Bibek Debroy Committee, Indian Railway - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: IIT-Madras

Explanation:
IIT Madras has signed an MoU with Indian Railways on 22nd December to develop a long term framework for research and collaboration in the advancement of technology. The MoU will function for a period of 3 years. Centre for railway research will be set up at the IIT for this purpose for carrying out research relating to structural health monitoring of railway infrastructure.

ANSWER: Both 1 and 2

Explanation:
Indian Railways launched the non-fare revenue policy, a first in Railways.

This policy will consider different areas ranging from advertising in trains and other areas such as bridges and other assets, setting up of ATMs at platforms to digital content for passengers.

Salient Features of the Policies:

• The policies are based on feedback from the key players in the industry. Some of the key inputs considered in the policies are:

1. Long Term Contracts - 10 years
2. Single Point of Contact within Indian Railways - Non-Fare Revenue Directorate

3. Credibility of Partner - including a technical and financial capability model

4. Transparent Process - E- Auction

5. Better media planning for Railway assets - Allowing zone/train/station wise packages

Key Policies are -

1. Non-Fare Revenue Policy - allow Indian Railways to consider unsolicited proposals of earnings through Non-Fare sources.

2. Out of Home Advertising Policy - allow monetisation of Railway Assets by means of advertising.

3. Train Branding Policy - augment advertising revenue of Indian Railways by allowing internal and external advertisement.

4. Content on Demand and Rail Radio Policy - allow monetization of entertainment based services on trains and stations. Entertainment services shall be provided through audio (P.A systems) and video systems (personal devices of the passengers) on trains and platforms.

5. ATMs Policy - allow setting up ATMs at major stations of the Indian Railways.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• With Indian Railways aggressively focusing on renewable energy, India’s first solar panel-fitted train is all set to commence trial runs shortly. What makes this trial run special is that all coaches of the train would be lit from power generated by the rooftop solar panels.
• The solar-panel powered train will be tested on the Jodhpur division of the North Western Railways. The DEMU train which is being used for the trial run has six coaches, with each coach fitted with twelve solar panels.
• Each solar panel will generate 300 watt of electricity, which means 3.6KW of power per coach. This, the Indian Railways says will be enough to provide electricity for lights and fans inside the coach. However, enough power would not be generated to run air-conditioners.
• The solar train is not the only green initiative taken by the Indian Railways. Last year, Indian Railways had introduced India’s first CNG DEMU train on the Rewari-Rohtak section of Northern Railways. The DEMU train runs on dual fuel system – CNG and diesel. Railways have modified the 1,400 HP engine to run on dual fuel – diesel and CNG – through fumigation technology.
• Also, a 1 megawatt solar power plant was set up at Katra station in 2015, a move that can save up to Rs 1 crore annually on energy bills. This is the biggest rooftop solar plant built in Jammu and Kashmir and the largest solar power plant built by Indian Railways.

ANSWER: Spain

Explanation:

• Indian Railways is conducting trial runs with Talgo train coaches, which the Spanish company claims can help Railways attain higher speeds, even on the existing tracks. The lighter and faster train, with nine coaches is being hauled by a 4,500 HP diesel engine on the Bareilly-Moradabad line in Uttar Pradesh.
• The trial runs with Talgo coaches will continue till June 12, after which they will be tried on the Rajdhani track at speeds of up to 180 kmph. The route chosen for the high-speed trial run is between Mathura and Palwal.
• First trial is from Bareilly to Moradabad, Second phase will be between Mathura and palwal and the third phase will be between Delhi and Mumbai.
• Talgo's coaches are said to weigh much less than an average Indian Railways coach, and that is what the company claims will help it run trains at a higher speed. They also consume 30% less energy, the company says.
• The aim of the trial run with Talgo coaches is to reduce by 5 hours the time taken on the Delhi-Mumbai route.

ANSWER: 1, 3

Explanation:

• Rail connectivity already exists for capital cities of Assam (Guwahati), Tripura (Agartala) and Arunachal Pradesh (Itanagar).
• Government is undertaking new projects to provide connectivity to capitals of Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram.

ANSWER: Project Management & Information System

Explanation:
Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on May 3, 2016 launched e-enabled Project Management & Information System at Rail Bhawan in Delhi

• Application will be used for proper monitoring of Railway projects throughout the nation
• Indian railways has 600 major projects of network expansion and modernisation costing INR 4.5 lakh rupees
• Indian Railways requires money as well as proper monitoring of projects for which money has to be spent.
• Newly launched Project Management and Information System will contain data about ongoing projects

ANSWER: CCTV Cameras

Explanation:

• Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off the country’s first train with CCTV cameras in all coaches, to ensure improved safety for passengers.
• The Shan-E-Punjab Express, between Amritsar and Delhi, has four to six cameras on all its 21 coaches and video footage can be recorded and stored for a month.
• Live video stream of ladies coach will also be available on the LCD screens in rail guard’s compartment.
• The Railway Ministry said that surveillance cameras on coaches would significantly reduce crime against women and other crimes such as theft.

ANSWER: Telangana

Explanation:
MoU was signed between Ministry of Railways and State Government of Telangana for formation of JV companies for the development of rail infrastructure within the state. The MoU was signed against the Budget’s promise to set up JVs with states for focused project development as well as land acquisition and resource mobilisation as well as project implementation and critical rail project monitoring. and Railways has projects on the anvil valued at INR 3.5 lakh crore and additional lines of 9000 km. 17 states have already consented for the formation of the JVs and around 5 states have signed MoU with Railway Ministry for this.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• With the help of Hand held Terminals for TTEs, after all allotments, remaining vacant berths will be sent back to HHT Application Servers and can be viewed on PRS terminal as well as web site (indianrail.gov.in) and information of all NT passengers will be sent to coaching refund system to get speedier refund and eliminate the preparation of manual Exception Data Reports (EDR).
• Occupancy chart can be viewed on HHT device to dispense with the manual preparation of food-chart/occupancy chart

The biggest spinoffs of the Project are:-

• Revenue Yield Maximization, by making onboard accommodation availability visible to downstream Stations so that they can do current bookings against these vacant seats, realizing additional revenue against the same as presently these seats usually go vacant up to the terminal stations due to non-availability of this information with the prospective Passengers.
• The Application ensures greater transparency in the allotment of Accommodation onboard.
• It will ensure better productivity norms amongst TTE’s as the process of ticket checking will get simplified considerably.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
Shri. R. K. Verma, a 1980 batch IRSE or Indian Railway Service of Engineers officer has attained the charge of Secretary, Railway Board on 9th February 2016. Prior to serving as the Secretary, he was serving as advisor Public Grievance to the Ministry of State for Railways. He completed his engineering from IIT(BHU) and M.Tech from IIT-D. He joined Indian Railways in the year 1982.