THE RAILWAY MINISTER THANKS THE PRIME MINISTER
FOR RS. 15000 CRORE NON-BUDGETARY INVESTMENT INITIATIVE ON INDEPNENDCE
DAY FOR RAILWAYS' DEVELOPMENT
THE COMPUTER BASED UN-RESERVED
TICKETING SYSTEM LAUNCHED
THE EXHIBITION ON WHEELS TRAIN
FLAGGED OFF
In a major passenger-friendly
measure targeted at common man, the Railway Minister Shri Nitish
Kumar today launched the first phase of computer-based ‘Un-Reserved
Ticketing System’ (UTS) for Delhi area. The Minister also flagged-off
‘Exhibition on Wheels’ train which will go all over the country
during the next nine months exhibiting the entire spectrum of
railway activities. The Minister of State for Railways Shri Bandaru
Dattatraya and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office
and MoS for Statistics & Programme Implementation Shri Vijay
Goel, Chairman, Railway Board, Shri I.I.M.S. Rana and other Railway
Board members, General Manager Northern Railway and Divisional
railway Manager(Delhi Division) were among those present on the
occasion.
Speaking on the
occasion the Railway Minister Shri Nitish Kumar said that the
exhibition on train is an unique opportunity for the people to
have an interface with the Railways giving the viewer an opportunity
to discover the strength and dynamism of Railways in India. It
will also provide the information on history and evolution of
the Indian Railways. The minister pointed out that the steam engines
of yester-years continue to thrill and mesmerize people even today
and the railways have taken steps to preserve and use them as
part of heritage tourism.
Referring to the important
15-point initiative by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the
55th Independence Day, the Railway Minister thanked
the Prime Minister for approving an important non-budgetary investment
initiative for the development of Indian Railways to be called
the ‘National Rail Vikas Yojana’. The Minister pointed out that
the initiative will herald a new era in the railways’ development
and will help remove all the capacity bottlenecks in the critical
sections of the railway network. Shri Nitish Kumar said that,
under this programme, an investment of Rs.15000 crore would be
made over the next five years and will include projects for strengthening
the golden quadri-lateral route, strengthening of rail connectivity
to ports, construction of four mega-bridges and accelerated completion
of last mile projects. The Railway Minister also informed that
the government has also decided to draw a plan to complete all
the viable sanctioned railway projects within the next ten years
which were otherwise to take 25 years to complete at the present
rate of allocation. The Minister also pointed out about Rs.3,564
crore project for constructing the Udhampur to Baramulla railway
line in Jammu & Kashmir which will now be given on a single
tender basis to IRCON and Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd for expeditious
and efficient completion as another important Independence Day
initiative. The initiative of ‘Operation Cleanliness’ announced
today will also be undertaken by the railways in a big way, so
as to significantly improve the standards of sanitation at railway
stations, on platforms and inside railway compartments, Shri Kumar
added.
Referring to the
pilot-project on ‘Un-Reserved Ticketing System’ (UTS) launched
today, the Railway Minister said that this is the first major
step aimed at bringing about revolutionary changes in unreserved
passenger segment which constitute 12-million passengers out of
the 13-million passengers served by Indian Railways everyday.
The Minister also announced that the unreserved ticket windows
at the stations of Classes-A, B, C & D will now be kept open
round the clock for the convenience of passengers. He instructed
the railway officials to take suitable steps to implement this
scheme at the earliest. The Minister pointed out hat the computer
based UTS
facility which is now available at ten railway stations of Delhi
area under Phase-I will be extended to all the stations in Delhi
area by October 2nd this year and will eventually
be extended in due course throughout the country.
In his speech
the MoS Shri Bandaru Dattatraya said that the UTS facility will
be truly useful for the poor and common man. He said that Railways
had made a provision of Rs.200 crore for the passenger amenities
which will be spent in this year of passenger for increasing facilities.
In his speech Shri
Vijay Goel said that the history of railways is the history of
India’s freedom struggle. He said that the railways unite the
whole nation. He also suggested that the New Delhi railway station
may be developed as the most modern station.
Visualised as part
of the nation-wide celebration of the 150th year of
Railways in India, Exhibition on Wheels Train will be running
on a chartered circuit all over the country for eight months till
16th April next year. Aesthetically fabricated twelve
coaches of this novel train will be exhibiting items on twelve
different themes to portray the glittering glory and evolution
of Indian Railways as the premier transport organisation of the
country. Some of the highlights of the exhibits include evolution
of engines and coaches, signalling and safety devices, passenger
amenities, freight operating system, achievements of railway PSUs
and the operational intricacies of Mass Transport Suburban Systems.
With the UTS,
unreserved tickets can be issued even from locations other than
the boarding station. The system will also be able to issue Monthly
Season Ticket(MST) and Quarterly season Ticket (QST), as also
has the flexibility of issuing tickets from anywhere to anywhere
even for a journey on a future date. Initially the system is being
implemented on ten stations of Delhi area vis Delhi Junction,
New Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi Shahdara, Shakurbasti, Tilak
Bridge, Shivaji Bridge, Ghaziabad, Delhi Kishanganj, Sarojini
Nagar. At any of these stations passengers can buy tickets for
trains starting from any station in Delhi area. Tickets will be
issued for 30 days in advance and the new system has the capability
of issuing tickets from any location other that the station also.
This facility will reduce queue length, enable advance planning
unreserved journey also, reduce crowds at booking offices and
stations, allow Indian Railways to plan extra trains and coaches
as per trend of sales registered in the system.
