Goyal lauds PM for ‘path breaking improvements’ in India’s biz environment

India has remarkably improved in ease of doing business, reported World Bank in its ease of doing business 2020 survey

After India jumped 14 positions to be ranked 63rd in the World Bank’s ease of doing business, Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “path breaking improvements” in the country’s business environment.

“India has jumped from 77th to 63rd rank in the Ease of Doing Business Rankings released just now by the World Bank. Congratulations to PM @NarendraModi ji for the path breaking improvements in India’s business environment for nation’s prosperity and job creation,” he tweeted. India has remarkably improved in ease of doing business, reported World Bank in its ease of doing business 2020 survey. The country is placed in 63rd position among 190 countries.

According to the report issued by World Bank on Thursday, India appeared among the top 10 improvers for the third time in a row. The Bank lauded New Delhi for a “remarkable reform effort”. “In economies on the list of 10 top improvers, leaders of India and China adopted the Doing Business indicators as a core component of their reform strategies,” said the World Bank.

It also praised Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign which focused on attracting foreign investment, boosting the private sector, manufacturing in particular, and enhancing the country’s overall competitiveness…

Railways defers 15% freight surcharge, ups number of rakes for auto sector

For the beleaguered auto sector, which is looking to cut costs, the railways has decided to offer more rakes for the transportation of automobiles

The railways has deferred its busy season surcharge of 15 per cent on freight and hiked the number of rakes to be provided for the auto sector in a bid to increase freight loading, which is likely to take a hit due to the economic slowdown.

The national transporter on Thursday announced that it was suspending its busy season surcharge of 15 per cent, which is levied between October 1 and June 30, for the current season. “Considering the current economic scenario, to give a boost to the industry and freight, the railways has taken measures to facilitate industry, especially in reducing rail transport cost,” Railway Board Member (Traffic) P S Mishra told reporters. Additionally, a further waiver of 5 per cent will be given on loading mini rakes or smaller parcel size.

For the beleaguered auto sector, which is looking to cut costs, the railways has decided to offer more rakes for the transportation of automobiles. Earlier, it used to provide eight auto rakes, which has now been hiked to 26 and the national transporter has plans to provide as many as 50 rakes to the sector to transport their goods by this year end. “This is being done on the request of the auto sector,” Mishra said…

Miscreants pelt stones at Train 18, damage India’s first engineless train

Earlier in November, the first trial run of Train 18 was successfully conducted on tracks at Moradabad-Rampur section of Northern Indian Railways

BS: During the trial run of indigenously developed India’s first engineless train, ‘Train 18′ between Agra and Delhi, some miscreants pelted stones at the Railways’ fastest train damaging one of its windows.

The Chief Design Engineer and other officials were on board when the incident took place. “On Thursday speed trials were being conducted for Train 18 between Agra and New Delhi, with Srinivas, the Chief Design Engineer, Integral Coach Factory (ICF), among the inspecting crew on board, some miscreants from outside threw stones on the train, that damaged one of the windows of the Train 18 on one side,” said GV Venkatesan, Public Relation Officer, ICF.

Condemning the act, Venkatesan appealed to the public not to vandalise railway properties. “Such act of vandalising the public property such as trains, railway stations, are condemnable, in particular, a prestigious brand new train such as Train 18. Public are requested to desist from vandalising railway properties including trains, railway stations and defacing them. After all, it is the public property that belongs to them,” he said.|Read More –> Business Standard

8 people died every day on Mumbai locals last year, toll 18,000 in 5 years

As many as 49,790 people died on railway tracks after being hit by trains nationwide between 2015 and 2017

Eight people died every day on Mumbai’s railway tracks in 2017, down 20% from 10 deaths every day in 2013, data from Government Railway Police (GRP), Mumbai, show.

About 8 million passengers–more than the population of Hyderabad–travel on the Mumbai rail network every week day on 2,800 services with the highest passenger density in the world.

A woman was killed after being hit by a train at Mumbai’s Bandra station on July 19, 2018, while trying to cross the tracks with her two kids who were injured, Times of India reported on July 19, 2018.

In another incident, a 50-year old banker died after she slipped into the gap between the train and a platform at Borivali station, First Post reported on July 13, 2018.

Mumbai’s Elphinstone station was renamed Prabhadevi on July 19, 2018, which led to questions about renaming stations instead of focusing on the city’s crumbling rail infrastructure.

Article Source : BS

Indian Railways gives another chance to 70,000 candidates to apply again

The Railway ministry has asked these aspirants to rectify their mistakes in the application process by July 20

JOBS : Indian Railways is giving a second chance to 70,000 candidates whose job applications were rejected for uploading faulty photos. The Railway ministry has asked these aspirants to rectify their mistake by July 20.

Indian Railways has received 4.8 million applications for 26,500 posts of assistant loco pilots and technicians.

“We realised that among the total applications that were found ineligible, around 127,000 candidates were found ineligible for invalid pictures. Out of the 127,000 people, now, 70,000 have been asked to make the changes in the pictures and upload them again,” Rajesh Dutt Bajpai, Director Information and Publicity, Railway Board said to PTI.

An email and a message have been sent to the 70,000 applicants, who were given a second chance.(Indian Railway Jobs)

The first phase of examination for the various posts will be conducted in September-November. The exams were postponed from May-June due to a high number of applications. The railways took time to scrutinise all the applications.

The Indian Railways will fill up over one lakh vacant posts by March-April next year.

The Railways received around 22.7 million applications for about 110,000 vacancies it had advertised.(Source : BS)

Hate trains running late? Here's Indian Railways' worst performing division

Though Railways has made an all-out effort to prevent delays by improving the punctuality rate, Mail and Express trains are sometimes running more than 5 to 10 hours behind schedule

Howrah Division in Bengal is the worst performer as far as trains running on time is concerned, with a punctuality performance of only 34 per cent for the week ended June 3. It is closely followed by Lucknow Division with 39 per cent.

Curiously, an above 80 per cent punctuality rate is considered "reasonable" for Indian Railways, one of the largest railway systems in the world. Currently, Indian Railways' overall punctuality rate is about 65 per cent -- not an ideal situation for authorities or passengers.

Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani has said: "At the moment, punctuality rate is 65 per cent and I am not satisfied."

Zone-wise, South East Central's punctuality performance has remained at the bottom at 44 per cent followed by North Central's 47.5 per cent, according to Railways data.

However, Bhavnagar has fared extremely well with 99.27 per cent while Sealdah Division has clocked 98.19 per cent in the week from May 28 to June 3 this year.

Delhi Division's performance is below the 65 per cent mark at 64.64 per cent, while Mumbai Division is even worse at 55.5 per cent for the same period.

Though Railways has made an all-out effort to prevent delays by improving the punctuality rate, Mail and Express trains are sometimes running more than 5 to 10 hours behind schedule, causing much inconvenience to passengers.

Even premium trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duronto are running late in some sectors due to various reasons, including ongoing track renewal and maintenance, bridge repair and speed restrictions.

"In order to ensure safety, Railways has undertaken a massive track renewal job, replacing old and aged lines in a concerted manner," a senior official involved with safety operations told IANS. He added that track renewal is underway in almost every section.

Click Here : Indian Railways

Soon, travel in Railways' new 'Economy AC' coaches at fares lower than 3AC

Passengers will not require blankets as the temperature will be around 24-25 degrees

Economy news: Train passengers will soon have the option of travelling in a new class of 'Economy AC coaches' with fares less than normal 3AC tariff.

The proposed fully AC train will have three-tier Economy AC coaches besides AC-3, AC-2 and AC-1 classes as part of the transformation exercise. An added feature would be automatic doors.

However, the passengers will not require blankets in the Economy AC class like other AC coaches as the temperature will be around 24-25 degrees.

Currently, Mail and Express trains have Sleeper, Third AC, Second AC and First AC classes while Rajdhani, Shatabdi and recently introduced Humsafar and Tejas trains are fully air- conditioned.

Economy policy:The Railways is exploring an idea to introduce fully AC trains in select routes, aiming to provide comfort by facilitating AC travel for maximum passengers.

An exercise has been undertaken for a transformation in service by upgrading existing facilities in trains and stations and a separate cell has been created by the Railways for this.

"There will not be any chilling effect like in other AC classes and the temperature will be fixed around 24-25 degrees. The aim is to make the passengers comfortable and not make them feel the outside heat," said a senior Railway Ministry official.

The recently launched Humsafar Express, comprising 3-AC coaches only, has become very popular.

The fully AC train with more Economy  AC coaches is expected to cater to more passengers.

However, the details of the Economy AC class are to be worked out before deciding for manufacturing such coaches, said the official.