|
Indian
Railway - Evolution
|
The first railway on Indian sub-continent ran over a
stretch of 21 miles from Bombay to Thane. The idea of a railway to connect
Bombay with Thane, Kalyan and with the Thal and Bhore Ghats inclines first
occurred to Mr. George Clark, the Chief Engineer of the Bombay Government,
during a visit to Bhandup in 1843.
The formal inauguration ceremony was performed on 16th April 1853, when 14
railway carriages carrying about 400 guests left Bori Bunder at 3.30 pm
"amidst the loud applause of a vast multitude and to the salute of 21
guns." The first passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined
for Hooghly, a distance of 24 miles, on 15th August, 1854. Thus the first
section of the East Indian Railway was opened to public traffic, inaugurating
the beginning of railway transport on the Eastern side of the sub-continent.
In south the first line was opened on Ist July, 1856 by the Madras Railway
Company. It ran between Vyasarpadi Jeeva Nilayam (Veyasarpandy) and Walajah
Road (Arcot), a distance of 63 miles. In the North a length of 119 miles of
line was laid from Allahabad to Kanpur on 3rd March 1859. The first section
from Hathras Road to Mathura Cantonment was opened to traffic on 19th
October, 1875.
These were the small beginnings which is due course developed into a network
of railway lines all over the country. By 1880 the Indian Railway system had
a route mileage of about 9000 miles. INDIAN RAILWAYS, the premier
transport organization of the country is the largest rail network in Asia and
the world's second largest under one management.
Indian Railways is a multi-gauge, multi-traction system
covering the following:
|
Track
Kilometers
|
Broad
Gauge
(1676 mm)
|
Meter
Gauge
(1000 mm)
|
Narrow
Gauge (762/610 mm)
|
Total
|
|
86,526
|
18,529
|
3,651
|
108,706
|
|
Route
Kilometers
|
Electrified
|
Total
|
|
|
|
16,001
|
63,028
|
|
|
Other Interesting facts of Indian Railways
Indian Railways runs around 11,000 trains everyday, of
which 7,000 are passenger trains
|
7566
- locomotives
|
37,840
- Coaching vehicles
|
222,147
- Freight wagons
|
6853
- Stations
|
|
300 -
Yards
|
2300
- Good sheds
|
700
- Repair shops
|
1.54
million - Work force
|
Territorial Readjustment of Zones and In-House Reforms
In order to bring about greater efficiency in
administration, speedy implementation of on-going projects, better customer
care, reduction of workload on General Managers etc., Indian Railways have
decided to create seven new zones by territorial re-adjustment of existing
zones. The new zones, having limited financial burden on Railways, will have
thin and lean, efficient and modern administrative set up. Two of the new
zones have already started functioning.
National Rail Vikas Yojana:
With a view to complete strategically important projects
within a stipulated period of time, a non-budgetary investment initiative for
the development of Railways has been launched.. Under the scheme all the
capacity bottlenecks in the critical sections of the railway network will be
removed at an investment of Rs.15,000 crore over the next five years. These
projects would include:
1.Strengthening of the golden Quadrilateral to run more
long-distance mail/express and freight trains at a higher speed of 100 kmph.
2.Strengthening of rail connectivity to ports and development of multi-modal
corridors to hinterland.
3.Construction of four mega bridges - two over River Ganga, one over River
Brahmaputra, and one over River Kosi.
4.Accelerated completion of those projects nearing completion and other
important projects.
New Steps towards Safety and Security:
Safety of 13 million passengers that Indian Railways serve
every day is of paramount importance to the system. Over the years, apart
from the regular safety norms followed, the network has taken a number of
steps through innovative use of technology and stepped up training to its
manpower to enhance safety standards. Constitution of Rs.17,000 crore
non-lapsable Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF) to replace the arrears of
aging assets of Railways over the next six years has been a historical move
in this direction. A number of distressed bridges, old tracks, signalling
system and other safety enhancement devices will be replaced during this
period. As far as budget allocation for safety is concerned, Rs.1,400 crore
was allocated in the revised estimate for the year 2001-02 and Rs.2,210 crore
for the year 2002-2003. Extensive field trials of the Anti-Collision Device
(ACD), indigenously developed by Konkan Railway, is going on and once
deployed across the Zonal Railways, this innovative technology will help
railways reduce accidents due to collision between trains.
Security of railway passengers is at present a shared responsibility of the
Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Reserve Police (GRP).
Efforts are on to amend the Railway Act to give more powers to the RPF in
ensuring security of passengers on trains and within Railway premises.
Deployment of women police Force has been made for security and assistance of
women passengers.
Improving Financial Health:
The financial position of Indian Railways has been slowly
but steadily improving. Some of the highlights of the financial performance
during 2001-02 include: improved operating ratio from 98.8 per cent to 96.6
per cent, savings in ordinary working expenses of Rs.1,487 crore,
Depreciation Reserve Fund (DRF) balance goes up from Rs. 78.04 crore during
March last year to Rs.632.99 crore during same time this year. Railways have
established a new milestone in incremental freight loading during July this
year by carrying 5.70 million tonnes of goods. Freight loading for the last
financial year crossed the target and attained 492.31 million tonnes.
New Trends in Passenger Amenities:
To take care of the unreserved segment of the passengers,
a new pilot project on computer based unreserved ticketing has been launched
this year. Of the 13 million passengers served by the network everyday,
nearly 12 million are unreserved passengers. To cater to this huge segment,
computer based ticketing systems has been launched for all stations in Delhi
area and in due course throughout the country. With this, unreserved tickets
can be issued even from locations other than the boarding station and will
reduce crowds at booking offices and stations.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation:
with the assistance of Centre for Railway Information
Systems has launched On-line ticketing facility which can be accessed through
website irctc.co.in. Computerized reservation facilities were added at 245
new locations. At present these facilities are available at 758 locations in
the country covering about 96 per cent of the total workload of passenger
reservation. Computerized Reservation related enquiries about accommodation
availability, passenger status, train schedule, train between pair of stations
etc. have been made web enabled.
A pilot project for issuing monthly and quarterly season tickets through
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) has been launched in Mumbai this year and
has been found very successful. Another pilot project for purchasing tickets
including monthly and quarterly season tickets through Smart
Card has also been launched.
"National Train Enquiry System" has been started in
order to provide upgraded passenger information and enquiries. This system
provides the train running position on a current basis through various output
devices such as terminals in the station enquiries and Interactive Voice
Response System (IVRS) at important railway stations. So far the project has
been implemented at 98 stations.
Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) Computerisation of
freight operations by Railways has been achieved by implementing Rake
Management System (RMS). Such FOIS terminals are available at 235 locations.
Railways have established their own intra-net 'Railnet' It
provides networking between Railway Board, Zonal Headquarters, Divisional
headquarters, Production Units, Training Centers etc.
Sterling Performance by PSUs The public sector undertakings of
the Railways, especially IRCON and RITES, scored commendable achievements
during the last three years. IRCON International has achieved a record
turnover of Rs.900 crore during 2001-02 and the foreign exchange earnings of
this prestigious organization has increased six fold over the years. At the
international level, IRCON is at present executing different projects in
Malaysia, Bangladesh and Indonesia. The PSU has registered a strong presence
in the international scenario by its sterling track record.
RITES, another prestigious PSU under the Ministry has scaled new
heights in performance, profit and dividend to the shareholders during the
last three years. Its turn over increased from Rs.172 crore in 1999 to Rs.283
crore in 2002. RITES for its sterling performance secured the prestigious
ISO-9001 Certification this year. The company has also entered into
export/leasing of locomotives in different countries in Asia and Africa.
RITES is operating all over the world including Columbia, UK, Iran,
Malayasia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Indian Railways Finance Corporation Limited secured excellent rating for
fourth year in succession by the Department of Public enterprises on the
basis of the performance targets. Besides, Standards and Poor's, the
international credit rating agency, also reaffirmed the sovereign ratings to
IRFC. The Corporation has been making profits and paying dividends.
Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation ( IRCTC ) Internet based
ticket booking has been launched by IRCTC in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore,
Mumbai and Calcutta this year. Hygienic and air-conditioned food plazas
having consumer-friendly ambience opened at Pune and Chennai and license for
similar plazas awarded for 17 more locations. In all, 50 such plazas will be
opened by the end of this financial year across the zonal Railways. Railneer
- packaged drinking water is to be made available from December this year.
More than half a lakh tourists have availed the value added tour package
programme launched by the Corporation this year.
Innovative Technologies by Konkan Railway:
Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC), the technological marvel
of Indian Railways, has invented quite a few new technologies. Anti Collision
Device (ACD), state-of-art indigenous technology of KRC is currently under-going
intensive field trials and is capable of avoiding collision between trains.
Sky bus metro is another innovative, economic and eco-friendly mass rapid
transportation solution devised by Konkan Railway. Self Stablising Track
(SST) devised by KRC, which is undergoing trials at present, will help
Railways run the fastest train in the near future and will make tracks much
more safe and sustainable.
Private Sector Participation:
The participation of both private and public sectors in
developing rail infrastructure has gone up. A joint venture company was
formed with Pipava Port authorities to provide broad gauge connectivity to
Pipava Port. MoUs have been signed between Ministry of Railways and the State
governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil
Nadu and Jharkhand in developing rail infrastructure in these States.
Telecommunication - New Trends:
To give improved telecommunication systems on Railways,
Optical Fibre based communication systems has been adopted and laying OFC has
increased to 7,700 route kilometer this year. Rail Tel Corporation has been
created to make a nationwide broadband multimedia network by laying optical
fibre cable along the railway tracks. This system will provide better
operational and passenger amenities and additional revenue to Railways.
New Technologies:
India became the first developing country and the 5th
country in the world to roll out the first indigenously built
"state-of-the-art" high horse power three phase electric locomotive
when the first such loco was flagged off from Chittranjan Locomotive Works
(CLW). CLW has been achieving progressive indigenisation and the cost of
locomotives has come down to the level of Rs.13.65 crore.
Diesel Locomotives Works, Varanasi has produced state-of-the-art 4000 HP
AC/AC diesel locomotive in April this year. These locos are capable of
hauling 4,800 tonne freight trains at a speed of 100 KMPH and can run
continuously up to 90 days in one stretch without any major maintenance.
Honours and Awards:
Indian Railways achieved a number of recognitions and
awards in sports, tourism sector and for excellence in operational matters.
In the Common Wealth Games in Manchester, the Indian teams record performance
has been mainly due to Railway team's excellence in sports. Except one member
the entire women's Hockey team which bagged the gold medal belonged to
Railways. Mohd Ali Qamar of Indian Railways has bagged gold medal for boxing
and other participants from Railways helped India win medals in many a team
events. A number of sportspersons from Railways were conferred with the
coveted Arjuna Awards and other major sports awards.
Darjeeling Himalayan Railways attained the World Heritage Status from UNESCO.
Fairy Queen, the
oldest functioning steam engine in the world, which finds a place in the
Guinness Book of World Records, got Heritage Award at the International
Tourist Bureau, Berlin in March, 2000. On operational front, Delhi Main
station entered the Guinness Book for having the world's largest route relay
interlocking system.
Social obligations and care for weaker sections:
Senior citizens, students, disabled persons etc. enjoy
concessional benefits from Railways. New initiatives in this area during the
last three years include reduction of age limits for special concession to
senior women citizen from 65 to 60 years, blind and mentally challenged
persons can now travel in AC classes on confessional rates. Free second class
Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) for school going children upto tenth standard
for travel between home and school was also introduced.
Tie-Up with Foreign Railways:
Indian Railways is in constant touch with Railways across
the world to bring in state-of-art facilities in its system. Towards this, a
Memorandum of Understanding was singed during the Eighth Session of the
Indo-Austria Joint Economic Commission held in Vienna. This seeks to promote
and deepen long-term infrastructure-specific cooperation between Indian and
Austrian Railways to their mutual benefit. A three-day International
Conference of Union of Railways was organised by Indian Railways in New Delhi
in which hundreds of delegates from various industries and Railways around
the world participated.
|
