Indian Railways introduces sub-quota for Women in Catering Units

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi-The Indian Railways on Thursday introduced a sub-quota of 33 per cent for women in allotment of each of the reserved catering units and also launched a new ‘Train at a Glance’ and time table effective from October 1. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said: “The introduction of new policy providing sub-quota of 33 per cent to women in catering units is a step towards women empowerment and their increased participation in the railways.”

He also said that the Railways will continue to introduce such new reformative steps. Apart from these, the Railways also liberalised station-to-station special freight rates policy, launched policy giving preference to local domicile holders for commercial licenses at stations, and introduced new system of allocating vacant berths after final charting to wayside stations.

According to the ministry, 33 per cent sub-quota reservation for women shall ensure allotment of minimum 8 per cent stalls to women at A1, A, B and C category rail stations and minimum 17 per cent at D, E and F category stations. The highlights of the improvements planned in the new time table — that will come into effect from October 1 — include the specifics of the four new brands of train products. “In this timetable, we have reduced the journey times in 350 existing trains, 75 of which have made it to the superfast category,” said Prabhu.