Prayagraj,

15 Aug (HS): Nation’s 79th Independence Day was celebrated with great

enthusiasm and fan-fare at North Central Railway Headquarter Office, Prayagraj.

The program started with flag hoisting by General Manager Upendra Chandra

Joshi. On the occasion, the General Manager inspected the parade of Railway

Protection Force, Bharat Scout and Guides and St. John Ambulance Brigade. The

General Manager also awarded the 21 railway personnel for outstanding

perfomance. Awardees included Gajendra

Kumar/ Track Maintainer-IV, Santosh Singh/ Traffic Inspector, Anand Kumar

Patel/ Senior Carpenter, Avinash Singh Yadav/ Senior Section Engineer/ Tele.,

Lal Chandra Pal/ Loco Pilot, Rajesh Oraon/ Chief Goods Supervisor, Rajiv Kumar

Mittal/ Deputy Chief Controller, Satyam Saxena/ Junior Engineer, Nag Bhushan

Singh/ Senior Section Engineer, Surendra Lal Verma/ Track Maintainer –IV,

Majboot Singh/ Loco Pilot Mail, Parmoli/ Junior Clerk, Sumit Dwivedi/ Traffic

Inspector (Goods), Devendra Kumar/ Junior Engineer (Signal), Anil Kumar Meena/

Senior Technician, Sushil Maurya/ Senior Section Engineer, Vikas Kumar/

Technician – III, Madhusudan Sinha/ Steno-I, Tarakeshwar Tiwari/ Traffic

Inspector, Tejashwani/ Junior Engineer/ P.W., Bhupendra Kumar Saroj, Senior

Section Engineer. General Manager and

President, North Central Railway Women's Welfare Organization released the

tricolor balloons in the air.

In

the colourful cultural programme held on this occasion, Group dance on the song

Vande Mataram by the children of Tenderfeet under the guidance of Purnima,

Group dance based on the fusion of folk dances of Eastern India under the

guidance of Aparajita Patel and Mitali Verma, Group dance by the children of

Prayag Petals on Nanha Munna Rahi Hoon under the direction of Aarti Rawat,

Dance by the children of Shishugrih on Teri Ungli Pakad Ke Chala, Sandeep

Kumar, Mohammad Faizan Ahmed - Group Song enthralled the audience present.

During

the function, the General Manager gave heartfelt greetings and greetings to all

the employees, officers of North Central Railway and their families on the

auspicious occasion of the 79th Independence Day of our glorious nation.

The

General Manager's address is as follows: “On the auspicious occasion of 79th

Independence Day of our glorious nation, I extend my heartiest greetings to the

entire North Central Railway family. This day commemorates the re-birth of our

nation after gaining long awaited independence from foreign rule & our

ill-fortunes. Today we recall the sacrifice and selfless service of the great

personages with gratitude. It is befitting that at this solemn moment we take

the pledge of rededication to the service of nation and its people and to the

still larger cause of humanity. The achievement we celebrate today is but a

step towards new opportunities, to the greater triumphs and achievements that

await us. Thus on this day, we evaluate our immediate past and look ahead at

our future.

North

Central Railway, since inception in 2003 has emerged as an important constituent

of Indian Railway. Our contributions are first reflected in our financial

performance with registered growth of passenger and Sundry earnings by 3.64%

and 83.74% respectively during the first quarter over the corresponding period

of last year with the increase in passengers by 8.34%. Our originating food

grain loading has also registered a phenomenal growth of more than 32% during

current financial year, with this the gross originating freight revenue has

increase by 3%. During 2024-25, scrap sale of Rs. 272 Crore was achieved by our

Stores department, surpassing the target by 4.7%. Even during the current

financial year by the end of July 2025, the scrap sale of almost Rs. 75 Crore

has been achieved. Customer satisfaction is the prime motive behind our

efforts. We were privileged to cater to mammoth operations for the largest

human congregation during Mahakumbh Mela at Prayagraj between January to

February 2025. The meticulous planning and flawless execution by committed

railwaymen jelled with modern technological tools made it safe, smooth &

successful. We utilized Memu trains extensively along with using locomotives at

both ends on conventional rakes for swift movement, Multi lingual Public

Address & Enquiry System, Multilingual information brochures, Kumbh Rail

sewa mobile app etc as technological innovations to supplement relentless

efforts of railwaymen and served the pilgrims in efficient manner. Coordinated

efforts by NCR was the key in completion of infrastructural works worth Rs 5000

Crores for Maha Kumbh in very planned

way. Safe and comfortable transport of about 5 crore pilgrims by running more

than 17000 trains was Kumbh Snan for our dedicated railwaymen in true sense.

Giving

a new dimension to customer convenience, 09 redeveloped Amrit Stations equipped

with modern facilities were inaugurated by the Honorable Prime Minister. To

enhance passenger convenience during the current financial year, we also ran

931 trips of mela & summer special trains and temporary augmentation of

additional coaches for 44 trips, to facilitate passengers during rush periods

in current financial year. We have also enhanced the maximum speed of 10 trains

to 130 KMPH thus taking the total number to 636 trains which run at this speed.

For ease of movement of passengers on stations, 61 escalators & 49 lifts

have been provided so far and 02 escalators & 10 lifts are further planned

at various stations over NCR during ongoing financial year. New Foot Over

Bridges has been constructed at 10 Stations including 12 meter wide FOBs at

Deeg and Vindhyachal. With the provision of divyang friendly amenities at 05

more stations, overall 117 stations of zone have been provided with requisite

divyang facilities.

Safety

in train operations is our topmost priority.

Our Safety department has conducted 20 drives over the zone to inculcate

safe working practices among staff in their day to day functioning. They have

also organized Mock drill with NDRF as a part of disaster management

exercise. During last financial year,

KAVACH system has been installed over 831 Kms of route. We have also installed

the KAVACH instrument in 125 three phase locomotives. Safety Integrity Testing

of station panel has been conducted at 44 stations. Fire alarm system has been

provided at 13 stations this year. To enhance reliability BPAC has been

commissioned in 04 block sections and dual detection in 478 track

sections. In order to motivate staff for

safer working practices, during the current year31 personnel have been

conferred with safety award for showing exemplary alertness and contributing

towards safety in train operations. To enhance safety at level crossings 90

manned level crossings gate have been eliminated last year and in continuation

09 more have been closed in current year whereas 103 ROBs/RUBs have been constructed during last

financial year and 22 in ongoing year.

So far, Interlocking of 03 LC gates has been done to ensure enhanced

safety in train operations. For mass awareness on safety several publicity

campaigns through mobile video van, print & electronic media were organized

with special focus on road users.

Maintenance

and proper upkeep of assets is key to safe and smooth operations. We have completed 74.26 Kms of TRR &

94.62 Kms of Complete Track Renewal upto June, 25 which are higher by 72% &

25% respectively than same period last year. We are also making efforts to ease

up the congestion on our routes and further speed up the operations by

providing input through capacity enhancement works. We have raised the

sectional speed on 42.77 Kms of our sections to 110 KMPH. During the ongoing

financial year, 243.72 Kms of boundary walls along the track have been

constructed. Electronic Interlocking has

been commissioned at 5 stations & automatic signaling over 38.94 Kms. In

order of facilitate smooth operations traction substation has been commissioned

at Jora Alapur. Apart from it 34.45 TKM of sidings have been electrified this

year.

Our

workshops are also contributing to fulfill the aspirations of esteemed

customers. CMLR Workshop/Jhansi has successfully started midlife rehabilitation

of AC LHB coaches and 57 such coaches with total of 376 coaches have been

rehabilitated during 2024-25. Cumulative outturn of Rail Coach Naveenikaran

Karkhana/Jhansi, was also achieved to be 10% more than the target. Wagon Repair

Workshop has also achieved a milestone with its highest outturn in January 2025

with 1101 VUs against the target of 725 VUs only. Our Electric Loco shed,

Kanpur based Locomotive stood 1st Runner-Up in the Loco Cab competition

held at Banaras Locomotive Works on 24.05.2025.

Our

commitment to Swachhta and environment friendly functioning is undeterred. Our 10 buildings, have been certified as

Shunya/Shunya+ by Bureau of Energy Efficiency for year 2024-25, while 19 more

buildings have been identified for potential certification this year. Our Solar

Power Plants have generated Highest Ever 6.37 Million Units of energy during

January to June 2025.

Improvement

is an ongoing process and technological inputs with vigilant management are the

key to it. Our vigilance department is not only curbing the improper practices

but also suggesting corrective measures. It has issued 17 system improvements

during current year covering subjects like overestimation in a works contract

& about intra division transfer of staff on their request basis etc.

Security

of passengers and railway property is our key concern. Our Security Personnel

had played a very commendable role during Mahakumbh. They not only provided

security to pilgrims but contributed immensly towards effective crowd

management. Railway Protection force

have saved 211 children and either reunited them with their families or handed

them over safely to NGOs. They also taken stringent action against the carriers

of intoxicating and prohibited materials, as 10 persons have been arrested and

material worth Rs 12,50,700/- has been recovered. Action has also been taken

against unauthorized ticketing and vending as 13 unauthorized ticket agents and

3062 vendors have been arrested during ongoing financial year.

Human

resource is the most important asset for any living organization. Similarly

Team NCR is the force that keeps our flag high in all streams. We uphold the

responsibility to ensure welfare and all round development of our team. It’s the first when an inter-division

cultural competition was held by our personnel department. This competition

brought out some remarkable performances and an entirely different aspect of

personalities of our personnel came to light. In this year 5377 grievances have

been disposed off through single window system. More than 11000 staff have been

trained at various training centers of NCR thus upgrading their skills. To

dispose the pending MACP cases, a drive was launched and 1030 staff got

benefitted through it. Our Medical department looks after the health of our

employees. They organize regular health check up camps specially at work

places. About 25000 employees have been checked during such camps. Our 08

stations and 03 offices have been eat right certified in last six months.

Players

& cultural teams of NCR have always brought laurels for our country. I take

this opportunity to congratulate our Women Cricket team for winning Inter

Railway Cricket Championship and our Hockey Team for winning bronze medal for

the first time. Our wrestler Udit won silver medal in Senior Asian Wrestling

Championship held at Jordan.

Our Rajbhasha department has been making

remarkable efforts in implementing Rajbhasha policy over the zone. One of our

officer got Rail Mantri Rajbhasha Rajat Padak and two staff won prizes in

different rajbhasha competitions.

I wish to congratulate our recognized Unions,

Federation & Associations for maintaining good & harmonious atmosphere

over North Central Railway. I congratulate Scout & Guide for always working

selflessly for various social causes including their contributions during

Mahakumbh and Jalseva for railway passenger during summer. I wish to specially

congratulate our Guide Sonali Vishwakarma for winning President Guide

Award. Our St John’s Ambulance Brigade

volunteers have served relentlessly during Mahakumbh and rendered life saving

support to a lot of passengers. Their services were also recognized during

Chaitra Navratri Mela where they provided medical support to more than 1100 pilgrims.

I

also congratulate NCRWWO for their commendable efforts in helping needy railway

families through various schemes. They have recently taken up a new initiative

in the form Prayag Petals in Railgaon colony and I wish them the best of luck

for success in this endeavor. Today on

this auspicious occasion let us rededicate ourselves to the progress of NCR, so

that Indian Railway can continue to contribute in nation building.” This year

the Independence Day celebrations organized at the North Central Railway

Headquarters office were prepared to reach out to all railway personnel and

other people through webcast. Independence Day Celebrations starting at 09:25

AM at North Central Railway Headquarters Subedarganj made available online

using YouTube link www.youtube.com/CPRONCR.

On this occasion the President, office bearers and other members of North

Central Railway Women's Welfare Organization, all the Principal heads of

departments of North Central Railway, other officers and a large number of employees

and their family members were present.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi