Railways, India: 1
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
History
India’s 1st train: When Sahib, Sindh & Sultan blew steam
The Times of India APRIL 18 | 1853
India’s first passenger train was flagged off on its maiden run between Bori Bunder (later Victoria Terminus, now Chhatrapati Shiva ji Terminus) and Thane — a distance of 21 miles covered in 57 minutes, at 3.35pm on April 16, 1853. Drawn by three engines, Sahib, Sindh and Sultan, the train lurched forward amid fanfare and celebration.
TOI exulted: “Nothing could’ve been more magnificent than the train of 20 enormous carriages with their three stupendous engines, all spick and span new, with the most perfect forms engineering could suggest, and the most beautiful tints taste could impart, occupying a line from first to last on close to four hundred feet.”
The inaugural report noted with pride, “The 16th of April 1853 was, and would long continue to be one of the most memorable days, if not the most memorable day, in the annals of British India.”
“This was not the triumph of nation over nation, of race over race, of man over his fellow man. It was the triumph of mind of matter, of patience and perseverance,” the report quoted a British official at the inaugural function.
Earlier reports and advertisements in the paper had added to the rapidly building excitement over the train’s maiden run. An advertisement on April 8, 1853 quoted traffic manager Roche saying this to prospective riders. “The public are respectfully informed that on Monday, and until further notice, trains will be dispatched daily at the hours and fares named in the annexed table. First class day tickets for the double journey only on the day of issue will be given between Bombay, Tannah and Mahim at three-fourths of the ordinary fare.”
TRACK SETTING | Plans for a rail system in India were first put forward in 1832 and the Madras Presidency got the first experimental railway line.
In 1844, governor general Hardinge allowed private entrepreneurs to set up a rail system if they guaranteed an annual return of up to 5% in the initial years. The first passenger train was the product of efforts of Parsi businessman Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy and Nana Shankarsheth, who formed the Indian Railway Association. This eventually merged into the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Jejeebhoy and Shankarseth were the only two Indian directors in the 10-member board. TNN
Milestones in the history of Indian Railways
The Times of India Feb 27 2015
Rail recall
Conditioned air
First extensive air conditioning system was used to cool first class coaches of the most famous train of the British Raj. In 1934 Frontier Mail became India's first train to have air conditioning. Large blocks of ice were placed beneath the car's containers. A battery operated fan would blow the air that was then made to enter the insulated coach through vents. The ice was replenished at major halts to keep the system running.The first fully AC train was introduced between Howrah and Delhi in 1956.
Inspirational train
Indian railways were one of three technological breakthroughs of the late 19th Century that inspired Jules Verne to write his famous adventure novel `Around the World in 80 days'. The other two were first transcontinental railroad in America and the Suez Canal.
Long and short of it
Odisha's Ib railway station holds the record of having the shortest name Andhra's Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta is the longest name of any railway station
Spanning India
Vivek Express between Kanyakumari and Dibrugarh has the longest run. The 4,286 km journey is longer than the 3,715 km route of the Himsagar Express which held the crown of running on India's longest route.
Last on the lane
Baramulla is the last station of northernmost railways.Naliya is the westernmost, Kanyakumari southernmost and Ledo is easternmost
Fast train, Delhi to Agra
See graphic
Longest rail journeys
See graphic.
Fairy Queen, world's oldest steam engine
Jasjeev Gandhiok, World's oldest engine gathers fresh steam, Feb 12 2017: The Times of India
The world's oldest steam engine -Fairy Queen -returned to the tracks on Saturday in Feb 2017 after a gap of nearly five years. The engine was attached to a heritage train running from Delhi Cantt to Rewari in Haryana.This under three-hour round trip with passengers will be done every month.
Fairy Queen was restored and brought to Delhi in 1977 when the National Rail Museum was built and since then has been a part of the museum.
Passengers will get to visit the Rewari locomotive museum where a number of engines have been kept along with the sheds where many of these engines are still in operation.
Up to 60 passengers can take a heritage ride and can also see a working steam shed in Rewari,“ said Uday Singh Mina, director, National Rail Museum.
According to officials, a round-trip will cost Rs 6,480 per passenger. “The response has been good as many took a ride to Rewari and back. Fares for children are also half and we encourage people to take part in this experience,“ said Mina.
Fairy Queen became a part of the Guinness book records in 1998 as the world's oldest steam engine that was still in operation. It was restored in 1997 for a special ride between Delhi to Alwar. “Several tourists took part in that ride as the train was brought back to operations after 88 years. It had been operational till 2011 before certain parts went missing and work was undergoing to restore it again,“ said an official.
First indigenously built F-1/734 Steam Locomotive
Shoeb Khan, Oldest locomotive: Built in Ajmer, pride of Delhi, Aug 3, 2017: The Times of India
JAIPUR: United India's first indigenously built F-1/734 Steam Locomotive in 1877 by the Ajmer Locomotive workshop is the only showpiece in the National Rail Museum in New Delhi to be taken care off by the staff of Ajmer locomotive.
The locomotive was built by a team of British engineers. It remained operational till 1938 on a route from Delhi to Ahmedabad and Delhi to Indore. Its manufacturing cost was Rs 15,369.
The Ajmer Workshop is one of the oldest railway Workshop set up in British India, Established in 1877. This workshop continued to make locomotives till the end of Second World War and has made 436 locomotives. The locomotive painted in original black livery with bold R.M.R. inscriptions in brass requires tools for its maintenance available in Ajmer. The 38.25 tonne 0-6-0 wheel arrangement locomotive is equipped with 'Stephenson valve gear' and inside connecting rods. Prior to F-1/734, the locomotives were brought from England and assembled in Ajmer Locomotive workshop.
RK Moondra, chief workshop manager, Ajmer who is also holding the charge of the upkeep of the first locomotive of the workshop. He says, "It requires the utmost attention to save it from rust and corrode. Besides painting, we have changed plates which get damage due to rust." The biggest challenge the staff face is the unavailability of the spare parts. They have been managing by creating parts in the workshop.
The F-1/734 Steam Locomotive is survival only by chance. Most of the locomotives built in the 20th century either have sold in the scrap market or have collapsed. This locomotive after its retirement was kept at pedestal on the insistence by those engineers and staff which had served their lives in its maintenance. Its original design and other documents have lost due to no provision of preserving old records in railways.
Tarun Jain, chief public relations officer of the North Western Railway (NWR), said, "The oldest locomotive symbolizes the pride and sense of service NWR have been rendering since its inception. The NWR realizes the importance of its heritage structures and locomotives is the reason that they are undergoing many changes keeping an eye for future." Prior to the setting up of the museum, this locomotive was kept on a pedestal outside the loco workshop at Ajmer. The building of locomotive at Ajmer was a "First" for Indian Railways. It was used on the Rajputana Malwa Railway (also known as Rajputana State Railway before 1882). It ran from Delhi to Indore and up to Ahmadabad, and later on B.B. & C.I. Railway for mixed traffic (passenger and goods).
Facts and myths about Indian Railways
Indian Railways: 5 myths and facts, Aug 22, 2017: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
Under attack after the Utkal Express derailment, the railway ministry issued a statement emphasizing that it is not stinting on safety measures and claimed that there has been a decline in the number of train accidents during the NDA regime. Here are 5 facts shared by the ministry, which will bust your misconceptions regarding the Indian Railways.
Myth #1: Number of Railways accidents and fatalities have increased under Suresh Prabhu.
Reality: The consequential train accidents have continuously declined from 135 in 2014-15 to 107 in 2015-16 and further to 104 in 2016-17. To state a comparison, the average annual accidents during UPA I were 207 per year, during UPA II were 135 per year and during current government have reduced to 115 per year. Although every human life is invaluable and is irreparable loss to us but the number of casualties have also seen a declining trend. Total fatalities in first 3 years of UPA I were 759, they increased to 938 during UPA II, while the first three years of this government has seen the number decline to 652.
Myth #2: Railways has lost focus on safety.
Reality: Safety remains one of the prime concerns and priorities for the Ministry.
1. When this government took over, analysis revealed that 40 per cent of the accidents and 60 per cent of fatalities were due to accidents on Unmanned level crossings. Hence, Mission Zero Accident was launched to ensure all Unmanned level crossings were eliminated by 2019. It has seen unprecedented success, where we eliminated 4258 UMLCs in last 3 years, leading to drop in fatalities from UMLC accidents from 64 per cent of total fatalities in 2013-14 to 16.81 per cent in 2016-17.
2. State of infrastructure is an important constituent to safety performance. The infrastructure had been deteriorating due to years of neglect, which requires huge investments. Investment in safety have increased from Rs 33972 Crore per year during UPA II to Rs54031 Crore every year under this government a jump of 60 per cent.
3. Congestion on tracks also has some impact on safety. Reduction in congestion is achieved by infrastructure upgradation which again requires huge capital expenditure. We have been working this regard also. Under this government, by the end of year we would be spending about Rs 4 lakh crore on infrastructure creation. In last 67 years since independence (1947- 2014) capital investment of Rs 4.9 lakh crore was made on Indian Railways.
4. In 2017-18, a Fund namely 'Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh' (RRSK) has been created for financing critical safety related works. The Fund has been created with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore over a period of five years.
5. Decision to stop production of ICF coaches, the main stay of Indian Raiwlays Passenger Business for many years, and having no anti climbing features was taken in 2015-16.
6. Existing stock of 40,000 ICF coaches (90 per cent of total coaches) cannot be discarded and hence is being retrofitted with CBC couplers to make them safer.
7. New technologies like Condition based monitoring system for rolling stock and Track and Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection System are being piloted on the network.
Myth #3: Number of vacancies in safety positions has increased recently leading to a spurt in accidents.
Reality: Average vacancy in safety positions during the period 2009-10 to 2013-14 was 18.65 per cent of total sanctioned strength. This has dropped down to 16.86 per cent in 2017 despite the sanctioned strength increasing by 5 per cent from 2014 to 2017. Further, during the current government we have recruited almost 37,510 people in the safety categories taking the total staff strength to 635940 on 1.04.2017. Massive recruitments of almost 2,00,000 staff in these categories are also lined up .
Myth #4: Railways has been dragging its feet to implement Kakodkar Committee recommendations.
Reality: High Level Safety Review Committee had made 106 recommendations on various aspects of railway's working. Out of 106, 68 recommendations have been fully accepted out of which 52 have been fully implemented and 16 are under implementation. 19 recommendations were partially accepted out of which 13 have been implemented. 19 recommendations were not accepted by the Railways.
Myth #5: Railways has diverted funds to develop fancy projects like Bullet Train.
Reality: Indian Railways has unflinching commitment to the poor and the downtrodden as can be seen by a few examples:
1.Passenger fares are still amongst the lowest in the entire world. In fact, Indian Railways subsidises passenger and suburban travel to the tune of almost Rs 36,000 crore annually.
2.Antyodaya express - fully unreserved, super-fast trains with enhanced amenities such as drinking water, vestibule trains, LHB coaches etc were launched only to cater to unreserved segment.
3. Re 1 clinics were launched at important suburban stations
4. Indian Railways ensures availability of Janta meals at all major stations
High speed train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad is being funded by Japan government with less than 20 per cent contribution from Government of India. This money, which came at incredibly attractive terms (0.1 per cent rate of interest) was made available only for this high-speed project and was not available to fund safety projects for Indian Railways. Moreover, high speed train is the safest mode of transport in the world. Hence, the government has not diverted any funds from existing corpus.
Accidents, Railway-
See graphics on this page, including 'Train accidents with the highest number of casualties, 1988- Nov 2016'
ii) The highest number of casualties was in 1981;
iii) The number of people who travel by trains in India every day.
The Times of India
See graphics on this page, including 'Train accidents with the highest number of casualties,2006- Nov 2016'
The Times of India
See graphics on this page, including ‘Rail accidents in India: 2009-March 2015’ and Train accidents with the highest number of casualties, 1995- Nov 2016
The Times of India and The Indian Express
40% of rail mishaps are at level crossings
The Times of India, Aug 25 2015
40% of rail mishaps are at level crossings
Mahendra Singh
Mishaps at level crossings are the biggest killers, accounting for 40% of train accidents and 66% of fatalities, reflecting the cashstrapped railways' failure to eliminate these crossings by building road-over bridges and road-under-bridges.
The latest data shows that there are 29,487 level crossings, of which around 10,440 are unmanned. Between 2008 and 2015, only 1,344 manned and 7,650 unmanned crossings have been eliminated. In 2015-16, railways targets to get rid of 820 unmanned and 205 manned crossings.
Around 18 accidents on unmanned crossing and three on manned have been reported since April 2015.
Ex-gratia payment for accidents not revised, 1997-2016
IANS, Damages for train accident victims unchanged for 19 yrs', 21 Nov 2016
Even though the cost of living and medical treatment have shot up manifold in the last two decades, the ex-gratia amount given to the kin of those killed in rail accidents has remained unchanged for the last 19 years.
The Rs 4-lakh ex-gratia was fixed way back in 1997, and it continues to be the norm even in 2016. This is in sharp contrast to the previous practice of upward revision of the amount every 10 years or so. For the first time in Independent India, Rs 10,000 ex-gratia was fixed for the families of the dead in a 1962 train disaster, which was doubled in 1963.
[Indpaedia points out that railway fares have not been revised much since 1997 either. Secondly, travel insurance is available for less than Re.1.]
2012-17: Deaths at unmanned level crossings dip 66%
`Deaths at unmanned level crossings dip by 66% in 5 yrs’, August 14, 2017: The Times of India
A parliamentary panel has found that the number of train accidents as well as casualties at unmanned level crossings has come down in the last five years.
Railways Convention Committee, in its report submitted in Parliament, noted that the number of accidents in 2012-'13 was 53, which came down to 20 in 2016-'17. The committee, headed by BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, found that the number of casualties due to accidents at unmanned crossings has come down from 123 in 2012-'13 to 40 in 2016-’17.
The panel found that as many as 6,169 unmanned level crossings have been eliminated in the last five years, the highest (1,503) being in 2016-'17. “What is more encouraging is the fact that three zonal railways -Central, Eastern and West Central -have been able to completely eliminate unmanned level crossings,“ it said.
As of April 2017, there were 27,054 level crossings on the railways network: 19,504 manned and 7,550 unmanned.
The Railway Board chairman informed the committee that as of April 2017, the total number of unmanned crossings (in broad gauge) were 4,943 and it intended to remove them in three years. Railways has set the target of elimination of 1,500 unmanned crossings in 2017-'18, 1,500 in 2018-'19 and 1,943 in 2019-’20.
The committee has also suggested that the railways pay compensation to road us ers who are killed or injured at level crossings, without making them go through the judicial process. It recommended that the cause of each accident at level crossings should be investigated, preferably by an outside agency .
“...and if lapses on the part of the railways are established based on such investigations, Indian Railways should suo motu pay compensation to the road users also, instead of waiting for a decree by the MACT (Motor Accident Claims Tribunal) or any other court so as to avoid time consuming process of litigation,“ it said.
As of now, under the Railways Act, 1989, liability of the railways to provide compensation is limited to rail passengers who are victims of accidents. Road users are given compensation only if decreed by MACT or another court.
2014-17
See graphic:
Major railway accidents, 2014-17
Sabotage cases, February 2017
See graphic:
Suspected cases of rail sabotage, February 2017
The Times of India, August 23, 2017
2016-17, number of accidents
See graphic: Train accidents and derailments, 2007-2017
Fatalities from train derailments in 2016-17 were the highest in the last decade at 193. This despite a drop in train accidents in the last two years. However, the two accidents in August 2017—the derailment of the Utkal Express on August 19 and the Kaifiyat Express on August 23, have once again raised questions about the Railways commitment to passenger safety and the delayed implementation of safety norms.
`Unofficial' track repair work
The Utkal Express mishap, which claimed 23 lives, has brought into focus smaller incidents that keep happening due to “unofficial“ maintenance of tracks where repair work is undertaken without taking permission from authorities and not following prescribed norms.
In this “short-cut“ method, officials do not put any speed restriction, such as red flag or signal warning, on the route and try to complete the maintenance work when there is no train operation.
Several officials of engineering department admitted that on many occasions they resorted to the practice of “unofficially“ doing repair works as seeking “block“ (time period) might delay some trains running on the route, which in turn gets reflected in performance report of the concerned officer and of the division and zone. “Due to heavy traffic, it is also very difficult to take blocks for maintenance. We are also under tre mendous pressure to do repair work on time,“ an official told TOI. There is a provision that in an emergency situation maintenance work can be done by putting up red flags on both the sides at 1200 metres.
As reported by TOI, the engineering department of Delhi division was doing repair work “unofficially“ at Khatauli and railways has admitted maintenance work was on without proper norms.Mohammed Jamshed, member (traffic), railway board said it was not “clear“ what kind of work was going on at the site. “We have maintenance ma nuals which lay down guidelines for work on any kind of railway infrastructure.“
As per reports, officials were aware 14-15m of track at the accident site needed urgent repairs, but they resorted to “short-cut“ since the stretch saw heavy traffic and feared causing delays would reflect poorly on records.
Another issue is recruitment of overqualified track maintenance staff. “MBAs, BE engineers are joining as trackmen who are not ready to listen to supervisor. Most are preparing for other competitive exams so try to get posted at the bungalows of senior officials,“ said a source.
With railways struggling to check increase in deaths due to 50% spike in cases of derailments of trains, Niti Aayog has found that while human failure accounted for 87% of mishaps, there has been a 60% increase in number of accidents for which engineering directorate was responsible.
Accidents due to failure of railways staff stood at 64 (2016-17) against 55 (2015-16), 60 (2014-15). Failure of staff accounted for 61.5% of the total accidents in 2016-17.
Budget and finances: Railways
2007-10: Discrepancies in railways’ net revenue surplus
Mahendra Kumar Singh TNN The Times of India, Aug 6, 2011
Former rail minister Lalu Prasad’s turnaround of railways from a loss-making to a profit venture was more of a cosmetic exercise, reveals the government auditor’s report.
According to CAG, it was the new practice of issuing a “statement of cash and investible surplus” that helped Lalu project a rosy picture. The auditor has said the innovation helped the former railway minister project a “cash and investible surplus” of Rs 88,669 crore from 2004-2005 to 2008-2009 when the net revenue surplus was only Rs 34,506 crore.
Railways calculated the net revenue surplus after meeting all expenditures, including payment of dividend and appropriation to depreciation reserve fund (DRF) used for renewal or replacement of existing assets.
The ‘cash surplus’ in new presentation indicated the sum generated by railways from operations and other activities, including the interest on fund balance. It shows the money available for paying dividend, appropriation to DRF and other funds for investment. The “investible surplus” was expected to indicate the resources generated annually for capital expenditure after fulfilling the dividend liability.
CAG endorsed the white paper presented by Lalu’s successor Mamata Banerjee in Parliament, which questioned the turnaround story, and pointed out, “this was not accounting change but more in nature of presentation of financial projections from different perspective.”
However, the railways’ finances became worse during Mamata’s tenure as the net revenue surplus saw a sharp decline from Rs 13,431 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 4,457 crore in 2008-09 to a paltry Rs 75 lakh in 2009-10.
Though, CAG mentioned that the poor state of affairs was due to the implementation of the sixth pay commission, which was Rs 37,472 crore during 2008-10, it also blamed the lower growth rate in traffic receipts and increase in working expense.
“During 2009-10, the gross traffic receipt increased by 9%, whereas ordinary working expense grew by 21% over the previous year,” the report cited. Railways efficiency measured by operating ratio (percentage of working expenses to traffic earnings) declined to 95.28% in 2009-10 from 90.46% achieved in the previous year.
Out of 16 zonal railways, eight had operating ratio of more than 100%, which means that their working expenditure was more than traffic earnings. The report reflects that the performance of the railways declined marginally during the last leg of Lalu’s tenure and further worsened when Mamata was at its helm.
Exclusive Railway budgeting to end in 2017
The Times of India, Aug 13, 2016
Mahendra Singh
There will be no separate railway budget from financial year 2017-18, putting an end to a practice that started in 1924, with the finance ministry agreeing to the proposal to merge the transporter's annual exercise with the general budget. Government sources told that the finance ministry has constituted a five-member committee of officers to work out the modalities for the exercise, which will end the annual budget speech+ , often followed closely for project announcements, by the railway minister. The move is significant as in recent years, particularly since coalition governments post-1996, political heavyweights have used the railway budget to hand out goodies and for their own image building. With the railway portfolio often held by regional biggies, the budget reflected political priorities of the incumbent. The railway bureaucracy has also dug in its heels in the past.
Railway minister Suresh Prabhu+ 's readiness to give up the limelight is a break from the past as BJP seems in a position to dump the railway budget as its solid majority in Lok Sabha enabled it to retain the portfolio rather than handing it to an ally.
Once the rail budget is merged with the general budget, railways will be like any other government department that receives budgetary support but comes under the finance ministry's oversight as far as spending and earnings are concerned.
Once the overall funds are allocated, railways will then segregate them for various purposes with sources indicating that the model will be similar to the one for the postal department.
Coach production
Replacing ICF coaches with LHB to take 30 years
Mahendra Singh, Shift to safer LHB coaches may take 30 yrs, Nov 23 2016 : The Times of India
Phasing out of the ICF designed coaches, which piled up during the Kanpur train accident causing death of 150 passengers, will take almost 30 years if the railways moves ahead with the current pace of production of modern Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) coaches, servicing elite Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.
Ignoring suggestions of several expert committees which termed the ICF coaches as “safety risk“, the transporter's pace of switching over to LHB coaches has been very slow.
Apart from the inbuilt safety feature of not piling up, the LHB coaches are designed for speeds upwards of 120 kmph, are more fuel efficient and have longer a life span, while the ICF coaches are not meant for speed above 80-90 kmph. After the Kanpur tragedy , the railways is considering to step up the induction of LHB coaches, but a complete transition may take some time. As per the railways' coach production programme, the production units will make 1253 LHB coaches in 2016-17. If the transporter fails accelerate production of these modern coaches, it will take 30 years to replace the ICF coaches which form a large part of its fleet with over 40,000 in operation. At present, only 4,000 LHB coaches are in service.
The transporter is resisting the switch-over process due to poor finances and limited capacity of production units.
Crime on trains
2015: Crime on trains vs. outside
See graphic.
Freight corridor, Dedicated railway-
Land compensation issues: 2016
Rail Project Battles Compensation Claims
The dedicated railway freight corridor has finally managed to award all contracts for the Dadri-Mumbai link over 11years after the flagship infrastructure project was announced. But on the eastern front -that will connect Ludhiana with Dankuni in West Bengal -nearly 10% of the land, which is close to 450 hectare, is yet to be acquired even as funding has now been tied up.
For the Rs 81,450 crore project, land acquisition and clearances have been the biggest headache so far. The project needed around 11,600 hectare -6,000 hectare for the western and 4,587 hectare for the eastern stretch. While it was battling court cases and arbitration, a third blow came by the way of the new land acquisition cost, which pushed up the average price from around Rs 1.3 crore a hectare to around Rs 2 crore -an increase of around 54%. Project cost has also been increased as the land acquisition cost rose 75% from the budgeted level of around Rs 8,000 crore to nearly Rs 14,000 crore now . This could go up further depending of the arbitration awards.
In recent years, land acquisition has been a major headache for most infrastructure projects -highways, railways, power generation and special economic zones (SEZs). In several cases, the projects needed to be reworked, if not shelved.
The corridors running across 3,360 km are aimed at building electrified railway system to enable each train to carry a load of up to 13,000 tonnes -which is the load carried by 1,300 trucks. On each corridor, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is laying double lines, which will treble the average speed of the double-stack goods trains from 25 kmhour to 75 kmhour.While the western leg is funded by Japanese agency JICA, eastern stretch is financed by the World Bank.
“There is no escalation in the project cost. Whatever increase is there is on account of higher cost of land,“ said DFCCIL managing director Adesh Sharma, adding that the project would be fully ready by 2019-end, a year behind the original deadline.
But, before that it needs to battle nearly 2,000 court cases and over 9,500 arbitration awards, of which nearly half are yet to be disposed off. DFCCIL planned the project in a way that it avoided large cities, where land acquisition was going to be a problem. But, challenges have come mainly from areas around the large cities, where prices are higher and “fertile“ agricultural land is being acquired.
Sample this: Nearly half the arbitration cases that are pending are in Haryana (2,277 out of 4,679 cases). When it comes to court cases, Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 669 out of the 1,020 pending cases.
“Most of the arbitration cases relate to compensation based on the latest registration price. Wherever, there is an award, we are paying higher compensation,“ Sharma said.
Freight Policy
Dual Freight Policy struck down/ 2016
The Hindu, June 29, 2016
Dual freight policy for iron ore goes
In a bid to boost freight traffic volumes, the Indian Railways has abolished its dual freight policy for carrying iron ore, a long-pending demand from industry players.
According to a 2008 policy, the tariff for transportation of iron ore to ports for the purpose of exports is three times the rate charged for transporting the same commodity for domestic use in steel and cement industries.
“The dual pricing policy for iron ore transportation was very complicated. From now on, whether you move the iron ore to the plant or to the ports for exports, we will be charging the same,” Railway Board Member (Traffic) Mohammed Jamshed said on Wednesday. Cheering the move, industry representatives said the freight rationalisation will help both Railways and the iron ore sector. “It is a long-overdue move. We had urged the government to bring parity in rates of iron ore transportation irrespective of point of origin and destination,” said Basant Poddar, vice president at Federation of Indian Mineral Industries. A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in Parliament last year had pointed out that the freight business suffered losses of around Rs 29,000 crore in 2008-13 due to the dual pricing system for transporting iron ore. It had found that iron ore was carried at lower domestic rates but was diverted for exports resulting in huge losses to the exchequer.
Littering at Indian stations: 2013-15
See graphic
Luxury trains
See graphic.
Tejas Express
Tejas Express: Fare, safety, route and all one needs to know, May 22, 2017: The Times of India
1. Fully-loaded The train has got all the ultra-modern amenities like on-board infotainment, wi-fi, CCTV, fire and smoke detection facilities, tea and coffee vending machine etc. General manager of central railway, who inspected the train at the Chhatrapati Shiva-ji Terminus, Mumbai (CSTM) likened Tejas Express with an "aeroplane moving on the ground”.
2. Speed India's first premium train will run at an average speed of 130kmph.
3. Design The train, manufactured at the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, will have automatic entrance door, a first in non-suburban train in Indian railways. The graffiti proof, vinyl-wrapped specially designed exterior has a bright colour theme of orange and yellow. Tejas Express has a dust-proof/sealed inter car gangway. The express will also be pressed into service in Delhi-Chandigarh and Delhi-Lucknow sectors, according to the railways.
4. Route and Schedule The Tejas Express would operate between Mumbai and Karmali (Goa) five days a week during non-monsoon period and three days a week during monsoon by halting at Dadar, Thane, Panvel, Ratnagiri and Kudal stations.
5. Capacity The 20 coach train will have one executive AC chair car with 56 seating capacity and 12 AC chair cars with 78 seat capacity of each coach.
6. Fare Tejas Express's executive class fare is Rs 2,940 (with food) and Rs 2,540 (without food), and for AC chair car the fare has been fixed at Rs 1,850 (with food) and Rs 1,220 (without food). Besides the railways has also planned optional on-board catering services.
7. Safety The high-speed train has all the safety measures like suppression system, fire suppression system, smoke detection and fire detection. A GPS-based passenger information display system and a digital destination board has also been installed for the convenience of the passengers.
8. Braille assistance Tejas Express has also got Braille assistance installed for visually challenged passengers.
9. Cleanliness The train has bio-vacuum toilets facility in all the coaches. It will also have other features like hand dryers, water level indicators and touch-less water taps.
10. Response from public According to central railway, passengers have shown positive response in booking advance trains for the train.
Medical facilities for passengers
Ambulance on rails
Central Railway (CR) unveiled India's first airconditioned rail ambulance that will rush to the aid of injured passengers during the vital `golden hour'.
An accident victim's chances of survival are greatest if treatment is provided within an hour or less, known as the golden hour. The ambulance, which will be stationed at Kalyan, was made by modifying an AC coach used for passenger service.
CR's chief public relations officer Narendra Patil said, “The four-coach rail ambulance of CR is the first fully airconditioned medical recovery van of the Indian railway .“
Passenger traffic
2016: Railways bears 43% of cost
The Times of India , Apr 15 2016
Railways bears 43% of travel cost at a yearly loss of Rs 30,000cr
Mahendra Singh Almost half of the cost of your train travel is borne by the railways. The political cost of doing away with the huge subsidy on passenger fares has prevented the transporter from tinkering with tariff over the years. The railways incurs a loss of Rs 30,000 crore every year in cross-subsi 30,000 crore every year in cross-subsidising passenger fares. “On an average, railways bears 43% cost of your travel,“ says a scroll running on the railways board's portal.
At a time when the transporter is under financial stress, there were expectations that the current leadership with Suresh Prabhu at the helm would revise passenger fares to bring out the transporter out of the financial mess. But, Prabhu seems to have opted for a “politically safe“ path by deferring the matter and leaving the “dirty job“ for the yet to be set up rail development authority .
The minister was of the view that the transporter should first focus on improving its services and try to raise resources through other means. “Whenever you raise fares, there are more questions raised than the rise. Therefore, we are trying to create a new mechanism whereby there will be a proper system that will be put in place (for revising fares),“ Prabhu had said.
Besides failing to meet its annual revenue targets, the railways is faced with an additional burden of Rs 32,000 crore this year towards implementing the 7th pay commission recommendations. Soon, after assuming office in 2014, the BJP government had announced a 14% across-the-board hike in fares, but was forced to roll it bac in sub-urban sector.
A.C. coach traffic vis-à-vis air traffic/ 2016
Domestic air traffic is booming but the travel surge seems to have given the railways a miss, especially in the more profitable air-conditioned classes. While air traffic grew 23% to almost 77 million during April-December, the number of passengers travelling in air-conditioned railway coaches, which touched 108 million, grew at less than 5%.
As a proportion of number of passengers travelling in air-conditioned coaches, air traffic was over 71% (see graph), which is a record. Just a year ago, it was a shade over 60%. As a proportion of AC passenger traffic, domestic air traffic used to hover around the 50% mark until 2014-15.
For Indian Railways, passenger traffic is subsidised by freight or cargo with fares, on an average, covering 57% of the cost. Airconditioned coaches are comparatively less loss-making, although AC three-tier was making profit.
A NITI Aayog analysis showed that a couple of years ago, the railways was spending Rs 1.67 for every rupee earned from its passenger business due to its socalled social obligation.
But a drop in air fares on the back of a fall in global oil prices, together with the railways' experiment with dy namic pricing -which made AC travel more expensive for those booking late -meant that it was more attractive to fly.
Faced with financial stress, the transporter ignored the decline in AC traffic and chose an easier option of introducing flexi-pricing for AC classes to reduce losses, over-looking the suggestions that it should actually hold fares, where it was vulnerable to competition.
Railways, as of now, controls large market share in suburban travel and long distance non-AC travel, but the state-run transporter succumbed to populist pressures and failed to rationalise fares in air-conditioned segments even as it lost shortdistance passengers to luxu ry buses and private vehicles and long-haul to airlines.
The transporter was forced to bear the subsidy of around 64% on suburban travel. While this accounts for 54% of passengers, it yielded just 5.7% of passenger revenues in 2015-16.
The only long-distance segment in which Indian Railways has a large market share is non-AC classes -sleeper and general, but the fare is highly subsidised.The NITI Aayog analysis showed that compared to bus fares, almost 99% of the fare in general coaches is subsidised, while in the sleeper classes the under-recovery is as much as 60%.
So, railways is actually losing a share of the profitable segment.
’Passenger’ (slow) trains
See graphic
Personnel issues
Shortage of staff: 2016
Chethan Kumar, 1.3L Safety Staff Shortfall Derails Rlys, Nov 22 2016 : The Times of India
Existing staff putting in 15 hrs a day
The number of people India loses to train accidents every year could be directly linked to the huge shortage of frontline employees in the “safety category“ of the Indian Railways -1.27 lakh such posts remain vacant as of 2016.
The safety employees, who include trackmen, pointmen, patrolmen, technicians and station masters among others, are directly responsible for the safe running of our trains.And, this crippling shortage of the key force on the ground, experts and unions opine, imperils the lives of passengers.
This has also resulted in the overworking of existing workers, almost all of whom are toiling more than 15 hours a day -leaving enough room for mistakes that could result in grave incidents like the one on Sundaywhich claimed more than 100 lives.
The Railways, which has been more than enthusiastic in spending on `designer uniforms' and other branding exercises, has exhibited nothing but apathy when it comes to filling up safety posts.
As of 2013, the number of such vacancies was 1.42 lakh and in three years, that has only reduced by about 19,500. According to information accessed from the ministry of railways, the national carrier has an overall shortage of 2.17 lakh employees. Of this, 56% or 1.27 lakh are in the safety category.
All India Railwaymen's Fe deration (AIRF) general secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra said, “Where we need three patrolmen, we don't even have one.“
A trackman, for example, says, “I work a 12-13 hour shift on any given day , and more in case somebody takes ill or on days of high maintenance. On an average any trackman needs to carry about 15-17 kg of equipment and we have to work whether it is raining or it is 42 degrees. We have no respite from harsh conditions and the least we hope is that the vacancies are filled up so that we at least get the deserved rest.“
Among the 18 railway divisions, the most such vacancies are in the northern division (14,442), followed by east central (10,034), south eastern (9,967) and central (9,910). The north central division, under whose jurisdiction Sunday's tragedy occurred has a shortage of 9,223 safety employees. Pointing out that the pressure is immense, a loco pilot, who did not want to be named, said, “Depending on the route and division, a locopilot could be driving continuously for 813 hours. The shortage affects us because we are all humans, we become sick, we get tired, and then mistakes can happen. When we have lives of so many people in our hands, you must understand the kind on pressure we work under.“
While the Railways officially maintains that it accords the highest priority to safety with measures like “replacement of overaged assets, adoption of suitable technologies for upgradation and maintenance of track, rolling stock, signaling and interlocking systems et al,“ union members say that the sheer lack of people to implement all these is what is resulting in accidents.
1.4 lakh rail safety staff posts vacant/ 2017
Amrita Didyala, Vacancies Show A Clear Case Of Railway Apathy, Jan 23 2017: The Times of India
1.4L rail safety staff posts vacant in India
The derailment of the Hirakhand Express comes in close succession to at least four similar train mishaps across the country.
Weeks ago, a goods train derailed at Wihirgaon station on Kazipet-Balharshah section of South Central Railway (SCR), leading to a major disruption of train movement on the important “trunk route“.
While authorities get down to checking the possibility of Saturday's train mishap -the fifth in the last six months -being the result of sabotage, the number of vacancies for safety officers shows a clear case of neglect and apathy .
In the East Coast Railway (ECoR) sector, where the accident occurred, there is a 24% vacancy in safety official roles, as per official records. Meanwhile, 1.42 lakh posts for safety staff remain unfilled across India, which, experts say , is a major concern and clear case of apathy .
“The pressure on crucial safety staff has remained very high over the years and this has also been pointed out in various internal reports. Not only are there huge vacancies but the existing staff work under sub-standard conditions.While higher-ups in the ministry might be awaiting the assistance of technology before filling vacant posts, the automated anti-collision device tested previously does not seem very promising. The posts need to be filled up,“ pointed out a retired senior official from SCR.
As against a sanctioned strength of 6,398 engineering staff posts, there are only 4,827 filled; the remaining 1,571 are vacant in the ECoR. Again, 67 posts in security , 93 in signal and telecom, and 613 in electrical local running are vacant as per Railway Board data.
“With such high vacancies in critical posts, mishaps are bound to happen. Engineering staff, signalling staff, and even loco pilots are frequently working 2024 hours straight due to vacant positions. Even SCR has over 10,000 vacancies in safety staff,“ said K Shivakumar, divisional secretary , SCR Mazdoor Union.
Railway Board
Reoganisation, 2016
The Times of India, Aug 02 2016
Mahendra Singh
Now, an outside expert in rly board
In a big move to overhaul colonial-era railway bureaucracy , the Modi government has decided to allow lateral entry of external talent for one senior position in the railway board, reorganise the top decision-making body on functional lines and rework the policy of appointments of GMs and DRMs to eliminate discretion.
The Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) decided to create a post of Advisor (resource mobilisation & development) which will be filled through lateral entry , aiming to accelerate the modernisation efforts to revamp the state-run transporter.
The ministerial panel, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also decided to reorganise the railway board on functional lines by creating post of member (infrast ructure), member (rolling stock), member (traction).
At present, the board has members dealing with different departments such as engineering, traffic, mechanical, and staff apart from the financial commissioner. Over the years, inter-services rivalry has often resulted in blocking of key projects, impacting the government's efforts to upgrade decaying rail infrastructure. While reserving the post of members for different railway services, the panel al so decided to create post of DGs in railway board for three services -personnel, signal and telecom and stores -which don't have representation as members.
In another move, the ACC has decided to discontinue entry of officers through the Special Class Railway Apprentice Examination (SCRA) in Indian Railway Services for mechanical engineers. Started in 1927, the SCRA involved selection to the undergraduate programme in mechanical engineering at the Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE) at Jamalpur.
Jamalpur graduates -being the youngest to enter railway service -have usually had a disproportionately high share of senior level posts as divisional railway managers (DRMs) and general managers (GMs).
The selection process for GMs and DRMs has also being changed drastically to eliminate discretion in top level appointments which were mired in controversy during the UPA regime due to alleged corrupt practices, highlighted by the arrest of railway board member Mahesh Kumar and delay in filling large number of vacancies.
The DRM posts will be distributed as per strength of railway services and posting will be based on service-wise seniority eliminating the possibility of pick and choose.
Stations
2017: the cleanest and dirtiest in India
Mahendra Singh, Beas, Vizag cleanest railway stations in India, May 18, 2017: The Times of India
Beas railway station is the cleanest, followed by Vishakhapatnam and Khammam, out of 407 stations in India, according to a survey released by the railways.Among the 75 bigger and busy railway stations, Visakhapatnam is on top, followed by Secunderabad and Jammu.
New Delhi station was ranked 39 among the most busy stations while Bangalore City is at 10th position, Hyderabad at 16th, Mumbai Central at 27th and Chennai Central at 49th rank. Interestingly , Anand Vihar (in Delhi) is at number five, just behind Vijayawada and ahead of Lucknow in the ranking of 75 busy stations.
Among stations in the cap ital, Anand Vihar is at 10th position in overall ranking while Nizamuddin has bagged 74th, Old Delhi station 75th and at New Delhi station is way back at 139th rank.
Stations at Jogbani, Madhubani and Sagauli -all in Bihar -are the dirtiest in the overall ranking. Among the most busy stations, Darbhanga (Bihar) was the dirtiest, followed by Bhopal and Ambala.
The railway station in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of PM Narendra Modi, was ranked at 14th position among busy stations while it managed to get 30th position in overall ranking. Gorakhpur, represented by UP CM Yogi Aditya Nath, is at 12th position (28th in overall ranking).
The survey was carried out based on regular periodic third party audit by the Quali ty Council of India and feedback from passengers. Clean toilets at platforms, clean tracks and dustbins at stations were some of the criteria for judging railway stations for cleanliness. According to the survey , Guwahati, Varanasi, Mughalsarai and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations have shown tremendous improvement in comparison to the last survey .
Among the zones, South East Central Railways, headquartered at Secunderabad, is the cleanest while North Frontier Railways, Guwahati, is the dirtiest. The survey was carried out for 407 stations, out of which 75 are in the A-1 category (most busy stations) which contribute more than Rs 50 crore in passenger earnings every year and 332 are in the A category which earn between Rs 6 crore to Rs 50 crore.
2017: the cleanest and dirtiest in Delhi
Jasjeev Gandhiok, Anand Vihar station fifth cleanest, May 18, 2017: The Times of India
Ranks Much Higher Than Old & New Delhi Railway Stations In A1 Category
The Anand Vihar railway station has been ranked fifth cleanest among the A1 category stations surveyed in the latest Swachh Railway Report -the cleanest in the capital ahead of its more heralded rivals, Old Delhi (24th) and New Delhi (39th) stations. Anand Vihar's cleanliness is helped to an extent by the smaller passenger load than the other two, but it also has some practical design features that helps it manage waste and dirt better. Stations whose annual earning is more than Rs 50 crore come under A1category .
Setting the station apart is the use of 10-metre wide subways instead of foot-overbridges. This feature helps reduce the passenger congestion on the platforms.
Railway officials said that another unique feature of the station was the loading of parcels, food and linen on trains in the stabling area rather than at the platform. This has greatly reduced the chances of garbage and litter accumulating on the tracks.
“On all other stations including Old Delhi, Nizamuddin and New Delhi, parcel goods, food items and linen are loaded on the platform. Moreover, at Anand Vihar, exit rooms don't open towards the platform but towards the main entry to the station to ensure that food items or garbage do not end up on the platform or the tracks,“ said RN Singh, divisional railway manager (New Delhi).
In addition, Anand Vihar has an underground drainage system designed to keep the tracks clean. The tracks also have the provision for being cleaned by spray machines that run on the central line between the platforms. “ A lot of plantation work has also been carried out in the non-operational areas at Anand Vihar to promote beauty and cleanliness, and we are conducting a survey that will aid us in carrying out similar developments at Nizamuddin, Old Delhi and New Delhi railway stations,“ added Singh.
Meanwhile, the New Delhi railway station will soon see an operational waste-to-energy plant becoming operational as part of a green initiative. This power plant is likely to handle most of the waste load generated at the station. At Old Delhi, there are plans to install solar panels.
Railways officials opined that a higher passenger load could be the reason why New Delhi railway station lagged so far behind in the Swachh Railway survey .
“New Delhi station is as old as Anand Vihar,“ said an official. “But the higher footfall there when compared with Anand Vihar is one reason why the cleanliness levels there are slightly below other stations in Delhi. But work is under way to improve the situation there.“
Renaming stations
See graphic , Renaming railway stations
Rail Development Authority
Rail Development Authority will help the Indian Railways take decisions on pricing of services, consumer interests, generating revenue and competition, among others
The Cabinet in April 2017 flagged off a major reform in Indian Railways, by allowing the formation of an independent railway regulator called Rail Development Authority (RDA), with an initial corpus of Rs50 crore.
The regulatory authority will change the landscape of Indian Railways as it will help the national carrier take decisions on pricing of services commensurate with costs, protect consumer interests, suggest measures for enhancement of non-fare revenue, promote competition and encourage market development, create positive environment for investment, promote efficient resource allocation and benchmarking of service standards, and suggest measures for absorption of new technologies and human resource development.
Until now, reforms in Indian Railways like increase in train tariffs and reduction in the number of railway employees have been withheld due to political reasons.
The need for a rail regulator has been emphasized since 2001 by various committees. The first recommendation for an independent rail regulator came in 2001 when an expert group under the chairmanship of Rakesh Mohan suggested the formation of a regulatory authority to fix rail tariffs. Later, several railway committees suggested a Railway Tariff Development Authority. The most recent recommendation for RDA came through the National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC) in 2014 and Bibek Debroy’s Committee in 2015.
In Railway Budget 2015-16, minister for railways Suresh Prabhu had announced that for the purpose of orderly development of infrastructure enabling competition and protection of customer interest, it is important to have a regulation mechanism independent of the service provider. Further, it was proposed to set up a mechanism for making regulations, setting performance standards and determining tariff.
Functions of RDA
The railway regulator will work within the parameters of the Railway Act, 1989. Here is what it will do:
• Tariff determination: The regulator will frame principles, recommend tariffs, principles for classification of commodities, frame principles for social service obligation and guidelines for track access charges on dedicated freight corridors.
• Ensuring fair play: The Railway Board has been often accused of bias. The regulatory body will ensure level-playing field for all stakeholders. It will help propose modifications and send suggestions or advisory notes on investment in railways by the Indian Railways, make suggestions regarding policies for private investment to ensure reasonable safeguards to PPP investors and to resolve disputes regarding future concession agreements.
• Setting standards: It will help set efficiency and performance standards, and disseminate information in line with global best practices and benchmarking.
Constitution of RDA
The RDA will have a chairman and three members with a fixed term of five years each. They can be removed by the Central government only on certain grounds, including insolvency, conviction, misbehaviour, physical and mental incapability.
The organisation will be set up with an initial corpus of Rs50 crore and can engage experts from relevant areas for assistance.
It will be an independent body with a separate budget. The independence is ensured through provision of a separate budget, and the appointment and removal process.
The Central government will appoint the chairman and members by choosing from a panel of names recommended by the search and selection committee consisting of cabinet secretary as chairman, chairman railway board, secretary of department of personnel and training and chairman of any regulatory body of the Central government nominated by the cabinet secretary.
The state of the Railways
2017
Derek O'Brien, Feb 16 2017 : The Times of India
Freight earnings in 2016-17 are lower than in 2015-16. This is the first time freight earnings have fallen since 1978-79. It is a telling statistic about the state of the railways and the overall economy .
For 70 years, capital expenditure for the railways has been borne by the Union government. Now, Indian Railways has set up 70 projects to be constructed in collaboration with nine state governments.
The sustainability of these projects is still to be tested. In the years to come, the railway ministry will wash its hands of these projects and leave them to state governments that may not have the capacity , expertise or means. This massive shift is being undertaken under the radar, and is leading to the Central government gradually walking away from a key infrastructure area.
The points raised above are not paranoia. There is a basis to them. Any budget has two sides that should balance: the earnings side and the expenditure side. When these don't balance, we have either a positive budget or a negative budget, a profit or a loss. In turn, expenditure has t two parts: revenue expenditure and capital expenditure. Capital s expenditure is raised by the revenue surplus that the railways can gather, boosted by loans, grants and budgetary support.In case of loans, there is an element of additional cost by way of interest.
Indian Railways has taken a g massive Rs 7.5 lakh crore loan t from Life Insurance Corporation.How will it repay the loan? It has no internal revenue surplus (despite the government's attempt to whitewash railway accounts) and without the cost and terms of the LIC loan being revealed. In the midst of all this, huge and capital intensive projects are being announced without assessing their profitability.
Is Indian Railways being sucked into a debt trap? Is this another Air India in the making? A separate Railway Budget would have required the government to explain all this in detail and answer hard questions.With the merger of the Railway Budget and General Budget, the government has neatly avoided this interrogation. The NDA government is focussing on raising funds for capital investment. But it is ignoring the priority of keeping revenue streams strong. This is like a household that is not earning enough but is taking loans to buy expensive appliances.For Indian Railways, this has amounted to a dearth of money for the depreciation fund and for essential safety works. The spurt in train accidents can perhaps be explained by this, and the consequences are worrying.
No doubt rail safety was emphasised in the Budget with the announcement of the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh. However, as on November 2016, 1,25,754 non-gazetted posts related to safety were vacant.As of October 2016, there were 410 pending compensation claims relating to train accidents.Instead of bullet trains, doesn't India need more safety officials?
Can't the government at least fill vacancies that exist?
Safety is directly linked to the financial health of Indian Railways. The government needs to take immediate action to enhance freight and passenger earnings. Here again, some numbers are helpful. Till the 1990s, movement of petroleum products was the most profitable business segment for Indian Railways and it moved 75% of goods in this sector. Today the number is down to 10%. The focus should be on remedying such issues.
Postscript: I am a member of the Parliamentary Convention Committee that is due to meet next week. The primary duty of this committee is to recommend payment of dividends from Indian Railways to the finance ministry . With the finance ministry now taking direct charge of the Railway Budget, this committee has no work. I fail to understand why it is meeting and why it is not being disbanded.
The zones
2017: A ranking of the zones
HIGHLIGHTS
North Eastern Railway with its head office in Gorakhpur has got the last rank
The ranking is based on a set of 17 key performance indicators (KPIs) such as operational and financial performance
The KPIs have been made part of the annual performance appraisal reports of general managers
The railway board has started rating its 16 zones, with the aim to ensure that all senior officials take their work seriously as the performance of the zones will be reflected in their promotion and career progression.
In the rating done by the railway board between April and December 2016, South Eastern Railway headquartered in Kolkata is on the top while North Eastern Railway with its head office in Gorakhpur has got the last rank.
Interestingly, Northern Railway, with its headquaters in Delhi a few kilometres from the railway board office, was third from last. As the new railway dispensation under Suresh Prabhu has brought in a private sector-like appraisal system+ , the career graph of top officers will depend on the amount of money they have helped the state-run transporter earn, physical assets they have helped create and punctuality of trains. The ranking is based on a set of 17 key performance indicators (KPIs) such as operational and financial performance measured by passenger traffic and freight loading among others. The KPIs have been made part of the annual performance appraisal reports (APARs) of general managers, divisional railway managers and departmental heads in zonal railways.
See also
Railways, India: 1
