Security measures to prevent manipulations of online booking website of Railway tickets
Security measures to
prevent manipulations of online booking website of Railway tickets
‘23’ In order
to facilitate hassle free booking by genuine ticket seekers, time check has
been implemented for filling of CAPTCHA, Passengers details and carrying out
payment. These checks negate the benefit of automated software for form
filling.
In order to ensure security of the e-ticketing website www.irctc.co.in, audit of the e-ticketing system is got conducted by Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate, which is an attached office of the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India. The capacity of e-ticketing has been upgraded with deployment of additional servers.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
****
Policy on Solar Capacity
Panels in Indian Railways
Indian
Railways have finalized a policy for harnessing solar energy on rooftops of
Railway premises. The policy provides for setting up solar power plants through
developer mode with a long term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) by Railways.
In order to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, it has been intended to expand sourcing of solar power as part of the Solar Mission of Indian Railways. By generating electricity from solar panels, there will be proportionate reduction in consumption of fossil fuels.
As per the existing policy, rooftops of Railway premises including Railway Stations are planned to be utilized for setting up solar power panels. As part of action plan for 2016-17, Zonal Railways have started the process of setting up of about 50 MW solar power plants.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
In order to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, it has been intended to expand sourcing of solar power as part of the Solar Mission of Indian Railways. By generating electricity from solar panels, there will be proportionate reduction in consumption of fossil fuels.
As per the existing policy, rooftops of Railway premises including Railway Stations are planned to be utilized for setting up solar power panels. As part of action plan for 2016-17, Zonal Railways have started the process of setting up of about 50 MW solar power plants.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
****
Train E-Ticketing Curbs
to Tame Touts
Some
instances of misuse of reservation system by touts do come to notice from time
to time. Regular joint drives are conducted by Commercial, Vigilance and
Railway Protection Force against touts. These checks are intensified during
peak rush/festival periods. Touts apprehended are prosecuted as per Section 143
of Railways Act.
With a view to keep a check on the unfair activities by unscrupulous elements with regard to e-ticketing, various steps have been taken, some of which are as under:- i. Revision of the monthly limit of booking of tickets through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC) website by an individual user from 10 tickets in a month to 6 tickets in a month.
ii. Introduction of CAPTCHA to check booking in batch mode and through scripting related tools on the IRCTC e-ticketing website.
iii. Making One Time Password (OTP) compulsory in all net banking payment options. iv. Debarring agents from booking tickets during first 30 minutes of opening of reservation i.e. from 0800 to 0830 hours for general booking, from 1000 hours to 1030 hours for Tatkal in Air Conditioned classes and 1100 hours to 1130 hours for Tatkal in Non-Air Conditioned classes.
v. Allowing only one Tatkal ticket per day per train to retail service providers.
Taking such measures and their review based on feedback is a continuous and ongoing process.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
With a view to keep a check on the unfair activities by unscrupulous elements with regard to e-ticketing, various steps have been taken, some of which are as under:- i. Revision of the monthly limit of booking of tickets through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC) website by an individual user from 10 tickets in a month to 6 tickets in a month.
ii. Introduction of CAPTCHA to check booking in batch mode and through scripting related tools on the IRCTC e-ticketing website.
iii. Making One Time Password (OTP) compulsory in all net banking payment options. iv. Debarring agents from booking tickets during first 30 minutes of opening of reservation i.e. from 0800 to 0830 hours for general booking, from 1000 hours to 1030 hours for Tatkal in Air Conditioned classes and 1100 hours to 1130 hours for Tatkal in Non-Air Conditioned classes.
v. Allowing only one Tatkal ticket per day per train to retail service providers.
Taking such measures and their review based on feedback is a continuous and ongoing process.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
****
Investments
from Foreign Institutions for Expansion and Modernization of Railways
Indian Railways
encourages investment from both domestic and foreign investors. 100%
Foreign Direct Investment through automatic route has been permitted in the
rail sector in August 2014 and sectoral guidelines issued in November
2014.
The details of funding from multilateral/ bilateral lending agencies for
projects in progress at present in Ministry of Railways are as under:-
S.N.
|
Name of the
Funding Agency
|
Lender/ Loan
No. & Project
|
Loan Currency
|
Loan Amount
|
Amount
disbursed till 31.01.16
|
|
(Millions)
|
( Loan
currency in Millions)
|
Equivalent
Amount in Rupees crore
|
||||
1
|
International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development
|
Eastern Dedicated Freight
Corridor
|
US Dollar
|
2075
|
150
|
922
|
2
|
Japan International
Cooperation Agency
|
Western Dedicated Freight
Corridor Phase I
|
Japanese Yen
|
230603
|
27985
|
1593
|
3
|
Asian Development Bank
|
Rail Sector Program
|
US Dollar
|
280
|
149
|
925
|
4
|
International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development
|
Mumbai Urban Transport
Project (Phase 2A)
|
US Dollar
|
385
|
182
|
1071
|
5
|
Japan International
Cooperation Agency
|
Kolkata East West Metro
Project II
|
Japanese Yen
|
23402
|
13196
|
777
|
6
|
In December’ 2015, Memorandum of Understanding has been
signed with Japan International Cooperation Agency for funding of High Speed
corridor between Mumbai – Ahmedabad
|
|||||
7
|
Railways have awarded setting up of Diesel Locomotives
and Electric Locomotive factories at Marhowra and Madhepura respectively to
M/s General Electric Ltd. and M/s Alstom Ltd.
|
|||||
This
information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in
a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
****
Handing over of the
Railway Catering System to IRCTC
As announced in
the Rail Budget Speech 2016-17, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation
(IRCTC) would begin to manage catering service in a phased manner.
The objectives of transferring the catering services from Railways to IRCTC were not fulfilled, as IRCTC could not professionalize the catering services. Therefore, the management of catering services were taken back by Railways from IRCTC as per the provisions of Catering Policy, 2010 .
In 2015, Sreedhran Committee, set up by the Ministry of Railways recommended transfer of catering services back to IRCTC since IRCTC was setup as an extended arm of the Indian Railways to professionalize catering services on Indian Railways. It has been decided to give back the catering services to IRCTC in a phased manner with unbundling catering services by creating a distinction primarily between food preparation and food distribution. In order to address the problems faced earlier, it has been decided that there will be no complete handing over of catering service by IRCTC to private licensees and Zonal Railways will have powers of supervision and monitoring.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
The objectives of transferring the catering services from Railways to IRCTC were not fulfilled, as IRCTC could not professionalize the catering services. Therefore, the management of catering services were taken back by Railways from IRCTC as per the provisions of Catering Policy, 2010 .
In 2015, Sreedhran Committee, set up by the Ministry of Railways recommended transfer of catering services back to IRCTC since IRCTC was setup as an extended arm of the Indian Railways to professionalize catering services on Indian Railways. It has been decided to give back the catering services to IRCTC in a phased manner with unbundling catering services by creating a distinction primarily between food preparation and food distribution. In order to address the problems faced earlier, it has been decided that there will be no complete handing over of catering service by IRCTC to private licensees and Zonal Railways will have powers of supervision and monitoring.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
****
Audit of train
operations for late running of trains
Railway is in
the process of getting the audit of train operations conducted particularly
over Mughalsarai-Allahabad-Kanpur-Ghaziabad section of Allahabad division of
North Central Railway primarily due to major operational problems resulting in
late running of passenger carrying trains in the above section.
On Indian Railways, trains delays have been felt most on Mughalsarai-Allahabad-Kanpur-Ghaziabad-Delhi sector, which is facing severe capacity constraints with line capacity utilization being 150%. This sector connects the northern parts of the country to the rest of India and deals with not only passenger traffic but also freight traffic including raw materials, coal, Petroleum products, food grains, fertilizer, steel, export-import oriented container traffic etc. A number of steps have been taken to improve the punctuality of Mail Express trains on this route which has improved the Punctuality position of North Central Railway as a whole to almost 50% in February 2016 from 42% [cumulative for the financial year 2015-2016 (upto February, 2016)].
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
On Indian Railways, trains delays have been felt most on Mughalsarai-Allahabad-Kanpur-Ghaziabad-Delhi sector, which is facing severe capacity constraints with line capacity utilization being 150%. This sector connects the northern parts of the country to the rest of India and deals with not only passenger traffic but also freight traffic including raw materials, coal, Petroleum products, food grains, fertilizer, steel, export-import oriented container traffic etc. A number of steps have been taken to improve the punctuality of Mail Express trains on this route which has improved the Punctuality position of North Central Railway as a whole to almost 50% in February 2016 from 42% [cumulative for the financial year 2015-2016 (upto February, 2016)].
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
****
Railway
Zones and Divisions in the Country
At
present there are 17 Railway Zones and 68 Divisions in the country. The details
are given below:
|
RAILWAY/HEADQUARTERS
|
DIVISIONS
|
|
Central
/Mumbai
|
Mumbai
(CSTM), Bhusawal, Nagpur, Solapur, Pune.
|
|
Eastern/Kolkata
|
Asansol,
Howrah, Malda, Sealdah.
|
|
East
Central/ Hajipur
|
Danapur,
Dhanbad, Mughalsarai, Samastipur, Sonpur.
|
|
East
Coast/Bhubaneswar
|
Khurda
Road, Sambalpur, Waltair.
|
|
Northern/
New Delhi
|
Ambala,
Delhi, Lucknow, Moradabad, Ferozpur.
|
|
North
Central/Allahabad
|
Allahabad,
Agra, Jhansi.
|
|
North
Eastern/Gorakhpur
|
Lucknow,
Izzatnager, Varanasi.
|
|
Northeast Frontier /Guwahati
|
Katihar,
Alipurduar, Rangiya, Lumding, Tinsukia.
|
|
North Western/ Jaipur
|
Ajmer,
Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur.
|
|
Southern/Chennai
|
Chennai,
Madurai, Palghat, Trichy, Trivandrum, Salem.
|
|
South Central/Secunderabad
|
Guntakal,
Guntur, Hyderabad, Nanded, Secunderabad, Vijayawada.
|
|
South Eastern/Kolkata
|
Adra,
Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Ranchi.
|
|
South East Central/Bilaspur
|
Bilaspur,
Nagpur, Raipur
|
|
South Western/Hubli
|
Bangalore,
Hubli, Mysore
|
|
Western/Mumbai
|
Mumbai
(Central), Vadodara, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar.
|
|
West Central/Jabalpur
|
Bhopal,
Jabalpur, Kota.
|
|
Metro/Kolkata
|
Not applicable.
|
Creation of three new divisions at Gulbarga, Jammu and Silchar was announced by
the Hon’ble Minister for Railways during the course of discussions on the “Vote
on Account” Budget of Railways 2014-15 in Rajya Sabha on 18.02.2014. Action has
been initiated by the Ministry of Railways and Detailed Project Reports (DPRs)
for two of the three divisions viz Gulbarga and Jammu have already been
received from the Zonal Railways concerned. Presently, these three divisions
are not functional.
This
information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in
a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
****
Modern Railway Stations
Development
of stations under ‘Model’ Station Scheme was in vogue from June, 1999 to
November, 2008. Under this scheme, 594 stations were identified for development
and all stations have already been developed. Subsequently, ‘Adarsh’ Station
Scheme was launched in 2009. 962 stations have been developed under this scheme
so far. Maintenance of stations including those developed under ‘Adarsh’
Station Scheme is undertaken through departmental means & outsourcing.
The norms for amenities to be provided at different stations are decided on the basis of the category of a station based on the annual passenger earnings of the station, number of passenger handled and importance of the station. Based on this criteria stations are categorized as ‘A1’, ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’ and ‘F’. Since requirement of amenities at a station varies based on its category, it is not feasible to implement the same model in all the important and major stations of the country. However, stations are presently being developed under ‘Adarsh’ Station Scheme with a view to provide identified facilities for improvement of amenities at the selected stations.
The expenditure on maintenance of stations including those developed under ‘Adarsh’ Station Scheme is generally funded from Revenue Budget of Railway. `476 Cr. have been provided for maintenance of stations in the Revised Estimates of 2015-16.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
The norms for amenities to be provided at different stations are decided on the basis of the category of a station based on the annual passenger earnings of the station, number of passenger handled and importance of the station. Based on this criteria stations are categorized as ‘A1’, ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’ and ‘F’. Since requirement of amenities at a station varies based on its category, it is not feasible to implement the same model in all the important and major stations of the country. However, stations are presently being developed under ‘Adarsh’ Station Scheme with a view to provide identified facilities for improvement of amenities at the selected stations.
The expenditure on maintenance of stations including those developed under ‘Adarsh’ Station Scheme is generally funded from Revenue Budget of Railway. `476 Cr. have been provided for maintenance of stations in the Revised Estimates of 2015-16.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 04.03.2016 (Friday).
****
Indian
Railways Dedicates two More New Trains in the Service of the Nation
Indian Railways will work to the maximum extent possible to provide better rail transportation to the people of India : Suresh Prabhu
Indian Railways will work to the maximum extent possible to provide better rail transportation to the people of India : Suresh Prabhu
The Indian
Railways has been working effortlessly to connect every part of the country
with rail network. In this direction, the Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu,
today i.e. on 04.03.2016 flagged off two new trains in the service of the
nation through video-conferencing. The first one is a
new Express train viz. 15623/15624 Kamakhya-Bhagat Ki Kothi (Jodhpur)
Express(Weekly) and the second one is a new Passenger service viz. 75713/75714
Siliguri-New Coochbehar DEMU (6 days a week) on the newly constructed New
Coochbehar-Changrabandha section. Minister of State for Railways Shri
Manoj Sinha was especially
present on the occasion. At New Delhi end, Chairman, Railway Board
along with Board Members and senior officers were present. Various Public
Representatives and Senior Officials were also present at New Coochbehar
Station and Kamkhya Station.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways
Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that this was a long-standing demand of the
people of North-Eastern region to provide train services in these areas. He
said that the connectivity through DEMU train between New Coochbehar &
Changrabandha in West Bengal will benefit all sections of the society including
daily-passengers and businessmen. He said that the other train service
i.e. the Kamakhya-Bhagat Ki Kothi Express will not only connect North India
from North East India but will also help lakhs & lakhs of pilgrims who come
to visit Maa Kamakhya Temple to pay their tribute. He said that this
train will reach Bhagat Ki Kothi Station by passing 7 States of India. He said
that this is a historic day and Indian Railways will work to the maximum extent
possible to provide better rail transportion to the people of India.
BACKGROUNDER
: -
The schedule including timings,
composition, stoppages etc. of these train services are as under:
Introduction:
1. 15623/15624
Kamakhya-Bhagat Ki Kothi Express (Weekly)
|
15623
Bhagat Ki Kothi-Kamakhya Express
|
↓Station↑
|
15624
Kamakhya-Bhagat Ki Kothi Express
|
||
|
Arrival
|
Departure
|
|
Arrival
|
Departure
|
|
-
|
15.25
|
BGKT
|
22.00
|
-
|
|
04.30
|
05.00
|
DLI
|
10.20
|
10.40
|
|
03.30
|
03.40
|
PNBE
|
13.20
|
13.30
|
|
22.55
|
-
|
KYQ
|
-
|
17.15
|
Ø Days of run: Ex-BGKT- Tuesday& Ex-KYQ- Friday
Ø Stoppages: Merta Road jn., Degana, Khatu, Chhoti Khatu, Didwana, Ladnun,
Sujangarh, Churu, Sadulpur, Luharu, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Gurgaon, Delhi Cantt,
Delhi Jn., Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Bareilly, Lucknow, Ayodhaya, Shahganj,
Faizabad, Varanasi, Mughalsarai, Buxar, Ara, Patna, Barauni, Khagaria,
Naugachia, Katihar, Sonaili, Kishanganj, New Jalpaiguri, New Coochbehar, New
Alipurduar, Kokrajhar, New Bongaigaon Jn., Barpeta Road, Rangiya.
Ø Composition: LWLRRM-2, LWACCN-3, LWACCW-2, LWSCN-6, LS-6=19 coaches
Ø Primary Maintenance: Kamakhya
Ø Nature of Service: Express
1. 75713/75714
Siliguri-New Coochbehar DEMU (6 days a week)
|
75713
Siliguri-New Coochbehar DEMU (6 days a week)
|
↓Station↑
|
75714
New Coochbehar-Siliguri DEMU (6 days a week)
|
||
|
Arrival
|
Departure
|
|
Arrival
|
Departure
|
|
-
|
16.00
|
SGUJ
|
10.30
|
-
|
|
19.00
|
19.10
|
CBD
|
07.20
|
07.30
|
|
19.25
|
19.35
|
NCBD
|
07.00
|
07.10
|
|
21.30
|
-
|
NCB
|
-
|
05.15
|
Ø Days of run: Ex-SGUJ- 6 days a week & Ex-NCB- 6 days a week (Except Sunday)
Ø Stoppages: New Mal Jn., at all stations/halts in between New Mal Jn. and New
Coochbehar
Ø Composition: DPC-2, TC-4, DTC-2 = 08 coaches
Ø Primary Maintenance: Siliguri
Ø Nature of Service: Passenger service (DEMU)
******
Post a Comment