Modernisation of Indian Railways in 2020

Indian Railways operates 9,212 freight trains and 13,523 passenger trains over its network of 66,687 Route Kilometers (RKM) and carries approx three million tonnes of freight traffic every year and about 23 million passengers per day. Indian Railways has taken new initiatives for accelerating the pace of the Railway projects. Railway Board is investing maximum in its infrastructure. The Ministry of Railways plans to invest USD 700 billion through joint ventures, collaborations and partnerships to strengthen the infrastructure and reach every corner of the country in the next 10 years.

Projects on Modernisation of Indian Railways

1. Redevelopment of Railway Stations (Railopolis)

Indian Railways has planned to reconstruct railway stations through Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC), and other Central Government companies. Thus, paving the way for colossal modernisation and ensure world-class infrastructure.

Redevelopment of railway stations is known as Railopolis is planned through profit commercial development of the vacant place and air space in and around stations, that is station redevelopment projects shall generally cost-neutral to Railways.

Works for the redevelopment of Habibganj (Bhopal) railway station and Gandhinagar railway stations are in progress.

The phase is expected to be approx Rs 6000-9,000 Crore in size. IRSDC is taking up reconstruction of around 600 major Railway stations in India.

2. 'Adarsh' Station Scheme

More than 1250 railway stations have been identified for upgradation under Adarsh Railway Station Development Scheme across all the states.

'Adarsh' Railway Station Scheme has been started since 2009-10, and presently, upgradation of stations are taken under 'Adarsh Railway Station Scheme'. Since then, 1253 railway stations have been identified for development under the 'Adarsh Station Scheme' out of which 1149 railway stations so far have been developed under 'Adarsh Station Scheme', and remaining stations are targeted to be developed by 2020-21.

Various passenger amenities include improvement of the station building, retiring room, waiting room (attached bathing facilities), separate waiting room for ladies, parking, signages, Pay & Use toilets, Foot Over Bridge, and ramps at the entry to the station etc. They are proposed to be provided at Railway stations which are identified for development under this scheme.

3. Bag On Wheels Services

Passengers can use the Bag on Wheels app-based service to carry their baggage from home to train coach and railway station to home at a nominal cost. Door-to-door service will be provided with less price to the passengers for easy and hassle-free handling of the bags. The cost would depend on many things, such as the number of bags, the weight of the luggage, and the distance to be covered.

If you are looking for the train running status, then you can use RailMitra's 'spot your train' feature to check the live status of the train.

4. Environmental friendly technologies

I. Provision of Bio-toilets in train coaches- Nearly 2,30,000 Bio-toilets have been installed in 64,000 passenger coaches.

II. Use of Renewable Energy that is Solar Power and Wind Power - At present Indian Railways (IR) utilises about 202 megawatts (MW) of renewable power.

III. Provision of energy-efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting - 100% of stations, service buildings and about 89% of quarters have been provided with LED lights.

IV. Blending Bio-Diesel with High-Speed Diesel (HSD) - Blending 5% Bio-Diesel in HSD for diesel locomotive started in June 2015.

5. Solar Panels on Railway Stations

Indian Railways has decided to supply 500 Mega Watt rooftop solar plants by 2021-22. Most of this idea is being done in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode by private partners, in which Indian Railways do not have to incur capital expenditure. Private partners are also completing work of Solar panels on trains.

Indian Railways program to install solar energy panels in other railway stations depending upon site availability. This will cover the rooftops of station platforms, shelters and various other Railway buildings. So far, 95.67 Mega Watt of Rooftop Solar Panel has been installed on various Railway buildings, including 835 Railway stations.

6. New Railway Projects

At present, 498 Railway projects, including 255 Doubling Projects, 188 New Lines, and 55 Gauge Conversion Projects, are indifferent sanction/execution/planning stages. The total length of these railway projects is 49,069 km costing Rs 6.75 Lac Crore.

The average annual expenditure in Newline/Gauge Conversion/Doubling Projects in 2009-14 was Rs.11527 crore, which increased to Rs.30,198 crore, during 2019-2020, 162% more of an average annual budget outlay of 2009-14.

7. Automatic Train Protection System

The Railways is planning to cover 68,000 route km of full network with the Automatic Train Protection system in a phased way. As a pilot project, the railway system would be implemented on 650 route km of the Golden Diagonal (GD) and a Golden Quadrilateral corridor linking the four metros - Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai.

8. Reconstruction and Strengthening of Railway Bridges

Indian Railways has sanctioned 4,168 railway bridges for strengthening and repair in 2019 at an estimated cost of Rs 808 crore. As of 01.04.2019, there are approx 1,50,746 Bridges on the Indian Railways' system. There is the best system of inspection of bridges in Indian Railways. All the railway bridges are inspected twice a year, one before the start of the monsoon and one full inspection after the monsoon by the designated officials. As of April 2019, a total of 4168 railway Bridges are sanctioned for repair/rebuilding/strengthening/rehabilitation.

9. Connecting Capitals of All North Eastern States by Rail Network

The government has planned to link all State Capitals of North Eastern States (except Sikkim in which case, in the first phase, new linework has been sanctioned up to Rangpo) with Indian Railways' rail network without PPP mode. The capitals of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and the Tripura States have been linked by the Broad Gauge rail network.

10. Modernisation of Signalling System

Signalling System also enhances safety in train operations. 6,010 Stations on Indian Railway have already been equipped with a modern Electronic Signalling Interlocking System. To enhance line capacity to run more trains and lower the per-unit cost of train operations on existing High-Density Routes of Indian Railways, Automatic Block Signaling is a cost-effective solution.

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