Question : Facilities to Railway Passengers

(a) whether the Government has announced a number of facilities to rail passengers across the country and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the trains arriving in Bihar from the major cities of the country are over crowded and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government is considering to introduce new trains for Bihar in the next Rail Budget in order to meet the over crowded situation in trains; and

(d) if so, the number of new trains introduced to and from Maharashtra during the last two years and the reason for delay in running of trains from their scheduled time table?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4562 BY SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE AND SHRI ARVIND SAWANT TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 29.03.2017 REGARDING FACILITIES TO RAILWAY PASSENGERS

(a): Indian Railways have provided numerous facilities to rail passengers including the following:-

(i) Online ticket booking facility through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website thereby obviating the need to stand in queues at reservation counters.

(ii) Reserved and unreserved ticket booking facility through mobile phones.

(iii) Provision of Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) at Railway stations for dispensation of tickets.

(iv) Installation of Point of Sale (POS) machines at various locations of Indian Railways for enabling cashless transactions.

(v) Earmarking of separate counters at various Computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) centres for dealing with the reservation requisitions received from physically challenged persons, senior citizens, ladies, Ex.MPs, MLAs, accredited press correspondents and freedom fighters.

(vi) Automatic preparation of reservation charts at least 4 hours before scheduled departure of train and thereafter booking of available accommodation through internet as well as through PRS counters.

(vii) Dissemination of information about change in passenger’s reservation status in the case of Waiting list/RAC to confirmed, cancellation of trains through SMS.

(viii) Cancellation of Computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counter tickets through IRCTC website or through 139.

(ix) Automatic refund to e-ticket holders in case of cancellation of trains.

(x) Introduction of Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme ‘VIKALP’ to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers and optimal utilisation of available accommodation.

(xi) Increase in number of berths earmarked as RAC to accommodate more passengers.

(xii) Enhancement of the existing combined quota earmarked for Senior Citizens, pregnant women and female passengers 45 years of age and above to 6 lower berths per coach in Sleeper, 3 lower berths per coach in 3AC and 3 lower berths per coach in 2AC class. Further, in Rajdhani, Duronto and fully Air Conditioned/ Express trains, the number of lower berths has been increased to 4 lower berths per coach.

(xiii) Introduction of Sarathi Seva to help old and disabled passengers requiring assistance at the station and strengthen the existing services for enabling passengers to book Battery Operated Card (BOC), porter services etc. on a paid basis in addition to the existing pick up and drop and wheelchair services.

(xiv) Provision of Yatri Mitra Sewa at major stations for enabling passengers to book wheelchair services cum porter services.

(xv) Provision of cushioned seats in General Second class coaches, bottle holder and snack table in non-air conditioned Sleeper Class coaches, dustbins in Non-AC coaches, Braille signages in coaches, mugs with chain in Non-AC coaches, toilet in the newly manufactured DEMU/MEMU coaches, etc.

(xvi) Station-based e-catering services have been introduced and at present, available on 357 stations.

(xvii) 1100 Water Vending Machines have been installed at 345 stations for providing pure drinking water to travelling passengers.

(xviii) To mitigate the hardships faced by mothers while travelling with infants, Janani Sewa has been introduced to make available baby foods, hot milk and hot water.

However, strengthening/upgrading the existing passenger facilities and introduction of new facilities is a continuous and ongoing process.

(b): State-wise statistics is not maintained on Indian Railways. However, the demand pattern on Indian Railways is not uniform throughout the year and it varies during the peak and lean seasons. The demand for travel surges especially during the peak season like during summer holidays, festivals etc. The overall occupancy of reserved accommodation in all trains on Indian Railways during the Financial Year 2016-17 (upto February, 2017) was more than 100%.

(c): No, Madam. Indian Railways do not run trains on State-wise basis as rail network straddles across State boundaries. However, introduction of train services is an ongoing process on Indian Railways keeping in view the traffic demand, operational feasibility, availability of resources, etc.

(d): Indian Railways do not run trains on region-wise, division-wise or State-wise basis as rail network and train operations cut across State boundaries.
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