Charter for ensuring time-bound redressal of railway employees’ issues

Posts of ADRMs being increased in all the railway divisions for improving operational efficiency

Committee of senior officials constituted to improve safety of staff and workers working on railway tracks

Committee constituted to restructure RLDA to fast-track redevelopment of stations and monetization of vacant railway land

Report of Mumbai suburban audit covering each suburban station received. Key recommendations include provision of new FOBs and widening/replacement of existing FOBs, escalators, CCTV, additional entry/exit points of landings etc. Zonal Railways preparing action plans

New Delhi: Empowerment of GMs, DRMs and field officials of Indian Railways on the basis of directions by Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal while reviewing unfortunate incident at Elphinstone Station on 29.09.2017. Will lead to fast track decision making, execution and the overall working of Railways. A step towards the steady and systematic transformation of Railways.

Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal in a Press Conference gave details of various decisions and initiatives taken by Indian Railways in the recent past. The brief description of these are listed below:-

Employees Charter:- An employees’ charter is being notified today for ensuring time-bound redressal of railways employees’ issues related to dues, entitlements and grievances. In phase 2, a charter of Rail users will be finalized and notified in the next one month.

Fast Tracking Station Redevelopment Program:- A high powered committee headed by the Secretary Railway Board has been constituted to restructure Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) as well as related processes with a view to fast-track redevelopment of stations and monetization of vacant railway land parcels. The committee’s report is expected by next week and shall be implemented quickly thereafter.

Safety at Railway Worksites: With a  view to ensuring better safety to staff and workers working on railway worksites mainly tracks, Ministry of Railways has notified a Five Member Committee of senior officials of Railway Board to suggest measures for making a substantial improvement in worksites safety over all Indian Railways network. The Committee among other things will come out with clear recommendations to prevent/reduce such incidents. The recommendations will be in two phases i.e. short-term implementable within three months and long-term implementable within one year. The Committee would submit its report by the 2nd week of December 2017.

Mumbai suburban audit reports: Following the unfortunate tragedy at Elphinstone Road on 29.09.2017, as per the directions of Minister of Railways, a detailed survey of each suburban station by Multidisciplinary Audit Teams to access the adequacy of present infrastructure in context of passenger flow and dispersal and accordingly to lay out a roadmap for improvements of the same has been carried out on CR as well as WR.

The gist of the recommendations/actionable points include Provision of new FOBs and Widening/ replacement of existing FOBs, Provision of Escalators in a large number, Provision of additional entry/exit at the stations, Provision of subways at required locations, Removals of hawkers from FOB or entry/exit points of landings, Requirement of deployment of TC/RFP staff for crowd control measures, Augmentation of CCTV cameras. Based on above recommendation, a detailed action plan is under preparation by Zonal Railways.

Increasing the posts of Additional Divisional Railway Managers: With a view to improving supervision, Ministry of Railways has decided to increase the number of posts of Additional Divisional Railway Managers (ADRMs) in all the railway division offices. In most of the cases, the post will increase from existing one post to two posts. In important divisions like Delhi, the number of posts of ADRMs will increase to 03 posts in place of existing 02. In case of two divisions in Mumbai, in Western & Central Railways, the number of ADRM posts will increase to 04 from the existing 02 post- one post of ADRM in each of the two Mumbai Divisions will be exclusively for handling suburban services.

Empowerment of GMs, DRMs and field officials of Indian Railways – (A step towards steady and systematic transformation of Railways)

●  Empowerment of frontline officials through enhanced delegation of powers: In order to improve the functioning of Railways, substantial financial and administrative powers covering a wide spectrum of working have been delegated by the Indian Railways to General Managers (GM), Divisional Railway Managers (DRM) and field officials. Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal, while reviewing the unfortunate incident at Elphinstone Station Mumbai Suburban Railway on 29.09.2017 had directed Railway Board to empower the GMs, DRMs and field units, so as to fast track decision making, execution and the overall working of Railways. This mammoth exercise has been completed in a record time in consultation with stakeholders including GMs, DRMs and other railway officials and staff.

●  Comprehensive delegation based on 10 Principles for Steady and Systematic Transformation: Minister had outlined 10 principles on the basis of which, transformation in governance can be achieved. These are being applied to working with Government and have been the guiding force for the delegation of powers as well. These include Decisive Leadership, Outcome Oriented Action, Root Cause Analysis, Prioritization of Issues, Time-Bound Execution, Innovative Financing, Technology Focus, Accountability and Close Monitoring, Partnership with Stakeholders, and Rule of Law and transparency. The delegation is comprehensive, and covers commercial, engineering works, track maintenance, mechanical, financial, establishment, procurement and medical matters, and will improve safety, speed and service of Railways.

Impact of enhanced delegation and empowerment

i) Improved Safety: GMs have been given full powers to sanction out of turn safety-related work without any ceiling, within the financial limit set out by Ministry of Finance. DRMs/Chief Workshop Managers (CWMs) have been given powers to re-engage retired railway employees up to 62 years of age against vacancies. This will take care of safety and maintenance related works wherever there are vacancies. Enhanced powers for repairs of Track Machines have also been given to the field officers for faster track safety work. Further, procedures have been substantially simplified for procurement of material like spare parts for locomotives, coaches etc.

ii) Faster access to work/breakdown sites: Junior field officers and supervisor in charges have been provided multi-utility vehicles, and may hire vehicles up to Rs 5,000/- per case for rushing to breakdown sites without loss of time; this will lead to the faster restoration of train services and improve punctuality/safety of trains.

iii) Improve stations and passenger interfaces: Power of DRMs to sanction amenities and works (like waiting halls, platform shelter, lifts/escalators, digital chart displays, illumination, train/coach indication board) has been increased from Rs 1 cr to Rs 2.5 cr per case.

Powers have been given to DRMs for repair of computers, printers and other equipment for Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS)/Passenger Reservation System (PRS), up to Rs 50 lakh per case, to reduce passenger inconvenience in case of a breakdown. Further, they have been fully empowered for the hiring of space for the opening of UTS/PRS at non-rail head terminals. This will hugely benefit passengers in remote areas for booking tickets.

Station Directors in large Stations have been now given the powers of the Branch Officers in the divisions to enable them to take decisions for smooth operations. Instructions have also been issued to post young and dynamic officers as Station Directors at 75 important stations.

iv) Ease of procurement by user departments: Departments have been empowered for procurement through Government E-Marketplace (GeM) directly up to Rs 25,000/- per case with a ceiling of Rs 10 lakh per department in the zone.

v) Innovative financing & efficient execution of projects: DRMs have been given full powers to undertake projects on Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) basis for setting up of laundry for linen cleaning, which will reduce set up time of essential amenities.

vi) Improved upkeep of equipment: Divisional officers have now been empowered to enter into Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) of critical equipment with OEMs to ensure uninterrupted service.

vii) Swachh Bharat: Improve cleanliness and hygiene at stations and in trains: DRMs have been empowered to enter into service contracts like cleaning of stations and trains up to Rs 100 cr from earlier Rs 20 crore They will be able to enter into long-term contracts, which would attract the participation of quality vendors.To ensure important services are not discontinued in case of contract failures, they can engage a newly approved vendor following a quotation process. Full powers have been given to DRMs to sanction environment related works like solar panels, rainwater harvesting, rainy wells, water recycling.

viii) Enhanced revenue earning: DRMs have been given full powers to enter into earning contracts like leasing of parcel space, brake van, parking, publicity etc. which, will improve earnings for Railways. They will also have land licensing powers to help in the early commissioning of private sidings.

ix) Improved Security: GMs can now sanction 2 wheelers for all RPF chowki in-charges to improve their mobility and response for better safety and security.

x) Move towards Digital India: GMs have been given powers for software development up to Rs 2.5 cr per case and DRMs up to Rs 10 lakh per case.This will improve technology adoption at the operational level while enhancing efficiency.

xi) Enhanced training & capacity building of staff: Substantial powers have been given to DRMs for the training of staff in new technologies which, will improve efficiency and productivity of staff. Power has been quadrupled to Rs 40,000 per trainee per course from Rs 10,000 earlier.

xii) Way Forward – Model Schedule of Powers for Zonal Railways: A model Schedule of Power (SOP) covering the best practices of all zonal railways is also under preparation and would be released shortly. The model SOP would serve as a guiding document and minimum benchmark for delegations of powers by GMs to DRMs and field units. However, this would not restrict GMs from further delegating powers and in fact, would encourage them to adapt as per local requirements.