Year In Review – 2019 for Indian Railways

Major Initiatives & Achievements in the Year 2019

Best ever safety record – Zero passenger fatalities during the year; Punctuality performance for Mail/Express trains increased to 75.67% 

Union Cabinet approves transformational organisational restructuring of the Indian Railways – A landmark reform initiative

Budget 2019 lays a roadmap for Railways to become the growth engine of the country with proposed investment of Rs 50 lakh crore till 2030

Big Thrust for Infrastructure Development – Speed of trains on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes to be raised to 160 kmph; Signaling system to be modernized;  Steady progress towards a Green Electrified Railways; Station Redevelopment on PPP Mode 

Indian Railways to manufacture 44 rakes of Vande Bharat trains, Tenders floated; Record production of coaches and locomotives; 194 trains upgraded to Utkrisht standard in 2019-20 

Artificial Intelligence-based PNR confirmation predictor integrated with IRCTC website; First ever train run by IRCTC and not by Railways – Tejas Express starts operation between Delhi and Lucknow. Second Tejas train between Mumbai-Ahmedabad announced 

Stations with High-Speed free Wi-Fi cross 5500; Real-Time Train Information System in collaboration with ISRO fast-tracked; Complaint Management portal and application ‘RailMadad’ rolled out

Stations provided with CCTV based Surveillance System cross 500; First Railway Commando Battalion ‘CORAS’ to tackle the menace of terrorism and Naxalism in Railways launched 

Indian Railways rationalizes menus to further improve the variety, hygiene and quality of food for its passengers; Web-based live streaming facility through CCTV extended to 40 kitchens units of IRCTC 

No single-use plastic material in Railways from 150th Gandhi Jayanti on 2nd Oct 2019; Total numbers of bio-toilets increase to 2,34,248 in 65,627 coaches 

Dedicated Freight Corridor to be fully commissioned in phases by the year 2021; Rewari – Madar section of Western DFC and Bhadan – Khurja section of Eastern DFC completed and trial commercial runs started 

E-office Project implemented over 58 establishments of Indian Railways replacing manual files by creating 72000+ Digital Files; Procurement process of Indian Railways end-to-end digitised 

Successfully completed one of the world’s largest recruitment exercises; Ayushman Bharat introduced in 91 hospitals of Indian Railways

Higher Investment in Railways

• Highest ever CAPEX: Rs. 1,60,176 crore in 2019-20 Budget Estimates.
  • 20.1% higher over 2018-19
  • Utilization up to the end of November 2019 (April-November 2019) is Rs.1,02,008.61 crore, which is 63.7%. The utilization of funds during the corresponding period in 2018-19 was 61.3%.
• With a proposed investment of Rs 50 lakh crore until 2030, Budget 2019 laid the roadmap for Railways to become the growth engine of the country.

Infrastructure Thrust

Faster construction

• Construction of Total New Line, Doubling & Gauge increased from 1014 Track KM last year to 1165 Tkm this year (+15%) (period: April-Nov)

• Elimination of manned level crossings increased by 199%
• Higher Bridge rehabilitation (+82%): 861 bridges rehabilitated in Apr-Nov 2019 compared to 472 last year same period
  • Construction of Foot Over Bridges (FOB) increased by 44%
• 170 FOBs constructed between Apr-Nov 2019 as compared to 118 during Apr-Nov 2018.
  • Higher Rail Renewal (+27%) – 3,560 Track km (Tkm) between Apr-Nov 2019 against 2,812 Tkm during Apr-Nov 2018

Commissioning of Complete Projects

• 320 km long Gauge Conversion Project from Jaipur-Ringas-Sikar-Churu in Sept 2019          
• Doubling project (7 Km length but very important to decongest New Delhi Station) between New Delhi to Tilak Bridge (5th & 6th line)
• 113 Km long New Line Port connectivity project in Andhra Pradesh connecting mainland with Krishnapatnam port      
• 55.47 Km long Doubling work in UP from Meerut-Muzaffarnagar
• 42.5 Km long New Line Coal Project from Kharsia-Korichhapar
• New Line stretching to 67 km from Rajgir-Hisua-Tilaiya including Islampur-Natesar in Oct 2019
• Doubling of Line stretching to 42 km from Hajipur-Ramdayalu Nagar in Oct 2019
• 19 Km long coal project named Bakhtiarpur-Barh completed and commissioned for coal movement to Barh NTPC Thermal Power Plant.
• 45 Km long length doubling project from Lumding to Hojai
• 112 Km long New line National Project construction in Tripura named  Agartala–Sabroom

Connecting India – Lines approved

• 3rd line between Allahabad- Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction (UP)
• New Line between Sahjanwa-Dohrighat (UP)
• Doubling of Line from New Bongaigaon-Agthori (Assam)
• New Line between Vaibhavwadi-Kolhapur (Maharashtra)

Approval for raising of speed to 160 kmph by 2022-23 on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi Howrah routes : Benefits:-

• 60% increase in the average speed of passenger trains
• Journeys by Rajdhani train to become fully overnight

Modern Train Control System

Indian Railways to modernize its Signaling system by implementing Modern Train Control system with Long Term Evolution (LTE) based Mobile Train Radio Communication (MTRC) System.

• This is one of the most ambitious modernization projects of Indian Railways, which envisages up-gradation of a signaling system for improving safety, Line Capacity and to run trains at a higher speed. It is to be implemented after approval of NITI Aayog, Extended Board for Railways (EBR) and sanction of CCEA.
• As a prelude to taking up the above modernization work of signalling system on a pan-India basis, 4 works of total 640 Route KM at a total cost of Rs. 1810 Crores have been sanctioned as pilot projects for extensive trials. The four sections are Renigunta (RU) – Yerraguntla (YA) section on South Central Railway, Vizianagaram (VZM) –Palasa (PSA) section on East Coast Railway, Jhansi (JHS) – Bina (BINA) Section on North Central Railway and Nagpur (NGP) – Badnera (BD) Section on Central Railway. These are some of the busiest routes on Indian Railway network with heavy traffic.

Towards a Green Electrified Railways

• Railway Electrification increased from 1440 Route KM to 2041 RKM this year (+42%) (period: April-Nov)
• From April 2018 to 5^th November 2019, 436 trains converted from End of Generation (EoG) to Head on Generation (HoG) to reduce diesel consumption; taking the cumulative number to over 500 trains.

Indian Railways has planned to source about 1000 Mega Watt (MW) Solar Power and about 200 MW of wind power progressively by 2021-22 across Zonal Railways & Production Units. Details are as follows:-

1. Solar Energy:
2. Roof Top Power Plants:

• 500 Mega Watt (MW) solar plants on the rooftop of Railway buildings through developers’ PPA mode with 25 years agreements, which will be used to meet non-traction loads at Railway Stations, etc.
• Out of this, 96.84 MW of solar plants have already been installed. These plants will reduce CO2 emission & reduce carbon footprints.
• 16 stations have been declared Green Railway stations across IR, which are meeting energy needs completely either through solar or wind power. These stations are Roha, Pen, Apta in CR, Niamatpur halt, Kanhaipur halt, Teka Bigha halt, Mai halt, Garsanda halt, Niyazipur halt, Dhamaraghat in ECR, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Shimla in NR, Unhel, Khanderi, Bajud, Ambli Road, Sadanapura & Sachin in WR – are 100% Green Powered stations.
• Work in progress for about 111 MW Solar plants.
• Tenders for 93 MW Solar plants have recently been awarded by Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL), a company under the Ministry of Railways.
• Tenders for 45 MW rooftop solar capacity floated by REMCL.
• Balance 154 MW is under different stages of planning.

5. Land based Power Plants:

• About 500 MW Land-based solar plants to meet Traction & Non-Traction requirements.
• Out of this, about 3 MW has already been installed at MCF, Raebareili.
• Bhilai (50 MW) on 300 acres vacant Railway land – Work awarded by REMCL & is under progress. Targeted for commissioning by March 2021.
• In addition to the above land-based solar projects, IR has also taken up two pilot projects for feeding solar power directly to 25 kV AC traction system.
• Diwana Solar Plant Project (2 MWp) through REMCL: PPA signed on 14.06.19.

Work started & targeted for completion by March 2020.

• Bina Solar Project (1.7 MWp) through BHEL: Work started & under execution & targeted for completion by February 2020.
• Tenders for Two hybrid plants (solar + wind) of 140 MW (35 MW solar + 105 MW wind) and 109 MW (27 MW solar + 82 MW wind) capacity has also been floated by REMCL.

2. Wind Energy:

Out of the 200 MW target of IR, 103.4 MW wind plant has already been installed.

• Wind Mill Plant of 21 MW (for non-Traction) capacity in Tamil Nadu, 26 MW (for traction) capacity in Rajasthan, 6 MW (for non-traction) & 50.4 MW (for traction) capacity in Maharashtra has been installed.
• Further, tenders for 187 MW capacity floated by REMCL as part of Hybrid renewable energy plants.

Initiatives for Station Redevelopment

• For three (03) stations (Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, and Chandigarh), contracts have been awarded by Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) on 30.10.2019.
• For Five (05) stations, MoU signed with

• RLDA & NHAI in April 2019 for Redevelopment of Ajni (Nagpur) as Multi-Modal Transport Hub.  The broad scheme has been finalized and Bids are under invitation.
• RLDA & Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) in Oct 2018 for Redevelopment of Dehradun station. MDDA has engaged an architectural consultant for preparation of the plan. 
• ECoR & State Govt. of Odisha on 19.09.2019 for the redevelopment of Bhubaneswar station.
• RLDA & DDA on 19.12.2019, for the redevelopment of Anand Vihar and Bijwasan station.

• IRSDC has taken up integrated facility management for five stations, viz, Pune, Secunderabad, Chandigarh, Anand Vihar and Bangalore city since March/April 2019.
• For the redevelopment of Gwalior, Nagpur, Sabarmati and Amritsar Railway Stations through Public-Private Partnership, in-principle approval was granted by PPPAC- Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee on 20.12.2019. The tender process for this has set in motion. The objective of the project is to give world-class facilities at these railway stations to passengers just like at airports. Important features for all the stations are –  segregated arrival/departure routes of passenger movement, 100% Divyang friendly, obstruction-free entry and exit to the station, ample sitting spaces, provision of lifts and escalators to assist passenger movements. The development shall be on Transit Oriented Development (TOD) principles, aiming to decongest the cities.

Make in India

• Indian Railways to manufacture 44 rakes of Vande Bharat Trains. Its Production Unit Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai set the process in motion by publishing tender on 22^nd December 2019 for the supply of electrical equipment and other items for 44 train sets of 16 coaches each. The procurement shall be done in accordance with extant “Make in India” policy of DPIIT, Government of India.
• Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi has exported 07 diesel locomotives to Srilankan Railways
• Indian Railways to provide Broad Gauge and Meter Gauge Diesel Locomotives to Bangladesh Railways for a period of 2 years to help them in improving train operations
• Taking ahead Make-in-India initiative, some of the track maintenance machines such as Utility Vehicles (UTVs), Rail Bound Maintenance Vehicles (RBHVs), Track Laying Equipment (TLE), Rail Threader (RT) and Rail-cum-Road Vehicle (RCRVs) have been fully indigenized.
• Most of the track maintenance machines supplied during the last five years were manufactured in India by the world’s leading manufacturers under Make-in-India.
• One more manufacturing plant by a world’s leading manufacturer of track machines has been commissioned at Karjan in Gujarat in the month of Nov.2019. The first machine manufactured in this plant is likely to be rolled out by Feb.2020. 

Focus on Passenger Services

Punctuality

• The punctuality performance of Indian Railways for Mail/Express trains has increased to 75.67% (April-Nov) as compared to 68.19% in the same period of last year reflecting an improvement of 7.5%.

New coaches and trains

• First Tejas Train between Delhi-Lucknow started operating – first-ever train with operations managed by IRCTC and not Indian Railways
• Booking for 2nd Tejas Train operated by IRCTC between Mumbai and Ahmedabad started.
• 2nd Vande Bharat Express inducted in regular service from New Delhi to Katra
• 194 trains have been upgraded to Utkrisht standard in 2019-20
• 78 New Train services overall introduced between Apr-Nov 2019.
• 120 pairs of ICF trains converted to faster and safer LHB utilizing 156 LHB rakes.
• 104 passenger trains have been converted into faster and safer MEMU utilizing 60 MEMU rakes of 8-Car each.
• Augmentation of onboard carrying capacity in train: 656 additional coaches have been augmented in the period from April to November 2019.
• Sleeper coaches attached in Humsafar trains for ensuring convenience and affordability of Humsafar trains.
• Running of special trains: 28,500 trips of special trains run during festivals and holidays in the period from April to November 2019.

Increased Rolling Stock Production

• 495 Electric Locomotives produced in April-Nov 2019 compared to 309 in Apr – Nov 2018 (+60%)
• 3,837 LHB coaches produced in April-Nov 2019 compared to 2,739 in Apr-Nov 2018 (+40%)
• Integral Coach Factory (ICF) of Indian Railways produced its 3000^th coach of the year 2019-20 in less than 9 months. Number of working days to achieve this reduced from 289 days in 2018-19 to 215 days in the current year, a reduction of 25.6%.
• Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) turned out 300^th locomotive of the FY 2019-20 on 21st December 2019, in less than 9 months (in 216 working days). The working days for production of 300th loco has reduced from 292 days in the year 2017-18 to 249 days in 2018-19 and further to 216 days in the current FY 2019-20. Therefore, a reduction of 28% since 2017-18 in number of working days to achieve the figure.
• CLW created a world record by producing a record total of 446 locomotives in the calendar year 2019.

Passenger Charges

• The Terminal Tax on Railways Passenger Act, 1956 repealed. The terminal tax used to be levied on passengers carried by Railways from or to certain places of pilgrims or where fairs, melas or exhibitions were held.
• Passenger Earnings: The total originating passenger earnings on Indian Railways for the period April 2019 to November 2019 is 35249.13 crore which is 4.20% higher than the 33829.58 crores earned during the corresponding period of last year.

Measures to make Ticket Reservation Easier

• The proliferation of Ticket selling Facility to common Passengers:

1. With a view to encouraging passengers to purchase unreserved tickets through Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs), the policy of facilitator liberalized.
   • The spouse/adult children of retired railway employees have also been allowed to become a facilitator. These facilitators issue unreserved tickets through ATVMs to the intending passengers through a smart card issued to them.
   • Zonal Railways have been empowered to increase the facilitator based ATVMs as per field requirement.

• Easy and economical access of information to Passengers: Charges for verification of journey details rationalized for easy accessibility of information regarding self travel to rail passengers.
• SMS Alerts to passengers: In order to enhance passenger convenience, SMS alerts are being sent to those passengers who furnish their mobile number at the time of booking of tickets in case of following scenarios:-

• At the time of booking and cancellation of reserved tickets through counters
• SMS alerts as and when the status of waitlisted ticket changes to RAC/Confirmed or from RAC to Confirmed
• At the time of charting conveying the final status of the ticket to Confirmed, RAC and Waitlisted ticket holders
• SMS alerts in case of up-gradation of ticket
• SMS in case of short termination & diversion of trains.
• HHT on trains:

1. Hand-Held Terminals (HHT) have been provided to ticket checking staff of Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. Instructions issued to provide HHTs to TTEs manning all premier category of trains viz. Tejas, Gatiman, Duronto, Mahamana, Humsafar and Vande Bharat Express trains.

2. HHT enables downloading of the reservation chart on the device and mark turned up/non-turned up the status of passengers. Vacant accommodation, if any, after preparation of the second reservation chart gets transferred to the next remote location for booking. 

• Rationalisation of Flexi Fare:  Flexi Fare earlier introduced in premium trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto has been further rationalized and made people-friendly based on the feedback viz., reduction of maximum cap in all flexi fare applicable classes, offering graded discounts in all flexi-fare trains and discontinuation of flexi fare in certain trains with low occupancy. The Flexi Fare scheme has given an additional earning of Rs 532.53 crore in the current year. Flexi fare has been removed from Humsafar train fare. 
• Artificial Intelligence-based PNR confirmation predictor has been integrated with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website which predicts the probability of waitlisted ticket getting confirmed at the time of booking and eliminates last-minute uncertainties faced by the rail passengers,.
• Refund of fare due to misconnection of Train: – If a Passenger misses connecting train owing to late running of the train by which he had been travelling, the fare for travelled portion shall be retained and the balance amount of ticket shall be refunded as the fare for untraveled portion.
• Scope of booking online reserved ticket by foreign tourists enhanced:  Earlier foreign tourists could book reserved accommodation up to 365 days in advance in1AC, 2AC, 3AC & EC class only, now this advanced booking facility has been extended for booking tickets in AC Chair Car, Sleeper and 2S class also. 

Hygienic & Quality Food

• Web-based live streaming facility through CCTV of Kitchen units of IRCTC extended to 40 kitchens units from 18 kitchen units (May 2019).
• Introduced Food packets with QR Codes linked to live kitchen feed from previous 2 to 28 in present.
• The number of POS machines installed on trains for billing and digital payments has increased from 2,742 (May, 2019) to 5122 on 417 trains and 703 rakes
• In addition, 6002 other digital modes of payment including POS machines made operational in 2018 Static Units (Food Plaza, Fast Food Units, Refreshment Rooms, Catering Stalls etc.)
• E-catering has increased from an average meal of 11,858 for FY 2018-19 to 21,026 meals for FY 2019-20 (up to 30 Nov 2019)
• 8223 Metallic Boards containing a message for the availability of menu and ‘Right to Bill’ for the passengers have been fixed in 185 pairs of trains.
• A number of Rail Neer plants have been enhanced from 9 to 12 (May 2019)  with an increase in the average production from 6.62 Lakh litres to 9 Lakh litres of Rail Neer per day.
• Taking note of the need to further improve the variety, hygiene and quality of food for its passengers, Indian Railways rationalized the menus and revised the tariff for catering services on trains and railway stations.

• The tariff on Rajdhani/ Shatabdi/ Duronto trains has been revised after 6 years while the tariff of standard meals for Mail/ Express trains after 7 years since the last revision in 2012. The rate of Janta Meal has been kept unchanged at Rs.20.
• There shall be three categories of standard meals viz., Standard Vegetarian Meal, Standard Non-Vegetarian Meal (with 2 Eggs curry) and Standard Non-Vegetarian Meal (with Chicken Curry) against the previous two. Now more regional food variety including three types of Biryani will also be available for the passengers.
• As part of the ‘Eat Right India’ movement launched in 2018 by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Mumbai Central Railway Station became the country’s first “Eat Right Station” as certified by FSSAI. The Railway station was conferred with “Eat Right Station” certification with 04 Stars rating by FSSAI on 29^th November 2019. CSMT Mumbai was conferred with “Eat Right Station” certification with 5-star rating in December 2019.

Enhancing Vendor Base

• 49,466 new vendors/contractors and 535 bidders (for e-Auction) registered on IR E-Procurement website since 01.01.2019. Total numbers of registered vendors and bidders on IREPS as on date are 1,57,109 and 4077 respectively.
• Vendor meets organised on a pan-India basis at 24 prominent locations across the country during May 2019.  During these meets, a total of 4008 vendors participated, out of which 1845 vendors were new to Railways.  High-value items required by Railways were displayed along with important information such as detailed specification, annual requirements, vendor approving agency etc.  Also, Technical sessions, as well as interactive Q&A sessions, were held to disseminate important information to vendors and address their queries.
• Vendors were also made aware of the crucial policy initiatives taken by the government in the field of ‘Ease of Doing Business’.

Swachh Bharat, Swachh Railways

• 38,331 Bio-toilets installed in 11,703 coaches from Apr-Nov 2019. This takes the cumulative numbers of bio-toilets to 2,34,248 fitted in 65,627 coaches. Now, the percentage coverage of coaches with bio-toilet has reached at 98%.
• No single-use plastic material in railway system from 150th Gandhi Jayanti on 2nd Oct 2019
• Ministry of Railways has been adjudged as the best Central Ministry for implementation of ‘Swachhta Action Plan’ (for 2018-19), and was awarded by Hon’ble President of India on 06th Sept 2019.
• Integrated mechanised cleaning is now provided at 950 stations.
• Independent third party Survey of passenger perception on the cleanliness standards was carried out at 720 major Stations.
• The number of trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and other important long distance Mail/Express trains with facility of On Board Housekeeping Service (OBHS) for cleaning of coach toilets, doorways, aisles and passenger compartments during the run of the trains has increased to 1090 pair of trains.
• OBHS service is supported by SMS based on demand “Coach-Mitra” service to cover over 1050 pairs of trains.
• Railways continued setting up of more mechanized laundries for improving quality of washing of linen provided to AC coach passengers. 61 mechanised laundries were set up till 2018-19 and 5 more added in 2019-20. Orders for 14 more mechanized laundries with total capacity of 109 tonnes per day (TPD) have been placed. It is planned to cover a 100% linen washing requirement by mechanised laundries by next financial year.
• As an initiative to reduce, recycle and dispose of plastic waste generated in stations in an eco-friendly manner, comprehensive policy guidelines have been brought out for installation of Plastic Bottle Crushing Machines (PBCMs) by Zonal Railways. At present, around 315 PBCMs have been installed at 229 stations including several district headquarter railway stations over Indian Railways.

Safety First

Best ever safety record

• Zero passenger fatalities during April-December 2019

New Measures to Enhance Security

• The number of stations with the installation of CCTV based Surveillance System increased to more than 500.
• One seat/ berth earmarked for Railway Protection Force staff to travel in the trains for attending to any safety-related requirements on board.
• Indian Railway Institute of Disaster Management at Bangalore has been opened for training of officers and staff.

• Commandos for Railway Security – Launch of the first Railway Commando Battalion ‘CORAS’ on 14.08.2019 to tackle the menace of terrorism and Naxalism in Railways.
• The recruitment in Railway Protection Force (RPF) against the vacancy of 1121 Sub-Inspectors & 8619 Constable notified in 2018 has been finalized and training has been started.
• The recruitment of 798 Constable (Ancillary) and 246 Constable (Band) in RPF is in the final stage.

Empowerment of RPF to make seizure under Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 

• Government of India through its notification dated 11.04.2019 empowered RPF to make seizure and arrest under NDPS Act.
• Subsequently, RPF has made a large number of such recoveries amounting to the total amount of Rs. 6,74,56,340/- with the arrest of 211 persons up to Oct. 2019.

Commitment to Humanity

• Lives of 151 passengers were saved during the current year 2019 upto Nov. (106 male & 45 female.) in emergency situations such as from railway tracks during train movement and during natural disasters such as floods.
• 9150 cases of left-behind luggage valued at Rs.1,59,93,186/- (approximately) were retrieved and handed over to their owners during the year 2019 (up to Nov.).
• During the year 2019 (up to Nov.) RPF rescued 255 children (Boys 214 + Girls 41) from human traffickers with the arrest of 64 persons.
• Besides this, a total of 10681 children (Runaway, Drug addict, Destitute, Kidnapped, Left behind, Missing etc.) were rescued during the year 2019.
• RPF Security Helpline no. 182 (Toll-free) is operational 24 X 7 for security-related grievances of passengers in distress and in need of help. 32222 calls received on it have been redressed up to Nov. 2019.
• To facilitate a safe and comfortable journey of women passengers, besides regular drives, a special drive was also launched to restrict the entrance of male passengers in coaches reserved for ladies. The detailed figure of offenders prosecuted is as under –

Drive	No. of cases registered	No. of persons arrested	Amount of fine realized in Rs.
04.12.19(Special drive)	5938	7151	685890
2019 (up to Nov.)	97737	92131	18152974

• Drives to deter unauthorized entry into compartments reserved for persons with disabilities were conducted regularly. On the “International Day of Persons with Disabilities,” a special drive was conducted and offenders were prosecuted. The details are as under  –

Drive	No. of cases registered	No. of persons arrested	Amount of fine realized in Rs.
03.12.19(Special drive)	4788	5674	533195
2019 (up to Nov.)	65482	74471	15342435

• A drive named “Operation Thirst” was conducted in which 1430 persons were apprehended for sale of sub-standard packaged drinking water over the railways with the recovery of 69041 unauthorized water bottles.
• Sustained drive against touts involved in procuring & selling of e-tickets using fake IRCTC IDs was conducted. Annual comparative figure:-

Year	No. of cases registered	No. of persons arrested
2017	1859	2060
2018	2843	3192
2019 (up to Nov.)	3861	4377

Putting Freight in Fast Lane

• The Dedicated Freight Corridor is targeted to be fully commissioned in phases by the year 2021.
  • Bhadan – Khurja section (194 km) of Eastern DFC completed in all respect and trial commercial runs have started from 2.10.2019.
  • Rewari- Madar section (305 Km) of Western DFC has also been completed in all respect and trial commercial runs have started from 27.12.2019.
• Induction of new Wagons: Total induction of new wagons during April-Oct., 2019 is 9153 wagons v/s 6114 wagons inducted during April-Oct., 2018
• In 2019-20, freight charges rationalized with (i) removal of 15% Busy Season Surcharge on all commodities (except POL and Iron Ore), (ii) removing 5% supplementary charge on two-point rake combinations and Mini rake, (iii) mini rakes are allowed upto 1000 km intra-zonal traffic.
• Round trip charging for container traffic has been introduced for a distance of less than 50 Km on each way. Under this scheme, Haulage Charge for 0-100 Km slab will be charged for total to and from movement, instead of charging for 0-50 Km slab each way.  This is around 35% cheaper per TEU/round trip.
• 90 commodities de-notified from the list of notified and brought under Freight All Kind (FAK) rates i.e., lower rates are now applicable when transported in container.
• Electronic Transmission of Railway Receipts (eT-RR) facility has been implemented pan-India in 2019. Under this, customer has the option to receive, transfer and surrender the Railway Receipt (RR) electronically. It enhances the ease of doing business multifold for Railway freight customers. As a precursor to enable this, Indian Railway has implemented electronic registration of demand for wagons (e-RD).
• In place of entering into a tripartite agreement with each zonal railways, single agreement e-payment facility with base terminal Railway has been allowed to Automobile Freight Train Operators (AFTOs) from 20th May 2019.
• Exemption from mandatory weighment was allowed in case of import containerized traffic to three operators (CONCOR, GRFL, DLI) on the basis of transmission of SMTP details from Custom server to Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) of IR via Electronic Data Interchange. In May 2019, five more operators namely Adani, ICT&IPL, HTPL, IILPL and PMLPPL have been permitted exemption from weighment in case of import containerized traffic.
• Further, Nepal bound containerized import traffic has also been exempted from mandatory weighment from September 2019 on the basis of Custom document submitted by CONCOR. This step is expected to further lower operational time and improve fluidity.
• Integration of Electronic In-motion Weighbridge Locations: In pursuance to Railway Board’s instructions dated 14.01.2019 to all Zonal Railways regarding proliferation of In-motion Weighbridge with FOIS,  till November 2019, a total of 218 locations have been configured for integration with FOIS and data have been captured of weighment and total 43 locations are online.
• Methodology for levying of Terminal Access Charge @one time for double operation of container handling at railway terminals has been extended till further advice.
• IR has changed its business processes and procedures which earlier maintained container itself as the commodity. Now, the commodities being carried in it are recognized and due GST exemption on service of transport of goods by rail in containers by IR is being given.
• For freight stability to customers, long term tariff contracts entered with 31 key customers till 15.12.2019. It is customer friendly as inbuilt in the system as per the agreement with the customer. 
• 5 new routes upgraded and notified with enhanced loadability of CC+8 in 2017-18.  13 routes in 2018-19 and 21 routes in 2019-20 till 15.12.2019.
• Charging of traffic through Bogibeel, Digha and Monghyr Rail-cum-Road Bridges were notified.
• Permissible Carrying Capacity of various newly inducted wagons was notified like BOBRNHSM1, BAFRDR, BFNS, BFNSM, BFNS 22.9. Permissible Carrying Capacity of BCNHL and BRN wagons was modified.
• Notifications were issued for extending help of transportation of water, relief material etc. to areas affected by drought in Rajasthan/ Maharashtra, flood in Kerala/ Assam/ Karnataka/ Maharashtra, a cyclone in Odisha/ Tamil Nadu/ West Bengal/ Andhra Pradesh etc.
• E-Payment Facility:  A total of 1231 Freight Customers are now availing e-payment facility since November 2019.

Digital India

• The number of Stations with High-Speed free Wi-Fi increased to more than 5,500.
• Real-Time Train Information System (RTIS) in collaboration with ISRO for automatic chart preparation and passenger train information, fast-tracked: 2700 electric locomotives have been provided with RTIS and 3800 diesel locomotives provided with REMMLOT; Automatic control charting being done for 6500 locomotives; balance 6000 electric locomotives to be provided with RTIS equipment in a year’s time. Tender for balance in the process. 
• Industry 4.0 in Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli for higher productivity.
• Two modern techniques (i.e. Use of Drone mounted camera and 3D scanning of riverbed) introduced in Railways during the year for inspection of bridges. 
• For predictive maintenance, an automated system for detecting defective wheel, bearing and catching the same before it fails, IR is in the process of installation of 25 OMRS way-side inspection systems at 20 locations spread over the entire network. Defect report generation and alert communications take place in real-time for taking corrective action, accordingly. As on date, 6 OMRS systems have been installed and total installations will be completed in the year 2020 itself.
• Computerization of Train Signal Register (TSR): TSR equipment has been supplied on 650 stations. All stations have been commissioned and made live at 508 stations by November 2019. All locations are expected to be made live by March 2020.
• A separate land management system viz. Indian Railways Land Management System (IRLAMS) being developed for the management of land-related data such as land records, lease license records documented at one place.
• End-to-end digitalization of the procurement process of Indian Railways has been accomplished.  All the processes from generation of demand, processing of demands, publication of tenders, technical evaluation of bids, tender finalization, preparation and issue of letter of acceptance/contracts/modifications, inspection of material by RITES/ Consignee, acceptance and accountal of supplies, online receipt and processing of vendors’ bills, issue of material to consignees etc. are digital.
• the e-Reverse auction has been made as the default mode of tendering for tenders for procurement of goods valuing more than Rs. 5 cr. The process of e-RA has now been further improved to have better competition.
• An e-application IR-WCMS launched as a pilot project in 17 divisions of IR to handle works contracts on e-platform. This e-application shall be extended soon to all divisions of IR.
• All activities/stages of the sale of scrap from Lot formation, Catalogue publication, e-auction, collection of Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) and Balance Sale Value (BSV) to issue of Sale Release Order (SRO) etc. digitized.
• 72000+ Digital Files created in mere 6 months’ time over 58 establishments of Indian Railways replacing the manual file. The NIC e-office implemented by RailTel is helping Indian Railways to save tons of paper every day. In phase I of the project 50000+ users have been created.
• Other digital initiatives: Electronic Drawing Approval System (E-DAS); Unique Medical Identity Card (UMID) for health care; Human Resource Management System (HRMS).
• In order to cater to ticketing needs of passengers at Halt stations, a scheme launched where computerized unreserved tickets are being made available at Halt stations through Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) terminals replacing earlier manual printed card tickets system. This is being done through the nearest nodal station. In addition, trials of Portable-UTS have been approved over Southern Railway for the issue of tickets at halt stations.  Trials of enhanced ETM using android mobile phone and Bluetooth printer in connected mode have been approved over Northern Railway.
• RailMadad: The Complaint Management system was rechristened as ‘RailMadad’ and was decided to remain as a Railways-only Portal for redressal of customers’ grievances. It was conceptualised in April 2019 as an integrated complaints platform (Web, SMS, App, Manual Dak, Social Media & IVRS Helpline 139). The RailMadad application was rolled out on 15.07.2019 (Beta application) and on 21.10.2019 (Final Version). RailMadad application was designed and developed as per industry standards to make it more user-friendly.
• To increase non-fare revenue, it has been decided to allow advertisements on IR website indianrail.gov.in for a period of one year on a trial basis, as a pilot project.

• IRCTC will do the marketing and all the liaisoning with advertisers.
• The net revenue sharing between IRCTC and MOR shall be 50:50.
• Instructions have been issued on 03.09.2019 and advertisements have started w.e.f. 19.09.2019.
• It has also been decided to allow advertisements on NTES website, IREPS website and UTS-on-mobile App on similar terms and conditions.
• Instructions have been issued on 17.10.2019.

• Instructions have been issued to IRCTC on 24.10.2019 to integrate Chatbot solution on IR website indianrail.gov.in on a trial basis for 6 months.  Net revenue accrued from this initiative shall also be shared between IRCTC and MoR in 50:50 ratio.
• To make public aware of the on-going activities of Railways, upgraded Rail Drishti Dashboard (www.raildrishti.in) has been launched encompassing all the digitisation efforts in Indian Railways and promoting transparency and accountability. It brings information from various sources on a single platform and gives access to key statistics and parameters to every citizen of the country.

Financial Initiatives

Payment through Letter of Credit in Domestic Supply/Works contracts:

The scheme of payment through Letter of Credit in Domestic Supplies/Works contracts has been implemented on all Indian Railways in coordination with CRIS and SBI. All tenders invited by Zonal Railways and Production Units both for supplies/works having an estimated value of Rs 10 lakhs and above have an option for payment from Railways through a Letter of Credit arrangement.

Centralised Integrated Payment System (CIPS):

Implementation of SBI’s CIPS is a system improvement to ensure online payments without manual intervention. This initiative was one of the action points of the 100 Days Action Plan of Finance Department. Indian Railways has implemented Centralized Integrated Payment System (CIPS) with effect from 12.09.2019 after entering into MOU with SBI. CIPS facilitates digital signing of payment files and it is automatic & secure server to server transfer from Integrated Payroll & Accounting System (IPAS) server to SBI server.

Implementation of GST:

CGST Act, 2017 and IGST Act, 2017 was passed by the Parliament and assented by the President of India on 12^th April 2017. Given the strict guidelines, the following milestones have been completed in a time-bound manner:-

1. Income Tax PAN for Ministry of Railways has been obtained across the Railways;
2. Modification made in the software for PRS, UTS, FOIS, to levy GST;
3. Timely instructions are issued to all the GMs levy of GSTs on Parcel, Sundry Commercial Receipts, Engineering Receipts;
4. CRIS developed GST Manual Utility for capturing Offline transactions;
5. Modification effected in Accounting Software to account for Input Tax Credit;
6. To ensure that all pre-GST Contracts are aligned with the transitional guidelines into the GST Regime;
7. To ensure that the new Contracts entered into post 1.7.2017 is aligned with the GST Rules;
8. To study the impact of the GST Rules in respect of transactions with SPVs;
9. In all-around 140 policy circulars were issued to all the Units;
10. Re-engineering of processes is done from time to time. For example, remodelling of IRFC funded contract has been done recently that will result in a reduction of leasing cost to Indian Railways;

Organisational Restructuring of Indian Railways

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 24.12.2019 approved a transformational organisational restructuring of the Indian Railways. This historic reform will go a long way in achieving the Government’s vision of making Indian Railways the growth engine of India’s Vikas yatra.

The reforms include:

1. Unification of the existing eight Group A services of the Railways into a Central Service called Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS)
2. Re-organisation of Railway Board on functional lines headed by Chairman Railway Board (CRB) who will be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with 4 Members and some Independent Members
3. The existing service of Indian Railway Medical Service (IRMS) to be consequently renamed as Indian Railway Health Service (IRHS).

Unification of services had been recommended by various committees for reforming Railways. Unification of services will promote the smooth working of Railways, expedite decision making, create a coherent vision for the organisation and promote rational decision making. The modalities and unification of the services will be worked out in consultation with DoPT and the approval of Alternate Mechanism appointed by Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency.

Employment

Indian Railways successfully completed one of the world’s largest recruitment exercises

• An unprecedented 47.45 Lakhs candidates applied for over 64,000 posts of Assistant Loco Pilots & Technicians
• About 1.17 Crores candidates appeared for over 63,000 posts in Level I (erstwhile Group D) posts including over 2400vacancies reserved for Disabled candidates (Divyangjan) with around 600 for each of the 4 Disability categories of LD, VI, HI and MD, and
• About 24.75 lakhs candidates appeared for over 13,500 posts for Junior Engineer (JE).

Indian Railways provided another chance to eligible Multiple Disability (MD) ‘Divyangjan’ Level-1 candidates to rectify disability option for Railway jobs.

Ayushman Bharat in Railway Hospitals

Introduction of Pradhan Mantri- Jan Arogya Yojna (PM-JAY) in Railways

• Ayushman Bharat has been introduced in 91 hospitals of Indian Railways.
• Treatment of Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries has already started at empanelled Railway hospitals.