Western Railway created many milestones & set up benchmarks for superior & enhanced rail travel experience.
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Achievements:
- Vande Bharat Express with superior passenger amenities & advanced safety features introduced on Western Railway between Gandhinagar Capital – Mumbai Central
- Work of Redevelopment of Surat, Udhna, Somnath, Sabarmati, New Bhuj & Ahmedabad stations is progressing at rapid pace
- More than 513 km of New Lines, Gauge Conversion and Doubling work commissioned, while 210 RKM electrified
- WR achieved a loading of 72.20 million tonnes in 2022-23 up to November 22. It is more than 27.7% than 56.49 million tonnes for the same period last year
- WR crossed 10,000 crore revenue in freight loading in just 249 days as against 338 days last year
- WR Records 16% Growth in the Sale of Tickets through UTS on Mobile App during the current FY upto November 2022 as compared to pre-COVID period (April – Nov 2019)
- Suburban services on WR increased from 1375 to 1383. Out of these, there are 79 AC local services while 132 services are 15 coach services.
- Underslung AC EMU local inducted into suburban service
- Both Open Web Girders of Delisle Bridge, Lower Parel launched successfully
- First of its kind, Stainless Steel FOB commissioned at Bhayander station
- A skywalk connecting Bandra Terminus with Khar Road station on Mumbai suburban railway network commissioned
- 38 Escalators & 25 Lifts commissioned
- 12 ROBs, 27 RUBs & 8 FOBs have been commissioned
- 60 Manned Level Crossings eliminated
- Sectional speed increased in 14 sections covering 298 TKMs
- 15 Permanent Speed Restrictions (PSRs) removed and 6 relaxed
- The punctuality of suburban trains is 95% while it is 94.49% for Mail/ Express & 93.72% for Passenger trains
- All trains suspended due to COVID – 19 pandemic induced lockdown, restored
- Western Railway also restored the provision of linen back to 100 percent
- WR garnered over Rs. 1.52 crore by offering its various premises and rail coaches for film shootings
- ‘One Station One Product‘ stalls have been opened at various stations over WR to promote & boost the sale of local products
- The first Gati Shakti Multi Modal Cargo Terminal over Western Railway has been commissioned at Varnama in Vadodara Division
- Rail Post Gati Shakti Cargo Express service launched in Surat – Chhapra Tapti Ganga Express.
- Foundation Stone of Production Unit for Manufacturing 9000 hp Electric Locomotives laid at Rolling Stock Workshop, Dahod
- WR secured four National Efficiency Performance Shields and 4 Individual National Awards
- Conservation, Restoration & Upgradation work of Grade I Heritage Bandra railway station is being carried out to restore its yesteryear glory
- WR is the first over IR to adopt IPv6, the latest Internet Protocol technology in Communications and IT
- The year 2022 has indeed been a momentous year with WR taking huge strides in many spheres & scaling new heights. This year bears witness to various remarkable developments in diverse fields.
Infrastructural Developments:
- Western Railway is forging ahead with various milestone infrastructure projects. Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone, inaugurated & dedicated the following transformational projects over Western Railway.
- Foundation Stone laid for the Locomotive Production Unit at Dahod for manufacturing 9000 hp Electric locomotives. It is a huge step towards the Make in India & Make for World initiative.
- Dedicated the New Palanpur – Madar Section (357 km) of Dedicated Freight Corridor
- Dedicated the Gauge Converted Ahmedabad – Botad section (166 km)
- Dedicated the Electrified Palanpur – Mitha section (81 km)
- Dedicated the Palanpur – Radhanpur Doubling section (114 km)
- Dedicated the newly Gauge Converted Sabarmati – Jagudan Broad Gauge section (53.43 km)
- Dedicated the newly Gauge Converted Asarva – Himmatnagar – Udaipur (299 km) & Lunidhar – Jetalsar (58 km) Broad Gauge section
- Foundation Stone laid for the doubling of Mahesana – Palanpur section, Gauge Conversion of Vijapur – Ambaliyasan, Nadiad – Petlad, Kalol- Kadi – Katosan, Adraj Moti – Vijapur, Jambusar – Samni, Petlad – Bhadran, Himmatnagar – Khedbramha sections.
- Foundation Stone laid for Station Redevelopment of Surat, Udhna & Somnath railway stations
- Foundation Stone laid for the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya Building at NAIR Campus, Vadodara. It will be a state-of-the-art building with modern facilities
- Dedicated the Locomotive Maintenance Depot, Gandhidham. This Depot caters to the maintenance of the latest 4500 hp & 6000 hp locomotives, thus increasing their availability for train operations.
- Smt. Darshana Jardosh, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Textiles & Railways, inaugurated the newly constructed Road Over Bridges at Palanpur – Umardashi, Unjha – Bhandu Motidhau section & Twin Road Over Bridge (No.1) at Palanpur station and also a Pedestrian Subway at Palanpur Yard in Ahmedabad Division of WR
- Shri Raosaheb Dadarao Patil Danve, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Railways, Coal and Mines, laid the foundation stones of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) in lieu of Level Crossing No. 28 in Piplod Yard and Level Crossing No. 32 in Piplod – Limkheda Section at Piplod and a new Foot Over Bridge (FOB) at Dahod station.
- In this calendar year, WR has commissioned more than 513 km of New Lines, Gauge Conversion and Doubling work, while 210 RKM has been electrified.
- Major infrastructural works pertaining to removal of operational constraints have enhanced the mobility & safety in train operations. Due to the successful removal of the operational constraints and bottlenecks, the punctuality of trains over Mumbai suburban is 95% while it is 94.49% for Mail/ Express & 93.72% for Passenger trains.
- The 6th Line work between Mumbai Central & Borivali is being done in two Phases: Khar – Borivali & Mumbai Central – Khar. The Khar – Goregaon section of Phase-I is planned for opening in this financial year 2022 – 23.
- Mission Raftar aims to reduce travel time on busy routes of Mumbai – Delhi & Vadodara – Ahmedabad by running passenger trains at max. speed of 160 kmph. Out of the total 1379 km of Mumbai – Delhi route, approx. 50% falls under WR. Detailed Estimate (DE) cost of Rs.3209 cr is sanctioned for WR. The work is progressing at a fast pace.
- In order to prevent incidents of cattle run over and to ensure smooth train movement, WR has initiated the work of construction of fencing wall on Mumbai-Ahmedabad section (approx length of fencing: 622 km) at an approx cost of Rs.264.42 crore.
Enhanced Passenger Comfort & Convenience:
- Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, flagged off the inaugural run of the new & upgraded Vande Bharat Express between Gandhinagar Capital & Mumbai Central. This new & advanced version of Vande Bharat Express provides passengers with world class travelling experience and advanced safety features.
- This train has garnered tremendous response from passengers with the train running with an average of 130 % occupancy. The Vande Bharat Express is India’s first indigenously prepared semi-high speed train.
- New trains introduced in this year:
- Udhna – Banaras Superfast Express
- Valsad – Vadnagar Intercity Express
- Asarva – Udaipur Express
- Udaipur – Asarva Express
- Lunidhar – Jetalsar Passenger
- Jetalsar – Lunidhar Passenger
- Vista Dome coaches have been attached in Train No. 12009/10 Mumbai Central – Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express. Vista Dome coaches provides an enhanced travelling experience and has been receiving overwhelming response from the passengers
- The Mumbai – New Delhi Rajdhani Express completed 50 glorious years, since its maiden run on 17th May, 1972. A special Postal Cover & a VIP album released to mark this occasion.
- Post COVID pandemic lockdown, all suspended trains have been restored
- Now, with normalization of services, WR has restored the provision of linen in long distance trains, back to 100 percent.
- WR ran 1685 trips of Holiday Specials, to meet the increase in demand during the vacation & festival season.
- 16 ICF rakes of 10 trains converted to LHB coaches for better safety & comfort.
- For the convenience of passengers, WR has increased the suburban services over its Mumbai suburban section from 1375 to 1383. Out of these, there are 79 AC local services while 132 services are 15 coach services.
- The popularity of AC local services among commuters over WR has seen tremendous growth. The total no. of commuters travelling by AC local on WR has crossed the milestone of 1 crore passengers in this financial year in October 2022.
- Underslung AC EMU locales have also been inducted into suburban service Provision of extra ladies’ compartments in WR’s all non-AC local trains has been made.
- 25 more seats of Second Class have been earmarked for ladies passengers. Seating capacity increased to 25.47% after modification.
- WR recorded 16% growth in the sale of tickets through UTS on Mobile App during the current FY upto November 2022 as compared to pre-COVID period (April – Nov 2019) Vadodara Railway Station has been certified as Eat Right Station w.e.f 09.07.2022 as per guidelines established by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
Hungry for Cargo:
- WR has achieved loading of 72.20 million tonnes in 2022-23 up to Nov, 22. It is more than 27.7% than corresponding period of previous year which was 56.49 million tonnes
- WR achieved best ever loading of 9.79 million tonnes for the month in July 22 and crossed 9.75 million tonnes for the first time in the history of WR
- Coal loading target of 12.31 MT for whole year has been surpassed in November itself
- WR crossed 10000 crore revenue in freight loading in just 249 days as against 338 days last year
- There has been substantial growth in loading of commodities in the current financial year upto November 2022 as compared to last year. Coal (152%), Fertilizer (19%). Container (7.1%), POL (27.5%) Cement (16.8%), & Food Grains (65.5%)
- The first Gati Shakti Multi Modal Cargo Terminal over Western Railway has been commissioned at Varnama in Vadodara Division.
- In a boost to PM Gati Shakti programme, WR in collaboration with India Post has started the initiative of “Rail Post Gati Shakti Cargo Express” in Surat – Chhapra Tapti Ganga Express
- Similarly, “Express Cargo Service” has been started in Mumbai – Ahmedabad Gujarat Express.
- The long distance Non NFR domestic container traffic started from Karambeli Goods Terminal near Vapi in Gujarat to Panipat (Haryana)
Safety: Our Prime Concern:
- To strengthen the infrastructure, enhanced safety & mobility, work of 12 ROBs, 27 RUBs have been completed & 8 FOBs have been commissioned while 60 manned level crossings have been eliminated in this year upto November 2022.
- 38 Escalators & 25 Lifts have also been commissioned at stations in 2022.
- A skywalk of 4.4 m wide & 314 m long was commissioned which directly connects Bandra Terminus with Khar Road station on Mumbai suburban railway network.
- This new Skywalk is a great convenience to outstation passengers as they can reach any of the platforms of Bandra Terminus by deboarding at Khar Road station and taking the Khar South FOB, which in turn is connected to the Skywalk.
- In a First of its kind, a Stainless Steel FOB commissioned at Bhayander station
Digital Initiatives:
- WR is the first over IR to adopt IPv6, the latest Internet Protocol technology in Communications and IT by migrating from the earlier technology of IPv4.
- Under the pilot project, Ahmedabad Division has introduced e-Auction through the IREPS platform.
Green Initiatives:
- Ahmedabad station is the first railway station to install an Environment Monitoring System for monitoring the Air and Noise Pollution level at station
- Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station has been installed at Ahmedabad station which is a unique concept of Green Mobility
- Fully Automatic Mechanized Organic Waste Machine (Capacity of 250 kg) has been installed at Virar Carshed
- SCADA based Automatic Quick Watering Pumping System has been installed at Vadodara Railway station
- Miyawaki Forest has been developed at Ram Mandir station, Borivali station, RPF barracks at Bhayander, Bhavnagar Workshop and Rail Museum at Bhavnagar Para
Awards & Accolades:
- Western Railway has won four prestigious Railway Board Efficiency Performance Shields and 4 officials/employees have secured Individual Awards in the 67th National Railways Award, 2022.
- Level Crossing and Road Over/Under Bridge Safety Works Shield (Sole Winner) Safety Shield Civil Engineering Shield Stores Shield
- Divisional Railway Hospital, Pratapnagar (Vadodara Division) was presented with the prestigious ‘Certificate of Merit’under the Buildings Category / Government Buildings Sector of National Energy Conservation Award (NECA) – 2022 for Best Energy Management Practices during the year 2022 on the occasion of National Energy Conservation Day.
- Western Railway’s in-house popular magazine “Rail Darpan” won the best in-house magazine award for its creative excellence by the country’s premier literary, cultural and social organisation ‘Aashirwad’ at its 30th Annual Rajbhasha Awards.
Source: Western Railway- Press Release | Image Credit (representational): MoR
