The Indian Railways will start running 80 additional trains to cater to demand on popular routes from September 12, onwards. Travellers will be able to reserve seats on these trains, which will run in addition to the existing 230 special passenger trains, beginning September 10.
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Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav, recently appointed as the first CEO of the Board, told reporters that they were planning to run “clone or duplicate trains” on popular routes to eliminate waiting lists.
“Eighty new special trains or 40 pairs of trains will start operations from September 12. Reservations will begin from September 10...after notifying these trains we will continue to monitor the occupancy and wherever we feel that waiting list is for a longer duration of time, there is a demand for that particular train, we will be running a clone train. These will run ahead of the existing train, so that passengers can book a ticket in it,” Mr. Yadav said.
Some of the routes where the new trains will come up include Gorakhapur-Delhi humsafar express, Bhagalpur-Delhi Vikramshila express, Prayagraj-New Delhi humsafar express, Bengaluru-Mysuru Express, Chennai-Chhapra express, Howrah-Thiruchchirappalli Express, Indore-Howrah express, New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Express, Lucknow-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, Chennai-New Delhi Express and Puri-Ahmedabad express.
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The timings will be as per the regular trains. Stoppages will be restricted and will be taken into consideration after discussions with the respective State governments.
Exams for notified vacancies
The Chairman also announced starting computer-based tests for the 1.40 lakh notified vacancies from December 15, 2020. They included 35,208 vacancies for non-technical popular categories (NTPC) like guards, office and commercial clerks, 1,663 for Isolated & Ministerial categories such as stenos and 1,03, 769 for Level 1 track maintainers and pointsmen.
The Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) had received more than 2.40 crore applications. “Scrutiny of the applications had been completed but the process of further examination had got delayed due to pandemic related restrictions,” Mr. Yadav said. With the experience of conducting examinations for the JEE and NEET, it was felt that the Railways too can start the process.
The SOPs to conduct the examination of this magnitude are being framed, he said.
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Delay in bullet train project
On reports of delay in the bullet train project, Mr. Yadav said the project is progressing well. There has been some setback due to land acquisition related issues and COVID-19.
He said the Railways will be able to provide a more accurate picture of completion deadline post a re-assessment may be three-six months down the line once there is more clarity on the land acquisition.
Of the 1,396 hectares needed, 885 hectare or 63% has been acquired till now. In Gujarat, around 82% has been acquired, while in Maharashtra, only 23% has been acquired. Of the nine hectares falling in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, seven hectares has been acquired so far.
“In Gujarat, we are expecting that within the next three months, this land acquisition will reach the level of 95% to 100%. Joint measurement survey was being done in Maharashtra which got impacted by the pandemic...We are in constant touch with the Maharashtra government, we are getting full support. The survey has now been started and we expect the progress of land acquisition to improve. The moment we get around 90% of the land acquired...we are fully geared up...all the tender documents are ready… we will be in a position to start the bidding process,” he said.
