PASSENGER SERVICES COMMITTEE VISITS SER

Passenger Services Committee uhe chairmanship of Shri Parmeshwari Prasad Nirala along with Md.Nehal Fakhruddin, Smt.Abo Devi, Shri Ramashish Yadav and Shri Raghunath Gupta visited S E Railway and held a meeting with Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager and other Principal Officers on 26^th June, 2007.

The Committee discussed Passenger Amenities particularly Catering, Vending Stalls, Bookstall, Cleanliness of Station premises, Services rendered by IRCTC to the passengers, Tourist Information Centers, etc. The Committee also offered valuable suggestions regarding drinking water at all railway stations and facilities for the passengers in trains. The Chairman of the Committee stressed on providing hygienic and cheaper food stuff for the traveling public in trains. The Committee expressed satisfaction on the services rendered by S E Railway.

Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager said that S.E.Railway is committed to improve all its stations in 360-degree dimension. It has been decided to extend platforms to accommodate 23/24 coach trains. There are plans to extend suburban platforms to accommodate from 9 to 12 coaches EMU trains and to speed up trains on this railway.

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GENERAL MANAGER MEETS HON’BLE MPs

A meeting was held on 27^th June, 2007 with Hon’ble Members of Parliament whose constituency falls under the jurisdiction of South Eastern Railway.

Before commencement of the meeting, one minute silence was observed in memory of Late Sunil Mahato who was assassinated.

Various on-going projects, different aspects of railway working like train operations, passenger amenities, safety and security of the passengers, encroachment on railway areas etc.were discussed. Suggestions relating to overall development of railway were also discussed.

The Hon’ble Members of Parliament Shri Basudeb Acharia, Shri Ajay Maroo, Shri Abani Roy, Shri Bagun Sumbrai, Shri Devdas Apte, Shri Hannan Mollah, Shri Moinul Hassan, Shri Prabodh Panda, Shri R.K.Nayak, Dr.Remeshwar Oraon, Shri Rupchand Murmu, Shri Swadesh Chakraborty, Smt, Sushila Kerketta, Shri C.S.Dubey, Shri Prasanta Pradhan, Shri Khabiruddin Ahmed took part in the discussion and offered their valuable suggestions.

Earlier Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager/South Eastern Railway, while welcoming the Members of Parliament, informed about the excellent performance of South Eastern Railway in various fields and assured Hon’ble MPs that their suggestions and guidance shall be given utmost importance.

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SER ORGANISES FREIGHT CUSTOMERS’

INTERACTION MELA

A Freight Customers’ Interaction under the aegis of South Eastern Railway was held on 5^th July, 2007. The meet took place on the issues like claims, refunds, e-payment and supply of rakes to customers.

Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager, South Eastern Railway presided over the session while Sri S.S.Guru, Chief Operations Manager, Shri P.S.Roy, Chief Commercial Manager and Shri L.C.Mazumdar, Financial Adviser and Chief Accounts Officer of this Railway took part in the customers’ interactive session. Altogether 68 valued freight customers across the country participated in the Interactive Session and raised various questions for amicable settlement of their problems. Customers like SAIL, Hindalco, OCL, Tata Sponge Iron, Tata Metallics, BSL, Food Corpn. of India, Hindustan Iron Ltd., Usha Martin, Rashmi Cement etc. took part in the Session.

Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager assured the freight customers that all efforts will be made by SER for expeditious redressal of grievances by the customers.

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SER’S NEW DEPUTY CCM/CUSTOMER INTERACTION

Mrs. Archana Srivastava has taken over as the Deputy Chief Commercial Manager, Customer Interaction of South Eastern Railway. She will be looking after all S.E.Railway customers and would interact with them to facilitate the customers. She will also be interacting with media. She has vast experience in all fields and will help customers and media in a big way.

Prior to this, Mrs.Srivastava was the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Kharagpur. Under her able guidance Kharagpur Division got ‘Business & Passenger Services Shield’ in 2006-07. She had been given Railway Board Award for improving performance in Kharagpur division in 2005-06.

Mrs.Srivastava joined the Indian Railway Traffic Service in 1991. She is a post graduate from university of Allahabad.

In Railways she has worked on various challenging posts like Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Adra, Dy.Chief Commercial Manager/FS/Kolkata, Senior Divisional Operations Manager, Kharagpur, Senior Divisional Safety Officer/Kharagpur.

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SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY COMMITED

TO CONTROL CRIME AND THEFT

Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager, South Eastern Railway called for a high level meeting with senior police officers of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa Govt. Railway Police on 20^th August at S E Railway Headquarter, Garden Reach. Discussions were held on various issues relating to theft of passengers’ luggage, drugging cases in running trains, hawking and other crime at stations/adjoining areas.

Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager, S. E. R has decided that a coordination meeting of Station Manager, OC/RPF and OC/GRP will be held daily at important stations of S E Railway. Further to control drugging he decided that awareness campaign will be organized at Kharagpur and Tatanagar stations by Railway Officials seeking help of Scouts and Guides so as to inculcate awareness among the passengers. Discussions were also held to control other nuisance like travelling of gents in ladies compartment of local trains and eve teasing etc.

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SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY EMERGES CHAMPION

IN INTER RAILWAY BRIDGE

South Eastern Railway emerged Champions in Team event in the 30^th All India Railway Bridge Championship under the leadership of Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager, South Eastern Railway. The tournament was held at Patiala from 12^th to 16^th September

South Eastern Railway, Metro Railway, Eastern Railway and North East Frontier Railway entered the Super League of the Team Championship. South Eastern Railway won the championship with 67 victory points. Metro Railway finished runners up. Total 10 teams from various Zonal Railways participated in the tournament.

The champion team of S E Railway was headed by Sri V.K.Raina, General Manager, S E Railway and represented by Manas Mukherjee, Asim Mukherjee, Subir Mazumdar, Pranab Roy, Hasibul Hasan and Sandip Dutta.

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SER ORGANISES HERITAGE RUN

OF GARRATT STEAM LOCOMOTIVE

South Eastern Railway organized a nostalgic run of Steam Locomotive between Kharagpur-Hijli-Kharagpur on 18^th September to give a feel of old steam days to new generation. Consul General of Myanmar and Dy. High Commissioner of Bangladesh were present alongwith their senior officers. Officers of Air Force, Kalaikunda were also present during the run.

The Beyer Garratt Steam Locomotive with massive weight of 235 tonnes made its maiden journey around 1927 in erstwhile Bengal Nagpur Railway and ceased its relentless journey in 1970. The Garratt was grounded in Kharagpur Workshop since 1970.

The Locomotive was resurrected in 2006 and was run between Shalimar-Mecheda for the first time on 17^th November. Since then it has run three to four times on various sections of S. E. Railway.

Shri V. K. Raina, General Manager, S. E. Railway and other senior officers of Railways hosted the run. Public at Kharagpur and Hijli welcomed the Steam Loco run with great enthusiasm. S. E. Railway is planning some more short runs of Steam locomotive for public.

RAILWAY BOARD REVIEW

PERFORMANCE OF SER

Members of Railway Board headed by Shri K.C.Jena, Chairman & Ex-Officio Principal Secretary to Government of India visited South Eastern Railway’s Headquarters at Garden Reach, on 25^th September,2007.

During the visit, Chairman, Railway Board accompanied with Shri R.K.Rao, Member Mechanical, Shri V.N.Mathur, Member Traffic, Smt.Sudha Chobe, Financial Commissioner and other Additional Members of Railway Board had useful discussion with Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager, South Eastern Railway and other Principal Officers including Divisional Railway Managers on the overall working of South Eastern Railway and reviewed the performance.

Shri V.K.Raina, General Manager, South Eastern Railway emphasized efforts made by South Eastern Railway on stations 360⁰ i.e. upgrading stations on all fronts. Project completion was also discussed in detail and target date for completion of the projects was reviewed.

A presentation was given by the General Manager on the achievements and development in South Eastern Railway which included the significant progress made so far on various ongoing projects etc.

Chairman, Railway Board expressed his happiness on the overall performance of S.E.Railway. Railway Board also appreciated South Eastern Railway’s efforts in contributing substantially to earning of Indian Railways and expected that excellent performance will continue in future also.

ATMs AT S.E.RAILWAY STATIONS

S E Railway is expediting commissioning of ATMs at various stations for the convenience of the travelling public. An ATM of Canara Bank has recently been installed at Ranchi station of South Eastern Railway. Besides this, an ATM of State Bank of India is already functioning at Ranchi station and another at Muri station of Ranchi division of S E Railway.

ATMs of State Bank of India have already been installed at Tatanagar and Chakradharpur stations of Chakradharpur division and at Purulia, Bankura, Bishnupur and Bokaro Steel City stations of Adra division. In kharagpur division, ATMs of Punjab National Bank are functioning at Kharagpur, Midnapore and Mecheda stations. Moreover, SBI, Indian Bank, Syndicate Bank and UCO Bank will also open ATMs at major stations of S E Railway shortly.

Altogether, 41 ATMs have been sanctioned for installation at different stations of S E Railway for which site selection has been completed. Apart from cash, train tickets will also be available from these ATMs in near future.

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PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON

RAJBHASA REVIEWS SER’s PROGRESS

Members of Second Sub Committee of Committee of Parliament on Official Language held a high level meeting with General Manager and other Principal Officers of S. E. Railway at Kolkata on 1^st November, 2007.

Prof. Ramdeo Bhandari, Hon’ble MP and Dy. Chairman of the Sub Committee, Dr. Laxmi Narayan Pandey Hon’ble MP and Convener of the Sub Committee accompanied by other members inspected and reviewed the performance of S. E. Railway regarding the progress made in the use of Hindi Language for official purpose. While appreciating the performance of S. E. Railway regarding advancement in the use of Hindi in different fields of its working, the Committee offered valuable suggestions and guidelines in this connection.

The other members of Parliament who attended the meeting were Dr. Prasanna Kumar Patasani, Shri Kunwar Sarvaraj Singh, Shri Laxmi Narayan Sharma and Shri Ravula Chandra Sekar Reddy.

Earlier Shri N. K. Goel, General Manager, S. E. Railway apprised the members of the Committee about the progress and the steps taken for the usage of Hindi in official work. Shri N. S. Kasturirangan, Additional General Manager and other Principal Officers of S. E. Railway were also present at the meeting.

An exhibition of different Publications made in Hindi by S. E. Railway was also organized on the occasion. Books, Brochures, Maps, Posters, Time Table etc. published in Hindi were displayed at the exhibition. Noting on file made in Hindi, use of Hindi in technological work etc. were also shown.

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SER OBSERVES VIGILANCE AWARENESS WEEK

The Vigilance Awareness Week is being observed in S E Railway Headquarter and its Divisional Offices from 12^th to 16^th November, 2007.

Shri N.S.Kasturirangan, Additional General Manager, S E Railway administered the Vigilance pledge to all Officers and Staff of S E R Headquarter. SER Officials took pledge to strive to bring about integrity and transparency in all spheres of activities and to remain vigilant to work towards the growth and reputation of the organization by eradicating corruption from all spheres of life. All railway employees also took pledge to do their duty consciously and act without fear and favour.

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COMPUTERIZATION OF FREIGHT OPERATION

IN S.E.RAILWAY

South Eastern Railway commissioned generation of Computerized Railway Receipt at Joda East in Chakradharpur division on 8.11.07. Joda East is a freight siding and loads 2.5 to 3 rakes of iron ore per day.

Indian Railways have taken up a project for computerization of Freight Operation Information System in entire Indian Railway. The project was aimed to streamline the information required in running freight trains in a massive Indian Railway set up and also to provide correct and accurate information to the freight customers.

In Phase-I of the project all freight loading goods sheds and sidings (69 locations) of S.E.Railway have been provided with computer and a centralized connectivity to their respective controls. In Phase-II, S E Railway started generating reports and relaying information regarding freight trains movement to their customers so as to help them in organizing loading and unloading in a better way. In Phase-III, South Eastern Railway has started generation of Railway Receipt on computers at 32 locations (14 in Chakradhapur division, 10 in Adra division, 6 in Kharagpur computerized division & 2 in Ranchi division). S.E.Railway will generate Railway Receipt at another 12 locations by the end of December, 2007 and rest of the locations will be covered in 2008.

The system is aimed –

1. To provide a unified freight database for all Indian Railway as of PRS.

2. To provide timely information to their freight customers so that they can organize and arrange loading and unloading at minimum cost (machines & labours).

3. To provide information to the freight customers about their rake and the transit time (tracking the rake).

4. To utilize the information by the Railways itself so that the freight operation can be streamlined and detention at all the sidings or enroute can be reduced.

5. To increase the through put and output of the railways generating better revenue.

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A UNIQUE PUBLIC AWARENSS CAMPAIGN

South Eastern Railway has started a unique awareness campaign for the road users of level crossing by sending individual messages to mobile users. The message is being relayed so as to make each and every citizen aware of safety rules to be followed by them while using a level crossing – manned or unmanned.

S.E.Railway is covering approximately 30 lakhs citizens (17 lakhs in West Bengal, 5 lakhs in Jharkhand & 8 lakhs in Orissa). The message is been relayed to each mobile users three times so that the message is not missed out by any one. The drive started on 13^th November, 2007 and will last for about 2 months covering each mobile user thrice.