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Southern Railway
In view of Cyclone Ditwah bearing down on Tamil Nadu, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reviewed preparedness measures on Saturday to ensure minimum disruption to rail services and passenger safety. The coastal areas expected to be hit by the impending cyclone fall mainly under the Southern Railway zone. "A dedicated network of helplines and passenger-assistance desks must be established to support travellers facing uncertainties due to cancellations or rerouting," a press statement from the railway ministry said. It added that Vaishnaw has reaffirmed the commitment of the Indian Railways to public safety. The minister has instructed the officials concerned to ensure that war rooms are activated at the divisional, zonal and Railway Board levels to monitor the situation and remain alert for any extreme scenario. "He has also asked railway officials to coordinate with civil-administration authorities and proactively communicate with passengers until normalcy is restored," the statem
Aimed at providing fast and cost-effective parcel movement, Southern Railway for the first time would operate 'coast-to-coast' parcel express train service across Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This initiative, a first of its kind by the Indian Railways, marks a significant step toward strengthening regional parcel mobility. "The unique feature of this service is earmarking of dedicated parcel coaches to each destination, ensuring organised parcel handling and management. The train accommodates a wide range of commodities including white goods, perishables, consumer products and industrial materials. A first of its kind time tabled logistics service connecting key business hubs of Tamil Nadu and Kerala," a press release issued late on November 19 by the Southern Railway said. The parcel service would be operated on Fridays from Mangaluru Central and on Tuesdays from Royapuram, Chennai. The service would stop at Salem, Erode, Uttukkuli, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Palakkad, Shoranur, Tirur, ...
The Southern Railways compromised passengers' safety by introducing deficient coaches to serve as special train in the Nilgiri Mountain section in July 2023 without any approval from the ministry, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in its report tabled in the parliament on Monday. "Ministry of Railways may develop a robust mechanism for development of prototype coaches in consultation with RDSO and only after successful trial run, regular production of coaches should be started to avoid creation of ineffective and deficient coaches," the CAG said in its recommendations and observed that it didn't get any reply from the ministry on the said issue. The full report contained 25 audit findings from various railway zones across the country and pointed out cases of undercharges or overpayments of Rs 543.17 crore. One of the audit findings with regard to the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) under Southern Railways (SR) has not only pointed out financial deficiency worth Rs 27.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off two Vande Bharat services in the region on August 31, Southern Railway said on Friday. The PM will flag off the service from Dr MGR Chennai Central to Nagercoil as well as the one from Madurai to Bengaluru Cantonment through video conferencing, an official release here said. Only the inaugural special of the Nagercoil-bound service will be flagged off from Dr MGR Chennai Central station but the regular service will be from Chennai Egmore, the release added. It will run on all days except Wednesday. Train No 20627 will leave Chennai Egmore at 5 am and reach Nagercoil at 1.50 pm the same day. It will stop at Tambaram, Villupuram, Tiruchirappalli, Dindugal, Madurai, Kovilpatti and Tiruneveli, before reaching Nagercoil Junction. Train No 20628 will depart from Nagercoil Jn at 2.20 pm and arrive at Chennai Egmore at 11 pm, the release said. The Vande Bharat service between Madurai and Bengaluru Cantonment will be operated six days a week, exc
Southern Railway on Sunday said it had recorded about 80 per cent jump in its revenue, which stood at Rs 6,345 crore in the passenger segment during the financial year 2022-23, its highest ever. During the corresponding period in the last financial year, it had earned revenues of Rs 3,539.77 crore. The highest revenue registered by Southern Railway before this was in the financial year 2019-20 at Rs 5,225 crore. About 640 million passengers travelled by Southern Railway in 2022-2023, which is a massive increase of 88.5 per cent over the 339.6 million passengers of 2021-22, an official release said. In the freight segment, Southern Railway said it had achieved many firsts, including the highest ever loading of cargo at 4.05 metric tonne, highest ever loading of petroleum at 5.2 metric tonne, and food grain loading at 3.23 metric tonne, among others. The railway zone generated its highest ever revenue from freight during the last financial year at Rs 3,637.86 crore as compared to Rs
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off South India's first 'Vande Bharat Express' train and inaugurate the second terminal of Kempegowda International Airport, built at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore, during his visit to the city on November 11. He will also be unveiling the 108 foot tall statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, the founder of Bengaluru, during his visit to the state capital. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday participated in the video conferencing with Prime Minister Modi regarding the preparations for various programmes to be held here on November 11, in which the latter will participate. "On that day, PM will flag off South India's first Vande Bharat Express train which will run between Chennai and Mysuru via Bengaluru in the state capital, inaugurate the second terminal of Kempegowda International Airport built at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore to handle an additional 2.5 crore passengers," an official release said. Detailing the uniqueness of the terminal, it said a
The Palakkad division of Southern Railway has introduced QR code-enabled unreserved ticket booking system through the Railway UTS App at all its 61 stations, including Mangaluru central and Mangaluru junction. An option for QR code booking has been enabled in the app under the book ticket' menu. The feature will not be available for the halt stations managed by private agents in the Southern Railway routes, a railway release here said. By scanning the QR code at the station, passengers may enter the ticketing system and select their destination to proceed to payment, which may be made through railway wallet, UPI, debit or credit card or net banking. Platform ticket and renewal of season ticket, too, is possible through the QR code system, the release said.
The Madras High Court has rejected a plea from the parents of S Swathi (24), a techie, who was murdered at a platform in the Nungambakkam railway station here in 2016, seeking Rs 3 crore as compensation from the Southern Railway due to the "sheer negligence" on the part of the railway authorities. Justice R Subramanian rejected the plea from K Santhanakrishnan and his wife A Ranganayagi, made in November 2016, on Thursday. The writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution before the Court is not the right forum to order compensation, the judge said and advised the couple to approach the appropriate one having civil jurisdiction. The slain woman's parents contended the murder of their young blossoming daughter occurred at a crowded place in day light. It would have been averted if the railway authorities, including the Railway Protection Force (RPF), who were duty bound to provide security to the passengers, had acted in a diligent manner. The sheer negligence on their .
The Southern Railway on Friday said it has managed to save Rs 54.99 crore by harnessing alternate sources of energy in its bid to reduce carbon footprint. With a generation of 91.56 million units of wind power that lead to cumulative savings of Rs 48.54 crore, Southern Railway said through solar energy it managed to save Rs 6.45 crore by generating 16.30 million units of solar power from 2017 till July 2022. "Substantial energy savings has been made possible through erection of wind mills", Southern Railway said in a press release. Since the installation of solar plant in 2017-18, the cumulative solar energy generated was 16.30 million units up to June 2022, thereby saving Rs 6.45 crore. The solar power panels have been installed at various locations across the region and Southern Railway said it was working towards increasing capacity of solar plants. The famous Dr MGR Chennai Central Railway Station has become the first station in the region to take care of 100 per cent of its d