Railway News 14th June to 20th June

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A) Captain Arjun launched by Pune Division, Central railway

Pune Division, Central railway launched an innovative ROBOT named ARJUN which has two cameras and a thermal screening machine.

The cameras track for any anti-social activity in plate form areas and the thermal screening machine scans the temperature of passengers. In case of high temperature, it sounds an alarm.

The Railway Protection Force(RPF) wing of the Pune Division, Central Railways launched this innovative equipment.

Captain ARJUN will go a long way in the history of railways as an innovative initiative.

B) World-class Railway stations at Habibganj and Gandhinagar by December 2020

IRSDC( Indian Railway Station Development Corporation) is developing Railway stations of Indian Railways on modern lines.

IRSDC is a joint venture company of RLDA and IRCON, the two railway PSU’s.  In the first phase, railway stations at Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar will be completed by December 2020.  

The modernized station will have a dedicated concourse area with airport-like retail outlets, food cafeterias, plush waiting lounge, modern toilets for passengers.

The renovated station will have also boast world-class interiors along with gaming and museum zones.

IRSDC is also carrying works for station development at other stations Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, Chandigarh, Shivajinagar, Surat, Baiyyappanahalli, Nagpur, Gwalior, Amritsar, Gandhinagar(Jaipur), Sabarmati, Kanpur, Thakurli.

For Gwalior, Amritsar, Nagpur, and Sabarmati stations, IRSDC has started the tendering process and likely to be completed by August 2020. These stations are being developed on the PPP model i.e Public-Private Partnership.

C) Green Station Ranking topped by Rajendra Nagar Railway station

Rajendra Nagar Railway station in Danapur division of East Central Railway has topped the list of green railway stations in the country.

The railway station is equipped with the best in class water harvesting facility and declared as the best green station in overall category.

IGBC(Indian Green Building Council)  with the support of Environment Directorate of Indian Railway has developed the Green Railway Stations rating system.

D) 400 MW of Solar energy contract floated by  Railway Energy Management Company

 Railway Energy Management Company, a joint venture established by Indian Railways and engineering consultancy Rites Ltd has invited bids for the development of 400 MW of grid-connected solar generation capacity on vacant railway-owned land.

E) DFFCIL terminates signalling project of Chinese company

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (DFCCIL), a special purpose vehicle under the Railway Ministry, decided to terminate the ₹471 crore signalling contract given to a Chinese firm.

The contract for ‘signaling and telecommunication work’ for the 417 km section from Kanpur to Mughalsarai on Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor was awarded to Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute of Signal & Communication Group in 2016.

As per the Indian Railways, despite passage of four years, only 20% of the work has been completed.

Railway News 7th June to 13th June

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A) Railway runs first Double-decker freight Train

The western railway successfully tested the double-decker trains on electrified sections. The height of the overhead equipment (OHE) was increased to 7.57m to accommodate the double-decker.

With this remarkable development, Indian Railways has proudly become the first Railway to run double-decker container train with high reach pantograph in high rise OHE territory.

The double-deckers carry extra luggage and thus will increase the revenue of railways with slight modification in assets.

The successful trial was conducted between Palanpur and Botad stations in Gujrat.

B) Mathura-Vrindavan mass transit system

Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), which is a statutory Authority under the Railway Ministry has been entrusted with responsibility to study mass-transit system between Mathura and Vrindavan.

The distance between Mathura and Vrindavan is 12 Km and there is a mass movement of people because of religious aspects.

 RLDA has awarded the contract to a private firm Feedback Infra Private Limited for carrying pre-feasibility study.

C) Adilabad-Mudkhed railway line electrification work starts

As the railway ministry wants to complete all electrification projects, it has kick-started the electrification of Adilabad-Mudkhed line of 183KM length.

The section Adilabad-Mudkhed lies in Nanded Division of South central Railways. This will be important project as the central railways portion between Majri and Pimpalkutti stations is already electrified section.

 

D) Nirmali bridge in Bihar will be commissioned after 17 years of announcement by Ex-PM Vajpayee

The Ex-Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had laid the foundation stone for a mega rail bridge on river Kosi at Nirmali in North Bihar on June 6, 2003.

The two-kilometre long rail bridge on Kosi river will link Nirmali with Saraigarh. Located in district Supaul in North Bihar, it will connect Nirmali, which is presently a terminus station of Darbhanga-Sakri-Jhanjharpur-Nirmali Metre gauge section, with Saraigarh station of Saharsa-Forbisganj Metre gauge route to provide through a link to Northeast Frontier Railway.

The bridge will enable the opening up of the route through Darbhanga, Nirmali and finally to New Jalpaiguri from where the route to Assam starts.

Best Safety, Zero Passenger Deaths in 2019-20

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Railways has registered the best ever safety record during April, 2019 to March this year. Railways Ministry has said that there has been no fatality of any railway passenger in any train accident. This remarkable feat has been achieved for the first time in the year 2019-2020 since the introduction of the Railway System in the country 166 years ago.

The Ministry said, the zero passenger fatalities in the last 15 months is a result of continuous efforts by the Railways to improve safety on all fronts. Railway has undertaken several measures to improve the safety, including the elimination of manned level crossings, construction of Road over Bridges, highest ever renewal of rail tracks, effective track maintenance and improvements in the signaling system.

The various excellent activities carried out in the year 2019-20 are summarized below:-

  • In 2019-20, Indian Railways eliminated 1274 Manned Level Crossings, compared to 631 Manned Level Crossings in the year 2018-19. Thus, this is the highest ever elimination of level crossings recorded by Indian Railways.
  • A total of 1309 ROBs/RUBs were built in the year 2019-20 in order to enhance safety on the Indian Railways network. The ROB is road over bridge and RUB is Road under bridge. These are constructed to eliminate the existing level crossing gates.
  • During 2019-20, 1367 number of bridges were rehabilitated, compared to 1013 bridges in 2018-19.
  • In 2019-20, Indian Railways recorded the highest ever renewal of rails for 5,181 Track km (TKM), as against 4,265 TKM in the year 2018-19.
  • During the year 2019-20, there has been the highest ever supply of rails (13.8 lakh ton) from Steel Authority of India Limited(SAIL).
  • In 2019-20, a total of 285 number of Level Crossings have been interlocked by signals; cumulative interlocked Level Crossings are 11,639. interlocking provides signals at the gates, thus warning the loco pilot well ahead in case gate is open or there is any obstruction.
  • During 2019-20, 84 railway stations with mechanical signaling have been replaced with electrical/electronic signaling to improve safety.

The above steps have considerably improved the safety of passenger movement in trains. Good works must be ensured in future in future too as there are many such activities to be carried out. As the country is facing an unprecedented situation of the pandemic, there could arise a deficit of funds which needs to be closely monitored.

Railway News 1st June-6th June

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Bio-Toilets Installed in Railway Coaches

Indian Railway has installed bio-toilets in 68000 coaches till now. This is being carried out under Swatchh Bharat Mission. In 2019-20 alone, 49487 coaches were installed in 14916 coaches.

Also Mechanized cleaning is being carried out at 953 railways stations over the entire Indian Railways.

Tiruchirapalli Railway station Gets green station Certificate

The Tiruchirapalli Railway Junction has been awarded Green Railway Station Certification with ‘Gold’ rating by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

The Environment Directorate of Indian Railways with the support of the Indian Green Building Council has developed the Green Railway Stations rating system.

Railways had inaugurated India’s first green station at Manwal station on Jmmu-Udhampur Route.

World’s longest Railways station-Hubli Junction

Karnataka’s Hubli railway station is set to get the world’s longest railway platform with dimensions of 1,400 metres length and 10 metres width. Th work for the extension of platform number 1 of the Hubballi Junction is underway.

While the existing platform is 550-metres long, it will be extended to 1,400 metres in a year. The work is being carried out as a yard remodeling work.

Hubli is the Headquarter of South Western Railways. It has three division as Hubli, Bangaluru and Mysore.

Pune-Nasik Semi High-Speed Double Line Rail project

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Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by MRIDCL (Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited) has been approved by Railway Board for construction of Semi High Speed Double Line project between Pune and Nashik stations.

The trains will run at a speed of 200KMPH in the starting phase and 250KMPH in the future. The details of the project are tabulated below.

SNDetailsRemarks
1Length of the project235.15KM
2Speed of the Train200kmph in first phase and 250kmph in second phase.
3Time Taken to travel between Pune and Nashik2 hours
4Cost of the ProjectApprox 13800 Cr
5Executing AgencyMRIDCL
6Which Districts of Maharastra it will passPune, Ahmednagar, Nashik
7Industrial areas Located on the RouteChakan, Chinnar, Satpur, Alandi, Khed, Manchar, Narayangaon
8No of stations on the route24
9No of Tunnels on the route18
10Expected Completion1200 days after awarding contract.

The Pune and Nashik cities are growing cities of Maharashtra and contribute 18% of Maharashtra population and contribute 19 percent in the state’s GDP. This corridor will also connect the pilgrimage centers of Shridi Sai Temple, Trimbakeshwar Pemple, Bhimashankar Temple, Alandi.

Indian Railways unlocking

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Indian Railways is the lifeline of our nation. The Covid-19 pandemic has made us realize this proverb again.

The national transporter worked tirelessly during lockdown so that the essential commodities as food grains, milk, vegetables reach every household. Not only this, the power requirements of coal, oil were met during lockdown.

The Indian Railways and fraternity of workforce deserve a great applause for such marvelous feet under strenuous situations.

The plight of migrant labourers was well taken care of by the national transporter. It has run almost 4000 trains and transported nearly 60 lakhs migrants from one state to another.

This was carried out by fulfilling all the precautions and nitty-gritty of social distancing and norms of the pandemic.

Now that the lockdown has been lifted and limited to containment zones only, the great Indian Railways has started unlocking. From 12th May, it was running 15 pairs of Rajdhani special trains and from 1st June, 200 trains have started running.

It was such meticulous planning that unlocking was carried out in a phased manner.

Now the Chairman Railway board has confirmed that Satabdi trains will also start running.

In total, the unlocking of this country has been well taken care of by Indian Railways and its entire fleet of employees and officers deserve applause.

Though they have faced hardships in the form of railwaymen catching the virus. However, this didn’t deter them from delivering their duties. We should all pay tribute to Indian Railways and its railwaymen. Long live Indian Railways

WAG 12B joins Railway Fleet

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Trail run of WAG 12B IGBT based, 3 phase drive, 9000 KW electric locomotive with power of 12000 HP and capable of carrying 6000 T load was conducted from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhayay Jn to Barwadih via Dehri-on-Son on 19th May 2020.

The various features and details of this Trail run is mentioned below.

SNWAG 12B DetailsRemarks
1Power of WAG 12B12000HP
2Type of locomotiveIGBT based, 3 phase drive, 9000 KW electric locomotive
3Load it can carry6000 Ton in maximum gradient of 1 in 150
4Maximum Speed it can run120KMPH
5Manufactured byElectric Locomotive Factory Madhepura, Bihar
6In partnership with which Foreign CompanyM/S Alstom, French Company
7FDI agreement signed in2015 between Indian Railways and M/s Alstom for 3.5 Billion Euros to manufacture 800 locomotives in India
8First time run from which place to which placeFrom Pt Deen Dayal Upadhayay Jn to Barwadih via Dehri-on-Son
9No of Good trains wagons carried118
10WAG12B will be used forDFCCIL
11Maintenance depots of WAG12B in India other than MadhepuraSaharanpur and Nagpur
12Indian’s positionIndian became 6th country to produce high horse power locomotive indegenously

It is expected to provide a much-needed breakthrough for railways in running long haul trains. Also, it will reduce congestion and enhance efficiency in the movement of goods traffic in the country.

Question: India has recently operationalised it’s most powerful locomotive railway engine produced indigenously. The power of the engine is:
(a)10000 HP
(b)11000 HP
(c)12000 HP
(d)15000 HP
Answer: (c)

The Railway Group-A officers

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Do you want to know about Group-A officers of Railways?

The group-A officers of Railways run the entire machinery right from train running to policy formulation to technical stuffs to revenue collections. They form the backbone of this grand old organisation.

These Group-A officers are recruited by the highest recruitment body i.e UPSC, Union Public Service Commission. However, as the requirements of railways consist of technical, non-technical and medical oriented, these group-A officers join through three different exams into railways.

UPSC EXAMS CONDUCTED EVERY YEAR

The technical service officers are recruited by Engineering services Exam, The non-Technical service officers are recruited by Civil services Exam and Railway Medical officers join through Medical Services Exam.

Technical officers

The technical officers join through Engineering Services Exam conducted by UPSC every year and officers join in various technical departments of Railways as Engineering, Electrical, Mechanical, Signal & Telecom and stores. Civil engineering in railways is called the engineering department. The Electronics and Telecom guys manage the Signal and Telecom department of railways. The electrical department is managed by electrical officers and Mechanical officers look after the Carriage & Wagons department. The stores department directly related to the procurement of various materials required for day to day requirements are headed by stores officers who join from various engineering disciplines.The railway services are mostly preferred by the officers through the Engineering Services Exam. http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/view_section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,304,366,530

The various service names of these Technical Group-A services are as under:-

  • IRSE( Indian Railway Service of Engineers) These officers are responsible for managing the engineering department of Indian Railways.
  • IRSSE( Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers)- They look after the signalling and Telecom department of railways.
  • IRSME (Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers) they look after the carriage and wagons department, Diesel locomotives etc.
  • IRSEE( Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers) They look after the electrical General department, Railway TRD department which maintains the 25KV OHE wire and electrical loco as well their drivers.
  • IRSS( Indian Railway Stores Service) They manage the stores department of railways and look after the bulk purchases required for day to day expenses.

Non- Technical officers

The non- technical officers join through the Civil Services conducted by UPSC every year that recruits officers in IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS, other departments as well as railway departments. As per choice options in civil services in civil services exam 2018, the railway services were opted from 277th rank candidates out of 759 candidates.https://cseplus.nic.in/Home/ServiceAllocation.

The non-technical officers manage the non-technical departments of Indian Railways as Commercial department, Accounts department, Traffic department and Railway Protection Forces.

These officers are as below:-

  • IRTS( Indian Railway Traffic service)-The IRTS officers manage the traffic and commercial department of Indian Railways. The station masters, pointsman, guard belong to traffic department and TTE, reservation and bookings clerks belong to commercial departments.
  • IRAS( Indian Railway Accounts Service)– They manage the railways finances and handle the accounts department of Indian Railways.
  • IRPS( Indian Railway Personnel Service)– They manage the Human Resource department i.e personnel department. They interact with railways unions and conducts transfer, posting of staffs.
  • RPF GrA (Railway Protection Force)– They wear uniforms and manage the RPF of Indian railways.

Railway Doctors

Indian Railway Health Services (IRHS)- They are recruited through combined medical services conducted by UPSC every year.  The IRHS services were earlier called as IRMS i.e Indian railway Medical Services. However, after the merger of 8 Group-A services into IRMS i.e Indian Railway Management services, the name has been changed to IRHS.

Railways IRHS is also favourite among the doctors of Combined medical services. You can check the allocation through this link.

http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/directorate/mgt_ser/Indian_Medical_Services/Renaming%20of%20the%20then%20IRMS%20as%20IRHS%20_Gazette_Notification.pdf

The Group-A officers in Railways work in close coordination for the development of Indian Railways as a whole. The Indian Railways will always prosper if young minds join through the prestigious exams conducted by UPSC.

The Truth About INDIAN RAILWAY DEPARTMENTS

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Indian railway is a massive organisation consisting of 12Lakhs employees, 20 thousand officers, 17 Zonal Railways, Production units, Hospitals, Depots etc.

For the smooth working of these massive units, Indian Railways is bifurcated into various departments. There are some Technical departments, some Non-Technical departments and a Medical department.

The Technical departments are responsible for Smooth Running of Trains as per various Technical parameters. The technical departments have a pool of Engineers ranging from Senior Section Engineer to Junior Engineer to Technicians to Group-D staffs. These all types of workforce are distributed among the various sub departments as per asset maintenance.

A) Technical Departments are further divided as follows:-

The various Technical departments are as:-

  1. Engineering department:-  It is one of the major departments of Indian Railways. It has the highest number of employees and maintains huge assets of railways. The construction of railway stations, rails, sleepers, employee quarters, colonies, roads in colonies, water supply at station and railways colonies. The most important activity among them is the maintenance of tracks.
  2. Electrical Department- The importance of Electrical engineering has increased manifold over the years. It is due to the massive electrification of various routes. Due to electrifications, the electrical engines were deployed in such sections which are again managed by the electrical department. Apart from this, the loco sheds were created for the maintenance of electric loco. Also, electrical engineers provide the general lighting facility at railway stations, colonies and trains.
  3. Signal and Telecom Department- The signals are installed at stations for safe and smooth movement of trains. Signals ensure that many trains run on a daily basis in busy yards through the interlocking principle. Also, the telecommunication facilities such as telephone, internet, CCTV, public address system, coach guidance system are provided by this department.
  4. Mechanical Department- The mechanical department ensures the coaches and wagons are maintained to the fullest potentials. The overhauling of these is carried out in carriage and Wagons depots. There are various diesel engines which are maintained by the mechanical department. Apart from this, the Accident relief train is also maintained by the mechanical department.
  5. Stores Depot- The stores depot in railways is a major department. It is the purchasing department. It purchases the various day to day items as well as items of heavy machinery and other international purchases are carried out by them. Stores department is also responsible for the disposal of scrap and its selling.

B) NON-TECHNICAL DEPARTMENTS:- the various non-technical departments carry out day to day running of trains, salary and pension issues, personal issues and security at stations. The carious non-technical departments are as under:-



Operating department– the operating department is responsible for the punctual running of trains. It has station masters at stations and controllers in the control room to manage the train running. As railway earns mostly from goods trains, they also manage the running of goods trains. Also, they coordinate with various railway sidings for increasing railway revenue.

Commercial department-  It is revenue collection department of Indian railways. They have TTE, booking clerk, reservation clerks under them. They also coordinate with advertisers and bring revenue to the railway. Recently many trains were branded by various companies these are carried out by the commercial department.

Personal department- They look after the staff issues. They are responsible for transfer posting, interaction with trade unions, salary prepration of staffs, leave and encsasgments, Pass/PTO. They have a major role of keeping the entire huge workforce of railways together.

Accounts department- It is a small department but does most of the important functions. They are responsible for the passing of bills, salaries, maintaining railway books, calculating profit and loss and ensuring undue expenses in railways are avoided.

Railway Protection Force- It is a police force of Indian Railways. They are responsible for protecting the stations against all security issues. They check the unauthorized vendors, travellers etc. They also coordinate with state police for maintaining peace and harmony at railway premises.

C) MEDICAL DEPARTMENT- The medical department consists of railway hospitals and other subunits for providing medical facilities to the railway’s large workforce. They carry out the following functions:-

  • To attend Railway accident & other untoward incidences
  • To attend the hospital shift duties for attending to railway employees, officers their dependents.
  • Pre-employment Medical examination to allow only fit & suitable candidates to join the services.
  • PME (Periodical Medical Examination) of serving employees to allow fit persons to continue in those jobs which are related to the safe running of the train.
  • To ensure the safe water supply at Railway Station:
  • To constantly check on the quality of drinking water and food made available at Railway Stations.
  • Certification of dead bodies at Railway Station, Railway Yards, Railway line etc
  • Certification of perishable goods in Railway Station about their disposal.

The above departments work in close coordination for the development of railways in particular and our great country in general. We should be fell proud to have such a grand old organization with so many departments and sub-departments working amicably and being a lifeline of our nation.