New Delhi, Aug 12: Zonal Railways have been authorized to introduce Battery Operated Vehicles (BOVs) at major railway stations for disabled, elderly and ailing passengers on ‘first come first served’ basis through sponsorship from individuals, NGOs, Trusts, Charitable institutions, Corporates and PSUs/Corporate Houses under their Corporate Social Responsibility free of charge to passenger or to the Railway. 70 BOVs have already been provided at 48 major railway stations. Further, instructions have also been issued to Zonal Railways to invite Expression of Interest for providing the facility of Battery Operated Car service on payment basis initially at 75 major stations which falls in A-1 category of stations.
At present, this facility to disabled, old age and sick passengers is available at 48 stations on free of cost basis. However, this service has been proposed to be provided on payment basis at all A1 category stations keeping in view the financial sustainability of the service. This facility can be availed by passengers on ‘first come first served’ basis, however, preference shall be given to Sr. Citizens, physically challenged, pregnant women and medically sick passengers.
Battery Operated Car service is already available at 48 major railway stations (including 36 A-1 category stations) over Indian Railways. Further, instructions have been issued to zonal railways to provide the said facility at 39 remaining A-1 category stations. The details of 48 stations where Battery operated car service is available are as under:
Agra Cantt., Ambala Cantt. Jn., Amritsar, Bangalore City, Bangalore Cantt., Bhatapara, Bhubaneswar, Bilaspur, Chandigarh, Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Jn., CST Mumbai, Darbhanga Jn., Dhanbad, Durg, Gaya Jn., Ghazipur City, Gwalior, H. Nizamuddin, Haridwar, Howrah, Jabalpur, Jhansi, Jodhpur cantt., Kota, Kozhikkode, Lucknow, Lucknow Jn., Madurai Jn., Manduadih, Mughalsarai Jn., Muzaffarpur Jn., Mysore Jn., Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna Jn., Raipur, Raigarh, Ranchi, Salem, Sealdah, Solapur, SSP Nilayam, Surat, Tiruchirapalli, Visakhapatnam and Yesvantpur.
The details of remaining 39 railway stations are as under:
Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Allahabad, Anand Vihar Terminal, Bandra Terminus, Bareily, Bhagalpur, Bhopal, Chhapra Jn., Dadar, Dehradun, Delhi Jn., Ernakulam Jn., Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu Tawi, Kacheguda, Kalyan, Kanpur Central, Kharagpur, Lokmanya Tilak (T), Ludhiana, Mathura Jn., Mumbai Central main, New Jalpaiguri, Pune, Puri, Rajkot, Secunderabad Jn., Tatanagar, Thane, Thrisur, Tirupati, Tiruvananthapuram Central, Vadodara, Varanasi and Vijayawada.
This Press Release is based on the information given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Rajen Gohain in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 12.08.2016 (Friday).
