KIRAOLI

North Central Railway

Headquarter

Public Relations

Prayagraj

No. PR/NCR/01/2019Press Release Date: 26.01.2019

70^th Republic Day function organized at NCR Headquarter

The 70^thRepublic Day of The Nation was celebrated with a function organized in North Central Railway headquarter office, Subedarganjon 26^th January,2019 in the august presence of Shri Rajiv Chaudhry, General Manager, North Central Railway and President NCRWWO. The function started with unfurling of tricolor by General Manager, North Central Railway. After that Shri Chaudhry inspected the Parade of RPF personnel, Scout & Guides, and St John’s Ambulance Brigade. While speaking o­n the occasion Shri Chaudhry conveyed the heartiest greetings to the Railwaymen, their families, Members of NCRWWO, and the gathering for Republic Day and thanked them for their contributions.

During his address o­n the occasion he said “While occasions like these are a great source of pride and celebrations, they also provide an opportunity for self-reflection and toevaluate our performanceduring the current Financial Year 2018-19, especially as we are now in its last quarter.

In its mission to serve the nation, the North Central Railway (NCR) zone has been contributing consistently as an important constituent of the Indian Railways. NCR is the most congested railways - with o­nly five percent of the total infrastructure of Indian Railways, we carry10 percent of the total traffic.Our efforts are foremostreflected in our financial performance. With an increase of 5.2 percent in originating passenger and 11.5 percent in originating freight earnings by December 2018, our overall originatingearnings have risen by 7.7% in comparison to the corresponding period of last Financial Year2017-18. Ouroperating ratio is78.43 percent as of Dec., 2018.Our ticket checking earningsand scrap sales also grew by 8.5percent and25 percent respectively compared to FY 2017-18.

Customer satisfaction is the primeobjective behind all ourefforts. For the convenience of our passengers, o­n our already heavily saturated and over worked routes,we introduced four new trains and provided new stoppages to 18 pairs of trains o­n different stations. We have extended three pairs of trains including Gatiman Express to Jhansi, increased frequency of two pairs of trains,operated about 300 trips of special trains in various directions during festival and melaperiods and also augmented trains regularly o­n need basis. All of the aforementioned efforts were undertaken apart from the mammoth operations that are currently underwayin the KumbhMela which deserves its own special mention. For the ease of ticket purchase, sofar, we have provided UTS counters at 308 stations, UTS cum PRS counters at 66 stations, PRS counters at 65 stations, 147 Automatic Ticket Vending Machines, 103 Station Ticket Booking Agents, and 119 Jansadharan Ticket Booking Sevaks. A ‘UTS o­nMobile’ app is now also available overthe entire geographical territory ofNCR. For swifter mobility and convenience of passengers o­n stations,34 Escalators and 6 lifts have been provided at various stations of the zone so far, and14 more escalators and 24 more lifts are being set up at many more stations in NCR. In terms of hygiene facilities in NCR stations, we provided 149 Water Vending Machines and plan to install 61 more for easy accessto potable water at a very reasonable cost in FY 2018-19. For our female travelers we set up sanitary napkin vending machines at five important stations inNCR. Wi-Fi facility is nowavailable at 18 stations for the benefit of our tech-savvy passengers. To provide better updates and information to passengers, public address system at 5 stations and coach guidance system at Khajuraho, Panki, Agra Fort and Manikpur stations were also installed in the current financial year. We have enhanced the passenger facilities at Khajurahoand Dabra stations to develop them as Adarsh Stations. We have alsoextended platform sheds o­n Banda and Atarrastations.Additional facilities for Divyangjanhave been provided at 19 stations this year, and more are o­n their way.

In order to raise cleanliness standards, we have been holding regular drives and campaignsall over the zone which are earning dividends. ‘On Board Housekeeping Services’hasstarted o­n 22 trains and will be further extended to two more trains. 4,366 Bio toilets have been providedin76 trains comprising 1,170 coaches to improve the cleanliness o­n the railway tracks. To monitorcleanliness, CCTV cameras are installed at important stations. New toilets have been constructed for Divyangjan at 23 stations and available toilets improved at 119 stations.

To fulfill our commitmentforagreener environment, we have taken several important measures during the year.Solar Power Plants of 10 MWpcapacity have been installed over NCR, which are generating 1.08 million units per month of greenelectricity. Agra division has achieved‘Green Building’ Certificationfromthe firm IGBC. Agra Cantt and Allahabad Running Rooms are now equipped with biogas plants.Rooftop rain water harvesting works have been completed at 3 places over the zone. By their impressive enginemanship,our Loco Pilots have also done a commendable job by saving revenue to the tune of Rs 46 Crore by regenerating 788 Lakh Units through regenerative braking in 3 phase locomotives.

To enhance safety at stations along with facilitating passengers, new foot over bridges have been constructed o­n Allahabad, Karchhana, Subedarganj, Mainpuri, Jhansi, Kiraoli, RupwasandVrindavanRoad stations.Level crossing incidents have been a cause of concern for Railways for past many years and to counter this menace, 82 unmanned and 42 manned were closed during FY 2018-19.63. Road Under Bridges have been constructed and 75 more are in advanced stages of construction. 10 Road Over Bridges were also been constructed this year. Sliding Booms have been provided at 10additional level crossings and two more gates have been interlocked thus enhancing safety. We have rehabilitated 14 bridges this year and 20 more bridges are also under rehabilitation.

We havealso carriedout rigorous publicity and awareness campaigns for sensitizing the public about safety issues and encouragingpublic alertness through various media, including social media platforms and innovative means like our Mobile Video Van.

Our social media platforms have seen exponential growth.Viewership of our Twitter handle (@Cproncr) disseminating theimportant information about the zone has gone up by more than 700% during the year from 92000 views in April to 8.12 Lakh views in December 2018.

Our efforts for enhancing safety in train operationshave also beenbearing positive results.There is a reduction in number of accidents by more than 50% in the current financial year. Overall, we successfully carried out 19 safety drives for enhancing alertness in staff and awareness among common public. We are consistentlymaking efforts to ensure safety in train operations through regular maintenance inputs in track as, 195.31 CTR Unit Track Renewal has been doneby December 2018, which is 32% higher than same period last year. To enhance asset reliability, data loggers have been provided at 20 stations during 2018-19.To improve further o­n reliability front, dual detection system has been commissioned in 22 Block sections during 2018-19. With this, in 145 block sections dual detection has been commissioned. Block panels with UFSBI have been commissioned between 21 Block sections during 2018-19.With this, Block panel with UFSBI has been commissioned in 59 sections.We have also eliminated all UMLCs o­n the system of NCR, except o­ne in Chunar-Chopan Section, which will also be eliminated by then end of this month.

We suffer from severe capacity-constrains o­n our trunk routes butare consistently making efforts to enhance our capacity. During the current Financial Year, Rundhi-Palwalfourthline and Jhansi-Parichha doubling works have been completed and Pankidham-Bhaupurthirdline has been opened for passenger traffic. Almost 221 kilometers of the route have been electrified this year along with commissioning of electronic interlocking at 8 stations and Panel interlocking at Harduaganj.We have also installed automatic signaling between ChandariandChakeri o­n the Ghaziabad-DeenDayalUpadhayayaroute. We have significantlycontributed towards commissioning of 1^stphase of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor i.e. Khurja-Bhadan section by ensuring timely completion of removal of crossings, junction arrangements and yard remodeling at various stations.

The contribution of our workshops and sheds in ensuring smoother functioning is laudable. A new Coach POH & Refurbishment workshop at Jhansi is planned to come up o­n 164 acre landat a cost of Rs 454 Crore, which will POH and refurbish 250 coaches per annum. Construction of MEMU car shed sanctioned at cost of Rs 49.62 Crore at Kanpur is also in the Request-for-Tender stage.

Security of our passengers is a matter of key concern for all of us and we are taking stringent steps to ensure it. NCR’ssecurity personnel have caught 97 touts during the year and recovered almost 6,000 tickets worth Rs 1.12 Crore. More than 1,100 children, separated from the families and rescued from stations, have beeneither reunited with their families or handed over to representatives of Childline.Unauthorised vending has been strictly countered by taking action against 9,058 unauthorized vendors with a realization of a fine of Rs. 89.56 Lakh from them. We have also constituted Disaster Management Team at 7 places-each consisting of 30 RPF personnel - as part of our crisis management preparedness.

Implementation of Rajbhasha policy has always been close to our hearts and efforts of our Rajbhashacellhas earned laurels. Our officers and staff won the RailmantriRajbhashaRajatPadakand Culture Ministry’s award for original book writing incurrent year 2018-19. Our sportspersons have always made us proud in various sporting arenas. I want to specially congratulate our athletesandpugilists for winning second place in inter-railway cross country championship and for getting second place in inter-railway boxing competition respectively. Our powerlifting team has also made us proud by achieving third place in the inter-railway championship.

Welfare of our staff is always a priority for us or whichwe always strive to improve the facilities provided to them.Nine running rooms have already been air-conditioned to ensure that our loco-pilots getquality-rest,and all the remaining running rooms will have air-conditioners by March, 2019. To provide health services to staff o­n road side stations,road mobile van service has been started in Jhansi division. We alsohave referral-contracts with 48 private hospitals to provide better services to beneficiaries of the zone. Our Nirakaran cell has also been functioning effectively and more than 1900 cases of employee grievances have been disposed during o­ngoing Financial Year. Our commitment towards taking care of our retired staff is demonstrated by the fact that 48,683 case of pension revision have been finalized and 274 cases have been disposed during the All India Pension Adalat held over NCR. I wish to congratulate our recognized Unions, Federations and Associations for playing a very proactive and constructive role in providing support in our operations and in maintaining peaceful and cordial industrial relations over the Railway.

I also congratulate NCRWWO for their commendable efforts in helping Railway families in needthrough various schemesand for helping the Railway wards and other poor children by providing them financial support. Their efforts to help bring out the inherent talents of these children by way of various competitions are also worthy of praise. Our Scouts & Guides are also making valuable contributions to the society. St. John Ambulance Brigade/NCR provides first aid and medical help to passengers in case of emergency during various fairs and melas organized over the zone.

Kumbh, the single largest congregation of pilgrimsin the world,where visitors are coming from all over the world,being held at Prayagraj this year is an o­ngoing challenge o­n our hands. We are determined to make this event a success by transporting pilgrims timely and safely to their destinations. We have made elaborate arrangements like provision of around 800 outward special trains;commissioning capacity enhancement and passenger amenity works at thecost of Rs 700 Crore in a very short span;extension and improvement of all the stations of Prayagraj; enhanced lighting arrangements; deployment of additional staff and strengthening security arrangements by increasing CCTV surveillance and round the clock monitoring of passenger rush and other facilities to be provided to our esteemed passengers. As I speak today, I feel proud and satisfied of the efforts put in by o­ne and all andwish to congratulate each and every staff member, volunteer and officer involved in the Kumbh Effort for their tireless work and selfless service.

There is much to be proud of as Railwaymen. We have achieved a lot during the last year. We should use our accomplishments to add new vigour and zeal in our service to this country.Today let us all rededicate ourselves o­nce again and collectively forge ahead in the service of our great nation with determinationto meet all the challengesthat lie ahead of us.”

General Manager also felicitated the 17 officers and staff for their outstanding contribution o­n the occasion. The award ceremony was followed by the show of RPF Dog squad.After that cultural performances depicting vibrantcolours of culture and nationalism, enthralled the audience.All the PHODs, DRM/Allahabad, members of NCRWWO and members of union.