Lok Sabha Question No. 3943 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-23
Subject: Review of Functioning of Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: NALIN KUMAR KATEEL, DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3943 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.12.2015

## REVIEW OF FUNCTIONING OF RAILWAYS

3943.  SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL: SHRI D.K. SURESH:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has constituted any committee(s) to review the functioning of the various wings of the Indian Railways such as Rail finance, administration, Railway Board, etc.;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has received the review reports from these committees;
- (d) if  so,  the  details  of  suggestions  made  in  the  review reports to improve the Railways systems; and
- (e) the steps taken to implement the suggestions received by the Railways from these committees?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI  MANOJ SINHA)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3943 BY SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL AND  SHRI  D.K.  SURESH  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON 23.12.2015 REGARDING REVIEW OF FUNCTIONING OF RAILWAYS

- (a) & (b):  The following Committees have been constituted by the Ministry  of  Railways  in  the  recent  past  basically  on  the  review  of the functioning of Railways:-
- i) Committee  on  Modernization  of  Indian  Railways  headed  by Shri Sam Pitroda.
- ii) Dr. Bibek Debroy Committee for mobilization of resources for major railway projects and restructuring of Railway Ministry and Railway Board.
- iii) High Level Committee to identify factors, issues and avenues for improving financial health of Railways under the chairmanship of Shri D.K. Mittal.
- iv) High Level Safety Review Committee (Kakodkar Committee)
- (c): Yes, Madam.
- (d)  &  (e):  The  details  of  the  recommendations  made  by  the  above Committees and the status of implementation of the recommendations of these Committees are given as under:-
- i) The  Sam  Pitroda  Committee  made  113  recommendations covering 15 areas including those pertaining to modernization of tracks and bridges, signaling system, rolling stock, stations and  terminals,  Public  Private  Partnership  (PPP)  initiatives, utilization  of land  and  air space, construction  of  dedicated freight corridors, high speed passenger corridors, expeditious

implementation  of  'priority  projects',  harnessing  Information & Communication Technology and Safety.

Railways have already initiated action for implementation of most  of  the  recommendations  pertaining  to  elimination  of level  crossings  and  unmanned  level  crossings,  mechanized maintenance of track, introduction of new generation locomotives, high speed potential LHB coaches, upgradation of  suburban  coaches,  green  toilets  on  all  passenger  trains, development  of  modern  high  pay  to  tare  ration  wagons, enhancement of customer amenities at stations and on trains, development of various PPP models to attract private investment,  feasibility  studies  of  high  speed  and  semi  high speed corridors, construction of freight corridors, implementation of electrification, introducing of mobile ticketing and trials of train protection warning system etc.

- ii) The Bibek Debroy Committee contains various recommendations on reforms and restructuring which includes the following:-
-  Railway  Board  to  function  like  Corporate  Board  for  Indian Railways.
-  Reorganize Group 'A' services into two streams - Logistics and Technical.
-  Empowerment  of  General  Managers  &  decentralization  of powers to Divisional Railway Managers.
-  Separation of off-line activities such as Medical, Schools & Security

- iii)
-  Zonal Construction Organizations to be brought under one or more Public Sector Undertakings.
-  Lateral inflow of talent from outside in technical and nontechnical departments.
-  Establish  a  responsive  and  transparent  Accounting  and Costing system.
-  Set-up  a  Railway  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (RRAI) independent  of  Ministry  of  Railways  with  powers  and objective of Economic Regulation including tariff regulation, safety regulation, fair access regulation, service standard regulation, licensing/enhancing competition and setting technical standards.
- 
- Discontinue in phases, separate Rail Budget.
-  Subsidies to be borne by Union Government and passenger concessions by respective Ministries.

Recommendations of the committee pertaining to accounting reforms, empowerment of zones and divisions, integration of Information Technology  (IT) and  cleaning initiatives  and setting  up  of  an  investment  advisory  committee  have  been taken  up  for  implementation.    Recommendations  such  as organizational restructuring, setting up of regulator with over arching powers, etc. require in depth examination and extensive consultations as their implementation entail large scale changes in the existing systems.

- The D.K. Mittal Committee has suggested ways and means to improve   the   financial   health   of   Indian  Railways.   It has

suggested short-term, medium term, long-term measures for improvement in the areas of goods, passenger tariff revenues. It has also suggested on measures that can be taken for long term  resource  mobilization  and  to  improve  efficiency  and productivity of Indian Railways.

## Implemented initiatives in the following Areas:

- A. Inclusion of Suggestions in the Budget Speech: Increase  in  Cancellation  charges  as  well  as  Introduction  of premium  catering  services,  was  announced  in  the  Budget 2015-16 implemented.
- B. Short term suggestions implemented:
1.  Obtaining  Mobile  numbers  at  the  time  of  booking  for facilitating  Short  Message  Services  (SMS)  based  services, Ticketing machines for unreserved ticketing, enhancement of capacity of internet ticketing.
2. Dynamic pricing on premium trains, increase in number of coaches to 24, On board entertainment have been introduced.
3.  Automatic  freight  rebate  scheme  in  empty  flow  direction has been extended to other Zonal Railways.
4.  Energy  cost  is  being  reduced  through  bilateral  power purchase  agreements.  Energy  audit of  key  consumption points of 500 Kwh and replacement of existing lighting with LED lighting on Railway premises undertaken.
5.  A  Memorandum  of  Understanding  (MOU)  with  Ministry  of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), Bureau of Energy Efficiency  (BEE)  and  Ministry  of  Power  (MOP)  was  also recently signed which will help develop strategies for

reducing power consumption, costs and utilization of renewable energy resources. Process for installation of Solar panels on Rooftops has been initiated and an MOU has been signed  with  Solar  Energy  Corporation  of  India  to  undertake development of solar power generation facilities on Railway Premises.

6. Prioritization of projects in critical areas of Doubling, gauge conversion, new lines, electrification, signaling etc has been done  to  optimize  returns  on  investment  and  to  improve capacities on high density corridors. Indian Railway Finance Corporation  (IRFC)  has  been  permitted  to  issue  tax  free bonds.
2. iv) The  Kakodkar  Committee  has  made  106  recommendations covering various aspects viz. General Safety Matters, Organizational  Structure,  Empowerment  at  Working  Level, Safety  related  Works  and  Issues,  Filling  up  of  vacancies  in critical  safety  categories  and  Manpower  Planning  Issues, Plugging  the  shortage  of  critical  Safety  Spares,  External Interferences  -  Removal  of  Encroachment  and  Sabotage, Upgradation of Signaling, Telecommunication and Train Protection System,  Upgradation  of Rolling Stock, Track, Bridges,  Elimination  of  Level  Crossing,  Human  Resource Development with emphasis on Education and Training Institute on Indian Railways, Eco-System and Safety Architectures on Indian Railways.

Out of 106 recommendations, 68 recommendations have been fully accepted and have been taken up for implementation.

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