Introduction

Indian Railway
The Indian Railways are the principle mode of transportation for freight and passengers in India, while playing an
important role in the development of industries and agriculture.

Indian Railways has had the distinction of being one of the biggest and busiest rail networks in the world. It
operates 12,617 passenger trains and transports 23 million passengers every day. The Indian Railway employs
approximately 1.4 million people.
The Indian Railways has been serving the people of India with utmost pride for more than two centuries. It was in
1851 the first train journey was made in India, for transferring construction material to Rorkee. The first
passenger train journey became operational between Bori Bunder, Bombay and Thane, covering a distance of 21
miles, thus marking the formal birth of the rail network in India.
The Indian Railways network binds the social, cultural and economical fabric of the country and covers the whole
country ranging from north to south and east to west removing the distance barrier for its people. The railway
network of India has brought together the whole of country hence creating a feeling of unity among Indians.

Facts

Indian railways system is the largest in Asia and 4 th largest in the world.

The first train ran on 16 April, 1853 from Mumbai to Thane.

Nationalised in 1951.

First rail line of Indian sub-continent came up near Chintadripet Bridge in

1836.

The total distance travelled by IR is 2.5 times the distance from Earth to
Moon.

IR transports 90 % of total goods in the country supplying 50 % of the total

power.

The first rail line of the Indian sub-continent came up near Chintadripet Bridge (presently
in Chennai) in Madras Presidency in 1836 as an experimental line.

Indian Railways operates in three different gauges.

Broad
gauge
Metre
Gauge
Narrow
Gauge

Distance between rails is 1.676 m (40

Km/Hr)
Distance between rails is 1.00 m (30
kilometres an hour) + Goods train 14 Km/Hr
Distance between rails is 0.762 or o.610
m

The longest railway platform in India is now Gorakhpur with a stretch of around
1.3 Km.
The first train ran in India between Bombay and Thane, a stretch of 34 KM on
16th April, 1853.
The second train ran between Howrah and Hooghly in 1854.The first electric train
in India was Deccan Queen. It was introduced in 1929 between Bombay and
Poona.The longest train route is Vivek Express from Dibrugarh in Asom to
Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. It covers a distance of 4278 km (2658 miles).The
first Metro rail was introduced in Kolkata (Paschim Banga) on 24 th October, 1984.
The two stations connected were Dumdum and Belgachhia. In 1990, Konkan
Railway has been started between Goa, Maharastra & Kerala.Indian Railways has
a network of 7030 stations spread over a route length of 63974 Km with a fleet
of 8593 locomotives Railway Zones.
Delhi metro rail was approved in 1996 but it was started in 2002 on 25 th
December between Shahdra and Tees Hazari.
Rapid metro train has started in Gurgaon (Haryana ) on 14 th November 2013.

Railway Zones

S/No.

Name of the
Railway Zone

Zonal
Headquarter

Division

Central Railway

Mumbai

Mumbai, Nagpur, Bhusawal, Pune, Sholapur

Eastern Railway

Kolkata

Howrah-I, Howrah-II, Sealdah, Malda, Asansol,

Chitaranjan, Kolkata Metro

East Central
Railway

Hajipur

East Coast
Railway

Bhubaneshwar

Northern Railway Baroda House, Delhi-I, Delhi-II, ambala, Moradabad, Lucknow,

New Delhi
Firozpur

North Central
Railway

Allahabad

North Eastern
Railway

Gorakhpur

North Frontier
Railway

Maligaon,
Guwahati

North Western
Railway

Jaipur

Danapur, Mugalsarai, Dhanbad, Sonpur, Samastipur

Khurda Road, Waltair, Sambhalpur

Allahabad, Jhansi, Agra

Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi, DLW
Katihar, Alipurduar, Rangiya, Lumding, Tinsukhia
Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Ajmer

10

Southern Railway Chennai

Chennai, Madurai, Palghat, Trichy, Trivendrum

11

South Central
Railway

Secunderabad Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Guntakal, Vijaywada,

Nanded

12

South Eastern
Railway

Garden Reach,
Kharagpur, Adra, Chakradharpur, Ranchi, Shalimar
Kolkata

13

South East
Central Railway

Bilaspur

14

South Western
Railway

Hubli

15

Western Railway

Mumbai CST

16

West Central
Railway

Jabalpur

Bilaspur, Nagpur, Raipur

Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, RWF/YNK
BCT, Vadodara, Ahemdabad, Ratlam, Rajkot,
Bhavnagar
Jabalpur, Bhopal, Kota

PPP
Railways

Ministry of Railways (MoR) is the nodal authority for development and maintenance of rail transport. It is
involved in formulation of various policies and looks after the overall functioning of the railway
system. Indian Railways (IR), overseen by MoR, is a departmental undertaking of the Government of India
(GoI), which owns and operates India's rail transport.
Market Size
IR is Worlds third largest rail network, under a single management, operating over a route length of
65,436 km. IR runs 12,617 trains to carry over 23 million passengers per day connecting more than 7,172
stations. IR carries more than one billion tonnes of freight a year, connecting ports and mines to industrial
clusters. It runs more than 7,421 freight trains carrying about 3 million tonnes of freight every day. IR is the
world's seventh largest employer, by number of employees, with over 1.3 million employees (as at the end
of year 2013). In 20142015, IR had revenues of USD17 billion from freight and USD6.4 billion from
passenger tickets, implying a CAGR of 7.1 per cent for the period FY07-14. It is expected that Indian
Railway will touch the revenue of USD44.5 billion by 2020.
Freight business for IRs is supported by nine commodities and it remains the major revenue earning
segment for the railways, accounting for 67 per cent of total revenues in FY14, followed by the passenger
segment, which accounts for 27 per cent.

The total number of passengers during FY14 reached 8535 million compared with 8602 million during
201213. Passenger volumes would expand at a CAGR of 6.6 per cent to 11.7 million by FY17 from 6.2
million in FY07; and reach 15.2 billion by FY20. The annual passenger volumes increased at a CAGR of
4.6 per cent during FY0714. According to the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP), passenger volumes would
expand at a CAGR of 8.3 per cent during FY1317.
Indian Railways carried 1,050 million tonnes of revenue earning freight traffic in FY14, a 4 per cent
increase from 1,010 million tonnes in FY13. Freight traffic is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.5 per cent
by FY17 from FY07. The Indian Railway estimates originating loading for freight business segment would
increase to 2,165 MT by FY20. (Source: IBEF)
Key Initiatives
MoR has been investing heavily to ensure growth and development for Indian Railways. Some of the key
initiatives include:
- Dedicated Freight Corridors: Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited
(DFCCIL) has been set up as a SPV to undertake planning & development,
construction, maintenance and operation of Dedicated Freight lines, along the Eastern
and Western parts of India. In the 12th FYP, the GoI allocated USD5 million for a 2,700
km of dedicated rail freght corridor project. The total estimated cost of the project is
USD16.7 billion.
- High-Speed Bullet Trains: High Speed Bullet Train on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad
corridor is being developed, as part of the Diamond Quadrilateral network of high
speed rail, connecting major metros and growth centres of the country.
- Next Generation E-ticketing (NgeT) Application: The newly launched NgeT,
developed by the Central Railway Information Centre (CRIS) has enabled substantial
increase in online ticket booking capacity, number of enquiries per minute, as well as
the capacity to handle concurrent sessions.
- Coal Transportation Projects: Three rail connectivity projects for coal movement in
Jharkhand, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh have been put on fast track.
- Launch of Schemes and Policies: MoR has come out with several policies and
schemes, such as, R3i policy, R2CI policy, and Automobile Freight Train Operator
Scheme, to attract private sector participation, improve rail connectivity and increase
its share in automobile transportation.
Public Private Partnership
In December 2012, the Cabinet approved the new policy of Participative models for rail-connectivity and
capacity augmented projects. The policy addressed private investors concerns, which included
ownership of the railway line and repayment of investment. The policy led to renewed investor interest in
the rail sector. This is also in line with Governments 12th FYP, wherein, it intends to raise investments

worth USD14.8 billion through PPP route. Areas proposed for private investment during this period would
include elevated rail corridor in Mumbai, some parts of dedicated freight corridor, freight terminals,
redevelopment of stations and power generation/energy saving projects.
Under the PPP route, approval has been granted for seven ports amounting to USD0.7 billion. Development
of the major stations to equip them with international level of amenities and services is also being
implemented through PPP. In addition, the MoR proposed to set up five wagon factories under the JV/PPP
model. For FY14, the Rail budget proposes to mobilize USD1.1 billion through the PPP route.
Investment Environment
The High Level Committee on Infrastructure Financing projects an investment of Rs. 3.4 lakhs crores, of
which, private sectors share is expected to be 13 per cent. MoR has also proposed development of 50
world-class stations in PPP mode to improve and enhance rail infrastructure in the country.
The Indian Railways has attracted increasing foreign investments through strategic alliances with various
countries over the last few years. Subsidiaries of foreign companies are being set up to cater to the huge
demand offered by IR. Since FY08, the cumulative FDI inflows into the sector has increased five-fold.
From April 2000 to November 2014, FDI in Railways related components stood at USD634.1 million.
Policy

Environment

- Cabinet approved a new policy of participative models for rail-connectivity and

capacity augmented projects in 2012. The policy provides for supplementing
governments investment in rail infrastructure projects by private capital flows through
following models: non-government railway; joint venture with equity participation by
railways; capacity augmentation through funding by customers; capacity augmentation
annuity model applicability; and BOT.
- Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) Scheme notified by Indian Railways in
March 2013 to increase its share in automobiles transportation. The scheme provides
logistic service providers and road transporters an opportunity to introduce their own
special wagons to run on the railways network and avail of freight rebates in return.
- FDI in the railway system is allowed under the automatic route at 100 per cent.
- Indian Railways launched the Wagon Investment Scheme in 2005 to offer freight
rebates and supply a guaranteed number of rakes for a period of seven to fifteen years
for different types of wagons.
- The Interim Report of the Debroy Committee Report (2015) has recommended
corporatization of the railway board and separation of roles of policy making, regulation
and operations suggesting that the Ministry of Railways be only responsible for
policymaking. The committee suggested forming an independent regulator for
economic regulation and a railway infrastructure company that will own the railway
infrastructure, thus de-linking both from the railways.
Growth Potential
Government has taken up an accelerated program of investment in building rail infrastructure in country.
This includes several initiatives, such as, DFCs that can parallel the golden quadrilateral, along with
associated industrial corridors, growing metro projects, etc. The following planned actions point to the
growth
potential
of
the
sector:

- Over the next five years, IR envisages an investment of approximately USD143 billion;
- The size of the plan budget has gone up by 52 per cent from USD10.9 billion in 2014-

15 to USD16.7 billion in 2015-16;

- Investments expected in metro rail networks in India: USD42 billion by 2020;
- The freight traffic is expected to reach 1,405 million tonnes by FY17 and 2,165 million
tonnes by FY20, indicating a CAGR of 10.2 per cent over FY1417;
- Government is implementing projects such as the Western and Eastern Freight
Corridor, Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial
Corridor, Mumbai Elevated Rail Corridor and High Speed Corridor;
Railways have launched new MCAs recently for many of the participative models and
have also issued guidelines for the same. Projects for rail connectivity to many ports
and mines are being developed under participative models;
1,000 MW solar plants are to be set up by the developers on Railway/private land and
on rooftop of Railway buildings at their own cost with subsidy/viability gap funding
support of Ministry of Non- Renewable Energy in next five years.
Railways in partnership with the concerned ports is planning rail connectivity to Nargol,
Chharra, Dighi, Rewas and Tuna.

Introduction
The Indian Railways is among the worlds largest. Spread across 7,146 stations, the 64,600-km network enables
the running of 19,000 trains on a daily basis. India's railway network is recognised as one of the largest railway
systems in the world under single management.
The railway network is also ideal for long-distance travel and movement of bulk commodities, apart from being an
energy efficient and economic mode of conveyance and transport.
The Government of India has focused on investing on railway infrastructure by making investor-friendly policies. It
has moved quickly to enable foreign direct investment (FDI) in railways to improve infrastructure for freight and
high-speed trains. At present, several domestic and foreign companies are also looking to invest in Indian rail
projects.
Market size
The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during FY2014-15 were Rs 157,880 crore
(US$ 23.68 billion) compared to Rs 140,761 crore (US$ 21.11 billion) during the same period last year, registering
an increase of 12.16 per cent.
The total approximate earnings from goods during fiscal 2014-15 were Rs 107,074.79 crore (US$ 16.06 billion)
compared to Rs 94,955.89 crore (US$ 14.24 billion) during the same period last year, registering an increase of
12.76 per cent.
The total approximate revenue earnings from passengers during the financial year 2014-15 were Rs 42,866.33
crore (US$ 6.43 billion) compared to Rs 37,478.34 crore (US$ 5.6 billion) during the same period last year,
registering an increase of 14.38 percent.
The total approximate revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs 4,035.56 crore (US$ 605 million)
during fiscal 2014-15 compared to Rs 3,818.03 crore (US$ 572 million) during the same period last year,
registering an increase of 5.7 per cent.
The total approximate numbers of passengers booked during the financial year 2014-15 were 8,227.99 million

compared to 8,425.09 million during the same period last year, showing a decrease of 2.34 per cent. In the
suburban and non-suburban sectors, the numbers of passengers booked during fiscal 2014-15 were 4,503.97
million and 3,724.02 million compared to 4,549.62 million and 3875.47 million registering a decrease of 1 per cent
and 3.91 per cent respectively during the same period last year.
Currently, Indian Railways is focusing on finishing the capacity-augmentation projects that have the highest rates of
return. There are 154 New Line, 42 Gauge Conversion, 166 Doubling and 54 Railway Electrification projects across
the country with throw forward of Rs 285,652 crore (US$ 42.87 billion). For Railway Electrification projects, the
throw forward as on April 1, 2014 had been estimated to be Rs 6,692 crore (US$ 1.0 billion).
Investments/Developments
Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into railway related components from April 2000 to September 2015 were
US$ 652.2 million.
Following are some of the major investments and developments in Indias railways sector:

Japan has offered to provide loan at less than one per cent interest rate for Indias first bullet train
between Mumbai and Ahmedabad costing US$ 15 billion, on the condition that India buys 30 per cent of
equipment from Japanese firms.

The Madhya Pradesh government has obtained Rs 12,000 crore (US$ 1.85 billion) loan from Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for its Bhopal and Indore Metro rail projects.

Indian Railways has issued a Letter of Award (LoA) to US-based General Electric (GE) for a Rs 14,656
crore (US$ 2.2 billion) diesel locomotive factory project at Marhowra, and to French transport major
Alstom for Rs 20,000 crore (US$ 3 billion) electric locomotive project in Madhepura, both in the state of
Bihar.

The Government of India will be spending Rs 850,000 crore (US$ 127.62 billion) over the next five years
to modernize Indian Railways for which they have received a 30 year loan from LIC. The Cabinet also
cleared the Rs 82,000 crore (US$ 12.3 billion) dedicated freight corridor for decongesting existing
network.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Railways and Life Insurance
Corporation (LIC) in the presence of the Minister of Finance Mr Arun Jaitley and the Minister of Railways
Mr Suresh Prabhu. Under this MoU, LIC will make available to the Ministry of Railways/its entities a
financial assistance with a limit of Rs 150,000 crore (US$ 22.52 billion) over the next five years for
implementing Railway projects.

Encouraging private sector participation in Railways, Mr Suresh Prabhu, in his maiden Railway Budget,
amalgamated public welfare with private investment. While investment through public-private
partnerships (PPP) was increased to Rs 5,781 crore (US$ 867.94 million), several schemes for improving
efficiency of the Railways were kept under this head.

With the objective of cutting energy costs, the Indian Railways has signed a bilateral power procurement
agreement with the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC). Under the agreement, railways will buy 50 MW of
power from DVC at Auraiya Grid Sub-station facilitated by Railways Energy Management Co. Ltd, a joint
venture of the Indian Railways and RITES, a public sector unit of the Ministry of Railways.

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 Government of India sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore (US$ 150.14 million) for a 15 km railway project
connecting India and Bangladesh linking Agartala in Tripura and Akhaura in Bangladesh.

Government Initiatives
Minister of Railways Mr Suresh Prabhu has said that the Ministry of Finance has communicated a Gross Budgetary

Support of Rs 40,000 crore (US$ 6.01 billion) for the Railways annual plan. Presenting the Railway Budget 201516 in Parliament, Railway Minister Mr Suresh Prabhu said Rs 1,645.6 crore (US$ 247.06 million) has also been
provided as Railways share of diesel cess from the Central Road Fund.
The Ministry of Railways is focusing on its massive US$ 140 billion investment plan to modernise the railways and
improve safety, performance and passenger amenities, as per Railways Minister Mr Suresh Prabhu.
The Ministry of Railways in November 2014 issued Sectoral Guidelines for permitting domestic/foreign direct
investment (FDI) in construction, operation and maintenance in the following identified areas:i) Suburban corridors through public private partnership (PPP), ii) high speed train projects, iii) dedicated freight
lines iv) rolling stock including trains sets and locomotive/coaches manufacturing and maintenance facilities v)
railway electrification vi) signalling system vii) freight terminals viii) passenger terminals ix) testing facilities and
laboratories x) non-conventional sources of energy xi) railways technical training institutes xii) concessioning of
standalone passenger corridors (branch lines, hill railways etc.) Xiii) mechanised laundry, xiv) rolling stock
procurement, xv) bio-toilets, xvi) technological solution for manned and unmanned level crossings, xvii)
technological solutions to improve safety and reduce accidents. The guidelines will encourage foreign investors for
making investment under Make in India programme. An Investors Meet was also held in December 2014 to
encourage foreign investors in making investments.
According to Mr N Sreekumar, Chief General Manager of Container Corporation of India Limited, the Indian
Railways is coming out with a new rating system. Addressing an event organised by Indian Institute of Logistics, Mr
Sreekumar said the government is going to restructure the railway board. He also stated that the total logistics
sector in India would undergo a transformation with the east and west freight corridor coming into being.
Promising "watershed development" of Indian Railways, Minister of Railways Mr Suresh Prabhu announced a
series of reforms in the rail sector, including the introduction of remote sensing technology to improve safety, rail
bookings on mobile phones and wi-fi at railway stations.

During first seven months of FY 2015-16, Indian Railways awarded projects worth Rs 10,594 crore (US$
1.59 billion), more than double the value of those awarded in the same period last year. Most of these
projects involve engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts.

State government of Maharashtra has planned to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Maharashtra
Railway Infrastructure Development Company, with a view to ensure that the various development
projects are completed in a time bound manner.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) and an Action Plan have been signed between the Government
of India and the Government of China to improve technical cooperation in the railways sector, at
delegation level talks between the two countries. Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and the visiting
President of China, Xi Jinping, were present at the signing.

In August, an MoU was signed between the Ministry of Railways in India and the Czech Railways (Ceske
Drahy) and Association of Czech Railway Industry (ACRI) of the Czech Republic on technical cooperation
in the field of the railways sector.

The Government of India has cleared a proposal to allow 100 per cent FDI in railway infrastructure,
barring operations, via the automatic route. FDI channelled through this route does not require prior
government approvals.

The Railway Board is considering the implementation of the 106 recommendations of the High Level
Safety Review Committee (Kakodkar Committee) pertaining to general safety matters, empowerment at
working level, vacancies in critical safety category, organisational structure, shortage of critical safety
spares, human resource development with focus on education and training research, among others.

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for establishing a new rail coach manufacturing unit at Kolar,

Karnataka. The unit will produce 500 coaches per annum at a projected cost of Rs 1,460.92 crore (US$
219.34 million). The Ministry of Railways will provide 50 per cent of the finances with the Karnataka
government providing land, free of cost, and the remaining 50 per cent of the project completion cost with
escalation.
Road Ahead
The Indian Railway network is growing at a healthy rate. In the next five years, the Indian railway market will be the
3rd largest, accounting for 10 per cent of the global market.
Exchange Rate: INR 1 = US$ 0.0150 as on December 17, 2015

Future Plans
Bullet train and high-speed rail: The Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train is
clearly the face of a modernising railway system. Japan has offered to fund
this $15 billion project with a very attractive financial package. It is also
expected to spur activity along other identified high-speed rail corridors
with participation of countries like France and China. Serious engineering
and project development work, including land acquisition, is expected in
2016.

Classification of Trains

International Linkages
India has rail links with Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.[40] It also plans to install a rail system in
southern Bhutan. A move to link the railways of India and Sri Lanka never materialised. However,
for a while a train ferry, the Boat Mail existed.

Pakistan

See also: Transport between India and Pakistan

Before the Partition of India there were eight rail links between what are now India and Pakistan.
However, currently there are only two actively maintained rail links between the two countries.
The first one is at Wagah in Punjab. The Samjhauta Express plies this route from Amritsar in
India to Lahore in Pakistan.[40] The second one, the Thar Express, opened in 2006 runs
between Munabao (in Rajasthan in India) and Khokhrapar (in Sindh in Pakistan). Other
discussed links are FerozepurSamasata, FerozepurLahore, AmritsarLahore, AmritsarSialkot
and JammuSialkot.[40][41]

Bangladesh

After the creation of East Pakistan (later Bangladesh), many trains that used to run between
Assam and Bengal had to be rerouted through the Siliguri Corridor. As of March 2010, there
exists one passenger link between India and Bangladesh, the Maitree Express, which plies
between Kolkata and Dhaka twice a week.[42] A metre gauge link exists between Mahisasan
(Mohishashon) and Shahbazpur. Another link is between Radhikapur and Birol. These two links
are used occasionally for freight.[40][41] A rail link betweenAkhaura in Bangladesh and Agartala in
India was approved by the Government of India in September 2011. [43] The 15 km rail line will
cost 2.52 billion and is expected to be completed by 2014.[44]

Nepal

There are two links between India and Nepal: Raxaul Jn., BiharSirsiya, Parsa and Jaynagar,
BiharKhajuri, Dhanusa.[41] The former is broad gauge, while the latter is narrow gauge.

Private railways[edit]
Though the Indian Railways enjoys a near monopoly in India, a few private railways do exist, left
over from the days of the Raj, usually small sections on private estates, etc. There are also some
railway lines owned and operated by companies for their own purposes, by plantations, sugar
mills, collieries, mines, dams, harbours and ports, etc. TheMumbai Port Trust runs a BG railway
of its own, as does the Madras Port Trust.[51] The Calcutta Port Commission Railway of Calcutta
Port Trust is a BG railway. TheVisakhapatnam Port Trust has BG and NG, 2 ft 6 in (762 mm),
railways.
The Bhilai Steel Plant has a BG railway network.[51] The Tatas (a private concern)
operate funicular railways at Bhira and at Bhivpuri Road (as well as the KamshetShirawta Dam
railway line, which is not a public line). These are not common carriers, so the general public
cannot travel using these. The Pipavav Rail Corporation holds a 33-year concession for building
and operating a railway line from Pipavav to Surendranagar.[51] The Kutch Railway Company, a
joint venture of the Gujarat state government and private parties, is involved (along with the
Kandla Port Trust and the Gujarat Adani Port) to build a GandhidhamPalanpur railway line.
[51]

These railway lines are principally used to carry freight and not for passenger traffic.

Although generally IR has decided the freight tariffs on these lines, recently (February 2005)
there have been proposals to allow the operating companies freedom to set freight tariffs and
generally run the lines without reference to IR.

Challenges of IR

New Delhi: Modi government presented its maiden in the

Parliament but the analysts believe that the budget failed to
suggest measures which will put Indian Railways back on track.
Despite the increase in passenger and the freight fare the
railways is still reeling under major financial crunch. In this
scenario, pertinent question of addressing the financial problems
and the challenges, has Gowdas Railway Budget managed to find
solutions to the problems?
1.Challenge: Speed of the trains
In the current scenario the speed of passenger trains and the
goods trains in India is excruciatingly slow, The engine of the
passenger trains can travel at a speed of 150 km/ph. New trains
are introduced every year, but due to the major difference in the
ratio of the new lines and dedicated freight corridor these trains
have to bear the brunt of traffic congestion thus delaying them
and putting them behind schedule.
Suggested measure in the Railway Budget
The Railway Budget presented by Railway Minister, Sadanand
Gowda did not address the slow speed of the trains but he
proposed to introduce semi-high speed trains that will move at a
speed of 200 km/ph, even the goods trains did not get any relief
in this budget as there was no mention of constructing a separate
track for goods trains.
Impact: If a new track is not laid out for goods trains in the next
five years then these trains might get delayed further and the
railways will have to bear a heavy loss on the freight.
2.Challenge: Lack of Funds
Railways requires Rs. 1,82,000 crore for the 359 projects it plans
to undertake, while a project to construct 99 new lines will
cost Rs. 60,000 crore, out of these 99 lines only one line has been
constructed so far. On the other hand, the Railways also require
huge funds to improvise the existing trains to run at a higher
speed.

Suggested measure in the Railway Budget

The Railway Budget mentioned the lack of funds in to upgrade the
entire system and thus to increase investment in the proposed
projects the organisation is open to private funding-PPP. Parcel
service, port connectivity and modernisation in the railways will
need the funding by the private sector, thus the Rail Minister
spoke of attracting investors, implementation of FDI too found a
mention in the budget.
Impact: Railways has not had a smooth past with PPP, railways
had given a nod to PPP in the past but the private sector did not
seem too keen on investing because of the lack of business
friendly policies of the government.
3.Challenge: Freight fare
Railways is consistently losing its freight fare share in the market,
railways is said to transport is close to 33% of the total share,
almost the same over 30% of the goods trains running on the
tracks are not carrying goods, instead of attracting more
consigners the increase in freight fare has discouraged them
opting railways as the means of transport for goods.
Suggested measure in the Railway Budget
The freight fare did not find a mention in the budget.
Impact: The goods transportation showed deplorable deficits in
2014 and as a consequence to which the railways bore a loss
of Rs. 9.4 billion. Railways have been unable to make profit in this
department and thus the entire institution is reeling under major
losses.
4.Challenge: Passenger waiting list
In the last few years the passengers been unable to get a
confirmed ticket on most occasions, during the peak seasons the
passengers do not get tickets on the trains. Railways has been
unable to accommodate the passengers who have bought tickets

on waiting list, trains have 21 bogies and the numbers cannot be

increased.
Suggested measure in the Railway Budget
The railway budget did not mention or suggest any solution to
this increasing problem.
Impact: Passengers will still have to face the problems of not
getting the tickets easily.
5. Challenge: Expansion of the network and
modernisation
In the last 10 years only one line has been completed out of the
99 proposed lines, Over Rs.18400 crore have been spent to lay
down 5050 km long line. Even after 67 years of independence
North easts meter gauge have not been converted into brand
gauge.
Suggested measure in the Railway Budget
Railway budget did not have a defined solution to the problem.
Impact: In the next 10 years the railway lines will be connected
via electrification until then the trains will have to be run on diesel
which is not beneficial for the railways. Lumding Silchar railway
meter gauges construction is still underway, this is to be
upgraded as brand gauge in the coming years.

PPP PROJECTS DETAILS

Kandla Port Trust's Gandhidham-Tuna-Tekra rail line inaugurated
Will facilitate better and faster rail connectivity to the port of Tuna-Tekra
In order to provide better and faster rail connectivity between Gandhidham and Tuna-Tekra Port in
Gujarat, the Union Railway Minister, Mr Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, inaugurated the newly-constructed
broad gauge railway line last week from New Delhi through remote control by setting-up a videoconferencing between Rail Bhawan in New Delhi and Gandhidham Railway Station.
The Chairman of Railway Board, Mr A. K. Mital, and other Board members were present on the
occasion, the Ministry of Railways said in a release.

The railway line would connect Gandhidham in Kutch district of Gujarat and Tuna-Tekra Port situated
20 km west of Kandla in the Gulf of Kutch.
The project has been completed under the private line/Non-Government Railway (NGR) Model of
Participative Model Policy of 2012 of the Ministry of Railways for undertaking rail connectivity and
capacity augmentation projects. It is yet another significant initiative under PPP.
This railway line is the first Non-Government Railway Project of Indian Railways under the NGR Policy
of 2012, which is funded by the Kandla Port Trust (KPT). It is the Western Railway Zone of Indian
Railways which has coordinated and pioneered this important infrastructure project.
The around 17-km-long ambitious project was approved by the Railway Board in October 2013. The
construction work, which started in May 2014, was completed in a record time in May 2015 at an
estimated cost of about Rs 185 crore.
Major traffic from the Port is coal and fertiliser, with expected commodity traffic of average 4 rakes
daily. Indian Railways will get approximate revenue of Rs 5 crore from the line by moving this traffic.
This line has been constructed for KPT to bring about better and faster rail connectivity to Port of
Tuna-Tekra.
The project has been executed in two partsthe 11-km-long Gandhidham-Tuna Rail line by Western
Railway Zone and the 6-km-long line between Tuna-Tekra by KPT.
Under the participative policy of 2012, the Ministry of Railways has undertaken connectivity to four
ports such as Dhamra port, Tuna port, Jaigarh port and Dighi port. These four projects would generate
investment of around Rs 2,400 crore with no financial commitment to equity from the Ministry of
Railways.
Clearance has been granted for another five port connectivity projects, in principle, which would
generate investment of around Rs 2,800 crore with no financial commitment to equity from the
Ministry of Railways.
Earlier, seven port connectivity projects were implemented between 2002 and 2012. These projects
have added approximately 950 km of railway line, bringing an investment of approximately Rs 3,000
crore, the release said.

Privatisation of Railway Services: Needed a Pragmatic Approach

Indian Railways is the lifeline of the country and as an organisation it plays an

important role that impacts people, logistics, economic, infrastructure and social
sectors, while ensuring the flow of people and goods from one part of the country to
another.
Indian railways under the British was established to facilitate and consolidate
administrative control over India. After Independence, the role and priority changed
making it one of the most important commercial activity of the government. Besides
providing the mandated services, the Indian Railways today is also the single largest
employer in India.
However, the organisation has not been able to keep pace with modernisation of its
infrastructure and services and has not been able to expand at the pace and
coverage that a country like India needs. Almost all arms of the railways require
modernisation of equipment, processes and training, all of which are still continuing
as they have been, through the decades. The result is that the railways continues to
be a drain on the exchequer, while continuing to provide vital services inefficiently.
The perception is that almost all customer facing services like ticketing, ticket
checking, porter services, catering and coach maintenance are not meeting peoples
expectations and standards as they should be and this is the main reason for public
resentment and dissatisfaction with the railways.
Debate between social sector responsibility vs commercial efficiency
One side of the debate professes the railway being a core sector service provider has
a national and social responsibility to fulfill. The very nature of the service is vital to
keep the nation moving at a low cost and the state must absorb or subsidise the
cost of services.
For the kind of geography and size that India has and the fact that there are still
vast underdeveloped areas, the argument may well be true and relevant. India does
need to keep moving and a high cost for the same could negatively impact the pace
of growth that the country is struggling to maintain.
However, the other side of the debate argues that the Railways can be run much
more efficiently by optimising resource allocation and implementation. The Indian
railways has one of the highest man-to-track kilometre ratio in the world and this is
unsustainable for a developing economy that has no choice but to push for
optimisation of all resource deployment.
The Indian Railways is massively overstaffed and, therefore, burdened with a high
cost of social and retirement benefits to employees, both serving and retired. Given
the vast benefits enjoyed by the employees, the unions are vehemently resisting any
trimming of manpower and is also against any outsourcing of services, as it sees this
as a threat to its turf and existence.

Need for Redefining the Role and Responsibility of the Indian Railways
In order to sustain growth, modernisation and efficiency, the Indian Railways must
redefine its role and responsibility. It has to completely reposition its operating role
from being a direct service provider to being a supervisor of services provided.
In other words, Railways must outsource most of its services to third parties that
may include private companies, public sector corporations or consortiums that
combine the two. The railways must restrict itself to funding, supervising and
monitoring of services and leave the operation and implementation to the most
efficient and competitive service providers.
India is on the cusp of unleashing its entrepreneurial side and opening up of the
railways could catalyse growth of the services industry in India. Given it large size,
both in terms of volume and geographical coverage, there will be enough room for
several players to enter into this field and compete fairly, for maximum business.
Indian Railways requires massive investment and this can come from private capital,
but private capital is deployed only in those areas where the return on investment is
maximum. Therefore, if the railways has to attract private capital, it has to provide
stable long term policies and a level playing field, for investors to earn a fair return
on investment.
On the technical side, the railways needs to further open its services not just for
implementation but subsequent operation, as well. Activities like track laying and
maintenance, signal and transmission, engine & coach design and manufacture,
engine and coach maintenance etc, must all be given out to private companies that
specialise in these.
It may be a good idea to encourage Indian companies to form joint ventures with
leading international firms under the Make in India policy, to manufacture and
provide maintenance services on a contract basis, while the railways must restrict
itself to supervision and monitoring activities only.
The same is true for public facing activities especially station maintenance, station
catering, and on-train services like catering and coach maintenance services. All
these can and must be outsourced to the best service providers. There is massive
scope for all kinds of related professional services, both on-train and in-station, and
this can be a large opportunity to create region-based direct and indirect
employment.
Maximum outsourcing of technical and non-technical services can drastically cut
down the number of employees in the railways and help in reducing operating and
social service cost per employee.
Raising resources through optimisation of available infrastructure

Railways owns large tracts of land along its tracks, in various parts of the country
and this can be optimally monetised by inviting private players to invest, build and
manage properties that may be developed on these lands.
Unfortunately, there is a lobby that has been professing sale of surplus railway land
to private players, as one of the options for raising resources. However, the railways
must ensure that the land remains its property and is leased out to private investors
who can then invest, build and operate the property, while sharing revenue with the
railways.
As in other areas, the railways has directly entered and is operating several mineral
water bottling plants. While this is a synergistic thing to do, directly investing and
operating the plants is not a good idea. The railways should offer its land and allow
private sector players to invest and operate the plants, while railways receive a
share of the revenue. This way larger private players could be involved and the
range of products can be widened to cover other types of bottled drinks like juices
and health drinks. This could open up large possibilities for revenue and employment
generation.
Similarly, there are several avenues for revenue generation by allowing private
players to enter into operating private trains on certain sectors that may be related
to freight, tourism or even medical services. The potential is immense.
Challenges to privatisation
The debate on privatization of Indian Railway services pertains to two aspects. One
is the need to bring in private capital and the other is to privatize certain aspects of
operation and services. The government needs to take bold steps on both accounts
and this calls for serious and proactive engagement with trade unions and political
parties, to come to a common agreement.
The trade unions have been resisting privatisation of existing operations and are also
suspicious of any attempt to involve private capital. Such is the suspicion that two of
the four largest unions have recently offered their provident and pension funds to be
invested in the railways, rather than allow the government to involve private capital.
While this could be a welcome step, a change in thinking by the unions is the need
of the day, otherwise the railways will continue to continue to bleed funds.
Over the years, no political party has shown the political will to address this issue.
As a result, the Indian Railways continues to remain a large and inefficient
organisation, executing one of the most important tasks for the nation.

Railways Map

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Maps

Outsourcing of train maintenance

to contractors proves costly for
railways

JAYAWADA: Over the past few years, outsourcing of railway infrastructure

maintenance services has become part of the cost strategy and risk
management. The outsourcing, according to railway board, reduces initial
infrastructure investments, provides specialized expertise and maintenance
facilities. Unfortunately, railway board has failed to read the flipside of such
outsourcing of infrastructure maintenance resulting in gory fire mishaps on
running trains.
At least 80 innocent passengers were charred to death in three separate
fire mishaps on running trains in the Andhra Pradesh alone in the last five
years. While short circuit in power supply lines is being attributed as reason
for the fire in Saturday's Nanded Express, the authorities completely failed
to come out with conclusive reports for the fire in Tamil Nadu Express
(2012) and Goutami Express (2008).
According to railway safety analysts, poor management of electrical and
other equipment in air conditioned coaches is proving fatal to innocent
passengers. Incidentally, railways handed over maintenance of all such
services to private contractors leaving little control or supervision to the
department officials.
"Corruption at higher level is also leading to improper maintenance of
infrastructure. We make loud noise only when there is an incident. In fact,
situation is so grim that major accidents are just waiting to happen,"
observed former railway mazdoor union leader Swamy Charan.

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Although, there is no much danger from outsourcing the services like

catering and sanitation, giving away key services like infrastructure
maintenance is something playing with a fire ball. In fact, railway trade
unions have been demanding the ministry to fill up vacant posts in various
departments including vital wings like signaling and telecommunications

(S&T) to reduce burden on existing staff and avoid accidents. According to

estimations, more than 2 lakh posts were laying vacant in Indian Railways
in which about 70,000 posts were to be filled in S&T wing alone.

"The number of trains have gone up multifold in the last few years.

But, no one is realizing the danger in running so many trains without

adequate staff," said SCRMU leader P Ramgopal. He said due to staff
crunch the existing employees were not in a position to carry out proper
inspections and detect the faulty equipment.

While maintenance of AC coaches had been outsourced to private people,

insufficient staff does not find time to thoroughly inspect other coaches due
to increased workload.

Indian Railway to hand over maintenance of 15 Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) Train Sets to private player

In a major shift, the Indian Railway has decided to hand over maintenance of
Train Sets it has proposed to buy to the private player which would supply the
rakes, a responsibility hitherto shouldered by the public transporter.
The railway has already floated global tenders for the Rs 2500 crore project
involving procurement-cum-maintenance contract for 15 Electrical Multiple
Unit (EMU) Train Sets.
A Train Set comprises coaches or rail cars where each coach is powered by a
dedicated propulsion system, doing away with the need to have a locomotive
haul the train.

According to the conditions in the bidding document, the selected bidder will
manufacture and supply 15 EMU Train Sets comprising about 315 rail cars
over a period of about 4-5 years and undertake maintenance thereafter for
seven years.
The maintenance of a train involves checking of the braking system, wheel,
bogies, ACs, electrical equipment, pantograph, electric motors and cleaning
among others.
Till now, maintenance has been the preserve of the Indian Railway, while
cleaning activities have been outsourced.
"It is for the first time that Indian Railway is allowing a private player to do the
maintenance also which is paradigm shift," sources close to the development
said.
However, operational responsibility for the Train Sets will be with the Railway.
The move has not gone down well with the All India Railwaymen's Federation.
Its General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra said, "It is a clear cut privatisation
move as maintenance job will be managed by the private player, thereby
taking away a key area from the Railways." However, a senior official involved
in the Train Set project strongly defended the bidding condition, saying "Since
it is a new technology and Train Sets are going to be introduced for the first
time, it will be the responsibility of the selected bidder to maintain it also.
Railway staff will also be there to learn the maintenance system during the
contractual period."
He said since the train's life is about 30 years and outsourcing will be only for
seven years, the railways will maintain those after that.
According to him, the global tender for the big-ticket project is in accordance
with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious 'Make in India' initiative.

The railway aims at reducing the travel time between cities with the launch of
Train Set service. Since the Train Set is equipped with quicker acceleration
and deceleration system, it reduces travel time significantly.
While the successful bidder will import two Train Sets, the rest would be
manufactured in the country, according to the bidding condition.
The project was announced by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the Rail
Budget for the current year.

Out Sourcing in Railways on the Increase!

Interview with Comrade Y.G. Joshi (YGJ), President of National Railway Mazdoor Union(NRMU)
of Central Railway
MEL Correspondent: Comrade Joshi, pl tell our readers how railways is going about privatizing its
operations.
YGJ: The Railways have systematically planned to outsource a large number of its activities.
Take the case of Goods traffic. Previously the railways used to accept small parcels for shipment.
This has been stopped now. Also previously a wagon load of goods could be sent from one place to
another. Now the railways do not accept that also. It will only accept a whole rake consisting of 40
to 60 wagons for shipment. Even a 10 wagon load will not be accepted. Even for a full rake, the
railways will only undertake point to point delivery in one direction with no intermediate drops. It
is clear that only the big capitalists and state monopoly enterprises will be able to use the Goods
Hauling facilities of the Indian Railways whereas previously the services could be utilized by even
small businesses.
The entire cleaning activities of the railways including of stations, trains etc., has been privatized.
Also the bed rolls loading/unloading, catering etc is fully privatized. The Indian Railway Catering &
Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) was formed by Ministry of Railways in 2002. Whereas previously the
catering was provided by Indian Railways, after IRCTC was formed, the catering services for each
train was outsourced to a private contractor, by tender, through IRCTC. 80% of the receipts by
tender went to IRCTC and only 20% went to the Railways, even though it was the railways that
provided the infrastructure, to which IRCTC had no contribution. However there were numerous
complaints about the poor quality and hygiene of food that was served, hence the catering service
was withdrawn from IRCTC. However since in the meantime, the railway personnel who had been
working in the catering Dept of the Railways were transferred to other divisions, the railways did
not have enough manpower to restart the catering operations. Hence the Railways continued to

outsource the catering services for each train by the system of tenders, with the only difference
that the Railways now received 100% of the receipts instead of 20% as previously!
It is only in the VIP Trains, namely Rajdhani, August Kranti and Duronto trains that a Manager is
there for every one of these trains, however the rest of the staff providing services during the
journey on these trains are fully outsourced.
The washing and cleaning of Carriages and Wagons is fully outsourced. Certain important stations
have been identified as CTS (Clean Train Services) Stations. At these CTS stations, the trains,
including windows are washed and this entire operation is outsourced. The A/C mechanics for A/C
coaches are also employed by private contractors.
In the Railway workshops, the parts which were previously being manufactured in house are now
being outsourced. For example seats/cushions of the trains were previously made in house at the
Matunga Railway workshop. There was a carpentry shop and a smithy shop. But now these are
procured from outside.
Another very retrogressive move made by the railways is that all existing Class 4 workers have been
absorbed into Class 3 with effect from 01/01/2006 even though they continue to do the same jobs
as before. The gangmen, points men, safaiwalas, khalasies, peons etc were previously Class 4
workers. As these people retire, their vacant positions are not filled up. The work is now
outsourced to private contractors.
Our gangmen, who constitute the largest number of 3 lakh employees, know what are the Standard
Moving Dimensions, for safe repair of tracks. But their work has been outsourced private
contractors are employing gangmen who work under extreme conditions for a few years and then
leave. The number of fatal accidents involving these private gangmen are increasing and there is
increasing risk to the traveling public also as they are not properly trained. The private contractors
who are hired are not qualified and their work is not up to the standard.
Recently the Railways have announced the formation of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC),
connecting the 4 Metro Cities, Chennai/Mumbai/Delhi/Calcutta for smoother movement of goods
traffic. These were formed under PPP, Public Private Partnerships, and the revenues so far being
earned by Indian Railways through Goods Traffic will now be taken away by the private players
operating these DFCs. The major share of the Railways revenue is earned from Goods traffic and
only a minor amount from passenger traffic. Japan is actively pushing the Indian Government for
these projects. However it wants to retain control over these projects.
The privatization and outsourcing is the reason why the number of employees in the Indian Railways
is continuously decreasing. However another reason is the technological up gradation.

Technical and Financial Eligibility Criteria for Submission of

Proposals by Interested Parties

1.0 Conditions of Eligibility of Bidders

1.1 Technical Capacity: For demonstrating technical capacity and
experience (the Technical Capacity), the Applicant shall, over the
preceding 5 (five) financial years and current year up to the Application
Due Date, have:
i. paid for, or received payments for, construction of Eligible Project(s);
and/or
ii. paid for development of Eligible Project(s) in Category 1 and/or
Category 2 specified in Clause 1.3; and/ or
iii. collected and appropriated revenues from Eligible Project(s) in
Category 1and/or Category 2 specified in Clause 1.3, such that the sum
total of the above, as further adjusted in accordance with clause 1.8, is
more than Rs. 200 Crores (the Threshold Technical Capability).
Provided that at least one fourth of the Threshold Technical Capability
shall be from the Eligible Projects in Category 1 and/ or Category 3
specified in Clause 1.3
1.2 Financial Capacity: The Applicant shall have a minimum Net Worth
(the Financial Capacity) of Rs.50 Crores at the close of the preceding
financial year. In case of a Consortium, the combined technical capacity
and net worth of those Members, who have and shall continue to have an
equity share of at least 26% (twenty six per cent) each in the SPC, should
satisfy the above conditions of eligibility; provided that each such Member
shall, for a period of 2 (two) years from the date of commercial operation
of the Project, hold equity share capital not less than 26% (twenty six per
cent) of the subscribed and paid up equity of the SPC.
Technical Capacity for purposes of evaluation
1.3 Subject to the provisions of Clause 1.1, the following categories of
experience would qualify as Technical Capacity and eligible experience
(the "Eligible Experience") in relation to eligible projects as stipulated in
Clauses 1.5 and 1.6 (the "Eligible Projects"):
Category 1: Project experience on Eligible Projects in the field of
Passenger Transportation such as railway stations, airports, ports, bus
terminals/ stations, metro stations, mono rail stations etc. that qualify
under Clause 1.5
Category 2: Project experience on Eligible Projects in core sector that
qualify under Clause 1.5
Category 3: Construction experience on Eligible Projects in the field of

Passenger Transportation such as railway stations, airports, ports, bus

terminals/ stations, metro stations etc. that qualify under Clause 1.6
Category 4: Construction experience on Eligible Projects in core sector
that qualify under Clause 1.6
(i) Core sector would be deemed to include railways (other than railway
stations), roads and highways, power, telecom, metro rail (other than
metro stations), industrial parks/ estates, logistic parks, pipelines,
irrigation, water supply, sewerage, sports stadiums/ complexes and real
estate development$ including commercial and institutional complexes
(ii) Passenger Transportation projects would be deemed to include area for
passenger amenities such as passenger waiting areas, platforms,
circulation areas, arrival and departure areas etc.
1.4 Eligible Experience in respect of each category shall be measured only
for Eligible Projects.
1.5 For a project to qualify as an Eligible Project under Categories 1 and
2:
(a) It should have been undertaken as a PPP project on BOT, BOLT, BOO,
BOOT or other similar basis for providing its output or services to a public
sector entity or for providing non-discriminatory access to users in
pursuance of its charter, concession or contract, as the case may be;
(b) the entity claiming experience should have held, in the company
owing the Eligible Project, a minimum of 26% (twenty six per cent) equity
during the entire year for which Eligible Experience is being claimed;
(c) the capital cost of the project should be more than Rs. 20 Crores
(Rupees twenty crores only); and
(d) the entity claiming experience shall, during the preceding 5 (five)
financial years and current year up to the Application Due Date, have (i)
paid for development of the project (excluding the cost of land), and/ or
(ii) collected and appropriated the revenues from users availing of nondiscriminatory access to or use of fixed project assets, such as revenues
from highways, airports, ports and railway infrastructure, but shall not
include revenues from sale or provision of goods or services such as
electricity, gas, petroleum products telecommunications or fare/freight
revenues and other incomes of the company owning the Project.
1.6 For a project to qualify as an Eligible Project under Categories 3 and 4,
the Applicant should have paid for execution of its construction works or
received payments from its client(s) for construction works executed, fully
or partially, during the preceding 5 (five) financial years and current year
up to the Application Due Date, and only the payments (gross) actually
made or received, as the case may be, during such 5 (five) financial years
shall qualify for purposes of computing the Experience Score. However,
payments/ receipts of less than Rs. 20 Crores (Rupees twenty crores only)
shall not be reckoned as payments/ receipts for Eligible Projects. For the
avoidance of doubt, construction works shall not include supply of goods
or equipment except when such goods or equipment form part of a turnkey construction contract/ EPC contract for the project. Further, the cost of

land shall not be included hereunder.

1.7 The Applicant shall quote experience in respect of a particular Eligible
Project under any one category only, even though the Applicant (either
individually or along with a member of the Consortium) may have played
multiple roles in the cited project. Double counting for a particular Eligible
Project shall not be permitted in any form.
1.8 Applicants experience shall be measured and stated in terms of a
score (the "Experience Score"). The Experience Score for an Eligible
Project in a given category would be the eligible payments and/ or
receipts specified in Clause 1.1, divided by one crore and then multiplied
by the applicable factor in Table below. In case the Applicant has
experience across different categories, the score for each category would
be computed as above and then aggregated to arrive at its Experience
Score.
Factors for Experience across categories
Factor
Category 1
1.25
Category 2
1.00
Category 3
0.75
Category 4
0.50

A-1 & A category stations (total about 400 no.) shall be offered
to interested parties for redevelopment on as is where is basis.

Details of A-1 and A category stations shall be uploaded on

Railways website, along with indicative list of amenities to be
provided for their redevelopment, seeking proposals from
interested parties.

The party, while submitting the proposals, shall have to duly

3 consider the local development control norms as well as the needs
of the Railway, including relocation of structures, if any.
The Business Plan developed by the party should be such that
revenues realized from real estate development are sufficient to at
4 least cover the entire cost of station redevelopment after meeting
the full expenditure on real estate development and Maintenance
obligations as per agreement.
5

To ensure serious proposals, parties shall be required to furnish

Earnest money of adequate amount along with their proposal.

6 The onus of securing statutory approvals shall be on the developer.

7 For the interested party to have proper understanding of Railways
needs, their interaction with field officials shall be adequately
facilitated through a Standing Group at the divisional level and at

the headquarters of Zonal Railways.

All proposals received shall be examined for prima-facie feasibility
by a Standing Technical Committee of Railway. The proposals
found prima-facie feasible shall thereafter be examined by a
8
Standing Financial Committee of Railway for assessing the prima
facie financial viability. These committees, to be nominated by GM,
would consist of SAG officers of Railway.
9

All the proposals received shall thereafter be examined by an

Independent Committee of eminent experts having domain
knowledge, to be nominated by GM.

For the proposal prima-facie found feasible & financially viable and
selected after examination by committees, the project proponent
shall be asked to submit detailed proposal giving due consideration
to local development control norms. The proposal shall contain the
technical aspects like specifications, BOQ, cost estimates, drawings
etc. The proposal shall also contain the financial model and
1
0 detailed financial aspects like costs, IRR, NPV etc. If required, the
project proponent will be called for discussions for normalization of
proposal and party may be asked to submit a final proposal. If need
be, discussions will also be held with local authorities. If the
detailed proposal does not meet railways requirements, railway
shall reserve the right to reject the proposal
The proposal of the proponent shall then be uploaded on Railways
11
website, along with tender documents inviting open bids from
interested parties, including the proponent
The proponent, if not the highest bidder (i.e. offering highest
premium to railways), shall be given the chance to match the
1
highest bid, i.e. the proponent gets the Right Of First Refusal
2
(ROFR), failing which the winning bidder shall be awarded the Bid
after following the due procedure
Zonal Railways to be authorised to approve the proposals including
1 commercial development on railway land. Vacant railway land not
3
required for immediate operational needs to be leased only, for
period upto 45 years

Explained: What is Googles Wi-Fi at 100 railway station project and

how will it work
Google will deploy WiFi at 100 railway stations in partnership with Railtel.
Mumbai Central will be the first station to get free Wi-Fi by January 2016

Google CEO Sundar Pichai had first announced about the the companys
free WiFi at railway stations in India when PM Modi had visited the
company campus in Mountain View, California in September. Under the
project, Google plans to provide free and high-speed Wi-Fi access to
railway commuters at over 400 stations in India. Google has partnered with
Railtel Corporation to make this project a reality.
Hows the project going to scale out? Which stations will
get covered?
According to Googles announcement today, the first station to get free WiFi under this scheme will be Mumbai Central, where testing has already
been carried out. Googles free Wi-Fi at Mumbai Central goes live by
January, 2016. Google plans to make free Wi-Fi live at over 100 stations in
India by the end of 2016. The free Wi-Fi scheme will target stations across
each railway zone in India.
At the end of 2016, Google will evaluate the project to see how it will
expand the free Wi-Fi scheme further. Google says that preparations are
already on in multiple stations to make the project a reality.
So how exactly will Googles free Wi-Fi work? Why has it
partnered with RailTel?
Railtel is the PSU which owns a Pan-India optic fiber network exclusively
on railway track. It has laid out over 45,000 kms of optic fibre networks
across the country, which Google will utilise for its Wi-Fi.
In this case, Railtel will be the ISP, while Google will provide the Wireless
Area Networks (WAN) and will set-up the points of access at platforms. It
should be noted that Googles free WiFi will only work at the platforms and
is not meant for the trains.
Will Google have some guidelines, standards for this free
public WiFi?
Google says the idea with its free WiFi is to ensure wide coverage and high
capacity. According to Google VP for Access and Emerging Markets Marian
Croak, the company sees a potential of 10 million users accessing its WiFi
each day by the end of 2016 from across these railway stations. And
Google wants to make sure that these 10 million users get broadband
quality experience when using its Wi-Fi.

For instance, Google will try and ensure that the WiFi railway users who
watch videos on the network get at least HD standard streaming. Google
will also aim to maintain speed, efficiency across a board of devices.
Will the service always be free? Whats the revenue model
here for Google?
Google says that the service will be free to begin with, although it has not
yet specified whether it will eventually charge for this WiFi. It should be
noted that free WiFi in other public places like airports is free for a limited
time period only. On the revenue model, Google hopes that this will be selfsustainable and it will start exploring with different revenue models later on.
For now the focus will be on getting the project up and running.

Automatic laundry facility for five more major railway

stations
Satisfied with the performance of the automatic laundry system installed under the Build, Own,
Operate and Transfer (BOOT) scheme in Chennai Division, Southern Railway has decided to
extend it five major stations across the zone.
Amid frequent complaints from passengers on poor quality of bedrolls in upper class coaches, the
Ministry of Railways announced that it would open laundries under the BOOT scheme, official
sources said. The first and only of its kind laundry in the railways was commissioned by Southern
Railway in Chennai more than a year ago. Encouraged by the capacity, quality of wash and costeffectiveness, the authorities have decided to install the facility in Madurai, Coimbatore,
Mangalore, Ernakulam and Tiruvananthapuram.
The six-tonne capacity (per shift) laundry involves steam wash and automatic drying, pressing
and folding processes. It has the capacity to handle 18 tonnes in three shifts, though it is
presently catering to only 37 trains on an average per day. While the railways has provided space
adjacent to the Basin Bridge Junction yard, the contractor who was awarded the project has
developed the infrastructure at an approximate cost of Rs. 15 crore, the sources said.
The existing system of laundry in other parts of the railways is that the linen is owned, washed
and supplied by small contractors at a cost of Rs. 25 per bedroll. Though they have to replace the
bedsheets/blankets every year, they do not do so citing heavy losses. As a rule, the linen is
procured from the Association of Cooperatives and Apex Societies of Handlooms, Ministry of
Textiles.
Since the contractors were not replacing the linen, complaints of stained or torn
bedsheets/blankets/pillows poured in from the travelling public in recent years. As the smalltime laundry business was not lucrative, many contractors showed little interest in continuing
with the work.

The laundry under BOOT scheme is yielding the desired results. The number of passenger
complaints has come down drastically. We used to receive at least 30 written complaints a year
regarding poor quality of bedrolls now, it is just one complaint. The cost of operation is also
reduced by Rs. 2 per bedroll, Chief Mechanical Engineer S.K. Sood said.
In less than two years, the zone plans to operationalise laundries under BOOT scheme in five
other locations. After ten years, the infrastructure will be transferred to the complete ownership
of the Railways. The project was eco-friendly and the contractor has taken steps to recycle the
used water. The cost is also less and we will be able to sustain the cost at Rs. 25 per bedroll for a
few years, Mr. Sood added.

Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation

Limited
(A JV of IRCON & Rail Land Development Authority)

References
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http://www.indianatie.com/?q=node/9902
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http://www.cgpi.org/mel/struggle-rights/3188-out-sourcing-railways-inc
http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/StationRedevelopment/WhoCanApply.html
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