Title - EAST COAST RAILWAY CELEBRATES 57TH RAILWAY WEEK

The 57th Railway Week was celebrated by East Coast Railway at KIIT University Auditorium, this afternoon to commemorate the running of the first ever train o­n Indian soil o­n 16th April 1853 between Bombay & Thane.Shri Indra Ghosh, General Manager, East Coast Railway & Smt. Ratna Ghosh, President, East Coast Railway Womens’ Welfare Organisation (ECoRWWO) graced the occasion as Chief Guest & Guest of Honour respectively.          Addressing Railway men & their family members, Shri Ghosh, complemented the railway men for their effort in achieving the record loading performance. Feight traffic has been Indian Railway’s bread and butter; and freight revenue not o­nly sustains railway finances but also subsidizes our loss making passenger business, added Shri Ghosh.Informing the achievement of East Coast Railway, Shri Ghosh said that, this railway has done a spectacular performance during 2011-12 in freight operations. During this fiscal, this railway has added another glorious chapter in its history by achieving record revenue loading of 120.77 MT against 108.99 MT during 2010-11, registering an increase of 10.8% over the previous year and 0.27MT more than the target. The originating freight earnings increased from Rs. 7234.64 Crore in 2010-11 to Rs. 8079.08 Crores in 2011-12, registering an increase of 11.67% and generating total originating net tone KMs of 67.76 billion in 2011-12 as against 61.85 billion in 2010-11. More importantly, the incremental loading of East Coast is the highest in Indian Railways. East Coast was the o­nly major zonal railway who could achieve their loading target in the last fiscal. In recognition of our exemplary performance, East Coast Railway has been awarded this year’s Freight Performance Shield by Railway Board, said Shri Ghosh. He also informed that, this performance is all the more creditable since it has been accomplished despite extremely adverse conditions of disruption to train services o­n the KK line due to left wing extremist activities. As a matter of fact KK line which loads over 15 MT in a year, has remained closed for more than a month in different spells because of these externalities.To meet the growing demand for passenger services during the festive season and also during summer & winter, East Coast Railway has progressively introduced more number of special trains during the pick season. The composition of popular trains is also augmented to provide additional seats/berths. Emphasis is being given by this Railway o­n improving the quality of services to its customers. To provide better services in reservation and availability of tickets, new PRS terminals & Unreserved Ticketing Systems (UTS) have been added with the existing PRS terminals, added Shri Ghosh.This year seven new trains were introduced connecting Orissa with different destinations in other states. This Railway will shortly be in a position to open Lanjigarh-Junagarh new line and Khurda Road-Begunia of Khurda Road-Bolangir new line. Phase II work of Khurda Road-Bolangir has been sanctioned. Planning work of doubling of Puri-Delang section is also at advance stage, said Shri Ghosh. General Manager also asked the railway men to be more close to the passengers and look after their comfortable journey. Congratulating the dedicated workforce of ECoR, Shri Ghosh urged all railway men to continue their efforts for better performance in the current financial year i.e. 2012-13.A total of 263 selected band of dedicated railway employees including staff and officers were felicitated with merit certificates and efficiency Medals in recognition of their outstanding services in the year 2011-12. The Overall Efficiency Shields was awarded to Khurda Road Division for the best all round performance in respect of Commercial, Operating, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Security, Signal & Telecom Engineering Shields. Sambalpur Division of East Coast Railway obtained the Mechanical Engineering & Rajbhasa Shields. Similarly, Visakhapatnam Division bagged Accounts, Safety, Medical and Personnel Shields for the outstanding performance in the above respective fields.          However, Chhatrapur Station has adjudged as the best Small Clean Station Shield and Titlagarh Station has been adjudged as the best Major Clean Station Shields. Best Depot Shield & Survey & Construction Shield adjudged to Mancheswar General Stores Depot & Dy. Chief Engineer/Construction/II at Visakhapatnam respectively.                    Amongst others, members of the PREM including representatives of Railway Trade Unions, member of ECoRWWO, large number of Officers, staff & their family members were present o­n this occasion.

          Shri Subrat Tripathy, Sr. Dy. General Manager & Chief Vigilance Officer gave welcome address and Shri Susant Kumar Purohit, Dy. General Manager offered vote of thanks in this occasion.

          A colorful cultural programme was also presented by the employees & their wards of East Coast Railway to mark the occasion.