Indian Railways to carry out major maintenance works on Sundays
The Indian Railways has decided to undertake major maintenance works across all zones on Sundays. However, if a train gets delayed during meal-times, passengers with reserved tickets will get free food and water, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said. The maintenance drive would be launched once Railways reworks its time-table by August 15 and identifies the trains which could be affected due to it.
Passengers will be informed about delays in advance
"We will work towards passenger engagement, creating awareness among the passengers, informing them in advance. Whenever a train gets delayed during a meal-time, we will provide free-food and drinking water to the passengers," Goyal said. He added that while small blocks for maintenance and safety-related works will continue to be taken throughout the week, on Sundays, mega blocks of six-seven hours will be taken.
Railways to introduce GPS loggers to monitor progress of trains
Goyal said the passengers would be informed about delays through SMS and advertisement in newspapers. The railways will also introduce GPS loggers in the system, which will help log the progress of each train on a real-time basis, which will then be uploaded on the railways' website. "The passengers can type their train number and get to know where the train is," Goyal said.
Railways to increase production output of coach factories
The Railways Ministry also plans to increase the production output of the coach factories, so that spare rakes and additional coaches can be provided to standardize the rakes. The Railways Minister, who had held a review meeting with seven railway zones on June 15, said the average punctuality of mail/express trains increased from 70% to 85% the very next day.
