ARRANGEMENTS MADE BY NORTHERN RAILWAY TO MEET FESTIVAL RUSH
For the convenience of rail passengers and in order to clear extra rush during this festival season, Northern Railway has planned and commenced running of 691 trips of 23Special trains to 23 important destinations.Besides these Specials, 36 Special Trains are run on the Zone by other zonal railways; thus cumulatively, there are 59 Special trains with a total of 1483 trips, which is a noteworthy improvement, against the 55 Special trains with 1219 trips run during the previous year during the corresponding period. 134 extra coaches on temporary basis in 47 trains and 25 coaches on permanent basis in 12 trains have been attached to clear huge waiting list. 66 trips of 14 special trains are planned for Chhat Puja.
1.SPECIAL TRAINS:
i)TRAINS RUN BY NORTHERN RAILWAY(2012)
TOTAL-23 PAIRS
-691 TRIPS
ii)TRAINS RUN BY FOREIGN RAILWAY(2012)
TOTAL-34 PAIRS
-27 PAIRS TERMINATING ON NORTHERN RAILWAY &
07 PAIRS PASSING THROUGH NORTHERN RAILWAY
SUMMARY OF SPECIAL TRAINS
| 2012 | 2011 |
| No of trains | No of trips | No of trains | No of trips |
Special Trains run by NR | 23 | 752 | 23 | 602 |
Special Trains run by foreign Rlys | 36 | 900 | 32 | 617 |
Total | 59 | 1652 | 55 | 1219 |
·Above special include special trains planned during Chhat.
iii). EXTRA COACHES ATTACHMENT
TEMPORARY AUGMENTATION | 134 COACHES IN 47 TRAINS |
PERMANENT AUGMENTATION | 25 COACHES IN 12 TRAINS |
2. MONITORING OF RESERVATION CENTRES:
·At IRCA CCTV cameras have been installed at the entrance gate and passenger half to keep a close eye on touting activities.
·Display and information boards for proper guidance of passengers and for providing detail of special trains
·Jammers have been installed to stop the misuse of mobile phones in reservation halls at IRCA Sarojini Nagar, Kakardooma, Delhi Jn., Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi Sahadara, NOIDA & Ghaziabad.
·Officers/Inspectors/Supervisors will be deputed at important PRS locations viz. IRCA( New Delhi Station), Ghaziabad, Sarojini Nagar, Karkardooma, Delhi Jn, Kirti Nagar, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Adarsh Nagar Delhi, NOIDA, Delhi Shahdara, Lazpat Nagar, Okhla, Shakurbasti, Subzi Mandi, Tughlakabad, Parliament House,where they will stay there up to 12.00 hrs. and will sign first 15 requisition slips of Tatkal passengers to ensure that passengers gets ticket on first cum first serve basis in Tatkal. They will also ensure the following:
·Counters are opened at right time.
·Proper and frequent announcement is made
·Proper cleanliness and drinking water arrangement is made
·Staff/Counter clerks have been instructed not to carry their hand bags or any big article at counters. For this, lockers have been provided to the staff in Delhi area to keep their hand bags and other belongings in safe custody.
3. PREVENTIVE AND DECOY CHECKS
i). Northern Railway Vigilance has planned to carry out intensive checks at all major stations/locations/Trains over Northern Railway, by forming three teams of four Vigilance Inspectors each. The three teams will function on rotation basis assisted by two RPF staff comprising of one SI + three constables for conducting checks in the following areas:
a.Touts, UTA, RTSA, JTBS
b.Train Check, TOT, Fake/Forged Tkt, BPT, EFT, PCT, CTT etc
During this drive special focus will be on checks against touts, unauthorized travel agents and also to detect passengers travelling on transferred tickets purchased from unauthorized sources/agencies. For this purpose, the suspected tickets which have been prepared in fake names/IDs have been identified and surprise raids will be conducted on train for verification/genuineness of the passengers keeping in view, the suspected requisition forms already collected by Vigilance Inspectors.
Efforts will be made to identify the RTSAs/JTBSs being run by close relatives of Railway employees. During checks, it will be specifically checked whether TTEs are writing their names/HQ/Mobile numbers on their working charts.
The details of the Vigilance checks during the period January-September-2012 is produced under:
ii.) Touts
During the period, 699 touts were apprehended and prosecuted by the Railway Magistrate under section 143/144 of Railways Act 1989.Besides action was also taken against Railway staff for connivance with Touts. On a source information two Commercial staff were removed from service and one RPF personnel was dismissed from service for conniving with touts.Two RPF personnel were taken up under Disciplinary Rules. In another case 3 reservation staff of a PRS centre were taken up under Major Penalty and transferred out of place of posting for same offence.
(iii)Unauthorized Travel Agents
During the period, 25 unauthorized travel agents were apprehended under section 143 of the Railway Act and prosecuted.
iv)Travel on Transferred Tickets
During the period checks were also carried out on trains and 1597 persons were detected travelling on tickets reserved in the name of other (fictitious) persons and an amount of Rs.9,58,135/- was realized as Railway dues from them.
v)Unauthorized Vendors
During the period, 208 unauthorized vendors were apprehended in the station premises & prosecuted under section 143/144 of Railways Act. 1989
vi)Mass contact areas (Reservation, Booking, Parcels, Trains)
During the period, 2697 preventive checks were conducted on Railway staff deployed in mass contact areas especially at PRS and booking centers as a result of which action against 1556 staff is being initiated.
vii) Public Awareness Campaign
In addition to intensive drives against Touts, UTA and in Mass Contact Areas, Northern Railway Vigilance undertook extensive public awareness drives through advertisements in print and news items in electronic media. People were cautioned against going to Touts, UTA and Travelling on TOT, through advertisements in National as well as in local dailies. Such advertisements appeared in all leading newspapers every month from Jan-12 to Sept-12 and would continue in the coming months also.
4. SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS:
(i)CCTV system provided at New Delhi, Delhi Jn., Hazrat Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar Terminal, Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Delhi Cantt, Ghaziabad, Tilak Bridge, Delhi Shahdara during the year.In addition announcement facility has been provided to RPF staff from CCTV room at New Delhi station. This will help to enhance security at NDLS as RPF personnel can take action in time.
(ii)AUGMENTATION OF THE WORKFORCE: In order to meet the increased requirement of the staff, re-deployment of the available work force was done. Beside, Scouts and Civil Defence personnel were also deployed in passenger interface area to supplement the RPF/RPSF.
(iii)ACCESS CONTROL AND CHECKING OF LUGGAGE: All major stations have been equipped with DFMDs. Manual luggage checking is being carried out by RPF/GRP personnel.
(iv)SEAT CORNERING: Arrangements have been made to ensure that no space of coaches is encroached upon by anti social elements. For this purpose, rakes in locked condition are brought to platforms. Besides, teams have been formed to book the antisocial elements involved in seat-cornering.
v)Security arrangement at stations and parcel booking areas be enforced with:
oDeployment of Dog squads
oMetal Detectors at all entry gates
oHand held metal detectors
oManning of all the entry gates
oMega mikes
oManila ropes at FOB and platforms
5. CROWD MANAGEMENT MEASURES:
·Special trains have been distributed at the 4 major terminals to avoid overcrowding.
·Platform for all the trains including specials are fixed during entire festival rush period. Change will be done only with the approval of DRM.
· An action plan has been issued to all branches during rush as follows :
i) Formation of joint teams of security and commercial to conduct special drives against touting activities/unauthorized agents.
ii) Special checks against carriage of inflammables in trains and at stations.
iii) Special checks against Tour operators, JTBSs, RTSAs.
iv) Special arrangements through proper deployment of ticket checkingstaff at FOBs of stations for crowd control.
vi)Frequent announcement to be made through Public Address system regarding crowd management at Platforms. Scouts deputed at New Delhi, Delhi Jn & Anand Vihar Terminal Station from 14th of Oct. 2012.
vii)Improved Traffic plan enforced and Traffic Martials deputed for smooth flow of vehicular traffic at New Delhi station.
viii)Prepaid facility will also start soon.
ix)Special attention is being paid to ensure satisfactory condition of all passenger amenities & convenience like water, waiting halls etc.
x)Sr. Officers have been nominated to remain available at major terminals during the peak rush of Diwali to Chhat.
xi)Publicity- Posters, banners, advertisement in newspapers, TV, Radio about special trains made.
xii)All the rakes including those of special trains to be placed on platforms at least 30 minutes before scheduled departure.
xiii)ATVMS are already working at stations for convenience of passengers. Moreover additional booking counters will be opened as per the need. 24 Additional JTBS have also started in the current year. This has made a total of 70 JTBS in Delhi Division.
xiv)One Doctor each nominated for New Delhi, Delhi Jn., Hazrat Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar and Delhi Sarai Rohila.
xv)Setting up of First Aid posts at New Delhi, Delhi Sarai Rohila, Delhi Jn., Anand Vihar Terminal & Hazrat Nizamuddin.
xvi)Special arrangements for cleanliness of the coaches of all the trains.
xvii)Train Enquiry system and announcement system to be regularly monitored during the festival rush period.
xviii)At New Delhi Station, the announcement system extended to circulating area in Pahar Ganj & Ajmeri Gate side by providing additional loudspeakers.
xix)On the Ajmeri Gate side of New Delhi Railway station Booking Office has been shifted towards left and right end of this circulating/holding area which has reduced the crowd in this area. Further, the baggage scanners have been shifted towards the staircases to reduce the queue in open has greatly benefitted passengers.
xx)Two Unreserved counters opened on Western side entry of Delhi Railway station.
xxi)A new waiting hall for upper class passengers has been opened at New Delhi platform no. 1 during the month.
INITIATIVES TAKEN BY IRCTC
A.Augmentation of Software and Hardware:
·Internet bandwidth increased from 350 mbps to 450 mbps. Further upgrade is planned.
·High capacity data base servers installed.
·Additional Software licenses procured. Further augmentation is planned.
·Mobile booking launched.
B.For Availability of the site:
·Opening time of Tatkal & ARP tickets staggered for better performance of website.
·All servers are deployed for booking by individual Users at the time of opening of Tatkal Ticket booking for the next day. No Agents are permitted between 8-12AM.
·Single session per user ID check has been implemented. With this step, a user on irctc.co.in will be able to open his account for booking of e-tickets only ones.Multiple sessions with single user ID cannot be opened thereby enabling maximum users to access website and reduce congestion.
·Change in Tatkal timings from 08.00 hrs to 10.00 hrs.
·Introduction of exclusive reservation form for Tatkal booking.
C.Action taken by IT- Anti Fraud team, IRCTC to stop fraudulent booking:
·The IT-Anti Fraud Squad at Internet Ticketing Centre detects cases of fraud and fraudulent activity and does constant cyberspace surveillance to detect and prevent possible misuse of the ticketing service.
·More than 5 lakh multiple personal User Ids and 44 thousand IDs created by Agents have been deactivated since 28-Feb-11.
·IP based investigation is being conducted to identify agents who are trying to book Tatkal tickets by creating normal user ids. Suspected cases are given to zonal offices for conducting decoy checks. A penalty of Rs.20,000/- is imposed upon the Principal Agent and the sub-agents found indulging in fraudulent activities is deactivated and blacklisted.
·For all customers who have booked tickets between 10.00 to 10.05 AM, telephonic enquiries are being made for cross checking validity of the booking and the travelling passenger. Suspicious PNRs are sent to CCM/PM, IRCA, Northern Railway for release of ticket.
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