EXPERT GROUP MEETING ON HARMONIZATION OF RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR FACILITATION OF INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT 4th SEPTEMBER , BANGKOK BASIC FACTS ABOUT ➢ Railways were first introduced to in the year 1853 from to Thane.

➢ Indian Railways is one of the world’s largest Railway Networks comprising 1,15,000 KM of track over a route of 67,312 KM.

➢ IR has close to 7,112 stations.

➢ IR is the world‘s 8th Largest Commercial or Utility Employer, by number of employees, with over 1.376 million employees.

➢ IR’s rolling stock comprises over 2,45,267 freight wagons, 66,392 passenger coaches and 10,499 locomotives.

➢ IR runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7,421 freight trains daily.

➢ IR carries, on an average, 2.65 Million Tonnes of Freight Traffic and 23 Millions passengers a day. INDIAN RAILWAYS’ FREIGHT BUSINESS SHARE OF COMMODITIES IN OVERALL LOADING IN 2016-17

Loading (in Commodity MT) (in 2016- 17) Container 4% Other Goods 7% Coal 533.35 POL 4% RMSP 20.96 Fertilizers 5% Pig Iron & Steel 48.41 Foodgrains Iron Ore 137.61 4% Coal 48% Cement 104.15 Cement 9% Foodgrains 44.93

Iron Ore 13% Fertilizers 48.92 POL (Petroleum, Oil and 42.93 Lubricant) Container 47.49 RMSP 2% Services PI & Steel 4% Other Goods 80.04

Total 1108.79 INDIAN RAILWAYS’ FREIGHT BUSINESS

SHARE OF COMMODITIES IN OVERALL FREIGHT EARNINGS IN 2016-17

Earnings (in ₹ Commodity Crores) Container 5% Other Goods 7% Coal 46064.03 POL 6% RMSP 1865.38 Fertilizer Pig Iron & Steel 7121.77 s 6% Coal 44% Iron Ore 8394.25 Foodgrains 7% Cement 8765.66 Cement 8% Foodgrains 7816.46 Fertilizers 5937.22 POL (Petroleum, Oil and 5779.35 Lubricant) Iron Ore 8% PI & Steel 7% RMSP 2% Container 5192.91 Services Other Goods 7537.72 Total 104474.75 INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

➢ Indian Railways has international traffic linkages with , and Nepal. INDIA IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE TAR (TRANS-ASIAN RAILWAY) NETWORK INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

INDIA-PAKISTAN TRAFFIC:

➢ Two passenger trains, namely Samjhuata Express and , ply between India and Pakistan. ▪ , commonly called “Friend Express”, is a twice-weekly train which runs between and Atari in India and in Pakistan. ▪ Thar Express runs between – (Pakistan side) and – (India side). ▪ A goods train also plies between India and Pakistan on the Samjhauta express route carrying some traffic. INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

INDIA-PAKISTAN TRAFFIC (OVERVIEW)

India-Pakistan Traffic Passenger (In Goods (in Tonnes)Parcel ( in Tonnes) number) Year India to Pak to India to Pak to India to Pak to Pak India Pak India Pak India 2015-16 16635 17164 111748 269 24159 1258

2016-17 8825 12420 1312695 0 30280 1158 INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (GOODS): Indian Railways have agreements with for interchange of goods traffic between India and Bangladesh via the following routes: ROUTE OPERATIONAL Gede(India)--Darsana (Bangladesh) Since 1972 Singhabad(India)–Rohanpur Since 1992 (Bangladesh) (India)– Since 2001 (Bangladesh) Radhikapur(India)-- Birol (Bangladesh) Functional

Mahisasan(India)–Shahbazpur Not operational since December 1996 (Bangladesh) due to breaches and lack of traffic. Total Goods Traffic between India and Bangladesh was around 718840 Tonnes in the year 2016-17 INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (GOODS):

TRAFFIC AT DIFFERENT INTERCHANGE POINTS (In 2016-17) Gede Interchange Point

Commodities No of No of Total no of 8- Countries tonnage trains Engines wheeler units Stone DOC Flyash

India to 255 329 7828 2886 712 11436 664923 Bangladesh Bangladesh 642 4 - - - 25421 0 to India INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (GOODS):

TRAFFIC AT DIFFERENT INTERCHANGE POINTS (In 2016-17) Petrapole Interchange Point

Commodities Total no of No of No of Countries 8-wheeler tonnage trains Engines Gypsu Sponge- units Sugar Foodgrains m Iron

India to 15 0 250 20 30 250 1154 35521.4 Bangladesh

Bangladesh 10 4 - - - - 206 0 to India INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (GOODS):

TRAFFIC AT DIFFERENT INTERCHANGE POINTS (In 2016-17) Singhabad Interchange Point

Commodities No of No of Total no of 8- Countries tonnage trains Engines wheeler units Ballast Flyash POL

India to 439 0 17308 1046 42 18396 18396 Bangladesh

Empties- 4184 Bangladesh to Total No of 8- 83 0 India wheeler wagons - 3291 INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (PASSENGER):

➢The train runs between and . The train travels around 375 KMs to reach Dhaka from Kolkata. It takes around 10 hours to cover the entire stretch. Since the Bangladesh side is non-electrified, the entire stretch is covered by broad-gauge diesel locomotives.

➢Maitree Express is a very popular service with over 90 percent occupancy. It is most favoured by Senior Citizens and patients. In 2016-17, total 1,16,398 passengers travelled between India and Bangladesh in this train.

➢ From next month, Indian Railways is planning end-to-end customs and immigration services. This is expected to reduce the journey time from current 10 hours to 7-7.5 hours and ease the hassle of getting down at the border check points by the passengers. INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (LATEST DEVELOPMENTS) ➢ The frequency of Maitree Express has been increased from 3 to 4 service in a week w.e.f. November, 2016. The Maitree Express service has been made fully AC with new improved rake comprising 4 first AC, 4 AC Chair cars and 2 Power cars from both ends from 14th April, 2017.

➢ Introduction of new passenger train service from to Kolkata via Petrapole (India) and Benapole (Bangladesh).

➢ The line between Radhikapur and Birol has been made operational.

➢ An agreement has been signed between Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) and Container Company of Bangladesh Ltd (CCBL). Both the parties have identified areas of co-operation. INDIA-BANGLADESH TRAFFIC (LATEST DEVELOPMENTS) ➢ Indian Railways is planning to start Container services between Dhaka and Kolkata as a follow up to the agreement between the two sides. This will benefit the trade and business of both the countries. INDIAN RAILWAYS’ INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

INDIA-NEPAL TRAFFIC: ➢One Broad Gauge rail link between Raxaul (India) and Birganj (Nepal) is operational between India and Nepal.

➢The two countries have signed an agreement for the transit route between Nepal (Kakarbhitta) and Bangladesh () passing through Phulbari in India. India has also provided Nepal a rail route through Radhikapur for its trade with Bangladesh and for its overseas trade via Bangladesh. KEY CHALLENGES TO INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT

➢ Congestion and delays at border stations, in particular at the stations with break of gauge

➢ Lengthy procedures for crossing borders

➢ Lack of harmonization in the documents that are required by different countries

➢ Lengthy and cumbersome Inspections on both sides of border crossings

➢ Different technical standards for rolling stock, power supply, braking systems and signalling systems

➢ Different operating rules and tariff structures KEY CHALLENGES TO INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT ➢ Different requirements for train drivers and crew.

➢ Incompatible or non-existent cross- border information and data transmission systems.

➢ Lack of qualified manpower to operate cross-border trains. SUGGESTIONS TO HELP IMPROVE INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT ➢ To encourage sub-regional and bilateral agreements. A model bilateral/sub-regional agreement that covers essential requirements to facilitate Railway transport may be developed and shared with member countries. This may help member countries plan, develop and implement such agreements.

➢ To solve the issue of “Break of Gauge” by adopting various technical solutions such as Transshipment, bogie changing, use of wagons with variable-gauge bog ies etc.

➢ Harmonization of Consignment Note.

➢ Adoption of Advance Passenger/Cargo Information System and common standards for compatibility thereof. SUGGESTIONS TO HELP IMPROVE INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT

➢ Standardization of Rolling stock, Infrastructure, Signalling system, axle weight of track, communication system etc.

➢ At border crossings : • Establishment of standard time for various operations at border points. • Completion of required and unrelated operations in parallel. • Adoption and extensive use of technological solutions for inspection of Containers.

➢ To create a Multi-lateral contractual framework for standardization of various conditions to make wagons interoperable on different networks. THANK YOU