Volume 8, Issue 38 March 2017 ISSN No.

0976-254X

www.railbizindia.com

` 100
 FIRST WORDS

Right or wrong, it's very pleasant...

Lost in translation
Even while the Government and IR continue making development related announce-
ments, IR managements have not addressed the public loss of trust and rising
skepticism. Several past commitments that were to be visions for IR have been quietly
dismissed from the budget pronouncements. This mistrust starts from simple actions
like letting passengers know how late a train is: it is now expected that most trains
running late will run even later than any IR information: passengers have an instinctive
lack of trust here. Many of the budget numbers are just plain doctored. Any survey
would reveal the low trust in IR pronouncements being based on serious action plans.
Examples why the messages need correction:
IR has defined semi- high speed corridors for passenger trains @ 160 kph and it was
expected that by now IR would lay out these; instead we just have a few minutes
saving on a single train.
2014 again: for 4 rail based technical universities, a special delegation visited China.
The concept was then reduced to converting the Vadodara based National Academy
of IR to a holding university with affiliation of training institutes in Pune, Secun-
derabad, Nasik, Lucknow and Jamalpur. Proposal lies buried.
Consider dynamic ticket pricing: models, veering more on fixed escalation as the
travel date nears, have been tried. IR is now seemingly back to a fixed price (plus
Tatkal, fixed enhanced pricing on defined set of tickets). IR has never reduced prices
even on trains with low load factor.
Rail Tariff regulator talk, born around 2006 arising out of IR need for tariff revision
when the politicians would not hear of any increases for almost 10 years, is now pass.
Initial IR efforts were to link tariffs to fuel prices but the numbers were not supportive.
The concept, part of IR presentations, has now been rechristened to a Rail Develop-
ment Authority that would make suggestions for tariff disputes, something already
with the Railway Rates Tribunals. IR has gone silent.
Commissioning dates on the dedicated freight corridors, perhaps the biggest in Indias
rail history, remains fluid, amid no explanation for the slippages.
A vision that IR will concentrate on its core transport business and shed the need for
IR owned manufacturing and non-core activities, lies buried with announcements
for new facilities to suit political needs. Witness that commissioning of a station
escalator is still preceded by newspaper advertisements and inaugurations are made
by video links from far, far away. Not much has changed.
And even as freight traffic has shown a negative growth, the 2017 budget is based on
a premise of 71 mt increase, without any reasons.
Next issue: July 2017
IR needs to act to regain the lost trust. That is critical to its wellbeing. Anything else
is just short term expediency.

(Vijay Raina)
Editor

...to break something from time to time.

...Fyodor Dostoyevsky
 Volume 8, Issue 38 March 2017

CONTENTS

www.railbizindia.com

Consulting Editor
IR Budget: exclusive opinions
Sumant Chak, AITD
5 Freight wagons 11 Arvind Khare
Stuck at 21 Merged and opaque
Honorary Adviser
G K Mohanty 6 S N Agarwal 12 Alok Johri
SER leads on positives Wither objectives

Editor 8 Chatte Ram 12 Samar Jha

Management through Twitter
V. K. Raina NFR records achievements
1 Mohd. Jamshed 10 Arunendra Kumar
14 Swachh Bharat
Measuring progress on
A transformational agenda A sound start for the budget
For Advertisements and Circulation cleanliness
Dr. Rajni Raina 2 Ravindra Gupta merger
13 Innovation Awards competition
Business Manager Enhanced passenger 10 A Ramji

Phone : +91 80170 62121

experiences Hides more than it says 16 Budget snippets
4 Vivek Sahai 11 KB Sankaran
For better asset productivity Unaddressed resource crunch
Disclaimer :
Views expressed by various authors are
personal and do not necessarily reflect the Construction Operations
views of their corporates. 18 HK Jaggi 30 Jit Sondhi
Bogibeel, a bridge like no other Getting ready for high
European Correspondent: speed trains
Ms Geetha Munikoti, Berlin 36 Dr Manish Kumar
Improving driving crew
performance
IT Support
Dilip & Rajat Innovation
34 Rail fracture detection
Designed & Printed by 37 Appropriate technology
Headliners Advertising Services Pvt. Ltd. Optimal communications on a
87, Monohar Pukur Road branch line
Kolkata 700 029
e-mail: headlinersadvertising@gmail.com Manufacture Potpourri
22 V S Pathak Personality
Chittaranjan locos consolidating 39 Sarabjit A Singh
on gains
Metro A profile in never-say-die
26 SK Luthra 40 From China
DMW Patiala 32 BS Dixit, MD Nagpur Metro Handling millions in the Year of
Marking up the diesel loco fleet A new template for Indian Metros the Rooster

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Five issues published in a calendar year
A sustaining, strengthening and
transformation agenda
Transformative measures have to be undertaken to make IR competitive to
retain their position of pre-eminence.
IR has loaded 23 mt more this year up to January in commodities other than
coal. Steel loading has grown by 4.95 mt, iron ore by 16.65 mt and likewise
raw materials for steel plants, container sector and other goods have also
surpassed last years performance. This is a direct impact of the freight sector
reforms which have resulted in lower rail logistics costs by 20-30% from
initiatives like elimination of 10% port concession charge and a 15% busy
season surcharge for a significant period this year, reduction in documentation,
promotion of ease of doing business by elimination of the dual charging policy
for export and domestic iron ore, permitting 43 additional commodities at
lower (FAK)rates and allowing IRs category I and II goods sheds for container
traffic and facilitating reduced lot sizes (and lowered inventory) for commod-
Mohd. Jamshed, Member (Traffic), IR Board
ities like cement, salt ,food grain and fertilizer transported in covered wagons.

The 2014-15 Economic survey had brought into perspec-
tive the historical neglect of IR and the need for sustained
investments to eliminate distortions and biases in favour
of other modes of transport, though less economical and
less environmentally sustainable.
In contrast to sectors such as civil aviation, the two major
land transport sectors roads and especially railways
are dependent on public investments. successive plans
have allocated less resources to the railways compared to
the transport sector. the share of railways in total plan
outlay is currently only 5.5 % vis--vis about 11 per cent
for the other transport sectors and its share in overall
development expenditure has remained low at below 2%
over the past decade.
Heightened Capex
The government has ensured that IRs capital and devel-
opment expenditure has risen from ` 54000 Cr in 2014-
15 to ` 94,000 Cr in 2015-16, is targeted at ` 1.21 lakh
Cr in 2016-17, rising further to 1.31 lakh Cr in coming
FY (a significant ` 55,000 Cr is from government sup-
port). Budget 2017 would form an important milestone
in the overall transformation journey as it takes forward
the growth agenda towards which IR has already been
taking major course corrections over the last two years.
We recognise that IR faces stiff competition from other
modes which are dominated by the private sector.
Besides the enhanced Government support, various in-
novative financing models are also planned such as loan
from LIC, PPP and other models based on cooperative
federalism through joint ventures with state governments.
Infusion of ` 8.56 lakh Cr capital for 2015-19 is sought,
with ` 2 lakh Cr for network decongestion, ` 1 lakh Cr
in station development and logistic parks, ` 1 lakh Cr in
rolling stock, ` 1.27 lakh Cr in safety & 0.65 lakh Cr in
High speed. The Government will lay down clear cut
guidelines and timelines for implementing various safety
works to be funded from the newly announced Safety
Kosh. IR has also increased its focus on non- fare revenue
generation through monetization of its vast assets.
Passenger needs
Travel experiences will be eased by measures like a five-
minute wait time target especially with IT aids, meet
demand by creation of capacity and fresh customer specific
train products (Humsufar, Antyodaya etc.). Thus, the
decline in the number of passengers, a regular feature
since 2012-13, has been reversed in 2016-17. Data up to
January 2017 shows a comparative nearly one percent
increase in passengers carried, for the first time in last 5
years. Measures like competitive ticket booking facility
and withdrawal of service charge on e-tickets should work.
Freight Coal
The bad boy is coal, where loading has been adversely
affected due to less offering vis-s-vis potential, reduced
imports and non-operationalisation of several coal blocks.
Initiatives taken in coordination with the Ministry of Coal
(like rationalization of coal tariff including lower freight
rates for long lead transportation, Merry-Go-Round pol-
icy, short lead discounts, etc.) are working. Coal India
loading, which offers the maximum share of coal traffic,
has increased from 209 rakes per day last year to 217 up
to January this year. This has further picked up to 235 in
Nov, to 242.5 in Dec 2016 and 243.1 rakes per day in
Jan 2017.
Ten recently appointed key Customer Managers will be
looking closely at the requirements of its customers in
each sector and respond quickly to their needs. We will
strive to help customers with measures like end-to-end
integrated transport solutions, specific rolling stock of-
fered, customised practices for perishable goods. And
above all fixation of tariffs will be taking into consideration
costs, quality of service, social obligations and competition
from other forms of transport.

Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 1

 I R BUD GET 20 17
Towards better deals for the passengers
Ravindra Gupta (Centre), Member, IR Board in Kolkata with J K Saha (Left) and R L Gupta,
Chief Mechanical Engineers.
Three months into his charge as Member Rolling Stock
in the IR Board, Ravindra Gupta firmly believes that a
key need for senior management is a vision on long term
needs and strategies. In a chat during his review visit to
Kolkata, Gupta listed occasions when absence of a vision
has caused poor decision making. It came as no surprise
that one of the senior IR managers who left deep impres-
sion on a very-new-to-the job Gupta (late 1970s, then an
Assistant Mechanical Engineer) was VCA Padmanabhan,
General manager on the Eastern Railway. Gupta recounts
that in those years the General Manager and an Assistant
officer were separated by a power distance but a young
Gupta was impressed by Padmanabhans vision state-
ments and the efforts he made in developing futuristic
plans. Another influence he recognises is the 6-lane con-
struction of the Howrah Bridge in Calcutta, way back in
1940s when the current traffic explosion would have been
the stuff of dreams. These are the legacies Gupta is con-
scious of and wants to carry forward in his current position.
Gupta has moved from his earlier position as General
Manager on the South Central. In Secunderabad, it was
easy to perceive that the growing city passenger traffic
would not be met by its three terminals at Secunderabad,
Hyderabad (Nampali) and Kachiguda. He accordingly
pushed for a fourth terminal at Cherlapalli. This would
be a growing terminal with 10 platforms and upgraded
passenger areas. During his earlier tenure, as Divisional
Railway Manager in Chakradharpur (the South Eastern)
a similar process led to opening of a second entry to the
Tatanagar station.
The 2017 budget
Adequate funding exists in the coming FY for various
rolling stock procurement plans, with all the production
2 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017
Ravindra Gupta, Member Rolling Stock / Railway
Board joined IR Service of Mechanical Engineering
in 1975, starting with apprenticeship in Jamalpur.
His 36 year IR experience has included those as
General Manager, South Central Railway, Chief
Mechanical Engineer, Western Railway, Divisional
Railway Manager, Chakradharpur, besides several
important assignments in RITES and RDSO.
OP Chaube, a senior in Jamalpur comments:
Ravindra has always been a goal-based person,
upright, soft spoken, quiet and effective in his work
life. He is keenly interested in system optimisation
and should leave long lasting impacts in his tenure.
units loaded to the capacity and traffic needs. It does
however appear that the wagon procurement plans are
uncertain at present as no tenders have been called for
the coming FY needs. Contrary opinions on whether IR
needs more wagons or not seem to be ruling, with no
certainty. Currently traffic streams on IR are not growing
and hence the ambiguities on wagon purchase.
New lines of work
Gupta listed some new initiatives on coach maintenance
and upgrades. The budget includes sanction for 16000
ICF coaches to be retrofitted with center buffer couplers
and a series of iterative discussions have taken place with
potential contractors. Up to 8000 coaches are planned
for 2017-18 though tenders are scheduled for call in March
2017. This will be ambitious and tough. Gupta also indi-
cated sanction for retrofitment of 2000 of these coaches
with improved internal furnishings, on par with some
rakes already fitted at the Bhopal workshops. Gupta hopes
for up to 40 rakes being so fitted in coming year (say 1000
coaches) though the availability of suitable vendors and
re-furbishers is still less than adequate. The success of
this plan will depend increasingly on the vendor and
design development processes. Increasing number of
LHB coaches will also be equipped with better furnishings,
like some rakes already commissioned from the Rae Bareli
Coach factory.
The workshops
Additional facility for coach upgrades will be added to in
the New Bongaigaon (the North East Frontier zone)
coach workshop under a project estimated at ` 90 Cr.
The need to significantly upgrade the facilities and ambi-
ence in various repair locations for coaches and wagons
has been addressed through bulk sanction of ` 100 Cr
each for maintenance facilities for coaches (pit lines),
wagons and the workshops. Right now, his team is work-
ing out the specifics at each location and the physical
work should start within 2017.
Train sets
In a significant new initiative, IR has now sanctioned a
project for development of new train sets by the Chennai
coach factory. The development is interesting as these
long-distance EMU train sets will have powered axles on
the trailing coaches. Design development efforts have
been seeded and the prototypes will take some years.
A switchover to AC propulsion alone on the Chennai /
Kapurthala built EMUs has been planned in 2018. Such
train sets, equipped with Siemens and Bombardier traction
sets, are already working in Mumbai (financed from the
MRVC project) and additional in -hand vendor develop-
ments will permit a total switchover to these improved
designs.
Gupta feels that the loco scene on IR looks good with
multiple designs and capacities on offer in next two years
for the Alstom and GE JVs. The outlook on EMUs, that
are stuck with the 5-decade old ICF design bogies and
shell, is not so promising. IR had earlier planned for a JV
at Kanchrapara but the tendering effort did not proceed
beyond the qualification stages (RFQ). Gupta hopes that
the purchase process will now be restarted and this could
lead to new design EMUs in coming years. Even as the
issues from successful trial of the imported Talgo train
sets on the Delhi-Mumbai route are being sorted out by
an Additional Members committee, funding in the next
FY is not visible, leading to doubts on follow up action.
The revised structure
As reported earlier, the responsibilities between two Board
Members (Mechanical and Electrical) have been rede-
fined and Gupta now looks after electric multiple units
(EMUs) train sets, handing over the diesel loco charge.
Gupta feels that the change has now been well adopted
and may even have already paid dividends. Thus, the
effort at developing electric loco manufacture in the
Varanasi loco factory (that has manufactured only diesels
so far) has gone smoothly, something that would have
been submerged in departmental battles earlier.

Cleaner and smarter rail

A positive fallout of recent reorganisation has been on clean-
liness and upkeep, with single responsibility now devolving
on nominated officers in divisions and locations. An Adviser
(environment) in the Boards office, assisted by four directors
drawn from mechanical, electrical, civil and traffic cadres, has
developed routines that now make station areas and trains
look smarter than these have ever been. The Chief Rolling
Stock Engineer in the zonal railways coordinates all actions,
including for premise cleanliness and order, on-board house-
keeping services and clean train station programme. Gupta
indicated that this new approach has removed the responsi-
bility ambiguities that limited qaulity earlier.
But how good is good? Gupta has current year plans for third
party audit of stations and trains that should pin point future
changes and resourcing required. One area under discussion
involves changes in the service contracts for housekeeping as
current bid documents have shown deficiencies, particularly
in work assessment and control. Gupta expects that a revised
bid document will be developed by the Quality Council of
India in a few months.

The recurring slides at the top

IR has rightly launched a series of actions to evolve a mid and
long term action plan for traffic growth and improvement in
service levels and marketing rail transport.
Change demands commitment at the top. For viable results,
a group of change champions is mandated; otherwise IR will
flit from one plan to another and never get results on the big
changes envisaged. Government procedures limit long term
tenures for senior IR executives, with many Board Members
staying on for about a year.
The government had granted a two year service extension to
the Chairman, presumably with the continuity of a change
champion thought. This status has got worse in case of the
Financial Commissioner (FC, part of the seven member IR
Board), with three incumbents in last one year: With the
voluntary retirement of one in Sep 2016, a short term looking
after appointment lasted for three months and the successor
retired in Feb 2017 end. IR has now appointed the senior
most IR Accounting Service Officer (superannuating June
2017) to look after the functions. In fact, the average tenure
of last 10 FCs has been a discouraging 9.3 months only.
Clearly the Ministry has to look at the procedural policies
involved and develop a better way of retaining change
champions.

Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 3

 I R BU D GET 20 17

Better asset productivity for IR rejuvenation

immediately engaged itself meticulously to diligent task
of rebuilding its reserve funds. This was possible by brining
passenger fares up to realistic levels and improving its
productivity. However, on both these counts IR efforts
were feeble. Consequently, for the 7th Pay Commission
(2016) implementation, IR discovered that it had no
family silver left to disburse the required amount.
IR has been steadily increasing its freight rates only to
subsidise its passenger segment. The high freight rates
became counter-productive as the road mode with its
inherent strength of door-to-door service upstaged rail
as the preferred mode of transportation. Efforts are now
underway to subsidise non-AC segment from the AC
segment by introducing the mechanism of surge pricing.
IR is now losing the creamy AC traffic to civil aviation.
Consequently, growth in both sectors this year is elusive.
Just better productivity
Vivek Sahai, ex. Chairman, IR Board
The need of the hour is to concentrate instead on improv-
ing productivity of IR assets to reduce unit cost of opera-
Massive changes in IR working are underway. 2017 will tions. In the last three years IR has infused nearly ` 3 lakh
be remembered as a watershed in the IRs history as it Cr in its capital expenditure. It has been spent primarily
sounded the bugle for the things to come, by merging the on procuring rolling stock & new line /multiple line
IR Budget with the General Budget. Purportedly, all this projects. It is reasonable to expect that such large invest-
is being designed to spruce up its performance. But why ments should now start showing results in the form of
does IRs performance need spruce up? improved mobility and enhanced transport output.
Enough expertise is available in IR management to make The bulk of capital expenditure goes towards construction
required course corrections. What is required is a focused of new and multiple lines. The doubling projects are taken
attention, intense supervision and a clean conscience up in those sections only where there is a proven dearth
among top echelons of IR hierarchy. of capacity and more traffic is waiting. It can be surmised
Passing the buck that whenever a doubling project is completed there
The prodigality of the 6th Pay Commission (2006) dented should be a discernible relief in congestion on that route,
IRs capacity to generate revenue surpluses year after year. leading to better quality of service and customer satisfac-
In fact, by the time the Railways finished the onerous task tion. This should convert into more demands from freight
of paying arrears in pay and allowances to its 1.3 million customers. Similarly, completion of new lines should lead
strong work force and to 1.2 million pensioners an to increased rail traffic in both passenger and freight.
equally strong non-work force- it had depleted all its But this does not seem to be happening. After nearly four
fund reserves. Prudence demanded that IR should have decades the freight loading is hovering at levels lower
than the previous year, and that too with a much shorter
lead. This is an alarming situation, clearly showing that
IR Operational Indices the investment in procuring locos and wagons in the last
three years has gone waste.
5.2
It is now imperative for IR to act hawk-like to watch its
5.15 21,000 asset productivity. A few of these indices are considered
5.1 10,000 20,000
germane to the issue of assessing how railways are per-
forming. . The first and foremost, the wagon turn around
5.05 8,000 19,000 (WTR), indicates the time that elapses between successive
loading of wagons. In that sense, it is a very fine barometer
5 6,000 18,000 of two facets of railway operations viz. mobility and de-
4.95 4,000 17,000 mand for rail transport. A drop in either of these two will
increase the WTR, reflecting in the reduced freight loading
4.9 2,000 16,000 and earnings. WTR is reported to be about 5% less com-
pared to the previous year.
4.85 0 15,000
2011-12 2012 2013 2014 2015-16 Another operating index of importance is NTKMs (Net
Years t-km) per wagon per day that gives an indication of
Wagon turn round NTKm/wagon day NTKm/engine hour
how well wagons are utilised. As it accounts for only net
tonnes, any increase in empty wagon-km will impair it

4 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017

substantially. In addition, any stress on mobility too will
reduce the distance and cause a drop.
But, the important operating index is NTKMs per engine
hour in use, which combines the performance of both
wagons and locos and has a direct bearing on the profita-
bility. Any drop in this index reduces the profitability of
the organization, a downward trend will inflect on plan-
ning for acquiring wagons and locos in subsequent years.
Railways must pinpoint the reasons for the drop in these
three indices and chalk out a strategy to reverse the trend.
A suggested course of action would be to make a list of
traffic facility works completed in the last four years. The
foremost among these are the doubling projects, comple-
tion of which multiplies the capacity of that route. Next
will be list of loops added on a congested section which
extends immediate relief in daily operations. Upgradation
of signalling system, electrification of a route and removal
of level crossings too provide relief and should improve
mobility on that route. An aggregation of these works
should be matched with the declared improvement in
capacity of that route.
The huge investment sunk in IR in the last three years
must support at least 4 % of growth in freight every year.
If the expected relief is not materializing on the ground,
it calls for a detailed investigation into how such invest-
ment is being planned and whether there are any flaws in
the process. Similarly, high hp locos with superior tech-
nology (like IGBT) have been inducted in the system at
heavy cost. Also, all BOXNHL/BCNHL/BLC wagons
are fit for 100 kph speed. A concerted effort is imperative
to avail of the purported benefits from such capital-
intensive investments. There is a tendency in the field to
restrain the freight trains from running at their maximum
potential. Sometimes it is done in the garb of balancing
speed in the case of electric locos and discouraging the
loco drivers to use dynamic brakes in case of diesel locos.
All such ambivalent stances cry out for immediate reso-
lution to improve mobility even under existing scenario.

Stuck at 23, or relapsing to 21?

Indian wagon bogie designs, an indigenous development
tracing back to the 1980s, continues to defy any upgrade
solutions. These bogies (CASNUB), like the 3-piece steel
castings based versions popular in North America, exert higher
track forces and are prone to accelerated wheel wear and may
be the root cause of IR track engineers to accept any increase
of the max axle loads on IR wagon designs.
The old CASNUB wagons, initially authorised for 20. 3 t (21!)
axle load, have been permitted to load to an axle load of 22.95t
(23!) more through management action than engineering
acceptance. IR increased this on the BOXN design to 25t max
by a bogie spring addition. Limited numbers of these EL
wagons have been in operation since 2006 on the iron ore
circuits on the SE, ECoR. SECR, SWR and SR zones. Track
engineers have, in a near concerted view, attributed increase
in rail wear and fractures to the operation of such wagons. It
is not surprising that the introduction of the 25 t wagons has
a 2-steps-back-for-each-forward history, and this status may
not change in near future.
The BOXNS story
IR has designed a higher payload gondola (BOXN series)
wagon version, with lower diameter (840 mm) wheels, at 25t
axle load. A prototype wagon manufactured by Braithwaite
Kolkata has undergone the required safety certification suc-
cessfully and IR has also released supply contracts of around
2000 new wagons.
The story does not have a happy ending yet.
It is learnt that the track engineers have strongly objected to
25 t operation of these wagons, quoting data on anticipated
higher wear and rail fractures. This disregards the international
experience where freight train axle loads now near 40 t in
some ore circuits. The 25t axle load, with lower wheel diame-
ters, is now almost universally accepted for operation and IR
reservations seem to defy these. But IR data seems to show
otherwise. The introduction of the 25 t wagons in 2006 had
been cleared by the then Member Engineering, a highly-
respected engineer in IR chronology.
Track engineers are also reported to have pointed out that
many old bridges on the network will not be able to withstand
these heavier loads and prior strengthening or rebuild is called
for. This in effect defers the 25t wagon indeterminately. Pro-
ponents of the 25t designs point out that a large-scale re-
certification, including with instrumented trials, was carried
out as a part of the ` 17,000 Cr Special Railway Safety Fund
(2001-2009) when all suspect bridges on main routes were
attended.
These wagons can be introduced in regular service only after
statutory certification by the Commissioner of Railway Safety.
At present no application has been processed, possible only
after IRs internal clearance. In effect, the new wagons, when
produced, will either lie in a yard for some years or be used
with limited axle loads, and without CRS certifications. The
issues are pending resolution at the IR Board.
New designs in the pipeline
It is not that IR engineers have not reacted to the need for
replacing the CASNUB over-dependence. Two of its initia-
tives, for a swing motion design from a well-known US man-
ufacturer, and design consultancy with a US firm, have both
been stuck in procedural issues with no solution in sight. These
would result in designs with less track forces and greatly
enhanced acceptance by track engineers. But this window
remains shut too as rules become more important than solu-
tions to a long-term problem that is eating into IR freight
performance and costs.
IR may be stuck at the gates, permanently at 23 and if many
conservative track engineers are to be believed, relapse to 21.
Either way , the ending is not a happy one.

Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 5

 I R BU D GET 20 17

South Eastern leads on freight growth

SN Agrawal, General Manager, South Eastern
Railway, Kolkata
This Budget was more of a nut-and-bolt
budget, shorn of populism and aimed at
turning IR around and making it what it is
-a national organization carrying the bur-
den of a billion plus aspirations. It also saw
many firsts and a departure from set tradi-
tions of 94 years. The core effort of fixing
tariffs based on cost, quality of service and
competition from other modes has been
underlined.
SE Railway, known as a Blue-Chip zone for
its outstanding profitability, is primarily a
freight network with 81% earnings contributed
by freight (`12401 Cr in previous FY 2015-
16 and an estimate of `12967 Cr for the cur-
rent fiscal). The budgetary projection for
2017-18 at ` 14251 Cr (83% from freight)
should result in earnings growth at 9.9% over
the current FY. The zonal Operating Ratio is
projected at a blue chip like 77.6% (78.2%
for the current FY). The ratio of net revenue
to Capital-at-Charge and investment from
Capital Fund is 29.5% for 2017-18.
SER is set to receive ` 5046 Cr capital invest-
ment, including ` 803 Cr under EBR-IF, an
enhancement of about ` 900 Crore over the
current FY. Capacity additions and operation-
al improvements should pick up pace.
Multi-modal emphasis
This budget has quite an emphasis on multi-
modal transport and synergetic investment.
The allocation of ` 3,96,135 Cr in creating
and upgrading infrastructure in the next FY
for transportation sector is part of this inte-
grated infrastructure planning paradigm. The
Finance Minister has unveiled the largest ever
IR budget of ` 1.31 lakhs Cr, an 8.26% in-
crease. Of this, budgetary support from general
exchequer would be ` 55,000 Cr on which no
dividend is now payable. The plan for a record
addition of 3500 km of new tracks (2800 km
in 2016-2017) is an encouraging milestone.
Passenger comforts
IR has also promised elimination of unmanned
level crossings by 2020, provision of bio-toilets
in all coaches by 2019, redevelopment of 25
new railway stations, making 500 stations
differently-abled-friendly by providing lifts
and escalators, launch of dedicated trains for
pilgrimage and tourism and launch of single
point contact coach mitra (=friend) for on-
board complaints.

New lines sanctioned Cost ` Cr

Radhanagar Barachak (10 km) 40
Dumetra C Cabin to Bisra (2.3 km) 35
BadampaharBangriposi (investment through JV/SPV 900
with State Government and stake holder)

Key new projects sanctioned

Capital head Project Cost ` Cr

Traffic facilities Removal of permanent speed restrictions on
3 sections 13.6
Road safety works Improvement and interlocking of 29 level 12.5
crossing gates
Road grade bridges 13 subways 35.5
11 Road over-bridges 269.4
Track renewals Major track renewals: 276 km 335.0
Other track renewals 105.3
Passenger amenities Raising of 4 platforms to high level 3.6
2 foot over bridges with ramps 18.2
Funds allotment: ` 2739.4 Cr. (40% more over current FY)

6 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017

 I R BU D GET 20 17

The North Frontier: uniting the Northeast

The 2017 budget has been supportive of var- railway land. Guwahati would be reconstruct-
ious NF Railway initiatives, of which some ed as a through station with elevated level
were listed by Chatte Ram, General Manager platforms. The existing goods shed would be
in a chat in his office in Maligaon, Guwahati. relocated out of New Guwahati and a passen-
NFR with its 4076km network has the respon- ger terminal with 4 full lengths washing pits,
sibility of rail connectivity of state capitals of 3 stabling & 2 sick lines will instead augment
the Northeast (including Sikkim). We have existing coach maintenance facilities.
already constructed BG lines to all NE states
Level Crossings
except Sikkim and hope to connect all NE
state capitals by 2020. The zone is also man- 1568 level crossings, 1200 manned and 368
dated to play an important role in the realisa- unmanned (plus the 167 unmanned ones on
tion of the Trans Asian Railway Network of the Darjeeling Narrow Gauge section), dot
UNs ESCAP. the NFR network. The unmanned level cross-
ings will be eliminated in phases. For this year,
Kamakhya Station Redevelopment NFR has targeted elimination of 122 un-
IRs ambitious station re-development plan manned crossings, 101 will be manned and
launched on 8th February 2017 includes Ka- 21 closed by construction of subways/ over-
makhya (Guwahati)station under PPP model. bridges. The remaining unmanned crossings
Chahatey Ram, General Notice inviting tender for selection of Project will be eliminated by early 2019.
Manager, NF Railway, Guwahati
Proponent under this ` 228 Cr project has While 108 Gate Mitras have been provided
already been issued on 9th February 2016. to sensitize road users about danger of ignor-
Kamakhya will undergo major expansion in ing approaching trains, a major safety concern
view of sanctioned Doubling projects of New is construction of unauthorised level crossings
Bongaigaon Goalpara Kamakhya and New in states of Assam, Bihar and West Bengal.
Bongaigaon Rangiya Kamakhya and 550 such unauthorised crossings have been
Quadrupling project of 4-line Elevated Track identified.
from Kamakhya to New Guwahati. It is ex- Track maintenance
pected to handle approximately 40,000 pas- NFR has drastically reduced incidence of rail/
sengers per day. weld failures from 141 in 2008 FY to 36 last
As per the plan, the developer would be pro- year and 28 in current FY (up to Dec 16).
vided 50,000 sq. encumbrance-free railway This has been achieved mainly by accelerated
land for commercial development. In addition, track replacements: during 2015-16, NFR had
they may also do commercial development of covered 94.8 km, almost double the target of
the air space above the station building. It is 50 km. This fiscal (till Dec 2016) 32km of
expected that the developer would fully fi- partial track replacement has been recorded.
nance the station development works and also Other replacement targets like those of sleep-
generate surplus revenue for IR. ers etc. and increasing sleeper density from
1310 to 1660 sleepers per km have already
Important features under this development been surpassed.
include an iconic structure of the station with
modern state of the art facilities, congestion Rail / weld failure trends
free entry/ exit to the premises, segregation Year Rails Rail welds Total
of arrival/departure of passengers, large con- 2008-09 29 112 141
course and circulating area with provision for 2009 26 53 79
drop off, pickup and parking, integration of
the station with bus and the planned Metro 2010 26 51 77
railway , a 4-lane flyover to connect circulating 2011 28 39 67
area on both sides of the station directly with 2012 24 37 61
main city road and a minimum 15 m wide
road connecting with adjoining NH 37. 2013 18 16 34
Kamakhya - New Guwahati 2014 18 35 53
quadrupling 2015 15 21 36
Sanctioned in Works Programme 2017-18 at 2016-17 12 16 28
` 3062 Cr, this will decongest tracks between (till Dec)
Kamakhya and Guwahati and eliminate 10
Elephant first, please
level crossings. A 10-km elevated corridor
The new BG lines present a contrast to the replaced with 4 tracks, envisaged between Kamakhya NFR has an elephantine problem of 21 iden-
MG network. & New Guwahati, is feasible within existing tified Elephant Corridors where permanent

8 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017

Of trains and tea: the DEMU train introduced in Tinsukia Division of N F Railway.
speed restrictions have been imposed, in ad-
dition to temporary speed restrictions at 10
locations. Mainly Alipurduar, Rangiya and
Lumdig Divisions face these issues. Recent
increase in incidents of elephant deaths due
to train dashing have been worrisome. Several
proactive measures like intensive patrolling
and close coordination with forest depart-
ments have helped avoid about 20 cases. A
joint workshop with different stake holders,
organized at Lumding recently to chalk out
plans to mitigate such incidents, produced
encouraging outcomes.
Railway electrification
Electrification of Katihar- New Jalpaiguri-New
Bongaigaon sections is going on, with the
Katihar-New Jalpaiguri section nearing com-
pletion. The fresh sanctions for 1102 km at
` 1432 Cr will cover the entire main-line
section, except the portion South Assam line
ex Lumding, few branch lines, and Rangiya
Murkongselek section.
New sanctions Cost ` Cr
New Bongaigaon Agthori
via Rangiya (2nd line), 143km
New Bongaigaon - Kamakhya
via Goalpara (2nd line), 175 km 282
Guwahati to Dibrugarh via
Tinsukia & Simaluguri to
Dibrugarh, 656 km
Raninagar Jalpaiguri
Samuktala 128 km
Ease of doing business
NFR had implemented iMMS a real-time
web-enabled material management informa-
tion system in September 2016, becoming the
second zone on IR to do so. This provides for
paperless purchase and stores processes and
promotes seamless linkage between headquar-
ters and field units.
New services
The first ever Humsafar Express train in the
North-East and only the second on IR was
introduced in December. DEMU services
have been introduced in Tinsukia Division
fulfilling a long-standing demand of the region.
Passenger services on the Karimganj-
Mahisashan section (Lumding Division) have
been started after gauge conversion.
Trucks on rail
The Railway Minister had made a commit-
ment at Agartala in July 2016 to help Tripura
then reeling under a fuel crisis, owing to de-
plorable road conditions. NFR started the
first-ever Roll-On Roll-Off (RoRo) service
for petroleum products to carry loaded trucks
on flat-wagon goods train, a first in India. the
first POL RoRo service with 30 flat bedded
DBKM wagons, each having a capacity to
138 carry two loaded trucks, started in August
from Bhanga (near Badarpur in Assam). The
RoRo scheme helped the loaded trucks to
piggyback on goods train bypassing the dam-
aged national highway near Churaibari.
890 NFR may be small in terms of its freight
volumes but the operational improve-
ments, current efforts for rail accessibility
122
in the seven sister states of the North East
and the many exciting construction projects
make it unique in many respects. NFR is
set to make its contribution felt.
Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 9
 I R B U D GET 20 17
The IR Budget now, a sound start
Arunendra Kumar, ex. Chairman Railway Board
Did not click, hides more than it says
A Ramji, ex. General Manager, South Eastern
Railway and Botswana Railways; former President,
South African Railways Association
10 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017
Now that the 93 years old practice of a sepa-
rate IR Budget is history, it is time to assess
the impact of the IR Budget in new avatar.
Previously the Ministers Budget speech used
detailed IR vision. In the new Avatar railways
still find a promising place in the Finance
Ministers speech with icing on the cake of IR
autonomy having remained untouched. IR
Budget merger with the Union Budget has
made a sound start.
The budget mandates IR to provide end-to-
end transport solutions for select commodi-
ties. That entails IR to arrange for first and
last mile connectivity in association with lo-
gistic providers. A trend towards the synergy
in transportation sector has emerged and this
is an idea for which the time has come.
The increased allocation of gross budgetary
support of ` 55,000 Cr is in addition to the
now avoided dividend liability of approx.
` 9700 Cr. This substantial financial support
to the planned investment of an estimated
` 131,000 Cr will translate into a challenging
task for IR to manage execution, especially
when this FY performance in funds utilization
is not encouraging.
The much-publicised merger of IR Budget
with the General Budget did not click. Even
considering the negatives connected with the
presentation of a separate IR Budget, it surely
helped to keep the people very well informed
of the current state of the IR, with which al-
most everyone in the country is intensely con-
nected. The information in the Budget this
year did not do justice to the fundamental
concept that it is a financial statement to in-
form the public of the financial health of a
major public carrier like IR. The least that
could have been done is to let the country
know of the income and expenditure profile
for 2015-16 and the trends expected to be in,
broad details of new lines under construction
and ongoing major projects like workshops
etc. (since these were finalized much before
announcement of date of elections for 5 states)
and relevant information about disturbing
concerns like the fall in the passenger traffic
and the rather sharp decline in freight traffic.
The initiative in setting up of Rastriya Rail
Sanraksha Fund of ` 1 lakh Cr over 5 years,
with seed capital by the Government is an
encouraging step. It needs to be ensured that
the existing allocations for safety from Central
Rail Safety Fund etc. for level crossings are
not used for shoring up this fund. As in previ-
ous year, the projects should be identified,
with an added aim of technological infusion
to upgrade safety.
IR financials, current and projected, continue
to be a matter of concern. IR must look around
and make up for the rather static million tons
and passenger kilometers. The current oper-
ating ratio is a sign of financial distress.
Other initiatives like redeveloping stations,
providing bio-toilets, arranging Coach Mitras,
disabled friendly stations, solar power fed
stations, all ongoing initiatives have been list-
ed. However, the game changer could be the
railway station re-development for which the
ground realities are taking shape. Proposal for
seeking international expertise for asset main-
tenance is a welcome move and, if used intel-
ligently, can usher in new technology.
It was also necessary to inform details on the
thinking in respect of fares and freight tariffs,
with which users are closely concerned, in-
stead of sweeping generalisations like costs,
quality of service, social obligations and com-
petition from other forms of transport. All
these would have taken a few minutes more,
with less time about issues like fitment of bio
toilets, solar power etc. I am inclined to agree
with the apprehension voiced by Vivek Sahai,
former Chairman, IR Board (in a media arti-
cle) that the new idea of merging the Railway
Budget with the General Budget has been
adroitly utilized to mask IR deficiencies.
The Railway Budget used to take nearly two
hours for presentation and the discussion in
both the houses used to take 10 to 15 hours
for debate. With this merger, the time to de-
bate issues concerning Railways in the Parlia-
ment may also be curtailed. Such develop-
ments will reduce opportunities for the
involvement of people in the vital issues.
Raising IR resources is the big how
KB Sankaran, ex. Member Mechanical, IR Board
Silent on new IR reforms
Arvind Khare, Consultant, ex-Additional
Member, IR Board
Media Associate
The IR's paradigm shift in investments and
funding of rail projects is encouraging and has
been sustained in the merged union budget.
A capital outlay of ` 1,31,000 Cr proposed is
nearly double that of 2014-15 outlay.
While this is heartening, a serious concern
about resources mobilization persists as earn-
ings during 2016-17 presents a dismal picture.
Cumulative performance up to Feb 2017 has
witnessed a shortfall of ` 3065 Cr i.e. a drop
of about 9% in passenger earnings and
` 10,275 Cr i.e. a drop of about 13% in freight.
This poor performance is evident from the
fact that only ` 14000 Cr has been envisaged
as the contribution of funds from internal
resources in the total outlay of ` 1,31,000 Cr
for 2017-18. This is so in spite of the fact that
the railways will not be paying any dividend
on the capital at charge, from this year onwards
with merged railway and union budget. With
about 15,000 to 16,000 Cr of internal accruals
as seen from the past and a dividend outflow
It seems that Government has forgotten about
Debroy Committee report. Several systematic
improvements are required to pull out IR from
its 150 years old traditional management style
if it has to become a vibrant organisation.
Various policy announcements are old except
two: a new safety fund, a good development
and removal of service charge on railway tick-
ets booked on IRCTC website, that seems to
be of no consequence whatsoever.
The ` 55,000 Cr Central Government grant
is less than ` 64,900 Cr to road sector (12%
increase from BE of last FY). This is in addi-
tion to what state governments will spend on
roads. Clearly the Government still feels that
spending on road sector is more important
than on railways. It seems that the Govern-
ment still does not realise that energy
10
Postpond to May 8 - 11, 2018, ANKARA TURKEY
Sharing Knowledge for Sustainable and Competitive Operations
of about 9000 Crores, internal resources
should have been at least 24000 Cr.
With the present charge, only 37 paisa per
kilometer of rail travel against 74 paisa cost,
passenger fares ought to have been increased
to augment internal resources, but the budget
is silent. With inflation, the freight-passenger
cross subsidy will get further skewed and will
worsen the situation.
Creation of a Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh
with a ` 1 lakh Cr corpus over a period of 5
years is welcome. With only a seed capital
from the Government, IR should arrange the
balance resources from their own revenues
and other sources. During 2001-17 a rail safety
cess should have also been announced.
IR needs to actively strategize augmenting
internal resources as its ambitious plan outlays
& investments will lead to enormous debt
servicing in the years ahead.
efficiency, environment friendliness and safety
record of railways is far better than roads, at
the least, Central Government should give
much higher support and subsidies to railways.
All subsidies of railway services, passenger
services or development of backward areas,
should come from Government.
The budget announces increase of 10%
throughput in three years. IR has grown 600
million t from 2007 to 1100 mt in 2016 with
meagre investment in infrastructure. With
DFC coming up and huge investment on it,
target growth and planning should be much
more that 10% in three years.
th UIC World Congress on
High Speed Rail
uic-highspeed2017.com
Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 11
 I R BU D GET 20 17
Lacklustre, does not address the objective
Alok Johri, ex. Member Mechanical, IR Board
Management by tweets replacing reforms
Samar Jha, ex. Financial Commissioner, IR Board
300 minutes then, 3 now
12 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017
If the objective of the merger of the RB into
the GB was to end the dichotomy of two sep-
arate budgets and consequential time saving
of Parliament etc., this has been achieved.
However, if the provocation was to provide a
financial bail out to the reportedly
beleaguered IR, GB 2017 does not seem to
have served or even addressed this objective.
The only sop to the IR seems to be a contri-
bution of ` 5000 Cr from GB into the safety
fund corpus of ` 1 lakh Cr, which IR has been
clamouring for since long. The budgetary sup-
port of ` 50,000 Cr and overall outlay are only
a marginal increase over the previous years, a
normal phenomenon each year in line with
escalation and increasing economy.
Adequate details of the rail portion of the
general budget are not available, unlike as in
earlier years and the media too has consigned
The first General Railway Budget is unique
from an IR view, as the plans for this key in-
frastructure are lost in a maze of taxes, rural
and industrial growth, social subsidies and
defence priorities. IR issues nestled some-
where in the text, suitably opaque.
What emerges after some scrutiny is the lack
of a vision for growth. Meanwhile, key recom-
mendations of the Bibek Debroy Committee
remain neglected. Revised Estimates 2016-
17 appear to be unrealistic as the operating
ratio is realistically set to cross 100. Is it pro-
posed to bring it down to 94.9 by some
creative adjustments?
Freight loading in 2017-18 has been pegged
at 1065 mt, reminding one of the story of the
ant that climbs one feet up a pole and then
slides two. Such tepid growth of IRs main
revenue points to an assumption of business
as usual. Growth in IRs main freight income
generator, coal, is set to fall. The intention of
partnering logistic companies for end-to-end
transport solutions for select commodities
is not a major corrective thrust. The plan to
In a TV discussion , an ex Chairman , IR Board , asked to rate the railway budget on a
scale of 10,is reported to have remarked that considering that the railway budget got just
3 minutes of mention , he would rate the proposals at just 3.
this to obscure corners of remote pages. There
does not even seem to be any mention of
targeted operating ratio (traditionally the
most important indicator of IR performance
and current financial health) and how that
would be achieved.
I do not count waiver of service tax on e-tickets
as beneficial in any way. Assistance to IR, like
service charge waiver on various outsourced
jobs like cleaning etc. or doing away with high-
er price for HSD as a bulk consumer, does not
feature. There is no mention of doing away
with dividend on borrowed capital like the
IRFC borrowings or of how railways would
raise extra resources without going into a debt
trap.
All in all, the subsumed budget gives no indi-
cator to IRs turnaround.
procure a minimum number of wagons is a
pointer to IRs lack of ambition.
The focus on investments for infrastructure
growth is good, but the heavy borrowing, es-
pecially from the market, does not augur well
for IRs financial health. The plan to list IRFC
in the stock market brings in further uncer-
tainty as with this borrowing arm in private
hands, cost of capital is likely to go up.
While there is emphasis on passenger safety
and service, there is no indication how the
loss-making passenger services will be com-
pensated. The Tariff Regulator seems to have
been given the go by. Funding pattern of the
safety fund is also unclear. With no publicly
stated financial targets for the IR zones to
enforce accountability on the General Man-
agers, implementation of accounting reforms
has been pushed back by, say, two years.
The new avatar of IR as a department will take
more time to take shape. The fear is that by
the time stock is taken of the impact of a
merged budget, IR may slide further down
red line.
IR Appointments
IR has appointed BB Verma (centre), Adviser in Board office to look after the functions of Financial Commissioner. Fresh postings
as General Managers include R K Kulshreshta (left) on the Northern Railway and V K Yadav on the South Central Railway. Both these
officers are from the same batch of the IR Service of Electrical Engineers. M C Chauhan, General Manager, Kolkata Metro has been
deputed to look after the North Central aslo.
Competition for Innovation awards for railways
In an encouraging response to Prime Ministers call for inno-
vation under the Navrachna Initiative IR has launched a public
innovations challenge, with awards totaling ` 60 lakhs. The
scheme closes on May 20 and a practical deluge of about 1600
entries is reported (as per the web).
Innovation challenges offered
l Identifying new non-fare revenue sources for IR
l Design of wagons for efficient loading and transportation
of new traffic commodities
l Easy accessibility to trains from low level platforms
l New idea/suggestion to improve IR working
Tunnelling under the Hooghly
Both tunnel boring machines, now under the Howrah station
area, have made good progress of about 1500 meters with a
matching back up of 3,621 nos. (total 4,158 nos.) pre-cast
tunnel rings. These machines are expected to reach below
River Hooghly in March 2017. All the diaphragm walls panels
& barrettes for the Howrah Maidan station are complete, with
more than 80% of roof slab casting at station box and 41
diaphragm wall panels in Howrah Station also completed.
Phase I elevated corridors :4.360 km (total 4.725 km) com-
pleted and girder launching on the Duttabad stretch is in
l Increasing passenger carrying capacity of coaches
l Developing new digital capabilities at the stations
This initiative comes on top of similar ones in recent months,
including the 3-day strategy meet Rail Vikas Shivir. However,
research and development initiatives under Technical Missions
for IR (TMIR) continues to be stalled due to procedural
problems and specific research projects that were to begin by
end 2015 have yet not taken off.
The previous government had also launched the National
Innovations Council and preparatory work was done by IR
also, even though no specific programme emerged till the
initiative died off, unsung and hardly remembered.
Kolkata Metro Rail
progress. Civil structural work completed for all the 6 stations.
5 major buildings & workshops in Central Park Depot are
completed substantially. Tunnelling for the 5,409 m Subhas
Sarobar to Sealdah segment is complete. For the underground
station at Phoolbagan, all civil structural works completed as
also the Sealdah diaphragm wall panels and roof slabs. Column
& embedded track work in Depot is in progress. For the
Sealdah to Sector-V, 5.20 km track plinth casting has been
completed. (Adapted from content by NC Karmali, General
Manager, Kolkata Metro Corp.)
Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 13
 I R BU D GET 20 17
Rail cleanliness, much to smile about
Mechanised cleaning, like here on the Sealdah station, is spreading across the IR system.
The 'Swachh Bharat' effort on IR , introduced by the
Minister of Railways in his 2015-16 Railway budget
speech, proposed a new housekeeping department, clean-
ing as an integrated activity, including professional agen-
cies, training staff & settimg up 'waste to energy'
conversion plants in an environment-friendly manner.
Bio-toilets on trains has been an ongoing programme
with total conversion likely by 2019.
This ongoing effort has now included a survey based
dN> ^maV
ranking of major (A nd B class) stations. This survey
EH$ H$X dN>Vm H$s Amoa conducted by a private organisation TNS India for IRs
IRCTC (Catering and Toursim Corporation) has among
other things, established a wide variation in standards
and identified some best kept stations
The survey has covered 75 'A1' Category stations. Pas-
sengers were the primary respondents with porters and
vendors in the platform or ticketed area and railway offi-
cials, who are part of the Service Improvement Group
(SIG), also providing feedback. For every A1 category
station 400 passengers were targeted for interview while
in every A category station 300 passengers were targeted
for interview. The sample sizes are robust to provide
results within the 95% confidence interval,with an accept-
able margin of error at 4.8% for A1 category stations &
5.6% for A category stations. Structured questionnaires
to understand satisfaction and cleanliness indicators were
used. 47 parameters, 22 pertaining to infrastructure &
enabling provisions,10 pertaining to processes & meth-
odology and 15 on the outcome of upkeep & cleanliness
were listed.
Infrastructure & Process Indicator Questionnaire was
additionally filled by only railway officials in the Service
14 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017
Improvement Group(SIG) and contained parameters
which measured the availability of various cleanliness
infrastructure and existence & execution of processes
which were concerned with maintaining cleanliness of
the station.
The rating was taken on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 stood
for 'Poor' and 5 for 'Excellent'. These scores were then
weighted by the importance of the parameter to arrive at
weighted parameter score for all 40 parameters for each
of the 407 stations. A regression analysis was conducted
by TNS to find the relative importance of different pa-
rameters of cleanliness in the passengers' overall satisfac-
tion with cleanliness i.e. the 40 parameters of cleanliness
were taken as the independent variables while the passen-
gers' overall satisfaction was the dependent variable.Based
on the footfalls, the stations were classified as less than
10 thousand; between 10 and 25 thousand; between 25
and 50 thousand and more than 50 thousand.
105 stations are at Cleanliness Level 1 & 2, 166 stations
are at Cleanliness Level 3 and 136 stations are at Cleanli-
ness Level 4 & 5.
Best Zones - Western, South-Western and Southern Rail-
way Zones as they have highest proportions of Level 1
Areas of Cumulative
cleanliness contribution (%)
Ticketed areas - 20 parameters 55
Waste Management - 8 parameters 23
Toilets - 9 Parameters 16
Non-ticketed areas - 3 parameters 7
and 2 stations (68%, 47% and 46% respectively). Priority similar survey was conducted among 2734 porters and
Zones - Eastern, East Central and North Central Railway vendors and 2186 IR officials as part of Service Improve-
Zones have highest proportions of Level 4 and 5 stations ment Group (SIG). Lower scores on cleanliness of toilets
(47%, 67% and 70% respectively).Cleanliness in ticketed as compared to cleanliness in other aspects across all
areas of station premises is most important for passengers, zones are noticeable.
followed by waste management practices and toilets. A
A. Importance of cleanliness parameters
Based on the passenger responses, combined with weightage contribution of different segments of stations towards
satisfaction of passengers on cleanliness
Parameters of Cleanliness Importance to passengers (%) Importance to non-passengers (%)
Ticketed Areas in Stations 55 45
Waste Management 23 23
Toilets 16 19
Non-Ticketed Area in Stations 7 13
B. Ranking of Stations
Cleanliness Levels Range of scores Number of stations
1 >750 13
2 600-749 92
3 500-599 166
4 400-499 108
5 <400 28

Top 10 stations (in descending order of scores) :

BeasNR GandhidhamWR, Vasco da GamaSW , Jamnagar WR, KumbakonamSR, SuratWR, Nasik
RoadCR, RajkotWR, Salem-SR and AnkleshwarWR.

Purchase powers redefined on IR

In a follow up of the effort to push processes down the organ- tising tenders, processing, limited source contracting etc.
isational ladder, IR had redefined the authority schedules
(Schedule of Powers SOP) for purchase and works contracting, Redefined authority (IR schedule 2017)
permitting General Managers to handle tenders up to a ` 500 Current authority Previous
Cr limit. At the Railway Board level, this redefinition removed Direct tender JAG (level 3): ` 15 lakhs
the Minsters from the purchase/ contracting process and now acceptance ` 45 lakhs
the process stops with the Director General Stores.
Tender committees
IR, may be like most very large organisations, has a culture of
issuing detailed SOPs for various actions. The Jan 2017 in- JAG (level 3) ` 45 lakhs to ` 1.5 to 3 Cr
structions spread over 13 pages must be converted to local ` 5 Cr
re-definitions by the zones/ production units. SAG (level 4) ` 5 to 200 Cr ` 3 to 20 Cr
The delegation should ideally speed up contracting but reser- HAG (level 5) ` 20 t0 40 Cr ` 200 + Cr
vations exist. A senior materials manager in a production unit
summed up that contracts are the biggest career risk, due to A tender committee for purchase/ works contracting is often
often long drawn anti-corruption (vigilance) enquiries a three person one, and their proposal must be accepted by
launched on complaints. Inaction on other matters, even gross one rank higher. Accepting authority: Additional General
mismanagement or indecision is generally not a career risk. Manger up to `500 Cr and General Manager for a higher
value.
IR does not treat major contracting decisions as strategic and
a CEO like the General Manager need never get directly IR management is hierarchical, ranging from an assistant
involved with contract acceptance only when above ` 500 Cr, Manager/ Engineer to a Board Member, 7 steps above on the
something that rarely happens in an IR zone. The new SOP ladder. General Manager is at level 6, the structure is a bit
details levels for multiple actions like direct purchase, adver- more complex Editor.

Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 15

 I R BU D GET 20 17

Competitive ticketing and more

Ticketing
IR will work on competitive ticketing. IR passengers often face long waits at ticketing counters in
congested stations, and a ticket wait may be 1 hour long. Various efforts at automating the process
have met with at best partial success, mainly in season ticketing in suburban areas.
Long distance tickets on seat reservation are handled (about 60 %) on the IRCTC portal. This is
practically an in-house service .
IR has now waived off the service charges levied for such tickets , in an effort to help more customers
to migrate to internet booking .
The competitive ticketing plan is not defined and may evolve over time; like the case of dynamic
ticket pricing that has seen many versions and perhaps now on the verge of a discard.
The success or failure of the dynamic pricing efforts are not reported on though .

Rail Regulator
Multiple IR announcements on setting up of a Rail Tariff regulator
have proved chimerical. IR has at various stages defined its intentions,
varying from a statutory advisory body that would look at funding for
rail sector development to a pure executive body to settle tariff disputes.
With tariff revisions now effectively in IR executive domain, not
needing parliamentary pre-approval, the raison detre for a Rail
Regulator may have evaporated.

Integrated logistics
IR will work towards offering integrated logistics services, may be in
association with the private sector. CONCOR, IRs container
operations arm, already offers such services as it owns many container
and warehousing depots.

Real estate
IR expects to award contracts for commercial
development in 25 stations. As reported earlier, IR has
awarded a contract for development at Habib Ganj
(Bhopal). The Minister has formally launched this
effort in an event on Feb 8.
Throughput increase
A caveat first : we hope that this was a mis-announcement,
that IR expects just a 10% throughput increase in next 3 years;
that should mean a 3% CAGR . With traffic volumes currently
at near static level, and staff/expenditure set to grow at above
the inflation level of at least 5%, that would ensure that IR
faces a growing revenue red line in coming years. The equation
must be upset somehow but the budget documents show no
light in this tunnel.
The safety fund
The last IR Special Safety Fund, (SRSF), a non-
lapsable grant of ` 18,000 Cr, was spent in an
extended period of about eight years, with bulk of
the money being spent on signalling upgrades to
electrical (Panel) interlocking replacing the old
mechanical interlocking systems, track upgrades like
replacing the entire track structures to conform to
a standard of 60 kg rails, concrete sleepers and
required ballast depth of 300 mm. Smaller amount
went to other needs. IR will perhaps be now in a
huddle defining the contours of the new SSF , and
jostling for departmental allotments must already
be on .
Unlike the earlier fund that was an outright grant
from the government, this time only a seeding
amount has been indicated, with IR expected to
raise the balance from its own and market resources.
With IR margins, having taken a beating this FY, and
likely to do so in next FY also, the actual funding for
the new SSF may not be generous. While the thought
is overdue and needed, actual funding uncertainty
is likely to restrict implementation. It is learnt that
the Niti Aayog has been asked to develop the
contours of the safety plan.

16 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017

 CO N S TRUCTION M EG A BR IDG E

Bogibeel mega-bridge nears commissioning

HK Jaggi , General Manager , North East Frontier Railway (construction) leads

a specialist IR organisation responsible for various national rail projects for North
East connectivity .He has led the Boghibeel team to a likely construction completion
by the year end and commercial operation in 2018.
An IR Service of Engineers Officer, Jaggi was earlier Adviser (Land) in IR Board
and has developed the under-execution station development programmes. He will
superannuate in May 2017.

Bridging the Brahmaputra has been a sign of honour for
bridge engineers in India, with the first recorded for BC
Ganguly (Chairman IR Board 1970-72) who, early in his
career, was a key project engineer for the Saraighat road
and rail bridge that connects Guwahati. The East-West
flow of the river across the Assam plains neatly divides
the region into the North and South banks; it is not
uncommon for people to indicate their residence as being
part of the North or the South bank. This was followed
by the Tejpur road bridge, again executed by a railway
engineer, RR Jaruhar, later a member of the IR Board.
But in the East, the river remained unbridged, even though
it is said that the British had visualized a bridge at a Di-
brugarh location way back in 1929. In any case, technology
and resources available then would have prevented phys-
ical construction. At present the river is spanned by 4
bridges: Saraighat, Guwahati (dual mode), Jogigopa for
rail only and two road-only structures at Guwahati and
Tezpur.
Now the king of them all, the dual mode 4.9 km bridge
at Boghibeel near Dibrugarh will see the first trains moving
across it in 2018. And it will be the longest rail/road bridge
in India.
The construction of this bridge was a part of the Assam
political accord in 1985 but that was not converted to a
project sanction till 1997. Years went by with little activity
till the project was declared as a part of the National
Railway projects and after which funding has ceased to
be a major issue. Physical construction in this logistically

The Brahmaputra river follows a tortuous course, spreading wide in full flow (satellite imagery), and bridge sites like that Bogibeel require man-made restrictions. Map
alongside shows the various road and rail links that are a core part of the bridge project.

18 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017


difficult area, and the inevitable prob-
lems in IR contract management did
hamper progress, that is in any case
slow due to the site not being amena-
ble to work except in the Nov
March period. Contract indecisions,
mainly by the Board, slowed down
work; it is said that some considera-
tions delayed a contract for two years.
The floods in 2012 that washed away
the guide bunds did not help either.
Bheel, a lake in local script, is a village
and the river at this location was about
10 km in its peak flow. Reportedly 4
locations were surveyed at the project
draft stage, and the Boghi village site
found (should we say that!) least
bothersome. Engineers found this lo-
cation amenable to restricting the ex-
panse through dykes and now the riv-
er is divided in non-flood season to
two channels, with the South channel
being the active one. This has been a
boon for the location but has created
many a material flow problem as var-
ious aggregates and steel structures
have to be trans-shipped to the river
island, that has become a local port
of call.
A bridge man in the making
Unlike some of the iconic projects
elsewhere in the world, which carry
the names of their key designers, IR
projects remain faceless, or may be
get attributed to a political figure.
Saraighat bridge does not even carry
a plaque to acknowledge the pioneer-
ing work done by BC Ganguly. Bo-
gibeel is no exception and it takes
quite some effort to figure out the key
designers and project managers asso-
ciated with the project. We venture a
few names, even at the risk of being
less than accurate. One name men-
tioned is RVR Kishore of HCC, the
superstructure contractor, who visu-
alized the design and execution con-
cept.
From our conversations during the
site visits, three IR engineers of vary-
ing experience and age have been as-
sociated with the project for a decent
length of time. And their commit-
ment to the project stands out as they
talk of the progress and the challenges.
Let us start with the youngest, Sahem-
lung Kamei, a Deputy Chief at the
project site. His IR seniors proudly
say that Kamei was born on the
bridge, a total untruth but that con-
veys the young engineers association.
CO N S T RU CT I O N ME GA B R I D G E
His at-site colleague, Milan Singh,
relatively new to his position as the
site in-charge, acknowledges this re-
source.
Kamei joined IR 10 years back, was
posted for a short while to Saharanpur
as a track engineer and transferred to
NF Railway soon thereafter. Track
maintenance at Barsoi (Bihar) was
tough but not exciting. He is now a
know-everything engineer on the
project, depended upon for accurate
delivery and information. He can well
think of the many large bridges that
will span the North East in coming A Bogibeel team at the project site : (L to R) Milan Singh, In-charge
years. Deputy Chief, A Majumdar, Deputy Chief Design, Rakesh Kumar Singh,
Executive HCC and S Kamei, Deputy Chief (NFR)
Key persons who visualized the
ing across the river to the recently
project and delivered the key layouts
gauge-converted Murkong Selek line
have included KK Gupta, associated
in the neighbouring Arunachal state.
in design (ca 2001), VK Madhukar
This track work, completed in 2009,
(2002 -08), SC Rajak (2008-11). The
is now handling passenger trains reg-
project concept was based on the in-
ularly. The bridge structure, built to
itial hydrological surveys conducted
IRs BGML standards, can handle 25t
in Roorkee, work coordinated by
axle load trains and is future fit. Ram-
RITES experts A Garg and AK Math-
boll, Denmark carried out the super-
ur. RK Dayal handled the studies for
structure design through RITES, with
river survey and design of the river
proof checking by the German com-
training and the guide bunds. This is
pany Anwarikar. The superstructure
a key part of the project design as the
river has been restricted to about 5 should cost about ` 1300 Cr.
km, half of its natural flood plain. After Now that the project completion is
the dyke and guide bund constriction, in sight, Pandit recounts a few occa-
the river is now restricted to 2 main sions of doubt and despair. On the
channels, with the South channel that happier front, he could shift to the
holds 10 piers being the active one. use of spherical bridge bearings, in-
The uniqueness of the bridge, both stead of the traditional POT/ PTFE
in design and execution, has ensured ones. Pandit assesses that the spheri-
a steady stream of visitors and week- cal bearings, lesser in number, should
end picnickers, partying at the sand be practically maintenance free for
island between the two river streams. the 50-year assessed life.
Each trainee engineer of the IR Serv-
A constant issue in such projects is
ice of Engineers must spend training the ability to locate and retain skilled
time at the project. Some of these
workforce. A walk through the fabri-
would become key persons in IR con- cation and launch yards reveals the
struction expertise in future and four
large number of welders and riggers
young executive engineers are already required by HCC for this project.
working at the bridge site, ensuring
Quality assurance is mandated at each
quality and proper scheduling. step and availability of qualified man-
The top team power from internal resources was
practically impossible. NFR has sup-
The bridge project has seen signifi-
plemented their resources with con-
cant progress under A Pandit, Chief
tracts for EPC like sourcing, ensuring
Administrative Officer who has been
that progress is never hampered.
associated with the project since
2011. Pandit recounts that he was Mohinder Singh, Chief Engineer,
impressed by the project contours now nine years on the project includ-
when he was Divisional Railway Man- ing at the project sites, too has pro-
ager in Lumdig. The project involves gressed in a long association with the
the 4.9 km long bridge on 39 piers as project. Earlier IR engineers were not
well as a 44-km long track work that too conversant with all- welded gird-
provides an alternative route to Di- ers, as rivetted girders were the
brugarh/Tinsukhia besides connect- norm. Singh adds that this is bridge
Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 19
 CO N S TRUCTION M EG A BR IDG E

Substructure Codes and empirical for end spans).

Ajit Pandit, Chief Administrative Officer and Mohinder Singh, Chief Engineer
head the construction team that is all set to deliver on this national project.
construction without a single rivet, a
modern concept that could set pat-
terns for the future.
Project delivery
The project has a slow growth history,
a trait it shares with most large IR
projects. The project cost was esti-
mated at ` 3230 Cr, since revised to
` 4857 Cr. Sanctioned in 1997, with
a ceremonial foundation stone in
April 2002, progress was symbolic,
with just about ` 700 Cr spent till the
grant of a national projects status in
2007. Expenditure in last 5 years has
ranged in ` 400 to 500 Cr, peaking at
` 512 Cr in 2015 FY.
For A Majumdar, Deputy Chief for
designs, the bridge has presented mul-
tiple challenges of meeting various IR
limits, working out foundation mini-
ma, foundation grip lengths, stability
in extreme conditions etc. The de-
signs have proven to be effective but
the hard tests will follow under full
traffic and river flow.
Key technical features
l Mean river flow: 3 m /sec., Max
river discharge: 73,000 cusecs
l A high flood mark at about 103 m,
with a minimum level 98.3m in the
active channel. Span arrangements:
32.75 m: 2 end spans, 125 m: 39
spans
l Substructure: 42 double-D Well
foundations, 16.2 m x10.5 m and
twin circular hollow piers 5.3 m
external dia
l Guide bunds: North: 2.7 km and
South: 2.1 km
l Flood dykes: 9 km upstream and 7
km downstream on both banks
l Road links: 11.3 km on the South
and 13.3 km on North banks; road
via ducts of about 0.8 km will con-
nect the road-cu rail bridge to the
state highways 37 and 52.
l Warren type truss without verticals,
12.5m high, 10 panels per span (3
l The connecting rail network in-
cludes new stations at Dibrugarh
(the old one carries the Town suf-
fix) and New Tinsukia on the South
bank main line and two crossing
stations on the North bank.
The remaining works
Pandit expects the last train of 10 gird-
ers to be in place by August and the
track linking by end of the year. With
completion of the bridge launch, steel
sleepers and tracks will be installed.
Completion of the girder launch will
also permit completion of the road
via ducts, few of which have been held
back to permit movement of material
and equipment by HCC. Two decks
of the road way have now been cast.
Kamei hoped that with the three sets
of deck shuttering now available (may
be increased to 4 soon), he expects
the road surfaces to be ready by year
end too.
The missing blocks of the giant-sized
puzzle are all falling into place.
Key construction companies
The bridge contract has been execut-
ed by well-known Indian firms Gam-
mon and HCC, with Gammon deliv-
ering the substructure piers and HCC

Hell has no fury like a river in spate

Three caissons (a watertight retaining structure used as a
bridge pier) were washed away in the 2012 floods on the
Brahmaputra, in just the second working season, and have
not been located till now. These massive steel fabrications
should be lying somewhere merged under the Brahmaputra
sediment, a mute reminder that a river in spate does not easily
forgive. This came about even as the guide bunds built in the
previous season were also washed away forcing the bridge
designers to increase 4 piers to the bridge plan. The rebuilt
was done with tougher tethering cables and a lot of hope.
S Kamei recalls that during the 2012 floods, most surviving
animals in the area found sanctuary on the guide bunds and
the dykes of the bridge project. That was fine till a couple of
young elephants strolled across rushing too to set up panic.
Kabul Majumdar, then an Assistant Engineer recounts that a
steam loco hauled train near Udalguri on the North bank
Murkong Selek MG line was washed away due to a bridge
collapse in 1980 during a flood in a Brahmaputra tributary.
The steam loco was gulped down by the river in its fury and
lay embedded in the nether land till a barely visible portion
of the chimney pushed salvage crews to recover the machine.
Then in 1982 two ferries tethered at Pandu were washed away
near to the Bangladesh border in 1982 but could be recovered.
The Bogibeel project must guarantee no-recurrence for the
expected 50 + years life time of the bridge. Therein lies the
skill and the metal of the project designers.

20 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017

 CO N S T RU CT I O N ME GA B R I D G E

JV currently executing the final phase
of the superstructure. Each pier is a
mammoth hollow cylinder of steel
and concrete, built step by step at the
final location, with a max 58.6m
depth, uses about 65,000 bags of ce-
ment and 470 t of steel reinforce-
ments. Site engineers pointed out that
not all piers were trouble free and
corrections in tilt were carried out, a
difficult task in the middle of a river.
30 of the 39 girders are now in place.
Pandit indicated that the girder
launching follows an incremental
method, a take-off on a Scandinavian
method, wherein the girder fabrica-
tion bays are aligned with the bridge
in horizontal and vertical levels and
the girders are pushed out one by one,
forming a train of 10, with suitable
launching or end noses assembled
with high strength bolts (these are
removed once the girder train has
docked in its final place). Pulling
mechanisms installed on piers 1, 11,
21 and 31 pull the train cautiously
over specially installed flat bearings
on the pier caps. These bearings are
replaced by the spherical bearings at
their final location. For pulling, the
girders are joined into the girder
train by special blocks at the bottom
members and these are removed after
docking.
The fabrication workshops are any-
thing but small, considering that each
girder tops at around 1700 t weight,
and the intermediate girders measure
out to 125 m. The girder fabrication
is staged across 2 130 m long laydown
bays and 2 vertical assembly sheds
(300 m). Six gantry cranes (40 to 80
t) move the assemblies between these
aligned bays.
Pandit explained that the girders are
all fabricated from plates only, avoid-
ing the use of rolled sections. The
entire structures weigh in at 77,000 t
of steel, mostly of high strength E450
plates ranging from the wells to the
reinforcements and the girders. Steel
sleepers and some cross beams are
fitted on later to minimise the girder
launch weights. We could not help
asking if the road decks add to the
strength and the answer was a definite
yes, with Pandit affirming that design
considerations would not permit
opening the bridge to rail traffic till
the road decks have been finished too.
Perhaps it would have been better
that the fabrication workshops were
split between the North and South
banks but that was not feasible due
to the topography at the North bank.
HCC , the major Indian construc-
tion company , leads the super-
structure construction consorti-
um , in partnership with DSD
Steel Group Germany and VNR
Infrastructure .HCC counts the
construction of the historic Bhor
Ghat (the Western Ghats route
to Mumbai) amongst its earliest
rail projects. Also on the showcase
are the bow string arch girder rail
bridge on the Godavari , Kolkata
and Delhi Metros, the Pir Panjal
rail tunnel that links the Kashmir
valley and the now iconic Bandra
-Worli Sealink cable stayed
bridge. The Bogibeel site, now at
its concluding phase, resources
about 2600 people in various ac-
tivities.

IR continues to be in the news and the reasons are many. It

touches every Indian, being the lifeline of the country. The
suggestions to reform are unending and vary from budget
merger, improvement in services with a price tag, accidents or
underinvestment. The investment issue has caught fancy glo-
bally with the coming up of High Speed train and the Dedicated
Freight Corridor. Railways look towards private or non-
Government funding to take a quantum leap.
Messe Frankfurt now plan to organise the 2nd Edition of Rail
India Conference & Expo on May 18-19, 2017 in New Delhi
to deliberate on these current issues and discuss action plans
for the way forward. This conference will showcase what IR
is doing and what is its vision along with the path for the
ambitious goals. And to achieve all this, innovative ideas, be
it revolutionary, are welcome. This is what this conference
shall seek to achieve.
Arunendra Kumar, Former Chairman, IR Board.

Media Associate

Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 21

 L O C O M OTIVES C HITTAR AN JAN

Chittaranjan set for growing electrification

Vijai Prakash Pathak, General Manager, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, an
officer of the IR Stores Service, was earlier the Controller of Stores in Diesel
Locomotive Works, Varanasi. He joined IR in March 1982 after graduation
in civil engineering.
Pathak has held various important IR positions including Controller of Stores
in Rail Coach Factory, Eastern, North Western, North Central Railways and
Railway Electrification. Pathak has been trained in Austria & Germany in
Supply Chain Management.

This is a time for CLW to consolidate on its high produc-
tion levels. We have come a long way to establishing
internal capacities for 300 locos per year, on top of a good
vendor base for traction equipment and various sub-
assemblies. Sourcing for many key components like loco
frames, bogies and other fabricated items now comple-
ment the in-house capabilities. In coming year, these will
be incremented in numbers as well as in technological
spread. VS Pathak, General Manager, Chittaranjan Loco
Works who has taken over in Dec 2016 has quickly de-
veloped his outlook for the coming years.
Internal manufacturing is well established and growing,
as in the Traction Motor manufacture where a 17% in-
crease (to 914 three phase motors till Dec 2016) has been
achieved and only about 20 % motors are sourced from
vendors. The 2016 -17 manufacture has included 195
IGBT traction based locos and a full shift in coming years
is already in force. Pathak is also sure that the various
technologies will be incorporated in full.
The assembly unit at Dankuni (near Kolkata) is also
operational now, with 7 WAG9 H locos commissioned
so far. Dankuni gets its parental feed and guidance' from
the mother plant and has developed well.
Production plans for electric locos
CLW DLW Varanasi
2016-17 298 2 All this has been achieved based on efficient contracting
2017-18 325 25
2018-19 350 75
The product mix in 2015 -16 was WAP5: 17, WAP 7: 58,
WAG9: 140, WAP 4: 30, and WAG7: 35. Manufacture
of WAP 4 and WAG 7 s has since been discontinued. The
freight locos will be fit for the Western freight corridor
operations too, as one of the pantographs fitted is a high-
reach design that is needed for the higher level of the
overhead 25 kV supply for double stack container opera-
tions. Fitting of H type couplers on passenger locos is
also likely on future series.
Khatri, Chief Electric Engineer in charge of loco produc-
tion and his young colleague Agarwal, SEE are hopeful
and may be a bit worried that the need to dispatch the
near 100 locos in three months, to make up the 300-loco
target, may be a little too much. The manufacturing cycle
is around 36 working days and good back up progress,
visible in the series of locos waiting in the stabling lines,
waiting for final inspections and fittings, give them confi-
dence. The year-end pressures are near normal and they
are confident of coping.
Manufacturing productivity is being continually advanced
and Khatri mentions a series of these, like better harness
manufacture to avoid wiring errors and service problems,
introduction of better pipe fittings and the like.
Manufacture in CLW has proven very cost effective for
IR, as it gets modern electric locos at practically less than
half the price quoted for the Dedicated Freight Corridor
locos, a tender that has been dropped for now. Transfer
prices: WAG 9: ` 13.5 Cr, WAP 7: ` 13.8 Cr and WAP5
at ` 14 Cr). Progressive vendor development has now
restricted direct CLW imports to only about 2.5% of the
purchase value. The partial shift to electric locos in Vara-
nasi plant as well as the likely supply from Alstom Indias
JV in 2019 will be adequate for anticipated electric loco
needs.
A health resort?
The drive from the Chittaranjan rail station to the
CLW housing colony and the factories is transforma-
tional, from the typical station traffic chaos to the
many lakes, widespread greenery and the ambience
of a health resort. One cannot foresee the factories
while passing the lakes that abound with migratory
birds too. After all, this was a typical tribal area before
its conversion to a steam loco factory in early 1950s.

22 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017


procedures. All purchase tenders are
now transacted through an electronic
portal under the Procurement and
Efficiency (PACE) programme. This
has also added a transparency layer
to the large volume public procure-
ment that CLW handles.
Technical improvements
A host of modern features are on trial,
ranging from initial application to
series inclusion:
l Train Communication Network
Compliant Vehicle Control unit,
developed indigenously by C-
DAC, already on two locos, this will
be expanded as the technology has
been licensed to six Indian devel-
opers. This would overcome the
software compatibility issues faced
with the OEM.
l IR has an ambitious plan for devel-
oping a 9000 hp electric (current
range: 6000 hp) freight loco. Pre-
tendering processes completed in-
clude preparation of functional
specifications and suitable interac-
tions with likely traction system
vendors. The prototype is expected
to roll out in early 2018.
l Parallel development of bi-modal
(diesel and 25 kV electrics) loco-
motives by CLW (5 loco manufac-
ture sanctioned) and DLW is in
hand. IR is trying to develop two
versions at CLW and DLW. This
has also progressed to functional
specifications and expression of in-
terest by traction system vendors.
l Crew and voice recording for loco
driving crews
The CLW Team (L to R): A Agarwal, Chief Public Relations, BR Kanwar, Chief Engineer, Srikant Rai, Controller of Stores, S Bhattacharjee, Financial Adviser, S Toppo,
Chief Mechanical Engineer, VP Pathak, General Manager, BB Singh, Chief Electrical Engineer, A Kumar, Chief Vigilance Officer, AK Majumdar, Chief Medical Officer, G
Sreeniwas Rao, Chief Personnel Officer and PP Raju, Secretary to GM.
LO CO MO T I V E S CH I T TA R A N J A N
The power of social media
On a sunny week day, the 31875
WAG9 H was getting a good
shower, to check if even a single
droplet evades the covers and the
sealing rubbers into the cubicles
housing the on board electric
equipment. A meticulous check by
an inspector showed none, earning
a tick on the inspection sheet and
a gate pass for dispatch. And the
30511 was happy to move for its
turn at the shower bay.
OP Kesari, Senior Executive Director, RDSO
The shower test room is rather is responsible for various technical
new, having been added in last few
developments on electric locos. The CLW
design and development team coordinates all
months in response to a social me- projects with him.
dia post by a loco driver which
announced last year. Locos under
showed water dripping inside a manufacture are instead provided
loco in service. CLW QA and man-
with a replaceable roof cover that will
agement took that seriously, com- permit retrofitment. This regression
missioning the new high pressure has been forced by the poor service
nozzles that simulates heavy mon- reliability of the ACs fitted earlier.
soon shower. And a key new addi- Similar fitment has occurred on the
tion to the quality checks which a diesels ex DLW. Unconfirmed indi-
new loco should undergo. cations are that the DC power supply
The cab air conditioning used for these units may be the root
of the problem. Some trials with DC
CLW is not fitting any driving cab air
conditioners, even though this was supply units have been mentioned.
The family shoot
Photos WAG 9 *H WAG7 WAP 5 WAP 7
freight passenger passenger
hp 6000 5400 5400
Bogie type 6 axle 6 axle 4 axle
Starting tractive effort 51 44 26.3
Max service speed kph 90 100 160
*= heavy haul
Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 23
 L O C O M OTIVES C HITTAR AN JAN

The bogie manufacturing and assembly shops form a supportive base for loco production in CLW.

IRs 200 kph project
The WAP7 loco maximum speed can
be enhanced to 200 kph by a change
in the wheel-motor drive gear ratio.
This will be required for IRs 200 kph
rake under development in Kapurtha-
la plant. One loco based in Ghaziabad
shed with the modified gear train,
sourced from the well-known Ger-
man company Henschel, has shown
good reliability on run (at the lower
speed).
Samir Topo, a recent addition to the
CLW cadre, chips in with his plans to
ensure a steady growth in back up
supplies for increasing production.
The bogie fabrication, heavy machin-
ing including for traction motor
frames and the steel foundry are key
team mates to the loco assembly proc-
ess.
The steel foundry is presently casting
14 different types of products, pre-
dominantly with a conventional
green sand moulding process.
Switch over to no bake moulding
process in a phased manner from this
year could lead to a complete shift by
late 2018. An initial six items are
planned for switch over between June,
2017 to January18.
Narrow gauge wheels
Casting of NG wheel sets for the Ka-
lka-Shimla section had been posing
challenges with recurring defects de-
tected during non-destructive testing.

Remote Diagnostics Current operations

GPS/GSM/CDMA SMS
Antenna (As needed) Holding Sheds WAG-9 WAP-7
CONNECTIVITY

Lalaguda 1 17
INTERNET

SERVER BROADBAND
Ajni (Nagpur) 6 2
ROOF EQUIPMENT
Gomoh 7 0
VEHICLE CONTROL UNIT
Serial Data
Fibre optic

110 VDC
MVB DIA Ghaziabad 0 4
Outpur card
Bhilai 1 1
Data from MVB
REMOTE DIAGNOSTIC
EQUIPMENT Fibre optic - DDS Extraction from DIA
Howrah 0 1
WITH MVB GATE WAY
Total 15 25

Communication technology can be utilized for condition monitoring in electric locomotives, with real
time single window reporting of key parameters like temperatures of bogie bearings, converters, control
equipment etc.
The system collects the status of the locomotive or faults developed transmitting to a Remote Server base
station server on a wireless network. The equipment is MVB based, connected to the WAP5/ WAP7/
WAG9/9H classes via an associated roof mounted unit of multiple network interfacing devices (GSM &
CDMA each) and a GPS receiver.

24 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017


PK Khatri, Chief Electric Engineer (centre) responsible for loco production with his lead
assembly line managers Amit Agarwal and BS Meena.
Recently switch over to no bake
sand process has encouraging results
with the number of defects reduced
by 70%.
the manufacturing shops have been the
work horse.
Besides catering to all the loco wheel
requirements, these shops fabricate
and machine 3 phase stators for the
traction motor production. The 2016-
17target is for 720 stators, enhancing
to 1200 in 2017-18. This has been
addressed by increasing the work sta-
tions and the machining increased
from 3 to 4 per day. Toppo is satisfied
that 100 stators have been machined
for the last two months. The plan is
to undertake the entire stator fabrica-
tion and machining for 350 locos by
2018-19. Plans exist to augment ca-
pacity by acquiring new assets viz,
CNC Universal Horizontal Machin-
ing Centre & Co-ordinate Measuring
Machine.
Noise level in the loco cabs
during run
Type Measured
value dB
WAP-5 (three phase) 80
WAP-7 (three phase) 83
WAP-4 (conventional) 90
WAG-7 (conventional) 89
US regulations on cab noise limit av-
erage to 85 dB. Air sealing, sound
LO CO MO T I V E S CH I T TA R A N J A N
l SCR- 5 Pairs of WAG7s: mine to
power house segments in Singare-
ni- Bhadrachalam (67 km)
l South Eastern: WAG7, 1 pair &
WAG9, 2 pairs in the Banspani
Dongapsoi Adityapur (Tata
Steel) iron ore belts (152 km)
l South East Central: lone WAG7
pari on Korba-Nagpur (504 km)
l East Coast: WAG7 x 3 pairs on 192
km Talcher-Paradeep Port runs
Head On Generation (HOG)
Nine pairs of trains serving New Del-
hi, Mumbai, Kolkata terminals, Jaipur,
Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Chen-
nai are saving around 40 Cr per year
in terms of fuel and maintenance cost.
Modification of coaches /power cars
and production of WAP 7 locos is in
absorption and damping were provid- full swing. The WAP5 s, not fitted
ed to reduce the noise level that re- due to space restrictions on these 4
duced from 90 to 84 dB. These chang- axle locos, is sought to be corrected
es are being enforced during periodic by integration of the main traction
overhauls. converter with the HOG converter,
Water closets a development likely this year.
A specification for water closet mod- (Content support from MK Gupta,
ule with vacuum evacuation and Chief Design and Development, Vipin
anaerobic bio-dischargeable systems
Kumar, Deputy Chief and the Public
for WAP-7/WAG9/9H defines an
Relations team of A Agarwal, Chief and
intermediate vacuum toilet equipped
Mantaar Singh is acknowledged).
with computerized control. This
module will work on 110V DC supply
and air pressure available in loco.
A crew voice & video recording will
ensure effective and tamper proof re-
cording of activities in locomotive
cab. The salient features are a mini-
mum last 90 days data storage on
FIFO, time and location stamping,
analogue and digital video inputs, ex-
port of the desired portion of clipping
DVR with at least 8 cameras input
configurable as IP/Analog and mini-
mum four audio inputs.
Improving throughput is achieved by
running long haul trains and the con-
cept of the distributed power was de-
veloped. On the Distributed Power,
Wireless Control System (DPWCS)
equipped loco pairs have been devel-
oped; up to 4 remote locomotives can
be connected anywhere in the train
consist, with the slave locomotives
synchronized with the lead one.
At present 12 pairs are working:
Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 25
 L O C O M OTIVES PATIAL A
IR diesel locos set for a Patiala makeover
SK Luthra, Chief administrative Officer, Diesel Modernisation Works, Patiala is hopeful
of delivery on the various improvement projects for the IR diesel loco fleet.
The Diesel Modernisation Works (DMW), Patiala is now
a key role player in IR plans for upgrading its diesel loco
fleet. That is a major shift from its defined role on its
inception in 1980s when it was a supplement to the spares
supplies for the ALCO/DLW fleet from the parent plant
in Varanasi. DMW is now adapting its product lines to
new designs, moving away slowly from the ALCO to the
EMD locos.
It is easy for SK Luthra, Chief Administrative Officer to
list highlights from the year: first time loco manufacture
for a non-IR customer, rebuild of 1800 hp WDP1 passen-
ger locos (3 so far), major shift towards repair & rehabil-
itation of EMD loco traction machines and overhaul &
support to the MEMU traction machines. The ` 1500
Cr annual turnover comes from supply of sub-assemblies
(19 %), spares (25%), rehab of locos (50 %) and new
locos for other customers (8 %) (indicative data).
High on fuel savings
Luthra scans the many technological changes which
DMW is introducing mainly during the rehab of the
diesels. The Auxiliary Power Unit APU, that reduces fuel
consumption due to a lower engine output and shut down
of the main engine during idling, is now being proliferated,
with all new + rebuilt ones leaving DMW and Parel (new
WDS6) with APUs. Under a project for retrofitment on
500 locos, contracts are awarded and managed centrally
from DMW. Multiple sourcing of APUs is being encour-
aged to hasten implementation and 3 new sources have
development contracts in addition to MEDHA. This will
come handy for faster retrofitment in the entire fleet of
ALCO & EMD types later when a proposed ADB funded
project to finance cuts in.
APU (with ACES)
Auxiliary Power Unit APU with Automatic control of
26 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017
Engine stop is a system which automatically shuts down
the main engine when the locomotive is in idle state for
more than 10 minutes and restarts the main engine when-
ever the train driver desires so. APU is a small diesel
engine coupled to a baby compressor and an alternator
along with control circuits to maintain the main reservoir
pressure between 8 to 10 Kg/cm2 and keep the locomo-
tive batteries in charged condition.It has huge fuel saving
potential, saving fuel @ 23 litres/hour during idling.
The balance 26 Multi-genset Locos (from an initial
order of 28) are scheduled for assembly and supply in
next FY. The first two locos were built using NRE
gensets with 3 gensets each on top of the standard IR
shunting loco WDS6 motorised bogies and have per-
formed generally well in Itarsi yards. The fresh lot will
however be built with 2 gensets each only, keeping in
view the power demand faced in practice in IR yards.
Apart from bulk order for the power/traction equip-
ment of 24 loco sets on NRE USA/Daulat Ram (two
manufactured already), development orders for two
loco sets each have now been placed on BHEL &
Medha. Luthra indicated that the new contracts are
for the full kits, including the gensets and this change
will avoid the supply scheduling and initial performance
problems faced in the prototypes. IR has now sanc-
tioned another 50 locos, indicating satisfaction with
the concept, bringing the genset loco fleet to a healthy
78 locos in a few years time.
The first loco with Common Rail Direct Injection CRDi,
already in last stages of rollout and commissioning in Feb
2017, will be followed by 15 more in next FY. This is a
refinement of a prototype modified by RDSO two years
back and put through extensive trials on South Central
Railway.
Development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered
loco in association with RDSO was tendered for but has
not succeeded as many technical issues remain unresolved.
Also, the ALCO design is now near obsolete and IR
electrification is making good progress, inhibiting fresh
development investment by the industry.
The issue of adequate engine cooling has been addressed
by augmented cooling circuits using higher capacity radi-
ator, cooling fan, aftercooler core etc. The prototype loco
is now operational in New Katni and the upgrades will
be proliferated.
Luthra added that DMW needs to continuously identify
new technology increments and two such projects are in
hand: to replace mechanically driven auxiliaries by electric
motors and retrofitment of a more fuel efficient and
emission compliant engine. Both are under development.
Adding to the fuel-efficient chain will be the ABB VTG
Turbo & Miller cycle turbochargers. These developments
are well in hand with the proto turbochargers already

An ALCO 16 cylinder, 3300 hp engine set under assembly (left) and CNC based precision machining on a wheel set.
supplied and in last stages of matching
at the RDSO Engine Development
laboratory. These futuristic locos
should be commissioned within the
next 6 months.
Electrification and EMD
Luthra rules out any worries about
reduction of workload on these ac-
counts. In fact, he stresses that DMW
has the go-ahead to prepare for EMD
loco rebuilding (18-year schedule)
for which tooling & facilities are being
actively procured. A new EMD high
hp engine test bed has been sanc-
tioned under the 2017 budget while
approvals for less value equipment
are already available. DMW expects
to handle complete EMD Loco in FY
2018-19 even as a beginning will be
made in 2017-18 for bogies & engine
power packs. 3 phase traction ma-
chines are already being overhauled
in DMW (342 AC traction motors)
till Jan 2017 against 176 last year, 11
alternators over 7 last FY).
The first 3100 hp locomotive
WDG3A for National Thermal Pow-
er (not an IR company) was rolled
out in March16. So far, 11WDG3A
locos have been sold by DLW and
delivered by DMW to various such
customers. The two units had decided
to work in tandem for external cus-
tomers through an MOU last year.
IRs Lower Parel, Mumbai workshop
delivers the standard WDS6 shunting
locos and all key sourcing is handled
by DMW.
Traction machines shop has been re-
habilitating high hp (HHP) EMD al-
ternators since 2008 and has success-
fully rehabilitated 47 machines. 900
AC Traction Motors have also been
LO CO MO T I V E S PAT I A L A
attended since the 2011 start. Manu-
facture /rehabilitation of AC Traction
machines of HHP EMD loco is being
stepped up gradually.
New rehab line
The first WDP1 loco rehabs include
many systemic modifications like on
the under frame to suit side bearer
assembly and modified lateral and
vertical dampers, modified 4 motor
Bo-Bo Bogies with rubber springs in
secondary suspension, crew friendly
driver cabin, modified nose and radi-
ator compartments & maintenance
friendly engine hood & doors. The Samarendra Kumar,
Chief Mechanical Engineer
air circuit now has self-cleaning iner-
tial filtration. The brake circuit now
comes with an up-graded air com-
pressor for a pure air brake and possi-
bility to support computerised con-
trols like the CCB.
The engine has been equipped with
3RV cylinder liner kit, microprocessor
based control system with new con-
tactor compartment; micro-controller
based governor, mechanical bonded
radiator and plate type enlarged after-
cooler and many useful features
adopted from the EMD designs.
Three locomotives have already been Bimal Rautji, Controller of Stores
rebuilt with a plan to progressively
re-build the entire fleet of 69 locos. A
smaller fleet of 28 WDP3 passenger
locos, to be tackled next and a begin- Delegation of purchase powers
ning will be made in FY 17-18. has helped pace of ordering/ de-
cision making. Cases in point are
Cast Iron Engine Blocks high value tenders for Multi-
The ALCO-OEM engine blocks are genset loco parts, engine blocks,
essentially fabricated, using some motors etc., as all such purchase
heavy forgings.
decisions can now be taken by
DMW management.
Cast Iron engine blocks have been
under development since 2010 and
various technical and procedural is-
Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 27
 L O CO M OTIVES PATIAL A

Loco rebuild facilities, a key to DMWs main workload.

sues hindered earlier application. Six
of these blocks are now operational
for about 18 months and ten more
under fitment. These have been
sourced from Push Foundry, China
and regular supplies at around 5 per
month are expected now onwards
completing the supply of 50 in next
FY. IR expects to meet the future de-
mands of new ALCO engine blocks
partly with this casting design and a
tender for 150 numbers is said to be
due in April 2017. Indian companies
like ISGEC Yamunanagar are also
said to be interested in developing
these intricate castings.
Quality improvements
Higher radius camshaft segments, im-
provements in gear manufacture
processes (including external consul-
tancy from CIIs Institute of Quality),
and improvements in engine block
repair methods have yielded signifi-
cant improvement in service failures
reported within 180 days of rebuild
(20 till Sep 2016 against 68 last year).
DMW has adopted Epoxy cum Poly-
urethane painting as PU paints offer
excellent weather resistance, light-
fastness and UV protection to exterior
surfaces.
CRDi
Common Rail Electronic Direct In-
jection system is the state-of-the-art
technology that replaces the existing
mechanical fuel injection system with
high precision control of Fuel injec-
tion in Diesel Engine. Its high-
pressure pumps maintain fuel oil pres-
sure in Common Rail at 2000 bar
(from 300bar earlier) and an ECU
(Engine Control Unit) squarely con-
trols the speed of engine through pre-
cise control of fuel injection timings
of solenoid operated injectors. Its
main benefit is in saving fuel by 5 to
7% and reduction in harmful emis-
sions by 15 to 20%. Mechanical parts
are reduced substantially too.
Modular HVAC unit for Cab
DMW has undertaken provision of
Modular HVAC (Heating Ventila-
tion and Air Conditioning) units on
Alco locomotives during rebuild to
maintain interior cab temperatures
in a comfortable range during high as
well as low temperature weather con-
ditions. It is a split type AC with pow-
er source located in clean air compart-
ment. Prototype units are under
testing, and first locos will be in serv-
ice in this summer season.
High capacity radiator cooling
DMW is fitting high capacity Radiator
cooling fan with 1,50,000 CFM air
flow from its 8-blades (6 on the con-
ventional fan).
The increased air flow capacity with
less power consumption improves
radiator efficiency and reduces the
thermal loading of engine.

I Mech E Railway Division special event in India

IMechE Railway Division successfully continues to further its objectives of
reaching to the engineering fraternity in India. Richard East, Chairman Railway
Division spoke on Sustaining the Future at well attended event in National
Rail Museum, New Delhi in Feb 2017. The participants included many young
members including from the student chapter of SRM University, Ghaziabad.
Post privatization, the UK rail industry has recorded significant growth in
passenger numbers while freight traffic has remained flat, or grown marginally.
East highlighted the importance of investment in the rail industry in a manner
which sustains the future. (L to R: Ravi Kochak, Allwyn Peter, Richard East
and Pradeep Agrawal)

28 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017

 H I G H SPEED OP INION
Getting ready for High Speed trains
As India enters the High-Speed Railway (HSR) era, it is
important to focus on actions that would ensure rapid
technology assimilation and development as well as local-
ization of manufacture. It need be emphasized that the
vision for Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR should include de-
ployment of a dedicated large group of engineers to study
and absorb the technologies related to standards, specifi-
cations, design, construction, manufacture and mainte-
nance of such railways. These engineers should be re-
quired to work on long term basis in proposed institutions,
namely NHSR Corporation (for project implementation),
HSR Design Unit (for assimilation of HSR technologies
and design of various project elements) and HSR Testing
and Commissioning Unit (for quality control and com-
pliance with technical standards and specifications). Lo-
calization of manufacture of light weight EMUs and var-
ious components for track, signalling, communications
and electrification systems should be supported.
The first route for the construction of HSR in India,
between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, has been selected,
funding secured and a separate entity (NHSR Corpo-
ration) established for its implementation. The best
possible candidate route has been chosen as the near
500 km distance is ideal for HSR, this route has high
ridership and demand, population in the catchment
area has relatively high per capita income that will
facilitate affordability of higher fares and there are
several other large urban centers that have potential
of growth that boost ridership.
We need to identify initiatives that would help maximize
the benefits from this high investment landmark railway
project.
Long range development
For technology assimilation and localization of manufac-
ture, the project should include transfer of technology in
design, material specifications, manufacture, technical
standards for testing of components and systems etc. as
an integral part of the contract. Technology assimilation
by Indian engineers shall provide the foundation for
further development of HSR and Semi HSR in the medi-
um term. These technologies would also be applicable
for semi high-speed trains that could be operated by
upgrading the existing tracks. As has been the experience
in China, technology absorption is feasible only if large
dedicated teams of engineers are deployed on the project
and they are given specific design and development as-
signments for delivery in a given time frame and they
Jit Sondhi
Independent management and railway consultant
with international agencies such as the World Bank,
Asian Development Bank, USAID, etc. He has car-
ried out consulting work in India, China, Chile,
Africa, and Europe. Sondhi has first- hand experience
for past 10 years in planning and implementation
of the HSR program in China.
30 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017
continue to work in respective fields throughout their
professional career. It is equally important that localization
of manufacture is maximized both for technology absorp-
tion and reducing costs as well as for creating jobs in the
manufacturing sector.
Semi-high speed trains
Railways in the speed range 160-200 kph, designated as
Semi High Speed Railways (SHSR), are generally for
mixed use with passenger and freight trains. Upgrading
existing mainline trunk routes in India to make these
capable of operation at 160-200 kph provides a relatively
lower cost option for improving medium and long distance
passenger services. Priority could be given to routes where
the Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) are under con-
struction since migration of freight trains from existing
tracks shall provide capacity for additional SHSR passen-
ger trains on such routes. The Chinese experience is that
such upgrading was implemented by meticulous planning
over a reasonable period while the route was still in oper-
ation. A 500-800 km route could be upgraded under traffic
in say 5 years by giving construction units working blocks
of 4 to 6 hours every day. Most time is required for rea-
ligning of track to enlarge radius and redesign of station
yards to allow higher speed over turnouts. For TALGO
type EMU trains, the requirement of realigning track
would be minimal.
Long term HSR and SHSR plan
Railways are built with a long-term perspective of 50 years
or more. It is recommended that a priority list of routes
be prepared. A credible time line covering say the next
20 years for the construction of selected projects may
then be declared so that construction and manufacturing
industries in public & private sectors can develop appro-
priate capacity and access required technologies.
NHSR Corporation needs to be fully empowered to
implement the project and given reasonable freedom in
award of contracts as was the case with Delhi Metro. It
also needs to be populated with engineers and professional
project managers (not necessarily from IR) who will be
given responsibility for project delivery in agreed time
frame.
Human resources
A major challenge is in design of various project elements
and their integration. The first HSR project is based on
Japanese technology and it is imperative that Indian
engineers fully understand and assimilate the design
process and criteria for each project element. Similar
breadth of knowledge of Japanese and International stand-
ards and technical specifications is required for designs
for other HSR and SHSR projects in India. This will
require assembling a large team of young engineers (a
few hundred) in various disciplines who are willing to
dedicate next 10-20 years of their professional life in the
field of HSR.
It would be appropriate to set up a HSR Design Unit
which should seek collaboration with Universities, R&D
 H I GH S PE E D O P I N I O N

institutions and industry so that spe-
cific domain knowledge available can
be leveraged. This approach was suc-
cessful when ISRO sought collabora-
tion with other institutions.
Similarly, an independent HSR Test-
ing and Commissioning Unit need to
be set up to ensure compliance of
each project element with technical
standards and specifications to ensure
high quality and reliable performance.
Indigenous manufacture
Equal emphasis is needed for devel-
oping manufacturing capability
equipment, components and systems.
These would include light weight
EMU train sets and all infrastructure
elements. Since several of these would
be common or similar for application
on HSR and SHSR projects, the vol-
ume would justify establishment of
manufacturing capacity in India. Here
the Maruti model of vendor develop-
ment could be adopted wherein, to
begin with, only two or three vendors
were selected for the manufacture of
each component to ensure reasonable
volumes and competitive pricing.
HSR and SHSR projects will also cre-
ate several thousand jobs and pro-
mote manufacture of modern railway
products in India.
The SHSRs would be operated with
EMU train sets and will require light
weight EMU train sets designed to a
relatively low axle load of 17-18 t. It
is imperative that India develops in-
digenous capability for design and
manufacture of such rolling stock in
a time frame of say five years. India
would need several hundred such
EMU cars in case it embarks on an
extensive project for introducing
SHSRs on its trunk routes.
A time line for implementing HSR
and SHSR projects over the next 20
years or so should be formulated and
announced so that construction con-
tractors as well as manufacturing com-
munity could develop technological
skills and physical capacity for carry-
ing out such projects. However, only
a credible implementation plan
for HSR and SHSR project would
generate interest in technology up-
grade and capacity enhancement out-
side the railway system.
Maintenance systems
Maintaining HSR and SHSR systems
in good order is also a challenge and
requires detailed research and inves-
tigations to arrive at economical and
effective systems. All maintenance
activities related with track, OHE sys-
tem, signalling and communications,
information systems, ticketing etc.
are carried out during maintenance
blocks of three to four hours each day.
The common IR practice of imposing
speed restrictions on track not meet-
ing required maintenance standard
will defeat the basic objectives. Work
on setting up maintenance standards
for various project elements and de-
veloping systems to achieve these in
an economical manner need to be
taken up sooner than later.
A guiding vision would be to let
assimilation be the mantra.

Britains HS2 ( high speed rail) Bill has gained Royal assent in
February after three years of Parliamentary scrutiny. With the launch
of 70 million scheme, HS2 will connect London, Birmingham,
Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Preston and Wigan. Set to com-
mission in 2026, the network will also get into Manchester, Leeds,
Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh from 2033. HS2 is expected
to create around 25,000 jobs during construction and around
1,00,000 in the wider economy.

Skilling for high speed rail

Demand for highly-skilled rail professionals in Britain has
rarely been higher; there is a considerable shortfall of skilled
professionals at a time when rail projects are booming. With
construction scheduled to start on HS2, a brand new high
speed rail spine linking London, Birmingham, Manchester
and Leeds in 2017, the industry is preparing for the challenge
of training and upskilling the 25,000-strong workforce needed
for the 550 km HS2 and future projects.
Opening in 2017 in Birmingham and Doncaster, the National
College for HSR will offer courses developed with industry
employers to those entering further education for the first
time to experienced rail professionals. The objective is to
reestablish a highly-skilled, world-class workforce, actively
collaborating with the industry.
The courses will be delivered through an equal mixture of
classroom teaching and work experience. Students will initially
take core units for a comprehensive understanding of the HSR
system through its lifecycle. This will then be complemented
with units teaching HSR topics in students area of specialism,
including core skills in those areas. The college expects to
accommodate nearly 2,000 full-time students each year when
fully operational.
The college will teach critical work-ready skills; personal
attribute development will be integrated into the technical
units and service design for people experience will also be a
key theme. More combinations of studies for each specializa-
tion will enable all students to tailor their learning and ensure
that their skills are transferable.

Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 31

 M E TRO NA GPU R

Nagpur, a new template for Indian Metros

Brijesh Dixit, Managing Director, Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation since Feb
2015 has been with IR for over 30 years, that has included a more than 15-year
association with Mumbai suburban and urban rail transport. He has been
hands-on at planning, designing, constructing and maintaining large scale rail
infrastructure. operation of services and administration on Western and Central
Railways. His earlier stint as Divisional Railway Manager in Nagpur would
naturally help in quick problem solution for this complex project. Dixit ensured
a very expeditious start and fast progress through quick and smooth land
acquisition, a fast tie up with KfW Germany and AFD France and quick
consultancies and construction contracts. Dixit has a keen interest in promoting
affordable quality higher education in rural and backward areas. A 1980
graduate in civil engineering, he has a PhD from the University of Mumbai.
A favourite management axiom: ordinary people only do extraordinary jobs
given the enabling environment which is the responsibility of seniors.

We are developing on the experience of other Indian The two depots at Mihan & Hingna have similarly been
Metros. While the basic features of a standard gauge, via optimised for a ` 100 Cr dip in costs.
duct routing, 25 kV overhead traction etc. have been
retained, improvements in details and greater eco- Beginning with the foundation laying by the Prime Min-
concerns will make the 38 km Nagpur Metro a better siter in Oct 2014, Dixit has made visible progress on the
model for the emerging Indian cities Brijesh Dixit, ground and with the likely lease of train sets from Chennai
Managing Director, Maharashtra Metro, Nagpur. The Metro, he expects to run the first trains on the section
38-km network will cover two lines, North- South at 15 (phase 1) before the year end. This seems likely with the
km & 17 stations and the East-West at 18 km over 19 current 32 % physical progress on the project, visible with
stations. 70 pillars (total) and 50 spans having been launched.
The initial vision for the Nagpur Metro corporation was That converts to about 22 km of the 38-km planned. 22
limited to this orange city but that has now been enlarged station sites (total 38) are near finishing. Signalling works,
to cover Pune also and the newly christened Maharashtra
Metro will deliver both projects. Dixit stresses that this l Gauge - Standard (1435 mm) l Traction - 25 KV AC OHE
route will lead to better project utilisation of resources l Maximum Operating Speed - 80 kmph
and each project delivering better performance over the l Lines/Stations
precursors. In a way, Nagpur will set up a new template Elevated At Grade Elevated At Grade Total
for Metro projects in Class B cities. Stations Stations (kms) (kms) (kms)
Line 1 - North-South Corridor: Automotive Square to MIHAN
Like other Indian Metros (except Kolkata), Nagpur
15 2 15.0 4.6 19.6
Metro is also a JV between the state government and the
Line 2 - East West Corridor: Prajapati Nagar to Lokmanya Nagar
Central Ministry of Urban Development.
19 - 18.6 - 18.6
Cost control Total 34 2 33.8 4.6 38.2
The cost cutting efforts started with the engineering
l Rolling Stock And Technical Parameters
reviews, like for the via-duct columns where the duct
Particulars Length Width Height
segment width has been reduced to 8.5 m (from 10.3m)
Driving Motor Car (DMC) in 21.64 2.9 3.9
with weight reduction of about 15 % per span. The exe-
Trailer Cars 21.34 2.9 3.9
cution has involved casting of the 70-m parapet integrated
Train Composition : 3-Car train: *DMC+TC+DMC
with the segment, with all these changes leading to a
` 120 Cr anticipated savings. The right of way reduction Seating Arrangement : Longitudinal

from 20 to 18 m has reduced land acquisition issues. Axle load t : 16

Station platforms have been truncated to 75 m, mainly Max Acceleration : 1.0 m/s2
due to shorter train consist (3 coaches only). Signalling Max Deceleration : 1.0 m/s2 (Normal braking)
changes like elimination of master clocks at stations, Maximum Operating Speed : 85 kph
virtualization of telecom servers in operations control Schedule Speed :
centre, elimination of 48 V Dc supply should save around North-South : 32-34 kph
` 25 Cr. Reduction of traction power substations from East-West : 30 kph
four to two and optimisation on transformer ratings and Car Depots : at MIHAN & Hingna
cable sizes should moderate the costs by another 180Cr. *Driving motor + trailer + driving motor

32 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017

 ME T RO N A G P UR

Nagpur Metro will have two corridors, totaling 34 km over 36 stations.

under execution by Siemens, are on substantial area and revenue streams. uldi exchange point and the Zero Mile
par progress. The project does not location.
Residential development of 60 lakh
involve any tunnelling. Premier con-
sq. ft. is hoped for at the two depots The project execution is set for a fast
struction companies like AFCONS,
at Mihan and Hingna. An internation- pace, centered about deployment of
Pratibha, IL&FS etc. are executing
al architect has been engaged for con- special software like 5D Information
key segments. The expected peak rid-
cept plans for development at Sitab- Modelling (BIM) & ERP for project
ership on completion will be 3.5 lakh
per day, handled by 3 car train sets.
Already 69 coaches have been or-
dered on the Chinese CRRC, at
around ` 8.2 Cr per coach, the lowest
by any Indian Metro so far. This is
attributed in part to the re-assessing
the eligibility criteria for the vendor
to ensure widest participation.
Project funding under SPV model
Total project cost: ` 8680 Cr
GoI equity: 14.3%
Maharashtra state equity: 14.3%
GoI subordinate debt : 50%
Grant from Nagpur Municipal
Corporation: 0.98%
Market loan: 58 .1%.
The state agencies have chipped in
with about ` 1000 Cr through state
taxes and land acquisition costs. The
project has external funding of Euro
500 m (` 3750 Cr) from the German
KfW and the French AFD (Euro 150
m, ` 975 Cr).
Real estate development
Integrated station and other area de-
velopment is a core business segment
for Metros and Nagpur has planned

Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 33

 M E T R O NAGPU R
monitoring and execution. Dixit has
built in plans for non-fare box reve-
nues of near 20 % of the total. The
Transit Oriented Development will
include increase in stamp duty by 1%.
The ECO drive
The inherent eco-friendliness of ur-
New Metro Policy
The Finance Minister has announced that a new policy
document will be released during the year. This is
expected to provide improvements over the current
template of projects executed and operated by a Cen-
tral-State government JVs, with debt funding and ex-
ternal aid or soft loan support. While the Budget an-
nouncement has not laid out the likely changes, the
new policy could address issues on investment patterns,
and improved viability. Real estate development on
Rail facture detection
Rx1 Rx
Rx Tx2
3rd Axle 4th Axle
I1, 2 = Max Good Rail
Waveform
#3 axle #4 axle
I1, 2 = 0 Broken Rail
I1 I2 Crossing
Tx2 Shunt, Shorts
Rx
68 of the 146 train accidents, mostly causing fatal injuries,
have been attributed to rail/weld fractures. While multiple
efforts are being bade by IR to arrest the occurrence, new
technologies are also being assessed and deployed.
One emerging method of continuous monitoring of rail health
with loco mounted equipment was flagged in the November
2016 Rail Vikas Shivir. Existing track circuits (part of the
signalling system) can provide an indication of discontinuity
but the cause must be physically verified by on-foot site checks.
This is cumbersome particularly as trained staff may have to
move from a different location. Further, a track circuit can
detect such a discontinuity only in the positive rail of a DC
circuit. The IR presentation indicated that ultra-sonic flaw
detection is about 75% reliable, being able to detect fatigue
flaws that have a nucleus and grow over time to a threshold
level. A pilot project for real time rail fracture detection, under
trial by RDSO on the Northern and North Central zones
presents a possibility but is theft prone and likely to cost about
34 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017
ban Metro transport has been en- station and depot roof tops and va-
hanced by special provisions; it claims cant ground spaces and walls will be
that 65 % of energy requirements will mounted with PV panels. Right now,
be solar based and this source will a 14 MW generation (likely to in-
progressively increase to 34 m kWH crease to 36 MW) is in construct.
energy units by 2026. Maximum solar
tapping will be available as all possible
the Metro sites could be given a special proviso so that
development by the Metro JVs is faster and avoids the
many points of interaction with local authorities. An-
other need is the setup of integrated Metro Transport
authorities for handling rail, road (and may be ferry)
traffic under one umbrella. The current fragmented
structures in Indian cities, unlike the integrated set ups
in developed country cities, leads to poor multi-modal
coordination, adding to some chaos at Metro stations
and increased travel time for commuters.
Theory of Operation
Magnetically
coupled signal
injection
Current flows in
rail/axle loop
Detect current
in rail/axle loop
Signal
processing
` 12 lakh per km (earlier reported in Rail Business, Jan 2017).
The idea presented involves real time detection of integrity
of track by injection of two magnetically coupled signals
through a passing loco. Signals will operate at narrowband
frequencies of 4.6 to 3.8 kHz that will not interfere with other
roadside signals. Current loops are monitored real time for
waveforms which are compared with signature waveforms of
known track features like rail joints and crossings. It will raise
immediate audio-visual alarm upon detection of unknown
signatures for rail failures, pin pointing the geographical loca-
tion.
The presentation listed that the concept has been successfully
implemented over BNSF, USA, where 68,000 events (usual
and unusual) have been detected over about 1,44,900 km of
track. Execution timeframe of two years, if approved by IR,
has been indicated. (Based on a presentation by Kolkata Metro
at the IR Rail Vikas Shivir.)
 O P E RATIONS CREWS
CREWLOGIC optimises rail crew links
IR runs nearly 6420 express and passenger (excluding
suburban) trains every day. Train crew scheduling for
such a large operation is a complex task, handled currently
by human skills and optimised solutions do not exist.
Crew schedules as of now often optimize crew utilization
within a railway division and train runs are divided be-
tween crew lobbies due to legacy reasons, some originat-
ing from steam loco operation era but without any scien-
tific approach. Local optimization at divisional level does
not result in global optimization.
Crew scheduling is a known non-parametric hard prob-
lem. Nobody knows the minimum crew needed to run
all the coaching trains such that all the rules are followed
and crews get defined rest.
A coaching train is run by a driver, assistant driver and
guard, collectively called a crew. Crews works a train for
around eight hours before another takes over. After rest
in an outstation rest (running) room, they round-trip a
train back towards the base station. Crew gets headquarter
rest after a round trip, every week the crew should get a
long headquarter rest called periodic rest. Crews work all
trains assigned to its base station such that rules for max-
imum continuous duty and minimum prescribed rest are
followed. These crew schedules, popularly known as crew
links, are drawn for all crew bases covering all coaching
trains. Such crews are a very costly resource that, per a
planning commission conducted study (Total Transpor-
tation Study), costs 7.9% of IR operating expenses.
An untapped area
Mathologic has created a software product CREWLOG-
IC, essentially a decision support system, after research
for over three years. The complete crew link making
process is divided in stages and CREWLOGIC includes
algorithms for optimization at every stage with a designed
intuitive user interface so that railway users can use it
easily without having to be mathematicians. The software
can be hosted on Cloud or on local servers and easily
accessed from a web browser. Any division or zone, or
Dr Manish Kumar,
even the entire IR, can make efficient crew links using it.
Mathologic
Technologies
Innovation Center, For every crew in the link there is 15% leave and 15%
IIIT Bangalore training reserve. For 25 drivers, there is one Loco Inspector
(4%) and for every 50 Guards, one Traffic Inspector
(2%). In effect, every one crew set in the link averages
4.34 employees. Average salary and perks of such staff
can be taken as ` 12 lakhs per year leading to financial
impact of one crew set at ` 52 lakhs.
Prove outs
Two field assessments have been carried out. In one a
zero-base plan was made to run trains in Northern Rail-
Prof. Bodhibrata Nag
Indian Institute of way. With the software, a 28% more productivity per crew
Management was achieved. In the second trial, the running room rest
Kolkata
in Firozpur Divisions (FZR) express crew links was im-
proved with saving of 10 % crew. In both the cases, the
crews spent more time at home.
36 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017
IMPROVEMENTS IN FIROZPUR CREW LINKS
Actual Improved
224
200
192
184
138
124
81
77
71
66
CREW SETS OS REST HQ REST DUTY TKM PER
HRS/14DAYS HRS/14 HRS/14 CREW/DAY
DAYS DAYS
There is a saving of 14 crew, 10 percent of 138 existing
express crew in FZR division. Outstation rest is reduced
from 81 hours to 66 hours per crew per 14 days, an im-
provement of 18%. Absolute improvement in outstation
rest was from 5589 hours per week to 4101 hours per
week, a 27% reduction. Reduction in absolute outstation
rest will also reduce the workload for running room staff.
Headquarter rest hours go up from 184 to 192 hours per
crew per fortnight, an improvement of 4.5%. Duty hours
per fortnight went up 9% from 71 to 77 hours. Crew
productivity went up by 12% from 200 to 224 km per
crew per day.
On an all-India basis, a 10% saving in coaching crew will
save 6000 employees (more than 60,000 driver guards
and assistant drivers are running coaching trains). The
saving in coaching crew will reduce the requirements of
goods crew working in coaching. There is perennial short-
age in goods crew and they earn overtime at double the
rate. Thus, the coaching crew saved will reduce the over-
time in goods crew at double the rate of salary.
Complexity for freight crews
This question is repeatedly asked: crew links are planned
based on a time table. If some trains run late frequently,
additional slack is provided in the form of extra rest to
accommodate perennial late runners. The crew links are
not dynamic in nature and dynamic scheduling is out of
scope of this innovation. With most freight trains running
to open timings, the crew assignment for these is riven
with greater inefficiencies. These can be addressed only
by a dynamic scheduling software that can be developed
based on the experience with CREWLOGIC on passenger
train crews. That would be tougher and more exciting,
but worth a try.
Dr Manish Kumar, a PhD from IIM Calcutta and MTech
from IIT Delhi leads Mathologic Technologies, an inno-
vative startup company. He is a former Indian IR Service
officer, an academic and former software Infosys research-
er. The startup is mentored by an Operations Research
Professor from IIM Calcutta and has been incubated at
IIIT Bangalore. a patent issue is likely soon. man-
ish@mathologic.com

Appropriate communication technology
IRs no unmanned level crossings plan has brought forth
a cost-effective use of modern technologies in a good
illustration of how to use technologies appropriately. In
a first of its kind on IR, GSM network based voice com-
munication, backed by suitable interlocks conforming to
operational safety protocols, has been successfully in-
stalled. By utilizing available infrastructure of mobile
networks, cost for providing telephone has been reduced
by 95%, saving more than ` 2 Cr on the project cost.
Manned level crossing (LC) gates require that a gateman
should have voice communication with station operations
staff to communicate about approaching trains. Tradi-
tional telephone through buried copper cables is vandal-
ism prone and expensive to install and maintain, particu-
larly on sections with low train density.
LC gate manning had been sanctioned for 12 locations
on the 45 km Tatanagar and Belpahar (BDO) section
that handles limited traffic but has a historical place in IR
lore having been the first rail route to handle iron ore that
built the Tatanagar steel complex. The low traffic density
has limited working to train staff and ticket system,
without block section working, possible without inter-
locked communication between stations. The two termi-
nal stations at TATA and BDO are connected through
land line phones but the main challenge was to provide
connectivity for these 12 LCs. A conventional method
through connectivity is a buried 6-quad copper cable.
Ten of these gates fall in the mid area (13 km from TATA
and 12 km from BDO). Working of telephone on copper
cable over such long distance is practically difficult due
to reasons like voltage attenuation. Normally, rail block
sections between two adjacent stations are 10-12km long,
with gates falling within 6 km from nearest controlling
station and attenuation is controllable. Trenching and
laying of 45 km of 6-quad cable would take months.
Plus, theft of copper cables, even if buried, is high due
to less trains density, something that had already been
experienced when laying the cable in this section was
dropped by construction without completion earlier
in 2004. Copper cables were pulled out by miscreants
with tractors, and in many patches the laid cable was
taken away immediately after laying. A search for al-
ternate solution to provide telephonic connectivity
was needed.
The OFC option
A second option was optical fibre (OFC) based commu-
nication as this cable is not theft prone, lacking a resale
value. For maintainers, the cut location can be exactly pin
pointed. OFC is cheaper than the copper cable but the
equipment is to be installed at each location with a stable
power supply which this unelectrified section mostly
lacks. Required: an out-of-the-box concept which does
not require full OFC equipment running on low power.
The answer for such an OFC solution lies in data net-
works, where we can provide video conference for remote
locations with small media converter device. The system
I N N O VAT I O N S CO MMU N IC AT I O N S
Typical set diagram, as for Tatanagar Station
Solar Panel (100 Watt peak)
L.C.Gate TB-11(Gate lodge)
Securely locked inside
equipment box
(immovable) and not
accessible to Gateman)
12V/0.5A
Charge controller 75AH battery
FCT
(>100Hrs backup)
FCT device having SIM (with outgoing limited to SM/RRI Tata only Normal Desktop telephone: with Caller ID
and with one touch speed dial key set to SM/RRI TATA
Appropriate technology using a high-technology solution in a traditional area. A wireless
communication solution, low on capital and running costs, for a sparsely used train section
has been developed successfully.
was chalked out to provide IP telephone at each gate and
connected to stations through dedicated fibre terminated
at each gate. Here 45 km of 24 fibre OFC cable were to
be laid throughout the section, a dedicated fibre be ter-
minated at each gate, connecting to adjacent station
through OFC media converter and IP phone. The VOIP
server (each under ` 1 Lakh) would be provided at
TATA and BDO. The IP phone would be converted to
conventional push button with programmed speed dial
keys. The power requirement in this case is very low
(typically 20-30 W), within solar power capability. The
estimated cost for this system worked to ` 1.1 Cr (` 2.2
crores for copper cable).
The mother of invention
Procurement of 65 km Quad cable had been delayed due
to pressing demand of more important works and this
fortuitous non-availability of copper and OFC cables
forced the road to an appropriate technology as we opted Rajendra Prasad
Divisional Railway
to utilize the mobile network and worked in this direction
Manager, South
by utilizing the existing cellphone facility instead of IR Eastern Railway,
infrastructure. The expected expenditure was much lower Chakradharpur
with implementation in a very short time.
GSM based FCT phone
For operational safety, a public mobile system has limita-
tions like:
l An outsider may call a gateman from any public booth
or mobile phone and give unauthorized instructions.
l The gateman may misuse the GSM based phone for
unwanted calls and miss an operations instruction. M Mubashshir
Waris,
l The mobile phone can be carried by gateman to his Sr Divisional Signal
residence and operate from there, considering a max 3 & Telecom Engineer,
South Eastern
trains in a day.
Railway,
After many trials and improvements, a working system Chakradharpur
using GSM based fixed Cellular Telephone (FCT) has
been developed.
Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 37
 I N N O VATIONS COM MUNIC ATIONS
The system
The telephone to the gateman can be
provided through existing GSM net-
work. A fixed table top conventional
telephone handset (with a dedicated
push button call to the controlling
station master) connected through
RJ11 cord to FCT instrument secure-
ly locked inside Instrument box was
provided. All outgoing and incoming
calls to other mobile numbers except
controlling station were blocked. Fur-
ther to add up security, the keypad of
telephone was removed. Similarly,
the phone at station end was provided
with same features but with one dif-
ference: authorized to speak to any
of gates with dedicated 12 keys with
all calls limited to these 12 locations
only.
In case of outage of mobile network,
rule based provision for operation in
case of loss of communication would
be followed.
Technical system
An independent 12V supply solar
panel is provided for FCT to make
the system run without local power
in the non-electrified area.
l Simado FCT equipment, with
many functionalities, is robust in
design and supports 2G & 3G net-
works. The power supply is 12V
DC with a 5Watt consumption, im-
plying that a 75Ah battery can run
for 5 days, even assuming 30% pow-
er loss due to non-ideal conditions.
l Solar Panel: 12V/100W(peak)
Tata made solar modules are used
to charge the battery.
l Charge controller: of 10 Amps ca-
pacity is used to charge battery and
supply load current to FCT during
daytime. In night, the FCT will
work on battery.
l Push button telephone with speed
dial keys, where the number keypad
is covered under metal with limited
accessibility for speed dial key and
caller ID.
l Airtel SIM (Postpaid CUG)
Blocking of outgoing calls other
than station, achieved by utilizing
the general feature of SIM card chip
for Fixed Dialling Numbers. By
this outgoing call is barred outside
the list of numbers which are fed in
the SIM card. This cannot be
changed by any unauthorised
38 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017
person as its access is restricted by
PIN number and specific program-
ming is required
Blocking of Incoming calls: with the
Airtel Call Manager service, inward
calls are not possible to the gate FCT
phone from any number except the
Station Master. This feature is feasible
by using latest Value added Service
Airtel Call Manager (activated by
dialing *323#). A custom profile is set
where one number is set as always
allowed list and all numbers other
than this are rejected at network level
with the caller getting a suitable voice
message. The FCT will not ring as
unknown incoming call is blocked at
network level, while calls between
Station Master and gate FCTs can be
possible. The monthly service charge
is ` 30 per SIM.
Reliability and maintainability
The GSM cellular network is a stable
communication with rare outage. The
gate areas have been tested with Rx
level of mobile network and found to
have good coverage. Many models of
FCT phones are now available, with
proven technology and robust design.
The facility of battery backup in many
models adds to their reliability during
local power failure. System can run
for more than 48 hours without exter-
nal power supply if higher capacity
batteries are used. The system is
based on handy small equipment
which can be replaced easily by staff
with limited training.
Advantages
For such an FCT instrument system
the estimated expenditure is only
` 10 lakhs with recurring yearly charg-
es of, may be, ` 50,000, much less
than maintenance cost of a 6 Quad
cable throughout the section. Trench-
ing and laying of 45 km of cable often
takes months and the practical diffi-
culties of rocky area and other unfore-
seen reasons can further delay execu-
tion. With available commercial voice
loggers at around ` 15,000 each, voice
communication recording is possible
in FCT instrument. The voice quality
is very clear as compared to humming,
noisy sound experienced in magneto
phone due to cable joint leakage, ca-
ble low insulation, Electromagnetic
induction, etc.
There is no difference between GSM
based FCT phone and conventional
Magneto push button phone. The
only difference is that we are using
different media for establishing tele-
communication. The GSM based me-
dia is well established and using that
infrastructure is highly recommended
for saving of cost and long project
work. The integrity of the GSM based
FCT based telephone is already es-
tablished and, in fact, the voice clarity
of FCT phone is also better. Provision
of voice logger is also possible for the
FCT based telephone.
This system is recommended for pro-
viding telephone connection for man-
ning in other zones, especially where
traffic is less. In fact, it is an ideal sys-
tem due to fast execution, less main-
tenance and low infrastructure cost.
In addition the concept can also be
used for other purpose like hotline
telephone requiring limited user calls
in control, FOIS locations, traction
substations and similar uses.
After a vigorous marketing of the
idea, with compliance of all doubts
and observations, the system has been
cleared with issue of a procedure or-
der and clearance by the statutory
Commissioner of Railway Safety.
Idea to Reality timeline
l August 2016: Idea for FCT
phone.
l August 2016: proposal for zonal
approval
l Sep 2016: trial of FCT phone
conducted at one gate in Tatan-
agar
Nov 2016: Trial conducted at a
l
gate ready for manning. The fea-
tures for blocking outgoing call
at SIM level and for blocking in-
coming calls other than required
number introduced, completing
all requirements for system integ-
rity.
Dec 2016: Approval by zonal
l
HQ along with a procedure or-
der.
l Jan 2017: CRS sanction
l January, 2017: Commissioning
The fast completion of this long-
postponed project in fraction of the
cost is an example of how appropriate
technology, using all modern ele-
ments, can be adapted for optimised
solutions.

Straddling administration, fate and adversity
Never looking back in anger: Sarabjit A Singh and Mrs. Kitty (Kanchan) Singh
look back at an unfortunate event in 1989, that changed their lives.
An after-dinner walk on the June 23, 1989 changed our way
of life from how we thought we would live our lives to how
we had to live it. My wife and I were both shot by people we
did not know, for reasons that never became quite clear. The
place, an under-construction colony of the Rail Coach Factory,
Kapurthala.
But then things are never so simple. You take decisions as part
of your job and someone feels aggrieved. The times were bad
as militancy in Punjab was at its peak and every day brought
news of people, of some we knew, being shot and killed. But
the thought that we could be targeted never crossed my mind.
We were here to build a factory to give people jobs, why should
anyone want to hurt us? With militancy in the air, it was easy
to hit and run to make it look like another terrorist attack. We
became victims of such an environment.
I was shot thrice, my wife once. One of the bullets broke my
spine and as I collapsed to the ground, with it collapsed the
world I knew. With a bullet logged in her jaw my brave and
wonderful wife ran for help. As I saw her go I was possessed
Down the memory lane: A young S A Singh ushering in Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi on a visit in Botswana.
In 1986 at the height of militancy in the Punjab, SA Singh
joined the team for establishing the Rail Coach Factory in
Kapurthala. He adds that apart from this very unfortunate
PE RS O N ALI T Y S A SI N G H
by the thought: would I ever see her again. But then a voice
filled my head assuring me that things would be just fine. I
cannot explain the calm that descended over me after that so
much so, when my wife came back I could tell her not to worry
and just take me to hospital and I would be fine. And just as
the voice had said, everything fell into place; I was in hospital
within what is called the golden hour, which of course saved
us both. And the voice has always stayed with me.
My disability was such that I would never walk again. A life
on a wheelchair stared me in the face. But the seven-month
long rehabilitation in Stoke Mandeville Hospital in UK taught
me that all was not lost and life on a wheelchair could be near
normal. The support of my wife and children, friends and
family pulled us through this very challenging period. However,
all this would never have been possible without the institutional
support of the railways and colleagues. Everyone pitched into
to make it possible for me to work as near normal as it could
be. The struggle of getting back to work and normal life taught
me to be grateful for what you have and things are never as
bad as they seem.
Never give in for you will never know what you can do if you
do not do what you can do.
I would be amiss if I did not mention that I am grateful to the
almighty for multiple mercies that he has bestowed on us. If
we had not been saved my two daughters, then sixteen and
eleven, would have had to fend for themselves. If I did not
have the support that I have had, especially of my wife, and I
continue to have I would not have been able to lead the life
that I have led. How can I forget the RCF employees who
slept for six months in the hospital verandas to turn me every
three hours to keep me free from pressure sores or the forty
that lined up to donate blood?
I have much to be thankful for.
incident the posting was great... I could recruit about 3000
artisans and train them in two years.
Where is Chiqualaquala?
In 1978 Singh had led a team of 20 technicians to Mozambique
Railways for managing the diesel locomotive fleet. , the first
Indian expert to reach Mozambique after it attained independ-
ence. In the prevailing cold war struggle with South Africa
and Zimbabwe (not yet free), the endeavour was to run a
train, if not every day but occasionally, between Maputo &
Chiqualaquala to show that the line was functional.
The adviser heading the workshop had fled to Portugal (he
was white and worried) and Singh became the Advisor. When
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came on a state visit, Singh had
the privilege of taking her around. Singh recounts that she
was very gracious and looked for me in the crowd before she
got into the car and said, I am very pleased with your work
and you have my good wishes.
Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017 39
 L A S T W ORD S

Of gunshots and drifted ferries
Singhs IR career started as an apprentice in Jamalpur. After
a short stint in 1966 in Gorakhpur workshop, he was posted
to the Fategarh district, a heady stuff for a 26-year-old. I found
myself like the head of a small principality stretching from
Agra to Kanpur and from Kasganj to Bareilly. It was like being
asked to learn swimming by being thrown into the deep end.
I can never forget being forced to carry in my saloon a man
with a gunshot injury by a group of armed men.
In a later posting in 1971 he was also Marine Superintendent
for the ferries that linked the South and North banks of the
Ganges at Patna, Mokamah and Bhagalpur. It was also the
first brush with politicians. A steamer carrying the then Chief
Minister of Bihar, Kapoori Thakur, drifted 16 km downstream
because of a sudden rise of the river. The resulting uproar in
Parliament forced the railway minister to visit Patna. Com-
pared to what can happen today, I escaped with a minor wrap
on the wrist. A posting in RDSO followed.
Eventful years of grit
From Mozambique to Chakradharpur to Kapurthala to 14
months of hospitalization! Postings on the Northern and
COFMOW followed till retirement in 2003. Singh was ap-
pointed a Member of the Principle Bench of the Central
Administrative Tribunal, demitting office in 2005. He later
worked for some time with the World Bank. Singh has been
a beacon of what grit can achieve and has associated with
disability issues. He was also part of the group that drafted
the Disabilities Act 1995.

The largest annual human migration, mostly by train

The largest annual end of 2016. Over 350 million trips were made by train of
human migration on which some were over very long distances such as 1,500-2,000
earth takes place every km. The average train travel per trip was over 400 km. It is
year in China during estimated that more than 10% of passengers departed from
the Chinese New Year the country's capital, Beijing, followed by Shanghai (9%) and
or Spring Festival. This Shenzhen (7%).
year about three billion
trips were made by During this period, the inter-city rail transportation faces great
Chinese people during challenges. The demand for tickets far exceeds the supply.
the Spring Festival The online system for ticket purchase has alleviated the diffi-
travel rush over a period of 40 days commencing from January culty in buying tickets and effectively discouraged scalpers
13. Millions of people working or studying out of their home- who profit a lot during this period. However, travelling by
towns travelled home to reunite with families to celebrate the train during the Chinese Spring Festival is still a challenge,
Chinese New Year. especially to foreigners. Trains are sardine-packed with thou-
In 2017-the Year of the Rooster-Chinese authorities expected sands of snoozing students, as a result of greatly expanded
holiday makers to make 2.5 billion trips by land, 356 million number of university places over the past decade.
by rail, 58 million by plane and 43 million by water transport The Beijing West station was used by over 2,25,000 passengers
over the 40-day period from January 13. daily during the festival period. This station handled 204 train
China's total rail network stands at more than 1,24,000 Km arrivals and departures a day, meaning a bullet train arrived
and includes 22,000 route km of high speed railways by the every 4 minutes and a regular train every five minutes.

Railway 'mothers' About 200 female conductors from

Chengdu railway section of Sichuan
province have been dubbed "railway
mothers" after they volunteered to pay
special attention to children travelling
with their parents or grandparents during
the Spring Festival. Conductor Zhao
Congying is one of them. On Jan 25,
2016, two girls, both less than three years
old, boarded her train with their father.
The elder sister, nicknamed Jingjing, was
crying continuously which caught Zhao's
attention. Zhao found that the father was
taking the children to spend the Spring
Festival with their mother this year. But
the two girls had grown up with their
grandmother and felt strange with their
father, who did not have much experience
of taking care of children. To comfort
Jingjing, Zhao held her and talked to her.
The girl gradually stopped crying and
even agreed to eat with Zhao's help.
(based on inputs from Nanyan Zhou,
Transport consultant, Beijing)

40 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2017