The Railway Minister has made many plans for developing and improving the standards of the Indian Railways. On 29^th August, Suresh Prabhu invited few countries for setting up manufacturing units in India as the Indian government will be putting in $120 billion for the development of the railway services over the coming 5 years.

The Minister recently stated that transport system should be safe and secure, with no scope of accidents, to safeguard the people. He also added that the main focus is on the safety of the Indian Railways. It is essential for everyone to travel safe with a little help from the latest technologies, he said while at an international meet.

The seminar was focused on discussing the advances in communication, control and command for Metro and any high speed transit system which will be introduced. The meet saw many representatives from nations like Japan, Russia, Korea and many others in attendance.

Suresh Prabhu also highlighted that there would be a requirement of more investment in the future to modernize and safeguard the rail sector. He also enlightened everyone about the fact that India has a major advantage when it comes to skilled manpower, large manufacturing bases and also a big market. He is bringing in funds from foreign countries and giving them the option to make India their manufacturing base. He also stated that India has a positive environment when it comes to production and manufacturing. And that’s why he wants to partner with several countries so that India is a manufacturing hub. Companies can manufacture their goods here and export it from here, he added.

Other than that, he emphasised the fact that development of technology is also important. Remote sensing will help control accidents and provide people with the utmost safety. Suresh Prabhu made another great point at the seminar in which he stated that we should take up new technological methods to minimise any human errors that are causing dangers. He also added the main objective is to take up the zero accident missions and try to succeed.

This will require a lot of use of technology and new methods to advance other innovations in the rail sector. Apart from that, proper manpower will be an added bonus to the project.

Suresh Prabhu also wants more and more improvements in every way to secure all the people from accidents and minimise any human errors which are causing problems.

The Minister of State for Railways, Mr. Manoj Sinha stated on 17^th August that unmanned crossings were the major reasons behind accidents. Having said this, he said that there will be more than 12,000 overbridges constructed to resolve this issue.

After putting foundations of railways bridges on the Jaunpur to Mirzapur railway route, Manoj Sinha says that around 40 per cent incidents and accidents have taken place whilst crossing through unmanned crossings and about 60 per cent lost their lives during such incidents. The Minister of State for Railways also added that there will be a check done in which the ministry will be constructing around 12,330 overbridges all around the country.

The funds for this development will be an equal share between the railway ministry and the National Highway Authority of India. He also said that the number of travellers by trains have increased 16 times more since the independence.

The railway security and facilities can be improved with an increase in the investments.

This is not the only development proposed, but several others like most recently there is a plan to improve the load at Mysuru railway station. Chances are that a second terminal will be constructed in order to add new trains for the services of the people. Belagola is the ideal station where this development can be taken because Mysuru stations land is bounded and there are no chances of extensions.

Apart from constructions, there will soon be skill development programmes at selective stations to make the rural population more self-reliant and productive. The Indian Railways have signed an MOU with the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry to go ahead with the project. The Skill Development Ministry is now focussing on collecting enough funds for this project. They require a number of sources like, the government, private investors, and defence off set, CSR, non-governing bodies and so on.

With the pace in which the Indian Railways is improving and coming up with new developments to make the rail sector better for the passengers is commendable. In just few years, the Indian Railways will be modernised with top-notch amenities.

The anticipated project for a 2^nd railway terminal for the city may not happen due any sooner due to the current importance on the capacity of the track and increasing facilities for the passengers. The Railway Board has highlighted the current focus of authorities to the divisional and zonal railway officials to use the MPLAD money to increase passenger services. The time span to finish the track which will double between Tumakuru to Arsikere and Chikjajur to Hubbali shows the focus of the Indian Railways.

The 2^nd terminal for Mysore was proposed at the Belagola. The Divisional Railway Manager, Vinod Kumar had specified that this project will be a part of the approved developments and would come in force soon. The main objective is to reduce the pressure at Mysuru railway station. And for that the objective was to build 2 or 3 stabling lines with a pit line for care at the cost of Rs. 28 crores.

If sources are to be believed, all the projects involving heavy investments are put on hold currently and the main emphasis is on finishing the works in progress without any interruptions. The requirement for the second terminal was important because of the increased train traffic to Mysuru.

The current facilities at the station:

Presently the station has six platforms and handles around 42 trains daily but the numbers are expected to rise up gradually. But the irony in the situation is that new and additional trains can’t be announced without an increase in the capacity of the Mysore station which is closed in. There will be a need for new yards to accommodate new trains, and this cannot be proposed for now. Hence, it was suggested that Belagola can be developed as a 2^nd terminal line and all the passengers and express trains would depart towards the Hassan to Ariskere line from there.

This idea would reduce the entire load on Mysuru station if it would have accommodated additional trains for passengers. But railway sources have denied any proposal of such a project for now. The other considered station for a possible terminal was Ashokapuram. But the station has a limitation when it comes to land.

Another alternative was to expand some trains up to Chamarajanagar, but this idea required them to create a new maintenance plot, which would not be possible due to the scarcity of water in that district.

The current railway projects are developing quickly and hopefully, Mysuru stations will announce new trains.

The government will soon be picking selective railway stations to organise a skill development programme at their facilities. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who is the Minister of State for Skill Development, stated that the Indian Railways have great capacity to motivate skill development. He added that they have done partnerships and will be selecting few railway stations, and with the process in full swing, the skill development programme will start anytime soon. In few months, you will see many stations functioning with skill development programmes, he said.

Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister has signed an MOU with the Indian Railways to give some space and manpower to put out skill development programmes all across the country.

On partnering with Indian Railways, Rajiv Pratap Rudy told that he noticed that railways have the largest and biggest infrastructure including around 60000 stations all over the country. This is the reason why they picked the railways to conduct the programme. The Indian Railways have infrastructure with water and sanitation amenities. They also have a dedicated electricity network and optical fibre network. Besides this, all the railway stations are situated in accessible areas where maximum population of the country resides.

Rudy also stated that, they also pass through areas which are usually not accessible. The stations pass through tons of villages, forests and other inaccessible areas. With signing the MOU, the National Skill Development Corporation can give them the perfect platform to help the unemployed rural youth in learning skills, which help in becoming economical and productive.

The Skill Development Ministry is giving their best to increase resources via multiple ways to raise money for this ambitious project of training around 50 crore people. There will be requirements for the 50 crore people in the programme and the other 10 crore, who will be a part of the workforce. Rudy stated that they are trying their best to tap all the sources they can like defence offset, CSR, government funds, private partnerships and so on to raise enough resources.

In this development, the government has put a target to skill 40.2 crore people by 2022 under a new National Policy for Skill Development. Looks like everyone is set to support this ambitious and helpful project

Suresh Prabhu has announced investments of rupees 8.50 lakh crore in the coming five years for the rail sector in Haryana on 13^th August. The Railway Minister, also the Rajya Sabha MP from the state Haryana, has guaranteed that there will be a rail coach factory set up in Haryana to strengthen the Indian Railways.

He also stated that to give passengers a swift and smooth journey. Not just this, but there are going to be around 400 top-notch railway stations made all overour country. The Indian Railways will also make a deal with the state for setting up a SPV- Special Purpose Vehicle for theimplementation of railway projects. The minister also added that these 400 stations will have modern amenities. Union Cabinet ensures the approval to set up the railway stations.

The Railway Minister is happy that everyone in the assembly liked his investment idea. He also added that he had shown a report citing around 79 points for the improvement of the railway facilities and most of them are already considered.

The Minister also told that earlier they used to only announce important needs while the current government and state considers executing these important ideas. He also added that NDA government which is led by Narendra Modi, do the work first and announce later.

While discussingthe demands mentioned by Chief Minister Khattar to put new railways lines, Suresh Prabhu promised him that the hard work will be put in to accomplish all the demands. The Chief Minister also raised some demands for few railway lines like – Jakhal-Ratia to Fatehabad line, Karnal to Yamumunagar line, Rewari to Palwal via Bhiwadi line, Hisar to Sirsa via Agroha to Fatehabadline and few others.

The Chief said that the Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu has a special bond with state as he is the Rajya Sabha member from Haryana. The Chief Minister also added that the Railway Minister has planned on starting new services for the statein which Ambulance vehicles will be having a ventilator, and this will be provided to every district for the betterment of the treatment to all the patients. He also added that SPV (Special purpose vehicle) would be in alliance with Railways in order to advance several rail developments in Haryana.

An official MOU will be signed soon with Indian Railways to start the development. Also, there will be ROBs (railway over bridges) and RUBs (railway under bridges) constructed soon at the crossings in the state.

With the Railway Minister going all enthusiastic about the rail sector, the industry will benefit a lot and soon we will have modernised railway stations all across the country.

With the Indian Railways evolving so much, now it is coming out with yet another benefit for the passengers. The Railways is planning a facility, which will send out SMS alerts to the passengers on delay in train arrivals. This will lessen the hassle at the stations and for the passengers too.  Apart from this, they are also planning to set up around 4,615 water vending machines at many railway stations. This amenity is one of the best things that railway stations will have.

The Minister of State for Railways, Manoj Sinha stated that SMS service on train delays is under consideration at the moment. He also added that the capacity of e-ticket system is expanded and currently as many as 7200 tickets can be booked per minute. Not just this, but he said there will be an increase in this system too. The railway has taken a lot of measures to make booking and reservations of tickets easier and user-friendly, he said. The minister said that water vending machines are being set up by the Indian Railways Catering and tourism Corporation to provide people low cost and clean drinking water. He added that at the moment shortlisting of agencies for water vending machines has been completed and about 4615 vending machines are to be installed in a phased manner at crowded stations.

With 5800 unreserved ticketing system counters across several locations and around 1500 automatic ticket vending machines at the stations, passengers are getting several perks through the Indian Railways. The estimated rate per vending machine for the water is between Rs. 5 to Rs. 7 lakhs. Not just this, but people will have to pay around Rs. 2 to 3 per machine.

The minister also stated regarding the ticketing systems that some instances of booking of tickets by individual for commercial benefits have been reported but a lot of checks have come in the picture to solve this problem.

Train travellers can opt for online services to check online to track train status and availability of seats. If you are in a hush-hush situation, then avoid that by visiting www.travelkhana.com. Apart from providing great food in trains, they also have services in which you can search trains if you are changing in between stations. Find out if the desired train has seats empty and then you can book it from the IRCTC website. At TravelKhana, you can put in the train details from your mobile phone or laptop and find out the departure and arrival time within few seconds. This facility is helpful for those, who are unaware of the appropriate timings of all the trains they will take.

With so many simple and easy amenities, the train travellers are in luck. Thanks to the Indian Railways and websites like TravelKhana to come to passengers rescue when they need it the most. So, if you are planning a train trip soon, make sure you check your train timings until SMS alert systems begin. Also, check for water vending machines at your respective station.