Japanese trader Sumitomo Corp and India’s Jindal Steel and Power Ltd are among eight bidders competing for Indian Railways’ first global tender to supply 487,000 tonnes of rails, a government official told.

The other bidders are East Metals AG, a unit of Russian steel and coal producer Evraz, Austrian company voestalpine Schienen, CRM Hong Kong Trading Ltd, New Delhi-based Atlantic Steels, French company British Steel France Rail and China-based Angang Group International, according to the official with direct knowledge of the matter.

The official declined to be named because the information is not public. The tender was opened earlier on Friday.

Railways chairman Ashwani Lohani, spokespeople at East Metals AG, and Austrian company voestalpine did not immediately respond to Reuters’ emails while spokespeople at the other companies could not be contacted.

The tender will end the monopoly of state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) in supplying rails to the world’s fourth largest rail network. Loss making SAIL has struggled to meet railways’ rising demand.

The steel and rail ministries, however, have been at loggerheads over the state-run network’s decision to buy rails from overseas, despite assurances of supply from SAIL and New Delhi-based Jindal Steel and Power.

Following several meetings, the railways slashed its tender size by more than 30 percent to 487,000 tonnes of rails after SAIL said it would scale up supply to 950,000 tonnes in 2017/18 and 1.5 million tonnes in 2018/19, according to the minutes of a committee meeting held on Dec. 21.

The committee on domestically manufactured iron and steel products for government projects is headed by the top civil servant in the steel ministry.

The panel also gave a one-time waiver to the railways to source rails from overseas on the condition that it would give 20 percent of the contract to a domestic steel maker.

The clause could help Jindal Steel win its first contract with the railways.

The waiver came through following a meeting held at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office on Dec. 19 between steel ministry officials and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Spokespeople for Modi’s and Goyal’s offices did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Modi’s office recently asked all government departments to prioritise the use of local products in state projects, after domestic companies objected to the tender by the railways.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has stepped in to ensure all government departments stick to official policy on procurement of locally produced steel for key infra projects. The move follows objection by domestic steel producers against Railways decision to buy rails through a global tender on December 18 for the first time. This move led to the rail and steel ministries locking horns over the issue.

The latter felt decision to float a global tender went against the “Make in India” policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Incidentally, the Domestic ally Manufactured Iron & Steel Products (DMI&SP) policy and Public Procurement Order 2017 were notified by the government earlier this year with a larger objective to facilitate domestic manufacturing.

In a recent letter to heads of various departments, Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the PM said: “It is very disturbing that the broad message has not been appreciated by various departments. It should be the responsibility at the highest level in each department to ensure that the tender conditions are strictly in sync with the public procurement order and each tender must be examined from the point of view of the interest of Indian manufacturers.”

“The requirement of significant global experience in terms of trade performance may eliminate many domestic manufacturers. Any tender which is not sensitive to ‘Make in India’ message deserves scrutiny. There has to be a strong justifiable reason for incorporating any restrictive provision” Misra’s letter added. A copy of the letter has been uploaded on the steel ministry’s website.

The two main contenders for supply of rails include, state run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), which has been the sole supplier of rails to Indian Railways all these years, and aspiring entrant Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL).

On Thursday, a government committee on the use of locally-made iron and steel in government projects headed by Aruna Sharma, union steel secretary met and gave Indian Railways “one time exception” to buy 4.87 lakh tonne (lt) of rails under the global tender. The railways had earlier sought to buy 7.17 lt under the tender. As per minutes of the meeting, Railways’ requirement of rails in 2017-18 and 2018-19 is 14.59lt and 14.78 lt respectively. While SAIL has supplied 5.55 lt till November 2017, it would be able to supply 9.5 lt in 2017-18 and 15 lt in 2018-19. JSPL had indicated their rail making capacity at 7.5 lt and can supply 6 lt per annum to Railways.

The Ministry of Railways is drawing up a Rs 20-lakh crore investment plan under which it will convert 10,000 km of its trunk routes into high-speed corridors and take up several other modernisation projects. The investment plan will be spread out over a period of 10 years, with average annual capacity upgrade and expansion outlay of Rs 2 lakh crore, a top rail official said.

“Since there has hardly been technology development in railways in past 3-4 decades, we are looking at leapfrogging to new technologies, and considering huge investments in the sector which was neglected till 2014 ,” the official said.

Half the total allocation — about Rs 10 lakh crore — will go towards speeding up train travel. Under the plan, railways would upgrade existing Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Howrah and Bengaluru-Hyderabad routes, among others, into high-speed corridors, and upgrade stations on the routes into world class terminals.

Railways would also complete the 3300-km long dedicated corridor project for freight movement that will free up existing routes to run more premium passenger trains and increase average speed. “It will help us attract more freight traffic as our delivery timelines and service would substantially increase.

Also, it will help us rationalise freight charges,” the official said. The national transporter would also induct more than 40,000 German technology-based LHB coaches that are safer and will reduce the number of causalities in case of train derailment or an accident. Additionally, the Railways has planned a complete overhaul of the signalling and electrification network at an estimated cost of Rs 60,000 crore that will allow it to run trains every 6-7 minutes.

Since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has come to power, investment in railways has gone up substantially. In the past three financial years, the government has spent more than Rs 3 lakh crore towards the development of this critical infrastructure sector. The railways is expecting to generate substantial revenue by monetising assets such as overhead electric lines, land bank among other things to fund the plan.

The national transporter will also receive funding through institutional investors such as Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) bonds.

For its high-speed corridor projects, it could get financing from the Japanese funding agencies, World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and several other investors, the official explained.

The South East Central Railway (SECR) will use GPS based tracking devices with Pre-Installed Sim for monitoring of Track Patrolling activity in the zone .

The software to be utilised for the device would have a mapping mode to track the movement of track patrolling team, officials informed.

SECR would also soon start the process for execution of telecom works in connection with setting up of high accuracy Global Positioning System (GPS) clocks in 8 railway stations of Chhattigarh, officials informed.

The clocks would be installed at Raipur (03), Durg (03), Bhilai Power House (02), Bhatapara (03), Tilda (02), Bhilai (02), Dallirajhara (01) and Balod (01).

The GPS clock has a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver which receives accurate time on a real time basis.

In May this year, SECR also emerged as the ‘Cleanest Railway Zone’ in the country.

Notably, the then Union Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu released Third Party Audit Report on Station Cleanliness and inaugurated ‘Swachh Rail Portal’ in New Delhi recently, an official press release of the Union Railway Ministry informed.

Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Beas in Punjab is the Cleanest Station in A1, ‘A’ Category stations respectively. Khammam station secured 2nd Rank in Station Cleanliness in ‘A’ Category from 285 Rank in the previous year.

Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain was specially present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, the then Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu said that Indian Railways started third party Cleanliness Index of Stations since last year.

Railways have accomplished a significant improvement in cleanliness at station. This index instills competitive spirit among the stations. The biggest challenge for cleanliness at the platforms is visitors along with the passengers, even the toilets are used by large number of visitors who are not Railway travellers, he said.

However, Railways have to move forward. The focus is on Platform cleanliness, coach cleanliness, toilets cleanliness in the coach and track cleanliness. Railways have introduced Clean My Coach services which is getting overwhelming response of the passengers, Four green corridors have been marked which are free from discharge of human waste. I urge the municipal corporation of the cities which have encroachments to come forward and cooperate in eliminating human waste from the tracks, Prabhu said.

He said that Vishakhapatnam has emerged as the winner in Cleanliness Index by securing Ist position in A1 category, Beas has emerged as Ist winner in ‘A’ category station. Guwahati, Varanasi, Mughalsarai and Hazrat Nizamuddhin Station have shown tremendous improvements.

Prabhu said that lot of NGO’s, Students groups have come forward to clean and beautify their stations.

The Ministry of Railways will soon carry out Preliminary Engineering Survey for laying of 4th railway line between Bilaspur and Nagpur under jurisdiction of South East Central Railway (SECR), officials informed.

Noyably , Central Public Sector undertaking RITES Ltd is also working on a major turn key project for the  Ministry of Railways for laying the third railway track in Pendra Road- Anuppur section of Bilaspur division of South East Central Railway (SECR), a press release of the Union Ministry of Railways had informed earlier.

Notably, RITES Ltd, which is under the Ministry of Railways has recorded 18% increase in its total income in FY 2016-17 compared to 2015-16. It has for the first time crossed the Rs 1500 crores benchmark. Despite severe competition from domestic and foreign consultancy companies, RITES recorded PAT of around Rs 330 crores on a turnover of Rs 1508 crores, according to the provisional results submitted to its Board of Directors.

The company has also issued 2 bonus issues during the year, increasing its paid-up capital from Rs 100 crores to Rs  200 crores.

During the year, the company completed the supply of 120 coaches to Bangladesh Railways and has signed two new contracts with Sri Lanka Railways for the supply of Indian Railways produced locos (DLW, Varanasi) and DMU train sets (ICF, Chennai) which will be exported in the coming year by RITES to Sri Lanka Railways.

The railway track development in the Bhupdevpur-Gharghoda-Dharamjaygarh section under East Rail Corridor Project is also expected to get complete by December 31, 2018, officials informed.

Notably, the Centre has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) each with the States of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for critical coal connectivity projects to improve transportation .

Agreement for World Bank loan of US $ 1100 million for Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) (Phase-2) have also been signed, they stated.

Freight train with speed of maximum 100 kms per hour will pass through Chhattisgarh in the East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai).

The train will traverse through the States of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra as the Ministry of Railways has sanctioned implementation of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) with freight train speeds of maximum 100 Kmph.

The Central government’s approval for construction of 165 km long third railway line between Anuppur and Katni in Madhya Pradesh is expected to facilitate additional coal transportation traffic from parts of Chhattisgarh.

The coal transporation traffic from IB valley, Korba area, East Corridor and Gevra – Pendra Road Project in Chhattisgarh would be channelized through the aforesaid route to the respective destinations, officials stated.

The Centre has approved the project at a cost of Rs 1595.76 crore. The project is likely to be completed in 5 ¼ years spanning over 12th and 13th plan period.

The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved construction of six Railway lines and a Railway bridge to cater to both increased passenger and freight needs in various areas of the country.

Public sector IRCON International Ltd has also commenced work in connection with the construction of new ‘Broad Guage Electrified Double Railway Line’ in Chhattisgarh on the EastWest Corridor.

The work is being undertaken in  Gevra Road-Pendra Road and Dipka, Kathghora, Sendurgahr and Pasan sections, officials stated.

The Union Ministry of Railways has set track renewal target of 551 kms for South East CentralRailway (SECR) division during the 12th plan period.

Track renewal is an ongoing process which is undertaken as and when a stretch of track becomes due for renewal on age-cum-condition basis, officials informed.

Track Renewal works are planned in advance every year and their execution is prioritized according to the condition of track and overall availability of funds ensuring all the time that track is in a sound condition for safe running of trains.

In case, if any stretch of track is not renewed in time due to various reasons including scarcity of funds, material etc., suitable speed restrictions are imposed to ensure safe running of trains.

As on March 31, 2016, track renewal covering 5900 km of track renewal have been sanctioned, out of which 2668 km is targetted for the year 2016-17.

As per norms, track renewal works are to be completed within two to three years of sanction. This, however, also depends on budget availability, officials stated.

The total Budget outlay in year 2016-17 has been enhanced from Rs  4000 crores to Rs 7500 crores to speed up the track renewal works in the country. Accordingly, physical targets have also been increased from   1500 km to 2668 km.

There are a total of 840 farmers in Chhattisgarh whose land had been acquired for the Dallirajahara-Rowghat rail line project, the Central government has informed.

It may be recalled that Chhattisgarh government would also be earmarking suitable land banks in the vicinity of Dallirajahara-Rowghat-Jagdalpur Rail Corridor for setting up of small industrial units, officials informed.

Notably, the  Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is co-ordinating the  construction of Railay line from DaIlirajhara to Rowghat covering a distance of 95 km with Indian Railways in Chhattisgarh.

The project for doubling of Railway line between Kirandul and Jagdalpur in Chhatisgarh’s insurgency ridden  Bastar region is expected to be complete by January 2019, official sources informed.

The Jagdalpur-Kirandul project which involves 45.50 kms of rail track doubling work till Silkjuri will be completed this year.  The remaining project work will be completed by year 2020, informed General Manager of East Coast Railway Zone, Umesh Singh last year.

He was paying a  courtesy call on Chief Minister Raman Singh at his office in his residence here.

The General Manager also informed the Chief Minister about the status of Titlagarh-Raipur rail line project.

He told the Chief Minister that under Titlagarh-Raipur Project, track doubling work of 30-km till Kantabhanji will be completed this year and the entire project will be completed by year 2019.

Notabaly, for execution of the project, the Railways has divided the 150 km length of doubling work into three Sections namely, Jagdalpur to Silakjori 45.50 km, Kirandul to Gidam 52.23 km and Silakjori to Gidam 52.73 km.

Notably, NMDC is also developing full-fledged Railway transportation infrastructure at its upcoming 3 MTPA integrated steel plant at Nagarnar in Bastar district.

It has commenced the process of constructing a Railway Station ,  Traction sub-station and other necessary infrastructure at the private railway siding coming up at the site of 3 MTPA integrated steel plant at Nagarnar in Bastar district, official sources informed.

For the East Corridor, the Chhattisgarh government has decided to allocate 14 acres of land in Raigarh district. The Corridor will be about 180 km long from Bhupdevpur-Gharghoda-Dharamjaigarh up to Korba.

Notably, the Centre has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) each with the States of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for critical coal connectivity projects to improve transportation .

Agreement for World Bank loan of US $ 1100 million for Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) (Phase-2) have also been signed, they stated.

Freight train with speed of maximum 100 kms per hour will pass through Chhattisgarh in the East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai).

The train will traverse through the States of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra as the Ministry of Railways has sanctioned implementation of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) with freight train speeds of maximum 100 Kmph.

The Central government’s approval for construction of 165 km long third railway line between Anuppur and Katni in Madhya Pradesh is expected to facilitate additional coal transportation traffic from parts of Chhattisgarh.

The coal transporation traffic from IB valley, Korba area, East Corridor and Gevra – Pendra Road Project in Chhattisgarh would be channelized through the aforesaid route to the respective destinations, officials stated.

The Centre has approved the project at a cost of Rs 1595.76 crore. The project is likely to be completed in 5 ¼ years spanning over 12th and 13th plan period.

The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has also approved construction of six Railway lines and a Railway bridge to cater to both increased passenger and freight needs in various areas of the country.

Public sector IRCON International Ltd has also commenced work in connection with the construction of new ‘Broad Guage Electrified Double Railway Line’ in Chhattisgarh on the East West Corridor.

The work is being undertaken in  Gevra Road-Pendra Road and Dipka, Kathghora, Sendurgahr and Pasan sections, officials stated.

Notably, the development of two key Rail corridors in mineral-rich Chhattisgarh is now set to expand the Railway line network by 45 per cent in the State, officials stated.

The completion of Dallirajhara-Rowghat-Jagdalpur, East and East-West Rail corridor projects will comprise a total of 535 kilometers Railway-line during the next two to four years, they stated.

The East West Rail Corridor project is expected to get completed in 2018-19.

The corridor is to facilitate movement of about 60 million tonnes of coal to various parts of the country apart from providing passenger train facility for the local populace of the region.

Central Railway on Friday started a four-day traffic block to complete the first phase of the Belapur-Seawoods-Uran railway project. The block will continue till December 25 during which the Badlapur yard will be remodelled and newly-constructed lines will be aligned to existing ones, said an official. He added that 500 workers will work on the first three days while December 25 will see deployment of 700 personnel.

The work will also see a rescheduling of suburban trains, officials said, so as to minimise hardships to commuters. Friday, 34 regular services will be cancelled and 18 special services will be run from Panvel, four from Nerul, 10 from Vashi and two from Mankhurd stations, CR officials said. “Overall, 209 services from Belapur will be cancelled over the four days. The biggest block will take place on December 25 where Harbour line and Transharbour line services will remain suspended between Nerul and Panvel from 2am to 3 pm. We have requested Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport to run more buses on December 25,” Sunil Udasi, CR’s chief spokesperson said.

He added that the dates for the traffic block, which includes the weekend and a national holiday, were chosen to minimise its impact on passengers. “Out of four days, two days, Saturday and Sunday are weekends, and Monday is a national holiday. Mumbaikars tend to go out of town during long leaves so train traffic is expected to be thin,” he said.

Work on the Rs.1782 crore project was started by the railways in partnership with the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) way back in July 1997. However, owing to unforeseen reasons, work was delayed and stalled several times before it was revived by the two agencies in 2011.

NMDC Ltd has sought 7.116 hectares forest land diversion for its iron ore concentrate pipeline in Dantewada district of Bastar, officials informed.

Notably, the company will be seeking Right of Use (ROU) / Right of Way (ROW) permission for developing a land corridor for its Slurry Pipeline project from Bailadila to Nagarnar in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, officials informed.

NMDC, which is in the process of laying a 15 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) slurry pipeline is executing the project in two phases.

The first phase is being executed from Bacheli to Nagarnar in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh at an estimated outlay of `4,000 crore; and the second phase will be executed from Nagarnar to Vizag in Andhra Pradesh at an outlay of Rs.6,000 crore, officials informed.

Notably, to transport pellet feed concentrate from Bailadila to Vizag via Jagdalpur, the company will have the pipeline laid along the highways with a provision of partial off-take to feed its proposed 3 MTPA Steel plant coming up at Nagarnar.

The blast furnace to be used for manufacturing steel at NMDC Ltd’s upcoming 3 MTPA Steel Plant at Nagarnar in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh could also emerge as one of India’s largest when commissioned at the plant, officials stated.

The company has commenced work for setting up the 2.0 MTPA Pellet Plant at Nagarnar near Jagdalpur in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, officials informed.

Notably, the company has made a capital expenditure of Rs 4.76 crore as on September 2016 for development of its Bailadila iron ore mines in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh during the last financial year, officials informed.

The company is now going for construction of the 5th iron ore screening line at its existing screening plant number 2 at Bailadila Iron Ore Mine at Kirandul complex in Dantewada district of Bastar region.

It may also be recalled that NMDC has proposed to use its mine lease area at Deposit number 4 located at Bailadila range of hills at Bhansi near Bacheli in South Bastar’s Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh for meeting the raw material requirement ‘exclusively’ for its upcoming 3 MTPA Integrated Steel Plant at Nagarnar, officials informed.

The remaining iron ore quantity after meeting the requirement of integrated steel plant at Nagarnar from  Deposit 4 will be sold to domestic customers in Chhattisgarh, they informed.

The Deposit – 4 iron ore mine will be developed as a ‘standalone project’ with an estimated investment of `1899.74 crores.

Notably, NMDC proposes for mining the Deposit number 4 iron ore mine with a production capacity of 7.0 MTPA in the mine lease area of 646.596 hectares.

Notably, NMDC’s  iron ore requirement for the steel plant would be 5 MTPA.

The exploration work was done at Bailadila Deposit No. 4 by NMDC in the year back in 1972-74. The ore reserves were proved by detailed exploration activities.

The Deposit 4 has  a production capacity of 7.0 MTPA and spread in a mining lease area of 646.596 hectares.

In addition to the mining lease area, 95.13 hectares forest land is identified for development of infrastructure such as downhill conveyor, screening plant, loading plant and approach road etc.

Further, 50 hectares of non-forest land is also required for installation of railway stock yard, administrative building, loading plant (part), tailing dam, STP and township etc.

The existing iron ore production from other Bailadila mines is catering to requirements of large steel plants and also to local sponge iron / pelletplants in Chhattisgarh.

Mining plan along with progressive mine closure plan has been approved by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), for production capacity of 7.0 MTPA vide their letter no: No 314(3)/2012-MCCM (CZ)/MP-19 dated July 26, 2013, officials informed.

NMDC is operating iron ore mines at Bailadila Complex in South Bastar Dantewada District Chhattisgarh and is having long terms commitment for supply of iron ore to major steel plants across the country.

The Indian Railways have identified 983 Railway stations for installation of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras under the Nirbhaya Fund.  As per reports, works to the tune of Rs 413.36 crore have been approved under Integrated Security System to strengthen surveillance mechanism at 202 Railway stations over Indian Railways. The sanction of Rs 500 crore has also been received for installation of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at identified railway stations under ‘Nirbhaya Fund’.

A mobilization advance of Rs 50 Crore has been given to RailTel for carrying out the work of provision of CCTV surveillance system at 983 Railway stations. A total of about 394 railway stations have already been provided with CCTV cameras over Indian Railways.  Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain on Wednesday informed that the Suburban Railway Stations have also been identified for installation of CCTV cameras under Nirbhaya Fund.  “ISS includes closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, access control, personal and baggage screening system and bomb detection system,” the minister informed the House.

Gohain informed that contracts have already been awarded for execution of ISS works at 129 railway stations spread across 15 Zonal Railways.  So far, 106 railway stations have been covered with CCTV surveillance system, and 139 baggage scanners, 32 under vehicle scanning system, 217 door frame metal detectors and more than one thousand hand-held metal detectors have been provided to Zonal Railways, the minister said. Besides ISS, CCTV surveillance system is available at 288 other railway stations.

A government release stated that the strengthening and upgradation of security infrastructure is an ongoing process. It further informed that the need-based allocation of the fund is being made for the creation of security-related assets and procurement of plant and equipment (vehicles, baggage scanners,) etc. under Works Programme and Machinery and Plant Programme (M&P) of Railways each year.

The Indian Railways has cleared a Rs 12,000-crore proposal to equip electric locomotives with the latest European train protection system.

At its meeting on December 15, the Railway Board cleared the proposal to equip 6,000 electric locos with European Train Control System (ETCS) Level-II to help drivers – or pilots — to prevent rail mishaps, a senior Railway Ministry official told.

Besides, the Board also decided to install the ETCS Level-II system on the entire 9,054 km-long Golden Quadrilateral route connecting the four metros to make it a fully accident-free corridor.

The entire project to ensure ETCS Level-II compliance is expected to cost around Rs 12,000 crore.

There are cases where accidents occur due to error of locomotive pilots who generally have to work in very stressful conditions.

Currently, the Railways has a basic automatic train protection system based on the ETCS Level-I specification to provide a back-up to loco pilots on a limited stretch.

Known as a “train protection warning system”, the facility based on ETCS Level-I has been implemented on about 342 km of rail route. Gatiman Express, running at 160 kmph between Nizamuddin and Agra, safely runs at this speed protected by the system.

However, it was decided to upgrade the system to put it on par with world standards as the ETCS Level-I has limitations.

In a train protection warning system, information regarding the condition of the signals ahead — whether it is showing red, yellow or green — is communicated to the locomotive and is shown on a display screen called DMI (Driver Machine Interface) in the front of the loco pilot.

In the ETCS Level-I system, this information regarding the condition of the signal ahead is periodically received in the loco whenever it passes over a device called “balise” which is fitted in the middle of the track at certain intervals.

Thus this has a limitation that the information regarding the signal ahead is received only when a loco passes over a balise — and the driver has to wait till he passes over the next balise to get updated information.

This disadvantage of the ETCS Level-I is overcome in ETCS Level-II, which ensures that the status of the signal ahead is continuously available in the loco through a wireless radio medium using a GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communication-Railways) network.

GSM-R is similar to the mobile GSM network with some special features for Railway applications. With the status of the signal continuously available, the driver can now run the train more efficiently, as per the movement authority available to him, thereby improving overall speed and the section capacity of the route.

With the implementation of ETCS Level-II, the balise fitted on the track for communicating the status of signals are no longer required.

India’s first indigenous train set will be ready and running on the tracks by December next year, a senior railway board member said on Thursday.

The train set, which is much like the Metro trains running in Delhi, but built on a much higher scale, will run at a speed of 160 km/hr.

Unlike the Metro trains, the 16-coach train set will be able to cover long distances.

A train set, much like a Delhi Metro rake, comprises of many coaches that are individually powered by a propulsion system, eliminating the need for a locomotive.

“This will be India’s first indigenous train set and will be rolled out on the tracks by December 2018,” said Ravindra Gupta, a member of the Railway Board. Initially it will be a chair car, but eventually, even sleeper will be introduced, he said.

Mr Gupta said that the advantages of train sets are that they will be more comfortable, will have faster turnaround as well as faster speed thus reaching their destination quicker than the average trains.

For the first time in railways, these train sets will have automatic doors that will open and close at stations, wide windows, and ergonomically designed seating.

All the coaches will be equipped with bio-toilets and will be completely air-conditioned.

The first train set is likely to be pushed into service either in the Delhi-Lucknow or Delhi-Chandigarh sector.