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Five-pronged strategy for robust Rly
A high-powered committee on Railway Safety on Friday recommended to the Railway Ministry a major revamp of its organisational and infrastructural set-up, involving an expenditure of Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five years.
The panel headed by Atomic Energy Commission’s former Chairman Anil Kakodkar painted a grim picture of Railways’ financial condition and suggested a five-pronged approach to generate funds, including levying of a Safety Cess on passengers.
The panel has recommended implementation of Advance Signaling System through Special Purpose Vehicle and an expert group for technical issue with an estimated cost of Rs 20,000 crore for 19000-km route. It has suggested elimination of all level crossings (manned and unmanned both) with an estimated coast of Rs 50,000 crore over five years. The gigantic project will also need setting up of a dedicated and empowered SPV for each Railway zone to accomplish this task within a five-year period, it said.
The report stressed that all new coaches should be only of LHB design, which are much safer for present speeds and train lengths. This would involve a cost of Rs 10,000 crore over five years. Maintenance of safety-related infrastructural and other items with total cost of Rs 20,000 crore also finds a mention in the report.
Finding the financial state of Indian Railways at the brink of collapse “unless some concrete measures are taken”, the committee has strongly recommended stopping the practice of introduction of new trains without commensurate inputs to the infrastructure.
Noting that the net social service obligation borne by Indian Railways in 2009-10 was about Rs 15,000 crores, which is more than 17 per cent of the total revenue earning and 18 per cent of the total expenditure, the panel said there was an urgent need to increase ridiculously low passenger fares to at least recover the basic operation and maintenance costs from the users.
Suggesting the mode of funding for these projects it has recommended that Rs 5,000 crore could be raised every year through a Safety Cess on passengers, another Rs 5,000 crore in the form of matching grant from the Centre. The panel also wants Railways to defer the dividend it pays to Government in order to generate Rs 5,000 crore and impose another Road Cess to generate an additional Rs 1,000 crore. It has also suggested the Railways to raise another Rs 4,000 crore through earning from utilisation of its real estate.
“The committee has recommended Safety and Road Cess, but the Railway is yet to take a call on this. These are just one of the few options that are available to us. This does not mean the aam admi will be burdened. Even if the Government does not provide us funds, we will arrange it on our own,” Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said.
The Committee has recommended a Railway Research and Development Council (RRDC) under the Government that will have Advance Railway Research Institute (ARRI) and 5 Railway Research Centres for key safety-related railway disciplines such as rolling stock, signaling, telecommunications, motive power, tracks, bridges and operations management.
A restructuring of Research Design and Standards Organisation recommended on the lines of other similar research institutions with appropriate empowerment.
A high-powered committee on Railway Safety on Friday recommended to the Railway Ministry a major revamp of its organisational and infrastructural set-up, involving an expenditure of Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five years.
The panel headed by Atomic Energy Commission’s former Chairman Anil Kakodkar painted a grim picture of Railways’ financial condition and suggested a five-pronged approach to generate funds, including levying of a Safety Cess on passengers.
The panel has recommended implementation of Advance Signaling System through Special Purpose Vehicle and an expert group for technical issue with an estimated cost of Rs 20,000 crore for 19000-km route. It has suggested elimination of all level crossings (manned and unmanned both) with an estimated coast of Rs 50,000 crore over five years. The gigantic project will also need setting up of a dedicated and empowered SPV for each Railway zone to accomplish this task within a five-year period, it said.
The report stressed that all new coaches should be only of LHB design, which are much safer for present speeds and train lengths. This would involve a cost of Rs 10,000 crore over five years. Maintenance of safety-related infrastructural and other items with total cost of Rs 20,000 crore also finds a mention in the report.
Finding the financial state of Indian Railways at the brink of collapse “unless some concrete measures are taken”, the committee has strongly recommended stopping the practice of introduction of new trains without commensurate inputs to the infrastructure.
Noting that the net social service obligation borne by Indian Railways in 2009-10 was about Rs 15,000 crores, which is more than 17 per cent of the total revenue earning and 18 per cent of the total expenditure, the panel said there was an urgent need to increase ridiculously low passenger fares to at least recover the basic operation and maintenance costs from the users.
Suggesting the mode of funding for these projects it has recommended that Rs 5,000 crore could be raised every year through a Safety Cess on passengers, another Rs 5,000 crore in the form of matching grant from the Centre. The panel also wants Railways to defer the dividend it pays to Government in order to generate Rs 5,000 crore and impose another Road Cess to generate an additional Rs 1,000 crore. It has also suggested the Railways to raise another Rs 4,000 crore through earning from utilisation of its real estate.
“The committee has recommended Safety and Road Cess, but the Railway is yet to take a call on this. These are just one of the few options that are available to us. This does not mean the aam admi will be burdened. Even if the Government does not provide us funds, we will arrange it on our own,” Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said.
The Committee has recommended a Railway Research and Development Council (RRDC) under the Government that will have Advance Railway Research Institute (ARRI) and 5 Railway Research Centres for key safety-related railway disciplines such as rolling stock, signaling, telecommunications, motive power, tracks, bridges and operations management.
A restructuring of Research Design and Standards Organisation recommended on the lines of other similar research institutions with appropriate empowerment.
