Latest news with #Railway

Railways suspends 2.5 crore user IDs suspected of fraudulent ticket booking

The Hindu

20 hours ago

Business
The Hindu

Railways suspends 2.5 crore user IDs suspected of fraudulent ticket booking

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has deactivated 2.5 crore suspect user IDs as part of a digital overhaul of its ticketing infrastructure, officials said on Wednesday (June 4, 2025). 'Through the deployment of anti-bot systems and integration with a leading Content Delivery Network (CDN) service provider, the Railways has curbed unauthorised automated bookings by unscrupulous agents and improved the access of the website to the genuine users,' a senior Railway official said. '131 complaints of the suspicious users have been lodged with the cyber crime cell in the last four months.' Also read: Railway Protection Force plans to use AI and machine learning to help curb illegal online ticket booking The new system has effectively mitigated all bot traffic, which usually peaks during the first five minutes after the Tatkal booking window opens. Bot traffic accounts for up to 50% of overall login attempts during this period, the official added. Revalidating suspect IDs IRCTC is also taking additional steps to revalidate suspicious user IDs through verification of mobile numbers and email IDs. In the last 15 days, around 20 lakh user IDs have been put into revalidation mode to confirm the authenticity of the users, officials said. On March 6, the IRCTC set its highest single-day ticket booking record of 16,17,404 tickets. Later, on May 22, the Railways recorded the highest number of bookings in one minute, with 31,814 tickets being booked on the upgraded platform. Also read: On Railways' decision to shrink advance booking period The Railways has also introduced new user protocols with additional safety measures. Users not authenticated via Aadhaar can book opening Advance Reservation Period (ARP), Tatkal, or Premium Tatkal tickets only three days after registration, while Aadhaar-verified users can book all tickets without delay. On May 7, IRCTC's Chairman and Managing Director wrote to the Railway Board seeking approval to implement the plan of allowing only Aadhaar/PAN-authenticated users to book opening Advance Reservation Period and Tatkal tickets during the first ten minutes. Boosting performance After upgrading the ticketing infrastructure, the Railways noticed that the average daily user logins increased from 69.08 lakh in the 2023–24 financial year to 82.57 lakh in 2024–25, registering a 19.5% rise. Average daily ticket bookings grew 11.85% in the same period, from 12.41 lakh in 2023-24 to 13.88 lakh in 2024-25. 'E-Ticketing now accounts for 86.38% of total reserved ticket bookings, which is a scale up of 3.7% from 82.68% in 2023-24,' the official said. Also read: IRCTC, IRFC upgraded to Navratna status, complements Railway Minister Officials said that the 'attempt versus booking ratio' has increased from 43.06% to 62.22% in the period from October 2024 to May 2025. The IRCTC has also taken measures to log out Individual users if they exceed 25 inquiries per session during Tatkal and ARP hours, officials said, adding that users can book only one ticket per login session, except for return/onward journeys. To book another ticket, users must log out and log in again. Also, overseas IP addresses are blocked at the network level during ARP and Tatkal booking hours, officials said. Except for defence agents, agent bookings have also been restricted between 8:00 a.m. and 8:10 a.m. which are the opening ARP timings for General Quota tickets, and also between 10:00 a.m. and 10:10 a.m. as well as from 11:00 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. during the opening for Tatkal Quota tickets. 'Only one Tatkal ticket per day/per train is allowed to agents,' officials said.

MP to seek Centre's help for sanction of ROBs, RUBs

Hans India

a day ago

General
Hans India

MP to seek Centre's help for sanction of ROBs, RUBs

Vijayawada: Vijayawada MP Kesineni Sivanath has announced that he would meet the Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav and Railway Board chairman in Delhi very soon to request for sanction of Rail Over Bridges and Rail Under Bridges in Vijayawada Central assembly constituency. The MP along with the Central MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao visited Gunadala, Madhu Nagar, Devi Nagar, Ajit Singh Nagar and other areas on Tuesday and inspected the railway tracks, traffic problem and enquired about the pending works. He visited the Don Bosco School area in Gunadala where ROB works are pending for a long time. He visited the railway track between Devi Nagar-Vambay colony, Devi Nagar-Singh Nagar Katta area. The local residents explained to the MP about the problems being faced to cross the railway tracks. The MP has assured the local people that he would meet the railway minister and Railway Board chairman and request for the allocation of funds for construction of the Rail Over Bridge and Railway Under Bridges. Sivanath said he would discuss with the Vijayawada DRM in the meeting to be held on Wednesday on the problems of the Central constituency. The MP said Ajit Singh Nagar needs the second flyover to meet the traffic. He said the second Railway Over Bridge is related to both central and state governments. MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao said the Central constituency needs six Rail Over Bridges and three Rail Under Bridges. Later, the MP visited the Mylavaram Assembly constituency along with the MLA Vasantha Krishna Prasad. The MP has assured to develop the Kondapalli Railway station and for the halt of more trains at Rayanapadu railway station. He visited both Railway stations and spoke to the local people and passengers.

Special place for Deccan Queen among Punekars as commuters celebrate train's birthday

Indian Express

4 days ago

Entertainment
Indian Express

Special place for Deccan Queen among Punekars as commuters celebrate train's birthday

COMMUTERS and die-hard fans of the Deccan Queen, the express train which runs between Pune and Mumbai, celebrated its birthday in style on platform number one at Pune Railway station. The celebrations were held from as early as 6.30 in the morning. The Deccan Queen on June 1, 2025 completed 95 years and entered its 96th year. The train was started on June 1, 1930. The train, in all these years, had only one major mishap in 1990, when a few bogies had jumped tracks at Khandala Ghat. 'In the initial years, it had seven coaches… Now it has 16 coaches. It is one of the oldest trains being run in the country. It always leaves on time and is therefore highly popular among commuters, especially office-goers and businessmen and women,' said Harsha Shah, president of the Railway Pravasi Group, which every year takes the initiative to celebrate the train's birthday. The train leaves Pune railway station at 7.10 in the morning and reaches Mumbai at 10.40 am. And it was no different on Sunday as loyal passengers who have regularly travelled to Mumbai from Pune for years and fans of the train gathered ahead of the train's leaving for Mumbai at Pune Railway Station. They decorated the train with festoons and ribbon. The train was garlanded as well. As the crowd swelled and cellphones captured the enthusiastic moment, a cake was cut in the presence of Railway officials, activists and commuters. Some commuters even broke into an impromptu jig as the band in attendance spiked their tempo. Shah said she was just five years old when she first travelled with her uncle to Mumbai. 'And since then, for decades now, I have always preferred the Deccan Queen or Dakkhan Ki Rani to travel to Mumbai. The train has a dinning car with table service which very few in the country boast of… The passengers who regularly travel have formed a special bond among themselves,' she said. Speaking about the mishap in 1990, Shah said, 'Deccan Queen has been the safest train for commuters. I do not remember any major mishap with the train except in 1990 when some 10 bogies had jumped track in Khandala Ghat following heavy rain. There were no casualties,' she said. 'I am a fan of Deccan Queen…It is my favourite train,' said another commuter. Shah said commuters who travel by Deccan Queen consider it as part of their family. 'The passengers have a special place for Deccan Queen in their hearts,' she said. Shah said the enthusiasm among commuters and fans in celebrating the birthday of the train remained intact. 'They all turn up on their own. Each one it seems waits to celebrate the birthday of their Deccan Queen,' she said. Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

Bustler back in career-best form and ready to rumble first-up in Belmont Sprint

West Australian

23-05-2025

Sport
West Australian

Bustler back in career-best form and ready to rumble first-up in Belmont Sprint

Group 1 winner Bustler will be out to show his trial form has been no fluke in the Group 3 $200,000 Swan Draught Belmont Sprint (1400m), lining up a $7 third elect in the first big race of the wet track's season. The five-year-old excited his fans when cruising to a comfortable success at an Ascot trials session almost two weeks ago, beating handy rivals including stablemate and subsequent Lark Hill heat winner September Born. His jockey, Steve Parnham, says the gelding has regained career-best form and is in rude health ahead of Saturday's clash. 'He's showing that he's near his best that won the Railway a couple of years ago,' Parnham told TABradio. 'His trackwork has been as good as back then, and his trials have been even better. 'He was quite sharp in the trial with his blinkers on, so I'd expect him to jump out as he did and put himself in a prominent spot. Some cover behind the speed would be nice, but he's a pretty adaptable horse.' Bustler sat sixth in a field of 16 to win the 2023 Railway Stakes, the closest he has positioned relative to the lead in any of his wins excepting his debut. Three-year-old tyro West Star is the $2.80 TABtouch favourite after scooting away with the Northam Stakes on May 11. He leads 2021 Railway winner Western Empire at $4.60, with Stephen Miller's Magnificent Andy - a Northam runner-up to West Star - at $9. 'He's one of those horses that does his best all the time and is not far off them in those big races,' Miller said. 'I feel that his ultimate (distance) is the 1400m, but I would have preferred barrier six or something like that. 'The horse is fit and well. He'll run well.' + Proven performers Antino and Pride Of Jenni share $3.60 favouritism for the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) in Queensland. Antino routed his Hollindale Stakes rivals two weeks ago, sustaining a steamrolling run to pulverise his rivals by three and a half lengths. Pride Of Jenni, who was retired last year after a Cantala Stakes failure, has won two easier races this preparation which were split by another disappointment in the Australian Cup. + Victorian chaser Giacomo, unbeaten in four WA runs, will start favourite for the Group 2 WA Derby (520m) at Cannington. The $2.80 favourite won the Mandurah Derby three weeks ago in a brilliant 27.10 seconds before turning his attention to the series. Echoes Of Dad ($3.60) - the least experienced runner in the field - is next in betting ahead of Junk Yard Clyde ($4.60), who was the fastest qualifier in 29.47 seconds last week.

PM inaugurates 103 Amrit stations across 18 states