Railways increases vacancies for asst loco pilots, technicians to 60,000

In a big relief to nearly 4.8 million candidates appearing for the first set of computer-based tests for the 26,502 vacancies of assistant loco pilots (ALP) and technicians to be held on August 9, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the number of "vacancies" has been more than doubled to 60,000.

Around 4.756 million candidates have applied for the posts.

"Government has more than doubled the vacancies for assistant loco pilot and technician posts from 26,502 to 60,000, ensuring more jobs in Railways," Goyal tweeted.

Railways has activated the mock link for the first stage of the computer-based test on July 26 and E-call letters can be downloaded from the recruitment board website four days prior to the exam.

No train ticket bookings for 2.5 hrs in Delhi tomorrow; what you must know

Rail services on Delhi passenger reservation system (PRS), including enquiry on 139 and ticket bookings, will remain unavailable for a period of two and a half hours tomorrow and the day after, the Northern Railway said today.

The services will remain shut from 11.45 pm on May 18 to 2.15 am on May 19 due to upgradation work on Delhi's computerised PRS, it said in a statement.

"All the services of Delhi PRS, that is reservation activities, enquiry on 139 and internet booking will not be available during the period," the statement said.

This is the second time this month when the PRS services will be suspended temporarily.

The PRS of the Northern Railway, the North Central Railway, the North Western Railway and the North Eastern Railway was shut for around three hours from 10.30 pm on May 5 to 12.15 am on May 6 and again from 05.15 am to 06.25 am the same day.

A routine electrical maintenance activity was the reason behind the May 5-May 6 suspensio

New toilets in Indian trains no better than septic tanks, reveals IIT study

A new kind of toilet using bacteria to break down human excreta has been deployed in Indian trains over four years to 2017, at a cost of Rs 1,305 crore, but this toilet is no better than a septic tank, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, has concluded after a two-year long study.

As many as 93,537 “bio-digesters”–as the toilets are called–have been installed in mainline express and mail trains by the Indian Railways. These are small-scale sewage-treatment systems beneath the toilet seat: Bacteria in a compost chamber digest human excreta, leaving behind water and methane. Only the water, disinfected later, is let out on the tracks.

That is how it is supposed to work.

However, sanitation experts and various studies–including commissioned by the railways–have pointed out that most of the new “bio-toilets” on Indian trains are ineffective or ill-maintained and the water discharged no better than raw sewage.

“Our tests have found that the organic matter (human waste) collecting in the bio-digesters do not undergo any kind of treatment,” IIT professor Ligy Philip, who headed the latest study, told IndiaSpend. “Like in the septic tanks, these bio-digesters accumulate slush (human excreta mixed with water).”
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Railways moots safety cess on tickets to prevent accidents

Plagued by repeated derailments, the Railways is considering imposing safety cess on train tickets to be utilised for strengthening accident prevention measures.

According to the move, the Railways will have to generate additional revenue of Rs 5,000 crore in the current financial year (FY) as its contribution to the safety fund created in the budget.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said, "We have to raise safety funds and the people will also have to give some support. We are considering all options."

The government had announced the creation of a special safety fund of Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five years that will cover upgradation of tracks and signalling besides elimination of unmanned level crossings.

The special safety fund envisages spending of Rs 20,000 crore on safety upgradation every year.

However, Railways has so far received Rs 15,000 crore — Rs 10,000 crore from the central road fund and Rs 5,000 crore from the Finance Ministry — while it has been asked to raise Rs 5,000 crore from its own resources for the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh.

There are three ways to generate Rs 5,000 crore for the special safety fund, said a senior railway ministry official.

The first option is to raise the additional revenue through non-tariff resources. The second is through a hike on freight rate and the third option is through imposing safety cess on passenger fares.

However, the official said no decision has been taken yet on the issue, the official said.

There is a dire need of safety upgradation to prevent accidents which have seen a spurt in the recent past.

The Railways aim to eliminate all unmanned level crossings on the broad gauge network by 2020 for which massive expenditure is required.
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Budget 2017 will focus on needs of poor, make India self-sufficient: BJP

Latest News - Confident that the Union and the Railway Budget 2017 will make the nation self-sufficient, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asserted that government's decision to present both the Union and the Railway Budget 2017 together is astute.

Speaking to ANI here, BJP Kolkata State chief Rahul Sinha further pointed out some of the features to look out for in the upcoming Budget.

"The budget, which will focus on the needs of the common people, will help in the economic progression of the country", he said.

He added, "The Budget will (Read More)

Budget 2017: Aadhaar maybe made mandatory for rail concession

Latest News - The government is contemplating to make Aadhaar or Unique Identification (UID) card mandatory to avail rail concession, and an announcement is likely to be made by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the first combined General and Railway Budget on February 1.

The move will help the government in better targeting of benefits and check misuse of the facility, sources said.

The Railways provides concession on tickets to more than 50 categories of passengers which include senior citizens, students, research scholars, teacher, doctor, nurse, patients, sports people, unemployed youth, Arjun awardees among others.

At present, Railways is (Read More)