Zoning Committee Staff Report: Fill & Download for Free

Safety of all passengers in Indian Railways is an issue of the utmost importance for Government. Therefore, we have made safety the number one priority. During the first few weeks in office there has been a comprehensive review of safety undertaken to understand the short comings of the Indian railways. The outcome of the review brought forth a number of immediate measures that must be taken to address key issues such as Unmanned Level Crossing and Derailments. Here’s how the Government is working towards the welfare and security of every commuter.TRACK SAFETYTrack safety is the number one priority for The Railways. Some of the issues related to unmanned level crossings have been addressed for a safer commute are -34% of all accidents in 2016-17 were a result of unmanned level crossingsUsing transformative mantra of “Speed, Skill and Scale” the target to eliminate these been expedited from the earlier one of 2019Overriding priority for granting maintenance blocks. Blocks in September are up by 13% compared to last yearTrack replacement/renewal to be accorded the highest priorityThe Ministry will procure seven lakh tonne of rail, from open market to meet the shortfall of rail for new lines, gauge conversion and doublingAnother major safety issue hampering the growth of the Indian railways is derailments, due to defects in tracks along with other issues.Derailments are attributed to a number of factors including engineering mistakes, carriage/wagon defects and staff errorIt has therefore been the ministry’s priority to focus on track replacement/renewalThe construction of new tracks should be diverted to places/stretches which are prone to accidents and where replacement is dueAnother priority for the Ministry is the procurement of new rails on a large scale with a target to complete all new lines on time. This is vital to improving safety as older tracks must be phased out to prevent derailments and improve efficiency.HIGHEST PASSENGER PRIORITY WITH LHB COACHESIt is also decided that the manufacturing of conventional ICF design coaches should be stopped & new design LHB coaches only should be manufactured. ICF coaches have been in service for around 50 years now and are considered to be outdated.TRANSFORMING THROUGH TECHNOLOGYThe Government is investing in technology to make sure that the way people commute changes and become more comfortable and safer. Following are some steps we have taken -Ramping up electronic interlock of signals in place of manual interlockingWithin few months, CCTV cameras will be installed in all suburban trains in Mumbai with monitoring mechanism. This shall be done in parallel across India as well.EFFICIENCY IN RAILWAYSWe, at Ministry of Railways, believe that employee efficiency leads to comfortable and safer journey of the commuters. Keeping the same in mind we have made the following changes in the way our employees work.Five-member committee of senior officials of Railways to improve safety of staff and workers working on railway work-sites mainly tracksReport of Mumbai suburban audit covering each suburban station received. Key recommendations include Provision of new FOBs (Foot Over Bridges) and widening/replacement of existing FOBs, escalators, additional entry/exit points of landings etc. Zonal railways preparing action plansFresh time table, which will have specific blocks of maintenance, to be prepared and launched soon. Efficiency gained from this initiative will improve the speed and safety.EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENTEmpowerment of GMs, DRMs and field officials of Indian Railways will lead to fast track decision making, execution and overall working of Railways. Here are some steps we have taken towards steady and systematic transformation of Railways.Delegation of unlimited financial and administrational powers for safety to field unit GMs of zones for next 18 monthsPosts of Additional Divisional Railway Managers being increased in all the railway division offices for improving operational efficiency.200 officers to be relocated from Head Quarters as in field to strengthen ground operations and project implementation.Tremendous stress on field inspections by officersStaff being used in residences of officers etc. has been reposted to departments including track safety. About 8,000 such staff has already rejoined their postsAlong with all the other decisions following are some other steps taken for passenger safety -Treat platforms and pathways on platform as safety items with no budget restrictionPre-painted rails to reduce rusting of rails while saving Rs. 1,500 croresAdditional escalators at all high use stations across IndiaLastly, Indian Railways have striven to establish a ‘zero accident’ railway system, and it has significantly brought down the number of fatalities under this Government. However, every life is precious and each life lost is one too many.We believe that this is just the beginning in changing the mind set regarding safety. It is and will always be our priority, and we are fully committed to making your journey safe and comfortable.

An IES (UPSC ESE) cleared Electrical Engineer is appointed as ADEE (Assistant Divisional Electrical Engineer) and posted in a division or a subdivision of a particular Zonal Railway or a Production Unit/Railway Electrification (RE) Project. He/she has to report primarily to Sr Divisional Electrical Engineer (Sr DEE) of that Division of that Zone or Dy Chief Electrical Engineer (Dy CEE) of a factory of a PU/RE Project. His/her main responsibilities are managing routine & breakdown maintenance of facilities allotted to his charge. Mostly, it comes down to managing the staff under him & materials and other resources and assets for smooth train operations. He/she has to report to Divisional & Zonal HQ regarding progress & status of various work being done. He/she has to sign bills and other paperwork, go on regular various inspections in own jurisdiction or outside when necessary, take technical and financial decisions, contribute as a member of enquiry committees etc. It's a challenging service, but rewarding at the same time.I hope this helps.

Sorry about this but the answer is not as simple as the question and became quite a complex story.The UK invented Postage Stamps, initially by a “Franking” or stamping of the item being delivered to indicate the “Portage” or “Postage” had been paid for. This was a similar idea to that of “Levy”, Duty” or “Tariff” stamping of Import or Export goods.This became the “Penny Post”of 1680 which thrived, and became very profitable, but it only covered Central London and some of the Boroughs. It established the idea of “Post Boxes”, “Collection House” (what we would consider as a local Post Office now), “Sorting Centers” and “Deliveries by route” (up to 10 a day in some areas).The “Penny Post” divided the parts of London serviced into 7 areas, each with its own “Sorting House”, thereby establishing the idea of “Postal Areas”, albeit only from the delivery side.London Penny Post - WikipediaThis private organisation was taken over by the General Post Office in 1682. As an aside this is the first example of “Nationalisation” I have been able to find. If you know of an earlier one, please let me know.Oddly the case against the “Penny Post” is also the first case of a “Monopoly” being challenged, that I can find, as well.In 1835 a Slovene civil servant Lovrenc Košir then suggested the use of "artificially affixed postal tax stamps", but this was not undertaken.Between 1836 and 1837 Sir Rowland Hill studied the various postal systems in use in Europe (he may have been aware of Kosir’s ideas) and suggested the use of a pre printed, pre stamped gummed “Paper Stamp”. This was introduced in 1840 with the “Penny Black”which, on a dark (variegated black) back ground contained at the top the word “postage”, in the middle a left facing side portrait of Queen Victoria and at the bottom the words “One Penny”. This was the first “Stamp” to enter common usage. The Stamps were “cancelled” by the “Post Office”, which had been around since 1660, by using a stamp or Frank over the Stamp.Postage stamp - WikipediaGeneral Post Office - WikipediaAs far as I am aware the “Stamps” issued by the UK are the only ones that do not bear the name of their country of origin.On really odd thing about UK Postage Stamps is that they became, by accident, a de-facto currency. They could, and were, exchanged for goods. Even when I was young I could send a particular denomination of stamp to, say a comic publisher, and receive a poster or some other childish tat, but we all loved it. I don’t know how it worked, if this still exists, or if other countries used it or if it was legal. Never looked into it.So how does this Tie in to the Post Codes.UKWell the original 7 postal districts of London (UK) were expanded upon in 1856 to further segregate The London Postal District. This subdivision of London has continued, and expanded, since then.London postal district - WikipediaA National Scheme was introduced in 1959 and was completed in 1974.Postcodes in the United Kingdom - WikipediaStrangely, if you look at the UK National map you will see that it covers ALL of the UK landmass. this means that, in theory, even completely barren and undeveloped land has its own, unique, post code, even if not yet allocated.Now if you take a look at how the Post Code is generated you will see that it is City centric (The main sorting offices tend to be in large urban environments). This is similar to the contractions the US Postal Service uses for State Names.List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom - WikipediaList of U.S. state abbreviations - WikipediaFor instance the contraction for the District of Columbia is DC and the contraction for York (UK) is YO. London alone does not have a contraction as it is covered by many different post codes such as SW1 (South West One).As the UK is quite a small and compact country this form of “Coding” is simple, direct and give a geographical indicator at the same time.USAThe USA is over 40 times the size of the UK and has over 5 times the population.Could an “Alpha/Numeric” (AN) system work?Well lets look at “New York” as an example. A city of over 8.5 million with about 5 million individual postal addresses. That’s on a par with London where the UK Post Code System is subdivided into areas such as SW1, etc. So if it does not work in London I cannot see it working in NYC.So could it be subdivided by Borough, Manhattan (MN), Bronx(BX), Staten Island(SI), Queens(QN) and Brooklyn(BN). (My abbreviations, never seen this suggested as a solution). Well 4 of the 5 Boroughs are larger than the 2nd largest city in the UK with the 5th about the size of Liverpool in the UK.Well this could work, say a fictitious address in Brooklyn, 1 Work street (guess at post code NY - NYC - BN01 4WS), cumbersome, even ridiculous as there will be Political interference for the allocation of 2 letter prefixes. I had a quick look at the problem and i recon it would need a state Prefix and at Least a four letter prefix.So, no I don’t think the USA could adopt a UK style Post Code system as it would be horrendously cumbersome (As well as politically unacceptable?).When, in 1963, The US Postal Service (USPS) introduced the “Zone Improvement Plan” codes (ZIP codes), and updated it in 1983. They probably had their own “Rowland Hill” doing research into systems (Or knowing the US way of doing things. A committee of 15 with 2500 staff reporting to another committee of 15, who fudged it, messed about with it and generally did what committees do, then submitted a proposal for a system). It seems to have taken from 1944 to 1963 for a system to be agreed so I may not be as far off as I hoped.(Sorry for knocking the USA regarding committees, they exist the World over, and have been a major annoyance to me over the years. To me committees are a self serving, self indulgent pariah on business and Government and anyone wanting to serve on one should immediately dismissed from their post and detained for psychological evaluation. I have no faith in psychiatry either, so perhaps the evaluation could be carried out on a remote, uninhabited island somewhere off Alaska)Sorry about that RANT but where ever you see a statement “A Committee has/will/may be formed to evaluate/deal/consider with any matter” you are seeing Political double speak for “We don’t know and don’t want to carry the blame”People make decisions, not committees.So anyway, back to ZIP codes.The 5+4 ZIP Code system works for the USA at present but there have already been proposals for a 12 digit system which, I think, will designate every 10metre x 10metre geographical point in the USA.ZIP Code - WikipediaWell, finally, why does the UK not adopt a USA style ZIP Code. It is really quite straight forward, why change something that works, and has done for 150 years.