Indian
Railways is the prime mover and plays a pivotal role in the transport scenario
of the nation. Spread over the length and breadth of the country, it continues
to integrate the nation as well. Over a national network of 64,000 route
kilometers, Indian Railways is presently moving on an average 2 million tonnes
of freight and 23 million passengers daily. It is the single largest employer
in the country having about 14 lakh employees and is one of the largest railway
systems in the world under a single management.
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
OF INDIAN RAILWAYS
The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during first six months of the
financial year 2012-13 i.e. from 1st April to 30th
September 2012 were Rs. 58649.83 crore compared to Rs. 48963.19 crore during
the same period last year, registering an increase of 19.78 per cent.
The total goods earnings have
gone up from Rs. 32425.41 crore during 1st April to 30th September
2011 to Rs. 40303.85 crore during 1st April – 30th
September 2012, registering an
increase of 24.30 per cent. The total passenger
revenue earnings during first six
months of the financial year 2012-13 were Rs. 15581.44 crore compared to Rs.
14017.76 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase
of 11.15 per cent. The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs. 1510.38 crore during 1st
April to 30th September 2012 compared to Rs. 1377.58 crore during
the same period last year, an increase of 9.64 per cent.
The total approximate numbers of passengers booked during 1st April to 30th
September 2012 were 4274.87 million compared to 4121.99 million during the same
period last year, showing an increase of 3.71 per cent.
GROWTH IN FREIGHT
LOADING
Indian
Railways have carried 969.78 million tonnes of revenue earning freight
loading during 2011-12 as against 921.51 million tonnes during 2010-11,
registering a growth of 5.24 per cent. Indian Railways loaded approx.
455.80 million tonnes of Coal, 104.71 million tonnes of Iron Ore, 107.57
million tonnes of Cement, 52.79 million tonnes of Fertilizer, 45.56 million
tonnes of Foodgrains, 41.09 million tonnes of POL, 34.86 million tonnes of Pig
Iron and Finished Steel, 38.58 million tonnes of Container traffic, 14.48
million tonnes of Raw material to steel plants except Iron Ore and 74.34
million tonnes of other goods in the year of 2011-12.
BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR 2012-13
The target of traffic earnings for 2012-13 envisaged
in Budget Estimates at Rs.1,32,502 crore, implying a growth of 27.2% over
2011-12. This was based on a loading target of 1025 million tonnes of freight
and 8741 million numbers of originating passengers. This also included rationalization of fare
and freight structure proposed in Budget, 2012-13. In 2012-13, the Ordinary Working Expenses have been
budgeted at Rs.84,400 crore., i.e., 13.2% more than previous year’s actuals. Upto
August’12, the expenditure incurred is Rs.35,235 crore. The targeted Operating Ratio for 2012-13 as
envisaged in Budget Estimates is 84.9%. The internal resource generation is
targeted at Rs.25,117 crore. in 2012-13.
If the growth in core sectors is as per the projections made by the
ministries handling core commodities like coal, Iron ore etc, it would be
possible to generate the projected resources. At the end of 2012-13, the
balances in the Funds have been budgeted at Rs.5,744 crore.
DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDORS
The Western Dedicated Freight
Corridor (DFC) of 1499 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 western
India 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. The two corridors will be
joined together by a connector corridor between Khurja and Dadri. The DFC
project is being implemented by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of
India Limited (DFCCIL), a Special Purpose Vehicle created in October 2006. Durgawati-Karwandia section (66 kms) of
Eastern DFC is targeted for commissioning in December 2013. Construction work of formation and bridges is
in progress and 85% work has been completed till September 2012. Contract for
Track Work has been awarded in July 2012.
Pre-qualification for systems contract has been finalised and the Bid
document is under finalisation.
Construction work of 54 major and important bridges of Western DFC is in
progress and 5 major bridges have been completed. Land acquisition is
progressing well and as on 31.7.2012 out of total land of 10703 hectares to be
acquired for Eastern and Western DFC, Award under section 20 F of RAA 2008 has
been declared for 7557 hectares (70%).Target for commissioning of Eastern & Western DFC is March, 2017
except for the following sections: Durgawati-Karwandia, 66 km section of
Mughalsarai-Sonnagar – December, 2013. Balance 52 km section of
Sonnagar-Mughalsarai – December, 2015
PRODUCTION UNITS MEET
HIGHER TARGETS
Indian Railways achieved the best
ever production of locomotives in 2011-12. During the year, 284 Diesel locomotives and
298 Electric locomotives were manufactured. A higher target of 330 Diesel
locomotives and 300 Electric locomotives has been fixed for 2012-13 which is
likely to be achieved. During the year 2011-12, 3637 coaches were
manufactured. These include coaches for
Kolkata Metro, suburban services for metropolitan cities, DMUs for Kashmir,
main line coaches and LHB type coaches with superior safety and amenity
features. Integral Coach Factory/
Chennai has completed a prestigious export order of 120 DMU cars for Sri Lanka
which was executed through RITES. Rail
Coach Factory/Kapurthala has started manufacture of non air-conditioned coaches
on the new LHB platform. During 2012-13 a production target of 4000 coaches has
been fixed. The wagon production also peaked to a record high of 18357 during
2011-12. Rail Coach Factory/Rae Bareli has commenced its manufacturing
activities. This factory is manufacturing superior LHB type coaches which will
help Indian Railways to mitigate coach shortage. It has manufactured 37 coaches up to
September’ 2012 by sourcing coach shells from Rail Coach Factory/Kapurthala.
MUMBAI ELEVATED RAIL CORRIDOR PROJECT
The Mumbai Elevated Rail Corridor project will be 63-km
Broad Gauge double line from Oval Maidan/Churchgate to Virar having 26
stations. The corridor will be 8.5 kms underground, 42.72 kms elevated and
12.51 kms at grade and will cost Rs 20,000 crore. The proposal is to run
air-conditioned EMU trains at a frequency of 1.5 minutes with peak- hour
passenger-carrying capacity of 90,000. The project has been planned for
implementation through PPP mode under Design, Build, Finance, Operate &
Transfer (DBFOT) model. Request for Qualification for the project has been
published. The project is anticipated to be awarded by March, 2013.
AIR CONDITIONED DOUBLE DECKER
Indigenously
designed, developed and manufactured Air conditioned double decker train
was introduced for the first time between Howrah and Dhanbad. Now an improved
design has been developed and such services between Jaipur and Delhi has been
introduced. Such services are also planned between Habibganj-Indore and
Chennai-Bangalore in near future. AC double decker train with improved passenger
friendly design is having capacity of 120 passengers per coach.
HIGH SPEED RAIL
CORRIDORS
Indian Railways has identified seven
corridors for conducting prefeasibility studies for High Speed Rail
Corridors. These are; (i) Consultancy for Pre-feasibility study for Pune –
Mumbai – Ahmedabad – 650 km - Study Completed, the Final Report by the
Consultant has been submitted to Ministry of Railways in April, 2010, (ii)
Consultancy for Pre-feasibility study for Delhi – Agra - Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna
– 991 km - The study has been completed and the Consultant has submitted Draft
Final Report to Ministry. (iii) Consultancy
for Pre-feasibility study for Howrah –Haldia – 135 km –The study has been
completed and the Consultant has submitted Final Report to Ministry on
31.07.2012. (iv) Consultancy for
Pre-feasibility study for Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai – 664 km - The
study is in progress. The Consultant has submitted Inception Report, Interim
Report I & II and Draft Final Report. These reports are under scrutiny. (v)
Consultancy for Pre-feasibility study for Chennai – Bangalore – Coimbatore –
Ernakulam - Thiruvananthapuram – 850 km - The study is in progress, Consultant
has submitted Inception Report and Interim Report No.1 to Ministry. (vi) Consultancy
for prefeasibility study for Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur– 591 km – The proposal
for invitation of tender to engage the consultant is under finalization. (vii)
Consultancy for Pre-feasibility study for Delhi– Chandigarh-Amritsar – 450 km -
The proposal for re-invitation of tender is under finalization.
ENHANCING SAFETY
In a major thrust in enhancing
safety, Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS)is being provided on
Indian Railways’ Automatic Signalling sections & High Density Routes as a
first step. As a pilot project, TPWS has been provided on Chennai-Gummidipundi
Suburban Section of Southern Railway (50 Route kilometres) which has been
commissioned in May 2008. For Main line operations, another pilot project on
Hazrat Nizamuddin – Agra Section of Northern/North Central Railway (200 Route
Kilometres, is under progress. Track side work has been completed on the entire
section & 35 locos have been fitted with Onboard TPWS equipment. Commercial
trials are being conducted on nominated trains. TPWS is also being provided on Dum
Dum-New Garia section of Kolkata Metro (25 Route Kilometres) where the track
side and onboard installation work is presently in progress. Anti Collision
Device (ACD) developed by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) has been
provided as a pilot project on Northeast Frontier Railway (1736 Route
kilometres). Operation and technical problems noticed in Southern Railway
trials are being looked into and new ACD version-II after successful validation
and certification will be deployed on Northeast Frontier Railway. Further, proliferation of ACD shall be
possible only after these problems are resolved comprehensively by KRCL. Based
upon experience gained from ACD & TPWS systems, Indian Railways has now
taken up development of TCAS. TCAS shall be a fusion of functionalities of TPWS
& ACD and shall prevent Signal Passing at Danger as well as Collisions.
After invitation of Expression of Interest, six Indian firms have been
shortlisted. One of the firm has developed the Prototype which shall undergo
field trials in Oct’2012 over South Central Railway.
ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY IN
SIGNALLING
For enhancing efficiency &
safety of train operations, GSM(R) based Mobile Train Radio Communication system
for communication among train Driver, Guard, Station Master, Control Office
& field maintenance staff during run of the train has been commissioned on
1725 RKms and work is in progress in
1000 RKMs which is expected to be commissioned shortly. Signalling has to play a very vital role for network expansion, capacity creation
and zero tolerance for accidents. Advanced technologies in Signalling, high
quality training to improve skills and managing new technologies and deployment
of predictive / diagnostic tools for minimizing failures and Mean Time to Repair
(MTTR) has been planned. Centralized
operation of points & signals along with Block Proving by Axle Counters and
Continuous Track Circuiting shall be progressively deployed on entire IR.
Safety shall be further improved by provision of On Board Train Protection
system. Capacity augmentation is planned by provision of Intermediate Block
Signals, Automatic Block Signalling and Centralized Operation & Control
Centre.
IMPROVED PASSENGER AMENITIES
Intensive Mechanized
cleaning of coaches
in the coaching depots through professional agencies is being carried out.
Heavy duty machines such as high pressure jet cleaners, floor scrubbers, vacuum
suction cleaners etc. are deployed for the purpose. Presently a total of
115depots have been identified for this work and this has already been
implemented in 89 coaching depots on different Zonal Railways. On Board
Housekeeping Scheme (OBHS) has been prescribed in all Rajdhani, Shatabdi,
Duronto & other important long distance Mail/Express trains for frequent
cleaning of coach toilets, doorways, aisles & passenger compartments during
the run of the trains. A total of 535 trains have been identified for providing
OBHS services. This scheme has been implemented on about 335 pairs of trains. Clean
Train Station scheme has been prescribed for limited mechanized cleaning
attention to identified trains during their scheduled stoppages enroute at
nominated “Clean Train Stations” with focus on cleaning and disinfecting
of toilets, doorways and aisles. 30 Clean Train Stations have been nominated by
Railway Board on different Zonal Railways. 28 of these have been commissioned
and are functional. Fifty locations have been identified to set up Mechanized
laundries for improving the quality of washing of bed rolls. While 29 locations
shall be managed departmentally, 21 are being outsourced. Mechanized laundries
have already been set up at 16 locations. Contracts for setting up laundries at
7 locations are in advanced stage and tender are under process at 12 locations.
The contract for pest and rodent control in coaches is already in place
in 125 coaching depots out of 127 identified coaching depots on IR. To improve
effectiveness of the pest and rodent control, measures are being regularly
reviewed. Major constraint is vulnerability of coaches for entry of pest and
rodents at coaching depots, station yards etc. Indian Railways introduces new
passenger friendly amenities. Facility
of Modern Luggage Trolleys has been introduced as a pilot project for
senior citizens and women passengers. These
trolleys are operated through ‘Rail Yatri Sevaks’. Battery operated vehicles at
railway stations for disabled, old age and sick passengers. This facility is to be provided through
Commercial Publicity route with no charge to be levied either from the
passenger or from the Railway.
INTRODUCTION OF
BIO-TOILETS
With a commitment to provide
hygienic environment to its passengers and staff, Indian Railways, along with
Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) have developed
Environment Friendly Bio-toilets for its passenger coaches. In these
bio-toilets, the human waste is treated by bacteria, which is benign to the
humans. This bacteria converts human
waste into water and gases (methane and CO2). The gases escape to atmosphere
and treated waste water is discharged after chlorination. Human waste thus does
not fall on the tracks. Eight trains are running with 436 bio-toilets and in
the year 2012-13, 2500 more bio-toilets are planned to be introduced. A
complete switch-over to bio-toilets in new coaches has been planned by 2016-17
and the Indian Railway has targetted elimination of direct discharge passenger
coach toilet systems by the end of the Thirteenth Five Year Plan i.e., 2021-22.
DEVELOPMENT OF
ADARASH STATIONS
The scheme of Adarsh
stations 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 2010-11, 201 stations were identified
to be developed under this scheme of which 36 stations were identified in
October 2011. Work at 82 stations has
been completed. Work at another 184
stations is targeted for completion in 2012-13.
A new concept of development of Multi Functional Complexes (MFCs) with
budget hotels was introduced to provide rail users facilities like food plaza, ATM, Variety Store, Books &
Chemist shops, Parking etc. So far, a
total of 196 stations have been identified for MFCs. The task of development of these MFCs has
been assigned to Zonal Railways and construction of MFCs has been completed at
35 stations.
TRAIN RUNNING
INFORMATION FACILITY
To provide accurate train running information to the public, the Indian
Railways has expanded the train running information facility. Now the
information on the running of all trains is available at www.trainenquiry.com.
Similarly this facility is available through SMS on 139. To avail this SMS facility, Type SPOT<space><train number> and send it to
139
SMS based enquiry
regarding location of rake in Freight Operation Information System has been started from 12.10.11 for customers.
The customer is required to send the FNR-id of the rake as SMS to 57866. Internet facility in running trains is
under implementation in three rakes of Howrah Rajdhani as pilot. Based on the user feedback this facility may
be extended to other important trains.
IMPROVED TICKETING
SYSTEM
Passenger Reservation System
(PRS) is running at more than 2926 locations, and is handling more than 3,000
trains involving on an average, 5.42 crore passengers per month with
average earning of Rs.2355.20 crore per month. The locations include non-railhead
centres like main cities of North East region, almost 90% of Districts, etc.
Computerized reservation terminals have been expanded in remote stretches. In
addition, the facility of I-ticket and e-ticket has been made available for all
mail and express trains and more than 3,50,000 tickets are being issued
everyday through the internet also. Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) facility has been extended to more than 5485 locations where
approximately 9950 UTS counters have been made functional. It serves approx. 63.09 crore passengers /
month earning revenue of Rs.1131.54 crore month. During the period Sept. ’11 to
Sept.’12, UTS has been commissioned at 441 locations. ‘Mushkil Aasaan’
is the scheme to introduce mobile ticketing vans in both rural and urban areas
for providing reserved tickets to the public.
Two such vans were commissioned at Kolkata and New Delhi in January
2010. Further, 25 mobile vans were
planned for introduction across 16 zonal railways. So far, 807 Automatic Ticket Vending Machines have been installed at
248 locations. Further approx. 1500 ATVMs are planned for procurement. 460 ATVMs were commissioned between September
2011 and September 2012.
In order to improve accessibility of
Tatkal tickets, the timing of opening of reservation of Tatkal tickets
has been shifted to 10.00 hours on the
previous day of journey instead of 08.00 hours, since 10.07.12..
Further, no authorized agents, including agents of Indian Railways Catering
Tourism Corporation and RTSAs/RTAs are allowed to book Tatkal tickets from
10:00 hours to 12:00 hours. E-tickets can also be booked through the mobile
phone by downloading software from IRCTC website to the mobile phone. Further
since February 2012, passengers booking e-tickets need not take a print-out of
the Electronic Reservation slip (ERS) and instead display authorized SMS
sent by IRCTC containing all vital details on laptops/palmtops/mobile phones.
They are also required to carry their valid photo-id in original. This is a
passenger friendly and an eco-friendly measure. The Advance Reservation Period
has been increased from 90 days to 120 days on an experimental basis
(excluding the date of journey) w.e.f. 10.03.2012.
PROGRESS IN ELECTRIFICATION
As on 01.04.2012, 22224 Route
Kilometers (RKM) have been electrified. This constitutes 34.48% of Indian Railways
network, hauling about 2/3rd freight
and nearly half of passenger traffic. Electric traction being an energy
efficient mode of traction, electrification has been contributing to savings
towards expenditure and precious diesel
in a big way. To get the power supply
at economical tariff, Indian Railways is setting up a captive power plant
of 1000 MW capacity at Nabinagar, Bihar and plan to set up another Thermal
Power Plant of 1320 MW at Adra, in District Purulia West Bengal in Joint Venture with NTPC. The Joint Venture
Company named as “Bhartiya Rail
Bijli Company Ltd” has been formed.
Indian Railways plan for setting up one more gas based power plant of
700 MW capacity at Thakurli , Maharashtra.
ADOPTION OF GREEN
ENERGY
Indian Railway has initiated various
measures to promote green energy. These measures includes use of
renewable energy, energy conservation and adoption of three phase
technology for utilization of regenerative braking on locomotives and
electrical multiple units (EMU). Indian Railway commissioned its first wind
mill plant of 10.5 MW capacity in the State of Tamilnadu in March, 2009 to
meet the major load requirement of Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Perambur,
Chennai. So far about 3300 manned level
crossing have been electrified using solar energy modules and about 1500 solar water heater, 400 solar
based street light & 5 hybrid solar/wind plants have been provided. Thus
about 4.5 MWp capacity solar PV modules
have been provided on Indian Railways as on March, 2011.
OPTIC FIBRE CABLE
More than 42,000 Route Kms of Optic
Fibre Cable (OFC) has been laid on Indian Railway system alongside railway
track for improving communications. Works for laying 10,000 Kilometres of OFC
further are under progress. Optic Fibre network on Indian Railways has been
utilised for meeting various needs such as Administrative Trunk Voice
Communication, enhancement computer networks and other IT applications, etc.
During Financial Year 2012-13, 920 Route kilometres, OFC Cable has been laid
upto August 2012. The presence of optic fibre network in the remote areas has
been instrumental in facilitating multi-service operators to provide TV, Video
and Internet services to smaller towns.
Railway’s PSU RailTel has bagged the prestigious National Optic Fibres
Network Project, costing Rs. 20,000/-crore.
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AK/LK