Indian Railways achievement during 2011

complex in the vicinity of circulating area in station premises. So far 17 Multi Functional Complexes (MFCs) have been completed viz. Anandpur Sahib, Aurangabad, Baraddhaman, Digha, Durg, Ghatsila, Haldia, Kakdwip, Manmad, New Alipore, Parasnath, Rajgir, Rampur Hat, Shirdi, Tarapith Road, Tarakeshwar and Tiruvalla. Process of leasing/licensing of these MFCs is underway. So far, a total of 198 stations have been identified since 2009-10 (67 in 2009-10, 93 in 2010-11 and 38 in 2011-12). Task of development of 198 MFCs has been assigned to Zonal Railways and various executing agencies under the Ministry of Railways.

NEW TRAIN ON LONGEST EVER ROUTE FLAGGED OFF

“Vivek Express” on longest ever route from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari covering a distance of 4286 kilometers was flagged off on 19th November, 2011. This weekly trains leaves Dibrugarh on every Saturday and reaches Kanyakumari on Wednesday. In return direction, it leaves Kanyakumari on every Saturday and reaches Dibrugarh on Wednesday.

A number of more than 130 new trains, announced in Rail Budget, were also flagged off during this year.

NATIONAL HIGH SPEED RAIL AUTHORITY

In the Railway Budget 2010-11, the Ministry of Railways has announced for setting up of a National High Speed Rail Authority for planning, standard setting, implementing & monitoring of High Speed Rail projects. A proposal in this regard has been moved for Cabinet approval. The Ministry of Railways has selected following six corridors for conducting pre-feasibility studies. These are; Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450 km approx.), Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650 km approx.), Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijaywada-Chennai (664 km approx.), Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam (649 km approx.), Howrah-Haldia (135 km approx.), Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991 km approx.). Consultants for pre-feasibility study of four Corridors except Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar and Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam-Trivandrum have already been engaged.

E-PROCUREMENT AND E-PAYMENT SYSTEM ON RAILWAY

Indian Railways have implemented e-procurement system for All Zonal Railways and Production Units. So for 0.25 million e tenders have been uploaded on central web site www.ireps.gov.in and more than 15,000 vendors have registered with the site. Electronic procurement has facilitated vendors and the participating industry to gain free access to Railway’s procurement tenders and has improved transparency and competitiveness in the tendering process. Indian Railways issues computerized railway receipts for more than 99.9% of its freight loading. This has helped in collection of approximately 69.9% of freight payment through e-payment contributing around INR 4000 crore per month from the participating major customers, thus cutting down wasteful manual processes both for Indian Railways and their principal freight customers. Facility of enquiring the last location of rakes on Indian Railways has been launched from 12th October 2011 for freight customers.

COUNTRY’S FIRST EVER AC DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN FLAGGED OFF

Country’s first air conditioned superfast Double Decker train was flagged off from Howrah station for Dhanbad on 1st October 2011. This train consists of 9 coaches including 7 air-conditioned Double Decker chair cars having 128 seats in each coach and 2 generator cars. This train stops at Barddhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Barakar and Kumardhubi on both ways en-route. This train will have maximum permissible speed of 110 kilometre per hour and will run via Howrah-Barddhaman chord line. Introduction of Double Decker train was announced in Railway Budget earlier. The successful development of AC Double Decker train is a clear illustration of Indian Railways' capabilities in design and manufacturing.

LONGEST TUNNEL MADE THROUGH PIR PANJAL IN JAMMU & KASHMIR

Indian Railways achieved another milestone with final breakthrough of Pir Panjal Railway tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir on 14th October 2011. This Tunnel with a length of 11.176 Kilometers is not only the longest Transportation Tunnel in the country but has also the highest point (1753 Meters above sea level) on Broad Gauge Railway System in the country. This methodology planned in year 2003-2005, is now being adopted for many long tunnels across the Himalayan Ranges in the country. This tunnel shall be fully lined and equipped with state of the art ventilation and its control system, air quality monitoring system, fire detection and rescue plan, CCTV, communication system and Tunnel Control Room at both the ends with provision for a service road by the side of a single line BG Railway track. After laying of track and completion of adjacent railway works, it will be possible to run train form Kashmir Valley to Banihal on the other side of Pir Panjal Range. These works are expected to be completed by December 2012. With the operation of Railway line upto Banihal, there will be an all weather Rail route across the Pir Panjal Mountains, benefiting the entire Kashmir Valley.

SETTING UP OF RAILWAY STATIONS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD PROPOSED

It has been decided to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle “Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd to meet the aspirations of rail users and to provide better passenger amenities & facilities at railway stations. This SPV will be constituted with equity participation of Ircon International Ltd a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Railways and Rail Land Development Authority a statutory authority under the Ministry of Railways.

RAILWAYS GREEN INITIATIVES