Rail Services in Partnership with the Private Sector

On the Zonal Railways, no passenger/freight train services are currently operated by the private sector. However, Container services offered by licensed private players are operated by Indian Railways. Such services are operated on Pan-Indian Railway basis instead of Zonal Railway basis. The income earned from such operation in 2014-15 was Rs. 4868.92 crore (Provisional). Policy instructions exist for operation and maintenance of retiring rooms at stations through private licensees on payment of annual license fees. Public toilets at more than 850 railway stations have been brought under the ‘Pay & Use’ scheme with the participation of private sector. Instructions have been issued for operation of passenger ticketing terminal through authorized agents on fixed licenses and commission sharing basis, under the Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK) scheme. The likely revenue from recently introduced Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK) scheme cannot be assessed at it is dependent on demand.

Such partnerships encourage investments and result in better services to users and have no direct impact on number of employees.

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Suresh Prabhu inaugurates newly converted North Lakhimpur – Murkongselek and Balipara – Bhalukpong sections into broad-gauge by flagging off new Train Services

A Programme was held in Rail Bhawan today wherein Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated new train services after the completion of North Lakhimpur – Murkongselek and Balipara – Bhalukpong sections into broad-gauge. The programme was organized through video-conferencing between Rail Bhawan (New Delhi) and Murkongselek (Assam) and also between Rail Bhawan (New Delhi) and Bhalukpong (Arunachal Pradesh). At New Delhi side, besides the Railway Minister, Shri Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Railways, Shri Bhubaneswar Kalita Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Chairman Railway Board Shri A. K. Mital, Member Engineering, Railway Board Shri V. K. Gupta and other Railway Board Member were among those present on the occasion.

At Murkongselek side, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and at Bhalukpong side, Shri Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State Ministry of Home Affairs were among those present on the occasion.

Following trains were flagged off on the occasion: -

1. 15613/15614 Guwahati-Murkongselek Intercity Express (Daily)

2. 55719/55720 Dekargaon-Bhalukpong Passenger (on newly gauge-converted Ballipara-Bhalukpong section)

3. Extension of 55429/55430 Rangiya-Rangapara North Passenger upto Dekargaon with New Nos. 55721/55722.

4. Extension of 55613/55614 of Dekargaon-Harmuti Passenger upto Murkongselek with new No. 55813/55814

5. Increase in frequency of 15903/15904 Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express from Weekly to Bi-weekly announced in Railway Budget 2012-13.

Speaking on the occasion, the Railway Minister said that it is a “Golden Day” in the history of the State of Arunachal Pradesh, as it is getting second Broad Gauge connectivity with the commissioning of Balipara – Bhalukpong gauge conversion today. Earlier this year, the State Capital Itanagar was provided connectivity with the National Capital through a direct train. I am sure this rail connectivity will bring prosperity in the lives of people of this State.

Shri Suresh Prabhu further said that alongwith this, commissioning of newly converted North Lakhimpur – Murkongselek section marks the completion of Rangiya – Murkongselek Gauge Conversion project running all along the North Bank of Brahmaputra. This will start a new era of development for the people of this region. This will also serve the defence needs of our country. This 510 Km Gauge Conversion project costing about Rs 3600 crores was sanctioned in 2002-03. The project suffered delay mainly due to funds constraint in the past. But in 2014-15, an outlay of Rs 713 crores was provided for this line and the balance Rs 300 crores has been provided in 2015-16. The results are visible as we are today opening the entire project.

Shri Suresh Prabhu said that to augment, Railway network in N.E. region, 13 new lines, 3 Gauge Conversion and 4 Doubling projects with balance fund requirement of Rs.37000 crore have been taken up. These projects on completion will augment network by 1915 km. He pointed out that rail connectivity to North-Eastern States has been made a mission item by the new government, as we provided an all time high budget allotment of Rs 5200 crores to the projects in this region in 2014-15, which is over 50% more than 2013-14. This tempo has been maintained in 2015-16 also by providing Rs 5300 crores.

Shri Suresh Prabhu said that hon’ble Prime Minister has always been emphasizing on developing infrastructure in all the 8 North-Eastern Sisters which include Sikkim. We will continue to have best ever relationship with all the 8 Sister States.

Shri Suresh Prabhu said presently, only the capitals of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are on Broad Gauge network, and Capital of Tripura is connected with Meter Gauge. While Agartala, the Capital of Tripura is all set to be on Broad Gauge network by March, 2016, it will be our endeavour to connect the state capitals of Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya by rail with the rest of the country in next 5-7 years. For this, all of us have to work together.

Shri Suresh Prabhu said that Railways have been commissioning about 133 Km Broad Gauge track every year in the North Eastern region in last 4-5 years. In 2014-15, a record was made when about 450 Km of lines were commissioned. This year again, we are all set to achieve a new record of commissioning of about 550 kilometres of Broad Gauge lines in this region. The Railway Minister also informed that Bogibeel Bridge over river Brahmaputra is also progressing well and its completion in June, 2017 will change the landscape of this area.

Shri Suresh Prabhu said that the Railways has been playing a major role in serving the infrastructural needs of the Northeast and will continue to contribute to the socio – economical development of this region.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Railway Shri Manoj Sinha said that it has been the important priority of the Government to develop best possible infrastructure in the north-eastern States. Indian Railways is also committed to provide better railway connectivity in the region. Indian Railways has really completed these significant gauge conversion projects which have made possible flagging off of new trains today in this area. Shri Sinha appreciated the Engineers of Indian Railways who have been accomplishing Engineering marvel in developing railway connectivity in the region.

In his message, Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A. K. Mital said that the entire Metre Gauge in NE Region will get replaced with Broad Gauge by March, 2016 and all the States of NE Region, except Sikkim will have Broad Gauge connectivity in this financial year. Agartala, the capital of Tripura will come on Broad Gauge network by March, 2016, fulfilling the long cherished dream of the people of this State.

In his message, Member Engineering, Railway Board, Shri V. K. Gupta said that it is a momentous occasion when newly converted North Lakhimpur – Murkongselek and Balipara – Bhalukpong sections are being inaugurated by the Minister for Railways. Shri Gupta mentioned that with completion of North Lakhimpur – Murkongselek section, the entire 510 Km long Rangiya – Murkongselek route along the North Bank of Brahmaputra has come on Broad Gauge. This is a significant event for a large population residing along the North Bank of Brahmaputra and the people of Arunachal Pradesh, as it will usher a new era of development in the region. He further pointed out that with the conversion of Balipara – Bhalukpong Metre Gauge line into Broad Gauge, Arunachal Pradesh has got its second Broad Gauge connectivity, apart from Naharlagun (Itanagar). Both these lines are also important from strategic point of view as they will facilitate seamless movement of troupes to safeguard our frontiers.

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Freight Terminals

Rail operation on Indian railway network by private firms is not permissible. However, private firms can transport commodities using Indian Railway network in containers and can also develop freight terminals. The permission to run container trains by private players is in vogue since 2006 and so far 17 companies have taken license to run containers trains on Indian Railways of which 15 are active. Under the scheme the rakes are owned by Container Train Operators and Indian Railways has the exclusive right to haul the brakes on its networks. Private freight terminals are developed under Private Freight Terminal Policy of 2010 which was revised in 2015. So far 59 proposals of Private Freight Terminal (PFT) have been received out of which 24 terminals have been notified and 35 granted ‘in principle’ approval.

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Decongestion of Trunk Railway Routes

There are 7 identified trunk routes across the country, which are also termed as High Density Network routes viz., (1) Delhi-Howrah, (2) Howrah-Mumbai, (3) Mumbai-Delhi, (4) Delhi-Guwahati, (5) Delhi-Chennai, (6) Chennai-Howrah and (7) Chennai-Mumbai.

Railways have a large number of sanctioned projects under the Plan Heads of Doubling, New Line, Gauge Conversion and Traffic facility works to decongest routes. These include 155 New Line works, 42 Gauge Conversion works, 235 Double Line Works, 554 Traffic Facility works and 60 Electrification works.

Capacity augmentation and bottleneck removal are a continuous effort keeping in view the traffic growth.

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Railway Catering Contractors

In terms of Catering Policy 2010, the catering services on Indian Railways are managed by the Zonal Railways either departmentally or through private licensees (contractors). Outsourcing of work has been done for mechanized coach cleaning at depots, cleaning on run under Onboard Housekeeping Services Scheme as well as en-route cleanliness at select stations under Clean Train Stations Scheme.

Tender documents for catering contracts envisage strict adherence to (i) Payment of Wages Act, (ii) Workmen’s Compensation Act, (iii) Shops & Establishment Act, (iv) PF & ESI Acts,(v)Prevention of Child Labour Act etc. Further, the terms and conditions stipulated in the cleaning contracts incorporate relevant legal provisions in regard to payment of minimum wages to contracted staff.

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Utilisation of Vacant Railway Land

About 22 hectare Railway land is lying vacant and 1.2 hectare is under unauthorized occupation on Panipat-Karnal section of Northern Railway.

The vacant land and land under unauthorized occupation is meant for servicing/maintenance of track/bridges/other Railway infrastructure and for use of Railway’s future operational requirement and development of ancillary logistic support/infrastructure facilities. Railway has already taken action for eviction of encroachers from Railway land under unauthorized occupation under Public premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971(PPE Act, 1971).

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Funds for Railway Projects

The total throw forward of funds at the end of the fiscal required for Rail development projects is approximately Rs. 4.99 lakh crores.

In addition to funds received through Budget, Railways have taken up mobilization of funds from alternate sources like Market Borrowings, Public Private Partnership and Institutional Financing by tapping low-cost long-term funds from insurance and pension funds, multi-lateral and bilateral agencies which can be serviced through incremental revenues.

Details of Plan financing for 2015-16 is as under:

· Gross Budgetary Support – Rs. 41646 crores

· Internal Resources – Rs. 17793 crores

· Extra Budgetary Resources – Rs. 40572 crores, comprising of

Market Borrowing- Rs. 17655 crores

Institutional Financing- Rs. 17136 crores

Public Private Partnership – Rs. 5781 crores

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On-Board House-Keeping in Trains

On Board Housekeeping Services (OBHS) scheme provided by Indian Railways on identified trains is mainly outsourced. However, on a few trains, the same is also being done through departmental staff. Out of 540 trains covered under OBHS scheme, 531 are through outsourcing whereas 9 trains are through departmental staff.

All the train coaches are being maintained as per prescribed schedule in maintenance depots/terminals and in stipulated time period before the same is put into passenger service so that no inconvenience is caused to travelling passengers. This is being monitored regularly at various levels.

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Railway Freight Corridor Project

The Dedicated Freight Corridors (Eastern and Western) are targeted for completion in phases from 2017 to 2019. In the initial period, the project took time to take off due to change in alignment, problem of land acquisition and sanction of loans by multilateral lending agencies.

Award of 20 F (Compensation Award) under Railway Amendment Act 2008, for 85% of land for Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors has been completed.

The Project is funded by a mix of loan from World Bank to the tune of US $ 2.725 billion (for the Eastern DFC -Ludhiana-Mughalsarai Section -1192 km) and Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA) to the tune of Rs.38,722 crore ( for the Western DFC -Jawaharlal Nehru Port - Dadri, 1520 km) and Budgetary resources.

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Proposals for Long Term Development in Railways

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Measures for Women Safety in Trains

In the Rail Budget 2015-16 investment of Rs.8.56 lakh crore over next five years has been indicated for undertaking various projects pertaining to (i) Network Decongestion (including Dedicate Freight Corridor, Electrification, Doubling including electrification and traffic facilities), (ii) Network Expansion (including electrification), (iii) National Project (North Eastern & Kashmir connectivity projects), (iv) Safety (Track renewal, bridge works, Rail-Over-Bridges, Rail-Under-Bridges, and signalling & Telecom), (v) Information Technology/Research, (vi) Rolling Stock (Locomotives, coaches, wagons production & maintenance), (vii) Passenger Amenities, (viii) High Speed Rail & Elevated corridor, (ix) Station redevelopment and logistic parks and (x) others.

For strengthening of security of women passengers, measures like operationalisation of 182 Security helpline and installation of CCTV cameras in ladies compartments of suburban coaches have been pronounced in Rail Budget 2015-16.

Budgetary provision for the safety of women and senior citizens is not separately earmarked in the Railway Budget. However, many of works aimed towards improving the amenities for women and senior citizens including drinking water facility are undertaken under Passenger Amenities head for which Rs.1748.50 crore has been allocated in 2015-16.

To augment availability of clean drinking water, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has been entrusted to provide Water Vending Machines (WVMs) at stations, E-catering services have been launched for food.

Railways proposes to utilize Nirbhaya Fund for providing safety to the women passengers. Certain projects like security helpline, rehabilitation of victims of trafficking and operationalising of Mobile Application have been identified for the purpose.