69th Republic Day Celebrations at Salem Division, Southern Railway

 The 69^th  Republic Day was celebrated today (26.01.2018) at Salem Division of Southern Railway with patriotic fervor. Shri Hari Shankar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager, Salem Division, Southern Railway, hoisted the tricolor and accepted the guard of honor presented by the RPF personnel of Salem Division.

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 R. K. Kulshreshta, General Manager, Southern Railway. (original text given in full at the end in English). 

Show by RPF Commando Force, and a cultural show by the children from Railway School, Erode and Salem,  were the highlights of the function. The function was attended by Shri Chander Pal, Addl. Divisional Railway Manager, Dr. M. Narasimham, Chief Medical Superintendent, Shri P.Ponraj, Divisional Security Commissioner/RPF/Salem, Sri S. Thirumurugan, Divisional Personnel Officer, Sri Perumal Nandalal, Sr. Divisional Engineer,  Dr. S. Uma Maheswari, Sr. Divisional Financial Manager, Sri A. Vijuvin, Sr. Divl Commercial Manager, and other Divisional officers, employees, and their family members in large numbers.

Later, Sri Hari Shankar Verma declared open the RPF Inspector’s Office at the Salem Junction PF No.3/4 and also the RPF Barracks on the western side of the Salem Junction, in the presence of Salem Division Officials. He said that the barracks will be sheltering both the RPF and the GRP personnel and further improvements will be made in the Barracks.  

General Manager’s Speech-69^th Republic Day-26^th January 2018

My colleague officers from Headquarters and Divisions and their families, Retired Officers present here, Supervisors and staff and their families, Representatives of Press and Media, Representatives of recognised Trade Union & Associations,  Ladies & Gentlemen and My dear children.

Good morning to all of you on the occasion of 69^th Republic Day of our Nation today.  It is my privilege and pleasure to extend my best wishes and greetings to all of you present here and your families.

Just as our Constitution preserves secular, sovereign democratic character of our country, Indian Railway helps to nurture national integrity, fulfilling the transportation needs across length and breadth of our country without any bias of caste, creed, region or religion.          

On this vibrant occasion, I would like to inform all of you certain highlights of Southern Railway..

Upto Dec.’17 this year, Southern Railway’s gross earnings is at Rs.5422.09 crores and our operating ratio is 168.07%.  I am happy to inform you that we are operating 63% more number of special trains than last year apart from regular trains (i.e. 1974 special trains).  We are also planning to run another 270 more special trains, time tabled summer specials and augment extra coaches during demand time this year.  We also have provided 25% more traffic blocks to attend safety track works in this year. In-spite of that, we could able to maintain 83.7% punctuality so far. 

I would also like to mention  few important passenger facilities provided like Emergency Medical centres which have been set up at 23 stations, Child Helpline centres at 6 stations, Differently-abled friendly measures at 71 stations, ‘Wi-Fi’ at 23 stations, 84 Escalators and 61 Lifts commissioned over Southern Railway.  These passenger friendly measures will be provided in many more stations in the coming year.

I would also like to highlight the fact that all 735 stations will be provided with 100% LEDs.

On safety front, I am happy to mention that all unmanned level crossings will be eliminated in A, B, C routes before March 2018. This year, SouthernRailway has already eliminated 52 unmanned level crossings and constructed 15 Road Over Bridges and Road Under Bridges. We are actively working on removing all unmanned level crossing in Southern Railway by September 2018.

As per the vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji towards clean India, Southern Railway accords highest priority for cleanliness.  I am very glad to inform you that Kozhikode station in Southern Railway ranked No.1 by the travellers in terms of cleanliness in the survey conducted by IXIGO. 

We are also giving utmost priority in the passenger comfort.  I am glad to inform that we have attached two Ánubhuti Coaches’ in Shatabdi Expresses which increased the passenger comfort with modern facilities. New LHB design coaches have also been introduced in 12 trains and few more trains will be introduced this year.  Bio-toilets in all coaches will be provided by December 2018.

We are also concerned about the Safety and Security of the passengers especially women passengers. As part of enhancing security, Southern Railway have implemented Integrated Security System at 14 important Railway Stations by way of providing CCTVs.  Under Nirbhaya Fund, CCTVs are also to be provided in the 136  A1, A, B, C category stations including Suburban Railway Stations and as a trial measure, work has been completed in Nungambakkam Railway station.

On the part of Energy saving, Southern Railway did a very good job to get First Prize  in National Energy Conservation Award by Ministry of Power for the year 2017 for Central Workshop, Ponmalai.

During the recent bus strike, Southern Railway has taken swift action in running more EMUs for the benefit of stranded passengers which was widely appreciated by Press and Public.

As far as projects are concerned, Southern Railway has spent so far Rs.299 crores on Doubling, Rs.294 crores on Gauge Conversion, Rs.52 crores for New Lines and 201 crores for Road Over Bridges/Road Under Bridges. 

We have recently commissioned the Tambaram Coaching Terminal which will ease the congestion at Egmore.

This year, Madurai-Chennai route will be fully doubled. Edamann-New Aryankavu (21 km.) gauge conversion will get completed and it will connect Kollam/Trivandrum to Chennai via Madurai and Sengottai..    

The Three prestigious doubling with electrification rail development projects of Tamil Nadu and Kerala Region viz.  Madurai-Vanchi Maniyachi –Ttutiocorin , Vanchi Maniyachchi – Tirunelveli – Nagercoil section  and Thiruvannathapuram Central – Kanniyakumari section have been sanctioned and Foundation Stone was laid by Hon’ble  Minister of State of Railways Shri Rajen  Gohain on 23.01.18.

It is pertinent to mention here that Southern Railway stood 1^st in reduction of public complaints this year. 

All these achievements are possible because of the dedicated and hardworking staff like all of you.  I am happy to state that staff facilitation centres have started to dispose off grievances speedily and 87 grievance Adalats and   pension adalats have been conducted for the benefit of staff and retired employees.   

We are also taking care of our employees by way of providing excellent health care.  Current year as per the order of Railway Board, Annual Wellness check up has been organised for all employees and I am happy to note that so far 38600 employees have been examined.

On this occasion, I  congratulate Shri Sathishkumar who won Gold medal in Weightlifting in Australia and also represented World Weightlifting Championship 2017 at USA.  I also congratulate Ms. Tintu Luka who won Gold in 800m in Kazakisthan and won silver in 800m in Asian Grand Prix in April 2017 and congratulate all sports persons of Southern Railway who have represented our nation in various international events.

Our trade union has been a major source of strength and support in every  achievement of Southern Railway.  I would like to sincerely thank for their support and extend my best wishes for them.

My best wishes for the President of SRWWO and all their Members for their outstanding work for the staff welfare related activities.

I would also like to convey my greetings and wishes to all associations for their support.

On this occasion, I thank and congratulate each and every Officer, Supervisor and staff of Southern Railway for their wholehearted support and co-operation and I wish them all and their families a bright future and good luck in all their endeavours on this republic day.

Thank you,

‘JAI HIND’