29 January 2013

SOUTHERN RAILWAY CELEBRATES REPUBLIC DAY


Shri Rakesh Misra, General Manager, Southern Railway unfurled the National Flag o­n the occasion of the Nation's 64th Republic Day at the Southern Railway New General Office, Chennai.  He later inspected an impressive guard of honour put up by the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

            Speaking o­n the occasion, the General Manager said that Southern Railway has long been hailed as o­ne of the best run o­nes of Indian Railways. During the current financial year, up to December 2012, the originating passengers in Southern Railway were 634.10 million, registering a growth of 44 million passengers over the corresponding period of last year. This was possible by running over 3800 additional regular express trains and 3800 specials during this period.  Trains were temporarily augmented by 5700 coaches to clear waitlisted passengers.  As a result, the originating passenger earnings during April-December 2012 crossed Rs.2300 crores, registering 10.2% growth.



            At the same time, originating freight loading during the current financial year up to December 2012 was 27.83 million tones.  With a longer lead in traffic as well as movement of high rated commodities, the originating freight earnings crossed Rs.1700 crores, registering about 30% growth over last year.

            In order to provide better service to our valued customers, work at 74 out of the 92 stations identified for development as Adarsh Stations has been completed.  Furthermore, work in 13 stations is targeted for completion during the current year and 5 stations are targeted for 2013-14.

            The catering units including static, mobile and train side vending have been taken over by Railways in tune with the revised catering policy.  There has been a drop in the number of catering complaints by 43% after we took over the job from IRCTC.

            Electrification of Thiruvananthapuram – Kanniyakumari section was completed and commissioned.  Similarly, electrification of Dindigul – Madurai – Virudhunagar section, Nagercoil – Tirunelveli section and Villupuram – Vellore section are in advanced stage of completion and are expected to be commissioned during the current year.          

         


            In order to enhance security in the Railways. 14 stations have been identified over Southern Railway for providing Integrated Security System at an estimated cost of about 40 crores.  This system comprising of CCTV, Access Control, Personal baggage scanning, Explosive detection and disposal and Under vehicle scanning has already been inaugurated at Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Basin Bridge, Madurai and Kozhikode and will be operational soon in the remaining 10 stations also.

            Railway Board has declared Carriage Works, Perambur as “Metre Gauge Coach Export hub”.  Carriage Works has undertaken a courageous step of starting with Shelll manufacture for Sri Lanka Export order, and so far 15 DEMU shells for Sri Lanka have rolled out of Carriage Works, Export orders for Bangladesh and Myanmar are also o­n the anvil.

            To improve the passenger satisfaction over supply of good linen, an automatic mechanized laundry of 6 ton capacity has been commissioned at Basis Bridge Depot in October 2011.  With this facility, the quality of linen has been substantially improved.  Five more automatic mechanized laundries are being planned at Kochuveli, Ernakulam, Mangalore, Podanur and Madurai.  In this respect, although there has been a steady improvement in quality and still have ‘miles to go before we sleep’.

            The General Manager congratulated Southern Railway’s Sports Personnel who have brought laurels to Southern Railway, Shri Ratnakaran, has won the Silver Medal at the World Railway Chess Championship in Bulgaria.