Explore Business Standard
Associate Sponsors
Co-sponsor
The remaining stretches of the 82-km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor, connecting Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi with Modipuram in Meerut, are expected to be inaugurated on February 22 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official said requesting anonymity. Alongside the Namo Bharat inauguration, the 23-km Meerut Metro with 13 stations will also be launched, the source said. The remaining sections, a 5-km stretch in Delhi between Sarai Kale Khan and New Ashok Nagar, and a 21-km stretch from Meerut South to Modipuram, are now complete and slated for inauguration in February 22. The 82-km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor includes several prominent stations such as Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Muradnagar, Modinagar South, Modinagar North and Meerut South, among others, which together form the backbone of the regional rapid transit system connecting key residential, commercial and industrial clusters along the alignment. The NCRTC said that a 55-km stretch of th
On August 15, 1854, a five-coach train pulled by a British-made locomotive left Howrah at 8:30 am for Hooghly without any fanfare -- signalling an engineering triumph and the beginning of eastern India's first railway. However, this historic milestone achieved by the then-East Indian Railway (EIR), whose massive network would eventually reach Delhi by the 1860s, was preceded by a series of unfortunate events that delayed its arrival on the country's landscape and in people's consciousness. A new book on the birth and evolution of the EIR and the East India Railway Company that established it, based on multiple 19th-century-era accounts drawn from a range of archives, has endeavoured to offer an "unbiased narrative" of this railway and the men who built it, brick by brick and steel by steel. "Before the inaugural run, the EIR had already stirred public curiosity in Bengal with its first locomotive-only trial on June 29, 1854, from Howrah to Pandooah, followed by an experimental run o
Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said the financial health of the railways department has improved a lot in the last 10 years and it now has a small revenue surplus after meeting all costs. Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said 5.04 lakh jobs were generated during the 2014-24 period while another 1.5 lakh employment is being provided in the third term of the government. Vaishnaw said there have been concerted efforts in the last 10 years to increase freight traffic, enhance passenger revenue, besides controlling cost. "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been a lot of improvement in the financial health of the Indian Railways in the last 10 years," he said while replying to a question by senior BJP member Laxmikant Bajpayee. Elaborating further, Vaishnaw said the railways staff cost stands around Rs 1.18 lakh crore for about 12 lakh employees while 18 lakh pensioners cost Rs 65,000 ..
The Railway Ministry on Thursday officially notified a hike in train ticket prices by 1 paise per km for ordinary class beyond a journey of 215 km, and 2 paise per km for non-AC classes of mail/express trains and AC classes of all trains. On December 21, the ministry announced its decision to increase the passenger fares from December 26. This is the second time in a year that the ministry has revised passenger train fares. The earlier fare hike was implemented in July. Justifying its decision, the ministry stated that the rationalising of fares has "the objective of balancing affordability for passengers and sustainability of operations". "Under the revised fare structure, there is no change in fares for suburban services and season tickets, including both suburban and non-suburban routes. For ordinary non-AC (non-suburban) services, fares have been rationalised in a graded manner across second class ordinary, sleeper class ordinary, and first class ordinary," the ministry said in
The vision of fully electrified dedicated freight corridors with exclusive high-capacity tracks, aimed at significantly boosting freight movement efficiency, could face setbacks if operational bottlenecks, such as crew availability, are not addressed promptly, a parliamentary committee has warned. The committee's comments came after the Ministry of Railways acknowledged that "the biggest challenge faced by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) in running trains is the availability of crew." In a submission to the committee, the Ministry provided details regarding the number of employees in various categories involved in train operations on Indian Railways as of June 1, 2025. According to the Ministry, out of a sanctioned strength of 1,42,814 loco pilots, the actual strength stands at 1,07,928. Similarly, for goods train managers (guards), out of 22,082 sanctioned posts, only 12,345 are currently filled. The total sanctioned strength for all categories, includi
Eight elephants were killed and one injured after a herd was hit by the Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express in Assam's Hojai district in the wee hours of Saturday, a forest official said. Five coaches and the train's engine were derailed in the incident, though no injuries to passengers were reported, a Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the New Delhi-bound train met with the accident around 2.17 am. Nagaon divisional forest officer Suhash Kadam told PTI that the incident occurred at Changjurai area of Hojai district. Kadam and other forest officials have reached the site. Trains scheduled to pass through the affected JamunamukhKampur section have been diverted through the UP line, and restoration work is underway, he added. The Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express connects Mizoram's Sairang (near Aizawl) to Anand Vihar Terminal (Delhi).