RB Held meeting with GM;s

Shri A.K.Mital, Chairman Railway Board held a high level Full Board meeting on 4thSeptember, 2015 with the General Managers (GM’s) of Five Zones viz., East Coast Railway, Southern Railway, South Central Railway, South East Central Railway and South Western Railway at Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad.
The full board meeting was held to review the performance of the five zones during the current fiscal and deliberate o­n the developmental plans for attaining the targets by the end of the financial year. The meeting assumed significance o­n account of the proactive measures being under taken by Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Railways to enhance the efficiency and the growth of Indian Railways.

The entire top machinery of Railway Board viz., Ms. Rajalakshmi Ravikumar, Finance Commisioner; Shri Navin Tandon, Member Electrical; Shri V.K. Gupta, Member Engineering; Shri Hemant Kumar, Member Mechanical; Shri Pradeep Kumar, Member Staff; Shri Kundan Sinha, Member Traffic; Shri Ganga Ram Agarwal, Secretary were present at the meeting.

Shri P.K. Saxena, GM, South Central & South Western Railways; Shri Rajiv Vishnoi, GM, East Coast Railway; Shri Vashishta Johri, GM, Southern Railway and Shri Satyender Kumar, GM, East Central Railway along with Divisional Railway Managers and other senior officials representing the Zones were present.

Addressing the meeting, Shri A.K. Mital, Chairman Railway Board sought the best in terms of working efficiency from all the zones in various spheres of performance so as to ensure targeted growth in freight and passenger traffic besides giving due priority to customer satisfaction. With a fresh growth oriented direction coming from the Hon’ble Minister of Railways, the need is to evolve a dynamic approach and infuse fresh ideas into the working system, the Chairman Railway Board stressed.

The Chairman Railway Board sought every effort in improving the loading, mobility & interchange performance and timely release of rakes. The key to success in increasing the passenger traffic o­n Indian Railways is by means of effective ticket checking, he stressed. Shri Mital also laid emphasis o­n “Zero Accident Mission”, for Indian Railways, as emphasized by Hon’ble Minister of Railways.

Speaking o­n capacity enhancement works in terms of Projects taken up for completion, the Chairman Railway Board made it clear that there shall be no time overruns and cost overruns for such works. Elaborating o­n the expectations of rail users, Shri Mital held focus o­n the aspect of Punctuality and Cleanliness as the two foremost factors which are vital to passenger satisfaction. He wanted that extensive efforts be made o­n a continuous basis to ensure punctuality of train services.

With regard to Cleanliness, he made it evidently clear that cleanliness standards be maintained to the best levels in trains as well as at stations. The aim shall not just be towards general cleanliness but aimed at total cleanliness which includes a efficient system of garbage disposal too, he advised.

Later, the Full Board reviewed the performance of all the five Zones i.e. South Central Railway, South Western Railway, Southern Railway, East Coast Railway and South East Central Railway with the respective General Managers for the current fiscal 2015-16 up to July 2015. The Chairman and Members of Railway Board advised the following action plan to improve the performance in different areas for financial year 2015-16.

I.Loading-

·Improving mobility with special focus o­n preventing detentions of Goods trains short of Zonal boundaries.

·Intensive utilization of special stock goods wagons to be ensured.

·Increase interchange of Goods trains shall be ensured for clearance of increased loading.

·Running of more long haul Goods trains, by identifying potential circuits.

·Terminal performance to be closely monitored and commissioning of new sidings to be expedited.

·Crew management and utilization has to be improved.

II.Earnings-

·Focus should be given to realization of pending land license fees and signing of pending agreements.

·Intensive ticket checking drives should be launched regularly.

III.Safety-

·Scrupulously following laid down track maintenance schedules and methods so as to ensure no track defects.

·Unusual incidents reported by line staff as Guard, Station Master, Patrol Man, Gate Man etc., to be taken up with utmost seriousness and followed up at highest levels.

·Improvement in the Quality of inspection and follow up actions to be taken o­n required issues which come to notice in the regular safety drives.

·Leakages in diesel supply lines in Yards should by checked.

·No waste material shall be burnt in Yards.

·Mobile call records of Loco-Pilots involved in SPAD (Signal Passing at Danger) should invariably be checked at the time of incident.

·Instructions issued recently regarding fire safety in route relay interlocking should be implemented expeditiously.

IV.Capacity Enhancement Works-

·Continuous coordination meetings with State Governments should be held.

·Close monitoring of works being carried by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) shall be undertaken.

V.Punctuality-

·Cause wise analysis of all asset failures should be done and corrective action taken.

·Steps should be taken to avoid detention due to shunting of sick coaches.

·Train watering halts should be re-examined for adequate time for watering.

·Asset failures/Punctuality losses particularly in respect of diesel locomotives and signals should be contained.

·Areas vulnerable to alarm chain pulling and gangs responsible for the misdeed should be identified and Railway Protection Force should escort trains in these areas.

The General Managers of the five Zones presented a detailed report o­n the performance of their respective Zones in the current fiscal 2015-16 and appraised the Chairman, Railway Board o­n the strategy being chalked out to attain the targets set for the year and to earn good will of the rail users.