DRM unfurls the tricolor and salutes
DRM is inpecting the RPF contingents
DRM addressing the gathering
Dog Show
Cultural shows by Children
The 68th Republic Day
While speaking on the occasion,
Shri Hari Shankar Verma recalled the
adaptation of the Constitution of India on this day, with a view to protect the
welfare of common men. He read out the message from Sri Vashishta Johri, General
Manager, Southern Railway. (original text given in full at the end in English).
Later, while addressing the gathering of officers, staff and their family members, Sri Verma said that the passenger earning of Salem Division has gone up by 8.5% (Rs.354.65 crs in 2015-16 & Rs.384.81 Crs in 2016-17-April to December) and other coaching earnings by 8.77% (Rs.29.87 crs in 2015-16 & Rs.32.49 Crs in 2016-17-April to December). He said that the gross earnings during the period have gone up by 5.67% from Rs.447.07 Crs to Rs.472.42 Crs.AC waiting halls, AC Dormitory at Coimbatore, AC waiting hall at Salem, escalators at Salem were completed during this period, he said. On Board House Keeping (OBHS) were introduced in Navjeevan, Kongu, Rajkot and Janshatabdi trains, and it will be extended to Coimbatore-Chennai Intercity Express, and 2 other trains shortly. Watering for trains have been improved by installation of Camtech Watering System in Erode junction at Rs.1.28 crores. 140 Bio-toilets have been fitted in 35 coaches and the Coach Maintenance Depot at Coimbatore is maintaining the Bio-Toilets in 120 coaches, including the Coimbatore-Rameswaram Green Train. For the first time in the country, Solar Panels have been fitted on the roof of a coach in Jan Shatabdi Express on trial basis and will be implemented to more coaches in future, with the approval of Railway Board.
Show by RPF Dog Squad, and a cultural show by the Railway School children were the highlights of the function. The function was attended by Shri Chander Pal, Addl. Divisional Railway Manager, Shri P. Raajmohan, Divisional Security Commissioner/RPF/Salem, and other Divisional officers, employees, and their family members in large numbers.
Later, while addressing the gathering of officers, staff and their family members, Sri Verma said that the passenger earning of Salem Division has gone up by 8.5% (Rs.354.65 crs in 2015-16 & Rs.384.81 Crs in 2016-17-April to December) and other coaching earnings by 8.77% (Rs.29.87 crs in 2015-16 & Rs.32.49 Crs in 2016-17-April to December). He said that the gross earnings during the period have gone up by 5.67% from Rs.447.07 Crs to Rs.472.42 Crs.AC waiting halls, AC Dormitory at Coimbatore, AC waiting hall at Salem, escalators at Salem were completed during this period, he said. On Board House Keeping (OBHS) were introduced in Navjeevan, Kongu, Rajkot and Janshatabdi trains, and it will be extended to Coimbatore-Chennai Intercity Express, and 2 other trains shortly. Watering for trains have been improved by installation of Camtech Watering System in Erode junction at Rs.1.28 crores. 140 Bio-toilets have been fitted in 35 coaches and the Coach Maintenance Depot at Coimbatore is maintaining the Bio-Toilets in 120 coaches, including the Coimbatore-Rameswaram Green Train. For the first time in the country, Solar Panels have been fitted on the roof of a coach in Jan Shatabdi Express on trial basis and will be implemented to more coaches in future, with the approval of Railway Board.
The punctuality
of trains has been improved from 86.59% to 90.44% and 763 special trains were
run in the Salem Division from April to December 2016.
As a staff
welfare measure, Cashless Treatment Scheme in Emergency (CSTE) for providing
treatment to all retired employees and their wards under Retired Employees
Liberalised Health Scheme, has bee introduced. As per this scheme, Smart Cards will
be issued in collaboration with Unit Trust of India, to enable Railway
Employees to get emergency treatment in the listed hospitals throughout Salem
Division, directly. The scanning and digitalization of service records has
started in Salem Division, and shortly it will be completed.
Under the Railway
Property Unlawful Possession Act, 17 persons were arrested by RPF, Salem, including one railway employee and railway
properties were recovered. 1219
defaulters were caught and fined an amount of s.1,94,800/- for littering/loitering
in the railway premises including tracks. The dog training centre at Podanur
would be upgraded to National Training Centre at a cost of Rs.2.20 crores with
facility to train about 50 dogs.
Show by RPF Dog Squad, and a cultural show by the Railway School children were the highlights of the function. The function was attended by Shri Chander Pal, Addl. Divisional Railway Manager, Shri P. Raajmohan, Divisional Security Commissioner/RPF/Salem, and other Divisional officers, employees, and their family members in large numbers.
Text of Message from General Manager, Southern Railway
General Manager’s Message
68th Republic Day
26th January 2017
All my dear Railwaymen & their family members,
Members of Press and Media, Ladies and Gentlemen and dear Children,
Very Good morning to all!.
On the occasion of 68th Republic Day of our beloved Nation today, it is my privilege to extend my best wishes and greetings to all of you. Ever since we adopted our constitution on January 26th 1950 noble ideals of equality, justice and harmony formed the basis of governance of our Nation, and entire population of our country without any bias or discrimination could participate in a democratic way towards the building of our nation. This day gives us an opportunity to respectfully remember the great leaders and freedom fighters without whose contribution this would not have been possible. It is a matter of great pride for all of us that now we are the most populous democratic country in the world having power in the hands of common people. I am sure that the patriotic fervour and festivities today will encourage all of us to keep our democracy strong and vibrant and motivate us to work towards making our nation great. Reflecting the ethos and values enshrined in our constitution, Southern Railway with its hardworking and dedicated employees, fosters unity, national integration and contributes to economic development of our country.
Our performance this year up to December 2016, has shown marginal decline over last year, apportioned earnings are down by 1.8% at Rs. 5505 cr. Though .our originating passenger earnings of Rs. 3470 cr. reflects marginal increase of 4% over last year but the Freight earnings are down by 8.6% at Rs.1774 cr. Total No. of passengers carried by us is slightly higher by 0.4% to 600 millions but our freight loading at 23.8MT is down by 3.6% .over last year. We also handled new stream of freight traffic i.e Petcoke from Manglaore Port and movement of Naphtha from Irumpanam to Numaligarh. 4 new goods sheds were also opened. With various concessions and incentives announced by Railway Board, our freight traffic is expected to pick up.
I would like to highlight some of the important achievements made so far this year.
On our capacity addition and augmentation works, Southern Railway has commissioned 85 km of doubling in 273 km stretch of Villupuram – Dindigul section this year, leaving only about 93 km, which is also targeted for completion by March 2017. This will boost our connectivity to South Tamil Nadu. 5th and 6th line between Chennai Central and Basin Bridge as well as 4th line between Tiruvallur and Arakkonam were commissioned this year, giving us quadrupled 60 km line between Chennai and Arakkonam with dedicated suburban corridor, greatly improving the running of M/E trains and suburban trains. Doubling of track has also been completed and commissioned for traffic for 13 km between Piravam road and Kuruppantara and 9 km between Tiruvalla and Chengannur in Ernakulam-Kottayam-Kayankulam project in the state of Kerala. 9km of doubling between Tiruvalla and Chengannur, 40 km Gauge conversion between Pollachi and Podanur , 8 km Gauge conversion between Punalur and Edaman and 5.9 km of doubling between Jakkote and Panambur have been completed and will be commissioned soon.
On operations front, a record number of 42 M/E trains have been speeded up this year and 8 M/E trains were upgraded into superfast express trains. We introduced 3 weekly trains (Kochuveli-Indore, Hatia-Ernakulam and Kamakya-Bangalore).. Upto December 2016, SR operated -
1151 reserved Special trains i.e.Premium and Suvidha specials (8% increase over the last year).
7954 unreserved specials, (98% increase over the last year), 138 Sabarimala specials and 18 pairs of IRCTC Specials.
2708 coaches were temporarily augmented and 76 coaches were permanently augmented (3% increase over the last year).
7 new DEMU rakes of 1400 HP were added.
On suburban side, 59 cross-sectoral services were introduced connecting MRTS with SWL and NE line and the punctuality of trains was improved significantly.
To improve passenger comfort, LHB coaches were introduced in Pandian Express, Rockfort Express, Mangalore Express and Thiruvanathapuram Mail.
In spite of several constraints, we were able to maintain overall punctuality of 88 %.
In tune with the commitments made by Hon’ble MR in his Budget speech, Southern Railway focused more on the comfort and quality of journey of our customers and provided various Passenger Amenities this year. As against the allotment of Rs.63.cr this year, Southern Railway spent Rs. 52.cr. (82% of the Budget grant) till December 2016 towards Passenger Amenities. We developed 105 stations as Adarsh stations and 23 more stations are under progress. 36 stations of religious importance are being developed with additional facilities. 3 stations are being planned in association with Ministry of Tourism. AC paid waiting halls were developed at 11 stations. Executive lounges are planned to be set up at 5 major stations. High speed Wi fi services are functional at 15 major stations over Southern Railway. Video wall and Electronic display boards are functional in 3 major stations.
For the first time in IR, “Women facilitation centres” have been opened at 6 major stations and are equipped with all necessary services round the clock greatly helping our women travellers. Janani sewa has been introduced in 14 stations, and IRCTC supported E catering has been started in 176 trains and in 37 stations. Jan Aahar with improved facility and local cuisine are functional at Chennai Central, Erode and Kanyakumari. 14 Escalators at 9 stations and 2 lifts at Chennai Egmore have been commissioned this year. Works for 19 Escalators and 35 lifts are in progress. Battery operated Cars at 8 major stations and Emergency medical centres at 15 major stations are greatly helping our passengers. Working towards cash less transactions, PoS machines are now available in 42 PRS counters and 70 suburban stations and all PRS counters will have this facility by March’17. GPS based passenger information system with both visual display and audio announcement have also been provided in 60 EMU/MEMU rakes in suburban and MRTS sections.
In our effort to keep the trains and stations clean, 5033 bio toilets are available in 1552 coaches, which is 23% of Southern Railway’s coach population. On Board House Keeping System is operational in 28 trains and 10 more trains will be covered shortly. As a testament to our cleanliness effort, in the first nationwide cleanliness survey, Kumbakonam and Salem stations of Southern Railway came among top 10 cleanest stations and 3 Divisions Salem,Tiruchchirappalli and Madurai came among best 15 Divisions in Indian Railways. Many such initiatives are continued to be undertaken in this direction.
Safety is always accorded top most importance in our operations. 91 unmanned LCs and 27 manned LCs were eliminated. 22 LC gates have been interlocked. 15 ROBs/RUBs were completed and commissioned for traffic and 60 bridges were rehabilitated. Southern Railway has also undertaken various important track safety works. On security front, RPF team promptly acted on 942 messages on 182 helpline and assisted 846 passengers. 615 missing/abandoned children were rescued and handed over to parents/NGOs.
Financial assistance of Rs.5.9 cr has been extended to Railwaymen under various scholarship/schemes of Central Staff Benefit Fund. Pension Adalat was conducted clearing 1029 applications out of 1312 addressing the grievances of retired officials. Issue of e-PPOs has been started from this year. Adhaar enrolment camp was also conducted benefitting 61234 serving and retired employees. 977 Health Awareness and 286 medical screening camps were conducted in the Zone benefitting 19118 beneficiaries. Ayush medical facility was added to Railway Hospital, Perambur, which is well known for various specialities over Indian Railways.
I compliment students and staff of Ashraya school, functioning under the aegis of SRWWO for performing exceptionally well and for bagging the Best Staff award by Rotary Club of Ambattur this year. I convey my best wishes to SRWWO for conducting various welfare activities for the staff and their families.
I congratulate Chess player Sh. K Ratnakaran and coach Sh V Ravichandran who won Gold medal beating Russia in USIC World Railway Chess championship games. I congratulate Sh. Rafath Habib who won Silver in team snooker event and Sh. S. Dilip Kumar who were selected to represent India in IBSF World Snooker event held at Egypt. I congratulate all the Sportspersons who participated and brought laurels to Southern Railway in various National and International games and I wish them for their continued success. I also congratulate Sh Manikandan, Asst Commissioner, St John Ambulance Brigade who has been awarded with President’s Gold medal.
I would like to extend my best wishes to our recognised trade union and associations, who have been a source of strength in the pursuit of our achievements and excellence.
I would like to thank and congratulate all Officers, supervisors and staff of Southern Railway who have performed exceptionally well for the achievements this year and I wish them all, their families and their children, a bright future and good luck in all their endeavours. I am sure with the active participation of such dedicated and motivated Railwaymen, Southern Railway will continue to achieve all its targets and actively serve the people of India, making our nation proud.
I once again convey my best wishes to one and all here.
Jai Hind!!
