rail business issue march 11

8/22/2019 Rail Business Issue March 11

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Bhilai rails on a

50 year roll

New diamonds on

old tracks

ISSN No. 0976-254X

Supported by Asian Railway Association

` 100

Volume 2, Issue 7 March 2011

RAILWAY BUDGET HOPE & HYPE

V K Sahai Sanjiv Handa R K Pachauri V K Agarwal Vinoo Mathur R R Jaruhar


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We will

be there


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Railway Budget 2011-12: An insiders view from outside

After working with IR for about 4 decades and watching it close from outsidefor up to a decade now, my reaction is a mixed bag of emotions. Presented bya politician to her contemporary elites in the Parliament, an over dose of politics

was expected, but never to witness such annihilation of economics at the altarof politics.

The positive signs:

l Contrary to widespread perception of an operating ratio of around 105%, it

is a relief that it would be 92% this year and 91% next year.l Procuring 18500 wagons.

l Enhancing the network coverage by adding 1000 km annually (200 km inearlier years).

l Halving train accidents during last five years.

Chronic problems like disproportionate staff costs, losses in passenger servicesetc., have plagued IR for quite some time. Successive ministers have shunnedunpopular decisions like increasing fares or decreasing staff strength. Year after

year, we continue to put up with the marginal deterioration, hoping that somesolution will eventually emerge, a grim reminder of the proverbial frog that was

boiled to death.Discounting technology gains in productivity and ordering induction of staff,

based on vacancies in direct proportion to work output, can win accolades inthe political arena. Employee Productivity in IR is already as low as 0.8, in sharpcontrast to other railways of comparable size (China 1.4, Australia 3.6, Russia2.0 and USA 15.2 : data for 2006). There should be sustained efforts to controlstaff costs to less than a third of the earnings.

Network expansion driven by lobbies : Instead of an equitable development ofrail lines based on needs by factoring the population and rail density, impendingelections and the lobbying power of the parties appear to have driven theselection of rail lines and other goodies. New projects chosen by brazen politicaldecisions by persons who seem to represent a region rather than the countrycontinue to perpetuate this skew.

Freight traffic is the bread and butter of IR. Freight business is muted, overtaxed and under cared. Yet, this sector is not given the importance that it deserves.Tariff Ratio in IR is rapidly deteriorating year after year, from 0.47 in 1950,to 0.27 in 2009-10 and an all time low of 0.25 is reached this year, taking usfarther away from the magical figure of 1.0.

Accounting Reforms Project : Having criticized the budget distortions of earlieryears in the WHITE PAPER 2009, it was expected that the Minister wouldhave taken this opportunity to freeze the accounting format, duly implementingthe key recommendations of the Indian Railways Accounting Reforms Project.This would have lent to a better appreciation of Railways performance making

financial reporting more transparent in future years.

F I R S T W O R D S : G U E S T E D I T O R I A L

Rail Business [Focus-India]

2E Alipore AvenueKolkata 700 027, IndiaPhone : +91 94323 64001E-mail : [email protected]

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Consulting Editor

Sumant Chak

Editor

V. K. Raina

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Dr. Rajni RainaBusiness ManagerPhone : +91 92306 39001

Disclaimer :

Views expressed by various authors arepersonal and do not necessarily reflect the

views of their corporates.

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C O N T E N T S

IR Budget 2011High hopes for 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Rai l s t imulus package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

An investment perspect ive . . . . . . . . . 3

Capaci ty bui ld ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Project in search of land . . . . . . . . . . 36

Improving system genes . . . . . . . . . . 6

Bhilai rai ls on 50 year rol l . . . . . . . . . . 8

Eastern Rai lway: theKolkata soul mate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

The IRSME Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13A SAMs v is ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

RWF: wheels of innovat ion 16

Wagon prototyping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Diamonds on old t racks . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Kutch Rai lway Company . . . . . . . . . . 24

Rol l ing Stock Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Synchronous AC supply . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Long rai l movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Talgo trains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Every mans work, whether it be

literature or anything.

is always a portrait of himself Samuel Butler.

S. Dhasarathy

We are privileged to bring a Guest Editorial from S Dhasarathy, an Ex. Member of IR board


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I R 2 0 1 1 B U D G ET

A difficult year, but high hopes for 2011

2 Rail Business [Focus-India] March 2011

For VK Sahai, Chairman of IR Board, it is a matter ofsatisfaction that the Annual Investment Plan for coming

fiscal at ` 57,630 Cr is the highest ever in a single year.For the IR Board, a critical area is the need to augmentcapacities, as the ability to take incremental traffic onexisting routes will not be adequate in coming years.Sahai has reason to be satisfied that future investmentneeds can be met with market borrowing routed throughthe Indian Railway Finance Corporation which has beenpermitted to raise ` 20,000 Cr including ` 10,000 Crfor network projects. In a well coordinated decision theCentral government has allowed the National HighwayAuthority (NHAI) also to raise a similar amount throughtax free bonds. NHAI will use this money to provisionfor viability gap funding. Proposed allocation for roads,

ports and airports has been increased by 23%. The FIIlimit in corporate infrastructure bonds has been raisedby $ 20 b which is expected to lead to better patronageof the bond issues. Normally IRFC raises around` 10,000 Cr annually for rolling stock but will now raisean additional `10,000 Cr through tax free bonds forselect capacity enhancement works.

In an interview to RAIL BUSINESS Sahai emphasizedthat various cost push factors coalesced in 2010 torender IR finances under severe pressure. It is normalfor businesses of the size of IR to go through financialswings and these should be viewed in their perspective.Sahai stressed that the fundamentals of capacity growth

and a dedicated management and staff remain strongand IR will overcome the current cash crunch. Pressures

on staff costs are periodic and linked to the governmentpay commissions and IR has successfully been able tomeet with all these cash outflows.

Sahai is clear that various project organisations thatwork on IR projects need to be tuned up for meetingtimelines and the current pace of execution is grosslyinadequate. Accordingly, he expects to structure andman the Organization for Project Implementation(COPI) with offices in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai andBangalore within the next six months. The IR Boardwould define the role of this organisation and sort outany issues for manning these high level appointments.

Sahai, who is also responsible for operations, is con-cerned that higher margin traffic like iron ore for exportmay not see any revival in the coming year. Instead heplans to fill in the existing capacities with the surgingmovement in imported coal. In recent years even asports on the Eastern sea board have become capacityconstrained, ports on the Western coast have been ableto grow on this traffic. Reportedly travel leads on thismovement are also healthy. It may be of some concernthat routes for iron ore export and for imported coalare not the same and sectional capacities could becomea concern for raising the extra 70 mt in the next fiscal.Some experts do not easily foresee traffic leads increasingsignificantly.

V K Sahai,ChairmanIndian RailwaysBoard

Right time for a rail stimulus packageWithin the constraints of resources, IR has done exceed-ingly well in improving its operational and safety per-formance also using some improved technologies. How-ever, the main problem area remains the growth ofinfrastructure. While moving infrastructure could bearranged with comparative ease, it is the fixed infrastruc-ture which takes a lot of time and inputs and also needsdetailed advanced planning.

Growth of rail network has been very slow after Inde-pendence with 18% increase in route km (pace of con-struction being about 1/3rd of the pre-Independenceera). Both rail and road already face severe capacityconstraints especially on busy routes and will becomemuch worse with the traffic doubling in next 7-10 years.

The IR freight rates are high and passenger fares lowbut still the market share is being lost in both the cate-gories of traffic. It is more of a problem of capaci-ty/congestion rather than being a fare related issue. OnIR, average speeds of goods trains are less than 25 kph(maximum permissible speed being 75 kph) indicating

more than severe congestion.Rail infrastructure urgently needs development at amuch accelerated pace. Since most projects are finan-cially not viable, rail projects will need additional inputs

by way of Viability Gap cum Accelerated DevelopmentFunds.

A ten year Development Plan of the IR would needinputs of about ` 1.4 lakh Cr per year, with about` 90,000 Cr per year being arranged through IRsfinancial savings/borrowings/private investments andthe balance ` 50,000 Cr per year from the central Gov-

ernment. IRs usual plan size for the last 7-8 year periodhas been about ` 25,000 Cr per year including a GrossBudgetary Support of around 35%. The investmentlevels have thus to be increased by 4 to 5 times to achievethe desired levels of inputs.

The current Budget has enlarged Plan Size to ` 57,630Cr (highest ever) by organising additional finances andhigher budgetary support and is trying to work towardsIRs Vision Document 2020. Further, Pradhan MantriRail Vikas Yojana has also been started for sociallydesirable rail projects. These are laudable and significantmovements in the right direction. However, the paceat which the financial resources need to be provided donot match requirements, if the Vision 2020 is to beachieved. Dedicated Freight Corridors will need Viabil-ity Gap cum Accelerated Development Funds to thetune of around 50% of their cost.

V K Agarwal,Ex Chairman,IR Board


5/40Annual investment plan grows to ` 57,630 Cr

I R 2 0 1 1 B U D G ET

3

The railway budget: an investmentperspectiveThe best way of evaluating the Railway budget is toassess performance of the Railways in financial andphysical terms during the current Fiscal 2010-11 andthe projected figures for growth in the year ahead. Anadditional aspect, perhaps more important, which needsto be considered is how the policy announcements andinvestment plans are expected to impact the long termgrowth of the organisation and its ability to meet thelong term goals set out a year ago in the Vision 2020statement.

Performance 2010-11

With respect to the financial performance in 2010 -11the total receipts at ` 97,151 Cr are marginally lowerthan the projection of` 97,721 Cr in last years budget.The total expenditure in the revised budget is expectedto be ` 88129 Cr against a budgeted ` 87,940 Cr.Although, the figures appear to match the budget pro-jections, this has only been possible by reducing theAppropriation to the Depreciation Reserve Fund whichwas budgeted at ` 7,600 Cr and has been reduced by` 1,900 Cr to ` 5,700 Cr. This is cause for concern. Thenet ordinary working expenses at ` 67,000 Cr have alsogone up by` 2000 Cr as compared to what had beenprojected.

In terms of physical growth in 2010-11, freight trafficis expected at 924 mt against a forecast of 944 mt and888 mt in the previous year, a growth of only 4% against9% achieved a few years ago. On the passenger frontgrowth in number of passengers booked is expected tobe 7831 million which is a little higher than what wasbudgeted and indicates a 6% growth over the previousyear. The poor growth in freight traffic is attributed toa ban on Iron ore exports and disruption in traffic dueto agitations; however, this is a very worrying aspectand perhaps also indicates that capacity constraints arealso beginning to affect output.

Where the Railway has shown a positive trend is theimprovement in performance in executing works. Theorganisation expects to deliver 700 km of new linesagainst a target of 1000 km and 250 km achieved in theprevious year. Similarly 800 km of gauge conversion,700 km of doubling works and 1000 km of electrificationare likely to be completed in accordance with the targetit set itself. Unfortunately, the 27 new line projects and15 gauge conversion projects that will be completedwill provide very little additional capacity for facilitatinggrowth in freight traffic. IR expects to acquire 515 loco-motives against a plan of 480. Against a target foracquiring 1039 EMU/MEMU coaches and 3582 othercoaches, actual acquisitions are expected to be 905 and2961, respectively. Wagon acquisition is likely to be14,500 wagons against a plan for acquiring 18,000wagons. The wagon industry, it appears, has still notgeared up to meet the increase in demand.

For 2010-2011 the annual plan provided for `41426 Cragainst which ` 40315 Cr is likely to be spent. This isat about the same level as 2009-10 when the plan sizewas ` 39672 Cr. Another trend is the re-appropriationdone within the plan heads during the year. For example,the allocation to some heads was raised significantlye.g. New Line 14.4% and Gauge Conversion 56% where-as there was a significant cut in other plan heads likeTraffic Facilities -37%, Computerisation -37%, Trackrenewals -8%, Bridge Works -19.4%, and Machinery &Plant -21.3%. Here again, the majority of New Line andGauge Conversion Projects targeted for completion

will not provide any addit ional capacity where it isrequired although in the smaller plan heads like trafficfacilities, computerisation, M&P and track renewals thefallout may have serious long term consequences.

Plan for 2011-12

The total revenue receipts in 2011-12 are expected tobe ` 109,450 Cr, a growth rate of 12.6% over 2010-11whereas expenditure is expected to increase at 10.5%to ` 97,400 Cr. The Gross Traffic Receipts are expectedto grow without any freight or fare rate increases beingannounced. With respect to physical output, freighttonnage will go up to 993 mt. The year on year increaseof freight tonnage is projected at 7.5%, net t-km at 7.6%and freight revenue at 9.8%. Passenger volume is pro-jected at 8,272 million passengers. Whereas passengervolume will grow by 6%, passenger kilometres andpassenger revenue are each expected to grow at 11%.

Vinoo Mathur,

(Ex Member Traffic

IR Board)

Managing Director

The Bharuch Dahej

Railway Co. Ltd.

Friends, your anti - depression

tablets before we discuss

next years budget.

...Vinoo Mathur


6/40

I R 2 0 1 1 B U D G ET


Growth in freight traffic, therefore, willcontinue to trail the GDP growth of theeconomy which is expected to be8 to 9%.

With regard to the Annual Plan therehas been a very significant increase in

the plan outlay which has gone up to` 57,630 Cr for 2011-12, a whoppingincrease of 43% over the previous year.Where will this money come from? Theplan is proposed to be financed fromGross Budgetary Support of 20,000 Cr,Diesel cess of` 1041 Cr, Internal Re-sources of 14,219 Cr and Market Bor-rowings through IRFC of` 20, 594 Cr.It is expected that about ` 10,000 Cr ofthis will be raised through Tax FreeBonds. The Borrowings through IRFChave more than doubled. For the first

time IRFC borrowings will be used, ina significant way, for other than fundingRolling Stock which has a possible riskthat investment in unviable SociallyDesirable lines will go up significantly.Generating internal resources of over` 14,000 Cr for the Annual Plan is alsoa challenge. Although, increasing bor-rowings is a way for raising investmentfunds it places an added responsibilitythat the money be invested wisely.

The Plan provides for ` 8433 Cr forNew Lines, an increase of 69% over the

current years spending, ` 6502 Cr forMetropolitan Projects a more thantenfold increase,`5418 Cr for doublingan increase of 145%. Significant increas-es in allocation over 2010-11 have beenprovided for the Signal & Telecom(20%) and Electrification (49%).

Higher allocations have also been madefor traffic facilities, computerizationand research where there were big cutsin the current year. Whereas, in case ofNew Lines and metropolitan projectsthere appear to have been compulsionsto achieve socioeconomic objectives of

Government, in other areas funding iswell directed. The greater allocation fordoubling, electrification, signalling &telecommunication and DedicatedFreight Corridor works should contrib-ute to capacity building. The big jumpin the plan size will also require greateremphasis on speeding up execution. Inthis regard the Minister had announcedthe setting up of a Central Organizationfor Project Implementation.

An interesting announcement was thecreation of a Pradhan Mantri Rail VikasYojana under which a non- lapsablefund would be created for executingsocially desirable projects. Similarly anon-lapsable Fund for completingProjects in the North-East was also an-nounced. It is not clear as to what wouldbe th e so ur ce fo r fund in g th es eschemes. The concept is good; howev-er, there is need for separating sociallydesirable projects from capacity build-ing projects and identifying separatesources for financing them in a way thatcapacity creation gets priority. This is

an important issue and Governmentfor the future growth of the organisationneeds to distinguish between what issocially desirable and what is a priorityfor creating capacity to facilitate growth.Of the 122 ongoing New Line Projectsonly about ten are considered commer-

cially viable. Similarly of the 40 sectionsof new line projects targeted for com-pletion in 2011-12 very few will be ofany short or long term operational orcommercial benefit to IR. On the otherhand tremendous returns can be ex-pected from the 35 sections expected

to be doubled during the year.

Overall, the budget reflects the difficultfinancial position IR is going through.It has some new features. For the firsttime the budget proposes raising invest-ment funds through tax free bonds. Thishighlights the need for IR to exploreoptions for raising investment fundsfrom sources other than internal gener-ation and Government Budgetary Sup-port. Public Private Partnership, whichis one possibility, has made a very slow

beginning. It is important that modelsfor PPP in different spheres of rail ac-tivity must be developed in consultationwith industry in order to make it suc-ceed. The non-lapsable fund for social-ly-desirable projects is also a positivebut needs to be followed up so that itbecomes workable proposition. Thefailure to raise passenger fares, in par-ticular, is difficult to understand froma professional organisational perspec-tive. Moreover, there is an urgent needto analyse costs as, despite growth in

volumes, unit costs are high and it musttake concrete steps to bring them downin order to ensure long term viability.The key lesson is that IR needs to focuson its core business objectives and planfor rapid capacity creation to achievegrowth objectives set in its Vision 2020.

Passenger services: robust initiatives

l Additional AC double-decker services will be intro-duced on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai

routes even as the first service is awaiting final trials

before introduction on the Howrah-Dhanbad route.

l 20 coach MEMU services have been introduced onthe Northern Railway.

l There has been no indication of any plan for incre-mental increases on the existing speed of 110 kphon the bulk of IR route. However, a pre-feasibilitystudy will be taken up with Japanese support forincreasing passenger train speeds to 160-200 kph onDelhi- Mumbai route. Similar studies will be initiatedlater for Mumbai-Kolkata, Chennai- Bangalore, Del-hi-Jaipur and Ahmedabad-Mumbai. What IR has notindicated is whether this increase would take placeon existing tracks or a new route. Nothing is known

regarding whatever happened to the survey alreadyundertaken for the 250+ kph high speed route linkingAhmedabad to Mumbai and Pune. The promisedHigh Speed Development Authority is also stuck upin procedural insomnia somewhere in New Delhi.


7/40Muted hopes on dedicated freight corridor

I R 2 0 1 1 B U D G ET

5

The present scene

The steep rise in IR expenditure mainly due to salary

revisions arising out of the 6th Pay Commission hasserious implications not withstanding part provisioningfor it in the FY 2008 interim budget. Shortfall in freighttraffic during FY 2010 is a matter of concern.Considering an ` 60 Cr yield per mt of freight traffic,this alone would account for reduction of`1000 Cr inthe earning stream.

The core prescription for IRs growth in the recent pasthas been a concentrated build up in infrastructure. Thiswas reflected in massive 11th Plan (2007 2012)projection of` 2.33 Lakh Cr which had envisaged network expansion and additions and improvement inrolling stock. Major initiative for network expansion

was of course the Dedicated Freight Corridors. Buildingof additional capacity for electric and diesel locomotives,passenger and freight stock and improving their qualityand design was another cornerstone of planning. Byand large the 11th Plan, now in its last year, has failedto realize significantly on these major initiatives. Freightgrowth beyond 2006 07 (from 728 mt to 924 mt) haslargely consumed additional capacity created earlier.Major infrastructure growth in network and rollingstock are key stones that have to be addressed singlemindedly.

Short term strategy

l

Network expansion has been emphasized in thecurrent budget. Estimates sight 700 km during 2010against the originally envisaged 1000 km. For 2011projections include 1075 km of new lines (` 7181Cr). Most of it has to be in new links and alternativeroutes like bye passes and other connections linkinggauge converted lines. It is important that all timeand money should largely support core routes.

l Gauge conversion (GC) should prioritize on alter-native routes like Bhildi-Samdi. 2011 Estimates target

1017 Km for GC with an outlay of` 2723 Cr includ-ing ` 2107 Cr from external borrowing like IRFCBonds. The 2010-11 revised outlay is ` 1319 Cr,down from the original ` 2264 Cr, but the physicaltarget has remained unchanged at 800 km. Somemagic is working behind the scenes!

l Track Doubling and Electrification are core to ca-pacity building and targets of 700 Km and 1000 Kmrespectively should be achieved in FY 2010. For FY2011-12, the target for track doubling is 861 Km(` 5408 Cr), with the bulk of` 5293 Cr from IRFC

Bonds. Electrification gets ` 978 Cr with ` 854 Crfrom external borrowing.

Long term

l The new capacity initiatives in freight stock andlocomotives have to be speeded up. There is needto improve freight design, particularly to improvetare - weight ratio and increase axle load. It has beendemonstrated that overpowering of trains is a betteroption.

l Maximum moving dimensions should be againlooked at critically. We can provide extra width infreight wagons, to increase their capacity.

There is need to move forward with speed. IR can thinkof a think tank suggest some short and long termmeasures. Its financing model, which heavily leans onexternal borrowing, will also need careful handling andmanagement.

Capacity building: a single minded pursuit

IR has developed several business-oriented policies:Railways Infrastructure for Industry Initiative R3i,Private Freight Terminal, Special Freight Train Opera-tors (SFTO), Automobile Freight Train Operators,Automobile and Ancillary Hubs, Kisan Vision (ColdChains) and Rail Connectivity to Coal and Iron oremines (R2CI). IR believes that the response to thepolicies has been encouraging with 85 proposals receivedso far though closure of no proposal has been reportedso far. Some business houses are keen on a majoritystake before they invest in any big ticket project. IR hasset up a Single Window System but unfortunately thissingle window, as indicated on the IR web site, names

a room in the corporate office without naming anyperson or even a contact detail. Often times actions area better clue to intentions than the words used.

N Madusudhan Rao, Exec. Director (Planning)

indicated receipt of 5 proposals under the R3i schemes.He expects exciting interest from steel and coal indus-tries in the ore connectivity projects underR2C.

Generating private capital

R R Jaruhar,

Consultant World

Bank,

Former Member

Engineering,

IR Board

Link Corporate RB estimate of house cost `Cr

Dighi port, Balaji 550Maharashtra Infrastructure

Dewas port, Reliance Infra 500Maharashtra

Jaigarh port, Jindal Steel 2000Maharashtra

Astrang port, Navyug 750Orissa

Hazira port Essar 800Gujarat


8/40

The palette is well filled with possibilities, hopes andtechnologies. A few images emerge now and then, some-times hazy, but raising expectations of more to come.Sanjiv Handa, Member of IR Board, looks at the palettewith a lot of interest and has quite a few pictures inmind. In a freewheeling interview to RAIL BUSINESSafter the presentation of the 2011 annual budget, Handaexpressed general satisfaction with the planned invest-

ments in rolling stock manufacture and maintenancefacilities and delineated quite a few initiatives that shouldmaterialize in the next financial year. IRs rolling stockmanufacture and procurement programme is slated toget ` 13800 Cr in FY 2011.

Handa noted that rolling stock production will getrequired funding with the increased borrowings of`20000 Cr by IRFC. Asked if such increased borrowingscould also mean IRFC funding for various stallednetwork expansion projects, Handa hoped that such aneffort would succeed. For him, running a business effec-tively is about borrowing money in projects that give ahigher return. IR has a wide range of projects that areguaranteed to give good returns on the economic andfinancial fronts and any increased borrowing should befor the better.

Network expansion

Handa pointed out that the proposed Pradhan MantriRail Yojana will get non- lapsable funding in the 12thfive year plan for new network projects, particularly inthe socially desirable sector. For him, IR needs to deter-mine better delivery mechanism for in-hand projectsso that the expected increase in project funding can beabsorbed faster. He pointed out IR plans for setting upan organisation for project implementation (COPI)

that will have senior managers in four metros monitorproject process. Asked if such a structure would not mixresponsibilities with the zonal managers, Handa indi-cated that the Board is aware of the need to determineresponsibilities and the structure would be evolved with

care. For him these project czars would have to alsowork as speed agents resolving local issues with various

stake holders including the state govts and pushingintra-railways coordination on a continuous basis.Delivery mechanisms do need some out-of-the-boxthinking and for new structures to be defined for thecoming years.

About RAIL BUSINESS concerns regarding availablefunding getting lesser priority for capacity buildingprojects like the high density routes, Handa wasemphatic that such projects are getting priority supportand attention on a recurring basis and the IR manage-ment is fully aware for the need to speed up capacitybuilding projects.

Locomotive manufacture

Handa laid out his plans for rolling stock acquisitionsin 2011. The Diesel Loco Works at Varanasi is now wellon the path to manufacturing above 250 locos includingan impressive 160 to the 4500 hp EMD designs. Sourcesand technologies having been tied up for the EMD classlocos, DLW should be able to switch to 100 % produc-tion of such locos. In particular, DLW and RDSO havenow three possible designs and sources in EMD,Siemens and the indigenous Medha Servo for the trac-tion converter supplies. Problems faced earlier withdifferent software versions (SIBAS from Siemens andEMDs EM 2000) have been sorted out leading to bettersupply anticipation in coming years. DLW is now pro-

ducing only the 4500 hp versions that meet with trafficneeds. DLW is also working to a specially worked outrevised policy for niche high technology products thatneed a d ed ic ated and d i f fer ent d evel op-ment/procurement approach. Design and proceduralrequirements for prototype manufacture of the 5500hp version are also in hand though a definite time linefor the prototype production was difficult to come by.

Passenger coach manufacture

Manufacture of coaches will get a boost when the newcoach factory in Rai Bareilly puts out its first coachwithin three months. Build up to full production levelwill take some more time. Handas plans include pro-gressive shift to manufacture of the more modern LHBdesigns only (the other version known as ICF designdates back almost 60 years). Increases in LHB produc-tion have been constrained by limitations in manufactureof the coach bogies that require precision machiningon a 5-axis CNC machine. Capacity tie ups have includ-ed setting up an IR funded bogie manufacturing facilityin Budge Budge (likely to take couple of years) andsome outsourcing.

Use of such coaches has been restricted so far to theniche Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains but higher produc-tion would permit extension to premier mail and express

trains that had been held on hold due to the doubtsabout using non-air-conditioned coaches on speedsabove 130 kph. Necessary mandatory clearances forthis purpose have been obtained and Handa expectsthat 6 trains would be put into service next year. The

Improving system genes: Sanjiv Handa

I N T ER V I EW S A N J I V H A N D A


Sanjiv Handa, Member Mechanical, Indian Railway Board


9/40High hopes but no visible progress in PPP projects

60 year old coach factory at Chennai(ICF) is currently in the process of an` 250 Cr investment to permit capacityincrease to 1700 coaches per year. Thisinvestment will also permit ICF toswitch over predominantly to LHB de-signs when the project takes shape,

around 2013. This year ICF expects tomanufacture upward of 40 such coach-es, depending on supply of bogies fromRCF and allied sources. Expectedlywith the progressive increase in manu-facture of such coaches in Peramburand Rai Bareilly, these will become thenew standard for the passengers inIndia. Riding comfort and ambiencewill get a new high on IR, in additionto the fact that these coaches can pro-vide incremental higher speeds even onexisting tracks.

On-board waste disposal: a longterm concern

Waste disposal and on-board toiletshave been a bane of the IR system. Eventhough trials on bio-toilets have goneon for some years, it is only now thatsome definite direction and progresshas been recorded with a rake fittedwith DRDO-developed bio-toilets onthe run since end January. DRDO isvery confident of making this designwork satisfactorily in the Indian condi-tions of relative misuse. Handa indicat-

ed that for a system to be viable, stand-ardisation on the design is a criticalrequirement as coaches are often divert-ed to unpredictable routes and absenceof facilities, training and spares in anylocation can mar the acceptability andperformance of any design. The satis-faction level with the existing Control-led Discharge Toilets is not good. In-crease in the numbers of bio-toilet fittedcoaches will be given a boost in comingyears: while funding will not be an issue,the ability to develop adequate numberswill be. IR is accordingly planning totake on this activity in the Motibagh(Nagpur) narrow gauge workshop thathas relatively current low work load andcan handle such work on priority.

Super AC Coach

Plans for the introduction of a superAC have been announced in the par-liament and a prototype coach will bemanufactured in a few months for a firstlook and preliminary feedback. It is un-derstood that these coaches will haveadded privacy for the passengers, supe-

rior ambience and furnishings andcollapsible footsteps to ease usage forpassengers using the upper berths. Re-luctance to reveal full details is perhapsunderstandable.

Improving the genes

The general vision of improving rollingstock designs naturally extends to wag-ons also. Handa calls this general effortas improving the genes. The effort hasobviously not been hassle free: he iseverything that a persistent manager

should be. Determined in his effort ongene engineering the rolling stockfamily, he laid out an extensive array ofsystem improvements needed and inprocess.

Wagon utilisation and throughputshave seen an ambitious increase partic-ularly in the covered BCN class of wag-ons where the throughput per train isup by an impressive 34 %. East CentralRailways Mughalsarai wagon depot,that handles bulk of the wagon require-ments for the north bound coal traffic,

now maintains almost 100 rakes ofstainless steel open wagons ofBOXNHL class. These rakes are ableto run up to 370 km per day on theaverage, up from about 330 km on theearlier versions in the same circuits.Performance will be improved furtheras the earlier service problems on thesedesigns have been addressed and bogiemounted brake systems installed.

In its effort to continuously tune upwagon designs, IR has had a secondlook at the use of stainless steel covered

wagons of the BCNA class. Possibly thenext tranche of these wagons will bebought to designs that will use microalloyed steels in place of stainless steelbut the enlarged payload and trainloadcapacities will be retained. Newer ver-sion is expected to reduce procurementcosts by up to`6 Lac per wagon, a heftysaving on the annual bill. Consideringprocurement procedures, this wouldimply that the first wagons of this classmay be on road by end 2011.

Improving the wagon coupler

Handa has also addressed the issue ofwagon rel iabili ty and maintenanceneeds. He indicated ongoing efforts toimprove centre buffer performance.Considering the large number of cou-pler breaks on indigenously producedcouplers (patterned on the AAR typeF) on wagons, IR had decided in 2007to use only imported coupler assembliesfrom the approved US sources. Thesehave been fitted on the stainless steelBOXNHL and BCNHL wagons wherecomparative performance has been im-

pressive: almost perfect in terms of in-service reliability. Parallel efforts to im-prove indigenous production havecentered on the processes for qualityassurance.

IR has been discussing implementationof a new specification for CBC couplersthat draws on the experience withrecent imports, experience in qualityassurance and changes in AAR specifi-cations. Trial manufacture by some ven-dors of couplers to this amended spec-

ification is now in hand and this effortwill see finality in a few months. IR islikely to stop imports of couplers forwagon contracts likely to be awardedlater in the year. This improvement,when effected, will go a long way ad-dressing a chronic problem with IRwagon performance. Extension of thebogie mounted brake systems to otherwagon classes could also be affected asthe vendor base and experience withlarger numbers comes in.

Procurement bottlenecks

Wagon procurement procedures arealso getting a fresh look with a view toincrease transparency and provide bet-ter incentives for improved quality as-surance by current manufacturers. Pro-cedural issues often delay procurementdecisions and an effort is being madeto address likely issues in the pre-tenderdiscussions so as to limit subsequentdelays in the decision making process.With a likely induction of around 16000 wagons this year and the fact thatmost of these wagons have improvedpay load capacities, wagon availabilityshould ease permitting a growth to thetargeted 990 mt in next FY.

New manufacturing units

While a number of new manufacturingfacilities are on the anvil for rolling stockcomponents and wagons, these havebeen either through IRs own invest-ments or likely joint ventures with stateowned cash rich corporations like SAIL.Successes in getting private participa-tion in locomotives, or electric/dieselcar set production have not been im-pressive. While Handa is aware of de-lays in these actions, he is also consciousof the need to evolve a long term modelthat can be applied to all streams ofsuch investments. In his view, the timetaken now to address various issues andsort out investment priorities, vis a visIRs own manufacturing units, will beworth the effort in the long run.

The visions are taking shape, albeitslowly. The brush strokes are showinga pattern that can bode well for the rail-ways in India. One could sense a direc-

tion and determination in what is beingdone, very practicable schemes withachievable time lines and defined goals.Like many others, the rail communityhopes for successes in all these efforts.

I N T ER V I EW S A N J I V H A N D A

7


10/40

V K Arora, CEO , SAILs Bhilai Steel Plant is a contentedman as he lays out the future plans for rail productionin his plant. Arora looks back with satisfaction at thelast 50 years of rail making in Bhilai: from the humblebeginnings in 1961 when the mill produced a ratherslender looking 45 kg/m rails to current plans for instal-lation of a new universal rolling mill in 2013. For him,this is a long journey that any steel mill in the world canbe proud of. Now in its golden jubilee year of its railrolling efforts, Bhilai has supplied more than 16 mt ofrails to systems in India and customers across the world.Bhilai engineers point out that, if the rails they havesupplied so far could be virtually assembled, these wouldcircle the globe almost 10 times. Railways in India aretoday dependent solely on Bhilai production and therole that a new 1.2 mtpa universal mill will play in the

forthcoming SAIL capacity expansions cannot be overemphasized. A modest export of 0.7 mt has been madeso far, including 50000 t under way to Sri Lanka rightnow (through IRCON).

Up and downstream integration

Arora indicated that SAIL is now in the process of tyingup for supply of ores / coal for future expansion plans.Recently a memorandum of understanding has beensigned with the Governor, Central Kalimanthan prov-ince, Indonesia for development of mineral deposits,setting up of mineral processing facility and requiredinfrastructure. This will be a joint venture betweenmajor Indian public sector units SAIL, Coal India, Rash-

triya Ispat Nigam, National Mineral Development Cor-poration, and National Thermal Power Corporation.

SAIL has also recently signed a memorandum of under-standing with the IR-PSU IRCON for development ofan end-to-end solution provider in track laying andrenewal. Arora explained that this will add a new businesssegment to SAIL rail portfolio and generate an assuredoff take from its universal mill. This joint-venture willhave full solution capability for new tracks and willinclude a complement of machines for tamping, ballastcleaning, sleeper and rail renewal, track stabilising, switchtamping and in-service ultrasonic testing.

The early years

Bhilai Steel Plant was set up in collaboration with Russiain the days when each such plant was hailed as a templeof modern India. It is no wonder that the then PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated the rail mill in

1961. Bhilai has had the distinction of being reckonedas the best integrated steel plant on 9 of the 16 occasions.

With a current capacity of 11 mt of saleable steel, theplant will accelerate to 20 mt after current ambitiousexpansion plans take shape. For the Railways this is ahealthy stream of traffic requiring about 100 mt ofmaterial movement: 80 mt of raw material and 20 mtof finished product.

Appropriately in its 50th year of operation, we werefortunate to get a detailed perspective from SK Rastogi,retired Dy. General Manager, who was involved in theformative years of the mill way back in 1960s. Rastogisindirect, though silent, contribution to railways is diffi-cult to disregard. Rastogi and his team were trained inRussia including in the mills at Tagil and Yekaterinburg,

the latter in the foothills of the Ural Mountains beinginfamous for the secret burial of the last Czar NicholasII and his family in July 1918. Rastogi traced the evolu-tion of the mill indicating that the original mill wassimilar to the ones in Russia. Some engineers weretrained in plants close to Siberia and have been hardenedby the extremes, rendered fit for the tough working ina steel mill.

Bhilai product range is systematically displayed on entryto the mill in a collage of cut sections and includes railprofiles of 52 and 60 kg/m, currently used by the Indianrailway system (rails are rated by their weight in kg/m).Other profiles produced in the past include UIC 54 and

Z U 45 E1. The plant also produces the hefty lookingasymmetrical Z U-1 60 rail profile that is used in thepoints and crossings on rail tracks. Rolled sleepers forrail crossings were produced earlier but the currentpreference for concrete sleepers in all locations hasmade this redundant.

With a 1200 work force in the rail mill, the highestproduction achieved was in 2008 when around 0.8 mtof rail were supplied mainly to Indian customers. Theorder book in 2009 and 2010 has not been too healthywith production limited to 0.7 mt. This contradicts IRforecasts of higher investments and accelerated con-struction of new tracks. Lesser rail means lesser new

construction and this pointer is not too reassuring forIRs promised capacity increases.

The process

Starting with production of 13 m length rails in 1960sthe plant is now gearing up for delivery of up to 260 mflash butt welded rail lengths. These long rails are pro-duced by in-house welding of suitably length controlledrails. Rolling longer lengths and flash butt welding reducethe number of onsite alumino-thermic joints requiredas well as overall costs. The impact on reliability andconstruction costs is immediate particularly as on-sitewell joints using Thermit welds have a long history ofin-service failures with sometimes disastrous accidents.

The process of converting cast billets into rails wasdetailed by B Sengupta and A K Saxena, Plant Managers.If you have a few hundred horse power at your disposaland a reasonably rigid machine that can make drumsticks

Bhilai rails on a 50 year roll

V K Arora,CEO, SAILs BhilaiSteel Plant

I N D U S T R Y R A I L S


Jawahar Lal Nehru, then Prime Minister inaugurating one of the temples of modern India in Bhilai


11/40` 20000 Cr through tax free IRFC bonds

out of steel, rail making is the easiestjob going. That is what it sounded liketill one got to see the real scale of operations.

Steel is first produced in LD converter,with the ingredients controlled to giverequired chemical composition. Start-ing with manufacture of ingots fromBasic Earth furnace, Bhilai shifted toproduction from LD converter Con-cast route in 1987. Sengupta empha-sised that a critical requirement for highquality steel is that nonmetallic impurityas well as hydrogen gas content shouldbe reduced so as to eliminate in servicefractures. With a nonmetallic inclusioncount of less than 1.5 (as defined instandard specifications), the productalso requires a hydrogen content of lessthan 1.5 ppm. This is a demanding re-

quirement for which action was initiat-ed in 1998 when the plant achieved lessthan three ppm. It took the plant some-time before stabilising to less than1.6 ppm in all heats in 2003. On linespectroscopy ensures accurate dosingand control. Each melt producesaround 120 t of high quality steel. Vac-uum degassing removes nonferrous im-purities that emanate from furnace lin-ings and the steel making process,besides reducing gas content. Saxenaexplained that without degassing, hy-drogen content may range above 3 ppmbut degassing ensures consistent gaslevels below 1.6 ppm considered ac-ceptable for top service performance.The continuous casting process gener-ates 4 t blooms.

These blooms are heated to around13000C in the 3 coke oven gas firedfurnaces, of which each can store up to90 blooms. A heating time of around 5hours ensures a good malleable productready for the spaghetti making rolls.The spaghetti making occurs in mul-tiple stages, first in 7 passes in the rough-ing mill and then in the three-high mill.Not surprisingly, this is tough on therolls that have to be skim -machinedcontinually after just around 3000 t steelhas been rolled.

By the time the last roll gets to work,the steel has cooled down to around900 C. Each bloom can produce about70 m rail that is cut into appropriatelengths by a mechanical saw. Qualityassurance requires that each melt,bloom and rail is tagged and tracked.

This is done by roll stamping melt par-ticulars and date during the processing.This is almost like the markings on yourmilk carton except that steel is tougherto get lasting imprints on.

Bending to straighten

Dough making does not producestraight rails as the section, not beinguniform, cools differently and the railstend to take on longitudinal distortion.This is corrected into a predesignedcamber so that on cooling the rail isstraight: as little as 0.4 mm over 2 mlength. This is checked online by alaser measuring machine: modern tech-nology makes things difficult for processquality people. And if some straighten-ing is still required, the SMS Meer coldstraightening mill, with its 7 horizontal

and 6 vertical rollers, takes care of that.Earlier about 75 % of the rails used tobe drilled for fixing fish plates but longwelding of rails has now eliminated thisneed.

Getting better and stronger

The current rail finishing complex wascommissioned in 2001 with the longrail finishing facilities for 26 m in 2005.The new universal rail mill planned forcommissioning in 2013 will be capableof rolling 135 m long rail lengths whichcan be partitioned to required sizes.

The roll configuration will includebreaking down stands followed by atandem reversible mill.

This mill is being sourced from SMSMeer, the well known German heavymachinery manufacturer. The entireset up will include a walking beam fur-nace, cooling bed and a new plant con-sisting of biaxial horizontal and verticalcold straightening. Besides helping re-duce the current high rate of processrejections, the new equipment will havethe added advantages of provision of

quick changing devices, practice provenand reliably built plant components, in-house computer-aided role pass designand, above all, the ability to produce ata higher pace. With a roll changeover

time of just 20 min, the advantages forflexible manufacture are obvious.

The new process has added advantagein as much as the billet will be rollformed from all four sides helping inreduction of inner stresses, smootherrail surface and closer tolerances of therolled form. It is expected that therewill be drastic reduction of roll weardue to reduced friction between theproduct and the rolls. In current pro-duction faster roll wear results in signif-icant out of tolerance product and con-sequently a very high rate of rejection.This will be supplemented by OVIS(Optical Visual Inspection System) thatwill soft check any surface defects likenicks and dents, leaving a rail with ablonde like surface. For Rastogi andother engineers of his group the newuniversal mill will be a sea change fromwhat they started with. For them manyof the technologies now in place aredreams come true. They bring theirexpertise to the benefit of railways.

Harder rail table

Increasing tonnages on railway freightstock as well as the need to reduce railwear requires that the rail table surfacein contact with the wheel is of higherhardness, an impressive 380 BHN onthe surface and a little softer inside. Thenew line will have a selective coolingfacility for rails in upright position.

Rail head hardening technology is avail-able to limited manufacturers aroundthe world. The SMS technology em-ploys selective cooling that organisesthe rail temperature profile, minimises

residual stresses and improves railstraightness that is critical for finallyachieving track tolerances required formodern high-speed tracks. The headhardening process includes an induc-

The Bhilai Rail team : from left S C Paul, GM, B Sengupta, Dy. GM, Rastogi, Ex. Dy. GM, S C Mehra, GM,

A K Saxena, Dy. GM and A Mairel, Dy. GM


9


12/40



Over a million route km of railways exist in the world today. Butwe could begin in Babylonia of 2245 BC.

The earliest evidence of pathways using rails (rail ways) canbe traced as far back as the Belus ruled empire. Stonemasonsthen had built imperial roads consisting of two parallel lines ofstones, three cubits (5 ft) apart to run vehicles while being pulledby mules and horses, walking down the centre of the track. Suchrudimentary tracks, without vehicle guidance, were navigated bythe drivers instincts. Later, when Aristophanes was alive, around400 B C, Greek ships were pulled across the Cornith isthmus onwheeled cradles, which travelled on 5ft 4in rail gauge with inde-

pendent guidance to remain on rails without human interferenceand with loops ektropoi so that vehicles may pass each other!The ruined streets of Pompeii too have evidence of guide railsbut it is not certain whether these were constructed intentionally.

A prolonged rail-less interval until around twelfth centuryfollowed, when German miners started to scrounge central Europefor exploitable seams of metal ores. They often used woodenrails to push their small trucks into the mines (illustrated in thebook De Re Metallica, 1556). The first documented railway wasthe 1603 Wollaton line, near Nottingham, that transported coalfrom a pithead till 1790. (contributed by Saibal Bose).

Wooden rails and mining cart from a Romanian silver mine, around 16th century

(Photo courtesy : Clemens Kirchner, Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin)

Rail ways:as old asMohenjo-daro !

tion heater to equalise the temperatureprofile over the length of the rail andalso increases the temperature fromaround 750 to 8500C . Bhilai producesits rails mainly in accordance with Indi-an Railways specification IRS T 12. Thesteel required for such hardened rails

will have higher carbon content, up to0.75% from 0.65%. Top surface hard-ness peaks at 390 going down to 340BHN 10 mm below the surface.

The new equipment will have automat-ic visual and metric measuring lines thatinclude a waywardness testing device,rail profile gauge, eddy current and ul-trasonic testing with defect markingstations. Existing lines of course alsouse ultrasonic and eddy current testingfeatures that are required for findingany defects on the mass of rails pro-

duced. VK Arora indicated that the en-tire upgrade will cost around ` 2 200Cr including about ` 1200 Cr for themain package from SMS Meer.

Handling a 130 m long rail section isan interesting exercise that captivatesa lay person. The rail welding complexwill have capacity of 1.1 mtpa The weld-ing line process will start with inputfrom the rail mill, a brushing unit areawith two brushing machines, 2 welding

machines, 4 grinding machines for thewelding flash, 4 Jack press straighteningmachines and finally a dispatch area for260 meter finished rails.

Developments over 50 years

The 50 year Bhilai journey that beganwith 45 kg/m rails in 1961 has includedthe development of 52 kg/m rails earlyon. Physical strengths of the rails wereimproved in the upgrade of tensilestrength (UTS) from 72 to 90 kg/mm2in 1983. Also around this time the plantdeveloped 60 kg/m rail that was con-sidered necessary for higher tonnagefreight traffic. The plant has alreadydesigned a 68 kg/m rail profile for usein the 30 t axle load on dedicated freightlines planned in coming years. Recentdevelopment efforts have included pro-duction of low alloy rails for higher cor-

rosion resistance of which about 8000tare already in service, mainly on theSouth Central Railway. The plant hopesto complete the order by rolling 2000tmore in coming months. Other effortshave included Copper-Chromium al-loyed high strength rails, high yieldstrength/ UTS vanadium micro-alloyedrails and high conductivity rails for thirdrail power supply in metro systems.

Quality issues

Railway systems in India are plaguedwith high incidence of rail and weldfractures that can have occasional dis-astrous consequences. Various meas-ures taken to control such fractures havemainly included higher insistence onflash butt welded rails in place of at-sitealumino-thermic welds as the latterhave much higher incidence of in-service failures. (Better in service testingof rails for incipient flaws through ultra-sonic and eddy testing has receivedmuch research effort and current tech-nology trends were reported in ourNovember issue). The role of steel millin ensuring better metallurgical qualityof the rails is a foundation on whichsuch service improvements can rest. Itis of concern that the internal rejections

of rails in Bhilai are at an uncomfortablyhigh level, necessitating a complementof about 100 online inspectors providedby third party inspector RITES. It isunderstood the rejections are mainlyon account of uncontrolled dimension-al tolerances. It is likely that with thecommissioning of the new mill this bat-tery of third-party inspectors will nolonger be needed and IR can significant-ly reduce incidence of in-service failures.


13/40Undefined proposal for rail industrial parks

Think Calcutta: the overfilled streets. The hidden mag-nificence and style of buildings on Dalhousie (BBD

Bagh) and the Esplanade. Trams with museum-styletechnology running empty even at peak times. Suburbantrains teeming with passengers jostling for space andcarrying the much delayed government employees. Themany languages you can hear at Howrah railway station.The red and green festoons of the political parties.Discourses in adda groups. A million images of a cityof 10 million or more, images that define the range andcomplexity of the Eastern Railway. Housed in the iconicFairlie Place, this railway provides almost a billion pas-senger trips every year, typically a trip for each Indian,with 85 % suburban passengers mostly on the Howrahand Sealdah terminals. ER delivers services that are busyat the seams, running an impressive 174 long distancepassenger expresses every day. Kolkata and ER sharetheir dreams, their problems and their future.

Railways came to Eastern India when the first train ranfrom Howrah to Hooghly on 15th August, 1854: perhapsthe 15 August date symbolizes the oft repeated sayingwhat Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. Sincethen, after many reorganizations and milestones, ER isnow a premium Zone with 2452 route kms, 4211 trackkms, 1710 trains per day, 547 stations, 3 major work-shops and 1.3 lakh employees. Kolkata has bagged IRrelated headlines in recent years and the ER manage-ment is today in the forefront for delivering new railway

projects for network expansion, enhanced passengerfacilities and a host of manufacturing units: ER couldset up new bench marks for other zones. It is a resultworth watching for.

Revenue streams include `3315 Cr form freight servicesand` 1460 Cr from passenger services. Prior to creationof the new zones, ER included the coal rich Dhanbaddivision but now coal sources are mainly centered inAsansol Division. A respectable 42 mt is handled everyyear with coal at about 35 mt. ER needs to add capacitiesand ease traffic flows particularly around Howrah butis , not surprisingly , restrained by the funding.

Passenger services at the core

The coming summer months will see India on the travel,to holidays, to examinations, to join marriages and othercelebrations, to spend the resources of a precedingharvest and trains will be full, so full that it would benormal to see long distance trains overflowing withpassengers. As the Indian summer special trains comein, ER ingenuity and resources will be taxed for additionof 168 special long distance trains, offering 118416 extrasleeper seats and still facing the heat. Popular routes lietowards Delhi, Nainital, Darjeeling, Nepal and Bihar.Considering that passenger services are subsidized fromfreight earnings, it is not a management paradox that azone with overbooked services runs at an operating

ratio close to 150 %. Also the more services they provide,the more their metrics deteriorate. Incredible India!

A recent effort to improve stations has been to provideupgraded facilities through the Adarsh (ideal) initiative,

and ER is in the process of improving 178 stations.Starting with better paint and broom jobs, the secondphase will concentrate on brick and mortar additions.ER will complete 20 stations this month that includethe remarkable architecture at Dakshineshwar and BelurMath, pilgrimage sites on the banks of the Ganges asso-ciated with Saints Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. Amore long term approach is the setting up of multifunc-tional complexes involving better facilities and somecommercial businesses at 25 railway stations with 2stations targeted this month.

Ticketing delays at stations are a common sight and IRhas responded by computerizing ticket issues at allstations by linking these with optical fibre networkunder the Unreserved Ticketing Platform (UTS), withER providing more than 370 such locations. KolkataPassenger reservation system now has 756 offices, spread

over six Zonal Railways, 9 other locations serving 16states and serving Andaman & Nicobar Islands and oneat Thegu in Sikkim, worlds highest ticketing outletabove 4000 m.

In a revival of an old idea of door step ticketing, a mobileticketing van called Mushkil Aasan (eased hardship)plies Kolkata, handling about 2500 reservations requestsper month ( ` 17 lac). This of course is a small fractionof the total summer traffic but caters to clientele withlimited mobility and literacy. An initiative that needsto be monitored and nurtured.

Suburban services

The pressure on suburban services is acute and has beensought to be addressed by increased frequency in peakhours and longer train lengths. Sealdah and HowrahDivisions handle 1184 trains every day, ranging between9, 10 and 12 car train sets. Progressive migration to 12

Eastern Railway: the Kolkata soul mate

I R EASTERN RA I LWAY

11

Varun Barthuar,

General Manager,

Eastern Railway

Belur symbolises the improved station facilities at 178 stations


14/40

car services requires lengthening of plat-forms and access facilities at some sta-

tions and additional cars. Limited atpresent to 153 train sets, ER hopes thatthe increased production capacities incoming years will permit better frequen-cy and car length increases.

New railway factories

l Loco component factories atDankuni: some of the projects likethe IR funded `250 Cr one for man-

ufacturing diesel locomotive underframes and machining engine blocks

for DLW Varanasi have madeprogress on the ground. The otherDankuni facility as an ancillary tothe Chittaranjan Loco Works isplanned for the PP route and hasntseen any ground level activity yet.

l Kancharapara: a new EMU factoryis planned with a capacity to manu-facture 500 EMU/MEMU coachesper annum. It is intended that thisfactory in the PPP/JV route wouldenable manufacturing of lightweightstainless steel EMU/MEMU coach-es with 3 phase IGBT propulsionand regenerative braking. Invest-ment is likely be around ` 2000 Crand IR has so far pre-qualified eightcompanies / groups for bids thathave not been called for yet. Inter-national bidding has attracted ma-jors like Siemens, Bombardier, Al-stom, Stadler, Hitachi, Kawasaki,Rotem, Hyundai, ABB and CAF(Spain). Indian manufacturer TEX-MACO is a part of the bid with Ka-wasaki while Titagarh Wagon hasteamed up with Stadler and ABB.This is a long lead and big ticketproject but the bid papers are wait-ing for what has been termed as due

diligence, perhaps a euphemism forwaiting for somebody to take a bigdecision. The purchase model inthis bid would be a benchmark forother such initiatives for locomotiveand other factories announced byIR which are also stuck for due

diligence.l Bogie Manufacturing Factory : A`

60 Cr bogie manufacturing unit , asan added part of the Punjab basedRail Coach Factory, is now takingshape at Budge Budge, around 30km south of Kolkata. RITES hasbeen entrusted this project for turn-key execution and ER will providelocal coordination

l Wagon Industry at Kulti: RITES andSAIL have signed an MOU brokered

by IR for a wagon manufacturingfacility at the premises of SAILGrowth Works, Kulti near Asansol.This would manufacture 1200 Wag-ons per annum (plus rehabilitationof 300 wagons). A JV is reported tohave been formed with ground worklikely in coming months.

Project profiles

ER has a large number of extensionsand links spread around the system.Progress of new lines has been betterthan before with some projects still

steeped in local indecision includingfor land.

New Lines: ER has already commis-sioned the 5 km line between Tarake-swar and Talpur and 17 km line be-tween Bishnupur and Gokulnagar of55 km long Tarakeswar-Bishnupurproject.

l The 66 km long Deoghar-Dumkanew line project is expected at theend of this fiscal.

l

65% progress is reported on the112km long Deoghar-Sultanganjproject and 55% on the 130km longManderhill-Dumka-Rampurhat newline project.

l Other important works include res-toration of Azimganj-Jiaganj linewith a major rail bridge over the riverBhagirathi and the Canning Bhangankhali line under which amega railway bridge over the riverMatla is being constructed.

As Kolkata changes in coming yearsregaining its status for premier econom-ic activity, ER will evolve too, gainingfrom current efforts in various spheres.Soul mates will march together.

I R EASTERN RA I LWAY


Reflecting the best in Bengal architecture: the enhanced Dakshineswar station


15/40Healthy improvement in new line construction

The 1927 founded Indian Railway Institute of Mechan-ical and Electrical Engineers (IRIMEE), Jamalpur(JMP) , a professional railway training setup , celebratesits foundation day on Feb 14 every year . Engineeringgraduates, including Mechanical, are recruited througha difficult Union Public Service Commission competi-tive examination but IR trains its own apprentices(SAMs) in Mechanical Engineering. The two recruit-ment streams have had a sometimes difficult coexistencein post independence years, a sort of low level manage-ment strife based mostly on perceptions and hearsayand occasional indiscretions by immature officers. Over

the years an internal debate, sometimes objective andoften times emotional, has lingered on whether IR needto continue with the scheme of special class apprenticesas adequate mechanical engineering graduates are nowavailable and the UPSC route of recruitment should bethe sole route, as is prevalent in other streams on IR.Both sides have compelling arguments but decisionshave often been swung on the need to keep Jamalpuralive. One stream of thought would have JMP becom-ing a premier in-service training institute only. Thedebate shall range for some more years.

In a bold step, S Dhasarathy, then Member Mechanicalin IR Board, directed in 2001 that 14 Feb would inaddition be celebrated as the IR Mechanical EngineeringService (IRSME) Day. Various events besides traditionaldinners all over the IR system mark the IRSME Day, aunique happening in the IR calendar.

Started as technical school in 1888 attached to the thenmammoth Jamalpur workshop, IRIMEE has been train-ing graduate engineers since 1927 .That was a periodwhen other options were limited and training in Englandcould be the most expensive option. One cannot helpquote RR Bhandari: Report for 1925-26 stated thatselected candidates will undergo a course of training inRailway workshops for a period of 3 years followed by

a 2 year higher Mechanical Course in the Bengal Collegeof Engineering, Shibpur, or a further 2 years practicaltraining in Running Department For the first timethe term special apprenticeship was used.

That the training was always not very effective wasnarrated in an anecdote by SN Mahant. It seems that anational boxing champion Laurie T Carr was recruitedand continued to care more for boxing than engineering.Laurie was asked in his training interview as to variousmethods of manufacturing nuts and bolts and, aftersome considered thought, replied that the only methodhe knew was by foundry. Laurie was promptly removedfrom apprenticeship and seconded to be the hostel

warden.Jamalpur: centre of IRSME earth

As you cross the Rajmahal hills through a rail tunnel,the feeling is that not much could have changed since

the 1920s except that the scars from quarrying on thesehills have gone up. The upper story of the original double

story hostel was lost in an earthquake in 1934. But asone interacts with the faculty and trainees changes cometo the fore. For one the premises would look muchswankier than in the early years. The halls and the gym-khana still reverberate with old boys stories of methodsemployed to skip classes and workshop sessions, of theSC Misra days when trainees were a harried and helplesslot, of old tussles on the battle grounds of football andcricket , of the room service personnel like barbers andwasher men now long gone. Young trainees these daysdance more energetically to Bollywood numbers unliketheir counterparts from the 1940s who were more likelyto learn the ballroom and waltz options. PC Sen (1949)

dominates whatever happens in the gathering and therooms rebound with the booming laughter of SN Ma-hant (1951).

The IRIMEE day coincides with Valentines Day butany coincidence is purely accidental as the first batchof trainees arrived in JMP on Feb 14, 1927. Among theguests this year was Hazel Ward from England whoseIndia born father, VMS Bailey, retired as the secondprincipal of the School. Hazel is attracted to Jamalpuras she retains vivid memories of her childhood: born inJMP in 1941, she makes it a point to visit her childhoodhome. One of Baileys students reminisced that Baileythought that Jamalpur converts naughty boys into

gentlemen. This very British concept of training engi-neers has distinguished SAM's for better or for worse.

Then much has changed in the way young SAMs lookat their careers: an often asked worry is whether railways

When mechies bounce, swing and yaw:the IRSME Day

EV EN T S I R S ME D A Y

13

Table Tennis Champions separated by 3 generations: R C Sethi (1951) greets Rohan Singh (2007)


16/40

Photographs show S N Mahant, P C Sen, R N Aga, Navneet Singh, Pankaj Kumar, Arjun Israni, Ranjit Gupta, S C Sengupta and Hazel Ward

remain a good career option. Thatthought would never have crossed themind of SAMs in the middle of lastcentury. Of course some trainees wholeft IR for different fields have donewell. Of them Arjun Israni (1961) has

specialised in management of innova-tion. Israni left IR in 1969 after a stintas Asst Mech Engineer at Ratlam andnow, after an executive MBA from Stan-ford, is currently with National Semi-conductor USA. He presented histhoughts on innovation management,being fairly stringent in his commentson lack of an innovation supportiveculture on the IR. The most illustriousof these repats is RK Pachauri of IG-PCC, the UN environment body thatshared the Nobel Peace prize some

years back. Pachauri was to attend theevents on 14 Feb but was prevented byan injury. His video address to thegathering is easily the most reportablehighlight.

IRIMEE now has an ongoing arrange-ment with BIT Mesra for teaching andcertification of its special class appren-

tices. The effort in this direction wasinitiated some years back by NeerajKumar, currently Director General inIRs Railway Staff College, Vadodara.It is with the purpose of improvingtraining expanse that IRIMEE has nowentered into an MOU with Queens

University Belfast and a batch of ap-prentices has had a useful visit and in-teractions already. In service traininglast year was imparted to 225 persons,not an impressive number when look-ing at the about 1990 strength of in-service IR mechanical engineers. IRneeds to look closely at training needsparticularly as evolving technologiesare inducted even more rapidly. Recog-nizing system expansion needs and thatattrition rates will go up in comingyears, a positive trend of induction of

larger number of trainees can be no-ticed. The young batch of 2009 is 25strong including 4 lady trainees signify-ing changes in Indian society.

Strong on tradition

Tradition is being kept alive in Jamalpuras young trainees brighten the days forold hands by meticulous attentionand retention of events like the rickshawrace. Of course each of the oldies triesto find his soul mate in the favouritespot during his apprentice ship. Thiscould be the now defunct swimmingpool, or the favourite bunking story ora long gone attendant. Pankaj Singhtried to locate his favourite rock atopthe Kalipahari hills where he would re-treat when learning engineering becamea bore. Locating the rock proved diffi-cult due to indifferent construction inhis hide spot. But his 9 year old son

was impressed by his fathers choice.

The K C Lall Seminar on 13 Feb wasenlivened by PC Sen, a regular at theInstitute, who traced the origin of theword manager to menagerie one fortraining horses. Among the speakers

were RC Sethi, SN Mahant, S Senguptaand SA Singh. But if there was a slip itwas more because of retained habits:none of the events mentioned IRSMEDay specifically.

Other locations

BNR club, one of the best river sideproperties on the Kolkata Hooghly(Ganges), planned for a technical sem-inar and fun-n-games. Unseasonalshowers restricted the games but couldnot dampen any banter or the spirit offun. The technical seminar had contri-

butions from P Ramachandran and SNath (Talgo Spain) besides concludingcomments from Shakeel Ahmad on IRsslow PPP efforts. Legwork for theevents was by S Birua and G Sumana.

The Chennai event like many otherswas held on 19th Feb with a forenoonseminar on new developments incoaching materials .The senior mostofficer present was K P Jayaram, SCRA'42, who at 87 years retains the erectgait and tall presence that marked his

years in IR. S Dhasarathy, S Kasy Iyerand the recently retired NS Kasturiran-gan were amongst the host of seniorswho attended.

Patna: The unmistakable KP Rao,CME led the arrangements with assist-ance from AK Chandra, Vinram Mishraand Aman Raj.

What they do not teach them

EV EN T S I R S ME D A Y


The 4G-2009 SAM batch left to right:

Rakshita Bagherwal, Anshu Priya, Smriti Rao and Aastha Sneha.

l Every pipe is to be hollow throughout the entirelength do not use holes of different length thanthe pipe.

l The inside diameter of a pipe must not exceed theoutside diameter otherwise the hole will be onthe outside.

l All pipes over 150 m in len gth or over 2m indiameter should have the words LONG PIPEclearly painted on each side and end, so the con-tractor will know its a long pipe. Pipe over 3 kmin length must also have the words LONG PIPE

painted in the middle so that a workman will nothave to walk the entire length of the pipe.

l Flanges must be used on all pipes. Flanges musthave holes for bolts, quite separate from the big

hole in the middle.

l Specify whether you want level, uphill, or downhillpipe. If you use downhill pipes for going uphill,the water will flow the wrong way.

l All pipes shorter than 3 mm are very uneconomicalin use, requiring many joints. They are generallyknown as washers.

l Joi nts in pip es for pip ing water must be water-tight; those for compressed air, however, needonly be air-tight.

l Lengths of pipes may be welded or soldered to-gether: not recommended for concrete or earth-enware pipes.

(Contributed by Lalit Tejwani)


17/40

Environmental concerns

The overall interest of the nation is to bring about amajor shift and technological revolution by which weuse the resources of this country as efficiently as possible.It is certainly a matter of great regret and disappointmentthat over the years the share of rail traffic, both passengerand freight, has actually been going down and the shareof road transport has been going up. This is clearly nota sustainable situation. Because we have a serious chal-lenge of energy security and if we continue with thistrend of greater and greater road transport, both pas-senger and freight, we are essentially increasing ourdependence on oil imports. A detailed exercise that myInstitute (TERI) has carried out, using fairly sophisti-cated modelling techniques, clearly shows that if wecontinue on a business as usual path then what we wouldfind is that twenty years from now, this country wouldbe importing something like 750 mt of oil per year andalmost 1300 mt of coal. It is a myth to believe that Indiawill remain self sufficient in coal for all times to comebecause thats certainly not going to be the case. Soenergy security is one major issue that we need to beconcerned about.

We will have no choice but to ensure that our growthand development takes place through moderation ofthe emissions of greenhouse gases. And in the transportsector, clearly a shift to road transport really means an

increase in net emissions per unit of transportationthats provided. So this is where the Railways have amajor advantage and this is an advantage which has notbeen projected adequately either for the benefit of ourpolicy makers or for the implementation of schemeswhereby we can bring about major technological upgra-dation of the railways.

New role for Jamalpur

If we really want to create an intellectual resource thatsupports the training of those who are passing throughthe portals of this Institution, we have to ensure thattheres adequate research which is carried out in theInstitution. If we were to create the Institute at Jamalpur

into a resource where we carry out detailed researchessentially of a software variety and based on policyanalysis leading to technological assessment and analysisof options in the future, it would be a great benefit todecision makers. And those technologies dont neces-sarily have to be developed in Jamalpur, they could

easily be developed by RDSO, we could make choices

in terms of outright purchase of technology that wouldsuit the interest of the railways.

Traction technology is changing very rapidly. We alsoknow that the whole framework within which rollingstock is designed is changing rapidly. There are newermaterials, there are new techniques and there are newmethods whereby we can ensure the design and pro-duction of good rolling stock. Now all of this in my viewneeds to be assessed and I think if we were to do this inJamalpur then for one thing it would raise the profile ofthis institute, it would be regarded as a serious techno-logical think tank that could not only help the railwaysbut the government and the society as a whole. Theres

no getting away from the fact that this is an Institutionthat has produced persons of enormous calibre andexcellence who have clearly made a great difference tothe running of the railways, to the expansion and mod-ernization of the railways and also several other sectorsof the economy.

Wide career options

Many railway officers have gone to the other sectors ofthe economy. I myself am an example; I have been ableto do very interesting things, stimulating things to meat least throughout my life only because I had the basiceducation and the culture that I imbibed in Jamalpur

that has carried me through a whole lot of experiencesin life.

I think this could really become an establishment wherewe carry out research and development on tractiontechnology, on rolling stock technology and this ofcourse will have to be done by keeping abreast of devel-opments all over the world.

It is critically important that we refurbish and we revivethe knowledge of those who are in positions of decision-making at different levels of the Railway establishment.It is not enough to just carry out training at Jamalpur inthe initial stages and expect that people will learn

throughout on their own. I think what you really needis an institution like Jamalpur that could carry out post-experience training at different levels of the organization.

And the final point that I would like to make is the needfor networking. You cannot have institutions todayliving in isolation. Its not necessary that you link upwith the IITs, its not necessary that you link up withother railway institutions but I would say that it is ex-tremely important for Jamalpur to have MoUs, to haveagreements with institutions in other countries.

The challenges ahead are enormous and growing veryrapidly and I have no doubt with the strengths, with thehistory, with the tradition that Jamalpur has, IRIMEEwill be able to rise to the occasion and really performyeoman service for Indian society in the years ahead.However I shall come to Jamalpur very soon, I hope onClub Day next year if possible.

A SAMs vision for IR and Jamalpur(This is an extract from Dr R K Pachauris video message on IRSME Day 2011)

Dr. R K Pachauri

Chairman UNs

Inter-Government

Panel on Climate

Control and Director

General The Energy

and Resource

Institute (TERI)

Pachauri was born in Nainital, educated at La Mar-tiniere College, Lucknow and at IRIMEE inJamalpur. He belongs to the 1958 Apprentices Batch.Pachauri began his career at the Diesel LocomotiveWorks, Varanasi before deciding to pursue a differentpath. Pachauri was awarded an MS degree in Indus-trial Engineering in 1972 and a Ph.D. in Industrial

Engineering and Economics in 1974. He was alsoon the faculty of Administrative Staff College, Hy-derabad (1975-1981). His interest in environmenthas taken him to the pinnacle of policy making.

O P I N I O N R K P A C H A U R I

15No progress in increasing max speed on passenger trains


18/40

I N D U S T R Y W H EEL S


The 1984 built Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) in Yelahanka,Bangalore started with a humble production of 5993w heels, 4506 axles, and 1253 wheel sets in the first year.Successive efforts peaked in 2008 when productionreached an all time record of 1, 96261 wheels, 64673wheel sets and 84428 axles. These jumps were madepossible by technological innovations and infrastructureimprovement.

RWF uses cast wheels, a technology pioneered by Grif-fin, USA. In particular, several innovative steps during

2009 led to multiple successes. These included recon-ditioning of an old Arc Furnace, modification of ladleto hold 23.4mt up from 20t, reducing the automaticcycle time from 90 to 82 seconds per pouring, commis-sioning of a new ultrasonic testing system and a newboring machine.

Similarly, axle production was improved by reducingthe radial forging machine cycle time from 310 sec. to250 sec after carefully re-evaluating the impact of setup time. Simultaneous steps to improve process qualityled to overall decrease in rejection levels:

l Systematic preparation and usage of ladle refractory.

l Ensuring adequate carbon boil to enhance steelcleanliness

l Monitoring mould temperature and preparationprior to casting

l Improved quenching of wheel rims by using boosterpumps.

This increase in production becomes meaningful whenviewed against the alternative of imports at increasedcosts and lead times. Some imported wheels proved tobe substandard leading to wheel breakages in locos andassociated problems in others. A very significant RWF

achievement has been that none of its coach wheels hashad a service failure like breakage or distress on run.

New developments

With the setting up of a new wheel manufacturing

daughter plant at Chapra, IRs wheel productioncapacity will go up later this year but demand has not

picked up adequately due to slow progress of DedicatedFreight Corridor and lower wagon production. In viewof limited forging capacity in SAIL Durgapur, otherwheel types like LHB coaches, electric multiple units(EMU) & locomotives continue to be imported (about40,000 forged wheels per year). RWF has used this leandemand period for developing and testing new wheeldesigns without any external transfer of technology orforeign assistance.

A cast wheel design for EMU was developed and sentfor testing at the Pueblo test centre of American Asso-ciation of Railroads (AAR). Original EMU wheels wereof tyred design and the first replacements with forged

solid multi-wear wheels were made some time in 2004.The RWF wheel passed all required tests and, in addi-tion, AAR has acknowledged the superior metallurgyof RWF wheel as compared to other AAR class A wheels.The wheels have given satisfactory service so far. Thiswheel uses the same chemistry as for other coach andwagon wheels.

WDM2 Locomotive Wheels

RWF has designed micro alloy composition wheels forthe 3600hp WDM range of DLW Locomotive. Thesewheels passed the TTCI/AAR testing and were put onfield trials first on 1350 WDS6 class shunting locos andsubsequently on other higher hp locos. The RWF wheel

develops 44% less peak stress at 37hp input as shownby FEM ana lysis. RWF wheels wil l have greaterresistance to gauge widening being experienced in otherwheels.

Rail Wheel Factory: wheels of innovation

R K Upadhyay,

General Manager,

Rail Wheel Factory

Bengaluru

Comparative finite element analysis of forged and cast wheels for locomotives

Comparative finite element analysis for EMU wheel

Loading parameters: thermal load 25hp Vertical. load: 21.5t Time: 20 min

BG Forged Loco Wheel BG Cast Loco Wheel (Cast)

Loading parameters: thermal load 25hp Vertical. load:

21.5t Time: 20 min

EMU Forged Wheel

EMU Cast Wheel

...R K Upadhyay


19/40Loss of freight traffic and earnings : difficult year ahead

I N D U S T R Y W H EEL S

FEA comparison of forged and castwheels shows that there is a large stressdifferential in front and back rim filletsof a forged wheel, whereas the stressdifferential is comparatively less in thecase of cast wheel. This stress differen-tial results in creep causing gauge wid-ening in forged wheels. By virtue ofparabolic design of the cast wheels,comparatively thick mass available inthe rim fillet acts as a larger heat sinkduring braking. Hence the thermalstress is also comparatively less in thecase of cast wheels.

On satisfactory completion of limitedfield service trials, this design has beenaccepted by RDSO for unlimited serv-ice application. However, due to larger

diameter and absence of bulk manufac-turing equipment at RWF, productionwas constrained to 1000 of the firstcommercial order of 2000 wheels andthese have been put in service. The mi-cro alloy chemistry gave higher wheelwear resistance without proportionateincrease in carbon and hardness. Nocracks, breakages or untoward incidenthas been reported so far.

LHB coach wheel

LHB coaches, originally of German or-

igin and now produced in RCF Ka-purthala, face a severe problem of wheeltread shelling due to which frequenttread turning is required. The problemhas not been solved in spite of best ef-forts over several years. RWF has pro-duced special micro alloyed wheels forthese coaches which are on trial for thelast five months. The intention is todevelop an alloy which can reduce oreliminate the wheel shelling and limitwheel attention to intermediate over-

hauls only. FEM stress analysis hasshown that the RWF wheel developed14% less stress compared to forgedwheel at 19hp input. Thermal stresseshave been taken into consideration inspite of disc brake as shelling andspalling are often due to martensiteformation by wheel skidding.

Since these trials have not yet conclud-ed, it would be premature to predictthe actual life of the RWF/LHB wheelbut RWF is hopeful of a significant im-

provement.Reduced wear on coach wheels

A project to increase the life of coachwheels by micro-alloying, particularly

vanadium, is now in hand. Additionalalloying reduces the grain size withoutheat treatment, giving better wear re-sistance without increasing the hard-ness. Field trials so far have indicatedabout 30% less wear with the microalloy wheels. These efforts to furtherimprove the wheel life by better designare continuing.

ABB and EMD Loco wheels

Wheels for high horse power electric( A B B / C L W ) a n d d i e s e l(EMD/DLW) locomotives are im-ported at present. Two designs forindigenous cast wheels for these ap-plications have been developed andeffort made to bring down the ther-mal Stress at 37hp thermal load input.

FEM analysis shows that the RWFwhe el has marginall y 0.02% lowerstress that is critical for reducing ther-mal cracking on braking in steep gra-dient sections. These wheel designsare now with RDSO for scrutiny andapproval for limited service produc-tion and trial. These will be producedafter sample testing and approvalfrom a competent test house in Indiaand abroad.

Ingot casting for Axles

Efforts were also made to developingot casting for axles with a view touse surplus melting capacity in caseChapra production and lower de-mand limits the targets. In the begin-ning, considerable difficulties werefaced due to uncontrolled ingotpiping and led to higher rejection.However, with consistent efforts, theproblems were over come and wewere able to restrict the piping by useof exothermic hardtop and bottom

discharge ladle for pouring. The axlesmade from these ingots were foundsuitable in all respects.

Development of indigenous axle

forging capability

IR imported around 15,000 axles ayear. One radial axle-forging machinewas lying out of order for long timeat VISL/Bhadravati. RWF gave nec-essary technical assistance for com-missioning the machine and VISL isnow regularly supplying 1000 axles

every month to RWF. Similarly, theOrdinance Factory at Ishapore waspersua

rail business issue march 11

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