RAILWAYS REVENUE EARNINGS UP BY 10.20 PER CENT
FIRST EVER AC DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN FLAGGED OFF
HIGH LEVEL SAFETY REVIEW COMMITTEE SET UP
AN EXPERT GROUP FOR MODERNIZATION OF INDIAN RAILWAYS
FRESH MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT MISUSE OF ‘TATKAL’ SCHEME
REAL TRAIN INFORMATION SYSTEM OPENED TO PUBLIC
SETTING UP OF NATIONAL HIGH SPEED RAIL AUTHORITY
‘VIVEK EXPRESS’ - NEW TRAIN ON LONGEST EVER ROUTE FLAGGED OFF
RAILWAYS GREEN INITIATIVES
The year 2011 has been significant for the Railways in achieving goals and targets with regard to the following:
REVENUE GENERATION
The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during 1st April to 20th December 2011 is Rs. 71613.12 crore registering an increase of 10.20 per cent in comparison to Rs. 64982.35 crore achieved during the same period last year. During this period, the total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 43257.89 crore to Rs. 47653.34 crore, an increase of 10.16 per cent. The total passenger revenue earnings at Rs. 20249.84 crore increased by 9.45 per cent when compared to Rs. 18501.61 crore during the same period of last year.
The total approximate numbers of passengers booked during the period 1st April to 20th December 2011 were 5986.86 million compared to 5691.04 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 5.20 per cent.
Railways have carried 618.00 million tonnes of revenue earning freight traffic during 1st April- to 30th November 2011. The freight carried shows an increase of 24.56 million tonnes over the freight traffic of 593.44 million tonnes actually carried during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 4.14 per cent.
In the calendar year 2011, Indian Railways has achieved scrap sale of Rs. 3748.68 crore till November 2011.
SAFETY PERFORMANCE
Safety in train operations is accorded the highest priority by Indian Railways and all measures are being taken on a continual basis to prevent accidents and enhance safety. A High Level Safety Review Committee, headed by Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission was set up. The Committee would lay down the road map on safety related issues which need to be addressed in the short term and the long term and would give invaluable recommendations which would have a significant bearing on further improvement in the systems and protocols. Indian Railways would make all efforts to address the recommendations of the High Level Committee with a view to achieve further improvement in the safety environment on the Indian Railways. The Committee had already held several meetings with senior functionaries in Railway Board, Zonal Railways, Divisional Railways level and RDSO. Besides making an assessment of the existing safety practices, the Committee is also soliciting feedback from general public in Indian Railway’s official website.
The number of consequential train accidents reduced in 2010-11 in comparison to the previous year (141 as against 165) registering a decline of 14.5%. In the current year also, a similar declining trend has been observed as 91 consequential train accidents took place during April to 15th December, 2011 in comparison to 97 during the corresponding period of the previous year.
Accident per Million Train Kilometres is an important safety index used by most of the Railways in the world. This has also come down from 0.44 Accident per Million Train Kilometers during 2002-2003 to 0.15 in 2010-11 despite quantum increase in the volume of traffic carried by Indian Railways over the years.
A vigorous special campaign was organised during the year to create awareness among the road users regarding precautions to be observed at level crossings which included newspaper advertisement, distribution of pamphlets and posters, radio TV programmes, public announcements, counselling at schools, interactions with village Panchayats and safety seminars.
Service Trials of Train Protection Warning System (TPWS) project on non-suburban section are in progress on Delhi-Agra Section (200 RKMs) of National Capital Region. Works of provision of TPWS have been sanctioned over 895 Route Kilometres of important Automatic Block Signalling Sections of high density network spread over five Railways, viz. Eastern, North Central, Southern, South Eastern and Western Railways in 2010-11. A pilot project of TPWS was commissioned on suburban section (50 Route Kms) of Southern Railway.
MODERNIZATION OF INDIAN RAILWAYS
In a significant move to give further impetus to Railways’ modernization plans, an Expert Group has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Mr. Sam Pitroda to recommend ways and means to modernize Indian Railways to meet the challenges of economic growth, the aspirations of the common man, the needs of changing technology and the expanding market while at the same time ensuring adequate focus on addressing social and strategic requirements of the country. The Committee will inter alia address issues connected with organization, management and resource mobilization and professionalization of manpower on Indian Railways.
STRENGTHENING OF SECURITY ON RAILWAYS
The Railways Property (Unlawful Possession) Amendment Bill, introduced in the Parliament in the year 2008, has been passed by the Rajya Sabha on 22.12.2011. The above amendment envisages widening the ambit of penal sections of the Act and to empower an Railway Protection Force (RPF) Officer to conduct enquiry on receipt of information about occurrence of an offence against Railway property. A proposal for further legal empowerment of RPF, under the RPF Act, to deal with passenger related offences, has been mooted for approval of the Cabinet. Presently RPF is engaged in escorting of 1275 important mail/express trains, access control at important railway stations of the country, prosecution of offenders (under 29 sections of the Railways Act ) involved in unauthorized activities in trains/station premises viz. alarm chain pulling, unauthorized vending/hawking, unauthorized entry into ladies and reserved compartments etc, and prosecution of offenders, apprehended with stolen railway property, under the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act 1966.
INTRODUCTION OF NEW TRAINS
In Railway Budget 2011-12, a total number of 131 new trains were announced, out of which 70 new trains have been introduced and 61 new trains are yet to be introduced. Out of extension of 33 trains, 29 trains have been extended and 4 trains are yet to be extended. Out of increase in frequency of 17 trains, frequency of 15 trains has been increased and frequency of 2 trains are yet to be increased. Earnest efforts are being made to meet all the budget targets by the end of the financial year.
FRESH MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT MISUSE OF TATKAL SCHEME
The Tatkal booking system was introduced on Indian Railways to enable passengers needing to travel in emergency to avail reserved accommodation at a short notice. The scheme has been modified from 21.11.2011 to eliminate the possibility of misuse of the facility by touts/miscreants by exploiting the vulnerability of needy passengers, wanting to travel at a short notice by charging a high premium.
Under the modified scheme, the Advanced Reservation Period (ARP) has been reduced from 2 days to 1 day, excluding the journey date. Rail travel agents/rail travel service agencies (RTSAs) have been restricted from booking tatkal tickets at the reservation counters/over the internet between 8 hours to 10 hours and booking can now be done only on presenting self-attested photocopy of identity proof of at least one of the travelling passengers.
RESERVED TICKETING THROUGH MOBILE PHONE
To bring further convenience to the rail users, Indian Railways has offered the service of booking E-Ticket over the mobile. The detailed procedure of booking through mobile is available on the IRCTC website namely www.irctc.co.in. Whenever a passenger books a reserved ticket through Mobile phone, he will receive a message through SMS with full details of the ticket including PNR, Train No., date of journey, class, etc. This virtual message would be treated at par with the print-out of the e-ticket which at present is taken out by the passengers and is known as Electronic Reservation Slip (ERS). Hence, with this virtual message, passengers would not be required to take a print-out of e-ticket to be carried with them.
REAL TRAIN INFORMATION SYSTEM OPENED TO PUBLIC
In a major passenger friendly move, Indian Railways opened the first phase of the Real Train Information System (RTIS) in October 2011 to public for accurate train tracking thus heralding a new era of application of advanced communication and information technologies in various Railway related activities. This new tracking system is based on Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN) and has been developed jointly by the Ministry of Railways’ Research arm namely Research, Design and Standards Organization (RDSO), Lucknow and IIT, Kanpur. This facility provides accurate train running information on a click of a button or through SMS thereby overcoming limitations of the existing train information dissemination through telephone number 139 which is mainly dependent on manual collection of train running information. This information is available on website “http://www.simran.in”. To begin with, at present, this service is available for six pairs of Rajdhani & Shatabdi trains and would be expanded further in due course of time.
DEVELOPMENTS ON DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR PROJECT
The progress on the two ambitious Railway projects of construction of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) namely Eastern Corridor from Dankuni to Ludhiana and Western Corridor from JNPT (Mumbai) to Dadri (near Delhi) has been good. Major portions of Western Corridor are being funded with Japanese assistance and Eastern Corridor with World Bank assistance. World Bank approved loan of US $ 975 million for Khurja-Bhaupur section of Eastern Freight Corridor on 31.5.2011. Two loan agreements have already been signed with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for Western DFC which includes loan agreement for Phase-I (Rewari-Vadodara) and Engineering Services Loan agreement for Phase-II (Mumbai-Vadodara and Rewari-Dadri).
ADARSH STATION SCHEME
The scheme of Adarsh Station has been introduced from the year 2009. Adarsh Stations are provided with basic facilities such as drinking water, adequate toilets, catering services, waiting rooms and dormitories especially for lady passengers, better signage etc.
During 2009-10, 378 stations on Indian Railways were identified to be developed under Adarsh station scheme. Work at 365 stations under the scheme has been completed and work at remaining 13 stations is targeted for completion in 2011-12.
During 2010-11, 201 stations were additionally identified as per budget to be developed under Adarsh stations scheme. Work at 73 stations has been completed and work at remaining 128 stations is targeted for completion in 2011-12.
During 2011-12, 266 stations were additionally identified to be developed under Adarsh station scheme. Out of this work at 9 stations has been completed and work at another 109 stations is targeted for completion in 2011-12 and at 148 remaining stations in 2012-13.
DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL COMPLEX
A new concept of development of MFCs with Budget Hotels, was introduced in Rail Budget 2009-10 so that important facilities may be available to the rail users in a separate complex in the vicinity of circulating area in station premises. So far 17 Multi Functional Complexes (MFCs) have been completed viz. Anandpur Sahib, Aurangabad, Baraddhaman, Digha, Durg, Ghatsila, Haldia, Kakdwip, Manmad, New Alipore, Parasnath, Rajgir, Rampur Hat, Shirdi, Tarapith Road, Tarakeshwar and Tiruvalla. Process of leasing/licensing of these MFCs is underway. So far, a total of 198 stations have been identified since 2009-10 (67 in 2009-10, 93 in 2010-11 and 38 in 2011-12). Task of development of 198 MFCs has been assigned to Zonal Railways and various executing agencies under the Ministry of Railways.
NEW TRAIN ON LONGEST EVER ROUTE FLAGGED OFF
“Vivek Express” on longest ever route from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari covering a distance of 4286 kilometers was flagged off on 19th November, 2011. This weekly trains leaves Dibrugarh on every Saturday and reaches Kanyakumari on Wednesday. In return direction, it leaves Kanyakumari on every Saturday and reaches Dibrugarh on Wednesday. This train is having 18 coaches which include six general coaches, seven sleeper coaches, two third AC coaches and one second AC coach and two SLR coaches. It runs via Goalpara-NewBonagigaon – Alipurduar Jn. – Maldah town – Durgapur- Asansol – Adra – Midnapur – Vijaywada, Jolapettai – Salem Jn. – Coimbatore Jn – Ernakulam – Trivananthapuram – Kanyakumari.
A number of more than 130 new trains, announced in Rail Budget, were also flagged off during this year.
NATIONAL HIGH SPEED RAIL AUTHORITY
In the Railway Budget 2010-11, the Ministry of Railways has announced for setting up of a National High Speed Rail Authority (NHSRA) for planning, standard setting, implementing & monitoring of High Speed Rail projects. A proposal in this regard has been moved for Cabinet approval. The Ministry of Railways has selected following six corridors for conducting pre-feasibility studies. These are; Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450 km approx.), Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650 km approx.), Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijaywada-Chennai (664 km approx.), Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam (649 km approx.), Howrah-Haldia (135 km approx.), Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991 km approx.). Consultants for pre-feasibility study of four Corridors except Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar and Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam-Trivandrum have already been engaged.
E-PROCUREMENT AND E-PAYMENT SYSTEM ON RAILWAY
Indian Railways have implemented e-procurement system for All Zonal Railways and Production Units. So for 2.5 lakh e-tenders have been uploaded on central web site www.ireps.gov.in and more than 15,000 vendors have registered with the site. Electronic procurement has facilitated vendors and the participating industry to gain free access to Railway’s procurement tenders and has improved transparency and competitiveness in the tendering process. Indian Railways issues computerized railway receipts for more than 99.9% of its freight loading. This has helped in collection of approximately 69.9% of freight payment through e-payment contributing around Rs. 4000 crore per month from the participating major customers, thus cutting down wasteful manual processes both for Indian Railways and their principal freight customers. Facility of enquiring the last location of rakes on Indian Railways has been launched from 12th October 2011 for freight customers.
COUNTRY’S FIRST EVER AC DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN FLAGGED OFF
Country’s first air conditioned superfast Double Decker train was flagged off from Howrah station for Dhanbad on 1st October 2011. This train consists of 9 coaches including 7 air-conditioned Double Decker chair cars having 128 seats in each coach and 2 generator cars. This train stops at Barddhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Barakar and Kumardhubi on both ways en-route. This train will have maximum permissible speed of 110 kilometre per hour and will run via Howrah-Barddhaman chord line. Introduction of Double Decker train was announced in Railway Budget earlier. The successful development of AC Double Decker train is a clear illustration of Indian Railways` capabilities in design and manufacturing.
LONGEST TUNNEL MADE THROUGH PIR PANJAL IN JAMMU & KASHMIR
Indian Railways achieved another milestone with final breakthrough of Pir Panjal Railway tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir on 14th October 2011. This Tunnel with a length of 11.176 Kilometers is not only the longest Transportation Tunnel in the country but has also the highest point (1753 Meters above sea level) on Broad Gauge Railway System in the country. This methodology planned in year 2003-2005, is now being adopted for many long tunnels across the Himalayan Ranges in the country. This tunnel shall be fully lined and equipped with state of the art ventilation and its control system, air quality monitoring system, fire detection and rescue plan, CCTV, communication system and Tunnel Control Room at both the ends with provision for a service road by the side of a single line BG Railway track. After laying of track and completion of adjacent railway works, it will be possible to run train form Kashmir Valley to Banihal on the other side of Pir Panjal Range. These works are expected to be completed by December 2012. With the operation of Railway line upto Banihal, there will be an all weather Rail route across the Pir Panjal Mountains, benefiting the entire Kashmir Valley.
SETTING UP OF RAILWAY STATIONS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD PROPOSED
It has been decided to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) “Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd to meet the aspirations of rail users and to provide better passenger amenities & facilities at railway stations. This SPV will be constituted with equity participation of Ircon International Ltd. (IRCON), a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Railways and Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), a statutory authority under the Ministry of Railways.
RAILWAYS GREEN INITIATIVES
Indian Railways has taken several environment friendly steps. A project based on clean development mechanism to distribute over 14 lakh CFLs free of cost to Railway employees housed in Railway colonies, in exchange of energy intensive incandescent lamps was launched. This project is expected to reduce around 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission annually and has been acknowledged as one of the biggest initiatives in sensitizing people towards environment.
In a significant move towards clean environment in platforms and railway tracks, Indian Railways has inducted biotoilets (green toilets) in Guwahati, Gwalior, Varanasi and Chennai express trains with effect from 14th October 2011. This type of toilets has been designed jointly by Indian Railways and DRDO.
With these toilets fitted in the coaches there will be no discharge of human excreta falling in platforms or at nay other places enroute. The bacteria inside the toilets eat away human excreta and convert it into water and gas. The water so generated after passing through chlorine tank discharges out and the gas generated thereby evaporates out side the atmosphere. It also prevents damages of tracks and rolling stock components by way of corrosion.
Several designs of biotoilets are being tried in different passenger carrying trains. Indian Railways proposes to achieve the milestone of 500 green toilets in service in different trains by March 2012.
NEW RAIL AXLE MANUFACTURING FACTORY
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Ministry of Railways and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), a central Government PSU under Ministry of Steel, in January 2011 for setting up of a new Rail Axle Manufacturing Factory at New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. This comes in pursuance of announcement made, in the Railway Budget 2010-11 regarding setting up of such a factory to achieve self-sufficiency in axle manufacturing and eliminating present dependence on imports. The 300 crore project will manufacture and supply rail axels for BOX N wagons and others to meet the growing requirement of Indian Railways.
NEW AC CONTAINER & BOGIE MANUFACTURING FACTORY
The foundation stone was laid by the Railway Minister for AC Container & Bogie Manufacturing Factory at Budge Budge near Kolkata in West Bengal in January 2011. This came in pursuance of announcement made in the Railway Budget 2010-11 regarding setting up of such a factory with a view to mitigate the farmers’ plight and save agricultural produce worth crore of rupees from perishing. This new AC Container & Bogie Manufacturing Factory will be set up at an estimated investment of Rs. 59.3 crore. This factory will manufacture air conditioned containers on a demand driven basis and 600 bogie frames per annum on a regular basis.
MODERN LUGGAGE TROLLEY SERVICE FOR SENIOR CITIZENS
The Indian Railways introduced modern luggage trolley service at New Delhi Platform No. 1 and 16), Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram and Howrah stations to assist senior citizens and women passengers in boarding and alighting from coaches along with their luggage comfortably. The service has been launched as a pilot project for a period of one year and handled by uniformed attendants called ‘Rail Yatri Sevaks’. The service is being run in collaboration with State Bank of India and passengers are charged only Rs 35/- for this unique passenger friendly facility. The trolley can be booked in advance.
MORE CONCESSION FOR SENIOR CITIZENS, THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED, MEDIA PERSONS & GIRL STUDENTS
Ministry of Railways has decided to reduce the minimum age for availing concession from 60 years to 58 years in case for women senior citizens. It has also been decided to increase the element of concession in case of men senior citizens from 30 per cent to 40 per cent with effect 1st June 2011. Concession has also been extended in Rail fares admissible to orthopedically/paraplegic persons to Rajdhani/Shatadbi trains also. The same concession is also admissible to one escort accompanying the concerned handicapped person. It has been decided to extend the 50 per cent concession to family (Spouse/.companion and dependent children up to 18 years) of accredited correspondents twice during the financial year with effect from 1st June 2011 instead of once in the financial year. It was also decided to extend free Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) to girl students who are pursuing professional/vocational courses also upto the level of Graduation like M.B.B.S., B.E., B. Tech., B.B.A., B.C.A. etc.
CAG LAUDS RAILWAYS EFFORTS DURING CWG 2010
Appreciating the significant work of Indian Railways during Commonwealth Games 2010 (CWG 2010), Computer Auditor General of India (CAG), in its audit report tabled in August 2011 on Commonwealth Games 2010, said that status of the Railway projects in April 2010 reveals satisfactory progress both in construction of Rail Over/Under Bridges and development of the facilities at the Railway stations. CAG also appreciated the progress in infrastructure work and provision of passenger amenities at New Delhi Railway Station considering that about 290 trains pass through this station every day with approximately five lakh passengers commuting on a daily basis. CAG also highlighted the Railways achievements regarding all the major activities relating to makeover of New Delhi Railway Station which were completed before the Games. These achievements were possible due to guidance of Ministry of Railways and tight monitoring and execution of the developmental plans of Northern Railway and its Delhi Division.
RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION PROJECTS
A total of 897 Route Kilometers have been energized between January 2011 to November 2011. Electric traction on the newly electrified sections introduced after obtaining Commissioner of Railway Safety’s sanction are (i) Vikarabad-Tandur, South Central Railway (45 RKm), (ii) Tiruchchirappalli-Dindigul, Southern Railway (92 RKm) and (iii) Keonjhar-Jaroli, East Coast Railway (40 RKm), New Railway Electrification projects sanctioned are (a) Laksar-Dehradun section of Northern Railway (79 RKm), (b) Vizianagram-Raipur of East Coast Railway (465 RKm), 9c0 Rosaa-Sitapur-Burhwal of Northern and North Eastern Railway (181 RKm) and (d) Alwar-Rewari of North Western Railway (982 RKm).
RAILWAYS’ TRIBUTE TO KAVIGURU TAGORE & VIVEKANAND
For this year’s Republic Day Parade on 26th January 2011, Indian Railways presented a special tableau which was a replica of the railway coach used by the Kaviguru Rabindranath Tagore for his travels between Bolpur and Kolkata in West Bengal during his life time. This tableau came as a tribute of Ministry of Railways to Kaviguru, the doyen of art, music and literature on 150th year of his Birth Centenary. A special exhibition train “Vivekananda Express” showcasing the life and philosophy of the great spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda was flagged off from Howrah station in January 2011. This train was also a tribute from Railways on the occasion of 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekanand.
BCCI AWARD FOR RAILWAY SPORTS PROMOTION BOARD
Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) of the Ministry of Railways has been selected for award in the category of Best Overall Performance by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the year 2010-11. RSPB shares this award with Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA). The awards ceremony was held in Chennai on 10th December 2011 where the trophy was presented. Railways has sixteen Padamshree, three Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, five Dronacharya Sammaan, Six Dhyanchand Sammaan and 134 Arjun Puraskar to its credit which have been awarded to its sports persons. Indian Railways is proud to have 140 Arjuna Awardees and 7 Dhyyanchand Awardees in its family.
RWWCO ORGANIZES SPORTS MEET FOR CHILDREN OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES
Working under the guidelines of the apex body of Railway Women’s Welfare Central Organization (RWWCO), the women organisations across Zonal and Divisional Railways have been voluntarily rendering yeoman service in welfare related activities for railway-men and their families and the society at large. RWWCO has organized various welfare functions during this year. These include organizing sports meet for the children of railways officers and staff in the month of December 2011, Balmela in November 2011 and organized Painting and Essay Writing competition for children of railway employees in September 2011. In addition, RWWCO also released an in-house magazine in May 2011. The contribution of RWWCO in the sphere of providing constructive employment to destitute women towards elementary education to the under privileged and in the sphere of health-care has been exemplary. Their activities also help in enhancing the sense of belonging of the railway-men towards their organization by providing the much needed healing touch.
FIRST EVER AC DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN FLAGGED OFF
HIGH LEVEL SAFETY REVIEW COMMITTEE SET UP
AN EXPERT GROUP FOR MODERNIZATION OF INDIAN RAILWAYS
FRESH MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT MISUSE OF ‘TATKAL’ SCHEME
REAL TRAIN INFORMATION SYSTEM OPENED TO PUBLIC
SETTING UP OF NATIONAL HIGH SPEED RAIL AUTHORITY
‘VIVEK EXPRESS’ - NEW TRAIN ON LONGEST EVER ROUTE FLAGGED OFF
RAILWAYS GREEN INITIATIVES
The year 2011 has been significant for the Railways in achieving goals and targets with regard to the following:
REVENUE GENERATION
The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during 1st April to 20th December 2011 is Rs. 71613.12 crore registering an increase of 10.20 per cent in comparison to Rs. 64982.35 crore achieved during the same period last year. During this period, the total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 43257.89 crore to Rs. 47653.34 crore, an increase of 10.16 per cent. The total passenger revenue earnings at Rs. 20249.84 crore increased by 9.45 per cent when compared to Rs. 18501.61 crore during the same period of last year.
The total approximate numbers of passengers booked during the period 1st April to 20th December 2011 were 5986.86 million compared to 5691.04 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 5.20 per cent.
Railways have carried 618.00 million tonnes of revenue earning freight traffic during 1st April- to 30th November 2011. The freight carried shows an increase of 24.56 million tonnes over the freight traffic of 593.44 million tonnes actually carried during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 4.14 per cent.
In the calendar year 2011, Indian Railways has achieved scrap sale of Rs. 3748.68 crore till November 2011.
SAFETY PERFORMANCE
Safety in train operations is accorded the highest priority by Indian Railways and all measures are being taken on a continual basis to prevent accidents and enhance safety. A High Level Safety Review Committee, headed by Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission was set up. The Committee would lay down the road map on safety related issues which need to be addressed in the short term and the long term and would give invaluable recommendations which would have a significant bearing on further improvement in the systems and protocols. Indian Railways would make all efforts to address the recommendations of the High Level Committee with a view to achieve further improvement in the safety environment on the Indian Railways. The Committee had already held several meetings with senior functionaries in Railway Board, Zonal Railways, Divisional Railways level and RDSO. Besides making an assessment of the existing safety practices, the Committee is also soliciting feedback from general public in Indian Railway’s official website.
The number of consequential train accidents reduced in 2010-11 in comparison to the previous year (141 as against 165) registering a decline of 14.5%. In the current year also, a similar declining trend has been observed as 91 consequential train accidents took place during April to 15th December, 2011 in comparison to 97 during the corresponding period of the previous year.
Accident per Million Train Kilometres is an important safety index used by most of the Railways in the world. This has also come down from 0.44 Accident per Million Train Kilometers during 2002-2003 to 0.15 in 2010-11 despite quantum increase in the volume of traffic carried by Indian Railways over the years.
A vigorous special campaign was organised during the year to create awareness among the road users regarding precautions to be observed at level crossings which included newspaper advertisement, distribution of pamphlets and posters, radio TV programmes, public announcements, counselling at schools, interactions with village Panchayats and safety seminars.
Service Trials of Train Protection Warning System (TPWS) project on non-suburban section are in progress on Delhi-Agra Section (200 RKMs) of National Capital Region. Works of provision of TPWS have been sanctioned over 895 Route Kilometres of important Automatic Block Signalling Sections of high density network spread over five Railways, viz. Eastern, North Central, Southern, South Eastern and Western Railways in 2010-11. A pilot project of TPWS was commissioned on suburban section (50 Route Kms) of Southern Railway.
MODERNIZATION OF INDIAN RAILWAYS
In a significant move to give further impetus to Railways’ modernization plans, an Expert Group has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Mr. Sam Pitroda to recommend ways and means to modernize Indian Railways to meet the challenges of economic growth, the aspirations of the common man, the needs of changing technology and the expanding market while at the same time ensuring adequate focus on addressing social and strategic requirements of the country. The Committee will inter alia address issues connected with organization, management and resource mobilization and professionalization of manpower on Indian Railways.
STRENGTHENING OF SECURITY ON RAILWAYS
The Railways Property (Unlawful Possession) Amendment Bill, introduced in the Parliament in the year 2008, has been passed by the Rajya Sabha on 22.12.2011. The above amendment envisages widening the ambit of penal sections of the Act and to empower an Railway Protection Force (RPF) Officer to conduct enquiry on receipt of information about occurrence of an offence against Railway property. A proposal for further legal empowerment of RPF, under the RPF Act, to deal with passenger related offences, has been mooted for approval of the Cabinet. Presently RPF is engaged in escorting of 1275 important mail/express trains, access control at important railway stations of the country, prosecution of offenders (under 29 sections of the Railways Act ) involved in unauthorized activities in trains/station premises viz. alarm chain pulling, unauthorized vending/hawking, unauthorized entry into ladies and reserved compartments etc, and prosecution of offenders, apprehended with stolen railway property, under the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act 1966.
INTRODUCTION OF NEW TRAINS
In Railway Budget 2011-12, a total number of 131 new trains were announced, out of which 70 new trains have been introduced and 61 new trains are yet to be introduced. Out of extension of 33 trains, 29 trains have been extended and 4 trains are yet to be extended. Out of increase in frequency of 17 trains, frequency of 15 trains has been increased and frequency of 2 trains are yet to be increased. Earnest efforts are being made to meet all the budget targets by the end of the financial year.
FRESH MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT MISUSE OF TATKAL SCHEME
The Tatkal booking system was introduced on Indian Railways to enable passengers needing to travel in emergency to avail reserved accommodation at a short notice. The scheme has been modified from 21.11.2011 to eliminate the possibility of misuse of the facility by touts/miscreants by exploiting the vulnerability of needy passengers, wanting to travel at a short notice by charging a high premium.
Under the modified scheme, the Advanced Reservation Period (ARP) has been reduced from 2 days to 1 day, excluding the journey date. Rail travel agents/rail travel service agencies (RTSAs) have been restricted from booking tatkal tickets at the reservation counters/over the internet between 8 hours to 10 hours and booking can now be done only on presenting self-attested photocopy of identity proof of at least one of the travelling passengers.
RESERVED TICKETING THROUGH MOBILE PHONE
To bring further convenience to the rail users, Indian Railways has offered the service of booking E-Ticket over the mobile. The detailed procedure of booking through mobile is available on the IRCTC website namely www.irctc.co.in. Whenever a passenger books a reserved ticket through Mobile phone, he will receive a message through SMS with full details of the ticket including PNR, Train No., date of journey, class, etc. This virtual message would be treated at par with the print-out of the e-ticket which at present is taken out by the passengers and is known as Electronic Reservation Slip (ERS). Hence, with this virtual message, passengers would not be required to take a print-out of e-ticket to be carried with them.
REAL TRAIN INFORMATION SYSTEM OPENED TO PUBLIC
In a major passenger friendly move, Indian Railways opened the first phase of the Real Train Information System (RTIS) in October 2011 to public for accurate train tracking thus heralding a new era of application of advanced communication and information technologies in various Railway related activities. This new tracking system is based on Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN) and has been developed jointly by the Ministry of Railways’ Research arm namely Research, Design and Standards Organization (RDSO), Lucknow and IIT, Kanpur. This facility provides accurate train running information on a click of a button or through SMS thereby overcoming limitations of the existing train information dissemination through telephone number 139 which is mainly dependent on manual collection of train running information. This information is available on website “http://www.simran.in”. To begin with, at present, this service is available for six pairs of Rajdhani & Shatabdi trains and would be expanded further in due course of time.
DEVELOPMENTS ON DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR PROJECT
The progress on the two ambitious Railway projects of construction of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) namely Eastern Corridor from Dankuni to Ludhiana and Western Corridor from JNPT (Mumbai) to Dadri (near Delhi) has been good. Major portions of Western Corridor are being funded with Japanese assistance and Eastern Corridor with World Bank assistance. World Bank approved loan of US $ 975 million for Khurja-Bhaupur section of Eastern Freight Corridor on 31.5.2011. Two loan agreements have already been signed with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for Western DFC which includes loan agreement for Phase-I (Rewari-Vadodara) and Engineering Services Loan agreement for Phase-II (Mumbai-Vadodara and Rewari-Dadri).
ADARSH STATION SCHEME
The scheme of Adarsh Station has been introduced from the year 2009. Adarsh Stations are provided with basic facilities such as drinking water, adequate toilets, catering services, waiting rooms and dormitories especially for lady passengers, better signage etc.
During 2009-10, 378 stations on Indian Railways were identified to be developed under Adarsh station scheme. Work at 365 stations under the scheme has been completed and work at remaining 13 stations is targeted for completion in 2011-12.
During 2010-11, 201 stations were additionally identified as per budget to be developed under Adarsh stations scheme. Work at 73 stations has been completed and work at remaining 128 stations is targeted for completion in 2011-12.
During 2011-12, 266 stations were additionally identified to be developed under Adarsh station scheme. Out of this work at 9 stations has been completed and work at another 109 stations is targeted for completion in 2011-12 and at 148 remaining stations in 2012-13.
DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL COMPLEX
A new concept of development of MFCs with Budget Hotels, was introduced in Rail Budget 2009-10 so that important facilities may be available to the rail users in a separate complex in the vicinity of circulating area in station premises. So far 17 Multi Functional Complexes (MFCs) have been completed viz. Anandpur Sahib, Aurangabad, Baraddhaman, Digha, Durg, Ghatsila, Haldia, Kakdwip, Manmad, New Alipore, Parasnath, Rajgir, Rampur Hat, Shirdi, Tarapith Road, Tarakeshwar and Tiruvalla. Process of leasing/licensing of these MFCs is underway. So far, a total of 198 stations have been identified since 2009-10 (67 in 2009-10, 93 in 2010-11 and 38 in 2011-12). Task of development of 198 MFCs has been assigned to Zonal Railways and various executing agencies under the Ministry of Railways.
NEW TRAIN ON LONGEST EVER ROUTE FLAGGED OFF
“Vivek Express” on longest ever route from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari covering a distance of 4286 kilometers was flagged off on 19th November, 2011. This weekly trains leaves Dibrugarh on every Saturday and reaches Kanyakumari on Wednesday. In return direction, it leaves Kanyakumari on every Saturday and reaches Dibrugarh on Wednesday. This train is having 18 coaches which include six general coaches, seven sleeper coaches, two third AC coaches and one second AC coach and two SLR coaches. It runs via Goalpara-NewBonagigaon – Alipurduar Jn. – Maldah town – Durgapur- Asansol – Adra – Midnapur – Vijaywada, Jolapettai – Salem Jn. – Coimbatore Jn – Ernakulam – Trivananthapuram – Kanyakumari.
A number of more than 130 new trains, announced in Rail Budget, were also flagged off during this year.
NATIONAL HIGH SPEED RAIL AUTHORITY
In the Railway Budget 2010-11, the Ministry of Railways has announced for setting up of a National High Speed Rail Authority (NHSRA) for planning, standard setting, implementing & monitoring of High Speed Rail projects. A proposal in this regard has been moved for Cabinet approval. The Ministry of Railways has selected following six corridors for conducting pre-feasibility studies. These are; Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450 km approx.), Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650 km approx.), Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijaywada-Chennai (664 km approx.), Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam (649 km approx.), Howrah-Haldia (135 km approx.), Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991 km approx.). Consultants for pre-feasibility study of four Corridors except Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar and Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam-Trivandrum have already been engaged.
E-PROCUREMENT AND E-PAYMENT SYSTEM ON RAILWAY
Indian Railways have implemented e-procurement system for All Zonal Railways and Production Units. So for 2.5 lakh e-tenders have been uploaded on central web site www.ireps.gov.in and more than 15,000 vendors have registered with the site. Electronic procurement has facilitated vendors and the participating industry to gain free access to Railway’s procurement tenders and has improved transparency and competitiveness in the tendering process. Indian Railways issues computerized railway receipts for more than 99.9% of its freight loading. This has helped in collection of approximately 69.9% of freight payment through e-payment contributing around Rs. 4000 crore per month from the participating major customers, thus cutting down wasteful manual processes both for Indian Railways and their principal freight customers. Facility of enquiring the last location of rakes on Indian Railways has been launched from 12th October 2011 for freight customers.
COUNTRY’S FIRST EVER AC DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN FLAGGED OFF
Country’s first air conditioned superfast Double Decker train was flagged off from Howrah station for Dhanbad on 1st October 2011. This train consists of 9 coaches including 7 air-conditioned Double Decker chair cars having 128 seats in each coach and 2 generator cars. This train stops at Barddhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Barakar and Kumardhubi on both ways en-route. This train will have maximum permissible speed of 110 kilometre per hour and will run via Howrah-Barddhaman chord line. Introduction of Double Decker train was announced in Railway Budget earlier. The successful development of AC Double Decker train is a clear illustration of Indian Railways` capabilities in design and manufacturing.
LONGEST TUNNEL MADE THROUGH PIR PANJAL IN JAMMU & KASHMIR
Indian Railways achieved another milestone with final breakthrough of Pir Panjal Railway tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir on 14th October 2011. This Tunnel with a length of 11.176 Kilometers is not only the longest Transportation Tunnel in the country but has also the highest point (1753 Meters above sea level) on Broad Gauge Railway System in the country. This methodology planned in year 2003-2005, is now being adopted for many long tunnels across the Himalayan Ranges in the country. This tunnel shall be fully lined and equipped with state of the art ventilation and its control system, air quality monitoring system, fire detection and rescue plan, CCTV, communication system and Tunnel Control Room at both the ends with provision for a service road by the side of a single line BG Railway track. After laying of track and completion of adjacent railway works, it will be possible to run train form Kashmir Valley to Banihal on the other side of Pir Panjal Range. These works are expected to be completed by December 2012. With the operation of Railway line upto Banihal, there will be an all weather Rail route across the Pir Panjal Mountains, benefiting the entire Kashmir Valley.
SETTING UP OF RAILWAY STATIONS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD PROPOSED
It has been decided to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) “Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd to meet the aspirations of rail users and to provide better passenger amenities & facilities at railway stations. This SPV will be constituted with equity participation of Ircon International Ltd. (IRCON), a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Railways and Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), a statutory authority under the Ministry of Railways.
RAILWAYS GREEN INITIATIVES
Indian Railways has taken several environment friendly steps. A project based on clean development mechanism to distribute over 14 lakh CFLs free of cost to Railway employees housed in Railway colonies, in exchange of energy intensive incandescent lamps was launched. This project is expected to reduce around 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission annually and has been acknowledged as one of the biggest initiatives in sensitizing people towards environment.
In a significant move towards clean environment in platforms and railway tracks, Indian Railways has inducted biotoilets (green toilets) in Guwahati, Gwalior, Varanasi and Chennai express trains with effect from 14th October 2011. This type of toilets has been designed jointly by Indian Railways and DRDO.
With these toilets fitted in the coaches there will be no discharge of human excreta falling in platforms or at nay other places enroute. The bacteria inside the toilets eat away human excreta and convert it into water and gas. The water so generated after passing through chlorine tank discharges out and the gas generated thereby evaporates out side the atmosphere. It also prevents damages of tracks and rolling stock components by way of corrosion.
Several designs of biotoilets are being tried in different passenger carrying trains. Indian Railways proposes to achieve the milestone of 500 green toilets in service in different trains by March 2012.
NEW RAIL AXLE MANUFACTURING FACTORY
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Ministry of Railways and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), a central Government PSU under Ministry of Steel, in January 2011 for setting up of a new Rail Axle Manufacturing Factory at New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. This comes in pursuance of announcement made, in the Railway Budget 2010-11 regarding setting up of such a factory to achieve self-sufficiency in axle manufacturing and eliminating present dependence on imports. The 300 crore project will manufacture and supply rail axels for BOX N wagons and others to meet the growing requirement of Indian Railways.
NEW AC CONTAINER & BOGIE MANUFACTURING FACTORY
The foundation stone was laid by the Railway Minister for AC Container & Bogie Manufacturing Factory at Budge Budge near Kolkata in West Bengal in January 2011. This came in pursuance of announcement made in the Railway Budget 2010-11 regarding setting up of such a factory with a view to mitigate the farmers’ plight and save agricultural produce worth crore of rupees from perishing. This new AC Container & Bogie Manufacturing Factory will be set up at an estimated investment of Rs. 59.3 crore. This factory will manufacture air conditioned containers on a demand driven basis and 600 bogie frames per annum on a regular basis.
MODERN LUGGAGE TROLLEY SERVICE FOR SENIOR CITIZENS
The Indian Railways introduced modern luggage trolley service at New Delhi Platform No. 1 and 16), Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram and Howrah stations to assist senior citizens and women passengers in boarding and alighting from coaches along with their luggage comfortably. The service has been launched as a pilot project for a period of one year and handled by uniformed attendants called ‘Rail Yatri Sevaks’. The service is being run in collaboration with State Bank of India and passengers are charged only Rs 35/- for this unique passenger friendly facility. The trolley can be booked in advance.
MORE CONCESSION FOR SENIOR CITIZENS, THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED, MEDIA PERSONS & GIRL STUDENTS
Ministry of Railways has decided to reduce the minimum age for availing concession from 60 years to 58 years in case for women senior citizens. It has also been decided to increase the element of concession in case of men senior citizens from 30 per cent to 40 per cent with effect 1st June 2011. Concession has also been extended in Rail fares admissible to orthopedically/paraplegic persons to Rajdhani/Shatadbi trains also. The same concession is also admissible to one escort accompanying the concerned handicapped person. It has been decided to extend the 50 per cent concession to family (Spouse/.companion and dependent children up to 18 years) of accredited correspondents twice during the financial year with effect from 1st June 2011 instead of once in the financial year. It was also decided to extend free Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) to girl students who are pursuing professional/vocational courses also upto the level of Graduation like M.B.B.S., B.E., B. Tech., B.B.A., B.C.A. etc.
CAG LAUDS RAILWAYS EFFORTS DURING CWG 2010
Appreciating the significant work of Indian Railways during Commonwealth Games 2010 (CWG 2010), Computer Auditor General of India (CAG), in its audit report tabled in August 2011 on Commonwealth Games 2010, said that status of the Railway projects in April 2010 reveals satisfactory progress both in construction of Rail Over/Under Bridges and development of the facilities at the Railway stations. CAG also appreciated the progress in infrastructure work and provision of passenger amenities at New Delhi Railway Station considering that about 290 trains pass through this station every day with approximately five lakh passengers commuting on a daily basis. CAG also highlighted the Railways achievements regarding all the major activities relating to makeover of New Delhi Railway Station which were completed before the Games. These achievements were possible due to guidance of Ministry of Railways and tight monitoring and execution of the developmental plans of Northern Railway and its Delhi Division.
RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION PROJECTS
A total of 897 Route Kilometers have been energized between January 2011 to November 2011. Electric traction on the newly electrified sections introduced after obtaining Commissioner of Railway Safety’s sanction are (i) Vikarabad-Tandur, South Central Railway (45 RKm), (ii) Tiruchchirappalli-Dindigul, Southern Railway (92 RKm) and (iii) Keonjhar-Jaroli, East Coast Railway (40 RKm), New Railway Electrification projects sanctioned are (a) Laksar-Dehradun section of Northern Railway (79 RKm), (b) Vizianagram-Raipur of East Coast Railway (465 RKm), 9c0 Rosaa-Sitapur-Burhwal of Northern and North Eastern Railway (181 RKm) and (d) Alwar-Rewari of North Western Railway (982 RKm).
RAILWAYS’ TRIBUTE TO KAVIGURU TAGORE & VIVEKANAND
For this year’s Republic Day Parade on 26th January 2011, Indian Railways presented a special tableau which was a replica of the railway coach used by the Kaviguru Rabindranath Tagore for his travels between Bolpur and Kolkata in West Bengal during his life time. This tableau came as a tribute of Ministry of Railways to Kaviguru, the doyen of art, music and literature on 150th year of his Birth Centenary. A special exhibition train “Vivekananda Express” showcasing the life and philosophy of the great spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda was flagged off from Howrah station in January 2011. This train was also a tribute from Railways on the occasion of 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekanand.
BCCI AWARD FOR RAILWAY SPORTS PROMOTION BOARD
Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) of the Ministry of Railways has been selected for award in the category of Best Overall Performance by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the year 2010-11. RSPB shares this award with Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA). The awards ceremony was held in Chennai on 10th December 2011 where the trophy was presented. Railways has sixteen Padamshree, three Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, five Dronacharya Sammaan, Six Dhyanchand Sammaan and 134 Arjun Puraskar to its credit which have been awarded to its sports persons. Indian Railways is proud to have 140 Arjuna Awardees and 7 Dhyyanchand Awardees in its family.
RWWCO ORGANIZES SPORTS MEET FOR CHILDREN OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES
Working under the guidelines of the apex body of Railway Women’s Welfare Central Organization (RWWCO), the women organisations across Zonal and Divisional Railways have been voluntarily rendering yeoman service in welfare related activities for railway-men and their families and the society at large. RWWCO has organized various welfare functions during this year. These include organizing sports meet for the children of railways officers and staff in the month of December 2011, Balmela in November 2011 and organized Painting and Essay Writing competition for children of railway employees in September 2011. In addition, RWWCO also released an in-house magazine in May 2011. The contribution of RWWCO in the sphere of providing constructive employment to destitute women towards elementary education to the under privileged and in the sphere of health-care has been exemplary. Their activities also help in enhancing the sense of belonging of the railway-men towards their organization by providing the much needed healing touch.
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