Sunday, March 12, 2017

Indian Railways - For UPSC Interview

This post would be useful for people serving in Indian Railways and preparing for interview of civil services exam.

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Some Stats about Indian Railways
IR has played a vital role in the economic, industrial and social development of the country. 
  1. From a very modest beginning in 1853, when the first train steamed off from Mumbai to Thane, a distance of 34 kilometres Indian Railways have grown into a vast network.
  2. The IR has been a good integrating force. It is most convenient mode of transport for long distance and is most suitable for carrying heavy and bulky goods like coal, iron ore, iron and steel, other minerals, fertilizers, food grains, cement etc.
  3. It carries raw materials from different mines and quarries and other interior areas of the country to the industrial centers and back to the market.
  4. These days it also plays important role in connecting port and hinterland.
  5. It links up various regions of economy and increases spatial mobility of people. Thus the IR plays a crucial role in economic development.
Stats
  • Roads carry 90% of all passenger traffic. Roads and Railways carry 87% of all freight traffic in India.
  • 8495 stations spread over a route length of 65,800 km with a fleet of 8,889 locomotives, 51,030 passenger service vehicles, 6,505 other coaching vehicles and 2, 19,931 wagons as on 31st March, 2011.
  • 30% of total route length (19,000km) is double. 
  • India is 4th in route capacity after USA, China and Russia.
  • India has achieved 1 billion tonne annual loading China, Russia and USA.
  • 2 Cr 36 lakh people travel everyday in railways. 20 lakh in AC, rest in sleeper. 90% travel in ordinary, general and sleeper class.
  • 12,617 passenger trains every day, of which 4,728 are EMUs, 3,213 are mail/express and 4,676 are ordinary passenger trains. 7,421 goods trains every day
  • The average revenue per passenger per km is 28.52 paise. 
  • For suburban: 13.80 paise. For non-suburban: 30.78,
  • 109.47: upper class, 27.47: second class mail/express and 14.54: ordinary second class.  
  • Coaching Revenue: The contribution of suburban service is merely 6.82 percentages whereas the second class ordinary contributes for 13.84 percent.  Maximum contribution of 51.54 per cent is made by second class mail/express whereas the upper class contributes for 27.80 percent. So the problem is in suburban and passenger trains.
  • Loading: 45% Coal, 11% Cement, Iron Ore: 10.5%, Fertilizers: 5.5%, Foodgrains: 4.8%, POL 4%
  • The total earning out of freight traffic was Rs 67,743.62 crores
  • In developed countries the contribution of container services is as high as fifty per cent whereas in India the container transportation by rail was only 3.92 percent with 38.02 MT traffic. 
  • On broad gauge, the average speed of a goods train is 25.5 km/hour.
  • Take the New Delhi-Kolkata Rajdhani. This does a distance of 1,450 km in 17 hours, an average speed of 85.3 km/hour. This isn’t the fastest. There is the New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi with an average speed of 88.5 km/hour. Let me leave aside the Nilgiri Express, which is technically the slowest, but travels through hilly terrain.
  • Take accidents per 1000 km of track. It is 1.7 in India and 2.56 for Europe. Take accidents per billion passenger kms. It is 0.186 in India and 2.14 in Europe. Take level crossing (yes, level crossings!) accidents per 1000 level crossings. It is 2.23 in India and 4.73 in Europe. Take fatalities per billion passenger kms. It is 0.24 in India and 1.033 in Europe. Sure, these are all European numbers and some countries in Europe perform far better than India (and some perform worse).

Is railways a commercial organisation?
IR is expected to run as a commercial organisation with social obligations.
Indian Railways is a unique integrator of modern India, with a major role in its socio-economic development.
Railway is a commercial organisation having a social cause. We run unremunerative lines, give passenger subsidies, lay down strategic lines in border areas and thus fulfill wider obligations to the nation. Thus, IR is much more than a commercial organisation. 

Socio-economic and strategic goals: Meghalaya has been brought on the Railway map of India and direct connectivity to Delhi has been provided to Arunachal Pradesh.  The rail connectivity between Jammu region and the Kashmir valley through the Banihal tunnel provides all-weather connectivity with the rest of the country. The commissioning of Udhampur- Katra was like a dream come true for millions of pilgrims.

Why invest in Railways?
Investment in the Railways will have a large multiplier effect on the rest of the economy and will create more jobs in the economy for the poor. Investment in Indian Railways is also necessary for environmental sustainability and well being of future generations.
The annual consumption of fuel by the Railways is just about 7% of the annual fuel consumption by the road sector. The energy consumption is about 75%-90% less for freight traffic when compared to road. The carbon dioxide emission is about 80% less than road. Investment in Indian Railways is an investment in our future. It is an investment in our sustainability.

Debroy Committee Recommendations
Governance
  1. Set up a Railway Regulatory Authority of India statutorily (Independent Regulator) which works at an arm's length from Ministry of Railways. It's objectives should be tariff regulation, safety regulation, creating level playing field for private operators and setting technical standards. The Ministry of Railways would set only policies and regulator enforces the policy.
  2. A similar point extends to the Commissioner of Railway Safety.  In 1939 and 1940, this was deliberately made independent of the Railway Board and has thenceforth, administratively been with the Ministry of Civil Aviation. CRS should be integrated with RRAI. 
  3. Railway Board Restructuring: RB should become like a corporate board for IR. CRB should be like CEO. Revamped board could look like Member (Traction and Rolling Stock), Member (Passenger and Freight Business), Member (HR and Stores), Member (Finance and PPP), Member (infra) and two outside independent experts.
  4. GM should be fully empowered to take all necessary decisions without reference to RB within the framework of policies. Delegate more powers to DRM.
  5. An ex-cadre post of a CTO needs to be created, reporting directly to CRB and all IT initiatives should be integrated under it. 
  6. Consolidate and merge the existing 8 Group 'A' services into two services viz. Indian Railway Technical Services and Indian Railway Logistics Services (comprising IRAS, IRPS and IRTS).
  7. There should be fixation of responsibility in cleaning contracts.
  8. Unbundle IR into two independent organisation: one responsible for track and infra and another that will operate trains. A Railway infra company should be created as a government SPV that own railway infra, delinked from IR.
Funding, Fares and Subsidies (Run trains commercially and enable commerical accounting)
  1. Passenger fares should only be increased when accompanied by better passenger services.
  2. A social objective might be subsidised travel or un-remunerative lines, new tracks; so we have argued we should be clearly funded out of the budget. Uneconomic branch lines and suburban passenger services should be given financial assistance and support by state governments.
  3. Cross subsidy should be stopped. Subsidies should be targeted towards those who need them the most. Link Aadhar numbers for passengers when tickets are purchased. Such subsidies should be borne by union government and reimbursed directly into bank accounts (DBT)
  4. Clearer subsidy burden between union and state government on one side and IR on the other, covering not only capital investments, but also operating issues. 
  5. Dividend that the Railways pay is a misnomer, because it is not the dividend, but repaying the interest on loans. So let us not call it a dividend. Government should provide gross budgetary support (for social obligations and subsidies etc.) to the Railways, while waiving dividend payment. The dividend is implemented on the cumulative budgetary support extended to the Railways over the years and the payout each year is about 25-30 per cent of the budgetary support.
  6. Tap onto extra budgetary sources like multilateral funding agencies
On Privatization, Corporatization and Human Resources
  1. IR should focus on core activities. It should distance itself from non-core activities like running a police force, schools, hospitals and production and construction units.
  2. Private entry should be allowed to increase competition, especially in non-core activities like production and construction.
  3. Delink RPF from the IR system. Considerably downsize RPF and bring in private security for protection of railway property.
  4. Rationalization of manpower by immediate corrective steps to rationalize expenditure on salaries.
On Railway Budget
  1. Once social costs are taken care of and legally, we do not need the Railway Budget. Because, if we have the budget, the expectation of every MP is that give me a train for my constituency. And we are setting up a regulator, which is going to recommend or set the tariffs. So there is no purpose to the Railway Budget.
Feb 2016: Indian Railways signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chhattisgarh Government to establish a joint venture for laying tracks and expedite implementation of railway projects in the state.

National Transport Development Policy Committee
To formulate a long term transport policy. Under Rakesh Mohan.
  1. Railways, roads, civil aviation, ports, urban transport can't work in silos. Need to take an integrated approach. Merger existing ministries into a single transport ministry.
  2. Use rational pricing. Have targeted subsidies.
  3. Future power plants should be located near coal mines.
  4. A new railway regulatory authority should be set up which should be responsible for overall regulation, including setting of tariffs.


General problems of IR?
  1. Under-investment 
  2. Line capacity leading to slow speeds of trains
  3. Segregation and new tracks needed: One has mail / express trains, ordinary passenger trains and goods trains running along the same track.
  4. Unmanned level crossings
  5. Dirty stations and Cleanliness issue and other pa
  6. Departmentalism and over-centralization
Railways cannot function in a 'Business As Usual' mode. We have to gear up to face future challenges.

1. Line capacity and slow speeds
  1. Capacity Constraints: Foremost among these is capacity constraints on most of the high-density routes of the railways. The trunk routes of the railways comprising merely 16% of the network carry more than 50% of the traffic. These routes, on most of the stretches, have already reached over-saturated levels of capacity utilization. To manage a system reliably, capacity utilization must not exceed 80%. The addition in doubling and new lines has not been very significant and has been below the plan targets set by the Railways.
  2. Slow Speeds: The speed of freight trains on IR has stagnated at around 25 kmph for a long time. Passenger services are also slow by international standards. The maximum permissible speed on Indian Railways is 150 kmph for Rajdhani/Shatabdi trains and 110 kmph for other mail/express trains (XXX), compared to a maximum permissible speed of 200 kmph on several European Railways on conventional networks and more than 300 kmph on high speed corridors in Europe and Japan. Chinese Railways are presently engaged in construction of 12, 000 Kms of dedicated passenger corridors with speeds of 250-350 kmph. 
Solutions
A. Dedicated Freight Corridors
  1. Currently, eastern and western routes of dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) totaling 3400 kms from JNPT (Mumbai) to Delhi and Ludhiana to Dankuni have been sanctioned.
  2. The Western one is 1,502 km long and is from Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai to Dadri, near Delhi. This one will be funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). DMIC (Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor) is along the Western DFC.
  3. The Eastern one is 1,840 km long and is from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni, near Kolkata.  This has a more complicated funding structure, with a large stretch Mughalsarai-Ludhiana funded by the World Bank.  The Dankuni-Sonnagar stretch is being implemented through a PPP mode. 122 km Mughalsarai-Sonnagar section funded by Budgetary Support. Along the Eastern DFC, 3635 hectares (75%), out of the required 4807 hectares of land, have been acquired so far.
  4. Pre-feasibility studies for other dedicated freight corridors for North-South (Delhi to Chennai), East-West (Howrah to Mumbai), Southern (Chennai to Goa) and East-Coast (Kharagpur to Vijaywada) have also been carried out.
  5. Chinese Railways are presently engaged in construction of 12, 000 Kms of dedicated passenger corridors with speeds of 250-350 kmph.
  6. The DFCs are being planned with high axle-load and modern technology. These would provide the opportunity to achieve substantial segregation of freight and passenger traffic on the trunk routes and improve the speed and reliability of both services.
Advantages of DFCs:
  1. It will run double-stack container trains, trains with axle loads of 25 tonnes. Higher axle loads.
  2. There will be long-haul trains with loads of 12,000 tonnes and trains that are 1,500 metres long (limit on existing track is 700m).
  3. The average speed will be 65-70 km/hour, with a peak speed of 100 km/hour. 
  4. There will be GPS-based communication systems for running these trains.
  5. Automatic signalling with 2km spacing.
The bulk of traffic is between the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, known as the Golden Quadrilateral.  Add a little bit more along the two diagonals of Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Howrah).  55% of the revenue earning freight traffic of Indian Railways is along these stretches and Indian Railway revenue comes from freight, not passenger traffic.  Once the DFCs become operational, almost 60% of the freight that is now on the Indian Railways network simply moves to the DFCs.
Target Date for Commissioning:  Entire Western and Eastern DFC is targeted for commissioning by March 2018.
B. Quadrupling Golden Quadrilateral: In our analysis, we have seen that more than 55% traffic moves on the golden quadrilateral and diagonals and most of these sections are saturated. In such a situation, question arises why IR has not taken steps for converting this quadrilateral and diagonal into quadrupling since it is in existing track with stations, quadrupling could have been much easier alternative than going for a separate Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC). 

The key challenge is to find and devote adequate financial and human resources to execute these projects in time. Segregation of freight and passenger services, creation of adequate capacity and rising of speeds of both services would be a key challenge if Indian Railways are to retain their market share and improve upon it.

C. Better maintenance of tracks so that there are less speed restrictions.
D. Automatic signalling


2. Under-investment and related problems
Let alone capital investment, there is not even enough for depreciation. Conventionally, we have looked for Gross Budgetary Support from the Union Government. But this is business as usual. This is neither viable nor necessary.
The Operating Ratio (OR) is the ratio of revenue expenditure to gross earnings.  There is no ideal OR, so to speak.  Something like 75% would be comfortable.  It hovers at more than 90% now.  Every time the OR declines, along comes a Pay Commission and knocks it for a six.
66% (two-thirds) revenue from goods traffic, 28% from coaching/passenger traffic, 6% other sundry earnings.

  1. Revenue expenditure is so high that there is nothing left for capital expenditure. 60% revenue expenditure on salaries and pensions. 20% on fuel. Then dividends paid to central governments for its loans.
  2. Every year, IR receives GBS (gross budgetary support) from Union government and in turn, pays dividends to the Union government.  These aren’t dividends in the corporate sense at all.  Effectively, the Union government has granted IR a loan in perpetuity and dividends are repayment of interest on that loan.  (The principal is never repaid and keeps building up.)
Cross-subsidization
To the tune of Rs 30000 every year.

Rail Tariff Authority
Rail Tariff Authority (RTA) under the overall administrative control of the Ministry of Railways as follows: The primary function of this Authority would be to develop an integrated, transparent and dynamic pricing mechanism for the determination of tariffs of Indian Railways and pending enactment of the requisite legislation, to advise the Central Government on fixation of tariffs for Indian Railways based on cost of operations and factors impinging on it, with a view to not only achieve its recovery but, also, generate requisite surpluses for healthy growth in times ahead.

Q Why increasing passenger fares is a sensitive issue?
  • 2 Cr 36 Lakh passengers use trains everyday.  90% travel in ordinary, general and sleeper class. So political repercussions of increasing fares are huge.
  • Railway Ministry has been used to pacify the regional parties and to fulfill the compulsions of coalition.

Way Forward (Q How would you arrange for the funds required for modernization of IR?)
  1. The size of the Plan Budget has gone up by 52% from Rs. 65,798 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 1,00,011 crore in 2015-16
  2. Support from the Central Government constitutes 41.6% of the total Plan Budget and Internal generation 17.8 %. In view of the fact that it would be a challenging task to initiate the mobilization of extra-budgetary resources, it is proposed to set up a Financing Cell in the Railway Board, which would seek the benefit of advice from experts in this field.
  3. These may include setting up an infrastructure fund, a holding company and a JV with an existing NBFC of a PSU with IRFC, for raising long term debt from domestic as well as overseas sources, including multilateral and bilateral financial institutions that have expressed keen interest in working closely with Railways in this endeavor.
  4. Cooperative federalism, we will work closely with the States to make the Railways the backbone of national connectivity.
  5. We propose to launch projects worth Rs 2500 crore through BOT/ Annuity route. These include Wardha- Nagpur 3rd line, Kazipet-Vijaywada 3rd line, Bhadrak -Nargundi 3rd line and Bhuj- Nalia Gauge Conversion.
  6. Partner with the private sector to improve last mile connectivity, expand our fleet of rolling stock and modernize our station infrastructure. PPP.
  7. Partner with multilateral and bi-lateral organizations and other governments to gain access to long term financing and technology from overseas. Multilateral development banks and pension funds have expressed keen interest in financing new investments. And World Bank too.
  8. 1.5 lakh crore from LIC
  9. Monetize Vacant Land and station development. Vacant land is actually around 50,000 hectares. Advertising, leasing to hotels, restaurant, malls etc. We will monetize our assets rather than sell them.
  10. Monetize soft assets.
  11. Overhaul of parcel business. Door to door solutions required to get e-commerce traffic.
See Debroy recommendations too. RRAI etc.


3. Governance Issues, decentralization, departmentalism and Pending projects
The problem
  • Railway Board allocates those 3,000 coaches a year to different zones. To refresh your memory, 1,800 are new coaches and 1,200 are replacements for old coaches. Since the 1,200 are replacements, the GM can do whatever he/she wants to do with them. But for the 1,800 new ones, the Railway Board determines what the GM can do with these, that is, the trains to which they have to be attached. The GM has little choice in the matter. He/she takes what is given. Such centralization of decision-making is hardly rational.
  • See lack of powers of station master to ensure cleaning of stations.
With these qualifications, there is a long list of projects that are awaiting completion.  You may have heard about a Rs 5 lakh crore figure of pending projects. That is indeed roughly right and some (not all) of these are on doubling, new lines, gauge conversion, signalling and telecommunications, workshops and electrification.

Sometimes, projects get delayed because of land acquisition problems, issues connected with forests and environments and even law and order issues, not to forget litigation.

Decentralization
  1. Sreedharan Committee: Prabhu has constituted the one-man Sreedharan committee to fix accountability in all tendering processes. Powers will be delegated to GMs and DRMs for speedy implementation of projects. In a major initiative to bring transparency and speed up decisions on tenders, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has dissociated himself from the process and empowered zonal railways and heads of production units to finalise them.

Departmentalism
Recruitment in Grade A is through the Civil Service examination and through the Combined Engineering Services examination, also conducted by UPSC. In addition, there are also appointments through UPSC’s Special Class Railway Apprentice (SCRA) Examination, the so-called Jamalpur channel.  Notice that if you join IR through Jamalpur, you are probably joining at the age of 21/22.  If you are joining IR through any one of the other channels, you are probably joining at the age of 24/25, if not more.  There are probably around 15-20 recruitments through Jamalpur every year.  Subject to that, are you surprised that so many senior people in IR happen to be from Jamalpur?
Therefore, silos are in-built, from the point of entry.
Ideally, vertical mobility should be on the basis of merit.  As is common in any government system, “merit” is imperfectly gauged in CRs (confidential reports) and de facto, seniority-based promotions are the norm. 
To compound matters, stating it a bit simplistically, in that process of vertical mobility, there is a quota system, with jobs “reserved” for specific services.  To take an example, positions in Railway Board, will be “reserved” for different services.  Hence, silos.
Solution
Have a single entry exam.  Somewhere down the line, perhaps 13 to 15 years, from entry, give officers an option, to voluntary opt to remain on the technical side, or prefer a management function. In other words, DRMs and GMs and those who go further up to the Railway Board, come from the management stream, with specialized training. DRMs and GMs become younger, have minimum tenures of 3 years, principles that also extend to the Railway Board.  
See Debroy committee recommendations too.



4. Passenger amenities and cleanliness
  1. Depending upon the number of passengers and nature of traffic different facilities are provided at any railway station.  
  2. Even at the smallest stations where only one or two passenger trains stop a number of facilities like booking arrangement, drinking water, waiting hall, platform shelter with shady trees, rail level passenger platform, lighting, time table display and clock are provided.  
  3. Whereas, bigger and busy stations are provided with several additional facilities like seating arrangements, platform cover, urinals, latrines, high level platform, fans, foot over bridges, water cooler, public address system with computerized announcement, electronic train indicator board with signage, parking cum circulating area with lights are provided for greater passenger satisfaction.  
  4. Some bigger stations are also provided with general waiting room, sleeper class waiting room, AC waiting room, ladies waiting room, retiring rooms (an independent room at the railway station where a passenger can stay for a day or two on a given charge) and dormitories (a shared retiring room may be four to six bed at much lower charge), catering stalls, vegetarian refreshment room, non-vegetarian refreshment room, food plaza etc.
  5. Accordingly IR has also included some of the latest items like Automatic Vending Machine, Coin Operated Ticket Vending Machine, provision of cyber cafes, ATM, AC Lounge (for additional comfort with less crowding), Food Plaza, Water Vending Machine, Washable apron with jet cleaning, mobile charging points, Close circuit Television (CCTV) monitoring for security purpose and announcement.
To prevent long queues at stations
  1. Unreserved  Paperless Ticket: Busiest suburban railway route in Delhi-NCR is going paperless. Commuters can buy unreserved tickets using their mobile phones (only for smart phones). Commuters will not need to stand in long queues now to buy unreserved tickets for suburban travel. 
  2. 'Operation Five Minutes' to ensure that a passenger travelling unreserved can purchase a ticket within five minutes.
  3. Automatic ticket vending machines with smart cards and currency options have also been installed at many stations. 1780 machines installed.
  4. Enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system from 2000 tickets per minute to 7,200 tickets per minute and to support 1,20,000 concurrent users as against only 40,000 earlier. 

Cleanliness
There are 8,495 stations and that’s a heterogeneous bag. For the most part, we have in mind the 75 A1 and the 332 A types.

The problem
Most major stations are not cleaned in-house by IR departmentally. Contracts have been outsourced. But they have been outsourced by different departments.Within a station, there are tracks, platforms, places where passengers wait, toilets and perhaps even trains that come in. Since each of these is a different contract (in one station, I counted 17 different cleaning contracts), there are negative fallouts.
  • Stated simply, no one is in charge of a station. If we want cleaner stations, someone has to be in charge. We need to decentralize powers and fix repsonsibility. A station-master has no control over the person to whom a cleaning contract has been given. If the cleaning hasn’t been done, he/she has no recourse, barring complaining.  No one seems to be responsible.
  • I can show you videos of a clean track. A passenger train comes in. As soon as the train leaves, the track is littered with plastic bags and other kinds of garbage. This has to do with passenger behaviour. Even if there is a toilet, people don’t use them. Even if there is a garbage bin, people don’t use them.
  • Traditionally, IR toilets have provided for water and the waste has been discharged onto the tracks. That’s a terrible idea from the sanitation point of view, especially when a train is at a station. Tracks are corroded and so are fittings on the under-carriages.
Solution
  • It is possible to have cleaner stations, provided we empower station-masters and streamline the system.
  • Bio-toilets (with DRDO collaboration): Bacteria decompose the waste. Some stuff is released as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. Whatever is left is chlorinated and disinfected liquid that can be released onto the tracks. There is a decision that all new coaches will have bio-toilets, a decision that will effectively be implemented from 2016-17. Problem: People stuff other things into toilets — polythene bags, sanitary napkins, diapers, bottles, pouches. These aren’t always bio-degradable
  • Install CCTV cameras and put penalties on people who trash railway stations.
  • More dustbins at stations
  • Change passenger behaviour
5. Safety
Accidents can be of different types—collisions, derailments, level crossing accidents, fires in trains etc. What’s noticeable is the sharp drop in number of accidents due to collisions. 

Unmanned Level Crossings
There are 30,348 level crossings.  18,785 (62%) of them are manned.  11,563 (38%) are unmanned. The real worry is unmanned level crossings. Actually, all level crossings should go, manned or unmanned.  Unfortunately, progress has been slow.  For instance, only 1,102 unmanned and 301 manned level crossings were eliminated in 2013-14.  At this rate, it will take more than 10 years for all the unmanned level crossings to go.

There are various reasons why progress on eliminating these has been tardy. One reason is financial. IR needs around Rs 40,000 crores to eliminate these, assuming IR bears the costs.

Our ultimate objective is to eliminate all unmanned level crossings by construction of Road over Bridges (ROBs) and Road under Bridges (RUBs). In the short term, RDSO has been asked to develop a suitable device with reliable power supply system based on theft-proof panels/batteries in consultation with Indian Space Research Organization, using geo-spatial technology for providing audio-visual warning to road users at unmanned level crossings. 

The Railway Budget proposes 970 ROBs/RUBs in 2015-16 and an elimination of 3,438 level crossings. This is more than 2600% higher than the sanctioned number of ROBs/RUBs during the current year and the highest ever in recent times. 

Fog
With modern technology, surely we can do better. Fog is primarily a North Indian phenomenon and affects nine zones.

RPF vs GRP
There have been attempts to give RPF greater police powers, but state governments have resisted this on grounds of law and order being a state subject. There is a GRP (Government Railway Police). IR pays 50% of the costs, but administrative control is with states. Over and above that, we have the state police and there is a complete lack of coordination across these.

RPF has duties to protect railway property, including on moving trains.  On a moving train, if everything is left to GRP, there will be issues about jurisdiction, about who should register the FIR and conduct further investigations. 

Compensation
There is of course a specific definition IR uses for “accident”.  It covers collisions, derailments, fires in trains, vehicles colliding with trains at level crossings and so on. This is partly driven by Sections 124 and 125 of the Railways Act (1989), which determines when the Railways pay compensation in the case of accidents.

Essentially, a passenger, or a passenger’s next of kin, can claim compensation.  (You are a passenger even if you hold a platform ticket.)  If you are not a passenger and happen to be run over by a train, the Railways Act doesn’t cover that.  If there is an unmanned level crossing and you happen to be in a vehicle that dashes against a train (that is, you are not a passenger), the Railways Act doesn’t cover this. 

Zero-accident mission 
Train accidents, delay of trains and deterioration of service, which is seen today, all are happening because of the under-investment in the past. The ‘zero-accident mission’ is an expensive proposition, but that is the only way to have safe travel
Envisaging
  1. renewal of tracks,
  2. more railway bridges,
  3. better signalling and
  4. rolling out of accident-proof coaches and engines
  5. fencing
TCAS (Train Collision Avoidance System): To prevent head on collisions, we have now developed an indigenous technology which also leads to increased throughput by increasing average sectional speeds. We intend to equip 100% of the High Density Network with TCAS in the next 3 years.


Freight Problems
What is the problem?
  • Decreasing market share due to competition from roads, pipelines.
  • Even though traffic volumes on Indian Railways have gone up over the years, rail share, particularly in freight transport, has gone down steadily over the past few decades. Market share of rail transport has reduced drastically from 89% in 1950-51 to 30% in 2007-08.
  • The Railways have, however, maintained their traditional dominance in the carriage of bulk commodities
  • Of the railways' freight traffic in 2008-09, 88% was accounted for by eight bulk commodities.
Why?
  • Railways are not able to provide time-tabled freight services as available in some countries, thereby not being able to attract traffic that requires guaranteed transit times or fixed schedule transit such as overnight delivery for special consignments and e-commerce traffic
  • Higher costs due to cross subsidy
  • Dirty goods-shed. Not customer friendly
  • Railways have not been able to develop multi-modal logistics parks that could provide aggregation of cargo and door-to-door service; it has not been able to put in place a policy to encourage/facilitate setting up of multimodal logistics parks as in other countries in Europe, Southeast Asia and China. 
  • Capacity Constraints and slow speeds: (Discussed above)
What is being done?
  1. Use of IT in freight operations: by using FOIS (freight operations information system) for better monitoring; complete roll-out of  rake management system module enabling on-line monitoring of freight train operations. Terminal management system (TMS) introduced at 560 locations accounting for more than 75% of originating loading and online generation of RR
  2. Running of double-stack container trains from 2006 onwards
  3. Dynamic Pricing Policy: A policy was introduced through which differential tariff was charged to take care of skewed demands during different periods of the year, as well as in different regions. this policy led to revisions of freight rates closely linked to market dynamics. The railways gained considerably through higher earnings.
  4. Freight Incentive Schemes: A slew of freight incentive schemes were launched to attract traffic, particularly in traditional empty flow direction and during the lean season. Mini rakes and schemes to facilitate aggregation of traffic into train loads were also introduced. The response by trade and industry to these incentives, however, was not as buoyant as expected.
  5. Wagon Investment Schemes: In 2005 Indian Railways introduced the Wagon Investment Scheme (WIS) to encourage Public Private Partnership in procurement of wagons to meet the future growth of traffic. The investor was free to procure even general purpose wagons like BCN, BOXN, BTPN, BRN, BOST, BOBRN and there was no restriction on commodities that could be transported. The scheme envisaged guaranteed supply of certain number of rakes every month to the investors besides giving a concession in freight varying from 7 to 15 years depending on type of stock. In addition, provision for supply of bonus rakes without freight concession was also proposed under the scheme. The response was encouraging and during the period 2005-08 approval for procurement of 140 rakes was given. Till 2009 93 rakes have already been inducted. Interestingly, more than 99% of the rakes for which permission was granted were for BOXN wagons meant for loading of iron ore in three major clusters on three railways viz., South Eastern, East Coast and South Western Railways. Such large scale induction of rakes under the scheme for a single commodity confined to few iron ore loading points with provision of assured supply put tremendous pressure on the railways making it virtually impossible for the railways to fulfill its commitment of assured supply to WIS customers on the one hand and moving programmed traffic on the other. Despite the favorable response, Indian Railways were forced to withdraw the scheme without prejudice to all those who had either procured the wagons or had been granted approval. This episode clearly brought out the fact that without resolving its major constraints of line capacity and terminal capacity, railways could not hope to launch a popular scheme and sustain it.
Option for Future Development in Freight Business
  1. DFCs - segregation
  2. Quadrupling Golden Quadrilateral
  3. Time table goods trains to get e-commerce. Would be possible after segregation or quadrupling.
  4. Policy initiatives/incentives for construction of rail lines by private sector.
  5. Incentives for promoting port connectivity.
  6. Attracting new streams of traffic like fly-ash, exploiting the full potential for automobile traffic by design and development of special types of wagons.
  7. Incentivise private sector for ownership of wagons and terminals and warehousing.


Coaching Problems
1. Punctuality issues: Duje to congestion, agitations, infiltration by animals and humans.
2. Corruption (Q How to eliminate touts?)
  • This brings me to the role of the TTE, about whom, there are often complaints of corruption. Vacant berths/seats are allotted for a private payment, so runs the complaint. One Solution: Bengaluru is an instance. There, there is a screen right outside the booking counter on the platform. That shows the current status of vacant berths.
  • A simple fix is also needed to eliminate touts. The system has been improved considerably and thanks to Internet booking, the tout problem has declined. How many tickets can you book at one time? You can book it for a family of six at a time and only the first passenger’s identity is checked. This is a loophole that touts freely use.
3. Poor passenger amenities at stations
4. In a landmark decision, Cabinet has approved redevelopment of 400 stations through PPP. walls of many stations have been converted to murals which have not only improved the aesthetics but also spread awareness on socially relevant themes. 

Rail Budget 2015 Highlights
  1. Beginning of a Five Year Action Plan to transform the Railways.
  2. Over the next five years, we envisage an investment of Rs. 8.5 lakh crore. 
  3. Target: Propose the operating ratio for 2015-16 at 88.5%
  4. Most of the Railway terminals located in big cities are amidst very congested areas. We propose to develop Satellite Railway terminals in major cities with the twin purpose of decongesting the city as well as providing service to passengers residing in suburbs.

Kayakalp
Set up an innovation council called "Kayakalp" for the purpose of business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovation in Railways.





Your opinion on railway privatisation ?
Because of public good nature of Indian railways I don't support complete privatisation. However, IR has to concentrate on its core activity of creation of railway infrastructure and operations and forge partnerships with private sector to do the rest. The activities and projects to be opened for private participation have to be carefully selected and structured for their amenability to market-based incentives and smooth execution.

Several areas currently identified for execution through PPP such as redevelopment/development of world-class stations, high-speed corridors, setting up of Multi-modal Logistics Parks, Kisan Vision projects, expansion and management of the extensive network of Optical Fibre Cables (OFCs) and big infrastructure projects like new lines and Dedicated Freight Corridors, rolling-stock manufacturing units, Multi-functional Complexes at stations and port connectivity projects would need to be developed and awarded on a mission mode.

Railway performance can be increased by taking up reforms like corporatisation of non-core areas, reducing man power etc. certain areas like cleaning catering etc can be privatised.
As far as I can make out, Rs 2200 crores is spent every year to have RPF on trains, apart from Rs 460 crores spent on GRP.  What is IR’s core function?  Is it running trains, or is it policing functions, medical services and schools?  There was a day and age when the Indian Railway Medical Service (IRMS) was necessary.  There are better ways of handling health needs now, even for medical emergencies on trains and in stations.  Do we need those 125 hospitals, 586 health units, 2,506 doctors and 54,000 paramedical staff to be part of the IR system?  Do we need IR to run 196 railway schools, with 3,032 teachers and 893 non-teaching staff?

So far, collaboration with private sector has not been very satisfactory as evident from dismal performance in WIS and PPP projects.

Q What is corporatisation?
Corporatization is the process of transforming state assets, government agencies, or municipal organizations into corporations to introduce corporate management techniques in administration. Corporatization is seen as a half-way house on the road to privatization.

Q Should Indian Railways be corporatised?
Yes. Because
  1. It will bring much needed business focus and managerial autonomy
  2. Rakesh Mohan, Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund and a votary of reforms in the railway sector, says he supports corporatisation of the Railways, but not privatisation. 
  3. That’s what China has done. They have corporatised the whole thing.
  4. In India, We have accepted corporatization in principle, now corporatise the whole thing.
  5. “Telecom was under the Department of Telecom (DoT). We first corporatised Delhi and Mumbai as MTNL. Then we corporatised BSNL...Even in bridges…UP corporatised the UP State Bridge Corporation in the mid-1960s, and UP State Bridge Corporation functioned much better,” Mohan said.
  6. That said,The Railways currently runs manufacturing plants for both locomotives and coaches. “Why can’t that be run through a company? If you corporatise, these can be disinvested, modernised, have joint ventures with foreign firms…,” he said.
  7. Corporatisation does not mean withdrawal of Government subsidy. 
Existing corporations
CONCOR, IRCTC, IRFC, DFCCIL, RITES
Find out  their structure and functions. 

Q Why containers?
Given India's size (almost 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) from North to South and East to West), rail transport is often a cheaper option for all cargo over medium and long distances, especially if the cost of inter-modal transfers can be reduced. Seeing that containerized multi-modal door-to-door transport provided a solution to this problem, in 1966 Indian Railways entered the market for moving door-to-door domestic cargo in special DSO containers.
Q Why Concor?
Expansion of the network to seven ICDs by 1988 saw an increase in container handling capacity, while along the way a strong view emerged that there was a need to set up a separate pro-active organization to promote and manage the growth of containerization in India.
Container Corporation of India Ltd. is a Navratna Public sector undertaking under the Indian Ministry of Railways. Incorporated in March 1988 under the Companies Act, CONCOR commenced operations in November 1989 taking over an existing network of seven inland container depots (ICDs) from Indian Railways.
Q How is IRCTC structured? What are its functions?



Digital Initiatives
Backend
Passenger
  1. e- catering has been introduced in 108 trains on an experimental basis from January this year. Food can be ordered through the IRCTC website at the time of booking of tickets.
  2. Wi-Fi at all A1 and A category stations is being provided. Further, as part of Digital India initiative, Wi - Fi will be provided at B category stations as well. Google will help in rolling out wifi at 100 railway stations.
  3. Online booking of retiring rooms has already been initiated.
  4. Social media cell: Trying to change the image of railways to a customer friendly, responsive organization. To every problem posted on social media by railway passenger, this team tries to solve the problem within 5 minutes. Hon'ble Railway minister personally oversees the performance of this team. This is a pilot project which needs more trained personnel and a bigger team. These channels were used not only to seek feedback but to provide medical care, safety of passengers especially women and other aspects of human care and also helped us to monitor the cleanliness of stations and trains. Today, there is no barrier between the common passenger and the Railways. 
  5. Enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system from 2000 tickets per minute to 7,200 tickets per minute and to support 1,20,000 concurrent users as against only 40,000 earlier. 
  6. All major stations to be brought under CCTV surveillance in a phased manner.
Railways and IT
Today, we are living in the era of Information Technology. Revolution in the field of Information Technology has changed the life of human being in a big way and we are no exception. Use of Information Technology has made it possible to handle enormousinformation effectively and to eliminate element of subjectivity from various spheres of our life. 

The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) designs, develops, implements and maintains most of the important information systems of Indian Railways.

Major Projects:
  1. IR as an organization cannot progress on the path of prosperity unless that path is ‘digitally’ illuminated. This year, an application of Track Management System (TMS) was launched. With this, activities of track inspection, monitoring and maintenance have thus been switched over to an IT platform, and automatic alerts in the form of SMS and e-mails are being generated. Inventory Management module of TMS has resulted in inventory reduction by 27,000 MT resulting in saving of Rs.64 crore and scrap identification of 22,000 MT equivalent to Rs.53 crore. During 2016- 17, this system will be implemented on entire IR.
  2. Monetizing soft assets: IR collects data pertaining to passenger preferences, ticketing patterns, commodity flows, train running and information on various services and operations. We are exploring the possibility of monetizing our data, software and some of the free services provided by IR such as PNR enquiry, currently being commercially exploited by other players but at the same time ensuring that no compromise to customer privacy is made. The IRCTC website also offers opportunities for exploiting e-commerce activities on account of the large number of hits that it receives
  3. Data backed decision making is a hallmark of great institutions. Though IR, as an organisation, collects over 100 Terabytes of data every year, yet it is hardly analysed to gain business insights. A dedicated, cross functional team called Special Unit for Transportation Research and Analytics (SUTRA) would be set up for carrying out detailed analytics leading to optimized investment decisions and operations. This team would comprise professional analysts and best in class decision support systems and optimization engines. 
  4. Computerisation of the Freight Operations Information System of Indian Railways: 
    Unlike passenger trains freight trains do not run on a fix schedule. thus, making its operation a highly information intensive industry. The FOIS enables management and control of freight movement, optimised asset utilisation and the generation of freight invoices. Many of IR's larger freight customers pay through an electronic payment gateway interfaced with the FOIS. About 72 percent of the railway's freight revenue is paid electronically. FOIS comprises two modules i.e. a) Rake management system (RMS) and b) Terminal management system (TMS). The RMS covers computerisation of various operational functions relating to Yard and Freight Train operation. This system was developed to monitor the movements of the Rakes providing an improved, reliable, effective information and decision support system to ensure operational discipline at any time. TMS relates to computerisation of different activities pertaining to Goods Shed working. Achievements-improved customer service , increased revenue, improved performance, good shed operations
  5. Passenger Reservation System (PRS): A nationwide online passenger reservation and ticketing system, developed and maintained by CRIS, is a client-server application developed in C and Fortran on a Digital OpenVMS operating system. PRS handles reservations, changes, cancellations and refunds, reserving over 1.6 million seats and berths daily.
  6. Computerisation of Indian Railways' Unreserved Ticketing System. Unreserved ticketing is a major component of IR’s ticket volume and an important source of revenue. 
  7. [ National Train Enquiry System] for latest train running times and live train tracking.
  8. The Crew Management System (CMS) software provides real-time railway crew information. Information includes location, status and train assignments. It also maintains information on time off and continuing education. The software issues SMS alerts to management and supervisors if crew levels drop below a level likely to affect train operations. It has the unique feature of booking the crew through SMS. SMS sent to crew->if acknowledge by crew through SMS->crew is booked.
  9. Control Office Application (COA): Enables rail-traffic controllers to manage the trains running in their section, and is operational in all division control offices. The COA interfaces with other applications (such as NTES) to provide train information to passengers and managers.
  10. E-Procurement System: Provides a secure, fair and transparent method of materials procurement through a web-based interface. It enables suppliers to securely upload their tenders to a central server in encrypted form, which can be decrypted only by authorised railway officials after the tender opening.
  11. Automatic Ticket Vending MachinesAutomatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs)have been introduced in the suburban sections of the Metro cities namely Mumbai, Chennai,Secunderabad, Kolkata and Delhi. These machines are connected to the UTS servers and enable quick disbursal of unreserved and platform tickets by eliminating cash handling.

The way forward:
Facilitate third party apps by providing structured data.


Green Initiatives
  • Hand-held terminals will now be provided to Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs), which can be used for verification of passengers and downloading charts. This system will help us to move towards paperless ticketing and charting and expedite finalization of refund claims apart from saving reams of paper. We are also exploring the idea of extending the facility of SMS on mobiles as a valid proof of travel for PRS tickets as well.
  • We have set up an Environment Directorate in Railway Board to give increased focus and thrust on environment management.
  • Indian Railways is the largest consumer of electricity and thus has substantial potential for reducing energy consumption through various energy conservation measures. Thrust will also be given for adoption of energy efficient LED luminaries, appliances, etc. as a part of an energy conservation drive. A detailed energy audit will reveal huge potential for energy saving. Energy conservation at railway premises
  • We have launched a mission for water conservation. Water recycling plants will be set up at major water consumption centres after conducting water audit. Expansion of water harvesting systems will also continue.
  • Bio toilets
  • CNG engine @ICF Chennai
  • Plantation drives along tracks

Q What are high speed trains?
There is no standard definition for HSTs but generally, trains running with speeds more than 200 kmph are HSTs.
Q Do we need HSTs?
First, think of a track that doesn’t carry mixed traffic, no slow passenger trains and no goods trains along that track.  Second, think of a track that is completely segregated and separated, no humans and animals crossing the track, no level crossings to slow down trains. If those two conditions are satisfied, with today’s rolling stock (coaches and locomotives) and today’s rails, IR is capable of delivering trains at 175 km/hour, perhaps marginally more.
The moment it is in the range of high speed or bullet, we are talking about costs that are upwards of Rs 150 crore per km, without factoring in the costs of land. That’s 508 km, with a cost range between Rs 70,000 and Rs 90,000 crores. High speed works best when the stretch is around 500 km.
yes
  • in economically feasible sections, or
  • in strategic areas (say near the borders, for faster deployment of army and other resources)(** China is already doing this)
no
  • Mass transit Vs Rapid transit debate
  • economic feasibility as it requires huge capital investments

Q Why should IR divert resources for such an expensive proposition?
There are other priorities. The counter-response is that these are incremental resources and incremental tracks.  No diversion of IR resources is involved.  For instance, the Japanese might fund such trains and tracks, or perhaps the Chinese.  Or perhaps the French.

I am not aware of a single country in the world where high speed trains are generally commercially viable.  They are bailed out through public subsidies. 
Second, on an average, an IR passenger pays something like 28 paise per km. Do we really expect a high speed passenger to pay something like Rs 7-8 per km, despite the conveniences of high speed travel?

Q What are the challenges in adopting HSTs?
  • a policy has to be drafted regarding the priorities, vision statement and other related issues
  • one big problem is about the funding, as the HST trains require huge capital investments

Q What is the difference between HST, monorail, metro and the bullet trains?


Q Safety or Bullet trains?
While bullet trains are important to give a boost to physical infrastructure, safety cant be neglected. Indian railways is cash-starved and under-invested and hence priority investment should go to safety.
The prime benefit of this project would be providing IR with technology advancements and new manufacturing capability which would be leveraged for other areas of the existing network. 
Connectivity : In China's growth
Movement of people and goods. Principal contractors will be India. 0.1% interest payable after 50 years
Bridging the infra deficit. Money from JICA, no diversion of government money. No compromise with necessities of common people.
For example, when Suzuki came into India. Now, whole ecosystem will grow. Auto ancillaries have grown.
We need bullet trains but we should not go for them now due to financial constraints. Investing in modernizing present infrastructure would be more fruitful and will be in national interest. However, some countries are only interested in investing bullet trains so the funds are tied. And the loans they are giving are essentially interest free, so in such a situation, we should go for bullet trains. Had it been untied money or Indian money, I would have definitely gone for improving safety and modernising existing infrastructure.

Q Can we increase the speeds of existing trains?
  • Fencing
  • Signalling( a  move towards Automatic Signalling and better interlocking)
  • condition of tracks(for higher speeds, better tracks would be required)


Q Different types of Railways stations?
There are 8,495 railway stations and they aren’t homogeneous. Indian Railways (IR) divides stations into different categories. A1 represents non-suburban stations that have annual passenger earnings of Rs 60 crore or more. A represents non-suburban stations with annual passenger earnings of between Rs 8 and Rs 60 crore. B represents non-suburban stations with annual passenger earnings of between Rs 4 and Rs 8 crore, or stations that have tourist importance, or stations that are important junctions (some subjectivity in this). C represents suburban stations. D represents non-suburban stations that have annual passenger earnings of between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 4 crore, while E represents non-suburban stations that have annual passenger earnings of less than Rs 60 lakh. F is the category of “halts”. Overall, 75 are A1, 332 are A, 302 are B, 483 are C, 983 are D, 4,158 are E and 2,162 are F.

Q What were Lalu’s policies and contribution and what all did he achieve?
Operating ratio was 0.75 when Lalu Prasad Yadav was Railway Minister.

Q What is multimodal transport?
Transportation of goods under a single contract but performed with atleast two means of transport. This has come into prominence after the container revolution.

Q How to increase the line capacity of existing network?
  • Increase speed by timely maintenance of infrastructure
  • Decrease length of block sections in absolute block section territory
  • Use automatic signalling
Q What are the problems in adopting automatic signalling?
A better idea is automatic block, where a block is sub-divided into further fragments, with signals in-between. Each of these will be between 1 and 2 km long. This is the idea behind automatic signaling and this allows more than one train to be in the same block at the same time. While automatic signaling improves efficiency, do realize that it works better when all trains have similar speeds, not when there is mixed traffic.
  • Fog
  • Different speeds of different trains
  • KRCL has done something
  • High capital required
Out of the double-line broad-gauge network, only about 10% has been covered through automatic signaling.

Q Who owns DMRC?
Owned by center and state. 

Q You mentioned delhi metro, what is the reason that same railway engineers built such a nice infra and well functioning metro and they are not able to do so with indian railways?
Sir, the problem is with lack of finances. Delhi metro had a smooth supply of finances. While IR's main problem is underinvestment. Delhi metro was developed in a corporate mode under the leadership of E.Sreedharan ji and reasonable autonomy was provided. While IR is suffering from too much centralization.
Q Why China has improved its rail network when we have not?
Rapid growth in Chinese Railway network after 1990.
  • Capital investment in China is 2% of GDP while it is 0.3% in India. And china's gdp is 5 times that of India.
  • China has corporatised its operations and management.
  • Its relatively autocratic political system
  • Problems in land acquisition - due to policies and also due to availability. Large patches of land available in China.

Q And given your engineering background, do you think that railway is doing a good job?
Sir, there are positives and negatives of every coin. Railway is providing transport facility in a big nation like India. Railway is also working under the dual role of being a public – social organization and being a commercial entity as well.

Q What is the basic job of an IRTS officer?
There are two basic jobs of IRTS officer. One is operations of railways and other is handling commercial aspects of IR. In operations, we are responsible for smooth and timely running of passenger trains and efficient planning of goods trains (Managing power, crew and line capacity). In commercial, we are responsible for raising revenue, marketing, passenger amenities, station facilities of IR. 

Q How to deal with the unions?
We need to pay attention to the issues raised by union and as and when possible, we need to amek an extra effort to solve their problems. Humans resources is the greatest strength of IR. If they are happy, then IR will function smoothly. As an officer, my approach will be to provide for the best within the limitation of resources of the organisation.

Q What is a rake?
A train is made up of coaches and this is called a rake, a term also used for goods trains.

Q What are up and down trains?
Trains generally come in pairs, “up” and “down”. An up train is a train that is returning to its headquarters, so to speak. A down train is a train that is moving away from its headquarters.

Q How are trains numbered?
  • first digit indicates the type of the train
  • 0 for special trains, 1 for long distance including Rajdhani, 2 similar as 1 but is used when 1  series is exhausted, 6 for DEMU trains (BE PREPARED TO BE ASKED ABOUT THE DEMU TRAINS)
  • second digit is mainly related to the zones
this scheme of numbering is a revised one, earlier there used to be just four numbers. Because of  increase  in the number of trains, one extra digit was added.
If the 1st two digits are 12, you are in a superior train.

Q What is operating ratio? What are its components and what are its limitations?
Ratio of revenue expenditure to gross earnings. Operating ratio does not give the full picture.

Q What is a mail train?
A mail train is one that carries mail and therefore has an RMS (Railway Mail Service) wagon attached to it. When we were young, these were a familiar sight. While some trains still carry mail, I think there are very few (probably none) with RMS wagons now. The mail nomenclature no longer serves any purpose. A mail train is no different from an express.

Q How are locomotives numbered?
I might as well mention the numbering on locomotives with symbols like WDM3. That first symbol refers to the gauge and W will be broad gauge. The second symbol refers to what is used to power the locomotive. D is diesel, C is DC electric, A is AC electric and so on. The third symbol tells us what the locomotive is supposed to do. G stands for goods, P for passenger, M for mixed etc. The fourth symbol is for HP (horse power), 3 meaning 3000 HP.

Q Why do we have broad gauge in India?

Q How are broad gauge lines classified?
The “A” category allows for speeds up to 160 km/hour, B up to 130 km/hour, C represents suburban, D is up to 100 km/hour and E is below 100 km/hour.  This does not mean trains along these lines touch these speeds.  Far from it, since there are severe constraints on track capacity. However, A is in some sense an important line, because of present and future revenue. And F is an unimportant line, defined through criteria of present and future revenue.

Q How many zones and divsions are there in IR?
If I ignore Kolkata Metro, IR has 16 zones, headed by a GM (General Manager). Each zone is divided into zones, headed by a DRM (Divisional Railway Manager). To state it mildly, the determination of zones and divisions hasn’t been determined by rational considerations, politics often having a role to play.
To take one example, North Western Railway has its headquarters in Jaipur and divisions in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Ajmer. West Central Railway has its headquarters in Jabalpur and divisions in Jabalpur, Bhopal and Kota. Where is Kota? It is in Rajasthan and is much better connected with Jaipur than with Jabalpur. So why is the Kota division part of West Central and not part of North Western?




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