Highlights

    • This year has been an "Year of Grit and Victories" for Indian Railways.

    • Faced with daunting and unprecedented Covid related challenges, under the guidance and vision of PM, Indian Railways has not only been able to keep national supply chain running and move millions of people back home in most adverse circumstances but has also been able usher in an unprecedented growth in development of infrastructure, innovation, capacity expansion of network, freight diversification and transparency matters.

    1) National Rail Plan : To cater to the traffic requirements upto 2050:laying  the foundation for future

        a) A National Rail Plan (NRP) 2030 has been developed with a view to develop infrastructure by 2030 to cater to the traffic requirements upto 2050.

        b) Based on the NRP, a Vision 2024 document has been prepared to develop infrastructure by 2024 to enhance modal share of Railways in freight transportation to more than 40 per cent and to cater to the traffic requirements upto 2030. 

        c) Vision 2024 document lists all priority projects with target dates of completion and allocation of resources. 

        d) Multi tracking of 14,000 Km route, electrification of entire Railway network, upgrading the speed potential of important routes to 130 KMPH and 160 KMPH (present speed potential 110 KMPH), completion of important coal connectivity and port connectivity projects have been planned as part of Vision 2024.

        e) Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is mobilizing resources with sufficient moratorium period and projects are being targeted to be completed well before expiry of moratorium period.

    2) Process reforms to improve project execution and Organizational efficiency

        a) The capital expenditure in Railways has been vastly scaled up after 2014 (almost double the previous level) to address the accumulated backlog of infrastructure deficiency in the Railways.

        b) Along with stepped up fund allocation, super–critical (58) and critical projects (68) have been identified and prioritized.

        c) Altogether, 146 projects have been identified as crucial from the point of view of freight traffic and these have been provided with prioritized fund allocation for time-bound completion, after root cause analysis. 

        d) The decision-making process for appraisal and approval of projects and sanction of estimates have been streamlined.

        e) It has also been decided to focus on those projects, which are required for improving operational efficiency, enhancing network capacity and where all clearances including land and environmental clearances etc. are available.

        f) Bonus clause for early completion, measures to improve cash flows and recognition of credentials issued by big companies and non-insistence of credentials for smaller works have been embodied in the revised conditions of contract.

        g) To help the General Managers and other field officers to speed up decision making sweeping delegation of powers has been made to General Managers, Divisional Railway Managers and other Field Units through model Schedule of Powers.

        h) E-Shramik Kalyan Portal and a single Central Payment System (in collaboration with State Bank of India) have vastly improved transparency in decision making.

        i) Planned Infrastructure Development and funding requirements has been accessed for loading target of 2024 MT by the year 2024. The targeted planned expenditure in the identified works for above vision is approximately Rs 2.5 Lakh Cr.

    3) Running of SHRAMIK Special : Trains of Hope in Adversity

        a) The COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown had put both their lives and livelihoods of millions of migrants on hold.

        b) Taking notice of this need, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the Ministry of Railways to arrange an emergency unique train service in coordination with individual state governments.

        c) With maximum trains to Uttar Pradesh (1,726) and Bihar (1,627), Shramik Express carried 63.15 lac passengers to 23 states through 4621 trips between 1 May and 31 August 2020, in response to the state governments' requests. 

        d) The biggest challenge was ensuring that 63.15 lac passengers traveling through some of the country's hottest regions during peak summer months had adequate food and water.

        e) For example, Danapur Railway Station provided a total of 22.79 lakh food packets, and 28.75 lakh water bottles were provided to people traveling on 1773 trains. Similarly, Western Railways distributed about 1.2 crore meals and 1.5 crore water bottles with IRCTC's assistance.

    4) Railways’ Special Initiatives during COVID -19 and maintenance  projects

        a) Indian Railway took advantage of the opportunity of availability of traffic blocks due to reduced train operations during lockdown period and completed over 350 critical and long pending major bridge & track works.

        b) These works had a significant bearing on safety and operational efficiency.

        c) Some of these works were pending for several years as sufficient traffic blocks could not be made available under normal working conditions due to high density of traffic.

        d) Besides, it undertook uninterrupted 24X7 Freight Trains Operations to ensure availability of essential commodities, medicines, equipment and supplies through the country.

        e) Launched several new initiatives like running of Time Tabled Parcel Trains and Kisan Rail.

        f) Doubled the speeds of freight trains from 24 kmph last year to 46 kmph.

    5) Progress of National Connectivity

        a) Jammu & Kashmir

            ▪ Udhampur- Srinagar- Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project by December 2022 

            ▪ Length: 272 Km; Commissioned - 161 Km, (Katra Banihal Section left)

        b) North East India

            ▪ All north-eastern State capitals (except Shillong) by March 2023

            ▪ 112 Km long Agartala –Sabroom rail line in Tripura completed 

            ▪ 45 Km long doubling project from Lumding to Hojai completed

        c) Rameshwaram

            ▪ Modern Pamban Bridge by October 2021 

        d) Statue of Unity

            ▪ Dabhoi – Kevadiya Project Completed : Operation to start in January 2021 

        e) Uttarakhand

            ▪ Rishikesh - Karnaprayag Rail Link (125 km) by December 2024 

            ▪ DPR for  Chardham Connectivity Ready

    6) Speeding Electrification of Railways and Mission Greening

        a) Electrification has been accorded high priority as a part of the national goal to transform India into a green nation.

        b) 66% of track length has been electrified by November 2020.

        c) Railways aim to complete electrification of its entire broad-gauge network by 2023.

        d) The speed of electrification has been greatly scaled up from a level of 1176 KM in 2014-15 to 5276 in 2018-19 and 4378 KM in 2019-20 despite the setback due to COVID.

        e) Indian Railways have fixed itself a stiff target of being a net-zero emitter of carbon by 2030.

    7) Steps taken towards Swachch Rail Swachch Bharat & Green Railways are:

        a) 100 % Coaches Fitted with Bio toilets 

        b) Integrated Mechanized Cleaning now provided at 953 Stations 

        c) 57 Made in India , 12000 HP electric locomotives delivered 

        d) Commissioned 105.7 MW power solar plants over rooftops 960 major Railway Buildings 

        e) 103.4 MW Wind Power Commissioned 

        f) Pilot phase for feeding solar power to traction power  commissioned 

        g) Tender Process initiated for 1.6 GW 

        h) 30 GW by 2030 

    8) Freight - Moving India’s Economy

        a) Railways has embraced a “Freight on Priority” policy by pushing for an aggressive customer-centric approach to expand the freight carried not only from the traditional segments but also by attracting new customers to its fold.  

        b) Business Development Units (BDUs) have been set up at Railway Board, Zonal Railway and Divisional levels. Multi-disciplinary teams from BDUs have been reaching out to customers to attract new business by providing compelling value-for-money logistics solutions.

        c) Time-tabled parcel services have been launched to provide reliable services to courier services, e-commerce companies.

        d) 8 Kisan Rail Services have been started to enable our farmers to send their produce across the nation with enhanced speed & reduced cost.

        e) Doubling the speed of freight trains: Speed of freight trains has nearly doubled from a level of 24 Kmph one year ago to 46 Kmph which means half the time taken for sending products.

        f) A large number of freight incentive schemes have been launched and non-tariff liberalization measures have been undertaken to improve the customers’ experience with the Railways such as “ Premium Indenting “ scheme as well to those clients who want to prioritize  their deliveries.

        g) With all these initiatives Railway’s freight has staged a remarkable recovery in the month of November 2020 by registering a record loading of 109.68 Million Tonnes (MT), which is 9% higher compared to last year’s loading for the same period.

    9) Dedicated Freight Corridor getting completed at unprecedented speed

        a) Dedicated Freight Corridors are getting completed at unprecedented speed and will not only bring the costs of freight operation down but also ensure digitally tracked  bigger and faster.

        b) In the first phase, DFFCIL is constructing the Western DFC (1504 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km including PPP section of Sonnagar-Dankuni Section.

        c) Dedicated Freight Corridors are expected to

            ▪ Decongest the existing Indian Railway network,

            ▪ Increase the average speed of goods trains from existing 25 to 70 kmph.

            ▪ Run Heavy Haul trains (higher axle load of 25/32.5 Tonne) & overall load of 13,000 Tonne,

            ▪ Facilitate the running of longer (1.5km) and double stack container trains,

            ▪ Connect the existing ports and industrial areas for faster movement of goods,

            ▪ Energy efficient and environment friendly rail transport system as per global standards,

            ▪ Increase the rail share from existing 30% to 45% and reduce the logistic cost of transportation.

    10) Raising Sectional Speed

        a) New Delhi - Mumbai & New Delhi - Howrah Routes (160 kmph) 

        b) Golden quadrilateral(GQ) / Golden diagonal(GD) Routes (130 Kmph) 

    11) New Services in Passenger Operations With PPP in Train Operations

        a) In the first phase, it is planned to introduce 151 modern passenger trains operated through PPP over 109 Origin Destination (OD) pairs of routes.

        b) This will bring private sector investment of Rs. 30,000 crore.

        c) The idea is to enhance overall service quality and operational efficiency.

    12) Safety Reigns Supreme

        a) For the first time, ever since April 2019, there has been no passenger fatality in train accidents.

        b) In a visionary plan, to further enhance safety of train operations it is planned :

            ▪ Elimination of Manned Level Crossings 

            ▪ Indigenous Train Collision Avoidance System [TCAS] 

            ▪ Mechanised Maintenance and Inspection for Tracks & Bridges 

            ▪ Upgradation of Tracks & Bridges 

            ▪ Replace of ICF Coaches with safer and comfortable Tejas type LHB and Train sets 

            ▪ Elimination of Mechanical Signalling 

            ▪ Simulator based Training of Locomotive Pilots

            ▪ Creation of Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) 

            ▪ Complete switch over to safe manufacturing of Link Hofmann Busch (LHB)coaches 

            ▪ Focus on wiping out track renewal arrears and rehabilitation of bridges

    13) Station Development & Modernization: Railways is taking a partnership approach for station development and Request for Qualification (RFQs) have been invited for New Delhi, ChhatrapatiShivaji Mumbai Terminal, Nagpur, Gwalior, Sabarmati, Amritsar, Puducherry, Nellore, Dehradun and Tirupati stations on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

    14) Passenger Security

        a) “Meri Saheli” initiative taken for focused action on security of women travelling in trains.

        b) Indian Railways launched “CORAS” - Commandos for Railway Security.

    15) Modernisation of Coaches and More Powerful Engines: Commercial Operation of WAG 12 Locomotive

    16) Atmanirbhar Bharat Campaign gets firm footing:Import has reduced to less than 1.6% 

        a) Import in procurement reduced from 5.6% in 2013-14 to 2.5% in 2018-19 

        b) Make in India Policy: As per DPIIT orders on public procurement 

        c) More than 95% of Electric Locomotive components sourced indigenously 

        d) Indigenous Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)

        e) Gearing up Exports : Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) exported 7 Diesel Locomotives Sri Lankan Railways 

        f) Increase in Electric Locomotive Production increased by 30 % 

        g) LHB coaches production increased by 42 % .   

        h) Axle capacity of Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) being enhanced 

        i) Rail Ispat Nigam Ltd coming up at Rae Bareli for indigenous production of wheels 

        j) Indigenous manufacturing of Track machines: Faridabad (Haryana), Karjan (Gujarat) and Bangalore (Karnataka)

    17) Unprecedented Transparency in all the facets of functioning through digital & e -governance

        a) Rail Drishti Portal has been launched as an information portal that brings key details from various sources on a single dashboard in order to promote transparency and accountability.

        b) All tenders of Railways (works or stores) have been put on e-tendering platform.

        c) RDSO has streamlined the Vendor Approval process, which has been made completely online.

        d) E-Office has been rolled out as a mission mode on IR and more than 1.23 Lakhs users are using this platform till now.

        e) Integration of IREPS with GeMis being undertaken with full flow and this will help to digitise all the process of procurement through GeM on IR. 

        f) Provision of CCTV at critical locations like STations (630), Train Coaches (2626), Hospitals (102), PRS Centres, Weighbridges and at major Offices are provided or being provided.

        g) 2700 electric locomotives have been provided with RTIS and 3800 diesel locomotives provided with RAMLOT

        h) Automatic control charting being done for 6500 locomotives; balance 6000electric locomotives to be provided with RTIS equipment in an year’s time. Tender for balance in process. 

    18) Restructuring of Railway Board on functional lines and unification of 8 organized services into a single Indian Railway Management Services (IRMS) 

    19) Reforms in HR Management 

        a) Management System (HRMS) - In 2020, the HRMS has been put into application and is being used extensively by Railway employees. 

        b) Various modules of HRMS such as e-Pass, Office Order modules, Employee self-service, Executive record sheet for Officers, PF & Settlement, besides Employee Master and e-SR which were launched during late 2019.

    20) Financial Reforms 

        a) IRFC and MOR have executed a facility agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for loan facility denominated in INR equivalent to USD 750 Million (about Rs.5,267 crore) for Railway electrification projects.

        b) IRFC constantly diversifies its borrowing portfolio to arrange funds for Indian Railways, at the most competitive rates and terms.

        c) A Miscellaneous E-Receipts System (MERS) portal has been developed by CRIS to facilitate digital payments of inward receipts to Railways.

        d) Implementation of E-PPO scheme:  In order to curtail delays in physical transmission of Pension Payment Orders to the pension disbursing banks, a scheme of e-PPO has been put in place wherein the PPOs are being forwarded to the banks system through SFTP mode which obviates the delays in physical transit of the PPOs.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)