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   Suresh Prabhu-led Indian Railways is seeking to radically transform railways - right from your travel experience to the financial health of India's lifeline. 2016 has been a big year in terms of the steps initiated to move it in that direction. The railways have moved significantly forward by testing Talgo coaches to cut journey time of key trains like Rajdhani & Shatabdi, steps have been taken to introduce at the earliest newer technologies such as bullet trains.
   
   During the year, railways charted a new path by supplying water to drought hit areas like Latur & fuel to the North East. Unreserved passengers got new trains, world's cheapest accident insurance was launched for passengers and steps like Tri-Netra were taken to prevent mishaps. A new KRA system was introduced for railways employees. We took a look at 15 reasons why Indian Railways deserves to be lauded for 2016:

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   The train has state-of-the-art features with on-board water filtration plant, spacious cabin sizes with no bunk beds, two bar-cum-lounges and two restaurants.(Representative image)

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   Tejas, a high-speed train operating at speed of 130 kmph: Tejas Express was announced during the Railway Budget this year. It will offer onboard services such as entertainment, local cuisine, WiFi. Indian Railways has placed an order for one Tejas rake consisting of 14 chair cars, 3 executive chair cars and 3 power cars with the RCF.
   
   Tejas coaches will be equipped with 22 new features, including entertainment screens for each passenger along with phone socket and LED boards for communicating safety instructions. There will be water level indicators in bio-vacuum toilets, sensorised taps and hand driers. This is the first time that Railways is fitting TV screens behind the seats. (Image by Indian Railways)

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   Makeover for Railways staff with new uniforms: After conducting an online poll to decide the theme of Indian Railways’ new uniforms, the Railway Ministry has now launched a “nationwide poll” to get people to select the individual uniform styles of the railways staff.
   
   Ritu Beri's ‘The Vibrant Soul of India’ received the maximum votes. The ‘Vibrant Soul of India’ theme draws inspiration from the Indian pop art. This theme uses the “brightest of colour palette” with greens and oranges & fuses them with navy blue & whites to create a “sober story” for the railways uniforms. (Image by Indian Railways)

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   IRCTC's Executive lounge: Waiting for a train at the New Delhi railway station will not be an ordeal anymore! Guessing why? Well, it's because Indian Railways set up a "world-class" executive lounge at the station to make the life of the passengers easy. The revamped lounge, being run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), was launched in the end of May.
   
   The lounge has a capacity of 70 people also offers family rooms, a business centre, comfortable sitting areas with complimentary drinks and a buffet offering some great food. The executive lounge is open to all railway travellers and the entry fee is Rs 150 for two hours. It also offers facilities like massage centre, a small 5D movie theatre, spa, health centre, Sandip Dutta,PRO, IRCTC said. (Image by IRCTC)

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   Big crisis manager: Indian Railways emerged as a big force for crisis and disaster relief management across the country. This is not to say that Indian Railways has traditionally not always served this function. However, there is a notable increase in its capacity to deliver and the focus required for it to do so.
   
   Notably, Railways sent water trains, or Jaldoot to Maharashtra's drought-hit Latur district. RoRo services were started to mitigate the fuel crisis in North-East India. This was done for the first time. Not just fuel, Railways also sent a massive supply of food grains to the North-East. Also, IRCTC sent ready-to-eat food packets to flood-hit Assam. (Express Photo of Jaldoot)

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   Consumer Friendly measures: A lot of consumer friendly measures were also taken by the Indian Railways in the year gone by. Some of the classic examples are Namma Toilets, Water ATMs at railway stations and plastic bottle recycling machines!
   
   Namma toilets: In line with PM Modi's 'Swachh Bharat' vision, Indian Railways is installing 'Namma toilets' at various railway stations across the country. Namma toilets are basically maintenance-free stainless steel toilets. The toilets cost roughly Rs 17 lakh per block and take around four to five days to construct.
   
   Water ATMs: In an attempt to provide purified water to the passengers at the railways stations, has taken an initiative where it has set up ‘water ATMs’, at places including New Delhi railway station. These ATMs provide 300 ml water for the cost of only Re 1. “A passenger can get 300 ml water for Re 1 (without a container), if you want a container, then the cost of water becomes Rs 2 for 300 ml,” Sandip Dutta told FE Online. The capacity of each machine is 50-200 litres of water per hour.
   
   Bottle recycling machine at Mumbai’s Churchgate station: Giving a boost to PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ scheme, Indian Railways has put up a ‘Swachh Bharat Recycle Machine’, which is at the Churchgate railway station in Mumbai. With this initiative used plastic water bottles on tracks may become a thing of the past. 500 bottles in a day can be crushed with one machine and it will only accept bottles/cans with authentic bar codes. Users will get an instant ‘reward’ when recyling used containers. (Image by Indian Railways)

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   More bang for the buck for unreserved passengers - Deen Dayalu and Antyodaya: While Deen Dayalu coaches can be fitted in any train, Antyodaya has been built as a full train only for the unreserved passenger. With no additional fares, the coaches have been provided with a host of comforts for the common man. The seats are more comfortable compared to the general sleeper class ones.
   
   The coaches have water purifiers, toilet occupation indication display boards, bio-toilets, fire extinguishers with anti-theft arrangement, cushioned luggage racks with coat hooks, LED lights, more mobile charging points and enhanced capacity dustbins.

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   Tri-Netra: India will be the first country to use Terrain Imaging for Diesel Drivers- Infrared Enhanced Optical and Radar Assisted or ‘Tri-Netra’ in railways for monitoring obstructions on tracks to prevent mishaps, claims Indian Railways.
   
   “This device will alert the drivers of any physical obstruction on railway tracks ahead and thus avert accidents," Ved Prakash, Director Information & Publicity, Ministry of Railways told FE Online.
   
   How will Tri-Netra device work? According to railway officials, the tri-netra device will use infra-red to tab signals up to a distance of 2-3 km and display the information on a screen fitted inside the locomotive. The display will not distract the driver with flashes or alarms during normal conditions, but warn them about danger in red colour and will give the driver ample time to stop the train. The equipment will have cameras, antennas, sensors for visualising the track ahead, which will be mounted on either ends of the locomotive.

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    Adding the human touch: In 2016, Railways introduced a new Guard Van for goods train which is equipped with facilities such as solar-powered light, fan, mobile charging point and a zero-discharge bio-toilet. It’s hard to imagine the conditions under which guards of freight trains travelled without a fan, especially during peak summers! Add to that the absence of a light during the night!
    
    Railways also launched the first diesel locomotive equipped with a vacuum toilet for loco pilots. Earlier, loco pilots or drivers only had the option of using the toilet facility available in coach or in the Guard cabin. (Image by Indian Railways)

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    Humsafar Express becomes new benchmark for AC-3 tier travel: The new all AC-3 tier train has been loaded with multiple features aimed at giving the common man a taste of ‘affordable luxury’. The Humsafar Express coaches (Linke Hofmann Busch-type) have been given a vibrant new look an feel with the blend of four colours; blue, yellow, orange and green.
    
    The interior has comfortable and colourful berths with curtains to ensure passenger privacy. There are mobile and laptop charging points next to each column of berths. There are odour control systems, GPS-based information systems, toilet occupancy indicators, CCTV cameras. The train also boasts of a special fire and smoke detection and control system.

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    Swachhta Saptaah: “Swachhta Saptah” was a nine-day long initiative by Suresh Prabhu-led Indian Railways aimed at tracking various aspects of maintaining cleanliness at stations, tracks and in trains. Each day was earmarked with specific focus areas, such as Swachh Rail Gaadi(Clean Train), Swachh Stations (Clean Stations), Swachh Neer (Clean Water), Swachh Aahar (Clean Food), Swachh Parisar (Clean Complex), Swachh Sahyog(Cleanliness Participation).
    
    One thing that stood out was a Howrah division of Eastern Railway's initiative. This division put up posters at stations, highlighting the importance of cleanliness, and the penalty associated with littering and spitting. Sample this: “Arey O Sambha, Kitna zurmana rakhe hai sarkar gandagi failane par….500 rupay….poore 500”. (Image by Indian Railways)

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    Focus on semi-high speed trains: Spanish high-speed train manufacturer Talgo successfully tested its coaches in India. During the extensive trials, Talgo’s train achieved a speed of 180 km/hr, a first for Indian Railways. The train also completed a journey between Delhi and Mumbai in less than 12 hours. Indian Railways has said that it is considering Talgo’s coaches for Shatabdi routes.
    
    Meanwhile, Indian Railways also started the semi-high speed Gatimaan Express between Delhi and Agra. The train, which can attain a maximum speed of 160 kmph, completes the journey in 100 minutes. (Image by Smriti Jain)

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    Bullet trains and Maglevs: Indian Railways is looking to introduce various new technologies – from semi-high speed trains, bullet trains to Maglevs – to reduce the travel time for passengers on major corridors. Apart from this, Indian Railways has also undertaken the ‘Mission Raftaar’, which is aimed at increasing the average speed of trains superfast mail/express trains by 25 km/hr in the next 5 years.
    
    As Indian Railways looks to bring in new technologies from various global operators, passengers can certainly look forward to more comfortable and shorter train journeys in the coming years. (AP Photo)

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    Railway insurance: Railways has introduced the facility of optional travel insurance at the time of booking. The insurance cover being offered by Railways goes up to Rs 10 lakh and the premium is only 92 paise. Some reports even suggest that this may very well be the world’s cheapest rail travel scheme.
    
    The coverage includes death or total disability insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh; partial disability insurance of up to Rs 7.5 lakh; hospitalisation expenses of up to Rs 2 lakh.

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    KRAs for Railway officials: If you thought only private sector appraisal system was tough, Prabhu has brought the performance evaluation of Railway officials at par. This is a first of its kind system for the Indian Railways, in which officials will be held accountable on measurable parameters (Key Result Areas or KRAs).
    
    From weightage for non-fare revenue, new traffic streams added to the freight loading and passenger traffic from the managers’ zone, the 100 marks system has a total of 18 stringent parameters on the basis of which the performance of the senior officials will be decided. (Image by Indian Railways)