NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEP 5
Eighty new special trains will be operational from September 12, reservations for which will begin from next Thursday, said Railway Board Chairman and CEO V K Yadav on Saturday.
Yadav, who was recently appointed the first CEO of the Railway Board, said at a media briefing, “Eighty new special trains or 40 pair of trains will start operating from September 12. Reservations will begin from September 10. These will run in addition to the 230 trains already in operation across all zones.”
Indian Railways to run additional 40 pairs of special trains from 12th September. Booking for these trains will start from 10th September.
भारतीय रेल 12 सितंबर से 40 जोड़ी विशेष ट्रेनों को आरंभ करने जा रही है, जिनकी बुकिंग 10 सितंबर से शुरू होगी।
📖https://t.co/8RCfh4N4ft pic.twitter.com/NqUjWSxiSW
— Piyush Goyal (मोदी का परिवार) (@PiyushGoyal) September 5, 2020
Yadav said the railways will monitor all the trains that are currently in operation to determine which trains have a long waiting list.
“Wherever there is a demand for a particular train, wherever the waiting list is long, we will run a clone train ahead of the actual train, so that passengers can travel,” he said.
The key factor in deciding the 80 new trains was the fact that there were many stations from where the migrant workers are going back to their workplace, Yadav said.
“Many of these trains are running in the reverse direction of the Shramik Special trains. So, they (people) are leaving their homes and going to their workplace.
“We are monitoring the occupancy of trains and will run more trains as per demand. Among the 230 trains, the occupancy of 12 is very less. We are running them, but will reduce the number of coaches,” he said, adding that the average occupancy in the 230 trains is 80-85 per cent.
Yadav said the Railways is coordinating with the state governments while deciding on the introduction of new trains.
To a question about running trains for exams, Yadav said, “We will run trains whenever there is a request from state governments for exams and other such purposes.”
About the Supreme Court order to remove about 48,000 slum dwellings situated along the railway tracks in the national capital within three months, he said, “Immediate action for removing garbage along tracks taken jointly by Delhi government and the Railways in line with the top court order.”
Clarification on Bullet train project
Dismissing news reports that Japanese firms were not keen on the project any longer, Yadav said both Indian and Japanese companies were on board and urged people not to pay heed to such rumours.
Commenting on the dedicated freight corridor and the delays, Yadav said the contractors have started speeding up work and the issues have been resolved.
Recruitment process for 3 categories will begin from Dec. 15
Railways will start conducting exams for all the three categories (notified and process initiated already pre-CoVID lockdown) from 15th of December 2020 @RailMinIndia pic.twitter.com/ity5ftipzN
— Southern Railway (@GMSRailway) September 5, 2020
Yadav also announced that the Railways will begin the recruitment process for 1.40 lakh posts in three categories from December 15. The exams could not be conducted due to COVID-19 as a computer-based exam was to take place, he said.
“The computer-based exams will begin from December 15 for the three categories of posts and a detailed schedule will be announced very soon,” Yadav said.
“We had invited applications for recruitment in various categories for 1,40,640 posts. These were notified in the pre-COVID period. Scrutiny of these applications was completed, but due to coronavirus pandemic a computer-based examination could not be completed,” Yadav added.
