‘FIVE’-DIGIT TRAIN NUMBER FOR ALL PASSENGER TRAINS
RAILWAYS SHINE IN COMMONWEALTH AND ASIAN GAMES
RAILWAYS’ NEW CATERING POLICY-2010
RAILWAYS’ GREEN
INITIATIVE GETS INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE
COMMENCEMENT OF WORK FOR DEDICATED FREIGHT
CORRIDOR
NEW RAILWAY RECRUITMENT POLICY
LIBERALIZED SAFETY RELATED RETIREMENT
SCHEME
NEW GUIDELINES ON LAND ACQUISITION
JOINT VENTURE WITH N.T.P.C. FOR CAPTIVE POWER PLANT
JOINT VENTURE AGREEMENT WITH ‘SAIL’ FOR A
NEW WAGON FACTORY
FIRST AIR CONDITIONED DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN
UNDER TRIAL
The year 2010 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 – 20th
December 2010 Rs. 64949.09 crore
compared to Rs. 60288.01 crore during the same period last year, registering an
increase of 7.73 per cent. The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 40591.17
crore during 1st April – 20th December 2009 to Rs. 43237.25
crore during 1st April – 20th December 2010, an increase of 6.52 per cent.
The total passenger revenue earnings during first nine months of the financial
year 2010-11 were Rs. 18502.02 crore compared to Rs. 16846.75 crore during the
same period last year, registering an increase of 9.83 per cent.
The
total approximate number of passengers booked during the period 1st April- 20th
December 2010 were 5674.88 million compared to 5360.72
million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 5.86 per
cent. In the suburban and non-suburban
sectors, the number of passengers booked during 1st April - 20th
December, 2010 were 2909.52 million and 2765.36 million compared to 2768.08
million and 2592.64 million during the same period last year, registering an
increase of 5.11 per cent and 6.66 per cent respectively.
Indian Railways have carried
593.43 million tonnes of revenue earning freight traffic during April-November
2010. The freight carried shows an increase of 19.03 million tonnes over the
freight traffic of 574.40 million tonnes actually carried during the
corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 3.31 per cent. In the calendar year 2010 Indian Railways has
achieved scrap sale of Rs. 3687.15 till November 2010. For the corresponding period in 2009 sale
achieved by Railways was Rs. 2532 crore.
FIRST EVER NEW SCHEMES TO ATTRACT PRIVATE
INVESTMENTS
Kisan Vision Project issued on 14.01.2010 -
With a view to
encourage creation of facilities of
setting up cold storage and temperature
controlled perishable cargo centres through Public Private Partnership mode,
six potential locations namely Dankuni, Mechheda, Nasik, New Jalpaiguri, New
Azadpur and Singur have been identified for pilot project. Construction work at the first pilot project
has started at Singur by CONCOR and the second at New Azadpur will be taken up
shortly. Proposals from CWC/CONCOR for
setting up perishable cargo centres at other four locations are under their
consideration. A professional agency is
being engaged to carry out a Pan India study to identify potential locations
for perishable cargo centers with O-D pair and design of suitable services to
be implemented through PPP mode. For the first time in Indian Railways, a milk
product special train has been introduced, running between Palanpur in Gujarat
to Kanpur in
close circuit. Proposals are on the
anvil to run few such specials in other circuits.
Special Freight Train Operator Scheme
(SFTO) issued on 31.05.2010 - In order to increase Rail
share in commodities like automobile, fertilizers, molasses, edible oil,
caustic soda, chemicals, petrochemicals, alumina, bulk cement, fly ash etc. and
to attract private investment in special purpose wagons, a new scheme namely
Special Freight Train Operator Scheme (SFTO) has been launched.
Private Freight Terminals (PFT) Scheme
issued on 31.05.2010 – To
facilitate rapid development of a network of freight terminals with private
investment to provide efficient and cost effective logistics services to end
users including door-to-door services, the concept of Private Freight Terminals
to be developed by Private parties on private land will be allowed. The policy provides for new Greenfield terminals as well as brown field
existing Sidings/terminals on private land.
Development of Automobile Hubs Scheme
issued on 19.7.2010 - With
a view to increase Railways market share of automobile traffic and to
facilitate aggregation and distribution centres for automobile traffic, a
scheme for development of automobile hubs near rail heads through Public Private
Partnership (PPP) mode has been formulated.
10 locations have been identified at major production and consumption
centres for development of auto hubs, out of which first such hub at Shalimar
has been operationalized.
Automobile Freight Train Operator Scheme issued
on 19.7.2010 - With a
view to increase Indian Railways’ market share in transportation of automobile
i.e. two/three-wheelers, cars and tractors etc. by inviting private
participation for procurement and operation of special purpose wagons, a new
scheme namely Automobile Freight Train Operator Scheme AFTO has been issued.
New
R3i Policy Scheme issued on 20.7.2010 - New R3i policy
(Railways’ Infrastructure for Industry Initiative) which
was recently formulated by the Ministry of Railways is aimed at attracting
private sector participation in rail connectivity projects so that additional
rail transport capacity can be created. The primary objective of this policy is
to retain and increase rail share in freight traffic. It also aims at making rail
option more competitive for prospective customers by sharing their burden in
getting rail connectivity and allowing them to get a share in the freight
revenues generated through freight traffic moving via new line. This policy
shall not be applicable to lines intending to provide connectivity to coal
mines and iron ore mines directly or indirectly.
DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR
India’s largest
infrastructure project, the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project covering 2762 kms. on the Western and
Eastern corridors, is one of the most ambitious projects that Indian Railways
has ever taken up and once completed would meet the transport requirements of
the two busy trunk routes for the next 15-20 years and would also help
segregation of passenger and freight traffic on these routes. The Western DFC
(1534 kms.) will be from Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai to Tughlakabad
and Dadri near Delhi and would cater largely to the container transport
requirements between the existing and emerging ports in Maharashtra and Gujarat
and the northern hinterland. The Eastern DFC will be from Ludhiana in Punjab to
Dankuni (1839 kms.) near Kolkata to be extended in future to serve the new deep
sea port proposed in Kolkata area and will largely serve coal and steel traffic. In the first phase of this Eastern corridor
project, work was started for laying 25.41 kilometers of new dedicated line
from Dankuni to Chandanpur in November 2010.
STATUS OF INTRODUCTION OF
HIGH SPEED TRAINS
Six corridors identified for
conducting pre-feasibility studies:
(i)
Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450 km approx.)
(ii)
Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad
(650 km approx.)
(iii)
Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijaywada-Chennai
(664 km approx.)
(iv)
Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam
(649 km approx.)
(v)
Howrah-Haldia
(135 km approx.)
(vi)
Delhi -Agra-Lucknow -Varanasi - Patna (991 km approx. )
·
A
consultant appointed in April 2009 has submitted the final report of
Pre-feasibility studies for High Speed Rail Corridor (Pune – Mumbai -
Ahmedabad). The Final Report is under examination by all the stake holders i.e.
State Government of Maharashtra and Gujarat,
Central and Western Railways and various Directorates of Ministry of Railways.
·
The
technical evaluation of the offers for awarding consultancy has been completed
and financial bid is under finalization for Pre-feasibility studies for High
Speed Rail Corridor (Delhi–Chandigarh -Amritsar)
·
Bids
have been invited for selecting the Consultant for Pre-feasibility studies for
High Speed Rail Corridor (Delhi
– Agra-Lucknow Varanasi-Patna).
·
Bids have been invited for selecting the
consultant for Pre-feasibility studies
for High Speed Rail Corridor (Howrah
–Haldia).
Tenders for remaining corridors shall
be invited one-by-one shortly.
SETTING
UP OF NEW UNITS
Electric Loco Factory Madhepura - This project was
approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in Feb’07 and has been
recently approved by the Cabinet on 18th Feb’10 for setting up this
manufacturing unit under joint venture, with partner selected through
international competitive bidding for manufacturing 12000 HP electric locomotive. The land has already
been identified and acquired at Madhepura.
The RFQ for shortlisting the bidders was opened on 17th May,
2010 and 4 Qualified Bidders Shortlisted on 31.5.10. The final bids are expected to be opened in
January’2011.
Rail Coach Factory Kancharapara - This project was
approved by the Cabinet on 18th Feb’2010 for setting up the factory
through joint venture to manufacture 500 EMU/MEMU Coaches per year. The railway
land for the factory has been identified. The RFQ for this work opened on 26th
July’2010 and 8 Qualified Bidders Shortlisted on 11.08.10. This project was
inaugurated by Minister of Railways on 26.03.2010. The final bids are expected
to be opened in March’2011.
Setting
up the ancillary unit for CLW at Dankuni - The site for setting up the
ancillary unit of Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) at Dankuni has been
identified. Based on International
Competitive Bidding (ICB), the Request for Qualification (RFQ) has been
finalized on 9th March, 2010 wherein 4 bidders have been shortlisted.
This ancillary unit will produce 100 loco shells and propulsion equipment per
annum for 10 years. The final bids are expected to be opened in January’2011.
Setting
up of Diesel Locomotive Factory at Marhowra – Global RFQ was floated for setting up a new mainline
Diesel Locomotive Factory with joint venture at Marhowra, Saran District in Bihar for manufacturing and supplying mainline diesel
locomotives to Indian Railways along with long term maintenance of these
locomotives. Two firms have been short listed for Diesel Locomotive Factory,
Marhowra. It is expected that the financial bid process would be completed early
next year.
Rail Coach Factory, Rae Bareli - The execution of this work has been handed over to
IRCON for fast tracking the project. Contract Agreement between RCF/RBL &
IRCON has been signed on 16-07-2010.
Phase-I of this project is likely to be completed by July 2011 with
start of production and it is likely to be completed by 2012-13.
Diesel Multiple Unit factory at Sankrail - Setting up of Diesel Multiple Unit factory at Sankrail
was announced in Budget Speech 2010-11. The project has been approved in August
2010 at a cost of Rs.249.03 crore.
Execution of the Phase-I of the project has been handed over to RVNL for
fast track implementation.
New
Rail Axle Factory in New Jalpaiguri - Setting up of New Rail Axle Factory in New Jalpaiguri
was announced in Budget Speech 2010-11.
The project has been approved in supplementary Grants, August 2010 at a
cost of Rs. 284.12 crore. M/s RITES has
been awarded consultancy for setting up the project.
‘FIVE’-DIGIT
TRAIN NUMBER FOR ALL PASSENGER TRAINS
In a significant move to make
the train numbering system of passenger carrying trains of Indian Railways more
scientific, logical, uniform and computer-friendly, Ministry of Railways has
decided to use ‘five’ - digits
for numbering trains, in place of the
old existing ‘four’- digit numbering system. The ‘five’- digit numbering system of trains
came into effect from 20th December, 2010. The new system will go a long way in
monitoring the movement of trains more effectively on all India basis and
in facilitating dissemination and management of train information more
scientifically benefiting the public/customers.
This major initiative will create a unique “train number” which will be a national level
identity for each train and will cover
all the passenger carrying trains running in the Indian Railways network. Five digit train numbering scheme had become
necessary in view of the four digit numbering scheme having got exhausted
as Indian Railways runs more than ten
thousand trains every day.
STEPS TAKEN TO IMPROVE PASSENGER AMENITIES
Development of Adarsh stations: 584 stations identified as ‘Adarsh’ station for
development with basic facilities such as drinking water, adequate toilets,
catering services, waiting rooms and dormitories especially for lady
passengers, better signage and other basic facilities. 355 stations already developed. 109 stations
are planned for development by March 2011. In the past, several stations were
provided with upgraded passenger amenities under the scheme of ‘Model’ station
and ‘Modern’ station.
Multi- Functional Complexes - Ministry of Railways have undertaken
construction of Multi-functional Complexes (MFCs) at stations serving places of
pilgrimage, industry and tourists interest. These MFCs would provide rail
users facilities like shopping, food stalls and restaurants, book stalls, PCO/STD/ISD/Fax
booths, medicine & variety stores, budget hotels, underground parking, etc
under one roof. 67 stations have been identified for development of
MFCs during 2009-10., Development of these MFCs has been entrusted to Railway’s
PSUs and Zonal Railways. Construction work has already been taken
up at 33 MFCs. All MFCs are planned to be commissioned by June 2011. The
concept has been extended to another 93 stations identified during
2010-11. Development of MFCs at these stations is also being taken
up.
Expansion of PRS - During the year January – December 2010, the
Passenger Reservation System (PRS) was expanded to cover new locations. The
computerized PRS of Indian Railways is the largest passenger reservation
network in the world, available at 2222 locations with more than 8074
terminals. On an average 4.28 crore
passengers per month are booked through the PRS with an average earning of Rs.
1722.01 crore per month. Indian Railways
have tied up with India Post for providing the facility of PRS through
post-offices and is functional at 112 such post offices.
Expansion
of UTS - During the year January-December 2010, Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS)
system was expanded to cover 1319 new locations. The computerized UTS, initiated to provide a
fast, flexible and secure method of issuing unreserved tickets, enables
passengers to get unreserved tickets up to three days in advance from any
counter and any station to any station in a defined cluster. Computerized UTS is available at 4468
locations with approximately 8080 counters provided till end of November
2010. Automatic ticket vending machines
have been installed at 375 locations.
THRUST ON
SAFETY RELATED ISSUES
Thrust on safety related
issues was given during the year, particularly to enhance Safety at Level
Crossings, Interlocking and Manning, provision of Limited Height Subways,
Normal Height Subways, RUBs, ROBs, expenditure on Road Safety Works. The number of
consequential train accidents reduced in 2009-10 in comparison to the previous
year (165 as against 177) registering a decline of 6.77%. In the current year
also, a similar declining trend has been observed as 94 consequential train
accidents took place during April to 15th December, 2010 in
comparison to 116 during the corresponding period of the previous year.
Anti Collision Device (ACD)
- The Anti Collision
Device (ACD), developed by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) has been
in service trial as a pilot project on Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) since
July’2006. Based on experience on NFR, specifications of ACD have had to be
revised to improve efficacy, reliability and availability of ACD. The first set
of trials for proving of the equipment has been completed in Sept-Oct 2010 in a
nominated section of Southern Railway. KRCL has taken note of the shortcomings
and next set of trial is currently underway.
Train Protection Warning System (TPWS)
- Train Protection Warning
System (TPWS) as a technical aid to loco pilot has been commissioned on Chennai
Central – Gummidipundi suburban section (50 Route KMs) of Southern Railway as a
pilot project. This system prevents ‘Signal
Passing at Danger’ cases and enforces implementation of speed
restriction. Second pilot project of TPWS on Delhi-Agra non suburban section of
Northern/North Central Railway is in progress with five locomotives.
Train Management System (TMS)
- TMS allows effective
& efficient train planning, train operation and train control on real time
basis besides facilitating real time train information to rail users at
stations. TMS works on suburban sections of Chennai, Howrah, Sealdah and Howrah-Kharagpur section
have been taken up during the year 2010-11. TMS for suburban section of Delhi area is planned to
be included during the year 2011-12.
Modernization of Signalling System - In
order to increase efficiency and enhance safety in train operations, modern
signaling system with Route Relay/Panel/Electronic Interlocking along with
Multi aspect colour light signalling in
replacement of over-aged
mechanical/multi cabin signaling system has been provided at 447 stations. Automatic
clearance of Block Section has been provided at 484 sections through use of
axle counters. This will reduce dependence on human element & enhance
safety. 439 Nos. of level crossing gates
have been interlocked with signals to enhance safety. To improve reliability and
visibility of signals, out dated filament type signals are being replaced by
long life, highly durable LED signals. 833 stations have been provided with LED
signals.
Improving Communication System - During financial year 2010-11, 2000 Route
Kilometers, Optic Fibre Cable (OFC)
cable has been laid upto November 2010.
So far, 39,000 Route Kilometers of OFC has been laid on Indian Railway
system alongside railway track for improving communications. Optic Fibre network on Indian Railways has
been utilized for meeting various needs such as Administrative Trunk Voice
Communication, Train Control Communication, Data Communication needs of
“Throughput” enhancement computer networks.
OFC network has contributed greatly in extending reach of both Passenger
Reservation System (PRS) and Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) services to
remote stations enhancing public safety & security by way of providing
connectivity for reliable train control and video surveillance at stations.
NEW
RAILWAY RECRUITMENT POLICY
Ministry of Railways has introduced major changes in
the new Railway Recruitment policy. These are; i) The examination for a
particular post to be held on the same date simultaneously by all the Railway
Recruitment Boards (RRBs); ii) In addition to Hindi, Urdu and English, question
papers to be set in local languages listed in Eighth Schedule of Constitution
of India falling within the jurisdiction of that RRB and; iii) It has been
decided to waive the examination fees for candidates belonging to women,
minorities and economically backward sections of society, having annual family
income less than Rs. 50,000/-. The Ministry of Railways also carried out a
technical audit of the system of examinations by RRB and necessary changes in
the system of printing, transportation, storage and distribution of question
papers for examinations have been made to make the system foolproof to prevent
leakage.
RAILWAYS’ GREEN INITIATIVE GETS INTERNATIONAL
ACCEPTANCE
In a significant boost to
Indian Railways’ efforts towards climate preservation, United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has approved and registered the project
of Improving Energy Efficiency in Indian Railways residential quarters through
Compact Fluorescent. Three per cent of the Carbon Credits that would accrue
from the project will also be earned by Indian Railways. As a unique model, Railways launched this
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. The project aims at demonstrating Railways
commitment to climate preservation and inculcating wide participation from masses
to arrest global warming. This project
is expected to reduce 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission annually.
NEW CATERING POLICY-2010
Improvement
of catering services is a thrust area of the Indian Railways. It is the
endeavour of the Indian Railways to provide good quality hygienic, affordable
and wholesome food to passengers while taking into account the regional
culinary preferences. A new Catering
Policy 2010 has been issued.
Emphasis has been placed to ensure the availability of quality food for the
not-so-affluent classes of passengers by providing Janata food and Jan Ahaar
(economy combo-meals) by means of Refreshment Rooms, Stand alone outlets and
the vending stalls. Supervision and monitoring has been strengthened through an
institutional mechanism to be put in place by the zonal railways by deploying
railway personnel, who would check quality and hygiene and take corrective
action in a time-bound manner. Standard Bid Document will be redesigned with weightage
to quality parameters. IRCTC would
continue to be a service provider to the Indian Railways and shall be
responsible for managing the premium and high end outlets like Food Plazas, Food
Courts and Fast Food Units; and institutional catering outside railways. The implementation of Catering Policy has
been initiated. Instructions for handing
over in the first phase have been issued for implementation.
THREE MORE PROOFS OF IDENTITY FOR
TRAVELLING ON E-TICKETS
In an
important passenger friendly move, the Ministry of Railways started accepting
two more proofs of identity for traveling on e-tickets since June 2010 onwards.
These are; (i) Student Identity Card with photograph issued by recognized
School/College for their students. (ii) Nationalised Bank Passbook with
photograph. (iii) The bank credit card with photograph. These are in addition to the existing five
proofs of identity for undertaking journey on e-tickets namely; a) Voter Identity Card, b) Passport,
c) PAN Card, d) Driving License and e)
Photo Identity Card issued by Central/State Government. The new provision has already
come into effect.
‘COMMONWEALTH EXPRESS’ EXHIBITION TRAIN
Commonwealth
Express Train, a special exhibition train was flagged of in the month of June
2010 to spread awareness about sports and Information Technology especially
among the youth and among the masses in general. The first stop of this train was at Amritsar on 25th
to coincide with event of arrival of Queen’s Baton of Commonwealth Games. After
covering major cities in the country, this exhibition train concluded its
journey in Delhi
on 1st October 2010. This train consisted of 11 coaches out of which
five coaches were allocated to Railway Sports Promotion Board to showcase the
history of Commonwealth Games, details of the venues of the events held in the
month of October, 2010 in Delhi, to spread general awareness about different
sports and to give wide publicity to the sports icons of India who have brought
laurels to the country with their stupendous feats.
‘MOTHER EXPRESS’- A TRIBUTE TO MOTHER
TERESA
In a special gesture, Indian Railways run an exhibition train named
‘Mother Express’ to commemorate the birth centenary of Mother Teresa, the noted
missionary social worker. The Minister of Railways, Mamata Banerjee opened
“Mother Express” for public viewing on the occasion of Mother Teresa’s birthday
on 26th August, 2010 at Sealdah Station in Kolkata, West Bengal.
This train is travelling at different stations of the country during six months
of its journey.This exhibition train is
showcasing life and philanthropic deeds of this great soul who won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1979 and India’s highest civilian honour, the ‘Bharat Ratna’ in
1980 for her humanitarian work.
‘SANSKRITI
EXPRESS’ – A TRIBUTE TO RABINDRA NATH TAGORE
To commemorate the birth
centenary of Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore, ‘Sanskriti Express’ exhibition train
showcasing his life and philosophy was flagged off by the Minister of Railways,
Mamata Banerjee on 9th May, 2010. The train is traversing the entire
length & breadth of the country touching important stations and will return
to Bolpur on 8th May, 2011.
The exhibition train is having grand success in all corners of the
country and has already visited many states like Bihar,
Assam, West
Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with tremendous
public enthusiasm and wide appreciation.
MEASURES
TAKEN TO BEEF UP SECURITY
An integrated Security System
has been approved at an estimated cost of Rs. 353 Crore in Works programme
2009-10 for 202 vulnerable stations of the Indian Railways. This system comprises of IP based CCTV
surveillance system, Access control, Personal and baggage screening system and
bomb detection & disposal system. To further augment strength of Railway
Protection Force (RPF), 5134 posts have been created in RPF with the approval
of Ministry of Finance. RPF is also conducting special drives to nab the drug
traffickers, dealers, and gangs operating in Railway premises. For strengthening of security of women
passengers, raising of 12 companies of women RPF personnel to be named “Mahila
Vahini” has been approved. Proposal is
under process for creation of posts. All India Security helpline has been
sanctioned in the Budget of 2010-11 which will be accessed by passengers round
the clock form any corner of the country for security related assistance in
Railway premises and during train journey.
Technical specifications and system architecture are under
finalization. For speedy dissemination
of information and data relating to crime, networking of security control rooms
and important RPF posts is being done at an estimated cost of Rs. 4.41 crore.
TRAVEL
FACILITY FOR FREEDOM FIGHTERS EXTENDED
In
a gesture of honour to the freedom fighters, the Ministry of Railways decided
in July 2010 that 1st Class/2nd AC Complimentary Card
Passes issued to freedom fighters/their are valid for travel in 3rd
AC of Rajdhani trains and Chair Car of Shatabdi/Jan-Shatabdi express trains
along with a companion in same class, in addition to the earlier existing facility.
MOBILE
RECHARGE COUPONS AT RAILWAY STATIONS
In yet another passenger
friendly initiative, the Ministry of Railways decided in July 2010 that the
rechargeable coupons for mobile phones would be made available for the benefit
of the passengers at the STD/PCO booths at Railway Stations. As per the decision, all Zonal Railways are
being permitted to allow sale of recharge coupons from the existing STD/PCO
booths at the Railway stations which opt for selling the recharge coupons on
payment of the additional license fee as per the category of the station. The
STD/PCO booths opting for the scheme is required to display a sign indicating
that “recharge coupons for mobile phone are available” and are not
be allowed to display the name of service provider companies.
E-PROCUREMENT
FOR TRANSPARENCY IN TENDRING
Electronic procurement has been initiated providing
improvement in the transparency in tendering and contracts for stores supply of
all Zonal Railways/Production Units.
E-procurement System has been successfully implemented in all Zonal
Railways and Pus. Upto November 2010, more than 1.5 lakh e-tenders have been
uploaded by all the Zonal Railways and Production Units. Upto November 2010, a total number of 12000
vendors have registered. Electronic procurement
has facilitated vendors and the participating industry to gain free access to
Railways’ supply tenders and has improved transparency, and competitiveness in
tendering process. E-tendering has also
eliminated vendors’ presence during tender opening which has been totally
dispensed with.
SETTING
UP OF CENTRE FOR RAILWAY RESEARCH
An
MOU was signed between Ministry of Railways & Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT), Kharagpur on 13.02.2010 to develop a long-term frame work for
research collaboration by setting up of Centre for Railway Research (CRR) at
IIT, Kharagpur. A detailed estimate of
Rs.20.38 Cr. has been sanctioned for the work of ‘Setting up of a Railway
Research Centre at IIT/Kharagpur’. An
amount of Rs.4.19 crore has also been released to IIT/Kharagpur for setting up
the CRR. Few projects have been worked
out by the team of IIT and RDSO officers and are under process of scrutiny for
final sanction for the budget 2011-12.
LIBERALIZED
SAFETY RELATED RETIREMENT SCHEME
The
Ministry of Railways has decided to extend the benefit of Safety related
Retirement Scheme (SRRS) to other categories of staff in addition to drivers
and gangmen with a Grade Pay of Rs. 1800/- p.m. The qualifying service has been
reduced from 33 years to 20 years and the eligibility age group from 55-57
years to 50-57 years for seeking retirement under the scheme. It has been
decided to modify the nomenclature of the scheme as Liberized Active Retirement
Scheme for Guaranteed Employment for Safety Staff (LARSGESS) with Grade Pay of
Rs. 1800/-. However, the employment
under the scheme would be guaranteed only to those found eligible/suitable and
finally selected as per procedure.
KOLKATA METRO
GETS STATUS OF 17TH ZONAL RAILWAY
Metro Railway, Kolkata got the status of 17th
Zone of Indian Railways. The Minister of Railways Mamata Banerjee laid the
foundation stone for conferring on Metro Railway the status of 17th
Zone at a function in Kolkata on 29th December 2010. This will be in
addition to the existing 16 Zonal Railways of Indian Railways. At present,
Metro Railway, Kolkata is on the threshold of a high growth phase. A number of
new works have been sanctioned recently, as a result of which the network of
Metro Railway, Kolkata would expand fast. The passenger traffic, which has been
steadily growing, is likely to grow even faster with the completion of these
new works. On this occasion, Mamata Banerjee also commenced the work of Joka-
Majherhat section in the first phase of Joka-BBD Bag Metro Railway in Kolkata.
JOINT VENTURE AGREEMENT WITH ‘SAIL’ FOR A
NEW WAGON FACTORY
In a major milestone
development in the field of Wagon Manufacturing in the country, the two major
PSUs of Government of India came together to set up a trend setting Wagon Manufacturing
Factory in Joint Venture (JV) at Kulti near Asansol in Bardhman district of
West Bengal. This JV agreement came as the fulfillment of the announcement made
by the Minister of Railways, Mamata
Banerjee in the Railway Budget 2010-11 wherein she had announced the setting up
of State-of-the-art Wagon Manufacturing Factories in Joint Venture/PPP at five
locations, including Bardhaman. The
other locations are Secunderabad, Bhubaneshwar/Kalahandi, Haldia and Guwahati.
RESOLVING LONG STANDING WAGE SETTLEMENT
ISSUE OF EMPLOYEES OF BRAITHWAITE & BURN STANDARD
Under the aegis of the Ministry of Railways, the
long standing issue of implementation of the tripartite memorandum of
settlement of wage revision of workers of M/s Braithwaite, Kolkata was
resolved. The wage revision benefitted about 350 employees and became effective
from 01.10.2010. This resulted in an increase of Rs. 3500- 4000 per employee
per month. Similarly, the process of wage revision was initiated at M/s Burn
Standard, Kolkata. As in M/s Braithwaite, the revision in pay became effective
for M/s Burn Standard from 01.10.2010. The management of M/s Burn Standard had
been authorized to formalize a tripartite memorandum in this regard.
NEW
GUIDELINES FOR LAND ACQUISITION
Considering great hardships being
felt by the land losers on acquisition of their land, Railways have come out
with new guidelines for land acquisition with humanitarian considerations. Some of these guidelines are; i) Providing
job to one member of each family of land losers; ii) Acquisition of
private land shall be done only when very essential and unavoidable; iii)
Planning of projects in a manner so as to cause minimum acquisition of land
particularly agricultural land and dislocation of land owners; iv) Land to be
acquired with compassion for land losers and with full transparency.
Project affected persons shall be apprised of project alignment and other
details including compensation payable to them by undertaking public
consultation meetings.and; v) Use of modern technology including use of
reinforced, retaining wall to be encouraged so as to minimize width of land to
be acquired.
JOINT VENTURE WITH NTPC FOR CAPTIVE POWER
PLANT
In a major initiative, the
Ministry of Railways took a step forward in augmenting its own internal power
generation to meet its electricity requirements when it signed an Memorandum of
Understanding with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), a PSU under the
Ministry of Power, Government of India for a Joint Venture captive power plant
at Adra in West Bengal on 31st October 2010. The Adra power plant
will have capacity of 1320 MW (2 units of 660 MW, super critical units). This
power plant will employ super critical technology which is more environment
friendly.
COUNTRY’S
FIRST AIR CONDITIONED DOUBLE DECKER COACH
Rail Coach Factory (RCF),
rolled out country’s first air conditioned double decker coach. A totally new
coach shell design capable of running at a speed of 160 kmph was developed by
RCF engineers in tandem with Research Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO)
within a short span of just nine months. In the new design, 128 passengers can
be seated as compared to 78 passengers in Shatabdi chair cars, thus increasing
the capacity by almost 70 per cent. A
full rake of this train is presently under trials and commercial run is
expected soon after all mandatory clearance.
RAILWAY EMPLOYEES GET 77
DAY’S BONUS FOR 2009-10
The Union Cabinet approved
the proposal of the Ministry of Railways for payment of Productivity Linked
Bonus (PLB) to the Railway employees to the extent of 77 days’ wages for the
financial year 2009-10. Approximately 12.92 lakh non-gazetted Group B, C and D
employees were benefited from the decision.
This was the highest PLB payment ever to be made by Railways. PLB is
based on the productivity indices reflecting the performance of the Railway.
MoU WITH HRD
Memorandum of Understanding was signed
between Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Human Resource Development for
setting up 50 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 10 Navovidyalaya type of Vidyalayas as and
Degree colleges. Six Kendriya Vidyalayas have already been sanctioned and joint
survey is already in progress for other Vidyalayas.
RAILWAYS HEALTH SERVICES
For providing healthcare facilities to
railway passengers, Indian Railway employees and their families, and public
living around such areas a MoU was signed between Ministry of Railways and
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for opening of OPD & Diagnostic
Centres, Secondary Level General Specialty Hospitals and Tertiary Level Hospitals.
Railways have identified the land, which is not operationally required by it,
and Ministry of Health &
Family Welfare will develop healthcare infrastructure. Medical and Nursing
Colleges, for wards of Railway employees, Medical Department is taking steps to open Medial and Nursing colleges on Railway
land with existing Railways Hospitals under public private partnership. To
start with five places have been identified i.e. Chennai, Guwahati, Khargpur, Secundrabad
and Lucknow. The
construction work of Nursing
College at Majerhat is
under progress and will start functioning in the next academic session. Doctor
on long distance trains For managing the medical emergencies while
traveling in train a doctor along with one paramedic staff, with medicines and
disposables and resuscitation equipments have been provided in all the Duronto
trains as a pilot project.
RAILWAYS SHINE IN COMMONWEALTH GAMES AND ASIAN GAMES
ailways sports persons bagged 25 medals for
India which included 13 Gold
medals, 3 Silver medals and 9 Bronze medals in the 19th Commonwealth
Games (CWG 2010) which was held in Delhi
in October 2010. Railway players also won 15 Medals in the 16th Asian
Games for India which was
held in Guangzhou, China in November
2010 which included 7 Gold medals, 1 Silver Medal and 7 Bronze medals. Ministry of Railway has
announced to formulate new sports policy which will further promote the cause
of sports and games so that Railways is able to produce many more talented
sports persons. The new policy will be
formulated in such a way so that it provides sufficient encouragement,
incentive, better career prospects and better professional support to Railway
players. The new policy would include
incentives for railway coaches also and the provision for best professional
facilities to railway sports persons.
Indian
Railways brought laurels to the nation when Railways’ Shri Sushil Kumar became
the first Indian to win Gold Medal in the World Wrestling Championship held in Moscow and Railways’ team stood 2nd in the prestigious 14th
USIC (Union of International Railways) International Shooting Championship
which was held in Krakow (Poland)
from 23rd to 27th August, 2010.
AKS/HK/LK/TR