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Now book your Railway ticket 4 months in advance
New Delhi, March 18, 2015: Now travellers can book train tickets four months in advance as the
Railways has decided to extend the advance reservation period from 60 days to 120 days, with effect from April 1.
Officials said the decision also seeks to check the tout menace and facilitate genuine passengers to avail the reservation facility.
“The advance reservation period for booking reserved tickets has been
extended from two months to four months now as announced in the Rail Budget 2015-16,” said a senior Railway Ministry official, adding, “the
modification in the software will be ready by the end of the month.”;
However, there will be no change in case of the limit of 360 days for
foreign tourists. Advancing the reservation period once again to 120 days would discourage
the touts as it involves more cancellation charges, he said.
However, on the flip side, it can be also said that the 120-day period
is too long and only aimed at getting some extra revenue for the cash-strapped railways by way of interest for the extra 60 days as well
as higher number of cancellations.
Railways is also also planning introduction of ‘operation five minutes’ scheme under which ticketless passengers can get regular tickets within five minutes of entering station. Source: PTI
Coal India plans to form joint ventures with the Indian Railways
KOLKATA, February 6, 2015: Coal India plans to form joint ventures with the Indian Railways and private companies for rail projects that
can also generate revenue from third parties that use the facilities.
The company is looking at revenue based partnerships to ramp up some 50 projects that can ease the congestion in coal movement in the country.
It recently recruited AK Maitra , former additional member traffic of the Railway Board, as an advisor.
"We are working on two-three possible models that would also be independent profit centres in themselves. Apart from moving CIL's coal,
these projects would be open to moving cargos of other companies," a senior coal sector official said.
Most railways projects are initially financed by Coal India, which is later compensated by the government. CIL
is looking at models such as funding railway projects linking mines to coal users or creating a special purpose vehicle like the Krishnapatnam
Rail Company. The Krishnapatnam Rail Company is a venture between theAndhra Pradesh government ,
Krishnapatnam Port Co and Rail Vikas Nigam . The company was set up to build and provide rail links to the port and has become a profitable venture.
One option being considered involves handing over the responsibility of building the infrastructure to the railways with funding by CIL. In
return, CIL will be offered freight discounts on the coal carried to customers, the official said. Another model proposed is the formation of
joint ventures that will collect freight from all users.
These joint ventures can rope in state governments of coal-bearing states, the official said. Source:economictimes
Indian railways News 2014
New railway
Minister Suresh Prabhu
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