Lok Sabha Question No. 855 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-06-26
Subject: Safe and Affordable Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.855 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.06.2019

SAFE AND AFFORDABLE RAILWAYS

†855. SHRIMATI RANJAN BEN DHANANJAY BHATT: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a)  whether the Government proposes to make Railways efficient, safe and affordable to all; (b) if so, whether the Government has taken any steps in this direction; (c)  if so, the details thereof; and (d) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.855 BY SHRIMATI RANJAN BEN DHANANJAY BHATT TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 26.06.2019 REGARDING SAFE AND AFFORDABLE RAILWAYS

(a) to (d): Indian Railways is continually striving to improve its efficiency, safety  and  affordability  through  various  initiatives.  These  initiatives inter-alia include the following:

## A. Efficiency

Efficiency  Improvement  is  being  undertaken  through  various  measures like new technology induction & modernization, Information Technology interventions, operational improvements and financial efficiency improvements  through  revenue  enhancement  &  cost  reduction.  These are listed below:

## (i) Induction of new technology and modernization

Indian  Railways  is  constantly  striving  to  induct  new  technologies  and modernize its fixed and moving assets. Key initiatives in this direction include  modern  electronic  signaling  systems,  modern  high  horsepower locomotives with capabilities for achieving higher speeds, regenerative feature  in  electric  locomotives  to  reduce  energy  conservation,  higher capacity wagons, new design wagons for new  commodities like automobile,  bulk  fly  ash/cement,  steel  products  etc,  higher  capacity couplers  and  draft  gears,  higher  speed  modern  trains  like  'Vande Bharat', three phase ac technology Electrical Multiple Units (EMU)/Mainline Electrical Multiple Units (MEMU), bio toilets in coaches, modernization of production units, workshops and sheds etc.

## (ii) Use of Information Technology (IT)

Steps have been taken to make Indian Railways more efficient through use  of  various  IT  interventions  in  areas  of  passenger  and  freight business  interface,  train  operations,  financial  resource  management, asset maintenance, procurement etc. Key IT applications developed by IR  include  Passenger  Reservation  System  (PRS),  Unreserved  Ticketing System (UTS), National Train Enquiry System (NTES), Parcel Management Information System (PMIS), Freight Operation  Information System  (FOIS),  Integrated  Coach  Management  System  (ICMS),  Control Office  Application  (COA),  Crew  Management  System  (CMS),  Software Aided Train Scheduling System (SATSANG), Real Time Train Information System  (RTIS),  Accounting  Information  Management  System  (AIMS), Traffic  Accounts  Management  System  (TAMS),  E-  Procurement  System (EPS), Integrated Material Management System (IMMS), Vendors Interface  Management  System  (VIMS),  Indian  Railway  Projects  and Sanction Management System (IRPSM) and Track Management System (TMS). Further, other IT related initiatives include the following:

-  Wi-fi services provided at more than 1600 stations
-  Hand held Point of Sales Machines provided to catering staff
-  Closed  Circuit  Television  (CCTV)/Video  surveillance  system  in trains and stations
-  CCTV  cameras  in  base  kitchens  with  artificial  intelligence  to detect and rectify deficiencies in hygiene
-  E-catering services to passengers
-  Rail Drishti dashboard to bring information from various sources on a single platform and provide a bird's eye view of the Railways

## (iii) Operational and infrastructural improvements

It  has  been  decided  to  undertake  various  operational  improvements  to improve  efficiency.  These  include -right  powering  of freight  and passenger trains in a phased manner to speed up trains, doubling/tripling/quadrupling of tracks and removal of operational bottlenecks  to  remove  congestion  and  improve  mobility,  100  per  cent electrification  of  Indian  Railways'  Broad  Gauge  network  for  seamless and  efficient  movement  of  electric  trains  etc.  Further,  in  order  to segregate passenger and freight services and increase carrying capacity and speed of trains, construction of the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) has been fast tracked. DFCs which will be fully electrified, high axle load (25 ton) corridors with freight trains running at a  maximum  speed  of  100  kmph  will  improve  efficiency  of  freight transportation. (iv) Revenue enhancement and cost reduction Railways  have  been  striving  to  optimize  its  financial  efficiency  by effective  monitoring  of  the  revenue  expenditure  and  augmenting  the revenues.  Revenue  enhancing  measures,  inter  alia,  include  targeting progressively higher traffic throughput, effective and innovative marketing  strategies  to  capture  more  traffic,  creation  of  additional capacity  to  carry  new  traffic  and  tapping  non  fare  revenue  sources. Simultaneously,  regular  measures  are  undertaken  to  ensure  optimum utilization of the existing rail infrastructure and enhance productivity of locomotives, coaches and wagons. Expenditure control measures include  strict  economy  and  austerity  measures,  improved  man-power planning, better asset utilization, inventory management, optimizing fuel consumption etc. B.Safety Safety  is  accorded  the  highest  priority  by  Indian  Railways  and  all possible steps are undertaken on a continual basis to prevent accidents and  enhance  safety.  Indian  Railways  have  achieved  best  ever  safety record in 2018-19.  The safety initiatives include the following: (i)  Timely  replacement  of  over-aged  assets  and  adoption  of  modern technologies  for  up-gradation  and  preventive  maintenance  of  track, bridges, signaling and telecommunication systems, locomotives, coaches and wagons. Speedy execution of rail renewals, construction of

Foot over Bridges and High Level Platforms, Road over Bridges and Road under  Bridges  are  major  priorities.  Indian  Railways  has  also  switched over to production of safer Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches. (ii)  Key technological interventions to enhance safety include provision of  automatic  block  signaling,  replacement  of  mechanical  interlocking signaling with electronic interlocking, track circuiting, provision of Block Proving Axle Counters, Light Emitting Diode (LED) Colour Light Signals, Train Protection and Warning System, vigilance control devices and GPSbased Fog Pass devices in locomotives, higher Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) rails, thick webs  switches, pre-stressed concrete sleepers, Ultrasonic Flaw Detection of rails and welds to detect internal flaws in rails/welds, European Train Control System (ETCS) level 2 or equivalent systems and indigenously under development Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) etc. (iii)  All  Unmanned  Level Crossing Gates on Broad Gauge network have been removed in January 2019. This will greatly enhance safety of road users and also rail passengers. Now Indian Railway is working towards interlocking  of  all  level  crossing  gates.  Elimination  of  manned  level crossing gates on critical sections is also being expedited. (iv)  A  dedicated  fund  'Rashtriya  Rail  Sanraksha  Kosh'  (RRSK)  has  also been  set  up  in  2017-18  to  fund  critical  safety  related  works.  It  has  a corpus of Rs. 1 lakh crore to be utilized over a period of five years. (v)  All  safety  category  staff  are  given  training  on  regular  basis  as  per prescribed  periodicity  at  various  stages  of  their  career.  Mandatory initial,  promotional,  refresher  and  specialized  training  programs  are provided. C.Affordability Since inception, Indian Railways is striving to provide safe, reliable and affordable means of transport for the citizens of the country. To cater to various strata of society and make rail travel affordable, various classes of coaches including sleeper, general (unreserved) and air conditioned (3 tier) coaches are provided in most trains.  Passenger fare structures are significantly subsidized. Further, Railways provide connectivity to various parts of the country including the remotest places with a view to provide  affordable  rail  transport  to  all  citizens.  These  connectivity projects  inter  alia  include  the  longest  rail  cum  road  bridge  'Bogibeel bridge' to connect Arunachal Pradesh to rest of the country.

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