Ministry of Railways31-December, 2010 19:30 IST
First ever new Schemes Formulated to Attract Private Investments in Railways
GREEN INITIATIVES BY INDIAN RAILWAYS GETS INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE

 

‘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

 

 


(Release ID :68840)