Year End Review: 2020 was an "Year of Grit and Victories" for Indian Railways

Indian Railways |Year End Review 2020 2020 was an "Year of Grit and Victories" for Indian Railways

The year 2020 was an "Year of Grit and Victories“ for Indian Railways. Faced with daunting and unprecedented Covid related challenges, under the guidance and vision of PM, Indian Railways has not only been able to keep national supply chain running and move millions of people back home in most adverse circumstances but has also been able usher in an unprecedented growth in development of infrastructure , innovation, capacity expansion of network, freight diversification and transparency matters. Railways has used covid-19 challenge as an opportunity to lay the foundation for future development and next level of traveling experience for passengers. In line with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra “Reform, Perform & Transform”, and his advice that “It is better to set a stiff target and seek to achieve it rather than drifting forward without aim”, Ministry of Railways has worked towards ushering in transformational changes across in all the area of its operations and management .Major reforms were carried out during the period are described below.

National Rail Plan: To cater to the traffic requirements up to 2050 :laying the foundation for future

A National Rail Plan (NRP) 2030 has been developed with a view to develop infrastructure by 2030 to cater to the traffic requirements up to 2050. Based on the NRP, a Vision 2024 document has been prepared to develop infrastructure by 2024 to enhance modal share of Railways in freight transportation to more than 40 per cent and to cater to the traffic requirements upto 2030. Vision 2024 document lists all priority projects with target dates of completion and allocation of resources. Multi tracking of 14,000 Km route, electrification of entire Railway network, upgrading the speed potential of important routes to 130 KMPH and 160 KMPH (present speed potential 110 KMPH), completion of important coal connectivity and port connectivity projects have been planned as part of Vision 2024. An innovative financing has been devised to fund these priority projects. Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is mobilizing resources with sufficient moratorium period and projects are being targeted to be completed well before expiry of moratorium period. These priority projects are being planned in such a way

that they will provide enough return to service the debt. The draft plan has been put in public domain and is now being circulated amongst various Ministries for comments . Ministry of Railways aims to finalize the plan at the earliest.

Process reforms execution and efficiency to improve project Organizational

In the past, Railway projects were suffering from huge time and cost overrun on account of thin spread of resources over a large number of projects and execution of projects prior to completion of prerequisite activities like land acquisition and other clearances. The capital expenditure in Railways has been vastly scaled up after 2014 (almost double the previous level) to address the accumulated backlog of infrastructure deficiency in the Railways. Along with stepped up fund allocation, super–critical (58) and critical projects (68) have been identified and prioritized. Altogether, 146 projects have been identified as crucial from the point of view of freight traffic and these have been provided with prioritized fund allocation for time-bound completion, after root cause analysis. The decision-making process for appraisal and approval of projects and sanction of estimates have been streamlined. It has also been decided to focus on those projects, which are required for improving operational efficiency, enhancing network capacity and where all clearances including land and environmental clearances etc. are available

A standardized EPC document has been adopted. General Conditions of Contract have been revised and updated to make them more workable in the field. Bonus clause for early completion, measures to improve cash flows and recognition of credentials issued by big companies and non-insistence of credentials for smaller works have been embodied in the revised conditions of contract. To help the General Managers and other field officers to speed up decision making sweeping delegation of powers has been made to General Managers, Divisional Railway Managers and other Field Units through model Schedule of Powers.

These measures along with introduction of E-work contract management system, E-Shramik Kalyan Portal and a single Central Payment System (in collaboration with State Bank of India) have vastly improved transparency in decision making. This has resulted in accelerated the pace of project execution (as measured in terms of commissioning of broad gauge lines or electrified kilometers per annum).

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

Running of SHRAMIK Special : Trains of Hope in Adversity

The COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown had put both their lives and livelihoods of millions of migrants on hold. A great many number of them urgently wanted to get back to their homes and villages.

Taking notice of this need, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the Ministry of Railways to arrange an emergency unique train service in coordination with individual state governments. The first Shramik Special train was flagged off on 1 May 2020.

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

The Railways faced several challenges during the Shramik Special operation. Still, the biggest challenge was ensuring that 63.15 lac passengers traveling through some of the country's hottest regions during peak summer months had adequate food and water. For example, Danapur Railway Station provided a total of 22.79 lakh food packets, and 28.75 lakh water bottles were provided to people traveling on 1773 trains. Similarly, Western Railways distributed about 1.2 crore meals and 1.5 crore water bottles with IRCTC's assistance.

Covid-19 challenge as an opportunity to complete critical infrastructural and maintenance projects Progress of National Connectivity

Jammu & Kashmir

• Udhampur- Srinagar- Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project by December 2022 • Length: 272 km; Commissioned - 161 km, (Katra Banihal Section left)

North East India

• All north-eastern State capitals (except

Shillong) by March 2023 • 112 km long Agartala –Sabroom rail line in Tripura completed • 45 km long doubling project from

Lumbding to Hojai completed

Rameshwaram

Modern Pamban Bridge by October 2021

Statue of Unity

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

Uttarakhand:

• Rishikesh - Karnaprayag Rail Link (125 km) by December 2024 • DPR for Chardham Connectivity is ready

Raising Sectional Speed

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

• Raising to 160 kmph approved by Cabinet in August 2019 • Planning completed • Work of deep screening, thick web switches, realignment of curves in progress • Tender invited for solar panel fencing • Indigenous TCAS Signalling & 2X25 kV

Traction system • Result in safety, higher speed and additional line capacity will be completed by December 2023

Golden Quadrilateral/Golden Diagonal Routes (130 kmph)

• New Delhi - Mumbai and New Delhi -

Howrah already upgraded • Balance routes will be upgraded by July 2021 • Planning completed and work for track and signalling in advanced stage

During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown period, Indian Railway men rose to the challenge and once again demonstrated that they can perform under adverse and crisis situations. Indian Railway took advantage of the opportunity of availability of traffic blocks due to reduced train operations during lockdown period and completed over 350 critical and long pending major bridge & track works. These works had a significant bearing on safety and operational efficiency. Some of these works were pending for several years as sufficient traffic blocks could not be made available under normal working conditions due to high density of traffic.

Speeding Electrification and Mission Greening of Railways

Electrification has been accorded high priority as a part of the national goal to transform India into a green nation. 66% of track length has been electrified by November 2020. Railways aim to complete electrification of its entire broad-gauge network by 2023.

The speed of electrification has been greatly scaled up from a level of 1176 KM in 2014-15 to 5276 in 2018-19 and 4378 KM in 2019-20 despite the setback due to COVID (in fact Cumulative 1,682 RKMs have been electrified till Nov’20 ). Once completed, IR will achieve a unique feat among the major railways in the world to run trains fully with indigenously produced power without dependence on imported fossil fuel. After 100% electrification, estimated saving on fuel/energy bill for IR would be about Rs.14,500 Cr per annum.

Indian Railways have fixed itself a stiff target of being a net-zero emitter of carbon by 2030 .This includes an ambitious target for complete electrification of IR network by 2023 and an equally ambitious target for generation of renewable energy using Railway’s assets.

This year Indian Railways started its pilot 1.5 MW solar energy plant with an aim to power its energy needs. This is part of an ambitiousprogramme is to generate 20 GigaWatt of solar power by 2030 using the sparable railway land. Besides generating renewable energy the programme would also provide free-ofcost fencing along the railway track thereby protecting the railway property from encroachment. axle load of 25/32.5 Tonnes) & overall load of 13,000 Tonnes, Facilitate the running of longer (1.5km) and double

Dedicated Freight Corridor getting completed at unprecedented speed

Dedicated Freight Corridors are getting completed at unprecedented speed will change the way fright operations work in India . It is going to not only bring the costs of freight operation down but also ensure digitally tracked bigger and faster.

In the first phase, DFFCIL is constructing the Western DFC (1504 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km including PPP section of SonnagarDankuni Section. The EDFC starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana (Punjab) will pass through the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand to terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal. The Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai will traverse through the states of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra of WDFC & EDFC (excluding the Sonnagar – Dankuni PPP section).

Dedicated Freight Corridors are expected to decongest the existing Indian Railway network, Increase the average speed of goods trains from existing 25 to 70 kmph., Run Heavy Haul trains (higher stack container trains, Connect the existing ports and industrial areas for faster movement of goods, Energy efficient and environment friendly rail transport system as per global standards, Increase the rail share from existing 30% to 45% and reduce the logistic cost of transportation.

New Services in Passenger Operations With PPP in Train Operations

Railways is now undertaking a partnership approach for passenger train operations. To enhance overall service quality and operational efficiency, IR is now pro-actively engaging with stakeholders and initiating dialogue with private players. This aims at improving the passenger experience and bringing modern technologies and private investments.

In the first phase, it is planned to introduce 151 modern passenger trains operated through PPP over 109 Origin Destination (OD) pairs of routes. This will bring private sector investment of Rs. 30,000 crore. Applications from interested parties have been received and Request for Proposals (RFP) have been issued to Shortlisted applicants in November 2020.

Station Development & Modernization

Work of development of stations at Gandhinagar, Habibganj and Ayodhya have been fast tracked. Railways is taking a partnership approach for station development and Request for Qualification (RFQs) have been invited for New Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Mumbai Terminal, Nagpur, Gwalior, Sabarmati, Amritsar, Pudducherry, Nellore, Dehradun and Tirupati stations on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

Modernisation of Coaches and More Powerful Engines: India Produces the Most Powerful Railway Engine

Commercial Operation of WAG 12

Locomotive:- Railway Board has communicated the sanction of the prototype locomotive during lockdown on 28.04.2020 and the locomotive has travelled in 14th Zonal Railways and the fleet strength in 57 and has earned around 18.66 lakhs km and the prestigious Made in India project manufacturing 12000 hp being the HHP locomotives with highest speed of 120 kmph.

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

Indian Railways has progressed significantly on path of Aatmanirbhar Bharat significantly in 2020, with a number of policy reforms taken in 2020. IR is encouraging manufacturing and promotes production of goods and services in India, with Increase of local content through Partnerships, cooperation with local companies, establishing production units in India and Joint venture with Indian suppliers. Proactive Reciprocity principle in Make in India policy has been enabled. RDSO and production units have reviewed the vendor directories so as to minimise the control of vendors and to facilitate procurement through the process of competitive bidding on the basis of predefined eligibility criteria and specification for all items except for a few limited safety /critical items. With consistent efforts, import has reduced to less than 1.6% as compared to 5.6% in year 2013-14.Ongoing infrastructure and manufacturing projects of Railways are being undertaken through Aatma Nirbhar Bharat campaign. Tender for indigenous manufacturing of Vande Bharat Trains has been floated. Also work on Dedicated Freight Corridor and Bullet train (Ahmedabad- Mumbai) is progressing swiftly. Emphasis is on procurement of indigenous material in all projects of Railways. Some of the key initiatives include initiation of process for procurement for 44 rakes of Vande Bharat Trains.and production of powerful 12000HP engines at Madhepura.

Way Forward

Railways continues to work steadfastly to become the engine for the nation’s vikasyatra. Over the past 6 years, Railways has strived for modernisation of systems, processes and infrastructure. Railways is committed to become an efficient, self sustainable, cost effective, punctual and a modern carrier of passengers and freight services provider of highest standards in order to serve the growing needs of New India.

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