Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

[Sicanta]

so I was somewhat mistaken, some trunk routes are already > 100% and on the verge of collapse.

the dream is over. its time to hunker down , take the hit and quadruple this diamond and its diagonals and triple track other routes like to mysore-chennai , Blr to mumbai, chennai to trivandrum etc.

Along with that yard remodeling at every major station plus increasing platform count/satellite stations is necessary.

[Singha]

yes need 2 bypass tracks to speed through stations with stopped trains without speed restriction. higher speed turnoffs are also required.

[Suraj]

Suresh Prabhu's funding goals primarily focus on increasing capacity and better utilization, instead of populist new trains. He gets a lot of brickbats for it, because new trains are an easy thing to present, while track length, signaling, DFCCs and other fundamental investments are long gestation projects that will only bear fruit around 2018 or so, and until then he gets unnecessarily accused of doing nothing meaningful.

[Rishirishi]

Suresh Prabhu's funding goals primarily focus on increasing capacity and better utilization, instead of populist new trains. He gets a lot of brickbats for it, because new trains are an easy thing to present, while track length, signaling, DFCCs and other fundamental investments are long gestation projects that will only bear fruit around 2018 or so, and until then he gets unnecessarily accused of doing nothing meaningful.

That is good to hear. But we need both. More new tracks and also improvement in the existing system.

[Kashi]

That is good to hear. But we need both. More new tracks and also improvement in the existing system.

They are conjoined. Having new tracks with associated signalling systems will go a long way in taking on the inefficiencies in the current system. Because of a clogged network, IR is unable to run all trains on time all the time. Freight trains, despite, being bread and butter, are often sidelined to allow the passenger trains to pass through.

A combination of new tracks, signalling systems, DFCs, better rolling stock, better amenities is what is needed to haul our Railway network into the 21st century. This is a gargantuan task, and in my opinion that's what Suresh Prabhu is trying to do. But these will take time, years of rot and mismanagement cannot simply be undone in 2 years.

[Singha]

I wonder if double decker general compartments could be tried out on long distance trains emanating from Bihar-UP to cram in even more people.

my understanding is double decker 3 tier sleeper is not feasible.

[Kashi]

I wonder if double decker general compartments could be tried out on long distance trains emanating from Bihar-UP to cram in even more people.

my understanding is double decker 3 tier sleeper is not feasible.

It may be worth considering to at least replace the AC (2A, 3A) coaches on these routes with double deckers. Long distance trains have few general compartments (1-2) so adding double deckers there may not really help much.

[Sicanta]

AC chairs Double deckers are a failure on almost every route they have been tried on, built with the purpose to serve the middle class- it proved to be too congested for them. And there was news that present ones are being retrofitted with sleepers in kapoorthala.

[Kashi]

AC chairs Double deckers are a failure on almost every route they have been tried on, built with the purpose to serve the middle class- it proved to be too congested for them. And there was news that present ones are being retrofitted with sleepers in kapoorthala.

Actually I meant if 2A, 3A coaches could be replaced with double decker 2A, 3A coaches on key routes. I believe that should help ameliorate some of the pressure on AC class on these routes. AC coaches (except 1A) usually sell out nearly as soon as the bookings open.

AC chair cars will never work on long distance routes, especially in UP-Bihar region. Not just because of less comfort, but also because nearly all the travellers on these routes, including AC travellers, usually carry a lot of baggage on board. Chair cars are simply not equipped to handle 2-4 suitcases per family.

[Suraj]

That is good to hear. But we need both. More new tracks and also improvement in the existing system.

You've probably misread what I wrote. That's exactly what I said he's doing.

[Prasad]

The current a/c double Decker chair cars are designed for 5ft fellows. Any taller and it's a pain really.

[prahaar]

I have often seen the AC Double Decker with decent occupancy, probably reflects the paucity of AC chair car seats on other trains. Although could not find exact occupancy number from Internet. Trains like Gujarat Queen or Intercity Express can benefit commuters and students, although the price will be too steep for most (unless there is some student discount paid for by state governments).

[ssundar]

They've just approved adding extra lines along the ap-Nagpur to Itarsi stretch among others. It'll take a few years though.

Why is a cabinet committee needed to approve additional lines? One would think alleviating bottlenecks would be a local decision and the funding would be a decision between Railway and Finance ministries.

[ssundar]

That is good to hear. But we need both. More new tracks and also improvement in the existing system.

One thing that could help a lot is a clear separation of infrastructure building and train operating functions of IR. They are fundamentally conflicting entities from a business perspective. The infrastructure division's priority is revenue maximization (by removing the weakest bandwidth links) and the train operating division's priority is providing a service. Even within operating trains, there is a conflict between profit maximization (by providing best in class service to paying customers) and social service.

Any time you try to bring them all under one umbrella, you encourage compromises ("jugaad") and end up pleasing no one. Properly planned partitioning or spin-off of IR entities will really help.

Similar logic applies to station management and the various loco and coach factories.

[Kashi]

One thing that could help a lot is a clear separation of infrastructure building and train operating functions of IR.

That was one of the suggestions of the Debroy committee. To hive off the railway tracks to an autonomous, independent operator and allow multiple players in the business to compete for the infrastructure at market rates, with an independent regulator to oversee and for arbitration if necessary.

Such an approach has been tried in UK and has not been very successful. On the other hand, in Japan, nearly all the railway companies own their tracks and it seems to work well.

[Kashi]

Karnataka Cabinet approves 42-Km Bangalore LRTS Project

Bangalore: The cabinet on Thursday approved the 42-km Light Rail Transit System (LRTS) project proposed by the urban development department to ease the traffic woes of Bengaluru.
...
The 42-km route, to be implemented soon, will form Phase-I of the originally proposed 77-km LRT project...
Proposed to supplement Namma Metro’s Phase-I and Phase-II network, the LRT consists of two elevated corridors. It will connect Bannerghatta Road to Hebbal along the Outer Ring Road covering 32 km and from Toll Gate along Magadi Road to the proposed Peripheral Ring Road, another 10 km. Both the corridors will intersect at Nirashritara Parihara Kendra (NPK).

Bangalore-Hassan rail line hit roadblock for want of land

Bangalore: Work on the new Bengaluru-Hassan railway line, which would reduce travel time between the two cities as well as to Mangaluru, has come to an abrupt stop. The 185-km project, which has missed several deadlines, has hit another roadblock for want of land on a two-km stretch.

The project, which was commissioned in 1996 by the then prime minister H D Deve Gowda, is unlikely to be ready by December this year.

Of the total stretch, only 40-km-long Hassan-Shravanabelagola line has been operational. The remaining 130-km broad gauge rail line, which is already completed, has not been put to use due to 13-km incomplete stretch between Hassan and Nelamangala. Here, the South Western Railway (SWR) is facing two issues: Non-availability of land on the two-km stretch and agitation by farmers in the remaining 11-km stretch.

“Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has initiated the process to acquire additional land on the two-km stretch between Solur and Tippasandra in Ramanagaram district. We hope to start the work of laying the track by September as this land would come to our possession in a few days,’’ Sharad Kumar Jain, Chief Engineer (Construction), SWR told. The railways need at least three months to complete this stretch, apart from testing and trial runs, he added.

On the remaining incomplete stretch, the SWR was unable to start the work due to agitation by farmers. “Some farmers, who had parted with their properties, are now seeking higher compensation. These lands were acquired as per the old Land Acquisition Act. Now, the farmers are demanding compensation as per the new Act. We cannot agree to their demand as law does not permit it. Approaching court is the only remedy for them”, Jain said. The railways has sought the help of state government to overcome these hurdles, he added.

[Kashi]

PGCIL to electrify 1000 km of Rail track on a pilot basis

New Delhi: Power Ministry is looking to engage Power Grid Corp (PGCIL) to electrify 1,000 km of rail tracks on a pilot basis, as part of plans to energise 35,000 km of unelectrified lines.
...
In the first phase, the electrification project will cover 16,000 km of busy tracks out of 35,000 km of unelectrified lines in the country. The electrification of tracks will help railways save around Rs 8,000 crore annually.

Indian railways consumes around 2.8 billion litres of diesel annually, costing around Rs 18,000 crore — nearly 18 per cent of its working expenses.
...
However, the diesel consumption on remaining 19,000 km of unelectrified tracks is not much. Thus the investment on electrification of these tracks will not offset savings.
...
Earlier in March this year, Goyal had announced the government’s plans to electrify 35,000 km tracks by state-owned power companies over a period of three years.

He further said, “We are going to stop production of diesel locomotives that is the decision which Suresh ji (Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu) will take quickly. I hope that it (electrification) would be done in the next three years. I want to do it in three years.”

The minister had also said, “Rs 1 crore per km is the current cost of rail electrification. If we do it in three years, the cost will come down to half. But it cannot be less than 30-35 per cent. The Power Ministry will spend entire money.”

According to the Minister, the electrification of entire rail tracks in the country will lead to power consumption going up by 7 billion units.

Railways, which procures power from distribution companies, spends about Rs 12,300 crore a year to purchase 17.5 billion units of electricity.

On the power front, railways is planning to save Rs 3,000 crore in sourcing electricity by proposing to procure power through competitive bidding.

Besides, the Railways has also rolled out plans to set up 1,000 MW solar power plants at railway lands and rooftops of railway buildings with support from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy over the next five years.

[Ananth]

Panel on merger of rail, general budgets to give report soon

A panel to examine the issue of merging rail budget with the general budget is likely to submit its report within 10-15 days.

The report is being finalised and will be submitted to the Finance Minister in the next 10-15 days, sources said.

The government last month constituted a 5-member committee comprising senior officials of the ministries of finance and railways to work out the modalities for the merger.

The merger of the two budgets is unlikely to create any issues, since it only entails an additional demand for grants for railways once it is merged with the Union Budget.

The merger of the two budgets will be procedural in nature and won't have any impact on the government's budget calculations.

[Kashi]

498 km long Bilaspur-Manali-Leh Rail link put on fast track

New Delhi: To expedite the survey work of the 498 km long Bilaspur-Manali-Leh newrailway line, railways has sought land from Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) to set up camp office at Leh.

The cost of construction of the 498-km railway line has been estimated at Rs 22,831 crore.

Bilaspur-Manali-Leh rail line would pass through Bilaspur, Mandi, Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh to reach Leh.

[Kashi]

Institutionalisation of changes in the way Railways governs itself on cards

6 Sep 2016
Anatomical changes in merger of departments to cure bureaucratic ailments; there is little doubt that this time it can be avoided. On the table right now is a solution to end, once and for all, the infamous, barely-secret rivalry between its two engineering departments — Electrical and Mechanical..

New Delhi: Behind all the publicity hoopla about new trains, new services and its myriad social media activities, the country’s largest commercial utility employer, Indian Railways, is quietly institutionalising some permanent changes in the way it governs itself.

On the table right now is a solution to end, once and for all, the infamous, barely-secret rivalry between its two engineering departments — Electrical and Mechanical. The top offices of Railways, headed by railway minister Suresh Prabhu, wants to merge the two — a move considered so radical that time and again it has been thwarted from within over the past few decades. But not this time.

Official circles at Railway Board are deliberating on the matter, but there is little doubt that this time it can be avoided.

This comes soon after Railways got the PMO and other relevant offices like the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and Department of Personnel and Training to agree on a creation of a new Adviser post. This post of Adviser (Resource Mobilisation) would be open to the Central Staffing Scheme. While the need and merit of the move can be debated, the fact remains, “outsiders” like IAS officers can also be in contention for the post — a first, mega move for such an entry point into what has always been known as a “parochial” organisation.

The move was so quiet that not a single instance of resistance was recorded from within as the proposal went to the higher echelons of government earlier this year and came back approved by July-August.

Two-three decades ago the rail bureaucracy could resist such interventions since it had performance to show, and could dismiss such moves as unnecessary. With performance and financial health of the organisation sliding, thanks to Railways being used as a political tool by subsequent dispensations, the rail bureaucracy’s ability to assert itself before the government also declined.

According to the present government, the rot, so to speak, has been setting in for long in the form of an oft-repeated expression within rail bureaucracy — departmentalism. It is the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 formed a high-level panel under economist Bibek Debroy to bring out a roadmap to “restructure” Indian Railways.

A number of expert committees for decades have been telling railways that the various functional departments in the organisation often work to further the interests of the respective cadres or departments and more often than not at the cost of railways’ own interests. Historically, there have been many instances of one department grounding proposals moved by the other.

The latest to flag this was the Debroy-led committee in June 2015, much before the latest set of interventions started to take shape.

“As pointed out by many previous Committees, over the years the IR organisation has grown into an overly centralised and hierarchical organisation. The feeling of ‘departmentalism’ adversely affects the working culture and has resulted in actions and decisions based on narrow departmental goals instead of on organisational objectives or benefits,” it said in its final report.

The guiding philosophy behind the changes, as per the proponents of these processes, is rearranging rail governance on functional lines and an end to departmentalism. “It was essin the railway minister’s (budget) speech to reorganise the railway board on business lines as opposed to departmental lines. That is what we are doing,” chairman Railway Board AK Mital told. The Electrical department, which traditionally looked after electrification of tracks, electric engines and airconditioning and allied jobs in coaches, is a small yet old service manned by officers from Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers. Its head, Member (Electrical) was a post, however, created in the late eighties as prior to that, it functioned under the Member (Mechanical) as a minor department.

The Mechanical department, manned by officers from the Indian Railway Service of mechanical engineers, traditionally looked after diesel engines, and management and production of coaches and wagons under the leadership of the Member (Mechanical).

In the beginning of August, Railways changed the allocation of responsibilities in these two Board members, thereby turning the turfs controlled by the two departments upside down. Member (Electrical) was rechristened as Member (Traction). He is now to look after all traction-related works be it diesel or electrical, including the production and management of the engines. Member (Mechanical) was renamed as Member (Rolling Stock), which means he is now to look after production and management of coaches, including to-be-inducted electrical train sets, Electrical Multiple Units and the like. As a result, officers down the rank, who reported to one member started reporting to the other by virtue of the responsibilities they handled. Mechanical officers looking after Traction, for instance, now started reporting to the Member (Traction) and so on.

But the going wisdom in the powers that be is that the age-old turf war would end only if their separate entities ceased to exist.

So the current idea is to merge the two services down to the level of recruitment through Union Public Service Commission. That leaves the question: what to do with the present officers? How to merge the two into a common seniority list? One of the ideas offered as solution is the same formula by which the general managers seniority list is prepared through inter-services seniority. This is because Railways is an amalgamation of eight main Group A services — Traffic, Engineering, Electrical, Mechanical, Accounts, Personnel, Signalling and Stores. There are other services like RPF as well but they are not in contention for the GM’s or DRM’s posts.

So far, the move has faced some murmurs of criticism from the bureaucracy for being superficial and without any bearing on the ultimate performance indicators of railways — internal generation of revenues. It is also said that these moves are too little, too haphazard. Those who back the moves, mostly a section of the top level bureaucracy, however, maintain that these interventions constitute a work in progress. The Debroy panel’s report, prepared after consultations with all stakeholders, lay down a roadmap within five years for a positive overhaul of Railways. One of the pillars of the roadmap was the unification of all the services in the entry point to create an Indian Railway Service, which would then fork out into two services in the higher level — Technical and Administration. Not much has happened in that direction.

“We had recommended that this be done in prospective basis, which meant that future recruitment should be done to this effect. We realised that merging the services on retrospective basis would take time, but nothing stopped Railways from doing it for future recruits. That has not been done yet,” Debroy told.

There are other changes, at the level of the Railway Board. For instance, the entire Signalling and Telecommunications organisation was taken away from the Electrical department and placed under Civil Engineering headed by Member (Engineering) — the largest department in charge of laying and maintaining tracks and bridges. The logic was that a track is not usable unless signalling systems are in place, so the two verticals needed to report to a single head. This new unified vertical is to be called “Infrastructure”.

Lately, the performance appraisal of general managers and divisional railway managers have also been linked to earning of revenue and execution of projects, a move aimed at infusing thrust in bureaucratic functioning. The PMO, on the other hand, is deliberating on changes in norms that post DRMs and GMs to align them with its “360-degree approach” of picking the right officer for the right job. Amid all this, observers who have served Railways for decades say the roots of the problems have been left untouched so far.

“For 160 years various departments contributed to the growth and welfare of railways in their own ways. They have their strengths and weaknesses. But problem started when resource became more and more scarce. Then every department started vying for the limited resources at hand. That was the seed of so called departmental considerations,” said Arunendra Kumar, former chairman Railway Board. “So the solution does not lie in merging departments but in earning more revenues to increase resources.” The moves has also been termed “superficial” in some circles.

“How would merging of departments and creation of myriad posts help railways?,” asked Devi Prasad Pande, former Railway Board Member Traffic. “These are superficial moves so far because if the cadre-controlling authorities of each cadre are not changed then the loyalties of officials remain not with the functional heads but with the heads of their respective services. Besides, the same departments worked together and delivered not so long ago. So the problem is not departments, the problem is that amid all this, no one is talking about earning more money to justify the existence of the way Railways governs itself,” he said. Pande says that departments existed to reduce input cost and increase output. The presents moves would not have a positive impact to that end.

Then there is one section of the organisation, that feels the moves so far amount to nothing in particular — the unions. The largest union, All India Railwaymen’s Federation, has written to the Railway Board and the minister expressing its protest against the various moves of restructuring. They claim that the changes mean nothing in the face of falling performance indicators of the organisation. “We have lodged our protests because changing of designations of Board Members and merging of certain departments ultimately do not benefit railways. Because now is the time to work towards repayment of the huge loans the organisation is coming under. There is ‘over-capitalisation’ which is also not good,” said Shiv Gopal Mishra, secretary general of the federation. One thing is for certain, the changes have been a long time coming. Except that for long, no government was backed by a mandate as strong as NDA-II, to initiate these changes in areas of Rail governance in past 20 years. And backed by the Prime Minister himself, they are here to stay.

[Mollick.R]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... 033194.cms

"Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has already connected Bangladesh at Singhabad. Works to connect Radhikapur and Haldibari are in progress. The proposed Agartala-Akhaura International rail link project will boost socio-economic development of not only Tripura state but entire Northeast Region and the nation as a whole", the NFR in a statement added.

On completion, this India -Bangladesh rail line project will be Gateway to entire North Eastern region. It will connect Northeast India with Ashuganj and Chittagong Port of Bangladesh. It will also connect Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka shortly. The existing distance between Agartala and Kolkata on Indian Railway network is 1613 Km which will get reduced by around 900 KM

NFR added that at present there is no rail line in Bhutan. Feasibility studies have been carried out for extending Rail head (India) to Bhutan at five locations. In Nepal, one Broad gauge connectivity work between Jogbani (India) and Biratnagar(Nepal) (18.60 Km) is in progress.

[Mollick.R]

Posting Full Article

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 031440.cms

DELHI: A Parliamentary Panel has suggested sharing with Railways the service tax paid on passenger fares on specified classes and freight which is collected by Finance Ministry and pursuing the matter vigorously with the authorities concerned.

In its latest report, the Standing Committee on Railways has noted that service tax on specified classes of passenger and freight was to the tune of Rs 1478.10 crore and Rs 3449.34 crore during 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively.
Though several requests have been made to Finance Ministry for exemption from payment of service tax on freight and fare, these were not agreed to by the Ministry, the report submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker said.

The Committee, headed by TMC MP and former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, has also noted that the concessions given by the Railways on various categories should also be taken up with the ministries concerned.

It also strongly favoured that the concessions given by the public transporter should be reimbursed to the Railways.

Taking note of the practice of payment of dividend by the Railways, the committee suggested to revisit the issue with Finance Ministry.
Observing that railway's internal generation was almost negligible, it said that the national transporter was dependent upon gross budgetary support (GBS) which is a loan from general exchequer for their projects.

Furthermore, the panel noted that the Railways had to pay four per cent dividend to general revenues, which was about Rs 10,000 cr from their internal generation in 2015-16, thus severely restricting expenditure on creation of assets.

In addition to that the the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission report will affect the railway's finances to a great extent.

The Committee, therefore, has recommended that the Railways and Finance Ministry should revisit the issue of the practice of payment of dividend by Railways to the general revenues keeping in mind that no other department like Defence, Roadways pay any dividend on their budgetary grant.

The amount so saved could be utilised for railways infrastructural projects which are starved of funds for quite some time, the panel said.

Suggesting that railways should not only scrupulously adhere to financial discipline in various segments of their activity but also look for alternative ways to boost their resource generation which they could utilise for timely completion of projects so that these projects in return, start remunerating.

[Kashi]

An interview with Suresh Prabhu, posting in full

Need to think 10 years ahead to achieve transformational change: Suresh Prabhu

My idea is that from anywhere to anywhere in the country, one should be able to reach within 12 hours; tells Suresh Prabhu in an Interview. Minister opines that while Indian Railways is eyeing new sources of revenue and looking to focus on transformational change instead of incremental improvements, we have to think 10 years ahead for achieving it.

Edited excerpts:

Q: Why are you working towards merging the rail budget with the Union budget?

A: You need to understand that I have huge social obligation in the form of subsidies (at least Rs 30,000 crore).

I have proposed that subsidies for categories such as defence, senior citizens, students and others should be borne by their respective ministries. That is the most logical way of doing it. We should have a unified approach towards national priorities. Railways shouldn’t work in isolation.

Nowhere in the world does the railway have a separate budget. I had written to the finance minister to merge the budget. We are both on the same page now. We have already formed a committee that is looking into the modalities.

The committee will give its report soon which would then be implemented.

Q: What will be the impact of Seventh Pay Commission award on the already stressed railway finances?

A: The impact is unprecedented. The impact of the fifth and sixth pay commissions was not even half as that of the seventh one.

In one go, my wage bill will go up by at least Rs 35,000 crore. We had taken it into account during the presentation of the budget.

I think it will be uncomfortable for us but we’ll manage since I’m targeting non-fare revenue. We are also in talks with the finmin. Then we would save some money on energy and fuel bill.

I have also requested the finance ministry to waive the dividend we pay. Have you ever heard that a financially overburdened organisation such as railways is paying dividend to the government?

Q: Freight growth hasn’t been as expected & passenger traffic is slowing. How grim is the picture?

A: The challenge today is to convert vicious circle into virtuous circle.

Today, my freight revenue has come down because of slow growth globally. Indian Railways does not work in silo. Freight has shrunk across the world. If you see China, last year their freight loading fell 13 per cent.

This year they are happy because it is just down 7 per cent. The world over freight has been falling. In India, freight hasn’t grown as we expected, but at least it hasn’t shrunk. My idea is not to make money through freight or passenger as it’s already stagnated.

The idea is to make money through railway stations. The commercial exploitation of stations has long been talked about.Nothing has happened on that front. Stations and trains are the prime real estate.

I have set up a dedicated cell to rake in non-fare revenue. It’s taking station by station and train by train approach for commercial exploitation. These trains and stations could be our mass media products.

We need to sell them to advertisers. You would see the difference in coming years. Nowhere in the world is the fare model successful and no railway relies just on passenger and freight earnings for growth.

If we have to move towards having a railway system like the ones in developed world, we must take transformational steps now. There’s an urgent need to junk incremental thinking. We have to think ten years ahead.

Q: What are the models you are looking at for redevelopment of railway stations?

A: For station redevelopment, I have come up with five different models. I have hired BCG (Boston Consulting Group) as a consultant.

The first model is to get into partnership with states. Both state and railways join hands in redevelopment of stations and get our investment back through commercial exploitation.

Maharashtra has already proposed to redevelop 36 stations. So, this model looks feasible. The second mode is to get government to government funding. There have been talks with China, Japan and some other countries.

The third is to get cash-rich PSUs on board. If they have money they should invest it and get some return as well. Some investors are also coming forward for the complete PPP (public-private partnership) model. And we are also in talks with the World Bank to develop around 10 stations.

In sometime all of it will go to implementation stage from drawing board. I’ll redevelop around 100 stations.

Q: The operating ratio is very high. How do you spend on capacity expansion when your traffic isn’t growing as expected?

A: People ask me that when do we get to see the difference. Railways for the longest time has had legacy issues.

We are sorting them out one by one. There can be no overnight transformation. It would take some time to get results. I would say three-four years at least.

Media always focuses on short-term results but in a mammoth organisation like ours, deliverables would take some time but then what you’ll get will be world-class. I have already restructured the rail board.

You say that the railways was growing during Laluji’s time. People forget that economic growth across world at that time was really good. To get things on track I’m already in final stages of setting up an independent authority that will take financially prudent decisions.

There’s a holding company for all our PSUs that’s in the works. A draft cabinet note has already been circulated for comments and we are waiting for comments from the finance ministry and Niti Aayog. I have already doubled my capex in two years from Rs 58,000 crore to Rs 1, 21,000 crore.

It clearly indicates that we are spending money on constructing new lines. For the next five years, I have a capex plan of Rs 8 lakh crore. We are setting up a Rail India Development Fund with World Bank’s assistance.

We’ll be tapping low-cost long-term pension funds. In layman’s terms, my target is to construct 6-7 km of new rail lines every day.

Q: You’ve been talking about setting infrastructure for high-speed railways in India. What’s the progress?

A: We have always got technology from other countries. India has never been able to have a technology of its own.

Today, I have thought of developing technology along with global railway companies.

I’m not thinking about increasing the speed by 10-15 km. My idea is that from anywhere to anywhere in the country, one should be able to reach within 12 hours.

Why do we have 36-hour-long journeys? I’m putting in place Mission 350 plus so that we could get ultra-high speed technology to India. We have already floated tenders for maglev technology. Four-five global rail companies have already approached me.
Why no mention of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR? In another interview he said that the project will commence in 2017

I’m working out the financial structures for such projects. Investors are showing interest. Railways has been able to attract interest from global investors. This is no less achievement.

Q: What steps are you are taking to ensure that your revenue doesn’t fall since the loading of coal and other core commodities has been low?

A: Railways has never been market focused and reliance on freight has been limited to coal and a few other commodities. Now, I have asked my officials to be market focused and expand the freight basket.

There’s a need for segmentation of freight traffic. For example, Maruti Suzuki chairman was here for a meeting a few days ago. He told me he wants to use the railways for transportation of his cars across the country.

We are working on a special auto freight scheme. I am not competing with roads but complementing it.There’s a synergy that I am trying to develop among all forms of transportation since none of it could work in silos.

We have people who want to invest in private freight sidings here. They are investing in the infrastructure. Though the money is not coming to us, our infrastructure is expanding. Earlier, coal and fertiliser ministry would blame me for shortage of wagons.

Today, I have the capacity to load 1,200 mt.

[Hitesh]

Enough of this pussyfooting... we need to increase passenger fares. Everybody need to pay their fair share no two ways about it if we are to protect the long term viability and future of Indian Railways. This is the backbone and infrastructure of the Indian economy. People cannot keep taking advantage of it and not paying for it. Even the poor have to pay their way. What I would do is give the people a choice: They can have railroad subsidy or LPG subsidy. If they need LPG subsidy, they can give up the railroad subsidy. If they still need a railroad ticket, perhaps a work for ticket scheme could be had where they can clean up the rail stations and the railroads. If they bring in like one bag of trash and dispose it properly, they get points to be applied toward their ticket purchase. But the price will be increased to reflect the changing times and the cost of maintaining and improving the railroads to better serve the needs of the nation.

[Kashi]

Jindal Rail Infra Ltd to start supplying head hardened rails in India

New Delhi: Jindal Steel and Power Ltd said on Tuesday the company is set to supply rails for the high-speed railway and metro rail projects with its Rs.200-crore plant, set up in collaboration with SMS Meer, Germany, coming on stream.

The plant is capable of producing 30,000 tonnes of head hardened rails a month and it aims to substitute imports, which metro rail developers were forced to use till now.

“The declared metro rail projects itself give us a market of 0.5 million tonnes over the next two-three years. With this new line of products, we expect that our rail business will yield Rs.200 crore of revenues a month from this fiscal (2016-17) as compared to ₹45 crore a month in the previous fiscal,” said Ravi Uppal, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd.

Uppal said currently, the landed price of imported head hardened rails is around Rs.75,000 per tonne, while normal imported rails cost Rs.50-55,000 per tonne.

“We would aim to bring down this cost difference. Apart from getting head hardened rails at a cheaper price, buyers can also benefit from shorter delivery times and would also be able to order as much as they need rather than bulk orders, which they need to place for imports,” he added.
...
Already, the company’s order book for normal rails is 3 lakh tonnes, which would be delivered over the next few months.

Head hardened rails are typically used in metro rail projects as well as on high-speed freight corridors. Head hardening technology entails a special heat treatment process, which requires precise temperature control to achieve nearly 50 per cent higher hardness as compared to a normal rail.

[Dipanker]

Surge pricing for Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto trains from September 9

NEW DELHI: Indian Railways+ will introduce surge pricing+ for Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains from September 9.
"The base fares will increase by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold subject to a prescribed ceiling limit. There will be no change in the existing fare for 1AC and Executive Class of travel," a railway ministry release said.

While 10 per cent of the seats will be sold in the normal fare in the beginning, it will go on increasing by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold with the ceiling limit at maximum 50 per cent depending upon the demand.

[Muppalla]

https://t.co/iq6mtRbFiZ

[Yagnasri]

If implemented, it would be another marvel of engineering and also one the most beautiful travelling experiences.

[SRoy]

Surge pricing for Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto trains from September 9

NEW DELHI: Indian Railways+ will introduce surge pricing+ for Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains from September 9.
"The base fares will increase by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold subject to a prescribed ceiling limit. There will be no change in the existing fare for 1AC and Executive Class of travel," a railway ministry release said.

While 10 per cent of the seats will be sold in the normal fare in the beginning, it will go on increasing by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold with the ceiling limit at maximum 50 per cent depending upon the demand.

Modi govt. won't learn, after the EPFO fiasco, this will be another one.

What's the issue with uniform price revision? Go for it.

But the above steps betrays socialist class prejudice. And how conveniently the AC first class has been excluded ... the exclusive privilege of the IAS and politicians.

In addition to that, this will be a boon for black marketeers.

As was in the case of EPFO issue, the same socio-economic segment has been targeted again.

[srin]

I support the increase in fares - the railways needs to be self-sustaining. Of course, I'd prefer if travel is free ... but the prices are not unaffordable.

But I think they got the rates reversed. Many times I've found myself waitlisted even when trying to book a month in advance. So, those who book early should pay *higher* (for keeping the seat reserved) compared to those who book at the last moment. So, you book two months in advance, pay twice etc.

[Kashi]

I support the increase in fares - the railways needs to be self-sustaining. Of course, I'd prefer if travel is free ... but the prices are not unaffordable.

But I think they got the rates reversed. Many times I've found myself waitlisted even when trying to book a month in advance.

They seem to be following the airline model- the earlier you book, the cheaper it is.

So, those who book early should pay *higher* (for keeping the seat reserved) compared to those who book at the last moment. So, you book two months in advance, pay twice etc.

Or increase the cancellation fee for those who book earlier and then cancel later, because of which people end up paying more for the same seats.

[habal]

>> But the above steps betrays socialist class prejudice. And how conveniently the AC first class has been excluded ... the exclusive privilege of the IAS and politicians.

AC First Class is already at airline fare, and IAS and politicians who are entitled to AC first class travel can do so even if fares are revised because govt bears the cost. I used to see plenty of MPs and Minister types in AC first class before airline boom for long distance travel. They even have dedicated bearers.

[Prem]

Talgo completes final run in less than 12 hours
http://www.oneindia.com/india/talgo-com ... 06276.html

New Delhi, Sep 11 The much-awaited Spanish-made Talgo high-speed train completed its last Delhi-Mumbai final trial run in less than 12 hours, the Ministry of Railways said on Sunday.A senior official of the railways told IANS, "The train left from New Delhi at 2.45 p.m. and reached Mumbai in 11 hours 42 minutes, two minutes ahead of its time that was 11.44 p.m."

[srikven]

We hear that Talgo offered to run a trial and therefore we accepted. How are we going to procure them ? If we are going to run the whole EOI+ globallRFP , trials again etc, why run these trials now ?
I tweeted to several folks in IR, no answer. Is there any clarity on next steps ?

[Kashi]

Railways take ‘punctuality’ to a whole new track; reports 82% improvement

New Delhi: Indian Railways, which on Wednesday shocked passengers with plans to raise basic fares on the Rajdhani and other superfast trains by as much as 235% in a surge pricing model, has also reported an improvement in the overall punctuality rate after improvisation on the Ghaziabad-Mughalsarai route, with mail and express trains improving their performance by over four per cent to clock 80.83 per cent punctuality during April-August.

Overall, the punctuality rate of the Railways increased to 82.09 per cent in August from 81.62 per cent in the corresponding month last year.

Punctuality of mail / express trains during April-August this year was 80.83 per cent against 76.66 per cent in the corresponding period last year, an increase of 4.17 per cent.

The punctuality of local trains between April and August this year was 77.45 per cent against 73.99 per cent in the same month in 2015.

The railway ministry attributed the improved performance to a series of steps being taken for improvement in the 761-km-long Ghaziabad-Mughalsarai route.

Punctuality of mail / express trains, particularly those traversing through quadrilateral routes such as Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai and Howrah-Mumbai corridors have been adversely impacted as these sectors are facing severe capacity constraint due to saturated line capacity.

These routes are also increasingly being used for freight traffic, including transport of raw materials, coal for power generation plants, petroleum products, food grains, fertiliser, steel and export oriented container traffic.

The ministry, in fact, created a ‘mobility directorate’ to improve punctuality in passenger service and speed up freight movement.

The busy Ghaziabad-Mughalsarai corridor, which includes the Allahabad junction that caters to the movement of 120 trains in a day, and runs services to key railway stations, including Aligarh, Moradabad, Tundla, Bareilly, Etawah, Kanpur Central, Lucknow, Mirzapur and Varanasi.

Railways managed to avoid technical glitches like engine and traction failures by judicious use of assets to decongest movement of trains along the over-saturated route, officials pointed out.

While these measures helped to control external factors affecting punctuality, Railways also managed to keep assets in shape to avoid internal glitches.

Other than asset failures, various constraints /difficulties, such as line capacity constraints on account of increasing passenger and freight traffic, adverse weather conditions (fog, rains, breaches), intermittent natural calamities such as floods, cyclones, heavy rains; heavy road traffic at level crossing gates across the rail network also adversely affect punctuality of trains.

Law and order problems, including public agitations and bandh calls in left wing extremism-affected areas, miscreant activities such as theft of railway assets, mid-section run over cases involving cattle and humans also cause delays in train operation.

[Kashi]

We hear that Talgo offered to run a trial and therefore we accepted. How are we going to procure them ? If we are going to run the whole EOI+ globallRFP , trials again etc, why run these trials now ?
I tweeted to several folks in IR, no answer. Is there any clarity on next steps ?

You are not the only one.

Railways stalls Talgo trial info under RTI

Mumbai: The railways and its various zones, especially Western Railway, might have gone on a PR overdrive at the trials of the Spanish-built Talgo train, but it refused to share details of the trial under a Right to Information plea filed by Essel Group’s DNA.

The Railway Board, in its RTI reply, said the trials of Talgo were satisfactory but stalled the details of these trials by claiming exemption under Section 8 (d) of the RTI Act. Section 8 (d) pertains to information related to trade secrets and intellectual property rights and the RTI exempts the disclosure of these facets as it could harm the competitive position of a third party, in this case Talgo.

However, the railways’ reply on some other questions go a long way in dispelling some myths of the Talgo trials. After all the Talgo trial is something the railway has been milking as one of its biggest achievements since the National Democratic Alliance came to power in May 2014. Essel Group gave a lowdown on the Talgo trial saga:

No Make in India as of now:
Despite the government’s avowed stance on Make in India and the grand plans to make the country a manufacturing hub, the Talgo trial does not have any Make in India angle as of now. In a reply to DNA’s query on whether the Railways has got an assurance from Talgo that it will construct coaches in India as part of ‘Make in India’ programme of the Union government, the railways replied that ‘no such assurance has been given by Talgo to the Ministry of Railways’.

Who is bearing the cost of the trials:
Contrary to popular public perception, the trials are being paid for by the railways and not Talgo. The railways has so far spent Rs 2.56 crores on carrying out the trials. The only cost Talgo has paid for is to the bring the rake from Spain to Izzatnagar workshop of North-Eastern Railway, the latter being the start point of the trial. The railway ministry has replied that so far Phase 1 and 2 of safety, stability and riding assessment trials on Bareilly-Moradabad-Saharanpur and Mathura-Palwal have been completed. Three trial runs between Mumbai and Delhi has also been completed.

No agreement between Railways and Talgo on testing:
Ironically in its reply to DNA’s RTI, the railways has said that there is no agreement that has been signed between the railways and Talgo for testing the latter’s rake in India. It opens up a debate on how the idea for Talgo trials started at the railways. After all Talgo, as well as some other Spanish train firms, signed an agreement with the ministry of railways way back in November 2012, under the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) but there was not much movement on it. However in a letter dated September 3, 2015 the railways asked the Research Design Standards Organsation (RDSO) to examine Talgo’s proposal to conduct on-field trials of the latter’s rake.

Is there any assured purchase deal:
The railways replied in the negative to a query on whether Talgo has been assured of a minimum quantity of purchase as part of any agreement to test the Talgo rake in India.

The Talgo Mumbai-Delhi trial report:
Trial Claimed Time Completed time Speed Unusual Occurrence Time Stoppage

First (Aug1) 12h, 47min 15h, 41min 106.52kmph Over 3 hours 30mins

Second (Aug 5) 12h, 53min 12h, 36min 130kmph 18 minutes 26mins

Third (Aug 9) 12h, 02min 12h, 07min 140kmph 12 minutes 20mins

(The trial report is not part of the RTI and is a compilation from various railway press statements)

[Mollick.R]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... 293078.cms

Posting the full article..........

NEW DELHI: Gearing up to provide confirmed seat on demand, railways is expanding its network to cater to the growing demand of passengers.

"We want to make network in such a way that people should get reservation on demand by 2020. It is not possible in a day," Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said here today.

Currently, the wait-listed passengers' list is long as there is a wide gap between the availability of berths and number of passengers. Besides railways is facing heavy congestion in main trunk routes as 12,000 trains are run on 66,000 km route daily across the country.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function, Sinha said there is a huge gap between passenger requirement and the existing infrastructure.

"Railway traffic has increased 20 times since Independence and infrastructure has increased by 2.25 times. There is a big gap between passengers and infrastructure," he said.

"Allahabd-Mughal Sarai sector is where there was maximum congestion. There are 67 sectors in the country which face congestion and work has started to decongest them," Sinha said.
Highlighting the NDA government's focus on infrastructure development, the MoS Railways said, "Average investment in Indian Railways was Rs 48,000 crore before May 2014, which has been increased last year to Rs 1 lakh crore. An investment plan worth Rs 8.5 lakh crore has been made (for the next five years)."

Defending the flexi-fare system in Premier service, he said, "Flexi plan has been implemented in 77 trains. Those who are effected from this scheme are less than 0.2 per cent. Railways expense per kilometer is around 70 paise and it is recovering 40 paise only."

He further said, "This is required for working of railways and I feel who are availing better facilities and who can afford to pay should pay for services. We have made no changes in general (jan sadharan) and Garib Rath trains."

[Kashi]

Survey of Pathankot-Leh rail line in 2 years: AK Puthia, GM/NR

Palampur: The survey of the Pathankot– Jogindernagar-Leh strategic railway project linking Pathankot with the China boarder is in progress and it will take over two years for completion.

Surge Pricing won’t be rolled back; Scheme to other trains, not now!

Indian Railways on Sunday said surge pricing, announced recently for some premium trains, won’t be rolled back, but added that the scheme won’t be extended to other trains for the time being.
...
Justifying the new scheme, Mohd Jamshed, Member-Traffic, Railway Board, said: “Currently, all our Rajdhani trains are over-booked, more than 118% of seats are booked as compared to 90% in the corresponding period last year.” He added that the rush hasn’t receded a bit after the new scheme was launched, even as the transporter could garner an additional Rs 1.6 crore in the first two days of the scheme. “We will also be coming out with loyalty points and frequent traveller schemes similar to the aviation industry soon.”

According to the ministry data, the non-suburban segment, which carries 46% of passengers and accounts for 94% of passenger revenue, has witnessed a 3.2% growth in the number of passengers during the first five months of this fiscal. The passenger segment as a whole grew just 0.34% in the period.

To disaggregate the non-suburban data, IR clocked a 6.17% growth in number of 1AC passengers, 1% in 2AC, 5% in 3AC and 6.39% in the chair car segment in April-August period.

“If we take the premise that increase in rail fares will lead to passengers shifting to airlines, then decrease in airfares should also lead to passengers shifting from railways to airlines. But the ground situation doesn’t support any such shift in traffic. Despite airfares this fiscal having been at their lowest, we have experienced our ridership in the non-suburban segment growing, a senior railway official told.

In terms of revenue, the non-suburban segment witnessed a growth of 5.3% in the April-August period, against an overall growth of 4% in passenger receipts.

According to Yatra.com, a Delhi-based travel agency and search engine, due to the drop in crude oil prices globally, the Indian civil aviation sector has witnessed a 14% drop in airfares since 2014. “As the rail fares move closer to airfares, there is bound to be a shift in the mode of transportation, but it will be limited to the trunk routes. The domestic passenger growth in aviation has been in double digits for more than a year and the trend will continue, but another trend which should be looked into is the passenger growth in railways in the first five months of the fiscal, especially the non-suburban segment, seems to be growing too,” Sharat Dhall, president of Yatra.com, told.

The passenger segment is heavily cross-subsidised: to the tune of Rs 32,000 crore. Revenue from this segment is estimated to be Rs 52,000 crore for the current fiscal, up 12% from the previous fiscal. Revenue from passenger segment is just over a quarter of railways’ gross traffic receipts.

“The assumption of train travellers shifting to flights is not correct. For one, the majority of routes serviced by trains are not even covered by flights, and therefore, there is no competition on that front.Even on common routes, the number of train travellers outnumbers the flight capacity by over 100x, which is not going to change overnight. Let us not forget that we are still very much a developing country and nearly two-thirds of the train traffic comprise sleeper class travelers and this segment is not going to move to flights at all,” said Kapil Raizada, co-founder of RailYatri.in.

According to the data available on the ministry of railway website, Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto comprise 4.4% of the total mail/express trains plying on the transporters network and carry less than 10% of reserved passengers.

[Kashi]

Budget merger won’t impact govt’s Fisc Deficit

Indian Railways will have to pay dividend and fund subsidy on its own even after the merger of rail budget with general budget. This would mean there would be little impact on the government’s expenditure.

The national transporter is required to pay return on the gross budgetary support it receives from the government known as dividend. It forked out Rs 8,495 crore to the government in dividend in 2015-16 and the figure is projected to rise to Rs 9,731 crore this year.

The railways also loses about Rs 30,000 crore every year because of its social obligations.

These range from discounted fares to operation of uneconomical branch lines, a part of which it recovers from freight traffic.

Sources said the proposed merger would not impact the government’s fiscal deficit as railways would continue to pay dividends and would fund their subsidies through operations.

“The financial contract between ministry of finance and ministry of railways would not change due to the merger,” one source added.

Meanwhile, following a suggestion from the Niti Aayog, the railways is considering trimming its subsidy burden by offering passengers a choice to buy non-subsidised tickets along the lines of ‘give up’ campaign on LPG subsidy.

Sources said railways will start selling non-subsidised tickets by the end of this year.

The government is also likely to print subsidy on monthly passes issued to commuters and the latter may be given the choice to buy full-price passes.

A five-member committee comprising senior officials of the ministries of finance and railways has already given the modalities for the merger of rail budget with the Union budget. Its recommendations are under consideration of finance minister Arun Jaitley.

Earlier, a panel headed by Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy had proposed scrapping the separate railway budget and also suggested that the government should do away with the practice of taking dividends from railways. But it appears that the government has not accepted Debroy panel’s recommendation.

Sources said a proposal is likely to be put up before the Union cabinet for merger of the two budgets by the end of this month. The merger will be effective from the next financial year.
Railways could focus on services, use technology for better passenger experience

Few political circles feel that the proposed merger of the Railway Budget with the Union Budget, will not only bring the curtains down on a near century-old legacy, but it will also set in motion a realignment of political allegiances, both at the centre and the state levels. Railways minister Suresh Prabhu, taking into cognisance the recommendations of the NITI Aayog gave the green signal for the merger last month.

Apart from marking a departure from tradition, the move is likely to turn the political currents in India choppy. Understandably, not all the regional parties are enthused about the government’s move.

A five-member panel comprising officials from the railways and finance ministries are working out the modalities to incorporate the Railway Budget within the scope of the Union Budget. On the other hand, political parties, including the Congress are playing their cards close to the chest, biding time till the panel submits its report to the Centre. Regional parties, which are raging against the BJP’s `corporatisation of the railways’, suspect that the move is an attempt to defang them in future coalition arrangements.

“Look at the list of railway ministers from 1996-2012; they have mostly been members of regional parties. Ram Vilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Mamata Baner jee among others, were the ones in charge of the railways, not leaders of national parties. With the merger, this will change,” political sources said.

Though the Congress is yet to make its stand on the proposed merger of the two budgets clear, regional parties have already started mulling over its implications. Trinamool Congress (TMC) is miffed with the move, which it perceives as an attempt to “stifle” smaller parties that have larger ambitions. When contacted, TMC MP and spokesperson Derek O’Brien said, “We have a lot to say on the subject. (We) will express our views strongly at the appropriate time.”
Of course you do. You wouldn't be you otherwise

Tamil Nadu’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) too is sceptical, with some sections within the party feeling that the move aims at securing political interests, and is not for the benefit of the railways. DMK MP TKS Elangovan said, “It’s quite funny if they think they can thwart political opposition from the regional parties in a coalition set-up by scrapping the railway budget. Merging the Railway Budget will only slow down the department. Currently, rail ways is independent and can take decisions on its own – there is flexibility when it comes to changing passenger fares, increasing freight charges, and even platform tickets, to mobilise resources. When merged, railways will have to depend on the Consolidated Funds of India, and may not be on the priority list of the government.”

The other question that has been doing the rounds in the political corridors is this: Will a merger improve the situation for the railway passenger? If yes, why can’t reforms be initiated through an exclusive Railway Budget?

JD(S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said, “Railway-related allocation to states, especially those ruled by parties that are not in power at the centre, are unlikely to be fair following the merger. Will political bias be eliminated in allocation and execution of projects to the states?”

However, a few regional parties are of the opinion that a merger could turn out to be beneficial for both the country and railways, if done efficiently.

Dubbing the separate budget for railways a colonial relic, Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) MP K Kavitha lauded the NDA government for initiating reforms in the railway board. “A separate railway budget is not required in an era, where other modes of transport, including road and air, are quite strong. Moreover, central government schemes are political and we, the regional parties, have to fight it out to get them for our respective states. Maybe there is a need for a separate agriculture or health budget,” she added.

Railways has come a long way from 1924 when the first budget was tabled and three-quarters of the country’s finances were allotted for the sector. If all goes as planned, with the BJP determined to push through the merger of budgets, we may well have seen the last Railway Budget this year. Hopefully, passengers will benefit from this entire exercise.

[Kashi]

Google offers to build IT platform for Indian Railways

New Delhi: As Indian Railways is enhancing customer experience, tech giant Google has offered to build an IT platform for the national transporter that will have features like voice search, maps and local language, to name a few. Next on the partnership is monetising the web traffic and sharing revenue with the public transporter, which is ready to part with its colossal data for money.

A team of Google last week made a presentation to senior railway officials and promised to prop up the transporter’s brand leadership, make it easier for travellers to access rail info and bring millions of rail users to its platform.
..
Once the railways’ partnership with Google is finalised, the state-owned public transporter would launch its drive to block all private portals that are profiting from the railway data while its custodian looks on.
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“We are exploring the possibility of monetising our data, software and some of the free services provided such as PNR enquiry, at present being commercially exploited by other players, but at the same time ensuring that no compromise on customer privacy is made,” railway minister Suresh Prabhu had said in his budget speech this year.