Pre-selection Training to SC ST candidates

Pre-selection Training to SC ST candidates

RBE No. 142/2019: Selection – Promotion from Gp. ‘C’ to Gp. ‘B’ Posts

Imparting pre-selection training while holding selections/ LDCEs for promotion from Group ‘C’ to Group ‘B’ posts.

(i) Pre-selection training must cover the syllabus prescribed for Selections/ LDCEs held for promotion to Group ‘B’ posts and should be imparted to all eligible candidates from reserved category, who are to be considered against vacancies reserved for them in Safety as well as Non-safety category posts. Training can also cover clarifications/ removal of doubts on different subjects in the syllabus.

(ii) Pre-selection training is not required if there is no reserved vacancy and candidates are appearing in the Selections/ LDCEs against un-reserved vacancies.

(iii) The course content, design and module of Pre-selection Training covering the syllabus should be finalized in consultation with PHOD/ HOD of the concerned Department to ensure its efficacy. 

(iv) The Pre-selection Training should be spread over 15-20 working days (3-4 weeks). Further, Pre-selection Training being imported should not be less than 60 hours. 

(v) Training may be arranged as far as possible in the Zonal Training Schools/ System Technical Schools and if not found possible, it may be arranged at Divisional level and should be managed without serious dislocation to the work. (vi) The serving divisional offices and supervisors as well as retired officers and supervisors can be deputed to take the classes.

Pre-selection training classes are mandatory for reserved category candidates who are being considered for appearing in the selections held for promotion to Group ‘B’ posts against vacancies reserved for them. If any of the candidates wants to opt out of the same, his/her refusal should be obtained in writing and its record may be kept. Similarly, if any of the staff cannot attend the course on account of leave, sickness or any other reasons, they will have to wait for the next coaching classes to make their own arrangement for self coaching. Not attending the coaching classes on this account will not be treated as an excuse for cancellation of the Selections/LDCEs or for demanding another coaching class.

Online Pre-selection Training to reserved category candidates appearing in the Selections for promotion to Group ‘B’ posts in view of the Covid-19 pandemic where it is difficult to organize institutional trading while maintaining social distancing and other Covid-19 related measures. The matter has been examined in consultation with the Training and Reservation directorates and herein it is advised that the issue may be decided after consulting the Zonal Executive Committee of All India SC & ST Railway Employees’ Association (AISCSTREA).

The course content, design and module of Pre-selection Training may be the decided by the PHOD of the concerned department.

Extra material

CHAPTER  X   COACHING/TRAINING TO SC/ST EMPLOYEES BEFORE SELECTION/PROMOTION
10.1       For safety categories which have been filled by selection from lower grade, SC/ST employees shall be imparted training before promotion, who are within the filed of consideration for selection so that they may come out successful. If they do not come up to the qualifying standard, they may again be given the rigorous training by conducting special courses and considered for promotion at the next opportunity.		52
10.2        In order to improve the representation of  SC/ST in services all eligible candidates from the reserved communities , who are otherwise eligible and likely to come under consideration for a post should be given a special suitable pre-selection coaching by the Railway Admn so that they may perform better in written test as well as viva-voce.		70
10.3 (1)       Railways may prescribe requisite promotional courses  passing of which should be pre-condition for further promotion to a grade in a cadre.   (2)                  When employees are booked for promotional course, they should relieved immediately.   (3)               No exemption should be given from passing a prescribed  promotional course.           (4)       In case of  posts for which ‘promotional course’ has been prescribed as a pre-requisite condition to promotion, the employee may be allowed to avail of three chances to pass the course at the cost of the  Administration.  More chances, if any allowed, should be at the cost of the employees itself.		91
10.4       When SC/ST employees are required to appear for selection as per general seniority and no reserved vacancy are available, pre-promotional training is not necessary.  However, if the selection is to be conducted for the next higher grade or for the same grade against the reserved vacancies, SC/ST employees shall be given pre-promotional training to enable them to qualify in the selection.		136
10.5      The best amongst the failed  SC/ST candidates should be decided taking into account the marks obtained in the written, viva-voce, seniority and confidential reports wherever these are taken into consideration before empanelling  the candidates.  Pre-selection/Pre-promotion coaching is compulsory for SC/ST candidates in Safety categories.		147
10.6      In all promotions to safety category posts, all eligible candidates must be given pre-selection coaching  covering the selection for the examination  for the selection for such posts.  Further no reserved post must be de-reserved unless such training has been imparted to all eligible  SC/ST candidates.		179
10.7      Pre-selection/Pre-promotion training must cover the syllabus of the examination to be conducted for selection to safety category posts in respect of  SC/ST employees and should be imparted, as far as possible in the Zonal Training schools/System Technical Schools for a period of  3 to 4 weeks.		188
10.8  1)          The following recommendations has been made in the 8th Report of the Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare on Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes pertaining to South Central Railway. Recommendation No.3.4                 “The Committee feel that it is necessary to have an intensive pre-selection training for  S.Cs & S.Ts.  They also feel that to make them more suitable for higher posts and to expose them to modern methods of technology a large number of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates should be selected to provide them pre-selection training. It will instill confidence among them and bring them up to the required standard of efficiency. The Committee also recommended that this should be done expeditiously in order to protect the interest of SCs and STs.		215
2.         In Board’s letter No.E(SCT)71CM15/40 dt.28.8.71 (Chapter XXI) of  Railway Board’s Brochure on the reservation for SC/ST, 3rd Edition , 1985) it has been provided that in regard to higher grades in safety categories which are filled by selection from lower grade, arrangement may be made to impart training before promotion  to the candidates belonging to the Scheduled  Castes and  Scheduled Tribes who are within the filed of consideration for selection so that they may come out  successful. If they fail to come up to the qualifying standard and the quota is left unfilled, such candidates may again be given vigorous training by conducting special courses and after that training, these candidates may be considered for promotion at the next opportunity.
3.     Further, as per instructions contained in Board’s letter No.E(SCT)74CM/15/1 dated 26.1.74 (Chapter XX of Railway Board’s Brochure on the reservation for SC/STs, 3rd  Edition, 1985) in order to improve the representation of  SC/STs in services, all eligible candidates from the reserved communities who are otherwise eligible land are likely to come under consideration for a post should be given special suitable pre-selection coaching by the Railway Administration so that they may perform better in the written test as well as viva-voce.
4.           The above instructions have earlier been reiterated also vide Board’s letter No.80-E(SCT)15/58 ‘F’ dated 28.9.81 (Chapter XX of Railway Board’s Brochure on reservation for SC/ST, 3rd Edition, 1985).
5.     Further, vide Board’s letter No.88-E(SCT)-I/42/2 dated 8/11.4.91, it was pointed out that Pre-Selection/Pre-Promotion Training in Safety categories has not produced desired results.  Therefore, it was desired that this training must cover the syllabus of the examinations to be conducted for selections to Safety Category posts and should be imparted as far as possible in the Zonal Training Schools/System Technical Schools for a period of 3-4 weeks.
6.         It is once again re-iterated that the extant instructions regarding pre-selection/promotion training/ coaching for the eligible SC/STs may please be adhered to strictly  and in effective manner so that SCs/STs’ performance may come up to the required standard and quota posts are filled by the earmarked community candidates. The outcome of training/training programme may be reviewed annually by the CPO so that pre-selection training may prove more result-oriented.
10.9     The Ministry of Railways are pleased to direct that the  Indian Establishment Manual, Vol. I (1989 Edition) may be amended as per Advance Correction Slips No.35 and 36 enclosed.   Encl: As above.   INDIAN  RAILWAY ESTABLISHMENT  MANAUL [(VOL. I (1989 EDITION)]   Advance Correction Slip No.35                Substitute the following for the existing Para 214(e)(ii) on Chapter II, Section ‘B’ of Indian Railway Establishment at Manual, Vol. I , 1989:-                  “The number of eligible staff called for consideration should be  equal to the number of existing vacancies plus these anticipated during the next six months due to normal wastage(i.e. retirement/superannuation), likely acceptance of requests for voluntary retirement/resignation, the vacancies in the higher grade in the channel, the filling up of which will result in the need to make consequent appointment from the proposed select list, staff approved to go on deputation to other units , staff already empanelled for ex-cadre posting, creation of additional posts already sanction by the competent authority and due to staff likely to go out on transfer to other Railways/ Division. However , in the case of promotion calculated on the basis of existing vacancies plus these anticipated to occur during the next four months.   NOTE :                      In respect of ‘Non-selection’ posts, promotion to which is based on scrutiny of Record of Service/Confidential Reports only, the vacancies anticipated to occur during the next one year instead of six months may be taken into account as a trial measure up to 30.6.1999.”     (Authority :- Railway Board’s letters No.E(NG)I-76/PM1/ 21 PNM-NFIR)  dated 2.2.1983, No.E(NG)I-96/ PM1/6 dated 14.2.97 and No.E(NG)I-97/PM1/31 dated 1l.2.1998)       INDIAN RAILWAY ESTABLISHMENT MANUAL VOL.I (1989 EDITION)   Advance Correction Slip No.36                   Substitutes the following for the existing Para 215(f)(ii) in Chapter II Section ‘B’ of Indian Railway Establishment Manual, Vol. I ,1989:-                  “The concept of anticipated vacancies referred to in (I) above should be deemed to connote of  vacancies due to normal wastage (i.e. retirement or superannuation), likely acceptance or notice  for voluntary retirement/resignation  the vacancies in the higher grade on the channel, the filling up of which will result in the need to make consequent appointment from the proposed panel staff approved to go on deputation to other units, staff already empanelled for ex-cadre posting, creating of posts already sanctioned by the competent authority, and due to staff likely to go on transfer to other Railways/Divisions during the period under consideration.”   (Authority: Railway Board’s letters No.E(NG)I-80/PM1/21 dated 25.1.l83 and No.E(NG)I-97/PM1/31 dated 27.2.1998).		216
10.10    Consideration of  SC/ST candidates against General post                       With the introduction of post-based roster system, certain Railways have expressed doubts in regard to the consideration of SC/ST candidates against general posts and have sought clarifications on certain specific points.  Keeping in view the extant instructions issued from time to time on the subject, Board wish to clarify the position as under:		221
Points Raised	Clarification
(i)     Whether SCs/STs are required to be considered against the reserved posts only ?	It is clarified that SCs/STs can only be considered against the reservedposts, unless such posts have been tem porarily or permanently dereserved as per extent rules. However, SCs/STs fulfilling the eligibility conditions as general candidates can also be considered against the unreserved posts. ( In this connection, attention is drawn to the instructions contained in para 3 of Board's letter No.E(SCT)68CM15/10 dated 23.10.69, which stipulates that the quota prescribed is the minimum and not the maximum, inter-alia meaning thereby that SCs/STs fulfilling the eligibility conditions have to be considered against the non-reserved posts too.)
(ii)     Whether all the eligible SCs/STs who are coming within the zone of consideration and fulfilling the eli gibility conditions can be considered for sele ction against non reserved posts if there are no reserved posts earmarked for them ?	(ii)       All the SCs/STs who are fulfilling the eligibility conditions and coming with in the zone of consideration shall be considered against the non-reserved posts, even if there are no reserved posts ear marked for them. (In this connection, attention is drawn towards the instructions contained in para 2 (ii) of Annexure I of  Railway Board's letter No.89-E(SCT)I/49/5 (Pt.)                                                 dated 16.6.92, which lays down that in case SC/ST candidates available in the list so prepared are according to 3X formula ore more, all the candidates may be called for the selection.  Attention is also drawn to example 3 of this Annexure which illustrates the position in this regard in detail)
(iii)  Whether SCs/STs are      required to be considered for selection posts/non selection posts to the extent of zone of consi deration of reserved posts Earmarked for them or all the SCs/STs who may be coming within the zone of consideration and fulfilling the eligibility conditons are required to be considered for promotion ?	In case the seniority list of lower grade from which the posts are to be filled up contains names of more SCs/ STs within the zone of consideration, all may be considered as per their  seniority.
(iv)  Whether SCs/STs who are occupying the present position in the feeder cadre one to application of reservation rules are eligible to be consi dered for General posts if they are coming within the zone of consideration and fulfilling the eligibility conditions ?	It is not that, for being con dered for general posts, an SC/ST candidate must progress all along as a general candidate. If  SC/ST candidates are fulfilling the eligibility conditions and coming within the zone of consideration, they have to be considered for promotion against the general post too.

SWLI eligibility

 SWLI eligibility:

Out of turn promotional to Sports persons and Coaches

Out-of-turn promotional to outstanding Sportspersons and Coaches for participation in Category A & B International Championships.

(i) Out-of-turn promotion may be granted to a Sportsperson to Officer grade if he fulfills the following conditions:

(a) Who has represented India in the Olympics on at least two occasions and has won at least one medal in Commonwealth Games/ Asian Games medals.

OR

(b) Who has represented India in the Olympics on at least two occasions and has been conferred Arjuna/ Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.

OR

(c) Who is conferred Padma Award on the basis of achievements in a sports and is regular employee.

(ii) One out-of-turn promotion may be granted to a Coach in Officers Grade if he fulfills the following conditions:

(a) Who is conferred Padma Award on the basis of achievements in sports and is regular employee.

(b) If he/ she has trained a sportsperson or a team which goes to win a medal on at least 3 occasions of categories A or B championships including at least 01 Olympic and substantively be in grade pay Rs.4200 (or equivalent in 7th CPC).

Note:

(i) Medals won in one Championship in a single year shall be considered as one occasion.

(ii) While World Championships/ World Cups are held once in 4 years; in some disciplines there are annual World Championships & in certain others they are held once in two years. (For such disciplines only 01 medal winning performance in 4 years will be considered, maintaining parity with World Championships in other disciplines).

(iii) For out-of-turn promotions two coaches, one achievement will be considered for one promotion only and out-of-turn Promotion shall be granted with a gap of minimum four years.

The sportsperson(s) achieving the requisite sports performance norms should apply to controlling Railway Administration. The Railway/ PU will consider the case expeditiously and obtain the approval of the Competent Authority on the Railway (General Manager) for Group ‘B’ promotion. These instructions will be applicable for all serving Railway Sportspersons/ Coaches fulfilling the existing criteria.

CAT Appeal High Court

 

Hindi Rajbhasha Award

Hindi Rajbhasha Award

Mission Satyanishtha

“Mission Satyanishtha” 

a Program on Ethics in Public Governance

In first of its kind event held by any government organization, the Indian Railways organized a programme on Ethics in Public Governance and Launched “Mission Satyanishtha” at a daylong event held at National Rail Museum, New Delhi, today i.e. 27.07.2018. Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, administered the oath to the officers and supervisors at the programme.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal said “People define an organization and an organization defines its people, hence, work culture has to be improved and transparency brought about, data should be displayed on public domains so as to get constructive feedbacks from the users”. He further added “Lack of interest towards work in any system, may be termed as unethical amounting to corruption”.

Earlier in the day, Sh. Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, Railway Board inaugurated the event and introduced the subject to the participants. The Senior Officers and Staff members of  Railways  also participated in the event. The event was webcast live to all Zonal, Divisional and Production Units from the National Rail  Museum.

The issue of Ethics, Integrity and probity in public life have been a matter of concern all over the government sector. In this context it is also extremely important that all railway servants adhere to impeccable conduct and integrity at all times. “Mission Satyanishtha” launched on 27^th July 2018 aims at sensitizing all railway employees about the need to adhere to good ethics and to maintain high standards of integrity at work. Talks and Lectures on the subject are being organised all over the Indian Railways today for this purpose.  The objectives of the Mission are:

1. To train every employee to understand the need and value of ethics in Personal and Public life.
2. To deal with ethical dilemmas in life and Public Governance.
3. To help understand the policies of Indian Railways on ethics and integrity and the employee’s role in upholding the same.
4. To develop inner governance through tapping inner resources.

Lectures on the issue were delivered in the event by eminent personalities that include:

1. Sh. K.V. Chowdhary, Central Vigilance Commissioner,
2. Sh. Prabhat Kumar, IAS, Former Cabinet Secretary
3. Sh. Mahesh Kapoor, IRTS, Former Advisor Planning Commission
4. Sh. Shanti Narayan, IRTS, Former Member Traffic Railway Board.
5. Sh. Anil Swarup, IAS, Former Secretary, School Education & Literacy, MHRD.
6. Sh. Mukund B. Kashaul, IPS, Former Secretary Internal Security, MHA.
7. Sh. Balvinder Kumar, IAS, Former Secretary, Mines.
8. Dr. Nanditesh Nilay, Motivator

Indian Railway - Evolution

 

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.