India is a land of diverse culture and Indian Railways play a key role in not only meeting the transport needs of the country, but also in binding together dispersed areas and promoting national integration. Truly, Railways has emerged as the sinew of the Indian economy and has reached out to bring together the great Indian family.
Railways traverse through the length and breadth of the country, covering 63,410 route km, comprising broad gauge (45,099 km), meter gauge (14,776 km) and narrow gauge (3,256 km).
The priorities highlighted by Indian Railways for fulfillment of the projected targets during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-2012) are building capacity for handling traffic growth by adding new lines including dedicated freight corridor, unigauge network and alternate routes, doubling of single lines, enhancing capacity for production of rolling stock, upgradation of heavy axel load movement, modernisation of freight and passenger terminals, making world-class stations, IT initiatives, and technology upgradation.
The main priorities of the Railways during the 11th Plan are as under:
u Target of 1,100 mt freight loading and 840 crore passengers in the terminal year of the 11th Plan.
u Focus would be on doubling transport capacity and reducing unit cost of transportation by increasing volumes.
l Short-term strategy - investing in low-cost high-return projects for eliminating bottlenecks and ensuring intensive asset utilisation.
l Mid- and long-term strategy - twin-pronged approach of network expansion and modernisation, and technical upgradation.
l Public-private partnerships projects will play an important role.
u Construction of eastern and western dedicated freight corridors at a cost of Rs 30,000 crore commenced from 2007-08 and is scheduled for completion during the 11th Plan.
u Pre-feasibility surveys for east-west, east-south, north-south and south-south
corridors.
u Most of the meter-gauge lines will be converted into broad-gauge by the end of this five-year plan.
u High-speed passenger corridors to be constructed to run trains at more than 300 km/hr speed.
u Expansion of suburban services through completion of MUTP Phase-I and initiating MUTP Phase-II through joint funding.
u Efforts to provide air-conditioned suburban trains in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, and escalators at important stations.
u The production of rolling stock will be doubled compared with previous plan.
u Production of high horsepower and energy efficient locos to be increased.
u Manifold increase in investment in IT to increase earnings, ensure effective utilisation of human and physical resources, and facilitate long-term policy decisions.
u Commercial portal to be developed over next
three years for better yield management.
u Integrated time bound implementation of all FOIS modules by 2010.
u ERP package for workshops, production units and select zonal railways.
World over it is ensured that rails are made of cleaner steel having H2 well below 2.0 ppm with downstream facilities to further carry out flash-butt welding of rails to deliver long-welded panels up to 480m in length. Longer rails have fewer weld joints, thereby facilitating high-speed movement of trains with optimum safety. Besides appreciable savings due to reduction in number of welds and expenditure owing to lower transportation, handling indirect savings on account of enhanced safety, better riding comfort and increased track reliability.
Dedicated heavy haul routes across the world have an average 25.5 axel loads, 7,000-tonne unit trains and a lifetime of 20 GMT per annum. At present, Indian Railways has mixed traffic lines with passenger train speed of 160 kmph and goods train speed of 100 kmph. However, with rapid increase in goods traffic volume, commencement of dedicated freight services and introduction of higher speed passenger trains in the coming years, usage of rails with improved rail quality (high strength) will not only be helpful but essential on the part of Railways to ensure the following benefits:
i. Enhanced safety.
ii. Increased reliability and comfort.
iii. Prolonged rail life.
Advantages in terms of direct and indirect savings to Indian Railways, highlighted above, will ultimately help us realise the dream of heavy haul dedicated freight corridors traversing across the length and breadth of our country, operating at par with international railway benchmarks under Indian conditions.