KHURJA JN

उत्‍तर मध्‍य रेलवे

जनसम्‍पर्क कार्यालय

उत्‍तर मध्‍यरेलवे, प्रयागराज

पत्रांक: 11पीआर/07/2021प्रेस विज्ञप्तिदिनांक :30.07.2021

Shri Pramod Kumar joins as General Manager North Central Railway

Shri Pramod Kumar, an officer of the Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers(IRSEE) has, o­n Friday, assumed the charge of General Manager of North Central Railway(NCR).

Shri. Pramod Kumar is an officer of 1984 exam batch of Indian Engineering Services and has served Indian Railways in various capacities.

Having his lien with Central Railway, He started his carrier as AEE/TD at Agra (during probation) for a short spell.

After which he worked in Junior & Senior scale at Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.

He worked in various disciplines of electrical engineering such as traction distribution, Maintenance & Operations of Locomotives, construction, general services at Jhansi & Jabalpur Divisions of Central Railway.

He pioneered in setting up of Electric Locoshed at New Katni Junction.

One of his notable contributions was commissioning of first high rise OHE of IR, while working as CPD/RE/Jaipur.

Apart from his vast experience in technical issues related to domain knowledge, Shri Kumar has a vast experience in general administration. He has served as Additional Divisional Railway Manager/NWR/ Jaipur, Divisional Railway Manager/NR/Moradabad, Sr. Deputy General Manager, Southern Railway and currently, he was serving as Additional General Manager/SECR /Bilaspur

Hailing from a village near Khurja, Bulandshahar district (U.P.), Shri Kumar has an old association with North Central Railway and with the area served by NCR. Shri Kumar is an alumnus of Dayal Bagh Educational Institute, Agra, from where he graduated in 1984 with a degree in BSc. Engineering (Electrical).

He has served NCRailway at Jhansi Division during 2003-2006 and at NCR HQ in 2007-09.

His association with the Sangam city of Prayagraj dates back to 2006 when he served as Deputy Chief Vigilance Officer, CORE and then NCR Headquarters as Chief Electric Service Engineer /Constn. upto 2009, where he was associated with planning and execution of various infrastructure works.

At a crucial juncture when NCR is passing through a vibrant phase with its focus o­n infrastructure expansion, electrification of missing links and strengthening of its health infrastructure among others, joining of Shri Kumar as the new leader of NCR with his vast and varied experience is expected to give a fillip to the o­ngoing infrastructure works and streamlining train operations.

Shi V.K. Tripathi, GM NER who was holding the additional charge of GM NCR for past seven months post retirement of Shri Rajiv Choudhry o­n 31^st December 2020, welcomed Shri Pramod Kumar and extended his best wishes for his new assignment.

After assuming charge, Shri Pramod Kumar says that his priorities will be early completion of o­ngoing works with no time over runs and ensuring safe and efficient train operations over NCR.

The biggest challenge in doing this work was road traffic block, as this ROB is o­ne of the busiest passages into the city of Valsad from Mumbai-Delhi highway.

Work o­n Freight Corridor proceeds o­n inspite of Covid challenges that came in the way.

Indian Railways’ PSU, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) has completed work of dismantling and reconstruction (after making way for DFC tracks) of Valsad Road Over Bridge (ROB) o­n the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor in the state of Gujarat in a record 20 day time.

Working in tandem with various Government agencies and the civil administration, the ROB which funnels busy traffic into Valsad ROB from the Mumbai-Delhi highway, a 20 day traffic block was secured o­n 02.06.2021 for dealing with this challenge.

Background:

Work in Western DFC’s Vaitarana – Sachin section faced a bottleneck of crossing a ROB near Valsad Town in South Gujarat. The ROB work could not be started due to various limitations and track laying activities would have been adversely affected. Track laying projects using state of the art New Track Construction (NTC) machine, would have been affected.

The Solution:

The project team geared up to take up this challenge. After many brainstorming sessions, an innovative solution was arrived at. The solution proposed was to insert a Twin precast box of 16m x 10m size o­n the approach of the ROB to take the NTC forward through it. The biggest challenge in doing this work was road traffic block, as this ROB is o­ne of the busiest passages into the city of Valsad from Mumbai-Delhi highway. The whole work is planned to be completed in 20 days road traffic block.

Extensive arrangements were made for pre-casting of these huge segments. Despite lock-downs and travel restrictions, a team of approximately 150 nos, including senior engineers toiled day & night to finish the casting works. Road traffic block was granted by the district administration of Valsad, responding favorably to the proposal.

The road traffic block of 20 days commenced o­n 02-06-2021 and the work is progressing as per planning. Four heavy duty hydraulic cranes having capacity varying from 300 MT to 500 MT are mobilized for the installation of these segments. Another challenge that was difficult to handle was solved by innovation in local handling of the segments. The precast segments are too big & heavy to

handle without causing any internal stresses during handling. The Project Team has designed a special carrier using a multi-axle trailer fitted with a steel platform o­n it. The fabrication of the steel platform was completely done at site even during the period when the industrial oxygen supply was prohibited in the country. The team could overcome all such constraints by continuously striving for alternatives and by taping the collective wisdom & experience of the team.

It may be noted that the Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai will traverse through the states of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra of WDFC & EDFC.

WDFC’s 306 km Rewari - Madar section was dedicated to the nation o­n 07.01.2021. Trial run of 369 km of WDFC between New Palanpur to New Kishangarh has been done. EDFC’s 351 km New Bhaupur - New Khurja section and the Operation Control Centre at Prayagraj were dedicated to the nation by the Hon’ble PM o­n 29.12.2020. A total of approx. 2800 route Km of the whole WDFC and EDFC (excluding the Sonnagar – Dankuni PPP section) will be commissioned by June 2022.

In the commissioned sections, a total of more than 4000 trains have been run. In Eastern DFC, it has more than 3000 trains and in WDFC more than 1000 trains. Total GTKM has crossed the 3 million ton mark. Some of the trains in the section are achieving an average speed of 99.38 kmph in EDFC and 92 kmph in WDFC. These speeds are comparable to any of the fastest mail express trains.