUP (19), Orissa (7), West Bengal (2) and Jharkhand (2). Mumbai Division handled 25 of these Shramik specials. WR despatched theseSHRAMIK SPL trains following all norms and social distancing.
ESSENTIALS TRANSPORTED BY WR
Shri Bhakar stated that sine 22nd March to 28th May, 2020, total 4807 rakes of goods trains also have been used to supply essential commodities amounting to 9.79 million tonnes. 9467 freight trains were interchanged with other railways, including 4757 trains handed over and 4710 trains taken over at different interchange points. 283 Millennium Parcel rakes of Parcel Vans / Railway Milk Tankers (RMTs) have been sent to different parts of the country to cope with the demands of essential materials such as milk powder, liquid milk, medical supplies and other general consumer goods.It's worth mentioning, that since 23rd March to 27th May 2020, commodities weighing more than 43 thousand tonnes have been transported by Western Rly through its 282 parcel special trains, which included agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk etc. Theearnings generated through this transportation, has been approx Rs 13.13 crore.Under this transportation, thirty four milk special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of more than 25 thousand tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons, generating revenue of approx Rs 4.31 crore. Similarly, 244 Covid-19 parcel special trains were also run to transport essential commodities, for which the revenue earned was more than Rs 8.05 crore. In addition to this, 4 indented rakes were also run with 100% utilization for earnings of approximately Rs. 78 lakh. Shri Bhakar informed that four parcel special trains left from WR for various parts of the country o­n 28thMay, 2020 viz Porbandar – Shalimar,Bandra Terminus - Ludhiana, Palanpur – Jorhat Town and Dewas – Rajendra Nagar special trains. He stated that the total loss of earnings over Western Railway inclusive of suburban & non - suburban sections, since March, 2020, has been Rs 1061.36 crore o­n account of lockdown. Inspite of this, resulting to the cancellation of tickets till now, Western Railway has ensured to return refund amount ofRs 286.75 crore. It's worth mentioning that in this refund amount, Mumbai division alone, has ensured refund of Rs 136.80 crore. Till now, 43.94 lakh passengers have cancelled their tickets over entire Western Railway & have received their refund amount accordingly.
MASKS AND SANITIZERS BEING PREPARED IN-HOUSE BY WR
Shri Bhakar informed that upto 27th May 2020, more than 1.59 lakh masks and more than 21000 liters of sanitizers have been prepared inhouse by WR's divisions and workshops during the lockdown period. Mumbai Central division of WR made a record42000 masks, followed by Dahod workshop with 39700 and Ratlam division with 37130 masks. Ratlam division prepared the highest quantity of sanitizer, having made 10500 liters. Other divisions & workshops of Western Rly have also actively contributed in the important activity of in-house preparation of masks & sanitizer.These masks and sanitizers are being used in the divisions and workshops by all. Staff are encouraged to maintain maximum precautions by use of masks and frequent use of sanitizers to keep them safe. It is worth mentioning that so manyfamilies of railway employees too have contributed in making masks for the safety of WR’s fraternity.

​Indian Railways has been running Shramik special Trains o­n a daily basis throughout the country to ensure that migrants can travel back to their homes. It has been observed that some people who are availing this service have pre-existing medical conditions which aggravates the risk they face during the COVID-19 pandemic. A few unfortunate cases of deaths related to pre-existing medical conditions while travelling have happened.
​In order to protect the vulnerable persons from COVID-19, in line with Ministry of Home Affairs, Order No 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated 17.05.2020, Ministry of Railways makes an appeal that persons with co-morbidities (for example - hypertension, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, immune deficiency conditions), pregnant women, children below the age of 10 years and persons above 65 years...
more...

of age may avoid travel by rail, except when it is essential.
​Indian Railway parivaar is working 24X7 to ensure that rail services are provided to all the citizens of the country needing to travel. But safety of our passengers is our biggest concern. So, we seek the cooperation of all citizens in this matter. In case of any distress or emergency please do not hesitate to reach out to your railway parivaar and we will help you as always (Helpline number - 139 & 138).

South Central Railway positioned itself as the top Zone amongst all the Zones over Indian Railways in execution of Track Maintenance works by efficiently utilizing the reduced train movement during the period from 01st - 25th May 2020. South Central Railway is o­ne of the important Zones o­n Indian Railways spread over a total of 6336 Kms of Railway network, connecting around 754 stations and running an average about 750 passenger carrying trains and around 300 goods trains each day o­n its tracks.
Track maintenance is a crucial part of train operations which has a direct impact o­n both the safety of tracks as well as in maintaining the maximum permissible speed of the train o­n the tracks. Considering the importance of...
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this as well as the reduced flow of train movements currently, the Zone has drawn a meticulous plan to utilise this period for strengthening their rail tracks for the benefit of all train movements. The Zone has properly identified sections and meticulously deployed all its track maintenance machinery over the zone for strengthening the tracks, points, crossings, sleepers and ballast for enhancing the safety, speed and reliability.
As a result, the zone has been able to achieve the highest progress in terms of Track Machine Working across the Indian Railways from 01st May to 25th May 2020. Important Track machines have been utilised during this period including Plain packing Machines, Turnout Packing (UNIMAT) Machines, Ballast Cleaning Machines and PQRS Machines.
1. Plain packing Machine: It is being done by using 3x, CSM,WST machines to measure the existing track parameters and to lift the track to enable for correction of alignment, longitudinal & cross levels and also for Tamping/packing of ballast under the sleepers in order to strengthen the track. A total of 984 Kms length work has been completed by the Zone during the above period, which is almost 10% of the work executed by Indian Railways.
2. Turnout packing Machine: The work will be executed by using UNIMAT machines for correction of alignment, Tamping & packing of points and crossings, which are available at the locations where change of track from o­ne line to other line and converging of two lines etc. Accordingly, work at points and a crossing available at 496 locations over the Zone has been completed, accounting 12% of the total work executed by IR.
3. Ballast Cleaning Machine: BCM machines are used to carry out Screening of folded ballast, disposal of muck away from track and to restore clean ballast cushion thereby improving the elasticity (resilience) of ballast bed and also to improve drainage of track. The Zone has completed a total of 83 Kms of Ballast cleaning accounting for about 25% of the total work executed by IR.
4. Track Laying Equipment: It is done by PQRS (Plasser Quick Relaying System) machine for track and sleeper renewal works and which moves o­n auxiliary track of 3400 mm gauge. A total of 5.37 kms completed by the Zone which is the highest by any zone o­n Indian Railways.
Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR complimented the officers and staff of Engineering Department from Head Quarters and Divisions for effective management and committed work shown during these tough times. He also appreciated for the coordination displayed among all the departments in expediting the track maintenance works by optimally utilising this period of less density of traffic for strengthening the tracks over SCR