North Central Railway sets up 2018 as ‘Zero Accident Year’

‘Connectivity across the system, in particular with the grassroots is at the base of safety -M.C.Chauhan, GM/NCR

Allahabad: Ushering in the new year for the North Central Railway, GM/NCR M. C. Chauhan addressed the PHODs/HODs and officers of the NCR/HQ and the DRMs of the three divisions of the NCR – Agra, Jhansi, and Allahabad along with their team of officers in the evening of the 1st of January, 2018. At the very outset, he congratulated the officers and staff of NCR for excellent performance in the year gone by especially in the fields of loading, revenue generation and setting a record by making NCR the only zonal railway with Zero-SPAD (Signal Passing at Danger) cases in 2017, besides considerable improvement in punctuality compared to last year.

Setting the tone for the new year, he said ‘NCR has made wonderful progress in 2017. However, we must not rest on our laurels and strive to further improve in the new year.’ Setting out the priorities clearly on the table, GM/NCR marked 2018 as the ‘Zero Accident Year’ for NCR. ‘Connectivity across the system, in particular with the grassroots is at the base of safety.’ He said.

‘We have to ensure that safety consciousness percolates down to the grassroots level and we keep our ears to the ground as most important suggestions and innovations come from the grassroots staff.’

A clear roadmap for the new year was placed before the officers by GM/NCR, which included the following points:

* Cold weather patrolling has to be religiously done in accordance with ‘Manual of Instructions for Maintenance of Long Welded Rails’

* Night inspections by officers/supervisors to be stepped up. Alertness of station staff, gatemen, guards and drivers to be specially checked.

* Sensitization of the field staff not to adopt shortcut procedures at the cost of safe operations.

* Focussed inspections with simplified and focused inspection formats. Safety to be inbuilt into the system and inspections.

* Keeping a close watch on the tell-tale signs of deficiencies arising in the system. Any untoward incident gives many signs/signals before it finally takes place.

* Crews to be sensitized as they play a very vital role in safe operations. Any abnormality should be immediately advised to the control.

* Super checks to be conducted on the inspections being done and the works in progress.

* Senior Divisional Safety Officers of the Divisions to pursue shortcomings in the system till these are resolved.

* ‘Zero Missing Fittings’ on track to be ensured.

* Senior Divisional Engineers, Assistant Engineers, and Permanent Way Inspectors to spend more time in the field.

* Rolling in and rolling out examinations are an opportunity to detect defects in the rolling stock. These have to be of a high quality and people have to be trained to be very thorough during this examination. All facilities have to be given to the staff in this area.

* Loco Inspectors to do regular footplating especially in the foggy season.

* No breach of rest of LPs/ALPs.

* Ambush checks to be intensified to guard against presumption of signals by LPs/ALPs

* Regular inspections of points and crossings and noting of the values recorded.

* Regular greasing of points and crossings, and greasing of gauge face of the outer rail of sharp curves.

* Proper Earthing of Electrical and S&T installations to be ensured to prevent fire.

* Ensuring issuing of disconnection memo while attending to signal failures.

* Ensuring periodic maggering of S&T cables.

* Human resources to be the focus area. Drinking water availability and condition of quarters to be improved. Facilities in hospitals & dispensaries to be improved upon. Separate OPD counters and medicine counters for retired staff. Emphasis on training and fast redressal of staff grievances.

* Condition of running rooms to be improved upon with soundproofing and air conditioning.

GM/NCR concluded by expressing his confidence that the dedicated team of officers and staff of NCR would result not only in the continuance of the achievement of ‘Zero-SPAD’ but also in a ‘Zero Accident Year-2018’, besides surpassing the Railway Board’s targets.

NCR ends 2017 on a high: Exceeds targets of loading and earning

The highly competitive goods segment, NCR is firmly on the path of growth -M.C.Chauhan, GM/NCR

Allahabad: The North Central Railway has gone from strength to strength in the year 2017, ending the year on high by exceeding targets of both loading and earnings. Building on the momentum generated in November 2017, the Zonal Railway has registered a growth of 45.05% in loading in December 2017, compared to December 2016. Likewise, the earnings in December 2017 have been 41.39% higher compared to December 2016.

With respect to the targets set by the Railway Board, for the month of December-2017, NCR has exceeded the target of loading by 18.92% and that of Earning by 34.67%. What is even more striking is that in the current financial year-ending March 31, 2018- up to December, the Zonal Railway has exceeded the Cumulative performance of corresponding period of last financial year (2016-17) by 18.19% in loading and 15.59% in Earnings.

With respect to the cumulative targets given by the Railway Board for the period from April to December 2017, NCR has exceeded loading targets by 13.89% and earning targets by 10.09%.The achievement becomes even more striking in view of the fact that North Central Railway is a Zone which does not have natural resources like coal, iron ore etc. which are the staple of the railways when it comes to loading.

Speaking about the achievement, GM/NCR M. C. Chauhan says that this is the result of proactive steps taken by the NCR which have motivated the existing customers for increasing loading by rail. Officers of NCR have met the customers loading POL, Mustard Oil, Sugar, Foodgrains, and Ballast (Stone) in NCR and have actively addressed their issues, especially in the realm of adequate and timely supply of empty rakes for loading. At the same time, new traffic of ballast (stone) has been captured by opening Bijauli and Shanichara stations of Jhansi Division and Manda station of Allahabad Division of NCR for outward loading.

These 3 sidings have given us a traffic of almost 170 rakes of ballast till now, which is in the nature of incremental traffic over the existing loading that NCR was doing. Loading of container traffic from ICDs in Dadri and Kanpur (Allahabad Division), JAB (Agra division), and Malanpur (Jhansi division) has also been improved by ensuring smooth movement of container trains from NR and WR over NCR to these ICDs, he adds.

Surpassing of loading targets by NCR augurs well for the economy of the entire region and shows that in the highly competitive goods segment, NCR is firmly on the path of growth.