EXPERT GROUP MEETING ON HARMONIZATION OF

RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR FACILITATIONOF

INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT

4th SEPTEMBER , BANGKOK

BASIC FACTS ABOUT INDIAN RAILWAYS

➢ Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane.

➢ Indian Railways is one of the world’s largest Railway Networks comprising 1,15,000 KM of track over a route of 67,312 KM.

➢ IR has close to 7,112 stations.

➢ IR is the world‘s 8th Largest Commercial or Utility Employer, by number of employees, with over 1.376 million employees.

➢ IR’s rolling stock comprises over 2,45,267 freight wagons, 66,392 passenger coaches and 10,499 locomotives.

➢ IR runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7,421 freight trains daily.

➢ IR carries, on an average, 2.65 Million Tonnes of Freight Traffic and 23 Millions passengers a day.

Coal 48%

RMSP 2%PI & Steel 4%

Iron Ore 13%

Cement 9%

Foodgrains 4%

Fertilizers 5%POL 4%

Container 4% Other Goods 7%

INDIAN RAILWAYS’ FREIGHT BUSINESS

SHARE OF COMMODITIES IN OVERALL LOADING IN 2016-17

CommodityLoading (in MT) (in 2016-17)

Coal 533.35

RMSP 20.96

Pig Iron & Steel 48.41

Iron Ore 137.61

Cement 104.15

Foodgrains 44.93

Fertilizers 48.92

POL (Petroleum,Oil and

Lubricant)42.93

Container Services

47.49

Other Goods 80.04

Total 1108.79

Coal 44%

RMSP 2%PI & Steel 7%Iron Ore 8%

Cement 8%

Foodgrains 7%

Fertilizers 6%

POL 6%

Container 5% Other Goods 7%

INDIAN RAILWAYS’ FREIGHT BUSINESS

SHARE OF COMMODITIES IN OVERALL FREIGHT EARNINGS IN 2016-17

CommodityEarnings (in ₹ Crores)

Coal 46064.03

RMSP 1865.38

Pig Iron & Steel 7121.77

Iron Ore 8394.25

Cement 8765.66

Foodgrains 7816.46

Fertilizers 5937.22

POL (Petroleum,Oil and

Lubricant)5779.35

Container Services

5192.91

Other Goods 7537.72

Total 104474.75

INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

➢ Indian Railways has international traffic linkages with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

INDIA IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE TAR (TRANS-ASIAN RAILWAY) NETWORK

INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

INDIA-PAKISTAN TRAFFIC:

➢ Two passenger trains, namely Samjhuata Express and TharExpress, ply between India and Pakistan. ▪ Samjhauta Express, commonly called “Friend Express”, is a

twice-weekly train which runs between Delhi and Atari in India and Lahore in Pakistan.

▪ Thar Express runs between Karachi – Khokhrapar (Pakistan side) and Munabao – Jodhpur (India side).

▪ A goods train also plies between India and Pakistan on the Samjhauta express route carrying some traffic.

INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

INDIA-PAKISTAN TRAFFIC (OVERVIEW)

India-Pakistan Traffic

Year

Passenger (In number)

Goods (in Tonnes)Parcel ( in Tonnes)

India to Pak

Pak to India

India to Pak

Pak to India

India to Pak

Pak to India

2015-16 16635 17164 111748 269 24159 1258

2016-17 8825 12420 1312695 0 30280 1158

INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (GOODS):Indian Railways have agreements with Bangladesh Railway forinterchange of goods traffic between India and Bangladesh via thefollowing routes:

ROUTE OPERATIONAL

Gede(India)--Darsana (Bangladesh) Since 1972

Singhabad(India)–Rohanpur(Bangladesh)

Since 1992

Petrapole(India)–Benapole(Bangladesh)

Since 2001

Radhikapur(India)-- Birol (Bangladesh) Functional

Mahisasan(India)–Shahbazpur(Bangladesh)

Not operational since December 1996 due to breaches and lack of traffic.

INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

Total Goods Traffic between India and Bangladesh was around718840 Tonnes in the year 2016-17

Gede Interchange Point

Countries No of trains

No of Engines

Commodities Total no of 8-wheeler units

tonnage

Stone DOC Flyash

India to Bangladesh

255 329 7828 2886 712 11436 664923

Bangladesh to India

642 4 - - - 25421 0

INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (GOODS):

TRAFFIC AT DIFFERENT INTERCHANGE POINTS (In 2016-17)

INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (GOODS):

TRAFFIC AT DIFFERENT INTERCHANGE POINTS (In 2016-17)

Petrapole Interchange Point

Countries No of trains

No of Engines

Commodities Total no of 8-wheeler

unitstonnage

Gypsum

Sponge-Iron

Sugar Foodgrains

India to Bangladesh

15 0 250 20 30 250 1154 35521.4

Bangladesh to India

10 4 - - - - 206 0

INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (GOODS):

TRAFFIC AT DIFFERENT INTERCHANGE POINTS (In 2016-17)

Singhabad Interchange Point

Countries No of trains

No of Engines

Commodities Total no of 8-wheeler units

tonnage

Ballast Flyash POL

India to Bangladesh

439 0 17308 1046 42 18396 18396

Bangladesh to India

83

Empties- 4184 Total No of 8-wheeler wagons -3291

0

INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (PASSENGER):

➢The Maitree Express train runs between Kolkata and Dhaka. Thetrain travels around 375 KMs to reach Dhaka from Kolkata. Ittakes around 10 hours to cover the entire stretch. Since theBangladesh side is non-electrified, the entire stretch is coveredby broad-gauge diesel locomotives.

➢Maitree Express is a very popular service with over 90 percentoccupancy. It is most favoured by Senior Citizens and patients. In2016-17, total 1,16,398 passengers travelled between India andBangladesh in this train.

➢ From next month, Indian Railways is planning end-to-endcustoms and immigration services. This is expected to reduce thejourney time from current 10 hours to 7-7.5 hours and ease thehassle of getting down at the border check points by thepassengers.

INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (LATEST DEVELOPMENTS)

➢ The frequency of Maitree Express has been increased from 3to 4 service in a week w.e.f. November, 2016. The MaitreeExpress service has been made fully AC with new improvedrake comprising 4 first AC, 4 AC Chair cars and 2 Power carsfrom both ends from 14th April, 2017.

➢ Introduction of new passenger train service from Khulna toKolkata via Petrapole (India) and Benapole (Bangladesh).

➢ The line between Radhikapur and Birol has been madeoperational.

➢ An agreement has been signed between ContainerCorporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) and Container Companyof Bangladesh Ltd (CCBL). Both the parties have identifiedareas of co-operation.

INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (LATEST DEVELOPMENTS)

➢ Indian Railways is planning to start Container servicesbetween Dhaka and Kolkata as a follow up to the agreementbetween the two sides. This will benefit the trade andbusiness of both the countries.

INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

INDIA-NEPAL TRAFFIC:➢One Broad Gauge rail link between Raxaul (India) and Birganj

(Nepal) is operational between India and Nepal.

➢The two countries have signed an agreement for the transit routebetween Nepal (Kakarbhitta) and Bangladesh (Banglabandha)passing through Phulbari in India. India has also provided Nepal arail route through Radhikapur for its trade with Bangladesh andfor its overseas trade via Bangladesh.

KEY CHALLENGES TO INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT

➢ Congestion and delays at border stations, in particular at thestations with break of gauge

➢ Lengthy procedures for crossing borders

➢ Lack of harmonization in the documents that are required bydifferent countries

➢ Lengthy and cumbersome Inspections on both sides of bordercrossings

➢ Different technical standards for rolling stock, power supply,braking systems and signalling systems

➢ Different operating rules and tariff structures

KEY CHALLENGES TO INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT

➢ Different requirements for train drivers and crew.

➢ Incompatible or non-existent cross- border information anddata transmission systems.

➢ Lack of qualified manpower to operate cross-border trains.

SUGGESTIONS TO HELP IMPROVE INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT

➢ To encourage sub-regional and bilateral agreements. A modelbilateral/sub-regional agreement that covers essentialrequirements to facilitate Railway transport may bedeveloped and shared with member countries. This may helpmember countries plan, develop and implement suchagreements.

➢ To solve the issue of “Break of Gauge” by adopting varioustechnical solutions such as Transshipment, bogie changing,use of wagons with variable-gauge bogies etc.

➢ Harmonization of Consignment Note.

➢ Adoption of Advance Passenger/Cargo Information Systemand common standards for compatibility thereof.

SUGGESTIONS TO HELP IMPROVE INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT

➢ Standardization of Rolling stock, Infrastructure, Signallingsystem, axle weight of track, communication system etc.

➢ At border crossings :• Establishment of standard time for various operations at

border points.• Completion of required and unrelated operations in

parallel.• Adoption and extensive use of technological solutions for

inspection of Containers.

➢ To create a Multi-lateral contractual framework forstandardization of various conditions to make wagonsinteroperable on different networks.

THANK YOU