Central Railway has also made some unprecedented infrastructure works, innovation, etc. Some of the important ones are listed below
· Introduction of first AC suburban local on Central Railway on Transharbour line between Thane-Vashi/Panvel
· Shri Veenadharan PT, an employee from Mumbai Division cut the cake and released a pamphlet on completion of 95 years of EMU service at platform no.1 at CSMT on 3.2.2020. Later, special rerun of the first EMU service from CSMT was flagged off.
· Central Railway took pro-active measures to protect its passengers against COVID-19 infections till the announcement of lockdown in March 2020
Infrastructure Works
· Carried out various infrastructural works which would have required multiple number of blocks with major repercussions on train operation
o girder launching of 14 foot over bridges and 2 road over bridges,
o dismantling of 9 foot over bridges and deck dismantling of road over bridge,
o limited height subways at 22 locations in lieu of level crossings,
o replacement of steel girder bridges with PSC slabs of 8 bridges,
o rebuilding of 24 bridges by insertions of RCC boxes
o one bridge by micro tunnelling and
o one work of rail over rail bridge
· Running of more than 600 shramik specials transporting 8.5 lakh people to their home states. On 26.5.2020, Central Railway dispatched 71 shramik specials a record number for a single day.
· Also served free food/food packets in coordination with IRCTC, NGOs and departments to more than 23 lakh needy persons.
· Team of doctors and paramedics at Central Railway’s Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Memorial Hospital, Byculla and Divisional Railway Hospitals of Kalyan, Bhusaval, Pune, Nagpur and Solapur have commendably worked against COVID pandemic.
· Innovative Medical Assistant (RO)BOT of Solapur Division and Rakshak of Mumbai Division, Jivaka of Parel workshop have been developed to protect the medical professionals from infection. The robots have been made fully inhouse thereby giving impetus to “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”.
· Defending at the front against CORONA virus, sanitation and housekeeping staff are laudably ensuring upkeep and disinfection of railway premises, stations, rolling stocks, offices and colonies.
· Matunga workshop, Parel workshop and Divisions made the much needed facemasks, hand sanitizers & PPEs in emergency.
· Rail Parivar Dekh-Rekh Muhim, conceptualized by Central Railway, was launched to contact and record every employee and their family’s health status to provide adequate support in case of emergency. This Muhim has been appreciated by Railway Board and has been adopted by other Railways.
Innovation
· Central Railway has taken many innovative steps to protect passengers and staff from COVID infection. RPF introduced Robotic ‘CAPTAIN ARJUN’ at Pune, FebriEye at CSMT and LTT stations and ATMA facility on Nagpur Division by Commercial department.
· Neckband PA system provided to frontline ticket checking staff to ensure contactless interaction
· QR code at major stations to check tickets, Baggage wrapping facility at major stations
· Health Kiosks, automatic vending machine for dispensing masks, hand sanitizer at major stations
Resumption of Services after Lockdown
· Railways started long distance special trains in a graded manner from 1.6.2020. Subsequently, festival and special trains also started running to clear the extra rush of passengers.
Restarting of suburban services for essential category
· Railways started running suburban services for essential category persons from 15.6.2020. The services were increased gradually and as on date Central Railway is running 1590 suburban services daily.
Resumption of shuttle services on Matheran-Aman Lodge section from November 2020
Kisan Rail
· India’s first Kisan Rail started from Devali to Danapur which was further extended to Muzaffarpur as a weekly. Due to popular demand, the frequency of Kisan Rail was increased to Tri-weekly. Orange Kisan Rail started in October 2020 from Nagpur to Adarsh Nagar Delhi. Recently, 100th Kisan Rail was flagged off by Hon’ble Prime Minister from Sangola to Shalimar.
Freight & Parcel operations
· Central Railway transported 40.85 million tonnes of freight during the lockdown and unlock period
· 16 stations opened for parcel traffic viz. Niphad, Hinganghat, Sangola, Pandharpur, Belvandi, Modlimb, Kopargaon, Lasalgaon, Badnera, Kalmeshwar, Katol, Narkher, Warud Orange City, Jeur, Bhiwandi Road and Burhanpur
· First ever loading of onions from Lasalgaon to Darsana in Bangladesh
· Total of 182 rakes onion including 103 rakes for domestic destinations
· Automobile loading touched a new high of 155 rakes
· First time Ro-Ro service started from Bale (Solapur) to Nelmangala (Bengaluru)
· Central railway ran 649 parcel special trains carrying 1.62 lakh tonnes of items.
· Business Development Units have aggressively marketed in capturing new traffic like Dolomite, Cotton husk, cotton seed oil cake, rice and Fly-ash from Nagpur Division, Husk from Bhusaval Division, Agro based Potash from Pune Division
· Central Railway Parel Workshop has developed a prototype coach for carrying automobiles in a short span of 45 days.
· Maharashtra Postal Circle and Indian Railways launched India Post Railway Parcel Service at 7 locations viz. Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Nashik, Solapur, Kolhapur and Akola
Infrastructure
· 68 km of doubling and 134 km of electrification completed on Central Railway
· Recently in December 2020, Central Railway introduced AC suburban services on main line section between CSMT and Kalyan.
· Automatic Block signalling in 9 Km in Khapri–Ajni section of Nagpur division has been commissioned.
· 1900 high sensitivity digital Walkie-Talkie sets have been provided for smooth train operations.
· Electronic Interlocking commissioned at Reay Road
Security
· Meri Saheli initiative taken for focused action on security of women travelling in long distance trains
· Smart Sahelee initiative taken for focussed action on security of women travelling in suburban trains.
Central Railway continues and committed to work steadfastly to become an efficient, self sustainable, cost effective, punctual and a modern carrier of passengers in order to serve the growing needs of customers. Central Railway wishes its esteemed customers a happy, health and safe news year.