Thursday, July 28 2005 15:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government proposes to construct a dedicated freight corridor on high-density routes especially on Golden Quadrilateral and its diagonals, the Lok Sabha was informed today (July 28, 2005).

The corridor will be capable of moving 25-30 tonnes axle load double stack container trains, Minister of State for Railways R Velu said.

He said the Railways have assigned a detailed feasibility study to M/S RITES for the project, which will indicate the cost and time span needed.

Railways have been directed to fill up about 80,000 vacant posts relating to safety, security and operational categories either by direct recruitment from open market of promotion from amongst serving employees, as the case may be by the year 2006, Velu said.

Recruitment has already been completed for 11,077 vacancies in Railway Protection Force, he added.

Railways are handing over catering units at 'A', 'B' and 'C' category of stations to Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the Minister said.

He said while catering units at 'D', 'E' and 'F" category of stations are still being managed by railways, the catering activity of railways are to be hived off completely to IRCTC.

Indian Railways is exploring possibilities for development of rail network through partnership with state Governments, multilateral agencies, project beneficiaries and lending institutions, he said.