RailEnquiry Blog

भारत वर्ष को जानने के लिए आपको भारतीय रेल से इस विशालकाय उपमहाद्वीप की यात्रा करनी ही पड़ेगी क्योंकि रेलवे ही इसकी आंतरिक सुंदरता का चित्र सबसे विशिष्ट ढंग से कराती है | अगर आप ये कहें कि बिना रेल यात्रा के ही आप बता सकते हैं कि ये देश अंदर से कैसा दिखता है तो वो गलत होगा | �[...]

Finally, something came out on which Aadhaar card is not mulled by Indian Government. After long withstanding on side of compulsory Aadhaar for a train ticket booking, finally Ministry of Railways has made Aadhaar optional for booking train tickets. However, it still wants to encourage passengers to enter Aadhaar number while booking a ticket on voluntary basis.  Rajen Gohain, Minister of state for Railways clarified in Lok Sabha that no such proposal has been made for making Aadhaar compulsory to book a train ticket however requirement of Aadhaar verification has been introduced on vo[...]

How much more can railway charge for a journey? Well, you might be aware of luxury trains like Palace on wheels or the Maharaja Express for which railway charge a price that may seem out of proportion for majority of railway travelers in India but in return railway also provides an unmatched experience of hospitality. As these trains are meant only for tourism purpose on a precisely planned route therefore for passengers who can afford such luxury are left behind on regular routes.  For the first time now, in a meeting between Chairman Railway Board Ashwani Lohani and travel and trade associations the idea of using Saloon wagons on regular routes ca[...]

No matter what railway is trying to curb throwing of garbage on railway tracks, but every measure is failing miserably as people are continuously polluting railway tracks with plastic bags. This problem is even more severe in metro cities due to extensive grooming of slum areas along the railway tracks.  Earlier railway has made brick walls to tackle with this problem but it seems that bricks are getting less day by day and walls are getting shorter. Railway officials earlier came up with many ideas such as wire mesh but all these measures were shot down as they could be tempered easily.  Now a final solution is sought in the form of concrete walls. Railway official says that[...]

Daily more than two crore passengers choose Indian Railways to fulfil their commute needs and to make their commute easier. Indian Railways allow train ticket reservations in 120 days advance which means you can plan you trip 4 months before you can get on board. This gives flexibility to passengers to a extent in which anyone can initially plan their commute and if required in later stages can cancel the same. However their are certain restrictions when it comes to cancellation of train ticket. For example if you want to cancel e-ticket booked through IRCTC app or website, you cannot go to the PRS counters and ask the person sitting their to cancel e-ticket. To cancel you e-ticket you have [...]

Catering on Indian Railways has grown up into a problem that seems like can never be resolved. Unhygienic and contaminated food had always made headlines for Indian Railways. From the common man to VVIP, every one has raised this problem but its seems quantity has superseded over quality. The latest data also suggests the same, as trend of increasing number of complaints year on year basis raise a serious question mark of how railway operates or if considered on a larger basis how we as Indians care about fellow citizen’s health. In 2014-15 railway received 7055 complaints for bad or unhygienic catering services that rose to 8708 in 2015-16 and further to 10,437 the next year. In[...]

A recent report by Ministry of Railways states a bitter truth for Railways which is currently the preferred choice of mode of transportation among Indians. The report states that in the coming three years air travel will become the number one choice for travellers and domestic airlines will soon supersede railways. However you must be thinking that railway ferry passengers in such huge numbers, how can this be possible? How can air travel supersede Indian railways? The problem with Indian Railways is that despite dealing in huge number of passengers, the actual profitable segment for railway is passengers travelling in air-conditioned class which is just a small fraction of the total numb[...]

Although Indian Railway claims to plan its tracks free from human discharge but where it matters most it has failed miserably. Railway tracks of pilgrimage centres like Rameswaram of Tamil Nadu, Sri Mata Vaishno Devi and Porabandar in Gujarat can be seen full of human wastes. This problem has been highlighted in CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) report. In 2014 - 15 Railway rolled out a plan - “Green train Station and Green Corridor” in which all such trains that originate or pass or terminate at stations where large number of pilgrims or tourists visit will be fitted with bio-toilets on a priority basis. This will help railway to keep stations with high footfall keep clea[...]

To enhance passenger comfort in its all AC3 tier coach Humsafar Express train, Indian Railways has upgraded the Humsafar Express coaches for the first time with state of art features. During launch Indian Railways emphasised that this is the first fully AC3 tier train service which will provide luxury to passengers at affordable prices. Although described with many modern features; but in its initial launch many such features were missing putting a question mark on Indian Railways definition of luxury.  Now aiming to improve the train travel experience Indian Railways has revamped it's AC3 tier train with notable features like baby nappy changing pads, tea and coffee machines, ea[...]

The ongoing Flexi fare system of Indian Railways is likely to come out in an all new form. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has given enough indications on Saturday that in the new Flexi fare system Indian Railways will offer discounts similar to hotels and Airlines if seats remains unbooked. To assess the ongoing Flexi fare system in Railway has formed a 6 member committee that will study and review the flexi fare scheme and its impact on the revenue generated for Indian Railways. A time of 30 days has been given to the committee after which it will submit a report to the railway ministry. Indian Railways is considering the dynamic model similar to airlines and hotels in the new Flexi fa[...]

अंग्रेजों के शासनकाल में शुरू हुई भारतीय रेल का इतिहास 168 साल पुराना है | पहली ट्रेन भारत में 16 अप्रैल 1853 में चली थी जो मुंबई यानी बम्बई के बोरीबंदर स्टेशन से ठाणे स्टेशन पर पहुंची थी | बोरीबंदर स्टेशन अब छत्रपति शिवाजी टर्मिनल के नाम से जाना जाता है | इस पहली भारतीय ट्रेन �[...]

Even if Indian Railways lag behind in most of the areas compared to the modern Railway system in some developed countries there is one area where it is struggles the most; that is speed and efficiency. Indian Railways is far behind in this area compared to other modern Railway systems and considering all the possibilities we do not see Railways to gain ground on it; forget overtaking. We often here that Indian Railways is working on a semi high speed rail project but all the work is limited to only surveys till date. When a train is termed as superfast on IRCTC website you can expect an average speed of not more than 54 km per hour only. The premium trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi can b[...]

Indian Railways makeover initially started with upgrading of toilets inside coaches of trains. Back in the 90s and prior to that and even in the early 21st century, lack of cleanliness on Indian trains and particularly in toilets had always been a big issue which Indian Railways tried to shed in recent years. But it never worked out. The upgraded bio toilets generated even more complaints from passengers. Most of the complaints states toilets were getting blocked due to waste dump such as plastic bottles or papers. Initially bio-toilets was explained as such that human waste will be digested by anaerobic bacteria which converts it into bio gases and water. But in real world condition this ne[...]

Tatkal train tickets are not a new Affair to any Traveller who travels frequently by Indian Railways. These are the most hard-fought train tickets currently in the world in which you either have to stand in a queue for hours and hours or might bet on your luck for the first couple of minutes while booking it through IRCTC website. Even if you know how tatkal tickets are booked still sometimes there can be confusion in timings of tatkal ticket or number of seats available in Tatkal quota so here is a quick wrap up of tatkal tickets that always remain on high demand in Indian Railways. For those who may not know tatkal ticket booking facility was first introduced in year 1997. However, i[...]

In a bid to showcase its history Indian Railways has partnered with Google in an elaborated project that also depends on crowdsourcing. Indian Railway with help of Google will give a Virtual tour to it's passengers on platforms via video screen. A pilot project related to this has been launched and deployed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai. Under this project six video screens are installed that will showcase the national Transporters rich heritage and history. However the point to be noted is that much of the content shown on these screens will be sourced through people to collect data from various sources. Railway has already made efforts through its unique crowdsou[...]

If there are records to be made about the most delayed Train service in the world then definitely there would be trains from Indian Railways. This seems to be even more true if we consider the current scenario of punctuality of most Indian trains. Rarely do we hear that a certain train Has arrived on time at its destination. However we don't know about such Records but what we do know Is that there is one Express train that has never arrived on time at its destination this year. You may say that currently  Indian Railways is facing some serious operational issues due to which such a bad record could have been formed but the scenario of late arrival Of this express train is not [...]

भारतीय रेल इस समय अपने बुरे दौर से गुजर रहा है l ना सिर्फ रेल दुर्घटनाएं आम होती जा रही हैं बल्कि रेल यात्रियों के लिए भी ट्रेन में बिताया गया समय परेशानियों से भरा हुआ ही होता है l ट्रेनों के सफर पूरा करने का ना तो कोई समय है ना कोई ठिकाना l इसके साथ ही लगातार बेपटरी होती हु[...]

Train ticket booking and never been easier as it is today. It all started in year 2002 when Indian Railway launched its Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation website usually called as IRCTC website. On the first day, only 27 tickets were bought through www.irctc.co.in. As the time passed the website gained huge popularity just because of the convenience it offers. However in those days cashless transactions are not as popular as it is today. There were fewer people who use debit or credit cards but with time Indian Railways allowed agents to book tickets through website in abundance which allowed Travellers to book the train tickets via agents without visiting passenger reservation[...]