Indian Railways (IR) did its highest ever Capital allocation of Rs 2.15 Lakh crore for infrastructure development during FY22. Expenditure up to Nov’21 was Rs 1,04,238 Cr (48.5%).
IR electrified 1924 Route km up to December 30,2021 as against 1903 route km in the year ago period. A total of 1330.41 km of new lines/doubling/gauge conversion was done. Of this new lines were 120.5 km, gauge conversion was 242.3 km and doubling was 967.61 km. IR built 83 road-over-bridges and 338 road-under-bridges up to November 2021. In addition 172 foot-over-bridges 48 Lifts and 50 escalators were also commissioned up to November 2021.
RDSO became the first Standard Developing Organisation (SDO) in India to be granted recognition under the BIS SDO Recognition Scheme on 24 May 2021.IR commissioned Wi-Fi at 120 stations during the year taking the total to 6089 stations.
For safety and security applications over IR, a 5 MHz spectrum in 700 MHz has been allotted to roll out 4G based Long Term Evolution (LTE). IR started new websites for Freight and passenger business segments. For online & unified vendor approval system, Unified Vendor Approval Module (UVAM) has also been started. Internal processes for approval were simplified and fast tracked.
Rolling Stock
IR has already commenced running Tejas rakes on four Rajdhani trains -one between Anand Vihar- Agartala, two Rajdhanis between Mumbai- New Delhi and one between Rajendra Nagar Terminal (Patna)– New Delhi.
IR also inducted a new coach variant High capacity 3rd AC Economy coach( LWACCNE) on February 10, 2021 and produced 33 coaches in the last two months. With this a total of 54 AC-III Tier economy coaches have been made available. Innovations in its design include increased passenger space, the high voltage electric switchgear presently installed on board has been shifted below the under frame besides increased passenger capacity from 72 to 83 berths.
End of Train Telemetry (EoTT)is being tested on IR. Proof of Concept Trials is being conducted for EoTT in East Coast & South Eastern Railway. 3 sets are under trial in ECoR & Stage 2 Procurement of 740 sets is under process.
Rolling Stock Production (upto November 2021):
IR produced 570 electric locomotives: 570 as compared to 414 last years (Target: 981). A total of 3790 LHB Coaches: 3790 as compared to 2788 last year (Target: 6497) was produced. A total of 13 vista dome coaches was produced (Target : 90). A total of 57 such coaches are available with IR.
