Etrains Blog

Indian Railways is working on a project that will revolutionise how ordinary people travel by train! A prototype of a new air-conditioned general second class coach will be rolled out by the end of this year. Indian Railways is looking to revamp unreserved second class coaches by making them air-conditioned, after introducing an Economy AC 3-tier train. Several of the other improvements are in the works in the coach to make train travel more convenient for the average person. The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala will produce the new AC general second class coach. General Manager of RCF, Ravinder Gupta, told that "This project will change the face of rail travel in India for the common man. Air conditioned general second class travel will become comfortable like never before". The new AC general second class coach's layout is being finalised, and RCF hopes to have a prototype ready by the end of the year. Currently, a general second-class coach can seat up to 100 pas

The Ministry of Railways has instructed the Indian Railways Catering and Toursim Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) to terminate all existing mobile catering contracts, which include providing cooked food to passengers prepared from base kitchens. Company told "IRCTC was further directed to treat this case as an exception arising out of pandemic situation and not to treat the case as contractor's default and hence not impose any fine for not providing catering services and also return the Security Deposit (SD) and advance license fee in full after considering valid dues". The comment comes as members of the Indian Railways' Mobile Caterers Association (ICRMCA) file a petition in the Madras High Court on January 19, 2021, raising the question of mobile catering. The Madras High Court had ordered the Indian Railways to consider IRMCA's request to resume service, which had been suspended after the lock-down was declared in March 2020. The court ordered that the authorities shou

Railways minister Piyush Goyal has shared glimpses of the country’s soon to be inaugurated first centralised AC railway terminal in Karnataka. The upcoming state of the art railway terminal in Bengaluru's Baiyappanahalli district. Goyal tweeted on Thursday and shared photographs of the station, "Have a glimpse of the upcoming Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal in Bengaluru, Karnataka, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities". The Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal railway terminal has seven platforms with escalators and lifts linking each of the platforms for easier passenger movement. A foot over bridge and two subways have also be added for a better connection between the platforms. The 4200 sq. meter station construction, which has cost ₹314 crore, will serve to a daily footfall of 50,000. Fifty trains can be operated from the terminal on a daily basis. The photos shared by the minister show the luxurious interiors of the railway terminal, railway lines, the stylish and sufficien

Final tenders for 150 private trains, which are scheduled to commence operations on 109 routes by 2023, are expected to arrive by 31 March. Termination fees, granting alternative routes and further relaxation for route exclusivity, the government of Narendra Modi has planned major concessions to ease private players' concerns before they begin bidding to run trains. The Ministry of Railways and the Group of Secretaries (GoS) were cleared of these compromises at a meeting held last week. The meeting was chaired by Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, Suneet Sharma, Chairman of the Railway Board, Tarun Bajaj, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, and others. A senior government official said, "In the second pre-offer meeting, which took place in January, the bidders raised certain issues with regard to the draft agreement." 'In the meeting with the secretaries, the issues were addressed and the draft agreement will be tweaked accordingly,' said the official,

Indian Railways will begin unreserved train operations soon. Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister for Railways, shared a list of the 35 unreserved trains that will begin to fly. This is the first set of unreserved trains that will start operating on 22 February during the pandemic. He tweeted , "With the continuous increase in passenger services, Indian Railways is going to start 35 unreserved mail and express special trains from next 22 February". In March 2020, the government suspended all passenger trains following the national lockdown to combat the pandemic of Covid-19. As of June 1, the government authorized the resumption of train services in a graded manner. More than 65 per cent of trains are back on track, according to Indian Railways. Source:  https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/indian-railways-35-unreserved-mail-express-special-trains-full-list-685442

In the wake of a rail blockade that farmers called on February 18 to protest the three controversial agriculture laws, Indian Railways cancelled many trains in the north, especially in Punjab. The trains cancelled are mainly those that on February 16-19 either start or are bound for the state. Among the trains cancelled by the northern railways are 05211 Darbhanga-Amritsar Express from 16 February onwards and 05212 Amritsar-Darbhanga Express from 17 February onwards. The following trains will be partially cancelled:  02715 Nanded-Amritsar Express beginning on February 17 will be short terminated at Chandigarh; 02716 Amritsar-Nanded Express will begin at Chandigarh on February 19; 08237 Korba-Amritsar Express train on February 17 will be short terminated at Ambala: 08238 Amritsar-Korba Express will start from Ambala on February 19; 09613 Ajmer-Amritsar Express train journey on February 17 will be short terminated at Jallandhar City, 09612 Amritsar-Ajmer Express will start from Jala