Ministry of Railways

 Year End Review 2022

Key Highlights

PASSENGER CONVENIENCE

·         Induction of semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains: These trains have ultra modern features like quick acceleration, substantial reduction in travel time, maximum speed of 160 kmph, on-board infotainment and GPS based passenger information system, automatic sliding doors, retractable footsteps and Zero discharge vacuum bio toilets, CCTV cameras etc. and other contemporary features as per global standards.

·         Introduction of Vistadome coaches: Vistadome coaches provide panoramic view, through wider body side windows as well as through transparent sections in the roof, thus enabling the passengers to enjoy the scenic beauty of the places through which they travel.

·         Introduction of Tejas Rajdhani trains: Ultramodern Tejas trains have been introduced with sleeper coaches. These ultra modern trains have major distinguished features such as automatic entrance doors, passenger announcement / passenger information system, fire and smoke detection system, CCTV cameras, improved lavatory - vacuum assisted flushing with biotoilets, etc.

·         AC Economy coaches: (i) A new variant of AC three-tier coach - AC Economy coach, has also been introduced with enhanced amenities and increased passenger carrying capacity.

·         Proliferation of LHB coaches: Indian Railways has decided to scale up the proliferation of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches which are technologically superior with features like anti-climbing arrangement, air suspension (secondary) with failure indication system and less corrosive shell. These coaches have better riding and aesthetics as compared to the conventional Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coaches.

RECORD FREIGHT LOADING

·         On mission mode, Indian Railways' freight loading for first eight months of this financial year 2022-23 crossed last year's loading and earnings for the same period.

·         On cumulative basis from AprilNovember 22, freight loading of 978.72 MT was achieved against last year loading of 903.16 MT during the same period, an improvement of 8% Railways have earned Rs. 105905 crore against Rs. 91127 crore over last year which is an improvement of 16% as compared to the same period of last year.

·         Following the Mantra, "Hungry for Cargo", Indian Railways has made sustained efforts to improve the ease of doing business as well as improve the service delivery at competitive prices which has resulted in new traffic coming to railways from both conventional and nonconventional commodity streams. The customer centric approach and work of Business Development Units, backed up by agile policy, making helped Railways towards this landmark achievement.

SAFETY

·         Electronic Interlocking (EI) - EI are being adopted on a large scale to derive benefits of digital technologies in train operation and to enhance safety.

·         Automatic Signaling (ABS) - In order to increase line capacity to run more trains on existing High Density Routes of Indian Railways, Automatic Block Signaling is a cost effective solution.

·         KAVACH -Indian Railways has taken up deployment of Kavach on Delhi-Mumbai & Delhi-Howrah corridors (around 3000Rkm) for which tenders have been awarded during 2022.

·         Interlocking of Level Crossing Gates: Indian Railways have provided interlocking with signals at 317 Level Crossing Gates to enhance the safety at Level Crossings during 2022.

·         Sliding Boom at LC Gate: Enhancing Safety at Level Crossing gates by Sliding Booms (in case of gate damage) is completed at 488 level crossings gates during 2022.

·         Intermediate Block Signaling: Intermediate Block Signaling has been provided in 67 block sections on Indian Railways during 2022 and totaling to 700 block sections as on 30.11.2022

·         Signal Design Automation Tool for Electronic Interlocking (SigDATE), an indigenously developed automatic Route Control Chart generating system has been introduced to expedite infrastructural works, improving efficiency & enabling safe train operations.

·         Standard typical circuits for Electronic Interlocking Version 2.0 has been issued by standing committee on 29.03.22 for use in all future installations up to 100 routes to improve efficiency in signal design and circuit approvals.

·         The "Centre of Excellence" for Modern Signaling has been set up at Secunderabad with prime objective to provide expertise and technical inputs through competence building, Research, Design and Standard.

ONE STATION ONE PRODUCT (OSOP) SCHEME: Under this scheme, Indian Railways is providing uniquely designed sale outlets with distinctive look, feel and logo at stations for showcasing, selling and giving high visibility to indigenous/local products at a nominal registration fee of Rs 1000/- for 15 days. This scheme has been implemented at 535 stations with 572 outlets. Total 13560 direct beneficiaries have availed the opportunities being offered under this scheme up to 30th November 2022. Assuming that there were 5 indirect beneficiaries per allotment, total beneficiaries work out to be 47,145.

BHARAT GAURAV TOURIST CIRCUIT TRAINS: Indian Railways launched a new tourism product i.e. theme based tourist circuit train -'Bharat Gaurav' to showcase India's rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places. Under this scheme, service providers spread across the length and breadth of the country will be able to showcase untapped yet historically, culturally significant rich treasures of the country.

STATION REDEVELOPMENT: Indian Railway has made station development as the main focus area to enhance customer satisfaction. Three stations viz. Rani Kamalapati station of West Central Railway, Gandhinagar Capital station of Western Railway and Sir M. Visveswaraya Terminal Station of South Western Railway have been developed and commissioned. Work on 48 railway stations is in progress; 19 railway stations are under different stages of tendering & planning. Redevelopment of railway stations across the country will have a multiplier effect in the economy with increased job creation. This will also give impetus to the fast economic growth of the country.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT: To empower youth by way of giving entry level training in Railway Training Institutes, Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana was launched in September 2021. Under the scheme entry level training is provided at more than 90 training locations on Zonal Railways & Production Units in industry relevant Technical Trades. The training is provided free of cost to the candidates.

GATI SHAKTI UNIVERSITY (GSV): A Cabinet Note along with Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2022 for conversion of National Rail & Transportation Institute (NRTI) a deemed to be University into the Gati Shakti University (GSV) as a Central University was finalized.

HUMAN RESOURCES AND MANPOWER:

·         For the first time, Aadhaarbased authentication system was introduced in the examinations conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB). This will help a lot in eliminating impersonation in RRB exams. RRBs have been pioneer in implementing Aadhaar based authentication for competitive exams at all India level.

·         During 2022, panels of about 14000 candidates have been supplied to the Indenting Railway(s)/ Production Unit(s) by 21 Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) across India.

Rozgar Mela: Two trenches of Rozgar Mela were organized by Indian Railways on 22nd October 2022 and 22nd November 2022. Events were held at different locations and data of 10975 & 4003 candidates respectively uploaded on DoP&T's portal and offers of appointments were given to the candidates.

CAPEX:

·         During the last few years, Railways have invested heavily in upgrading and expanding its network. This strategy helped railways in meeting up with the growing transport requirements. Riding on the strong GDP growth, Railways has shown operational excellence also. Railways' capex which was only Rs 53,989cr in FY14 saw a quantum jump to Rs 1,90,267cr in FY22 and in BE FY23, a provision of Rs. 2,45,800cr has been made. There has been a healthy trend of expenditure in the current year and the budgeted capex target is hoped to be achieved.

·         Higher Capital investments, regular monitoring and resolution of Inter-ministerial issues expeditiously will help in connecting hinterland with the completion of the priority projects including National Projects in J&K, Uttarakhand and North Eastern States. Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) and other important throughput enhancement projects commissioning will lead to higher capacity. These projects along with speeding up of Bullet Train project will be a boost to the construction industry aiding employment generation. Railway capital investments have a huge multiplier effect on overall economy.

·         The trend of fall in modal share has been reversed and Railway has loaded incremental 184 MT in FY22 and 75 MT incremental loading in FY23 to end of November 2022. In the current fiscal, trend of railway receipts have fully recovered from the adverse impact of the pandemic seen in previous three years and to end of Nov' 2022, the same has grown at a CAGR of 10.3% over corresponding period of 2019- 20 (i.e. pre-COVID phase). The recovery is backed mainly by buoyancy in loading and growing share of PRS passengers in total passengers in the post-COVID scenario.

SECURITY: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has ably discharged the responsibility of protection of huge assets of railways spread far and wide across the country by taking preventive measures as well as measures for detection of crime against railway property, passengers and the common man. The RPF made significant contributions on all these fronts under various initiatives like Operation Nanhe Faristey for rescue of children in need of care and protection, Operation AAHT to curb human trafficking, Operation Jeevan Raksha for saving life of rail users, Operation Amanat for retrieval of left behind luggage of passengers, Operation Matrishakti for assisting women who goes into labor during journey) & women's security, Operation Upalabdh for action against touts, Operation Rail Suraksha for security of railway property, Operation NARCOS for action against drug traffickers, Operation WILEP for curbing illegal trade/smuggling of restricted wild life & products, Operation Yatri Suraksha and Emergency Response.

(Source PIB)