Indian Railways Junction
- Thread starter Seiko
- Start date
Make Piyush Goyal the finance minister. He will surely deliver. Nirmala Sitharaman is useless
Not only her, Rajnath Singh also needs to go. All I have seen him do is take joyrides.
Alternatively, scrap the MoD and bureaucracy and make the CDS report to PMO directly.
Railway unveils new signalling system
The Railways will roll out its new signalling system from April 2020 onwards that is expected to make train travel faster and safer, a senior railways official said.
The implementation will begin with four sections of about 640 route kilometres with an estimated cost of around ₹1,810 crore.
This is expected to be a pilot project for pan-India implementation of the nearly ₹78,000 crore project to modernise the signalling system which was included in the works programme of 2018-19.
"We are yet to get approval for this [entire project] from the NITI Aayog, the extended Railway Board and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA),” Pradeep Kumar, Member (Signal & Telecom), Railway Board said. The four sections where the plan will be implemented first are Renigunta -Yerraguntla section of the South Central Railways, Vizianagaram-Palasa section of East Coast Railway, Jhasi-Bina on North Central Railway and Nagpur-Badnera on Central Railway.
Modern technologies
"These four sections are some of the busiest routes on Indian Railways with heavy traffic. These will act as a pilot for signal modernisation across the 70,000 km network of the Indian Railways,” Mr. Kumar said.
The modernisation of the signalling system will include implementation of technologies such as the automatic train protection (ATP) system that helps in adhering to permissible speed limits without driver intervention and 4G-based mobile train radio communication system (MTRC) which will can be used for emergency communications.
The implementation of these new systems will improve safety, reduce congestion, increase line capacity and improve punctuality, Mr. Kumar said.
Besides a centralised traffic control system similar to the air traffic control system, a remote diagnostic and predictive maintenance system will be implemented.
The Railways will roll out its new signalling system from April 2020 onwards that is expected to make train travel faster and safer, a senior railways official said.
The implementation will begin with four sections of about 640 route kilometres with an estimated cost of around ₹1,810 crore.
This is expected to be a pilot project for pan-India implementation of the nearly ₹78,000 crore project to modernise the signalling system which was included in the works programme of 2018-19.
"We are yet to get approval for this [entire project] from the NITI Aayog, the extended Railway Board and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA),” Pradeep Kumar, Member (Signal & Telecom), Railway Board said. The four sections where the plan will be implemented first are Renigunta -Yerraguntla section of the South Central Railways, Vizianagaram-Palasa section of East Coast Railway, Jhasi-Bina on North Central Railway and Nagpur-Badnera on Central Railway.
Modern technologies
"These four sections are some of the busiest routes on Indian Railways with heavy traffic. These will act as a pilot for signal modernisation across the 70,000 km network of the Indian Railways,” Mr. Kumar said.
The modernisation of the signalling system will include implementation of technologies such as the automatic train protection (ATP) system that helps in adhering to permissible speed limits without driver intervention and 4G-based mobile train radio communication system (MTRC) which will can be used for emergency communications.
The implementation of these new systems will improve safety, reduce congestion, increase line capacity and improve punctuality, Mr. Kumar said.
Besides a centralised traffic control system similar to the air traffic control system, a remote diagnostic and predictive maintenance system will be implemented.
Cabinet approves transformational Organisational Restructuring of Indian Railways
Unification of the existing eight Group A services of the Railways into a Central Service called Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS)
Unification of services will end 'departmentalism, promote smooth working of Railways, expedite decision making, create a coherent vision for organisation and promote rational decision making
Railway board will no longer be organised on departmental lines, and replaced with a leaner structure organised on functional lines
Railway Board to be headed by Chairman Railway Board (CRB) who will be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with 4 Members and some Independent Members
Unification of services has been recommended by various committees for reforming Railways
Reforms undertaken with overwhelming support and consensus of Railway officers, at a two-day conference "Parivartan Sangoshthi" held on 7th & 8th December, 2019
The modalities and unification of the services will be worked out in consultation with DoPT and the approval of Alternate Mechanism appointed by Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency
Posted On: 24 DEC 2019 4:24PM by PIB Delhi
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a transformational organisational restructuring of the Indian Railways. This historic reform will go a long way in achieving Government’s vision of making Indian Railways the growth engine of India's vikas yatra.
The reforms include:
Railways has an ambitious programme to modernise and provide the highest standards of safety, speed and services to the passengers with a proposed investment of Rs. 50 lakh crore over the next 12 years. This requires speed and scale, and a unified, agile organisation to work single-mindedly on this task and capable of responding to challenges. Today's reforms are in a series of reforms that have been undertaken under the present Government including merger of Rail Budget with Union Budget, delegation of powers to empower GMs and field officers, allowing competitive operators to run trains etc.
To meet next level challenges and deal with various existing difficulties there was a need to take this step. Unlike Railway systems the world over, which have been corporatized, Indian Railways is managed by the Government directly. It is organised into various departments such as Traffic, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Signal & Telecom, Stores, Personnel, and Accounts etc. These departments are vertically separated from top to bottom and are headed by a Secretary level officer (Member] in the Railway Board. This organization of the department runs deep down to the grassroot level of the Railways. Unification of services will end this 'departmentalism', promote smooth working of Railways, expedite decision making, create a coherent vision for organisation and promote rational decision making.
Unification of services has been recommended by various committees for reforming Railways including - the Prakash Tandon Committee (1994), Rakesh Mohan Committee (2001), Sam Pitroda Committee (2012) and Bibek Debroy Committee (2015).
This reform has been undertaken with the overwhelming support and consensus of Railway officers, at a two-day conference "Parivartan Sangoshthi" held in Delhi on 7th and 8th December, 2019. To act on this sentiment, and create confidence in Railway officers that their suggestions are valued, Railway Board held an Extraordinary meeting of the Board during the conference on 8th December, 2019 itself, and recommended a number of reforms including the ones mentioned.
It is now proposed to create a unified Group A' service called "Indian Railways Management Service" (IRMS) from the next recruitment cycle. Creation of the new service will be done in consultation with DoPT and UPSC to facilitate recruitment in the next recruitment year. It will enable Railways to recruit engineers/non-engineers as per need, and offer equality of opportunity to both categories in career progression. The modalities and unification of the services will be worked out by the Ministry of Railways in consultation with DoPT with the approval of Alternate Mechanism to be appointed by Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency. The process shall be completed within a year.
The newly recruited officers will come from Engineering and non-Engineering disciplines as per need and posted as per their aptitude and specialisation to allow them to specialise in one field, develop an overall perspective, and prepare them to take up general management responsibilities at senior levels. Selection for the general management positions shall be through a merit-based system.
Railway board will no longer be organised on departmental lines, and replaced with a leaner structure organised on functional lines. It will have a Chairman, who will act as 'Chief Executive Officer (CEO)' along with 4 Members responsible for Infrastructure, Operations & Business Development, Rolling Stock and Finance respectively. The Chairman shall be the cadre controlling officer responsible for Human resources (HR) with assistance from a DG (HR). 3 Apex level posts shall be surrendered from Railway Board and all the remaining posts of the Railway Board shall be open to all officers regardless of the service to which they belonged. The Board will also have some independent Members (the number to be decided by competent authority from time to time), who will be highly distinguished professionals with deep knowledge and 30 years of experience including at the top levels in industry, finance, economics and management fields. The Independent Members will help Railway Board in setting a strategic direction. The restructured Board will start functioning after approval of the Board taking due care to ensure that officers are posted in the restructured Board or adjusted in the same pay and rank till their retirement.
Unification of the existing eight Group A services of the Railways into a Central Service called Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS)
Unification of services will end 'departmentalism, promote smooth working of Railways, expedite decision making, create a coherent vision for organisation and promote rational decision making
Railway board will no longer be organised on departmental lines, and replaced with a leaner structure organised on functional lines
Railway Board to be headed by Chairman Railway Board (CRB) who will be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with 4 Members and some Independent Members
Unification of services has been recommended by various committees for reforming Railways
Reforms undertaken with overwhelming support and consensus of Railway officers, at a two-day conference "Parivartan Sangoshthi" held on 7th & 8th December, 2019
The modalities and unification of the services will be worked out in consultation with DoPT and the approval of Alternate Mechanism appointed by Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency
Posted On: 24 DEC 2019 4:24PM by PIB Delhi
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a transformational organisational restructuring of the Indian Railways. This historic reform will go a long way in achieving Government’s vision of making Indian Railways the growth engine of India's vikas yatra.
The reforms include:
- Unification of the existing eight Group A services of the Railways into a Central Service called Indian Railway Management Service (/RMS)
- Re-organisation of Railway Board on functional lines headed by CRB with four Members and some Independent Members
- The existing service of Indian Railway Medical Service (IRMS) to be consequently renamed as Indian Railway Health Service (IRHS)
Railways has an ambitious programme to modernise and provide the highest standards of safety, speed and services to the passengers with a proposed investment of Rs. 50 lakh crore over the next 12 years. This requires speed and scale, and a unified, agile organisation to work single-mindedly on this task and capable of responding to challenges. Today's reforms are in a series of reforms that have been undertaken under the present Government including merger of Rail Budget with Union Budget, delegation of powers to empower GMs and field officers, allowing competitive operators to run trains etc.
To meet next level challenges and deal with various existing difficulties there was a need to take this step. Unlike Railway systems the world over, which have been corporatized, Indian Railways is managed by the Government directly. It is organised into various departments such as Traffic, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Signal & Telecom, Stores, Personnel, and Accounts etc. These departments are vertically separated from top to bottom and are headed by a Secretary level officer (Member] in the Railway Board. This organization of the department runs deep down to the grassroot level of the Railways. Unification of services will end this 'departmentalism', promote smooth working of Railways, expedite decision making, create a coherent vision for organisation and promote rational decision making.
Unification of services has been recommended by various committees for reforming Railways including - the Prakash Tandon Committee (1994), Rakesh Mohan Committee (2001), Sam Pitroda Committee (2012) and Bibek Debroy Committee (2015).
This reform has been undertaken with the overwhelming support and consensus of Railway officers, at a two-day conference "Parivartan Sangoshthi" held in Delhi on 7th and 8th December, 2019. To act on this sentiment, and create confidence in Railway officers that their suggestions are valued, Railway Board held an Extraordinary meeting of the Board during the conference on 8th December, 2019 itself, and recommended a number of reforms including the ones mentioned.
It is now proposed to create a unified Group A' service called "Indian Railways Management Service" (IRMS) from the next recruitment cycle. Creation of the new service will be done in consultation with DoPT and UPSC to facilitate recruitment in the next recruitment year. It will enable Railways to recruit engineers/non-engineers as per need, and offer equality of opportunity to both categories in career progression. The modalities and unification of the services will be worked out by the Ministry of Railways in consultation with DoPT with the approval of Alternate Mechanism to be appointed by Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency. The process shall be completed within a year.
The newly recruited officers will come from Engineering and non-Engineering disciplines as per need and posted as per their aptitude and specialisation to allow them to specialise in one field, develop an overall perspective, and prepare them to take up general management responsibilities at senior levels. Selection for the general management positions shall be through a merit-based system.
Railway board will no longer be organised on departmental lines, and replaced with a leaner structure organised on functional lines. It will have a Chairman, who will act as 'Chief Executive Officer (CEO)' along with 4 Members responsible for Infrastructure, Operations & Business Development, Rolling Stock and Finance respectively. The Chairman shall be the cadre controlling officer responsible for Human resources (HR) with assistance from a DG (HR). 3 Apex level posts shall be surrendered from Railway Board and all the remaining posts of the Railway Board shall be open to all officers regardless of the service to which they belonged. The Board will also have some independent Members (the number to be decided by competent authority from time to time), who will be highly distinguished professionals with deep knowledge and 30 years of experience including at the top levels in industry, finance, economics and management fields. The Independent Members will help Railway Board in setting a strategic direction. The restructured Board will start functioning after approval of the Board taking due care to ensure that officers are posted in the restructured Board or adjusted in the same pay and rank till their retirement.
How does merging such varied discipline like electrical and mechanical engineering to accounts and administration help the organisation?there is specialization of most task in IR and i wonder how would this be compatible with the current reforms. I feel sceptical though, if this overarching merger was the solution to the never ending departmental turf wars.
Also the statement about giving equal opportunity to all in growth( promotion basically) isn't it a bit odd, you lose would end up puting the wrong guy in wrong position with no compatible skill set with the task at hand? I hope IR finds a solution to this and other problems that may arise.
Also if one look carefully the departmental rivalries were never with engineering dept and finance dept. But always a sub set of various departments of similar nature say between mech vs elec etc. A better way would have been unifying similar services, like instead of a IRESE, IR Mech Engg Service etc, a general engineering service. Similarly for other streams.
Basically this is a ruse to reduce future recruitment & downsizing.
First time in 166 years, Indian Railways reports zero passenger deaths in FY19
The number of accidents in 1960-61 was 2,131, which came down to 840 in 1970-71. The total number of accidents in 1980-81 was recorded at 1,013, in 1990-91 it stood at 532 accidents, and in 2010-11 there were 141 such cases
Last Updated: December 24, 2019 | 21:00 IST
Representative Image
In its 166-year-long history, Indian Railways has reported financial year 2018-19 as its safest year. The national transporter saw zero passenger deaths in the last fiscal, marking a big achievement for it on the safety front. According to Indian Railways' data, the total numbers of consequential accidents - collisions, fire in trains, level crossing accidents and derailment -- have decreased by nearly 95 per cent over the last 38 years.
In financial year 2017-18, Indian Railways reported 73 accidents across the railway network. Implementation of continuous safety measures saw this number dip further in FY19. Indian Railways reported 59 accidents during FY19. Additionally, the total number of train accidents per million kilometres reduced to an all-time low of 0.06 in 2018-19.
Reports suggest that number of accidents in 1960-61 was 2,131, which came down to 840 in 1970-71. The total number of accidents in 1980-81 was recorded at 1,013, in 1990-91 it stood at 532 accidents, and in 2010-11 there were 141 such cases.
An average of over 500 accidents took place annually between 1990-1995, with around 2,400 deaths and 4,300 injured. However, an average of 110 accidents took place every year between 2013-2018, in which around 990 people were killed and 1,500 injured.
(With agency inputs)
First time in 166 years, Indian Railways reports zero passenger deaths in FY19
The number of accidents in 1960-61 was 2,131, which came down to 840 in 1970-71. The total number of accidents in 1980-81 was recorded at 1,013, in 1990-91 it stood at 532 accidents, and in 2010-11 there were 141 such cases
Last Updated: December 24, 2019 | 21:00 IST
Representative Image
In its 166-year-long history, Indian Railways has reported financial year 2018-19 as its safest year. The national transporter saw zero passenger deaths in the last fiscal, marking a big achievement for it on the safety front. According to Indian Railways' data, the total numbers of consequential accidents - collisions, fire in trains, level crossing accidents and derailment -- have decreased by nearly 95 per cent over the last 38 years.
In financial year 2017-18, Indian Railways reported 73 accidents across the railway network. Implementation of continuous safety measures saw this number dip further in FY19. Indian Railways reported 59 accidents during FY19. Additionally, the total number of train accidents per million kilometres reduced to an all-time low of 0.06 in 2018-19.
Reports suggest that number of accidents in 1960-61 was 2,131, which came down to 840 in 1970-71. The total number of accidents in 1980-81 was recorded at 1,013, in 1990-91 it stood at 532 accidents, and in 2010-11 there were 141 such cases.
An average of over 500 accidents took place annually between 1990-1995, with around 2,400 deaths and 4,300 injured. However, an average of 110 accidents took place every year between 2013-2018, in which around 990 people were killed and 1,500 injured.
(With agency inputs)
First time in 166 years, Indian Railways reports zero passenger deaths in FY19
IRMS a result of the inter-department spat on Train 18
The no-holds barred battle between the mechanical and the electrical engineering wings in the manufacture and approval of the ‘Train 18’ sets by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) near Chennai could have been the tipping point in the tectonic move to have an unified Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS) in place of eight other services.
Top sources in Indian Railways indicated as much stating that Railways Minister Piyush Goyal was very much cross over the muck-racking exercise by the two wings “without any concern for the overall objective of the railways” and gave the go ahead.
“Train 18 is a victim of fight between two engineering wings. The mechanical department presumed that the electrical would sabotage the project and did not consult it while designing the system. They got it done through an outside vendor. It was later realised that the train was pulling too much power and there were other technical issues,” they explained.
Blame game
Both wings submitted four page notes putting the blame on each other. “Each department was trying to promote its own interest ignoring the train as a whole. It is an indicative how the railways function. Anyway, it has been sorted out and tenders called for with Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), clearance,” they said.
The ‘departmentalism’ mindset seeped up to the Railway Board too with members rooting for their respective wings leading to “lot of problems” forcing the Chairman to “solve disputes and arbitrate arguments rather than focus on strategic issues and policy planning,” they claim.
Management changes have been made on the basis of the recommendations made by various committees starting from the Prakash Tandon, Sam Pitroda, Rakesh Mohan to the latest Bibek Debroy.
Bold step
“Everyone knew what is to be done, but the Railways Minister took a bold step and at a recent meeting with senior officials took the consensus of a majority of participants,” they said.
Apparently, officers of three wings — Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Indian Railway Account Service (IRAS) and Indian Railway Personal Service (IRPS) — all chosen from the Union Public Service Exam (UPSC) are ahead in seniority when compared to their peers in engineering services from two up to four years.
“Seniority and thereby promotions are determined by date of birth and confidential reports so much so that any young probationary is easily able to assimilate his career growth to the top. It has never been about efficiency and performance. A major restructuring has become inevitable if they are to become efficient and expecting a ₹50 lakh crore investment in the coming years,” top sources said.
Evaluating performance
However, apprehensions remain. “How do you evaluate the rankings among the top performers? It is very difficult to shed seniority aspect totally and choose the senior-rung based on performance,” says a senior official.
Such has been the rumblings that Chairman Railway Board (CRB) Vinod Kumar Yadav had a video conference with all divisional railway managers and tried to allay their fears. Even at the zonal level, respective general managers are discussing with senior staff even as some took to social media to vent their grievances.
Mr. Yadav insisted that the concerns of all the 8,400 senior officers would be addressed in a fair manner. “We are not going to promote anyone at the cost of the existing officers or demote anyone. Wherever necessary, we will have supernumerary posts but will ensure the efficient lot too get justice,” he said, when contacted.
Absolute integrity
Chairman Railway Board V.K. Yadav asserted that the restructuring plan is to ensure officers of one batch get promotions in one go and also propel those with absolute integrity to the top posts.
In an interview with this correspondent, he said the seniority of the existing officers would be determined inter-department wise as per the Bibek Debroy panel guidelines and later, the proposed Group of Ministers (GOM) will look into the postings and promotions after a thorough performance evaluation.
“It is likely to take three months for GOM to hold consultations and entire process could take up to a year. Till then postings, promotions and other benefits will continue as it is now with specialised engineers doing work of their domain only,” he said.
360-degree appraisal
Under the proposed performance evaluation, all the 350 officers joining the service each year will be evaluated through a 360-degree appraisal after their 15-year tenures for postings as DRMs with three senior officers benchmarking work based on interaction with peers, juniors and seniors.
“Just not having no vigilance cases will no longer do, we need people of absolute integrity at the top with proven efficiency through multi-source feedback,” said the CRB, contrasting to the present system where just the ‘top’ 34 of the officials get to become DRMs and above.
IRMS a result of the inter-department spat on Train 18
My short givings were wrt Traffic, Hr and other admin depts being merged with Engineering services... Entirely different set of tasks and expertise. I can't fathom how would they reconcile. Similarly, this merger would just push down the interdepartmental rivalry just one or two rings lower down the command structure. At the end of the day, you can't have mech or civil engg man the traction substation. Or the same goes for other set of services.
Now think about the case of stores manager or account manager running the tracks and bridges part of the operation. I guess we are substituting one evil for another and creating a mini Ministry of Defence inside IR, where nobody knows what is happening and what is to be done to achieve the goal. It is in these times, one admire the Chinese
Not at all. What this new mechanism is expected to do is to rationalization of promotion. All same level employees will get promoted together irrespective of department, be it mechanical or electrical. It's their "individual output" which will be deciding factor to what level will they get promoted. To your second query, inter-department postings are quite normal in IR, you might not be aware off this. But IR is doing cross department deployment of specialised manpower since long. Thank you.