How is railways modernising and improving its finances

1. IT Enterprise solution
2. Electrification
3. Re-orientating freight business
4. Non-fare revenue
5. Safety
6. New infrastructure and Speed
7. Passenger amenities

Action plan from 2017-2019
http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/Railways%20Presentation.pdf

1. IT Enterprise Solution
Goes beyond accounting. It has to be the boldest move towards modernization, efficiency and precise management. Just FYI, costs $2B but saves $5-6B costs (see link 1).

Lets see: Fast data capture and analysis
Front-end info-displays and back-end data processing
Personalised customer service. Integrate with mobiles
Remotely operating devices to enhance efficiency
Record and track assets and optimize use.
Collate wear, repair and service history, for action plans.
Collate new project plans, physical progress, costings.
Co-ordinate functions like security, meals, cleaning, etc
Record complaints, outcomes, analysis & improvements
Is a human resource management tool
Accounting, Mx information, cost analysis, optimization.
Insight into pricing, profitability, future investment, etc

2. Electrification
Breaks from incremental growth. Besides $1.5B savings in fuel, operational benefits abound. Easy to finance (see link 3).

Lets see: Higher speeds, faster acceleration for all trains
Increase in line capacity by 12-18%
Higher haulage loads and higher payload-to-tare ratio
Longer passenger trains. Less congestion.
Shorter journey times for suburban trains. More stops
Eliminates diesel stock. Streamlines journey, route planning.
Upgrade opportunity for signalling, cameras, telecom, etc

3. Re-orientating freight business
Freight initiatives (discounts, dynamic pricing & diversification) have benefited IR finances. If Railway "regulator" can unload some burden on passenger side, it allows IR to re-orientate its freight business.

Lets see: 9% extra capacity from 25T axle wt wagons. Low tare.
Double-stack dwarf containers for low weight, high volume freight
3-4 new specialist wagons to enter new segments
Truck Ro-Ro service for traversing congested cities
End of train telemetry to do away with EOT guards
55 -100 private terminals adding extra capacity
Private freight operators expected from new sectors.
Parcel business hived for focused growth, joins with Postal depart.
Upgrade 10 good-sheds. End-to-end solution via road hauliers.
Defunct factories revived for maintenance
Build efficient dedicated infra, further lower freight costs.
High volume, increment discounts, term contracts, dynamic pricing
Premium timetable service. 50 routes for FY18.
Lower prices for higher modal share of freight
More diversification to lower risk exposure
Higher revenue, financial & credit scores for lower cost funds
Virtuous reinforcement of logistics benefits to boost GDP

4. Non-fare revenue
All out effort to increase Non-fare share of revenue to 15% in 5 years. Target is $2.3B over 1-2yrs, and $6.3B for 5-10yrs. Land, RE, PSUs are not included in the target. Renewables, part of overall $6.4B energy savings by 10yrs.

Lets see: Monetize land resources, incl 14 colonies development.
Income from station redevelopment, let on long leases.
Real estate development at new satellite stations
500MW solar capacity on 8000+ station roofs.
Shift good sheds out of city areas. 14 acres realised in prime areas
Selling off parcels of IR PSUs.
200k Rail display network in 2000+ stations. 400 A1/2 tendered.
Branding of stations and trains. Separate packages
Advertisement on billboards and outdoor digital displays
Hire IR property for weddings, eating concourse, training venue
Develop new Apps eg. PRN, complaints, hotel & taxi booking
Monetise data. Income from existing platforms like apps, websites
On board entertainment
IR smart card for cashless digital use

5. Safety
https://arvindagarwal1.blogspot.com/2019/03/railway-safety-year-to-1-4-12-1-4-13-1_20.html

6. New infrastructure and Speed
Strapped for cash, IR will prioritise— & expedite— viable spend under headings 1 to 4 above. Items under Electrification and IT enterprise should be easy to finance by Extra-budgetary resources (EBR). With visible freight demand, all items under freight will have good viability. Leases, EBR, PPP come to play. Non-fare revenue will incl. solar & wind, as part of station redevelopment or land monetization. PPP route is favoured in most cases.

Dedicated funds from MOF (national projects, DFC, Safety); JV states (eg suburban rail, ROBs, state priorities); Swacchata, Nibhaya & USO (biotoilets, water recycling, waste, CCTV, telecom) will pay for sizeable share of select items.

Doubling, tripling, track renewal, advanced signalling (TWPS & TCAS), bridge repairs enhance freight capacity. Higher freight demand will help fund these essential items. This leaves general IR pool to invest in new rolling stock, passenger amenities, share of JVs and semi-bullet corridors; and fund gauge conversion, incomplete projects, loss-making passenger routes and legacy obligations like Kolkata metro.

For speed
Lets see: Track renewals, bridge repairs, access control, UMLC removal, CBC,
broken track detection, automated track laying, long welded rails;
aid for fog, flood; signalling, CCTV; fix breaks in gauge, electrification.

High powered EMUs, double loco trains, MEMU (no turning needed)
Doubling, tripling in HDN, ATWP & TCAS, electrification
New double track, CAB, Medha, automated doors, crowd dispersal
Shorter routes or lower gradients: tunnelling, bridges, elevated tracks
Upgrades for semi-bullet corridors, sidings, LHB/Talgo type coaches
High speed rail on dedicated tracks (straight, levelled, non-grade)

Infra on a grand scale
Lets see: 22,400 km Electrification of BG — 4yrs
3,650 km MG converted into BG — 5yrs
5,100 km backlog Track renewal — 3yrs (incl FY16)
2,900 higher MLC and 6,100 UMCL eliminated — 3yrs (incl FY16)
16,500 km of doubling and tripling, sanctioned. 12000 km U/C
1030 km port connectivity rails
505 km HSR
Dedicated freight corridors, 2 heading for completion
Dedicated freight corridors, 3 readied for construction
Semi-HSR Mum-Del -Kol, sanctioned for 160-200kmph. Fencing.
Semi-HSR Mum-Che-Kol. 2nd phase of GQ
4400 km priority semi-HSR (non-GQ). Delhi-Chandigarh under DPR
Strategic rail links in Arunachal Pradesh, 3 chosen
Jammu-Kashmir rail link heading for full completion
Rail connection to NE capitals has been approved
Char Dham pilgrim connectivity (Rishikesh-Karanprayag) project
Bilaspur-Manali-Leh rail
JVs with states and coal india
New lines and capacity augmentation of Mumbai suburban rail
Phase 1 Commuter suburban rail Bengaluru
3 lines of NCR commuter rail in final approval
25 metro projects in planning for 650 km in 2016.
Ongoing metro rail in Kolkata, Noida, Navi Mumbai, Kochi, etc
New metro rail in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Lucknow, etc
Next phase metro rail in Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad
On blocks metro rail in Patna, Kanpur, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam;
Guwahati, Varanasi, etc
25 / 400 major station redevelopment to be bid out
Integrated hub at all Railway stations in AMRUT & Smart Cities
Large turnkey EPC projects to attract large players at good prices
Loco factories to Alstom (12,000 HP electric) & GE (6,000 HP diesel)
New coach factories at Pallakad, Kerala & Kolar, Karnataka on PP
EMU factory at Kachrapara, West Bengal on PP
European TPWS (train protection) for deployment at HDN
Bhilai Steel Plant unit of SAIL to start producing longest rail at 130m

7. Passenger amenities
https://arvindagarwal1.blogspot.com/2019/03/question-on-indian-railways-by-around.html

Lets see: Very high quality makeover of passenger coaches
Safety aspects addressed esp for fast trains
Punctuality and speed
Cleanliness at stations, trains, on demand
Food Hygiene, serving trolleys or outside servers
Linen provided via mechanised laundry
Drinking water, widely available at very low prices
Lift and escalators
Bio-toilets and bio-vacuum toilets
Faster on-line ticketing and reservations
New staff uniforms
CCTV and security upgrade. Medical emergencies
Info-displays at stations and on board
Wifi at stations and perhaps along train routes
On board entertainment