MAJOR ISSUES RELATING TO

INFRASTRUCTURE OF RAILWAYS

GROUP – 6
INTRODUCTION
• EVOLUTION OF RAILWAYS

• HISTORY OF INDIAN
RAILWAYS
EVOLUTION OF
RAILWAYS
The history of rail
transport dates
back nearly 500
years and includes
systems with man or
horse power and
rails of wood or
stone.
Modern rail
transport systems
first appeared in
England in the
1820s
a Scottish
inventor and
mechanical
engineer
In 1814
George Stephenson,
inspired by the
early locomotives of
Trevithick, Murray
and Heto ,
persuaded him to
build a
steam-powered
machine.
HISTORY OF INDIAN RAILWAYS
• THE BEGINNING OF BRITISH
RULE

• 1ST WORLD WAR (1914-1919)

• 1924-1929
• 2ND WORLD WAR (1939)

• POST INDEPENDENCE
PERIOD(1945)

• AFTER 1991 - THE PRESENT

Impact - role and importance of indian railways as
monopoly player
Indian Railways- In brief
 The Indian Railways operates the world’s second largest rail network
under a single management. It has an established route length of
62,759 km divided into three gauges – broad, meter and narrow.

 The functions of the Indian Railways can be divided into core and
non-core activities.

 The core activities comprise transportation of freight and

passengers(running of trains and owning of assets).

 Non-core activities- comprises catering , running schools and

colleges for the children of the railway staff, medical health care
facilities for the railway staff, production units and workshops.
• In terms of contribution to the national gross product
the railways account for 1 per cent of India’s GNP.

• According to the Planning Commission, the Indian

economy is expected to grow at an average 9% per
annum during the 11th Five Year Plan (from 2007-08 to
2011-12)

• It is also the largest employer in the world and supports

a work force of over 1.4 million.
• The IR was in the midst of an impending financial breakdown in 2001.

• The fund balances have grown to over Rs 12,000 crore in 2005-06

• This is the same Indian Railways which in 2001 had deferred dividend
payment, whose fund balances had reduced to just Rs.149 crore (in 1990-
2000) and which had been written off as a bankrupt department.

• Indian Railways is today the second largest profit making Public Sector
Undertaking after ONGC.

• It achieved an operating ratio of 78.7% in 2006-07 which is comparable to

that achieved by the North American Class I railroads.
• The total planned investment for the eight-year
time frame (2007-2015) is tentatively in the order
of Rs.3,50,000 crore.

• The Railways have been described as the ‘lifeline of

the nation’, operating approximately 12,000 trains
a day (of which 11,000 are passenger trains).

• It carries about 17.7 million passengers and 1.49

million tonnes of freight every day
Railway network of INDIA
Organization Overview
The Ministry of Railways under Government of
India controls Indian Railways.

The Ministry is headed by Union Minister who is

generally supported by a Minster of State.

The Railway Board consisting of six members and a

chairman reports to this top hierarchy.

The railway zones are headed by their respective

General Mangers who in turn report to the Railway
Board.
For administrative convenience Indian Railways is
primarily divided into 16 zones:
Indian Railways bottleneck
Indian Railways require finance for modernization
however the required budgetary support is absent. For
example, the provision of automated signaling system to
prevent the crashes is missing.

The stiff competition between private airlines has

brought serious threat on upper class passengers of the
railways. Though Rajdhanai and Shatabadi trains are the
fastest and luxurious trains of India their speed and food
service is not competitive as compared to the air travel.
The other key problem faced by the Indian Railways is
the high accident rate, which includes derailment,
collisions, many being run over by trains.
Introduction of Metro rails in
INDIA
History
• Before independence, there was a plan by the British to construct
underground Railway in Kolkata. After independence, the
burgeoning transport problem of Kolkata drew the attention of the
city planners, the State Government and also the
Government of India. It was soon realized that something had to be
done and done quickly to cope with the situation.
Bidhan Chandra Roy, at that time the Chief Minister of West Bengal
, conceived the idea in 1949 of building an underground railway for
Kolkata to solve the problems to some extent. A survey was done by
a team of French experts without any concrete results. Efforts to
solve the problem by augmenting the existing fleet of public
transport vehicles barely touched the fringe of the problem as the
roads account for only 4.2% of the surface area in Calcutta,
compared to 25% in Delhi and even 30% in other cities.
•
With a view to finding an alternative solution, the Metropolitan Transport
Project (Rlys) (i.e., Railways) was set up in 1969. After detailed studies, the
MTP (Rlys) came to the conclusion that there was no other alternative but
to construct a Mass Rapid Transit System. The MTP (Rlys) had prepared a
Master Plan in 1971 envisaging construction of five rapid-transit lines for
the city of Kolkata, totaling a route length of 97.5 km. Of these, the highest
priority was given to the busy North-South axis between Dum Dum and
Mahanayak Uttam Kumar over a length of 16.45 km, and the work on this
project was sanctioned on June 1, 1972. The foundation stone of the project
was laid by Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, on
December 29, 1972, and the construction work started in 1973.
• At first, 5 lines were planned, but finally 3 selected. Those were -
• Dum Dum - Tollygunge
• Bidhannagar (Salt Lake Sector V) - Ramrajatala
• Dakshineshwar - Thakurpukur
Methods of construction
• Metro construction is of a very complex nature requiring application of
several new technologies in the fields of civil, electrical, signaling and
telecommunication engineering. Indian engineers backed by their own
experience and supplemented by their studies abroad, adopted advanced
technologies in the following fields for the first time in India.

• Underground substations with dry type transformers and SF-6 circuit

breakers.

• Tunnel-Train VHF-radio communication system.

• Micro-processor-based train control and supervisory remote control system

for substations.

• Automatic ticket vending and checking system.

• Cut and cover method of construction using diaphragm
walls and sheet piles.
• Use of extensive decking to keep the traffic flowing over
the cut while construction in progress underneath.
• Shield tunneling using compressed air and airlocks.
• Ballast less track using elastic fastenings, rubber pads,
epoxy mortar and nylon inserts.
• Air-conditioning and ventilation system for
environmental control of stations and tunnels.
• Third Rail current collection system for traction
Delhi Metro
The Yellow Line of theDelhi Metro system consists of 15 
metro stations from Jahangirpurito Central Secretariat with a 
total distance of 17.36 km.

The Blue Line of the Delhi  The Violet Line of the Delhi 
Metro system  consists of 47  Metro system will start 
metro stations from Dwarka  from Central Secretariat station 
Sector 9 to Noida City Centre  of Yellow line and will 
and Anand Vihar, with a total  terminate at Badarpur station 
distance of 53.6 km.

The Red Line of the Delhi Metro system  consists of 21 
metro stations fromDilshad Garden to Rithala with a total 
distance of 25.15 km.
Rolling Stock
• The whole rake is vestibuled. Rolling stock
is from ICF, Chennai and the electrical
equipments are from NGEF, Bangalore. The
rolling stock is unique in that they are the
only ones in India with end-mounted cab
doors (excepting some of the WAG-6 series
locomotives).
• ICF has specifically designed, manufactured
and supplied these coaches for the Kolkata
Metro Underground Railway System. The
special features incorporated are:
• With all these sophistications built in, the
design and manufacture of these coaches to
a very high standard of reliability and safety
has been a major task. This was achieved
without any technical collaboration. The
entire formation is capable of carrying 2356
passengers.
• Now there is a plan to part by part replace
present stocks with modern air conditioned
stocks. It is expected to be introduced in
2010
BRIEF HIGHLIGHTS
No increase in passenger fares

Rs.100 reduction in freight per wagon for fertilisers and kerosene

Free travel for cancer patients in 3rd AC classes

Cost-sharing in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode in some gauge-

conversion projects

Further extension of Kolkata Metro on priority basis; stations to be named

after Bahadur Shah Zafar, Tagore family

Karmabhoomi trains to be introduced for migrant labour

      New Janmabhoomi train between Ahmedabad and Udhampur 

 Special "Bharat Teertha" train to be run around India to commemorate Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary 

 Railway line to be extended from Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh to Leh in Jammu and Kashmir 

 Andaman and Nicobar Islands to get railway line from Port Blair to Diglipur 

 Sikkim capital Gangtok to be connected by rail from Rangpo 

2011 being 150th anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, special train to be run from West Bengal to Bangladesh 
      Gross earnings in 2009-10 estimated at Rs.88,281 crore 

Working expenditure in 2009-10 estimated at Rs.83,440 crore 

 Expenses during 2010-11 estimated at Rs.87,100 crore 

 Thrust on expansion in 2010-11 with allocation of Rs.4,411 crore 

 Kashmir rail link to be extended to Sopore in the north of the valley 

 Net profit of Rs.1,328 crore in 2009-10 

 10 automobile ancillary hubs to be created 
       Twenty-two million energy saving CFLs for lighting distributed already 

 Policy decision to employ one member of family whose land is requisitioned for railway projects 

 North-south, east-west dedicated freight corridors to be created 

 Construction of high-speed passenger rail corridors envisaged 

 More multi-functional hospitals to be set up 

 Educational facilities to be set up for children of 80,000 women families 
 
         Special facilities to be established for gangmen 

 Insurance facilities for licensed porters as part of railway's corporate social responsibility 

 Centre for railway research to be established with Indian Institutes of Technology and Defence Research and Development Organisation 

 Will involve unions in policy making 

 Integral Coach Factory Chennai to be further modernised 

 New wagon repair shop in Mumbai 
    Design, development and testing centre for railway wheels at Bangalore 

Within five years, all unmanned level crossings to be manned 

 Construction of more underpasses, besides road overbridges 

 Greater coordination with state governments to protect railway property 

 Security of women passengers to be improved
      Ex-servicemen to be employed in Railway Protection Force 

 Five sports academies to be set up 

 Astroturf to be provided for development of hockey 

 Employment opportunities for sports persons 

 Railways to be lead partner for Commonwealth Games 

 Special drive to increase passenger amenities 
     
         Upgrade of 94 stations 

  Six new drinking water bottling plants in PPP mode 

  Modern toilets at railway stations 

   More ticketing centres to help the public 

   Acquisition of cutting edge safety technology 

   1,000 route km to be created 

  Special task force for clearing investment proposals in 100 days 
New business model to be created

No privatisation of railways

To add 25,000 kms of new lines in the next ten

years, as outlined in Vision 2020.

Anti-collision device (ACD) and train protection warning system.

Future Trends in IT in Railways 
On line and e-enabled Freight Management
System

Ticketing Solutions (Centralised, Stand-alone,

Mobile, Smart Card, Self Service, Internet etc.);
value added services to customer 
Trends contd..
• Introduction of Premium Services
• Universal access to air-conditioned comfort
• Market conditions based flexible pricing
• New benchmarks for passenger amenities
• Urban, suburban and extra urban
transportation needs critical for future
• Passenger safety top priority
• Exploit information and communication
technologies for service delivery
• Identification and adoption of safety, reliability
and productivity enhancing technologies
• Higher train speeds essential
• Adoption of clean Technology
• Suitable onboard train protection system
• On board capability to detect & fight initial
phases
• Furnishing materials in coaches with superior
fire retardant properties
• Comprehensive fire and smoke detection/fire
fighting systems
• brake system & disc brake arrangement for high
speed operation
• Increasing customer expectations and rapid
technological advances -Inculcate customer
focus in IR personnel
• Training and skill upgradation critical at all
levels
• Seek to make Railways a career of choice for
country’s talented youth
Interesting Facts about Indian
Railways
• Shortest station name: Near Jharsuguda on the Howrah-Nagpur main line (South Eastern 
Railway. 

• Longest station name: Venkatanarasimharajuvariapeta often prefixed with Sri. on the 

Arakkonam-Renigunta section of the Southern Railway. 

• Longest run (time): The Himsagar Express running between Jammu Tawi and Kanyakumari, 

It covers its route of 3751km in 74 hours and 55 minutes. 

• Longest run for daily train: The Kerala Express has daily service and covers 3054 km in 

its run (in 42.5 hours). 

• Longest non-stop run (distance): The Trivandrum Rajdhani does not have a technical 

halt at Ratlam and, therefore, travels non-stop between Vadodara and Kota (528km), covering the 
stretch in about 6.5 hours. 
• Trains with no commercial halts en route: Sampoorna Kranti Exp,Howrah Rajdhani, 
Bombay Rajdhani, Pragati Exp and Pune Shatabdi 

• Shortest runs: Nagpur - Ajni has scheduled services that are just 3km in distance. This is mainly a 

service for crew to travel from Nagpur station to the workshop at Ajni.
 
• Highest number of halts: Mail and Express trains [3/99] The Howrah-Amritsar Exp. leads in this 
category with 115 halts. 

• Busiest Station: Lucknow which caters to as many as 64 trains per day. 

• Stations straddling state lines: Navapur is a station that is half in Maharashtra and half in 

Gujarat . Bhawani Mandi station, on the Shamgarh-Kota section of the Bombay-Delhi line is half in 
Madhya Pradesh and half in Rajasthan. 

• Station with all the three gauges: Siliguri station.

Information of in Railway in INDIA
in jist
• Passenger Traffic
    The passenger traffic has risen from leaps and bounds from 1284 million in 
1950-51 to 5112 million in 2002-2003. 

• Freight Traffic
    Indian railways carry huge variety of goods such as mineral ores, fertilizers, 
petrochemicals, agricultural produce and others. Indian Railways make huge 
revenue and most of its profits are from the freight sector and uses these profits 
to augment the loss-making passenger sector. 

• Facilities for Passengers
    Computer based unreserved ticketing takes care of the large chunk of 
unreserved segment of passengers. This facility allows issuance of unreserved 
tickets from locations other than boarding station. 
• National Train Enquiry system is another initiative of Indian Railways which offers train 
running position on a current basis through various output devices such as terminals in the 
station enquiries and Interactive Voice Response Systems ( IVRS) at important railway stations. 

• Special Trains
     Indian Railways have several special trains, which are known across the world such as 
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Palace on Wheels, Lifeline Express, 
Fairy Queen, and others. 
While Fairy Queen, the oldest functioning steam engine has received Heritage Award at the 
international Tourist Award apart from finding a place in Guinness Book of World Records. 
 

 
• Suburban Railway
    The Mumbai Suburban Railway spread over 303-route kms carries more than 
6.1 million commuters daily. It is one of the most intensively utilized public 
transportation in the world. 

• Rolling Stock
    Today, Indian Railways have become self reliant in production of rolling stock. 
It supplies rolling stock to other countries and non-railway customers. The 
production units are at Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi, etc…..
Railway Bridges
Godavari Rail Bridge is a bridge over the 
river Godavari connecting Rajamandri and Kovur in 
Andhrapradesh , India. It was inaugurated in 2003.
Its length is 2,730 meters and it is one of the longest 
Rail/Road bridge in the India. It is a unique bridge that is 
based on 28 bow string arch girders with equal spans of 97.5 
m, thus making the total length 2.730 km. The bridge is fit 
for 250 km/h services. 

Jubilee Bridge is an important rail bridgeover Hooghly 
River between Naihati and Bandel. 
Jubilee Bridge is flanked on either side by Garifa  and 
Hooghly Ghat stations. Jubilee Bridge was opened on 16 
February 1887 in the fiftieth or jubilee year of the reign 
of Queen Victoria. The construction started in 1882 and 
was completed in 1887. The Bridge was designed by Sir 
Bradford Leslie, Chief Engineer in India
The Pamban Bridge on the Palk 
Strait connects Rameswaram to 
mainland India. It refers to both the road bridge 
and the cantilever railway bridge, though 
primarily it means the latter. It was India's first 
sea bridge. It is the second longest sea bridge in 
India at a length of about 2.3 km.

Vivekananda Setu (also calledWillingdon 

Bridge and Bally Bridge) is a bridge over 
the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. It 
links the city of Howrah, at Bally, to its twin 
city of Kolkata, at Dakshineswar. Built in 
December 1932, it is a multispan steel bridge 
and was built to provide road cum rail link 
between the Calcutta Port and its hinterland.
DURING THE PERIOD OF
LALOO PRASAD
• Lalu Prasad Yadav (लालू पसाद यादव) is an Indian politician from Bihar. He 
was Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009.

• The organisation has been commercially viable despite hurdles and 
limitations. 

• When Yadav took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making 
organization. The Rakesh Mohan Committee (secretary, department of 
economic affairs) had termed it a 'white elephant' and predicted that it was 
destined to hit Rs 61,000 crore (Rs 610 billion) in bankruptcy by 2015.
Steps Taken
• He banned plastic cups to serve tea at railway 
stations and ordered that they be replaced by 
kulhads (earthen cups), to generate more 
employment in rural areas.
• He also said that he had plans to introduce buttermilk 
and khadi.
• He left passenger fares untouched and found several 
other profitable sources of revenue for the Railways.
• Apart from this, Lalu cut the general and second class fare by one rupee, and 
announced the implementation of internet based ticketing and reservations. 
• Garib Raths was an attempt to reach out to the migrant workers from these 
areas. Lalu introduced three Garib Nawaz trains for pilgrimage at the 
Mazar of Khwaja Garib Nawaz.  

• Lalu also "found" 80,000 old C and D grade vacancies in the Railways. 
The vacancies had existed for over half a decade.

• As of 2007, IR was India's second largest profit making Public Sector 
Undertaking (PSU) after Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC).

• During Lalu's tenure as the railway minister, 
many rail mishaps and crimes took place(but a 
lesser amount than during any other ministers 
tenure). To check the crimes, he planned to 
introduce joint patrolling by the Railway 
Protection Force (RPF) and the Government 
Railway Police (GRP).
• Downsizing 
      The  number  of  employees,  which  peaked  at  1.652  million  in  1991,  was  brought  down  progressively  to 
1.472 million by 2003, and to 1.412 million by 2006. 

• Outsourcing
    Besides the catering and parcel service activity,
    the IR also outsourced advertising activity. 
 
• Product Innovation
   The IR introduced double stack container trains on some diesel routes. Further, it introduced new design of 
wagons with higher pay load (carrying capacity) but lower tare weight that improved safety features. The 
effect of these measures can be seen in higher freight revenue.

• Rise in demand
   The rise in freight revenue - the main plank of the IR turnaround. IR raised the freight on iron ore by 17%.
Achievements
• In FY 2005-2006, IR registered profits of Rs. 150 billion.

• The next year, it generated profits of Rs. 147 billion.

•  In FY 2006-2007, of around Rs. 200 billion despite a cut 
in passenger fares.

• Mr Lalu Prasad has demonstrated that good economics is 
good politics.

• Under him, the Railways booked an unprecedented 
surplus of 110 billion rupees (2.47 billion dollars)
Impact of the magical efforts of LALU
• Many local barbers and saloons are earning money by offering what they 
call the Lalu style hair cut.

•  A Patna-based company had launched "Lalu Khaini" (tobacco) in 2004, 
which was a hit. 

• In 2005, Speedage Corp. introduced "Laluji" dolls that became popular 
with kids. 

• In 2006, Lalu ka Khzana, a chocolate became very popular with kids in 
rural areas of north Bihar districts. The wrapper of the chocolate packet 
depicted two different caricatures of Lalu — one as a politician and the 
other as a magician
Conclusion
• Both ‘good management’ and ‘good luck’ helped the Indian Railways turnaround from 
a low performing organization to a high performing one in about five years.

• Nitish kumar presented future growth of Indian railways and lalu implemented it.

• He might know profit behind the railways,70 percent profits on coal called an “profit on 
weakness” – Indian railways making profits on weakness.

• “The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and does not
accentuate the bad. The inferior does”.

• Even if the economy is good, it needed leadership at all levels to bring Indian Railways 
to what it is today. 
• the freight carriage system since it was the major revenue earner for IR,
contributing to 70 percent of its annual revenues
• He left passenger fares untouched and found several other profitable
sources of revenue for the Railways. He also improved on his first year's
performance by stating a profit of 14,000 crores with decreased freight and
unchanged passenger fares in 2006.
• Then, in the 2007 budget, he increased the profit level to 20,000 crores
with the introduction of cushion seats in all unreserved compartments.In
2008, profits were 25,000 crore (equals $ 6.25 billion @ $1~Rs.40)
SWOT of IR
STRENTHS
• For long distance and bulk sector railways is the most economical transport.
• Comparatively safer mode of transport.
• Monopoly of railways
SERVICES
• E-booking
• Upgraded stations.
• Railway tickets are also available at post offices.
• Improving the security system in trains and stations.
• New trains started in every budget & festival seasons.
• Coaches available for different classes of the society.
• New routes for reducing the time and distance.
 Facts & Figure
Route Kilometers 63,221
BG(1676 mm) 46807
MG(1000 mm) 13290
NG(726/610 mm) 3124
Locomotives 7817
Passengers coaches 40800
Wagons 2,28,000
Stations 7000
Electrified 16500 KM

Output
 Passenger Trains (daily) - 8,700
 No, of passengers (daily) - 17 million
 Freight Trains (daily) - 5800
 Freight carried (daily) -1.5 million tonnes
 Units of Energy – per Tonne/KM

Type of Transport Output Relative to Rail

Railway 100
Inland water way 42
Road truck 16
Road bus 3.4
Air transport 0.5

Share of Oil consumption in India

Railway 10%
Road 77%
Air 12%
Waterway 1%
Strategy
HIGHER VOLUME, LOWERING UNIT COST

1. Goods Earning
• Increasing in loading .
• Increase in rates by change of classification.

2. Other Earnings
• Outsourcing through public privet partnership.
• Advertising.
3. Passenger Earnings

• 1: The ‘superfast’
• 2: Cancellation charge
• 3: Cluster ticket
• 3: The return ticket hidden charge
• 4: Tatkal
• 5.Additional Trains.
• 6.Increasing No.of coaches
 75

Weakness Swot of IR

• Poor service Quality

• High travelling time
• Customer focus is missing
• Small & inadequate rail networks
• Outdated technology of locomotives
• Poor Maintenance of stations
• Interference of Govt.
Opportunities
• Gauge Conversion
• Doubling the Track
• Track Renewal
• New Lines
• New Technology
• Privatization
 77

Threats
• Competition from low cost airlines
• Regular service
• IST maintenance
• Oil price hike
• Concern for social responsibility
 Cut down in Accident rate
 Hi tech systems
 Better infrastructure
 Disaster management
 Less political interference
Thank you..
Thank
You