During the year 2017-18, South Western Railway (SWR) has registered best figures and tremendous improvements in key areas of safety pertaining to train operations among all Zonal Railways. Recognizing the efforts of SWR undertaken for improving Safety, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal awarded the Railway Minister’s Safety Shield for 2017-18 to South Western Railway in an annual award event. The number of accidents has come down in SWR from 11 in 2014-15 to 8 in 2015-16, 3 in 2016-17 to 01 in 2017-18.

“Safety is our first and foremost priority and safety performance has improved through the collective will and rigorous and sustained efforts of all train running staff in SWR. Safety action plan with motto of “Zero accidents” was prepared, being strictly implemented and periodically reviewed,” said A K Gupta, General Manager, South Western Railway.

Activities and consistent efforts taken up by SWR in direction of improving safety:

– The budget outlay was increased to nearly Rs 3000 crore from Rs 1000 crore a few years back.

– Gate Mitras round of the clock have been deployed at all unmanned Level crossing gates.

– 27 Unmanned Level Crossing gates eliminated by Construction of ROB/RUB/subway against a target of 25 in 2017-18

– Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) (exclusive Safety Fund) has been set up in 2017-18 Budget by Ministry. SWR could book funds to the tune of Rs 687 crore in 2017-18 under this head. A bulk of the funds in this head are being spent on track renewals for safety and up gradation of vital assets such as track etc.

– Shift towards safer LHB coaches.

– Infrastructure augmentation of maintenance facilities

– SWR completed 202 Track-Km of rail renewal in 2017-18, which is highest ever in the history of SWR about 115 per cent more than that of corresponding figures in 2016-17.

The railways has set a target of completing by 2019 the final location surveys of three strategic lines along the country’s border with China after the projects received the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) nod in December 2015, officials said today. The railways has received Rs 47.18 crore from the Defence Ministry for the final location survey (FLS) of the 378-km Missamari-Tenga-Tawang line, the 227-km Pasighat-Tezu-Rupai line and the 249-km North Lakhimpur-Bame-Silapathar line after the Cabinet Committee on Security decided to take them up for construction on priority.

“We have set a target of December 2018 for the FLS for Pasighat-Tezu-Rupai line and December 2019 as the deadline for the other two. These three are extremely difficult terrains and we have to deal with unstable and high mountains. In places such as the Sela Pass in the Missamari-Tenga-Tawang line, it is 14,000 feet high,” said A K Yadav, Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).

He added that the field survey for the Pasighat-Tezu-Rupai line in the plains was in advanced stages, but for the other two projects which are on difficult hilly terrain, terms of reference have been finalised after preliminary investigations. The Missasamari-Tenga-Tawang line, which Yadav said was the most treacherous of all, will be the most expensive at an estimated cost of Rs 35,000 crore and will consist of 80 per cent tunnels. The cost of its location survey has been pegged at Rs 100.73 crore. The FLS of the other two collectively is at an estimated Rs 87.5 crore.

“We want the line to be operational through the year, despite the snow,” said Yadav, adding that the three line are of 853 km with 58 km in Assam and 795 km in Arunachal Pradesh.

For the fourth line also approved by the CCS, the 498-km Bilaspur-Manali-Leh line, the final location survey at Leh in Jammu and Kashmir began last year.

At a height of 3,300 metres, the 498-km long stretch is set to become the highest rail track in the world, overtaking China’s Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

The preliminary estimate of Rs 2.1 lakh crore for construction of the four strategic railway lines was provided by the railways, and a Steering Committee under the Secretary (Expenditure) in the Ministry of Finance was formed to look for ways to finance the construction. These four ‘priority’ lines are part of the 14 strategic lines which were identified for development in November 2010, among the 28 railway lines in the China and Pakistan border areas approved ‘in principle’ by the Defence Minister in January 2010.

They are billed as smart coaches, and Indian Railways will soon roll out these modern train compartments equipped with black boxes and coach information and diagnostics systems.

The black boxes, a first for the Railways, will have a powerful multi-dimensional communication interface to provide all kinds of information on coach condition and also passenger-related information on a real -time basis, a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project told IANS.

The first smart coach will be unveiled at the Rae Bareli Coach Factory on May 11, National Technology Day, as a pilot project.

The most effective enabler for the system would be monitoring of critical components that have been identified as major causes for derailments and delays, and for causing deterioration in rail infrastructure.

The official said the Railways “will introduce the long-awaited sensor-based on-board condition monitoring system (OBCMS) for timely detection of defects related to passenger coaches and also tracks on a running train”.

The OBCMS aims to strengthen the security and safety in train operation as it will have integrated CCTV and information system which will constantly update the health of the coach — from oscillatory behavior, coach diagnostics and heating, ventilation and air conditioning and water management, among others.

According to the system, the on-board sensors constantly record vibrations and temperatures. Anomalies in vibration are the earliest indicator that something may be wrong with the bearings in the wheels of a coach. This allows for operators to mark those bearings out for careful observation, thus preventing any further damage.

Detection of bearing fault at this early stage will help prevent incidents and maintenance schedules can be planned accordingly.

To this end, the mainstay of the smart coach would be the wireless sensor modes that, once fitted on every wheel, help monitor the health of the wheel and its bearings.

“Once deployed in volume, these sensors would also be able to monitor track health on a real-time basis, resulting in improved safety, higher utilisation and reduced operation costs by enabling predictive maintenance and reduction in sudden catastrophic failures of the Railway’s assets,” the official told IANS.

The technology has found great acceptance and traction in other parts of the world.

It would cost an additional Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakh per coach as most of the systems like the CCTV, passenger information system, fire extinguishers and the like are already a part of the system.

The Railways will replicate the system in many more coaches after the trial run.

Besides condition monitoring, the system will have Internet of Things (IoT) to provide entertainment-related offerings to passengers while train-related information will be constantly announced.

The pilot project is being executed in consultation with the experts to provide next-generation coaches equipped with maximum safety features, the official added.

On March 19, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had pushed the Rae Bareli coach factory to go ahead with the pilot project as a game-changing initiative. The OBCMS was also displayed at Rail Shivir on November 2016 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

US-based construction consulting firm Hill International has secured two major rail contracts in India with a combined project value of nearly $4bn.

The new contracts are expected to strengthen Hill’s presence in the expanding infrastructure sector in India.

The first contract, awarded by Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL), involves providing project management services for a programme that will double a 120km-long rail line section in Varanasi, located in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Under the second contract, Hill International will provide quality and safety auditing consultancy services for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, a project funded by the World Bank.

The company will be working in conjunction with a consortium comprising Italferr and local consultant Vogue Construction and Consultancy Services. The consortium will provide the infrastructure for the 397km-long Sahnewal-Khurja section, as well as the nearly 46km-long double line electrified railway track for the Khurja-Dadri link.

Hill International Middle East regional president Abdo Kardous said: “Doubling the Varanasi Rail Line and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor are ambitious projects that present several technical challenges.

“However, Hill’s expertise and experience will be valuable in helping both undertakings achieve their goals and support the region’s ongoing growth.”

Last month, the company won a contract to provide general consultancy services for the $2.26bn Mumbai Metro Line 4 in India from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

It secured the contract as a part of a consortium also including DB Engineering & Consulting and Louis Berger Consulting

The revised detailed project report (DPR) of Surat metro rail is likely to be approved by the local authorities by this month-end.

The revised DPR proposes setting up of four elevated stations of the total 38 rail stations on public private partnership (PPP) mode at a cost of Rs 111.88 crore. Dream City company would construct other stations at a cost of Rs 31.20 crore each. The 40 km metro corridor in Surat will have two corridors and 38 stations. Corridor one begins from Sarthana up to Dream City and corridor number 2 from Saroli up to Bhesan. Surat metro rail is Rs 12,600 crore project and is expected to become operational in 2023.

The four elevated stations that the Surat Municipal Corporation would build with private partners will be at Rupali canal, Althan tenement, aquarium and Athwa chowpaty. SMC would give nearby commercial plots to developers for fulfilling the obligations under the PPP agreement.

Under central government’s transit oriented policy (TOP), empty spaces on both sides of the metro rail would be utilized for development projects. Sixty per cent of income generated from additional or paid FSI would be used in the maintenance of metro rail. This amount would be around Rs 1,138 crore at the rate of 3 per cent per year growth by 2038. SMC adviser and former city engineer Jatin Shah said, “SMC is ready to embrace metro rail. We are in the stage of finalization of the mega project that would change the mass transport scenario of Surat.”

Municipal commissioner M Thennarasan said, “We are in the process of sorting out private partners for the project. The metro rail project could be launched in the beginning of 2019.”

VISAKHAPATNAM / NEW DELHI: In all likelihood, an official announcement on the creation of a railway zone with Visakhapatnam as its headquarters will come soon, maybe by the end of this month or early next month.

According to sources, the NDA government at the Centre had taken a political decision for the creation of the zone. What remains is only administrative follow-up.

The sources said the Union government had completed necessary exercise and has given go ahead signal to the Railway officials to complete the exercise as soon as possible.

As a part of the formation of the zone, a five-member committee of the Railway Board and Railway Ministry is expected to visit Visakhapatnam in the next week. After the committee makes an assessment and submits the report, the government will announce the formation of the zone, the sources said.

The new railway zone will have Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal divisions apart from the Waltair division, but only the part that is in AP. The Waltair division extends beyond AP borders and the undivided Waltair Division used to net an annual revenue of Rs 6,500 crore per annum for the East Coast Railway.

As most of the revenue is by way of import of iron ore from outside AP, after the bifurcation of the Waltair division, the revenue of part of Waltair division in AP will go down to Rs 1,300 crore per annum.

This way there might not be any resistance from Odisha but it is not clear how people in AP would react. But the officials are moving ahead with this formula, hoping that at the end of the day, the Centre might divide the revenue of the Waltair division between AP and Odisha.

In fact, the Centre shared the information about the formation of the new Railway Zone with all the senior BJP leaders and MPs in both Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

“The BJP government has said the Railway Zone will come up in its 2014-19 tenure only. Officials and the committees will visit as per the government decision but I do not have communication about the dates of the visit,” Vizag MP K Haribabu.

The Supreme Court passed a detailed judgment clarifying the law with respect to certain subjects which repeatedly arise in railway accident claims before Railway Claims Tribunal. What the Supreme Court ruled on Strict Liability and Burden of Proof!

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the railways would be liable to pay compensation to passengers in case of death or injury while boarding and de-boarding trains and said it cannot deny such claims citing negligence on the part of passengers.

A bench of Justices A K Goel and R F Nariman held that death or injury during boarding or de-boarding a train will be an ‘untoward incident’ entitling the victim to compensation.

As per Section 124A of the Railways Act, 1989, no compensation shall be payable by the railway administration if the passenger dies or suffers injury due to suicide or attempted suicide by him, self-inflicted injury, his own criminal act or any act committed by him in a state of intoxication or insanity.

Different high courts have given contradictory verdicts as some of them held that injury or death during boarding and de-boarding because of negligence of the victim was at par with self-inflicted injury. Some HCs though applied the principles of strict liability on the railways for such incidents.

Putting an end to the controversy, the apex court ruled that the railways is liable to pay compensation to victims as compensation is payable whether or not there has been wrongful act, neglect or fault on the part of the railway administration in case of an accident or untoward incident.

The court said the concept of ‘self-inflicted injury’ would require intention to inflict such injury and negligence on the part of passenger, which is one of the grounds to decline compensation, could not be brought within its ambit.

For the convenience of passengers during the ensuing summer vacation & with a view to clear the extra rush during the season, Western Rly will run additional weekly superfast special train on special fare between Bandra (T) and Okha.

• 09561/09562 Bandra (T) – Okha Weekly Superfast Special train on Special Fare (10 Trips)

Train No. 09561 Bandra (T) – Okha Weekly Superfast Special train will leave Bandra (T) at 23.55 hrs on every Wednesday and reach Okha at 17.35 hrs, the next day. This train will run from 16^th May, 2018 to 13^th June, 2018.

Similarly, Train No. 09562 Okha – Bandra (T) Weekly Superfast Special train will leave Okha at 17.00 hrs on every Tuesday and will arrive Bandra (T) at 10.15 hrs, the next day. This train will run from 15^th May, 2018 to 12^th June, 2018.

This train will halt at Borivali, Vapi, Surat, Vadodara, Anand, Nadiad, Ahmedabad, Viramgam, Surendranagar, Wankaner, Rajkot, Hapa, Jamnagar, Khambalia and Dwaraka stations in both the directions.

The train will consist of AC II Tier, AC III Tier, Sleeper Class and Second Class General Coaches.

The booking for Train No. 09561/09562 Bandra (T) – Okha Weekly Superfast Special Train on Special Fare will open from 11^th May, 2018 at all Passenger Reservation Centers.