Prabhu proposes new body to prepare National Rail Plan-2030

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu has proposed the setting up of a Railway Planning & Investment Organisation with available funds for developing and revitalising the existing infrastructure of Indian Railways, so as to ensure that scare resources are invested in the most efficient and transparent manner.

The organisation will draft the Railways' medium (5 years) and long (10 years) term corporate plans and based thereupon, identify projects to fulfill the corporate goal, railway minister Suresh Prabhu said while presenting the Railway Budget 2016-17.

The organisation will independently conduct market intelligence and support preparation of feasibility studies or detailed project reports based on standard methodology and assumptions. Further, the organisation would propose innovative financing mechanisms for identified projects, he said.

The railway minister also announced the National Rail Plan in order to provide long-term perspective to planning for augmenting the railway network. He said the Indian Railways has decided to develop 'National Rail Plan' (NRP-2030) in consultation with all the stakeholders, including state governments, public representatives and other relevant central ministries.

NRP-2030 will endeavour to harmonise and integrate the rail network with other modes of transport and create synergy for achieving seamless multi-modal transportation network across the country.

This will also achieve the prime minister's vision of integrated planning and cost optimisation of the transportation network by laying the new railway lines and new highways together in tunnels and over mega-bridges.

The minister said transparency is an important tenet of his government, adding that Indian Railway's mission is to ensure 100 per cent transparency in all its operations.

He said, the Railways has initiated the process of conducting recruitments online in 2015-16 and the process is now being replicated for all positions. Social media is also being used as a tool to bring in transparency in its day to day working. All procurement, including procurement of works, has moved to the e-platform.

The Railways, he said, intends to usher in a new era by switching over to paperless contract management system where not only the bids are invited online, but the entire process, leading to award of tenders also done electronically. He said a trial run has been conducted for this and the Railways intend to roll it out on a pan-India basis in the next financial year.

With a view to ensuring empowerment at functional level, he said, he had delegated to the zonal railways all tender and estimate related powers. This has helped ensure that the Railways were able to ensure that the projects get sanctioned within a period of 6-8 months, a process, which earlier, used to take more than 2 years, he said.

''With more delegation comes greater accountability and to establish this new culture, key result areas (KRAs) have been defined for general managers and divisional railway managers. These areas clearly articulate the metrics on which the officials would be evaluated, ensuring objectivity in assessment of performance and mid-term course corrections. The minister said, MoUs have been signed with some zonal railways, where quantifiable targets on performance parameters were clearly laid out. This ensured resounding commitment from these Railways in meeting their targets. He said, it will be done for all zones next year.

Railways, he said, has also revamped its internal audit systems with a view to bringing in efficiency in working practices. Specialised teams have been mandated to screen Railway operations in specific areas, to detect inefficiencies and prevent wastages. All zonal railways have been asked to prepare two such reports in the current year. Specialised training courses on IT-based internal audit mechanism have also been initiated to give professional teeth to the internal audit teams.

Rail Development Authority

Prabhu said the Railways will ensure the independence of Rail Development Authority which was proposed last year to enable fair pricing of services, promote competition, protect customer interests and determine efficiency standards.

The railway minister said the draft bill will be ready after holding extensive stakeholder consultations and a transparent and streamlined selection process will be taken up keeping ministry of railways at an arm's length. He further said that this single initiative will provide immense confidence to the stakeholders.