VAPI

PLATFORM TICKET RATES INCREASED OVER W. RLY FOR BETTER CROWD MANAGEMENT

Western Railway has taken various measures to mitigate the Pandemic Corona Virus Infection

To deal with the Corona Virus outbreak, Indian Railways is taking various steps for the containment of the spread of the disease. In this direction, Western Railway is also taking all possible efforts to contain the spread of this deadly and life threatening disease. Various preventive measures have been taken by W. Rly to counter the spread of this infection in railway premises. o­ne of the recent developments to prevent danger of effects of CORONA virus has been to increase the rate of platform tickets, with a view to restrict & discourage the number of passengers in railway premises including platform and FOBs. The rate of platform tickets has been increased from ₹.10/- to ₹.50 /- at 26 stations of W. Rly’s Mumbai Division with effect from 17/03/2020. These stations are Surat, Bandra (T), Borivali, Udhna, Mumbai Central, Vapi, Dadar, Valsad, Navsari, Andheri, Vasai Road, Boisar, Nandurbar, Bilimora, Amalner, Virar, Palghar, Bandra, Bhayandar, Dahanu Road, Goregaon, Nalasopara, Vyara, Dondaicha, Churchgate and Malad. There will be no change in the rate of platform tickets of rest of the stations. Similarly, the other divisions of W. Rly have also increased the platform ticket rates at select stations from ₹.10/- to ₹.50 /- as a precautionary measure for crowd management.

According to press release issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, the interface areas in coaches & at stations such as entrance handrails (In coaches), door handles, toilet door handles & latches, toilet health faucet, water tap, etc. is being cleaned frequently in primary maintenance trains/secondary maintenance trains/ STR examination trains at depot/ platforms, o­nboard by OBHS staff & by CTS staff, using suitable/ recommended disinfectant, at nominated stations. Similarly, electrical switches, charge points frequently touched by customers are also thoroughly cleaned. AC coach attendants have been appropriately counseled to regulate the temperature setting in AC coaches preferably between 24-25 degree Celsius and ensure cleaning of air filters of AC coaches during every primary maintenance. Also, all curtains in AC coaches has been removed and the blankets provided in AC coaches including first AC were withdrawn from service. However, for First AC passengers, blankets with fresh washed covers (separate for UP/ DN directions) may be provided o­n demand. The Linen are been given in sealed packets to passengers and AC linen attendants have been strictly counseled against recirculation of used linen. In addition to this, sufficient additional linen has also been provided o­n train, as a standby. The attendants have been counseled to ensure that open/ loose/ strewn & used linen items should not be stacked up and all curtains & spare blankets to be washed dried and stored in clean, dry storage facility. In addition to above as per Railway Board, info stickers regarding COVID-19 precautions & awareness have been displayed in coaches & across station premises. The awareness messages are been played over in rakes with PA address system. The above measures will be ensured upto 31^st March or till further notice.

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Press Release No. 2020/03Mumbai, 28th March, 2020

WR DECIDES TO SEND ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES IN TIME TABLED PARCEL TRAINS

Photo caption: Goods train containing rice weighing 2,658 tonnes arrives at Rajkot from Ambala Division. Labourers maintain social distancing while unloading the rice from the train.

Transportation of essential items like medical supplies, medical equipment, food, etc in small parcel sizes is going to be very important during the lockdown period in the wake of COVID19. To mitigate the difficulties to a certain extent, Western Railway has come forward and has decided to open for transportation of essential items such as medical supplies, equipment and food etc.

As stated by Shri Alok Kansal- General Manager of Western Rly, interested parties may contact parcel offices and Divisions to register their indents. Movement will be by parcel trains point to point as per extent rules.

WR has finalized the time table for Parcel Express for commodities such as Milk Product,Edible Oil, Spices , Groceries,and Biscuits are as under:

1.Ahmedabad(KKF) to Sankhrel(SGTY)

2.Bandra Terminus to New Delhi - Ludhiana

3.Bandra Terminus to Muzaffarpur- Darbhanga

4.Kkf to Cuttack

5.Kkf to Jaipur- Delhi -Chandigarh -Ludhiana

6.Karambeli to Chansari -Guwahati

In addition to these, other probable Parcel Cargo trains are under consideration as under :-

A) Indents in pipe line for VP rakes:

1)Dahanu Rd to Bari Brahaman

2)Kankaria toCuttack

3)Kankaria to Sankrail

4)Kankaria to New Jalpaiguri

B) Other probable routes for VP rake movements for which EOIs can be called -

1)KKF : Agra/Kanpur/

2)Lucknow/Varanasi

3)KKF : Jaipur/Delhi/Chandigarh/Ludhiyana

4)Karambeli to New Guwahati/Azara/Changsari

5)Dahanu Road to Dhupguri

Few more suggested paths can be BDTS to Ludhiana & Ahmedabad to Darbhanga/Muzaffarpur. These probable paths are under consideration & can be finalised subjected to local administration permits movement of trucks and labour handling at originating and terminating points. Talks with concerned traders are also going o­n in this regard. Discussion have been done with M/s CTA Logistics, Western carriers, both Ahmedabad, AMUL products, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) and Mint logistics Karambele, Vapi for loading of parcels for Time Tabled parcel trains.

Despite cancellation of passenger services, the goods services hasn't come to a total halt and the Railway is ensuring through all possibilities to maintain the supply of essential commodities across all parts of country by making sure that the movement of freight trains takes place so that coal reaches the power houses, food grains are available in the granaries and all essential commodities are available. Western Railway has also planned to introduce timetabled parcel trains for quick transportation of essential commodities across the nation. Here are some other efforts made by Western Railway during the lockdown period from 22nd to 27th March, 2020:

●A total of 325 rakes have been used to supply essential commodities such as POL (Petroleum, Oil & Lubricants), salt, cement, coal and containers were loaded amounting to 0.75 million tones.

●During the period 879 freight trains were interchanged with other railways including 440 trains handed over and 439 trains had taken over at different interchange points.

●Despite shortage of labour, all efforts are being made to unload important stock.

●During this period, 6 Millennium Parcel rakes of Parcel Vans/Railway Milk Tankers (RMTs) have been sent to different parts of the country to cope the demands of essential items such as ,milk powder, liquid milk and other general consumer goods:

-Ex Dahanu Road to Bhimsen

-Ex Kakariya to Bhimsen near Kanpur

-Ex Palanpur to Hind Terminal (Palwal)

-Ex Karambeli to New Guwahati

-Ex Palanpur to Hind Terminal

-Ex Palanpur to Hind Terminal

According to a press release issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar- Chief Public Relations Officer of WRly, recently 42 BCN wagons rake of Goods Train containing rice arrived at Rajkot from Ambala Division. The unloading of this is being done by labours by maintaining social distancing which weighs 2658 tons. Other than these developments, Western Railway has also successfully refunded Rs. 124.62 crores against cancellation of tickets and in Mumbai Division itself refund of Rs. 58.82 crores has been made. Total loss over Western Railway up to 27^th March, 2020 has been pegged at Rs 149.95 Cr (inclusive of suburban+ non-suburban). It is noteworthy to mention that suitable monitoring of all activities & arrangements are being carried out by the Principal Heads of Deptts. along with their teams to cope with the situation and to ensure smooth implementation of all plans, under the aegis of Shri Alok Kansal - General Manager of Western Railway. The above scenario portrays that Western Railway truly believes in the adage “Work is Worship” and this is reflected even in the tough times of lockdown due to Coronavirus Pandemic. W. Rly continues to serve the nation by lending its hand through essential service, be it freight traffic or medical facility. From security to engineering, Western Railway is always geared to face whatever may be the situation.

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