Habibgunj Railway Station - First one under PPP mode & IRSDC - Indian Railways Station Development Corporation ltd

 

Latest News:  

Indian Railways has ordered to dissolve the “Indian Railways Stations Development Corporation” on the basis of recommendation of Principal Economic Advisor of Finance Ministry, Sanjeev Sanyal. (2021 October)

Habibgunj Railway Station - First one under PPP mode

·         Habibganj Railway Station, Bhopal - First PPP Project (Railway Station) of Indian Railways.

·          IRSDC has completed redevelopment work of HABIBGANJ railway station 98% (civil works) 

·          Developer is M/s Bansal pathways Habibganj Pvt ltd

Salient features:

ü  First ever air concourse (above the track)

ü  Dome like structure at the entrance with sky lights

ü  Dedicated concourse area with airport like retail outlets, cafeterias

ü  Plush waiting lounge for passengers

ü  Gaming zones

ü  Green building with LED lighting

ü  Waste water treatment for reuse.

ü  Investing more than Rs.400 Crores  to develop a trade centre, a hospital, a convention centre, a budget hotel, a luxury hotel

ü  Lease period - 45 years

ü  17,245 Sq Meters Railway land

ü  Built up area of 13 lakh square feet

ü  Station operation for 8 years - Private developer

ü  Revenue collection and O & M - Operation & Maintenance by Developer

ü  S&T, stabling of trains, ticketing costs - borne by Developer

ü  IRSDC - gets fixed percentage of Station Revenue as its management fees.

ü   Multi modal transit hut - connects with BRTS - Bus Rapid Transit System and Bhopal Metro

ü  Station Development - Rs. 100 Crores

ü  Commercial development surrounding Railway Station - Rs. 400 Crores

ü  Complete segregation between arrival and departure

ü  6 Lifts, 11 escalators and 3 travelators (first time in Railway Stations)

ü  Travelator / Travolator -    A slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distance like in Airports

 

ü  Dedicated pickup and drop off parking facilities for the Passengers

ü  Provision of parking for approximately 300 cars, 850 two-wheelers, Autos, Taxi & buses.

 

IRSDC - Indian Railways Station Development Corporation ltd

 

v  A SPV or a Joint Venture (JV) among RLDA (Rail Land Development Authority) ,  IRCON (Indian Railway Construction Company ltd) and RITES - (Rail India Technical & Economic Services ) in the ratio of 50:26:24 respectively.

v  Incorporated in April, 2012 (under Companies Act, 1956)

v  Authorised Share Capital - Rs. 200 Crores

v    Key focus on Station development only.

v  Assigned Seven stations so far Development.  They are 1) Anand Vihar (New Delhi) 2) Bijwasan (New Delhi) 3) Chandigarh 4) Habibganj (Bhopal) 5) Shivaji Nagar (Pune) 6) Surat 7) Mohali (Chandigarh)- so far by Railway Board

v  Another 400 AI and A category Stations are shortlisted for redevelopment.

• VISION:  To be a leading organization in the field of development, redevelopment, operation and maintenance of railway stations with passenger amenities of international standards.

v  To carry on any railway infrastructure work including development of railway stations on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT), Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT), Build-Lease-Transfer (BLT), etc. or otherwise or any other scheme or project found suitable.

v  OBJECT:  Resolve congestion-access and egress(way out) is a challenge into station or platform or train by develop /re-develop the existing/new railway stations. 

v  Taking cue from the Development/Redevelopment of Airports on PPP basis.

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Zero based Time Table

Zero based Time Table

·          Indian Railways is set to rollout a "Zero-based Time Table"

 

·         Zero base means plan the time table from scratch/zero.  To begin doing a job/activity completely from the beginning.  

 

·         Reduce the number of halts

 

·         Demand is only at 500 stations out of 7300 stations in IR.

 

·         So, these 500 stations will get more attention in the Zero-based time table.

 

·         If one train stoppage scrapped in a particular station, the railways will ensure stoppage of alternate trains on those stations.

 

·         There is a tradition in IR, to introduce a new time table from 1st of July every year.  However, due to Covid-19 pandemic, the operation of trains is closed all over the country, except special trains.

 

·         So it is easy to create a zero-based time table and implement the same, once the pandemic eases out.

 

·         A committee under the chairmanship of General Manager in each Zonal Railway will prepare a plan on the important areas like operation, maintenance, construction etc in its zone and send its report to Railway Board.  Accordingly,  a new time table will be prepared.

 

·         Railway Board would tie up with the Operation Research wing of IIT, Mumbai for Zero-based Time Table.

 

Some of the proposals are:

 

1.       Only one stoppage for every 150 to 200 kms

2.       Trains with less than 50 per cent occupancy would be discontinued

3.       Stations where earnings are very less or volume of ticket sales not satisfactory, the stoppages would also eliminate.

4.       200 Passenger trains identified for upgradation as Express trains

5.       Minimum of 50 passengers embarking and disembarking in a day -  Criterion for keeping a stoppage. 

 

GM's Negative powers

General Manager’s Negative Powers

§  Source: FinanceCode Volume I – Annexure II

§  Top of all rules mentioned in Finance Code Volume I – Chapter V – Annexure II is “without previous sanction of the higher authority (i.e., Railway Board)”

§  GM’s powers available in I R Finance Code -Chapter V -Annexure II – stated in Negative sense

§  Example: S.N. 4  - To the creation of Work charged posts of above JA Grade against Construction/ Survey/ Scrap Sales / M&P estimates .  Interpretation is GM may have powers to the creation of Work charged posts up to JA Grade against the above estimates only. 

§  Another example: S.N. 10(c)  - To the grant of reward in excess of Rs. 5,000 in each individual case.   Interpretation is “GM may have powers to grant of reward up to Rs. 5,000 in each individual case.  

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SUTRA - Special Unit for Transportation Research & Analytics

S U T R A

·          Special Unit for Transportation Research & Analytics

·         Sutra means Rule.

·          Proposed during the Railway Budget 2016-17.

·         Core functions: World class Data Analytics, Simulation software, Network optimization & Decision support system

·         Not yet materialised.

·         Object:  IR collects over 100 Terabytes (1 Terabyte is equal to 1024 gigabytes) of data every year.  The same is to be analyzed to gain business insights.

·         Will be comprised of Professional analysts and the best in class decision support systems

1024 bytes	Equals to	1 Kilobyte
1024 kilobytes	Equals to	1 Megabyte
1024 Megabytes	Equals to	1 Gigabyte
1024 Gigabytes	Equals to	1 Terabyte

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Cargo Express - Time tabled Freight train - First of its kind in Indian Railways - by South Central Railway

·         First of its kind in Indian Railways  (by South Central Railway)  PressNote by SCR

·             Time tabled freight train (scheduled arrival and scheduled departure like Passenger Trains)

 

·         Between Hyderabad (Sanatnagar) to New Delhi (Adarsh Nagar)

 

·         Starting from 05.08.2020 

 

·         Operational for Six months as a Pilot Project

 

·         Between Hyderabad and New Delhi Transit time - 34 Hours  Distance 1700 Kms - On an average speed 50 km per hour

 

·         Departing every Wednesday evening at Hyderabad and arrival at New Delhi on Friday morning

 

·         Departing every Saturday evening at New Delhi and arrival at Hyderabad  on Monday morning

 

·         Tariff rates - Approx Rs. 2500 per Tonne ( 40 % lesser than existing Railway Parcel and Road Tariffs)

 

·         Permitting Wagon level indenting i.e., Customers can book even one Wagon material of 62 Tonnes on this Train.

 

·         Huge benefit for Industries, Agri producers, traders as they can move their cargo in record transit times and at a very low tariffs

 

·         Interested parties can contact 24×7 on 9701371976 or 040-27821393 to register and book the wagons.

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GCC for Works latest one July 2020

Click for latest version of GCC for works 2020 July

GCC 2020 with changes highlighted by Red colour. Thanks to Shri Afzaluddin, Sr.AFA/SCR

Honorarium in Indian Railways

Click for Master circular on Honorarium RBA 148 of 2018

Click for Honorarium of Zonal Training Centers 2019

Is it Privatisation or Outsourcing in Indian Railways ?

Is it Privatization or Outsourcing in Indian Railways ?

The Railways has around 13 lakh permanent employees and over 4.5 lakh contractual and outsourced staff. It shows a ratio of 3:1.  May be in coming days, it may be jump to 2:1

Activities (termed as Non Core) that are already outsourced on a phased manner in Indian Railways are :

·         AC Coach attendants

·         Platform cleaning

·         Security

·         Executing the works in Indian Railways

·         P.Way maintenance

·         Catering & Pantry car

·          Hospitality

·         Doctors in Railway Hospital

·           Supply of Bed linen in AC Coaches

·          OBHS – On Board Housekeeping Services

·          Parcel vans

·         Sanitation in Railway colonies

·         Managing Retiring Rooms Dormitories

·         Housekeeping of Railway Stations

·         Railtel for telecom operations

·         RVNL for construction activities

·         Disburse salaries through NEFT (thereby reducing the Cash office staff)

·         Doorstep Banking

·         Engineering Surveys

·         Painting or removal of paint of Rolling Stock in Production Units / Workshops

·         Maintenance of IVRS – Interactive Voice Response System

·         Transportation of released track material

·         Leasing of SLR space

·         Unscheduled and scheduled repairs of house wiring and operations of  Pumps/DG sets / Stationery AC Plants/ Distribution network of power supply

·         Unscheduled repair of major electrical assembly of locomotives / multiple units / Alternaor / fans / Compressor in AC Coaches

·         Waiting halls in Platforms

Proposed / Contemplated activities are

·         PMC – Project Management Consultancy – Supervising the Works

·         Corporatisation of Railway Production Units and Workshops

·         Corporatisation of all construction activities

·         Railway Station operations (as a whole )

·         EPC – Engineering , Procurement and Construction (from estimate stage to completion stage)

·         Certain activities of Salary preparation, maintenance of Provident Fund / NPS etc

·         Private Trains

The above list is endless. I advise Railway employees to face any eventuality of the rapid changes in the Indian Railways in coming days.

Note:

I am neither pro nor against the above reforms / privatisation of the Non core activities of Indian Railways.

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