Palakkad Division celebrated 71th Independence Day of the Nation today(15th August 2017) at the Divisional Office, Palakkad. Shri Naresh Lalwani, Divisional Railway Manager, Palakkad hoisted the National Flag and received the national salute. Contingents of Railway Protection Force presented the parade and students from Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School played  band. The ceremony  was attended by Shri T. Rajkumar, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Shri Chokka Raghuveer, Divisional Security Commissioner, Palakkad and other Railway Officers, Railway staff, their  families, Press and Media persons and public. The parade was followed a brief cultural event.

 

            On the occasion, Chief Guest Shri Naresh Lalwani, Divisional Railway Manager read out a message from General Manager, Southern Railway.

 Excerpt from the message:

 Focus area of Railways

             The General Manager in his message said Indian Railways, has embarked on a journey of transformation to bring substantial improvement in 4 focus areas of passenger safety, cleanliness, developmental works and financial performance.

 Financial performance of Southern Railway

  i)Growth in Passenger Business 

            On passenger front,  upto July this year (2017-18)  Southern Railway  carried 1.9% more passengers  than last year with consequent increase of 4.9% in  apportioned passenger earnings of the zone.

  ii)Freight earnings increased

            On freight side,  apportioned earnings of the zone is nearly at the same level as last year although  the zone  loaded about 2.5 Million Tonnes less than last year, due to changes in pattern in movement of coal rakes and surge in electricity generation through alternate means. General Manager said that with regular follow up and various incentives Southern Railway can load new traffic of petcoke, Gypsum, copper scrap and imported wood pulp and it is expected to achieve loading target given by the Railway Board by the end of this year.

 iii) Operating ratio

            With increase in Ordinary Working Expenses to Rs. 3018 crores, the Operating Ratio of the zone has become 165.8%  upto July 2017.

 Developmental works

 i)Projects listed for completion

             On the project side, Chennai – Madurai (497 km) doubling with electrification would be completed this year, as the balance 25 km  is expected to be completed by December 2017. Doubling of Ponmalai-Thanjavur section(47 km) and Changanasseri-Chingavanam section(9.5 km) are also targeted for completion during this year.   Works are also going on at good pace in New Aryankavu-Edamann (21 km), Karaikkudi – Pattukkottai (73 km),  Chennai Beach – Korukkupet 3rd & 4th line (8 km)  and Korukkupet – Tiruvottiyur     4th line   (5 km)  sections which   are also targeted for   completion  in this year. Also, a new coaching terminal was commissioned at Tambaram this month. 

ii)Efforts in the passenger front

            To improve our passenger services, during the first four months, Southern Railway ran 947 specials (117% more compared to last year), permanently augmented 13 coaches in 13 trains,  809 extra coaches were temporarily augmented and  in all, created additional 71,208 berths/seats for the benefit of the passengers. Introduced 5 pairs of Mail/Express trains, extended 1 pair of train and speeded up 6 pairs of trains upto July this year.  The punctuality of the zone has touched 85.5% upto July’17 and efforts are on to  improve  further.

iii) Initiative  to improve passenger amenities

On the Passenger Amenities front, Southern Railway has  spent Rs.34.25 crores  so far against the Budget grant of Rs. 74 crores. Water vending machines, Hi speed Wi-fi services, lifts & escalators, improvement on catering, AC paid waiting halls, Executive lounges, etc. are some of the areas which the Railway is  actively working on for improvements this year.  App based cab services have commenced at Coimbatore and Salem Stations, which will also be extended to few other stations shortly.  40 A class stations, 20 B class stations and 8 A1 class stations have been provided with short term facilities for the differently-abled. 

Efforts to ensure passenger safety

i)Road safety related work

Southern Railway always gives utmost importance to safety of passengers. 25 Unmanned Level Crossings have been eliminated and 33 Limited Height subways and 7 ROBs/RUBs have been commissioned till July 2017.  25 Level Crossing Gates have been interlocked so far.

 Cleanliness

 i)    Shoranur – Nilambur section to become a Green Corridor (All trains run in the section will have bio-toilets fitted coaches)   

            On the cleanliness front, On Board Housekeeping Service  has been introduced in   74  trains out of the identified 110 trains. ‘Clean my Coach’ app has received very good response from our esteemed passengers, as their complaints are getting attended within 30 minutes.   Subsequent to declaring Rameswaram  - Manamadurai section as first Green Corridor in Indian Railways, Southern Railway is  actively working on 4 more additional corridors i.e. Manamadurai – Vriddhachalam, Manamadurai – Tiruchchirappalli, Manamadurai – Madurai and Shoranur – Nilambur sections.  As of now, 40% of Southern Railway coaches are fitted with bio-toilets.

 Initiatives in security front

             On security front, with relentless efforts  are on to curb offences, 127 criminals and 107 touts were apprehended so far.   All women facilitation centres for women passengers at 6 stations are also operational.   The railway is effectively utilising the social media for redressal of grievances of passengers  within the shortest possible time.

             General manager congratulated Ms Tintu Luka, who won Gold in an international athletic event at Kazakhistan.  He also appreciated Sportspersons, coaches who were part of the various National and International Games and have brought laurels to Southern Railway.

             General Manager extended his greetings to each of 92,246 employees of Southern Railway including all Officers, supervisors and staff who have contributed to achievements. He stressed the need for attending to issues raised by the customers on any time of the day and to resolve them expeditiously.

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