A HAND BOOK

ON
ADVANCE COMMERCIAL

COMPILEDBY:

ZONAL RAILWAY TRAINING INSTITUTE, ALIPURDUAR JUNCTION

NORTHEAST FRONTIER RAILWAY

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 PASSENGER AMENITIES

Meaning of Amenities:-

The facilities granted to the passengers before commencement of

journey, during journey and completion of journey is called passenger
amenities. It is granted at stations and on trains.
Amenities are three kinds- 1) Basic (minimum) Amenities 2) Other /
special Amenities 3) Desirable Amenities
Basic amenities are those, which must be available and common to all
stations.

Necessity of amenities:-
The services we render to the public are only to –
 Capture Traffic
 Increase the earnings
 Develop the image of the Railway.
 Offer comport to the public while using the service
 Above all, a good public relation

Amenities at stations:-
Railway Board vide their letter No. 94/LMB/2/175 dated 15-02-2007
have classified the passenger amenities in three categories –
1) Basic (minimum) Amenities 2) Recommended Amenities and 3)
Desirable Amenities -
Based on these stations have been categorized in A1, A, B, C, D, E
and F depending upon the earnings as per prescribed norms.
The categorization shall be reviewed every five years. Present
category is based on the earnings of 2006-07 (valid upto 2012).

Criteria for categorization:-

Annexure-A
Annual Passenger Earnings from reserved and unreserved passengers
based on the figure of 2006 – 07
SL Category Criteria
.
No
.
1. Category Non-suburban stations with an annual passenger earnings
A1 of more than 50 crore.

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2. Category Non-suburban stations with an annual passenger earnings
A of Rs. 6 crore and
upto 50 crore per year.
3. Category i) Non- suburban stations with an annual earnings between
B Rs. 3 to Rs. 6 crore.
4. Category ii) Stations of tourists’ importance or an important Junction
B station, to be decided
by the General Manager.
5. Category All suburban stations.
C
6. Category All non-suburban stations with an annual earnings between
D Rs.50 lakhs <3 crore.
7. Category All non-suburban stations with annual passenger earnings
E less than Rs. 50 lakhs.
8. Category All Halt stations.
F

Provision of amenities:-
Minimum Essential Amenities:-

When a station is constructed, certain minimum amenities are

provided at each category of station previously known as basic amenities or
infrastructural facilities. Scale of MEA has been prescribed and it is to be
ensured as per prescribed scales at all the stations.

Recommended Amenities:-
Once the minimum amenities are provided, further augmentation of
amenities as per scale under this category shall be provided. The norms are
recommendatory and efforts should be made to provide these. Nmax used
for amenities at the recommended level refers to the average number of
passengers at any time during peak hour including the inward and outward
passengers but not mela traffic.

Desirable Amenities:-
These are considered desirable to improve customer satisfaction and
interface process at the station. The quantum of these amenities would
depend on the category of the stations. DA need not wait for complete
provision of the RA and would be provided based on the need and relative
importance of the stations.

Other important aspects:-

a) All toilets should be converted into pay and use system.
b) All the signages at the station should be standardized.
c) Plan for location of signages.
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d) All stalls should be made modular to reduce their size. To make the
station cooking free and less number of trolleys.
e) Basin-marries should be provided at A & B stations.
f) Improvement of the circulating area.
g) AVM to replace existing vending stalls.
h) The Enquiry and Booking office should be brightened up at all stations.
i) Illuminations should be improved positively.
j) All stations irrespective of their class should be sealed from all directions
so that there is specific exit and entry and incidence of unauthorized
entries to avoid unnecessary pressure on the amenities.

Maintenance of amenities to Passengers:-

 All amenities must be maintained.
 Hygiene and cleanliness shall be regularly monitored.
 For petty repair works imprest must be available
 Defects should not be compromised with shortage of fund.
 Hand pumps , taps, water trolleys, clocks, light/fans, urinal/latrine
and furniture at the station shall be repaired immediately.

ANNEXURE- B

SL STATION CATEGORY
. Amenities A1 A B C D E F
No
1. Booking
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Facility
2. Drinking
water.
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Piped/Hand
pump
3. Waiting Hall Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
4. Seating
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -
arrangement
5. Platform
shelter, shady Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
trees
6. Urinals Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -
7. Latrines Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -
Platforms - - - - - - - -
High Level - Yes Yes - Yes - - -
8.
Medium level - - - Yes - Yes - -
Rail level - - - - - - Yes Yes
9. Lighting # Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes@
10. Fans Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -
11. Foot over Yes* Yes* Yes Yes - - -
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 bridge
12. Time Table
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Display
13. Clock Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
14. Water cooler Yes Yes Yes Yes - - -

15. Public Address

system/Compu
Yes Yes Yes - - - -
ter based
announcement
16. Parking-cum-
circulatory
Yes Yes - - - - -
area, with
lights
17. Electronic
Train Yes*
Yes - - - - -
indicator *
board
18. Public Phone
Yes Yes - - - - -
booth
19. Signage
Yes - - - - - -
(standardised)
* With Cover
** At station entrance/concourse, on foot over bridges (at landing locations)
and on platforms located appropriately to guide passengers at every stage.
# Stations may be electrified as per provision of Board’s circular No.
95/Elec(G)/109/1 dt. 1.2.95.
@ Where train stops at night.

NORMS FOR QUANTUM OF MINIMUM ESSENTIAL AMENITIES

AT VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF STATIONS
Annexure-C

Sl. STATION CATEGORY

No Amenity A1 A B C D E F
.
1. Booking
Facility & (No. 15 10 6 4 4 2 1
of Counters)
2. Drinking 12 12 12 6 6 1 1 HP
water* (No. of taps taps taps taps taps tap/ at
Taps) on on on on on HP statio
each each each each each on n
PF PF PF PF PF each
PF
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3. Waiting Hall 150 100 50 0 30 15 10
@ sqm sqm sqm sqm sqm sqm
booki
ng
office
cum
Wtg.
Hall
4. Seating
arrangement
125 100 75 10 50 10 -
(No. of
seats/PF)
5. Platform Shad Shad
500 400 200 200 50
shelter (on y y
sqm sqm sqm sqm sqm
each PF) trees trees
6. Urinals # 12 10 6 4 4 1 -
7. Latrines # 12 10 6 2 4 1 -
8. Platforms *** As in Annexure B
9. Lighting (Lux 50## 50## 30## 20 20 20 -
Level)
10. Fans ** As given below
11. Foot over Minimum 1 FOB per station, as per Annexure B
bridge
12. Time Table
As per extent instructions
display
13. Clock To be decided by Zonal Railways
14. Water Cooler 1 on 1 on 1 on 1 on
each each each each - - -
PF PF PF PF
15. PA
system/Compu
As per extent instructions.
ter based
announcement
16. Parking cum
circulatory
As per extent instructions.
area, with
lights.
17. Electronic
train indicator As per extent instructions.
board
18. Public phone
As per extent instructions.
booth
19. Signage
As per extent instructions.
(standardized)

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 At stations falling in water scarcity zones or, where water source
dries up in summer, drinking water facility should be ensured at every
platform by means of syntax tanks/Cans/Matkas/Piaos etc as decided by
GM of the Railway. At less important stations, particularly those falling
under category E & F one water supply source at a location convenient to
passengers may be provided Drinking water facility would include all
necessary units whether donated by private parties or provided by the
Railways themselves.
@ If the variation is marginally on the lower side (upto – 5 sq mtr), then it
can be taken to be adequately provided.
# 1. Number of latrines/urinals includes provision in Waiting room/Halls.
One third of the toilet may be reserved for ladies. In case of two toilets
existing, one each should be earmarked for ladies and gents.
2. Number of latrines/urinals can be reduced in water scarcity areas by the
Railway with the approval of GM.
3. Includes Pay & Use toilets in terms of Board’s letter No.
05/TGIV/10/SAN/32/Pay & Use policy. dt.: 07.06.06.
$ At A1, A,B,C & D category of stations, the booking counters to operate
round the clock except at stations where there is no night working.
## Excluding outdoor car parking for which it will be 20 lux.
** For covered platforms having width of 6-9 metres, one row of fans should
be provided @ one fan in the centre of supporting columns. For covered
platforms with more than 9 metres width, fans should be provided in 2
rows.
*** (a) On all new lines, gauge conversion and doubling projects, minimum
level of platforms shall be medium level (Board’s letter No. 2003/LMB/14/29
dt: 26.4.2005).
(b) Wherever platform height gets reduced on account of track works, the
same should be restored (Board’s letter No. 2003/LMB/14/29 dt: 03.2.2005).
(c) Platform should be high level, irrespective of category wherever EMU
trains are dealt with (Board’s letter No. 2006/LMB/2/121 dt: 11.8.2006)
Note: (1) At stations where only one ASM is posted, only one booking
window will be provided. In respect of ‘E’ category stations, where the
earning is less than 20 Lakhs per annum, the quantum of amenities to be
provided could be decided by the GM based on actual requirements.
(2) Scale of all the amenities prescribed above are the bare minimum to be
provided at the appropriate class of stations. Amenities over and above the
prescribed minimum scales will continue to be provided as per norms for
provision of amenities at “Recommended level”.

NORM’S FOR RECOMMENDED LEVEL OF AMENITIES AT

VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF STATIONS

Nmax= Average number of passenger at any time during peak including

the inward and

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 outward passenger (excluding mela traffic)
Ndb = Design figure for number of passenger for ‘A’ & ‘B’ stations to be
calculated as
Ndb = 0.3(Nmax)
Nds = Design figure for number of passenger for ‘C’, ‘D’ ‘E’ stations to
be calculated
as Nds = 0.45 (Nmax).
Annexure-D

Sl. Amenities Recommended scale for provision

No. Cat. A1, A & B Other stations
1. Booking Facility 1 (One) Window per 800 tickets per shift
(No. of counters) (shift with maximum number of tickets
sold should be taken)
2. Drinking water (No. No. of
of taps) taps=Nmax/25.
Taps should be
distributed so that No. of taps = Nmax/25.
every alternate
coach gets benefit
of a tap.
3. Waiting Hall 1.394 Nds sqm
1.394 Ndb sqm.
(excluding C)
4. Seating
arrangement (No. of 0.4 Ndb 0.4 Nds
seats)
5. Platform shelter*
0.28 Nmax 0.28 Nmax
(on each platform)
6. Urinals# Ndb/200 Nds/200
7. Latrines# Ndb/200 Nds/200
8. Platform level To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
9. Lighting Norms indicated in note below.
10. Fans** As given below.
11. Foot over-bridge To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
12. Time table display To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
13. Clock To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
14. Water coolers To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
15. Public Address
System/computer
To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
based
announcement.
16. Parking-cum-
circulatory area, To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
with lights.
17. Electronic train To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
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 indicator board
18. Public phone booth To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
19. Signage
To be decided by the Zonal Railways.
(standardized)

* At important A1 & A category and suburban stations, efforts should be to

cover the entire platform.
** For covered platforms having width of 6-9 meters, one row of fans should
be provided @ 1 fan in the centre of supporting columns. For covered
platforms with more than 9 meters width, fans should be provided in 2
rows.
# 1/3rd of urinals/latrines be reserved for ladies.
Note: (a) Norms for recommended level of illumination at various
categories of stations are as follows (Reference Board’s circular No.
2005/Elec(G)/150/1 dt: 28.02.2006).

Sl. Proposed lux level for Category

Area
No. I/II/III stations
1. Station circulating area 50/30/20
Outdoor car parking 20/20/20
2. Station concourse area 100/100/100
3. Booking office, 200(localized above counter) & 100 in
Reservation office, remaining areas for Category I, II,
Enquiry office. III stations.
4. Parcel & luggage office
150/150/150 ; 150/150/150
counter
5. Platform covered open
50/30/20
area
6. Waiting halls/rooms 100/100/100
7. Retiring rooms 100/100/100
8. Restaurant & Kitchen in
general building area –
i) Restaurant area 150/150/150
ii) Kitchen 100/100/100
iii)Stores 100/100/100
9. Foot overbridge 50/30/20
10. Other service buildings
200 for SM’s office for Category I, II,
inside Railway station
III stations.
area

Category (I) – Stations on Zonal railway HQ’s/State capitals and all A1 &
A category stations.
Category (II) – Stations on Rlys. Divisional Hq./State Distt. HQs & all B
category stations.
Category (III) – Stations in remaining categories.
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 (b) Emergency lighting to be provided as per Board’s letter No-.
2004/Elect-I/109/1 Pt. Dt: 20.02.2006.

NORM’S FOR DESIRABLE LEVEL OF AMENITIES AT VARIOUS

CATEGORIES OF STATIONS
Annexure-E

SL
.N Amenities STATION CATEGORY
o.
A-1 A B C D E F
1. Retiring room Yes1 Yes Yes - Yes - -
Waiting room
(with bathing
Yes1 Yes - - - - -
facilities) Upper
Class
2.
2nd Class Yes1 Yes Yes - Yes - -
Separate for
ladies (combined Yes1 Yes - - - - -
upper & 2nd class)
3. Cloak room Yes Yes Yes - - - -
4. Enquiry counter Yes Yes Yes - - - -
5. NTES Yes Yes - - - - -
6. IVRS Yes Yes Yes - - - -
7. P.A. System /
Computer based Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - -
announcement
8. Book Stalls/Other
stalls of essential Yes2 Yes Yes Yes Yes - -
goods
9. Refreshment room Yes Yes Yes - - - -
10. Parking/Circulato
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - -
ry area with lights
11. Washable apron
Yes Yes Yes - - - -
with jet cleaning#
12. Electronic train
Yes Yes Yes Yes - - -
indicator board
13. Public phone Ye
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -
booth s
14. Touch screen Yes*
Yes - - - - -
enquiry system *
15. Water vending Yes* Yes*
Yes - - - -
machines * *
16. Water coolers Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - -
17. Signage Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - -
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 (standardized)
18. Modular catering
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - -
stalls*
19. Automatic Yes* Yes* Yes
Yes - - -
vending machine * * **
20. Pay & Use toilets
on Platform & Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - -
circulatory area
21. UTS Ye
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -
s
22. Computerization Yes*
Yes - - - - -
of complaints *
23. Provision of cyber
Yes3 - - - - - -
café
24. Provision of ATMs
Yes* Ye
(preferably with Yes Yes Yes Yes -
* s**
ticketing facility)
25. Provision of at
least one AC VIP Yes - - - - - -
lounge
26. Food Plaza Yes - - - - - -
27. Train Coach
Yes - - - - - -
indication system
28. CCTV for
announcement & Yes - - - - - -
security purpose
29. Coin operated
ticket vending Yes - - - - - -
machines
30. Pre-paid Taxi
Yes4 - - - - - -
service
31. Static mobile
Yes - - - - - -
charging facility
32. Facelift of station
building including Yes5 - - - - - -
facade

Yes (in italics): Also prescribed as Minimum Essential Amenity under

Annexure B.
# Washable aprons should be provided in planned manner to cover
stations/platforms from where trains terminate/originate or stop for longer
duration in the morning hours. However, A1 category stations, these shall
be provided on all platforms.
* In end platforms, all stalls should be embedded in walls.
** Optional Items.
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Numbered subscripts for A1 category:
1. Upgradation to be taken up preferably under public-private
partnership schemes.
2. Should provide for minimum essential medicines.
3. Subject to availability of space.
4. Subject to availability/clearance from local authorities.
5. Facelift including improvement of façade of station building, wherever
required, duly incorporating local and architectural features, along
with ornamental lighting in historical/heritage structures suitably.

RESERVATION OF SPECIAL TRAIN

Introduction :- The objectives of reservation of special train are to –

 Clear the wait-listed passengers, extra rush or meet the fair and festival
crisis at public interest;
 Response to the request of Chartered trains sponsored by IRCTC to
promote tourism;
 Response to specific request as per scheduled programme of a Special or
FTR train.

Procedure of reservation (FTR trains)

General conditions :-
 A special train shall run with a minimum of 18 coaches.
 While applying for reservation of a special train a registration-cum-
security deposit of Rs. 50,000 for 7 days and thereafter Rs. 10000 per day
per coach is to be deposited at the station from where journey is to
commence.
 50 % of the fare is adjustable with the deposit.
 The security deposit is refundable after adjusting any other amount
required to be deducted after completion of the tour.
Application
 The organizer of the tour shall apply to Chief Passenger Transportation
Manager through the SM of the station from where journey is to
commence with details of journey.
 Such application must not be preferred for not less than 30 days in
advance and not more than 6 months prior to commencement of journey.
Minimum distance and Charges
 The minimum distance for FTR trains is 500 kms with minimum 18
coaches.
 The minimum distance for Chartered Rajdhani type train with entire AC
coaches is 500 kms with 15 coaches.

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 The minimum distance for charge by Chartered Satabdi type train is 200
kms with a minimum 10 coaches.
 Over hill section, the minimum distance shall be for 200 kms at the rate
of inflated distance. The permissible load is as allowed for the section

Computation of charges
 For special train charges shall be computed point-to-point basis.
 Full fare by mail/express train is calculated for the actual number of
passengers traveling or the marked carrying capacity of the coaches
whichever is higher.
 A service charge of 20% of the fare is leviable.
 For carriage of extra passengers charges are realized prorata under
previous arrangement. If found without ticket fare shall be calculated
and charged on pro rata plus penalty charges.
 No concession is allowed for journey by special train.
 All charges are to be paid in full 48 hours in advance of the departure of
the train, otherwise it will be treated as countermanded and the security
money deposited earlier is forfeited.
Extra Haulage Charges
A prescribed haulage charge at the rate of 200 kms is chargeable
irrespective of whether the coaches are required to be brought from the
base depot/station or available in the same station at the following rate in
one direction only –
 Rs. 16.00 per A.C Coach per kilometer.
 Rs. 14.00 per partial coach per kilometer.
 Rs. 12.00 per Non-AC Coach.
Carriage of luggage
 Normal free allowance is admissible per passenger.
 Extra luggage, if any, may be booked for carriage in brake van.
 If SLR is used, passenger portion is charged for actual passengers
traveling or the CC whichever is higher.
 Luggage portion will be charged at the prescribed rate, if the same is
used other wise the portion shall be locked.
Identity token
 Each member is provided with Identity token by the organizer duly
stamped and countersigned by the Station Master of the booking station.
 This is an authority of movement in and outside the platform at the
intermediate station.
Dinning car/ Pantry car/ Kitchen car/ Generator car charges
 Charges is made at the rate of Rs. 45 per kilometer on BG, Rs. 41 per
kilometer on MG. In addition to this sleeper class mail/express fare for
the actual number of passengers or the carrying capacity which ever is
more is charged plus 15% service charge.
Charges for VPU when attached
 Charges is made at the normal rate for its carrying capacity.

13
  When used as dinning car permission is obtained from CPTM.
Detention charges
If the train is detained beyond the scheduled a prescribed detention charge
is leviable at the following rate: -

Type of Coach BG MG
AC Coach per hour or part of an hour 221 182
Partial AC Coach ,, ,, ,, 163 130
Non- AC Coach ,, ,, ,, 130 104
Minimum Charge ,, ,, ,, 600 600

Cancellation charge
If the requisition for a special train is cancelled –
 2 days in advance of the scheduled day of departure of the train or
earlier – 10% of the Registration money is forfeited.
 1 day in advance and upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the
train – 25% of the Registration money is forfeited.
 With in 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train or
afterwards – 50% the fare is refunded.
Folder
 The organizer of the tour is handed over a folder in a prescribed form.
All relevant particulars are to be obtained from the concerned Station
Master/ Guard with station stamp at each halt. It may be taken in to
account that free halt for 20 minutes per 1000 kilometer is allowed if the
organizer gives in writing.
 The folder is to be submitted to the Station Master of the originating
station with in 15 days of completion of the tour.
 Refund shall be made after deducting the dues of the railway, if any.
(The same rules shall be applicable to KISHAN SPECIAL & INDUSTRIAL
WORKERS special)

Running of Special Train by IRCTC

 Instead of depositing Registration fee- cum – security money again and
again for individual train, a Lumpsum deposit can be made for an
amount of Rs. 15 lakhs with a validity for one year.
 A cash receipt is used.
 At the end of the year the cash is either refunded or renewed for the next
year.
 No part of the amount is adjusted with the fare.
 Normally, the registration money is Rs. 5000 per coach.
 Train composition shall be for a minimum of 10 coaches.
 A service charge @ 15% is to be paid.
Circus Special
 A deposit f Rs. 30000/- per trip is to be deposited.
 Out of this Rs. 30000/- Rs. 20,000 is adjusted with the fare.
14
 Balance amount is refundable after adjusting charges, if any, on
completion of the tour
 However, luggage and property alongwith property with the animals are
booked at the prescribed rate.
 The service charge of 15% is not realized in case of circus special.

REFUND RULES OF PASSENGER FARES

DEFINITIONS :-

Clerkage: means a charge levied by a railway administration for the

clerical work rendered by it in the refund of fares.
Destination station: means the station for which the ticket has been
issued.
RAC ticket: means a ticket on which seat has been reserved against the
demand for a berth likely to be provided on subsequent cancellation.
Fare: includes basic fare, supplementary charges and reservation fee
including safety surcharge.
Reserved ticket: means a journey ticket on which a berth or seat has been
reserved.
Reservation fee: means the charge, in addition to fare, levied for the
reservation of seat or berth.
Station: means a railway station and includes other reservation offices or
booking offices in the same city.
Station Master: means a railway employee, by whatever name called
overall charge of a railway station and includes any other railway employee
authorized to grant refund of fare at a station.
Ticket means a single journey ticket or a return journey ticket or a special
ticket for a reserved carriage or a tourist car or saloon or a special train.
Levy of clerkage charge: Station Master may levy a clerkage charge of
rupees 10/- per passenger for cancellation of unreserved, wait-listed and
RAC tickets.

NORMAL REFUND RULES

TICKET TIME DISTANCE CLERKAGE

CHARGE PER
PASSENGER ON
A TICKET
3 hours after the ______
Unreserved actual departure of Rs. 10/-
the train
3 hours after the
RAC/WL Upto 200 KM Rs. 20/-
actual departure of

15
 the train
6 hours after the More than 200
RAC/WL actual departure of KM & upto Rs. 20/-
the train 500 KM
12 hours after the
More than 500
RAC/WL actual departure of Rs. 20/-
KM
the train

RESERVED TICKET
CLERKAGE CHARGE
CLASS TIME PER PASSENGER ON
A TICKET
AC 1ST CLASS Rs. 70/-
1ST CLASS, AC
More than 24 hours
2TIER , AC 3TIER & Rs. 60/-
in advance before the
AC CHAIR CAR
schedule departure
SLEEPER
of the train Rs. 40/-
CLASS
2ND CLASS Rs. 20/-

 Within 24 hours and upto 4 hours before the schedule departure of

the train 25% of the total fare subject to minimum flat rate per
passenger as per above chart.

 Within 4 hours of schedule departure of the train and upto :-

TIME DISTANCE CHARGE

3 hours after
actual departure Upto 200 KM 50% of the total fare
of the train
6 hours after
More than 200 KM
actual departure 50% of the total fare
& upto 500 KM
of the train
12 hours after
actual departure More than 500 KM 50% of the total fare
of the train

REFUND ON TICKETS IN OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES

 For night trains between 21 hours to 6 hours, refund is admissible in

the same rate within the prescribed time limit or within 4 hours after
opening of the reservation office on the next day whichever is later.
 If group ticket having some confirmed and some W/L, is cancelled
within 4 hours before scheduled departure and up to 3 hours after
16
 actual departure – clerkage charge @ Rs 20.00 is deducted from all
passengers including confirmed passengers also.
 No refund shall be granted at stations after the expiry of the
prescribed time limit.
Refund on multiple Journey Ticket: - If ticket on which outward journey
is confirmed but onward journey is not confirmed or vice versa, is cancelled,
cancellation/clerkage charge, as the case may be, will be deducted from the
total fare according to the reservation status of first lap of journey. (Example:
-suppose a ticket From- Guwahati, To-Chennai, reservation by Kamrup Exp
from Guwahati to Howrah and by Chennai Exp from Howrah to Chennai.
Here outward journey from Guwahati is confirmed but onward journey from
Howrah in RAC/Wait listed or vice versa.)

Non-commencement of journey due to late running of trains: -

In case of late running of train by more than 3 hours, full fare is
refunded to reserved, RAC, W/L tickets, if cancelled before actual
departure of the train and even after 3 hours after actual departure of
the train when distance of the ticket is up to 200 km.
6 hours after actual departure of the train when distance of the ticket
is more than 200 km and up to 500 km.
12 hours after actual departure of the train when distance of the
ticket is more than 500 km.

If passenger misses connective train from any junction point, with or

without reservation, fare for un-traveled portion is refunded by deducting
fare of traveled portion, if cancelled within 3 hours after actual arrival.

Failure of the Railway administration to provide accommodation: -

If the Railway cannot provide accommodation against reserved ticket, full
fare is refunded, if the ticket is cancelled within 3 hours after actual
departure of the train.
Discontinuation of journey due to dislocation of train services:
$ In case of dislocation of train service due to flood, breach, accident
etc. when the Railway cannot make alternate arrangement within a
reasonable time, full fare for the entire booked journey is refunded, if the
ticket is cancelled within 3 days.
$ Or if passenger in this case wants to return back to his originating
Station, he will receive a free EFT on surrendering the ticket, he will not be
permitted to avail break of journey en-route.
$ If train running is dislocated and alternate arrangement is made
but the passenger refuses to avail of the same refund for the untravelled
portion shall be refunded after retaining fare for the traveled portion from
the total fare from the total fare.

17
$ Where the train journey is dislocated enroute due to bandhs,
agitations or rail roko fare for the untravelled portion shall be refunded
retaining the fare for the traveled portion.
$ If the trains, for which separate fare structure on point to point
basis exists, are terminated at a non – scheduled stoppage of the train and
the passenger is not wiling to avail of the alternative arrangement made by
the Railway administration to carry the passenger to his destination
station, fare for the distance traveled shall be retained based on the per
kilometer fare of ticket and balance refunded as the fare for the untravelled
portion of journey.
$ If the decision of dislocation of train services enroute has been
announced before the departure of the train from the train starting
station and the passenger wants to travel by the same train holding ticket
for the destination, fare for the traveled portion shall be retained and
balance fare refunded as the fare for the untravelled portion of journey.

Failure of A/C equipments enroute: -In case of failure of A.C.

equipment en route, difference of fare as under is refunded, if the ticket is
surrendered at the destination within 20 hours after arrival at
destination with a certificate from the Guard/Conductor: -
a. In case of A.C. 1st – difference between A.C. 1st class and 1st class.
b. In case of A.C. 2TR/3TR difference between A.C. 2/3 TR and sleeper
class.
c. In case of A.C. Chair Car difference between A.C. Chair car and 2nd
class (M/E).

In case of ticket issued for journey from some other station, refund
shall be granted at ticket issuing station, if cancelled before the scheduled
departure of the train from the station wherefrom the ticket is valid.
Refund for unused reserved/RAC/WL ticket may be made from the station
other than ticket issuing or journey commencing station, if genuineness of
the ticket can be verified and the ticket is presented before preparation of
the chart at the station from where the ticket is valid, usual cancellation
charge due as per rule will be levied in this case.

If lesser number of passengers travel against group ticket, guards

certificate will be issued for passengers not travelling and refund will be
arranged as per rule for the passengers not travelling from the CCM.

Refund on Combined Ticket

In a reserved ticket some passengers are waitlisted and others
confirmed are cancelled are cancelled within 4 hrs. of the scheduled
departure of the train and up to 3 hrs. after the actual departure of the
train full refund will be given to the confirmed passengers as well as the

18
waitlisted passengers. Only clerkage charge of Rs. 10 per passenger will be
realized.
If less number of persons are traveling on a combined ticket than
originally booked, refund of fare for the persons not traveling will be made
by collecting the original ticket at the station and a free EFT issued. If the
surrender is not possible, the same may be done by issuing a certificate to
this effect.

Refund for Cancellation of Journey-Altered Ticket

If journey has been either advanced or postponed, upgraded from a
lower class to a higher class or changed to another train and later on
cancelled, refund will be granted after retaining two sets of cancellation
charges as —
 Treating the journey alteration as a fresh cancellation
 Treating the altered reservation as a fresh reservation

Refund on Lost/ Mutilated Tickets

 No refund is permissible.
 Refund on torn or mutilated ticket is admissible after deduction of due
cancellation charge if the authenticity of the ticket can be verified.
Duplicate ticket may be issued in the following ways —

If notified before preparation of final chart

 Extra Rs. 20/- will be realised and duplicate ticket will be made on
lost/misplaced/torn/mutilated ticket for RAC and Confirmed ticket

If notified after preparation of final chart

 50% of the total fare in case of lost reserved ticket
 No duplicate ticket in case of lost RAC ticket
 25% of the total fare in case of mutilated/torn Reserved/RAC ticket
No duplicate ticket in case of lost/mutilated ticket

Statutory obligations of Railway towards passengers

Introduction
 Indian Railways being the largest transport organization is committed to
ensure ease and safe journey.
 That they do not feel inconvenienced or harassed.
 IR evolves ways and means to give best possible services.

Administrative Obligation
 Exhibition of certain timings and fare tables at station under the
provision.
 Supply of tickets on payment of fare.
 Refund of fare when accommodation is not available.

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 Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare.
 To restrict sell or transfer of ticket.
 To provide means of communication between passenger and in charge of
the train.
 To ensure safety,
 To ensure security of life and property.
 Punctuality in service.
 Good and courteous behavior.
 Amenities.
 Reasonable fare and freight.
 No undue preference to traffic.
 Entertainment.
 Assistance during accidents etc.
 Payment of Claims for compensation.
 Alternative arrangement of services in case of train dislocation.

USERS OBLIGATION

It is also expected that the passengers extend co-operation by way of —

 Paying fare for tickets.
 Discouraging sell or transfer of ticket.
 Presenting tickets for the purpose of examination .
 Surrendering tickets on completion of journey.
 Not entering into the platform without any valid authority unless so
permitted.
 Not traveling with infectious disease.
 Exhibiting good behaviour.
 Not interfering with the means of communication.
 Restricting them from consuming alcohol.
In addition to the above it is also expected that no passenger shall
create nuisance, obstruct a railway servant in his duty, trespass
make any false statement, damage any railway property, hurt any
passenger, endanger safety enter into female compartment, travel
on roof etc.

COMMERCIAL ADVRTISEMENT AT STATIONS

Introduction
Commercial advertisement at stations is a non-conventional source of
railway revenue. The main objective of the policy is to improve earnings
from commercial publicity. For this purpose the Zonal Railway should
prepare detailed action plan based on broad policy framework.

Identification of the Areas

 Advertise at stations

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  Advertisement at approaches of major stations
 Advertisement at level crossing gates
 Advertisement on freight wagons
 Publicity in trains
 Other areas like newspaper, magazine etc. with open offer in order to
get the best bid

Framing of proposals at Stations

 A Master Plan should be developed for all stations. The basic attempt
should be for bulk contract or giving sole advertisement rights for
putting advertisements at agreed locations. Where the station is too
long, it can be segmented in four to five parts.
 A field site plan should be prepared jointly by the Commercial
Officers and Engineering Officers. The hoardings should not interfere
with visibility of railway signages and should not adversely affect any
of existing facilities.
 The colour scheme, size and space should be indicated to improve the
aesthetics at stations.
 The new areas such as touch screen terminals, LCD projected boards
and also scroll type of advertisements and unipoles should be
permitted.
 Circulating area may be permitted.
 Signages may also be permitted.
 Modular stalls can also be obtained for commercial publicity.

Trains
 Advertisement on inside the doors, on trays, uniforms of bearers and
also advertisement rights for the sole supply of beverages by Rajdhani
and Shatabdi Express trains.
 For rakes entire outside may be permitted.
 Specified areas may be earmarked for publicity for wagons.
 Level crossings and approaches to major stations can be permitted for
the purpose.
 General
 The combined process of open tender for sole advertisement rights
and also scheduled advertisement may be permitted.
 Rates for the purpose may be revised periodically. Escalation clause of
10% percent should be built in every year in the agreement.
 The screening of the tender should be done by a committee of
Commercial, Engineering and Finance departments.
 Since these are revenue contract, the process of finalization of tenders
should be done with in 45 days.
 The period of agreement should be three to five years.
 The basic objective is to optimize earnings.

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  Proper revenue accountal should be kept in the register maintained
for the purpose.
 Division-wise target should be fixed by each railway and monthly
statement sent to the Board.
 In commercial publicity earnings, total earnings should be computed
separately for free signages, free stalls etc. provided for party and for
money received as publicity fee.
 If felt at a particular location to augment new ideas and innovations,
the Railways can suomotto call for offer for new concepts/ideas by an
open offer after giving the broad needs. Thereafter the concept/ideas
of parties could be examine and those found feasible could be accepted
for financial appraisal.

Commercial Publicity on Coaches

 For commercial publicity on coaches, trains have been classified as –
 Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express trains;
 Long distance Mail /Express Trains;
 Passenger trains;
 Suburban Trains;
 Publicity by Rajdhani /Shatabdi , Mail/Express and Passenger Trains
–

 The advertisement will be displayed at specific locations on boards of

approved size in the form of aesthetic scenery. Advertiser’s message
will be at the bottom strip of 100mm/50mm as per sketches.
 Advertisement panel will be provided inside picture frame of
prescribed design. No advertisement will be pasted/painted directly
on the coach walls.
 The panels will be protected from outside be clear Perspex sheet of
3mm thickness mounted on the frame for easy replacement as and
when necessary.
 This is subject to repairs and maintenance and the date of expiry
should be written therein. If any coach is damaged, the advertisement
may be replaced to the replaced coach.
 Necessary design, size and location for all trains shall be complied
with the design of RDSO.
 The interior or exterior may be permitted for suburban train (EMU
and DMU)

Advertisement in Railway Website

Introduction: - IR have generated two website at the national level. These

are –www.indianrailways.gov.in and www.indiarail.gov.in. The first
one gives the general overview of the IR and the second gives the online
reservation status and availability of reservation in train. In addition, some

22
other features like Tele-booking, Fare enquiry and train enquiries for
various destinations, have been provided. Some zonal Railways, similarly,
have launched their own websites
For attracting advertisement for IR site and generating revenue, schedule
of rates should be fixed by a committee of Manager, Database, Dy. CSTE &
Dy. FA in each zonal Railways. For national websites, these charges will be
fixed by callinf of open offers by CRIS and its evaluation by appropriate
officers from PRS group and Finance Officers of CRIS for control website.

Factors governing Schedule of rates

 Charges for advertisements of equipment sizes with almost same level
of viewers ship.
 Acceptance will be done on ‘first come, first serve’ basis for a limited
period which will not exceed one year at time (not for CRIS)
 If the website increases by 50%, this charges should be revised
upwards for next advertisement.
 Normal rules of commercial publicity shall apply.
 The message/advertisements should not be absence, socially offensive
and conform to the laws of the land.
 To allow travel and tour companies to link with IR, necessary URL
will be developed. Such offers may be made under detail terms and
conditions, only for providing information only.
 Advertisers will not be given direct access to the Railway system and
necessary fire wall shall always be constructed.
 Technical vetting from computer and Improvement service
Directorate will be required for launching any advertisements (not for
CRIS) and the mechanism of launching should be developed in
consultation with C & IS Deptt.
 The sizes of the advertisement should be fixed in such a manner that
page loading should not be heavy size affecting the performance of the
main function of the site.
 Advertisement must focus the main Railway function for the
passenger related services giving top most attention and the
advertises at the most occupy secondary space only which should be
in the corners or in the bottom line, etc.
 Frequent advertisements for such sites should be given in the News
papers and also on the website itself so that better offers are received
by the Railways

Station-to-Station Rates

Meaning :-Station-to-station rate is a special reduced rate quoted for a

particular commodity between the specific pairs of stations.

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Objects
 To compete and attract road- borne traffic specially the high-rated traffic
yielding profit
 For growth and development of industries
 To increase the volume of traffic between the pairs of stations
 To facilitate the export between the production centers and port points
Principle
While fixing such rates, it should be kept in mind that –
 It is workable
 It covers cost of haulage and not a loss
 The lead of the traffic is more than 150 kilometers in trainload
 It should not exceed the period of validity of 2 years
Exception
Quotation to station –to-station rates is not for dangerous, offensive goods,
POL products, coal and livestock.

Guidelines for granting the rate :-

 It is for additional traffic
 Offering appreciable level of traffic in case of new parties and additional
traffic in case of existing rail customers/ users under written
commitment
 Granting freight concession upto 10% between class 110 and 140, 15%
for commodities between 140 and 180 class and 20% for commodities
above 180. But this will judiciously be decided by General Manager of
the Zonal Railway
 The slabs system of concession shall operate afresh on first of every
month and cease on last day As the target fixed should be converted to
monthly target in terms of rakes
 It should be ensured that this does not lead to diversion to traffic from
adjacent Zonal Railways
 Quotation of such rate shall be done only with the approval of the
General Manager and concurrence of FA& CAO
 It must not be sanctioned for less than 3 months or not exceeding 12
months
 Traders continuing the benefit of this rate on the total traffic will be
allowed upto the expiry time
 Cases not having the requisite conditions shall be referred to the Board
for approval
 A quarterly review shall be made on such rates and the Railway may
cancel or modify it by giving a notice of 14 days

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 THEORY OF RATES STRUCTURE
Introduction:-

Indian Railways carry about 3000 commodities of heterogeneous

variety. These consists of row materials, finished products, perishable,
goods loose or in bulk and in bags, articles of high and low value, fragile
and dangerous goods, building materials of all kind and medicines,
chemicals and drugs, clothing, footwear and essential food stuffs. In fact,
they directly or remotely enter into the daily existence of the average
person.

Therefore, it is a matter complexity to fix the charges of

transportation commonly known as “Rate”. While fixing the same (Rate)
various features are taken into consideration to arrived at a rational rate
structure. What is most essential is that there must not be any loss of the
trade, loss of the carrier (Railways), diversion of traffics due to high rate
and high profit both to the trade and transporter. Therefore, various
principles are adopted while fixing rate.

Principles:
In the principle of rating and classification the following are taking into
account:
 Cost of service
 Value of service
 What the traffic can bear
They are detailed one after another in brief.

Cost of service:
 It represents the cost of transportation of a commodity from one place to
another.
 It is represented in terms of money per tonne.
 Rate fixed must not be less than the freight charges.
 Minimum freight charges must not result in loss in the cost of service.
 It determines the floor or minimum freight charges to cover the cost of
service.

Value of service:
 It represents the value to be obtained from the service.
 It is determined by taking the difference between cost (value) at the
place of production and the cost (value) at the place of consumption.
 The difference represents the freight charges to be levied on
consignment.
 If the difference shows reverse the commodity shall run by alternative
means of transport.
 The study provides or determines a normal margin of profit

25
 It also ensures provision of expenses incidental to transport.

What the traffic can bear:

 It is somewhat different from the value of service and cost of service.
 It represents reasonable freight charges on the commodity
 Seller’s market and buyer’s market are taken into consideration.
 It envisages collection of freight charges lower than the cost of haulage
in certain cases—
 Low rated commodity

Bulky or essential commodities.

It envisages the rating at the middle level of such of the commodities
as can support their cost of haulage and also provide margin towards
freight but can not support the incidence of a high profit burden. Finally it
also envisages levy of high charges in respect of haulage and also make a
contribution towards the profit elements, plus as subsidy for the carriage of
commodities below the cost of haulage. Thus it represents a graded levy of
the freight charges taking in to consideration the capacity of the individual
commodities for supporting a high, medium or low freight burden.
There are other two factors, which are very important. The Indian
Railways are a nationalized public utility undertaking and, have, therefore,
a social service to perform. It is not possible to achieve the cost of haulage
with an element of profit in the transport of all commodities. Some
commodities that enter in our life such as food grains, fertilizers and salt
the cost of these commodities may not be pushed up to unbearably high
levels. The rating should be such that the burden on the consumers does
not become too high. Another important consideration that merits mention
is that IR being the best transport service should not levy such freight
charges which the traffic can not bear.

Factors essential for consideration

While fixing rate the following factors shall be given due consideration—
National priority:- Certain commodities like coal, ore, food grains and
fertilizers are given lower classifications considering their nationwide
priorities pr urgent need.
Raw materials:- the freight charges on raw materials moving to factories
producing essential goods to be kept at a reasonable level so that it might
not become uneconomical to run the factories and the cost of finished
products might not have to be pushed up unduly high.
Transportation characteristics:- This factor also determines the
classification depending upon the quantity of goods offered. For instance,
cotton is chargeable at three different rates. When cotton is offered in loose,
the weight in relation to volume is too low and therefore a higher rate is
applicable. When offered in half presses the weight- volume ratio improves

26
and a lower rate is prescribed. If offered in full pressed a greater weight –
volume is increased and still a lower rate is given
High value commodities:- Higher classification is accorded to high value
commodities since they can support a higher freight burden.
Use of commodity:- Sometimes, the use of a commodity determines
classification. For example, urea when used as a chemical manure, it is
classified as chemical manure Division A and charged in compliance with
S/33. when booked for industrial use, it is described as urea (NOC) and
charges differently.
Raw materials & finished products:- Raw material is given lower
classification than the finished product made from the same
commodity/material. Maida, a finished product of wheat must not have a
lower classification than that of wheat, the raw material.
Telescopic rate:- According to it, charges for the greater distance
proportionately decreases with the increase in distance.

RAILWAY RATES TRIBUNAL

Introduction:-
As per section 70 of the Railways Act, undue or unreasonable
preference to any particular person or any particular description of traffic
in the carriage of goods is strictly prohibited. In the event of any such
undue/ unreasonable preference to any person or trade, there is a provision
for referring such cases to a tribunal known as Railway Rates Tribunal.

Constitution:-
Under section 33 of the Railway Act 1989, RRT has been constituted
with a chairman and two members holding office upto 5 years. The
chairman is a judge of the High court or Supreme court. Out of the two
members, one is appointed from the administrative side with special
knowledge and
experience of the commercial working of the Railways while the other is
having special knowledge of commercial, industrial and economic
conditions of the country. They will function for 5 years (maximum).

Jurisdiction of the Tribunal:-

The tribunal with their present head quarters at Chennai deals with
the complaints regarding –
 Contravention of the provisions of section 70;
 Changing of unreasonable rate for the carriage of any commodity
between two stations; or
 Levying any other charge found unreasonable; or

27
 Any other matters which the Central Government may refer to the
tribunal for inquiring or report.
Disposal of cases:-
The tribunal hears the complaints brought to them and decides the
complaints as per provisions of the Railways Acts and Rules framed there
under.
Powers: Has the powers of a civil court to –
 Take evidence on oath.
 Enforce attendance of witnesses.
 Compel the discovery and production of documents.
Assistance by the central Government :-
The Central Govt. provides all possible assistance as the tribunal may
require with all information’s in possession of the central Govt.
Burden of proof:-
For changing a lower rate or preference to a particular traffic considered
unreasonable/ undue the Railway administration which has charged undue
rate/ lower rate or preference must prove that such lower rate or charge
does not amount to an undue preference. The tribunal shall decide whether
such charge or rate is necessary in the interests of the public.
Decision:-
The decision shall be arrived at by a majority of members
(It should be cleared that no suit shall be instituted or proceeding taken in
respect of any matter, which the Tribunal is, empowered to deal with or
decide.)
Relief, which the Tribunal may grant :-
The tribunal empowered under the provisions of section 35 may –
(1) fix such rate/ charge as it considers reasonable from any date ,not being
a date earlier to the date of failing of the complaint;
(2) direct a refund of the amount, if any, as being the excess of the rate or
charge fixed by the Tribunal.
Execution of decision or orders of the Tribunal :-
The Tribunal may transmit any decision or order made by it to a civil court
having local jurisdiction and such civil court shall execute the decision or
order as if it were a decree made by the court.
Report to the Central Government :-
The Tribunal shall submit an annual report to the Central Government of
all its proceeding under the provisions of the Acts.
Matters not within the Jurisdiction: -
(1) Classification or declassification of any commodity;
(2) Fixation of Wharfage and demurrage charges;
(3) Fixation of fares;
(4) Fixation of freight for carriage of luggage, parcel, railway material and
traffic and
(5) Fixation of lump sum rates.

28
Power of the Tribunal (to make regulations)
The Tribunal may, with the previous approval of the Central Govt.
make –
(a) The terms and conditions of services of the officers and employees of the
Tribunal;
(b) The award of the costs by any Tribunal in any proceedings before it;
(c) The reference of any question to a member or to an officer of the tribunal
or any person appointed by it, for report after holding a local inquiry;
(d) The right of audience the tribunal before provided that any person
(party) shall be entitled to be heard in person or by a legal practitioner;
(e) The disposal by the tribunal of any proceedings before it, not with
standing that in the course there of there has been a chance of members of
Tribunal
(f) A scale of fees for and in connection with the proceedings before the
Tribunal.

TRAFFIC SURVEY
Meaning
It means detailed studies and analysis of existing condition of the
traffic as well as future prospect in that regard in connection with
construction of new lines, gauge conversion, doubling of lines, restoration
and other traffic related set up in a particular place or area.
Kinds of survey
 Traffic survey;
 Reconnaissance survey;
 Preliminary survey;
 Final location survey.
Necessity
Before undertaking any project it is necessary to analyze the needs of
the consumers of the area; suitable alignment taking into the benefit of
users and above the financial viability and prospect.
Object of traffic survey
It is a detailed study of the traffic conditions of the area to determine —
 Promising route
 Probable traffic
 Existing facilities available
 Standard of construction required

Method
The survey is carried out by the Commercial Department either
independently or with Engineering Department. All possible data should be
collected in the beginning only to avoid repetition of the survey. The

29
Officer-in charge of the survey shall be supplied with the terms of
reference.
Terms of reference
 Tentative alignment plotted on the toposheet
 Particulars of any existing railway in the area
 Interest involved in the proposal and scope and nature of investigation
to be carried out
 Estimated copy of surveys with its details
 Time limit for completion of survey work and submission of project
reports
 Guidance regarding preparation of the project reports and estimates
Field work
It consists of –
 Visiting trade centers,
 Consulting local authorities and prominent citizens as regards trade,
industry,
 Most possible route,
 Alternative alignments,
 Possible extension.
Census should be conducted wherever necessary –
 To assess inward and outward goods and coaching traffic,
 Existing means of communication,
 Their effect on the proposed railway
 Quantum of long distance and short distance traffic etc.
Estimate
 Calculation should be done for coaching and goods traffic earnings and
compared with the data of similar existing lines in the country.
 Working expenses should be worked out and financial prospects of the
proposed lines should be examined.
Report
Report should be submitted summarizing the information collected diving it
in the different parts such as general description of the country, alternative
routes, possible extension, population, existing imports and exports at
station sites, goods and coaching earnings, train services etc.

RAIL ROAD CO-ORDINATION

Introduction
There is a cut-throat competition from the Road Transport to Indian
Railways. It is a fact that the Road Transport caries high-rated traffic by
pick and choose any where in the country. It has the advantage of giving
door to door service, quick transit time and flexibility in the matter of fixing
rates for similar traffic differently.
Adverse effect of competition
Indian Railways being managed and guided by the Ministry of Railways
under the Government of India have no option for acceptance or rejection

30
but to carry goods whatever is offered to him at the rates and conditions
fixed by the Central Government. As such it has to face wastage of
transport capacity of Railways. Such unhealthy competition not only affects
the transport system but also financial viability of the country.
Steps by the Government
The Government of India with a view to rationalizing the transport
facilities to ensure that there is no shortage of transport facilities in one
area and surplus capacity in another. Moreover, in order to have Rail-Road
Coordination the Central Government has appointed a committee known as
‘Rail Road Co ordination Committee’ under the Chairmanship of Shri KC
Neogi in 1958. The terms of reference have been –
a) to examine the aspect of competition between Rail and Road;
b) to recommend for bringing co ordination between the two transport
services;
c) to rationalize the transport activities.
Recommendation
The committee submitted its recommendations as under –
 To secure co ordination through appropriate State Government
regulation since the Road transport is under the control of the State
Government.
 To achieve Rail-Road co ordination both the services are to be taken
under one Government regulation.
Implementation of recommendations
The Road authorities while granting fresh permits for a particular route,
shall advise the Railway concerned to participate and offer their views. If in
the opinion of railway, having surplus capacity on that route, may protest
against grant of permit and such view shall be considered by the Road
authority along with other factors while granting permits.
Present status
To achieve rail-road co-ordination, IR, on behalf of the Central
Government, contribute to the capital of the State Road Transportation to
the extent of fifty percent of the investment made by the State
Government. The Chief Commercial Manager or th Chie Marketing
Manager of the Zonal Railway and the FA&CAO of the railway are the
Directors of the Board of the corporation. This also helps the Railway to
influence the decisions to be taken by the Road authorities.
Competition
The present trend of movement of traffic is as under –
 Short distant traffic is not encouraged by the road transport.
 The Railway is carrying perishables expected to be carried by the Road
transport for short distance.
 Heavy machinery traffic is carried by the road authorities giving door-to-
door service.
 Heavy vehicular traffic ought to be carried by the Railway are captured
by the road transport.

31
 High profit yielding traffic, which is to be carried by the Railway, has
been diverted to road transport.
 Prior permission or consent of the railway authority regarding carriage
of any traffic by the road transport is not taken. Thus the
recommendation of the committee has been ignored.
 As regard passenger service the road transport has started aggressive
marketing ignoring the norms formulated by the Government. Most of
the routes have been privatized for transport by the road authorities.
Thus, instead of achieving co ordination the trend of competition has
been increased.

MODE OF PAYMENT
Receipt of payment
 All railway dues on public traffic be mad in cash.
 Payment of by Bank draft, Credit notes or under Weight only system
may be made as per CCM.
 Payment by Defence Department is made by Military Credit Notes/
Warrants as per Military Tariff.
 Civil Departments of Central or State Governments are permitted to use
Credit Notes on making payment of freight and other railway dues.
 Post & Telegraphs Department is also authorized to clear railway dues
on a different form of Credit Notes.
 All these are done with the written instructions of the Railway
Administration to the concerned station.
Various modes
 Cheque facilities.
 Bank Drafts.
 Credit Notes for individuals and farms.
 Credit Notes for military department.
 Civil Credit Notes.
 Credit Notes for P & T department.
 Credit Notes for Railway department.
Cheque facility
 Issued to Civil Departments of the Central/State Government.
 A list of the names and designation with specimen signature of the
officers authorised to issue Cheque is sent to the station concerned by
CCM.
 List is also endorsed to Cash Office.
 Change, if any, shall similarly be sent to station and cash office.

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Procedure of issue
 The Cheque shall be drawn in favour in favour of Chief cashier on the
RBI/SBI or any other bank with which the railway has a drawing
account.
 It is issued in a prescribed printed form of the department and shall bear
a crossing ‘accounts payee only’-not negotiable.
 To be written legibly without any erasure or over writing.
 It should also be written in words across them and at right angle to the
type- a sum a little excess of that for which it is issued with the
signature and stamp of the issuing official.
 A separate Cheque shall be issued for each transaction.
 Amount less than Rs. 10 shall not be covered under Cheque.
Duties at Station Level
 The station master should ensure that the Cheque is issued by the
authorised Officer and corresponds the specimen signature sent by CCM.
 A register shall be maintained in the specific form entering the
particulars of the Cheques received.
 Separate page for each department is to be maintained.
 Cheques shall be sent to the cash office daily.
 Responsibility of under charges
 Undercharges, if any, detected by the Accounts Office shall be debited
against the concerned station.
 The station shall call for a fresh cheque for the amount of undercharges.
Bank draft
 The facility of Bank draft is extended to certain well known and reputed
farms of good standing having regular transaction with the railway.
 When such permission is awarded, the station concerned is informed
with detailed instruction with a list of such farms so authorised.
 In this case credit note facility is not allowed.
 Duties and responsibilities at station level
 The draft shall be drawn in favour of FA&CAO on a scheduled bank at
the head quarters of the railway administration. The draft shall bear a
crossing ‘Accounts Payee Only’- not negotiable. The charges for realising
the amount shall also be included in the draft.
 A register shall be maintained for acceptance of Bank draft.
 Bank draft received shall be sent to cash office along with CRNote.
 If for any reason the draft is rejected a fresh bank draft should be
obtained and sent accordingly.
Credit Notes for Individual & farms.
 Certain Individual and farms having regular transaction with the
railway are allowed at the discretion of the railway administration with
such facility of payment of railway dues by credit notes.
 Detailed instructions in this regard are sent to he station concerned.
 A complete list of persons authorised to issue credit notes must be kept
with the staff.

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 Duties and responsibilities.
 The CCM shall furnish the details with the specimen signature to the
station concerned
 The stationmaster must see that the credit note submitted is complete in
all respects.
 Care should be taken to see that the credit notes facility allowed during
a period/month does not exceed the time limit fixed by CCM.
 After expiry of the time limit all transactions shall be made in cash only.

Credit Notes for Military Department

 Freight charges will be paid by Military Credit Notes IAFT 1711 where
such traffic is not required to be conveyed on military warrant.
 It will be used for the despatch of the goods, which are the property of
the Ministry of Defence.
 It may be issued / used for canteen stores being signed by the Chairman,
Board of Administration /canteen store Department / Bombay or any
person deputed by him or Dept Manager.
 Military traffic debatable to the training grant and dispatched by a
Military officer under form IAFT 1714 will be paid for in cash or by
Cheques.
 Credit notes for Military Engineering service will, however, be tendered
as per prescribed Performa.
Civil Credit Notes
 The Military Engineering service, contract Directorates, A.H.O and all
civil Depts. of government except P&T Deptt. will issue CCNS as per
prescribed specimen.
Credit notes for P&T Departments
 A separate form has been prescribed for payment of freight by the postal
Department. The instructions given on the reverse of credit notes must
studied and acted upon.
Credit Notes for Rly Department
 The officers so authorised must issue prescribed form.
 These are issued for payment of freight for RMC and other charges.
 A list of officers authorised to issue credit notes will be notified by the
Railway Administration to the station concerned for acceptance of credit
notes.
Signing of Credit Notes
 All credit notes should be signed by the officer or persons authorised to
do so with the office seal and stamp.
Special to note
 As undercharges and overcharges of one rupee paid by the credit note
are not recovered from or refunded to Military and other Government
departments, the station staff should take special care to see that the
charges entered in the credit notes are correct.

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 A register of credit notes should be kept at destination showing full
particulars of the transaction in payment of which each credit note is
tendered.

INSPECTIONS
Objects of Inspection
The principal object of inspection lies not only in detection of faults, lapses
and irregularities already committed and steps taken to avoid them for
recurrence. An inspection has multiple objectives having wide scope. It also
helps in efficient functioning, eliminating frauds and arresting leakage of
revenue.
Inspection provides proper guidance and directions to staff for correct and
concise way of doing jobs allotted to them. It should ensure orderliness and
discipline. Thus it acts as an effective control over the working of the
stations with their area of control.
Frequency of Inspection
Every station including an out-agency, city booking office and tourist
agency is required to be inspected by Commercial Officers/ Inspectors at
specific intervals. The same may be done by CCM with a previous notice or
on a programme basis.
Inspection of Goods Shed Books & Returns
The following books and returns are required to be inspected to
ensure effective working, correct maintenance of books and returns and
also to improve the quality of work. The correctness of collection and
proper accounting of all these receipts rest with efficient and prompt
maintenance of these records –
 Cash Remittance Note
 Goods Cash Book
 Weigh Machine Card and Weigh Bridge Card
 Priority/Wagon Demand Register
 Outward Invoice Books
 Guard’s signature book for dispatch of wagons
 Index – outward and inward
 Register of SWA
 Money Receipt Book for registration fees
 Refund statement
 General Money receipt
 RMC Invoice Books and connected records
 Wagon exchange book
 Placement Memo
 Loading book
 Memo of Invoices
 Inventory book
 Unloading Book for wagon loads

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 Gate Pass and Register
 Delivery book
 MPA
 Register of under and over charges
 Outstanding Register
 Collected Railway Receipt
 Wharfage and Demurrage Returns
 Weigh bridge Register
 Crane Money Receipt and statement
 Paid-On- Statement
 Free Service Way Bill/Invoices
 Balance Sheet
 Advice of Internal checks
 Error sheets and file
 OCS Register
 Reweighment Register
 Tarpaulin and Rope Register
 Shed sweeping Register (grains etc.)
 Plot Plan Register
 Credit Notes Register
 Indemnity Note Register
 Service stamp Register
 Freight Forwarder traffic Record
 Container Service Record
 Guard’s book for placement of wagon in siding
 Auction sale statement
 Transit memo for returns
 Old records register
 Tariff, Manual, Rate lists, LRA, TRC etc.
General Observations
 Knowledge of rules
 Knowledge of booking, handling, dispatch, storage and delivery.
 Claim Prevention measure.
 Measures to connect unconnected goods and disposal of
unclaimed/undelivered goods.
 False declaration of goods.
 Step to clear station outstanding.
 Maintenance of records.
 Remittance of earnings and CR Note.
 Leakage of railway revenue.
 Analysis of diversion of traffic.
 Improvement in the methods
Inspections
 Inventory of goods- check with relevant records, u/c unloading tally book.

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 Wharfage and Demurrage charges- Wagon transfer register, LU register
& DB.
 General inspection of shed to see the adequacy of facilities, safety and
security.
 Approach road, shed arrangement for booking and delivery, notices etc.
 To ascertain mis-declaration by taking sample cases.
 MGR is correctly prepared.
 DDM register is correctly prepared.
 Contract agreement for handling/out-agency/siding ……. Provided is
preserved accordingly.
 Priority register is maintained correctly as per rules.
 Rules regarding labeling, sealing and riveting, E.P. Locking are complied
with.
 Inward and outward Index Register is properly maintained.
 Invoices are regularly dispatched to destination and FA & CAO(T).
 Possibilities for increasing traffic to be examined.
Repacking & Transshipment Shed
Inspecting office should see that
 There is no undue detention to stock or consignments.
 There is proper system of work, distribution of staff and labour.
 There is co-ordination between control and transportation staff.
 The working hours are adequate and systematic.
Public Complaints
In order to ensure customer satisfaction and to improve the quality of
service by Railway, complaints book is made available with the goods shed
which shall be checked to see that –
 It is regularly checked by the CS(G)/SM and proper action is taken.
 Reference to letter from the competent authority regarding the disposal
of the complaint is recorded in the book against each and
 Notice regarding availability of Complain – Cum-Suggestion book is
exhibited.
Register of Recovery
 The Register of recoveries from vendors, plot holders should be checked
to ensure that there is nothing due or unrealized. The non-recovery or
late recovery should be taken up and arrangement made for recoveries of
the arrears without further delay.
 The principal objects of an inspection lie not only in detection of faults,
lapses and irregularities already committed but in steps taken for
avoiding their recurrence.
Books and Returns
A list of books to be maintained and returns and to be submitted by station
is given. It is essential on the part of Inspecting Officers, Inspector and the
Station Master to check these books and returns.

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 General Observations
 To check up whether a high standard of cleanliness and orderliness is
being maintained at the station, platforms, in retiring rooms, waiting
rooms, waiting halls, in catering establishments such as restaurants,
refreshment rooms and in various booking and delivery offices, go
downs as also in the bath-rooms and lavatories;
 To check up whether the Commercial staff are fully conversant with
the rules and regulations for performance of their respective duties;
 To check up whether rules for the booking, handling, dispatch,
storage and delivery of various items of traffic, including explosives
and other dangerous goods are being carefully observed;
 To see whether the rules and instructions prescribed for prevention
of, loss of or damage to consignments are properly observed;
 To check up if adequate steps are taken for connecting the un
connected packages;
 To see whether adequate arrangements exist for prevention of
leakage of Railway revenues through ticketless travel, mis
declaration, under weighment or any other cause;
 To see whether proper attention is being paid to the clearance of
Station Outstanding;
 To see that initial records and documents at station are maintained
properly and in accordance with the extent rules and orders, and that
the various returns are being submitted to the Traffic Accounts Office
on due dates;
 To see whether the procedure prescribe for handling, taking and
making over of cash at the station being rigidly follow by the staff
concerned under security arrangements appropriate for handling the
cash and traveling cash safes at all stations;
 To examine if any loss or leakage of Rly revenues is taking place
through evasion, mis-apprehension or abuse of rules;
 To examine and analyse the cause of diversion of traffic if any, to
other means of transport;
 To see if any improvements in the methods of working at the station
are necessary to achieve efficiency and economy or to retrieve the
traffic, if any, diverted to other means of transport; and
 To observe whether the Commercial staff is prompt, alert, civil and
obliging, and that they pay adequate attention to the comforts and
conveniences of the Rly users.
 Book Stalls
 In the book-stall it should be seen that-
 Adequate number of books and newspapers, both English and Hindi
and regional language are available for sale.
 No obscene picture or literature is put up for sale or otherwise
exhibited.
 No second hand books or any other literature is put up for sale.

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  Selling price has been indicated on each book and that is reasonable.
 Other instructions issued by the administration are correctly
followed.
Booking Office
 Adequacy of windows separately for ladies and gents
 Timely opening of the windows
 Queue of passengers
 Lighting arrangement of the booking windows specially at night
 Exhibition of sheet time table and fare table board
 Notice of hours of business
 Estimation of tickets
 Preparation and submission of indent
 Maintenance of tube, stock
 Adequacy of stock
 Correction of fare
 Preparation of EFT, BPT etc properly
 Imprest cash
 Passenger fare notebook
 Collection of cash train wise, shift wise from booking clerk to SM
 Notice regarding availability of Platform ticket
 Posting of DTC Book and check by SM
 Shortage or excess in booking
Parcel Office
 Inspecting staff shall take inventory of parcels on hand and shall
compare with unloading tally book, delivery book, etc.
 Check on unconnected register of packages
 Full inventory of Parcels
 To detect under/over charges
 To ensure that W/C or D/C have been correctly calculated by consulting
Wagon Transfer Register, unloading tally book, DDM etc.
 The delivery book shall be properly checked
 The Inspecting official shall also check Personal Cash Register
Luggage Office
 To arrange sample test of outward packages for weight, free allowance
as per ticket and proper charging
 To take inventory of all inward luggage and compare these regarding
accountal, undercharges
 To consult the luggage delivery book
 To check the cloak room with charges

Reservation Office
 Verification of cash
 Cancellation/ Special cancellation/Non-issue ticket
 Concession vouchers
 Ticket Roll and Initial Cash Voucher book

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 Name change, System BPT
 Roll continuity statement
 Fare check
 Credit card
 Cash remittance note
 Review of Outstanding, if any
 Check of Balance Sheet
 Check on system Machine failure

Liabilities of Railway as a Carrier of Goods/Parcel//Luggage/

Animal

(a) As per section 93 of Railway Act 1989, Railway is in general

responsible for loss/damage etc. of consignment if caused due to negligence
of the Railway excepting in the following cases:
(i) Act of God (ii) Act of war (iii) Act of public enemies etc.

(b) Section 94: Where goods to be loaded or delivered at a siding not

belonging to a Railway Administration, the Railway shall not be
responsible for any kind of loss or damage
.
(c) Section 95: For delay in transit of the consignment Railway will not be
responsible if the delay is caused due to unavoidable circumstances.

(d) Section 96: In course of carriage of any consignment from a place in

India to a place outside India and vice-versa, the Railway Administration
shall not be responsible for any loss, damage etc. unless it proved by the
owner of the goods that such loss, damage caused over the Railway who
offered or handed over the goods.

(e) Section 97: For consignment booked under owner’s risk system,
Railway will not be responsible unless negligence of the Railway is proved
by the owner of the goods.

(f) Section 98: For damage /loss to the consignment, for defect in packing
condition, Railway will not be responsible provided, condition of such defect
is recorded in Forwarding note, ORR.
(g) Section 99 : After termination of transit there will be no liabilities of
the Railway in case of dangerous, offensive goods, livestock etc. and for
consignment of other nature, there will be no liability after seven days of
the termination of transit.

(h) Section 100: For unbooked luggage, there is no liability of the Railway
and for booked luggage carried with owner; Railway will not be responsible
unless negligence of the Railway is proved.

40
(i) Section 101: If death of any livestock/animal carried by Railway is
caused due to restiveness, fright ness, overcrowding etc., Railway will not
be responsible.

(j) Section 102 : A Railway Administration will not be responsible if any

consignment loss due to fraudulent activities of the consignor/consignee
and due to improper loading and unloading, riot, strike, lockout etc.

(k) Section 103: If the value of the consignment is not declared and
percentage charge is not paid on excess value, Railway’s liabilities will be
limited maximum upto certain limit.

(L) Section 104 : When any goods is loaded in open wagon, which is
required to be loaded in covered wagon with the consent of the owner, the
extent of liability on the part of the Railway shall be divided into equal
share for the amount of liability for the loss, damage etc.

Section 105. Right to check contents of goods packed:

The Railway Administration reserves the right to conduct check of the
goods contained the packages and all appliances shall be arranged by the
sender for opening and repacking of the packages, otherwise, the Railway
Administration shall be responsible for the outward condition of the
packages and not for the contents
.
Section 106. Notice of Claim for compensation and refund of over
charges:
A claim shall be preferred within 6 months from the date of offering a
consignment to the Railway for carriage to the Railway Administration of
the booking railway or to the Railway Administration of the destination
railway. The letter shall address to the General Manager/Chief Commercial
Manager/Chief Claims Officer of the either railways. The same shall also be
applicable for the refund of overcharges.

Frauds in commercial
Meaning of Fraud:
An action which deceives a person or a thing and tantamount to criminal
deception is called fraud.
Modus Operandi:
1. To break or violent the existing rules, procedure, etc in booking of
various kind of traffic.
2. To take advantage of certain loopholes in the system.
3. To gain personal interest.
4. To cause leakage of revenue.

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5. To have undue monetary relief.

MASS CONTACT AREA

• BOOKING OFFICE

• RESERVATION OFFICE

• CIRCULATING AREA AND TRAINS

• LUGGAGE AND PARCEL OFFICE

•
Frauds committed in issue of tickets
1 Non-accountal of tickets, m / value books, like EFT, BPT on receipt of
supply from press.
2. Private printing of tickets and selling.
3. Reselling of sold tickets.
4. Issue of EFT without reference of PCT.
5. Wrong issue of BPT other than confessionals warrants.
6. Issue of tickets without accountal or ticket issued out of order.
7. Misappropriation of value of ticket.
8. Undue casting of total of DTC book.
9. Wrong recording of commencing number and closing number.
10. Ticket issued but subsequently returned and resold.
11. Collection of full fare against concession and PTO.
12. Ticket reported missing at the time of receipt from the press but sold
later on.
13. Issue of BPT/EFT using single sided carbon showing different fares on
different foils.
14. Rebate of platform tickets.
15. Duplicate tickets received from press are taken out and sold
afterwards.
16. Issue of tickets without correction of fares.
17. Date of issue is not punched or endorsed by ink.

Frauds committed in reservation

1. Non-exhibition of correct vacancy position.
2. Acceptance of more than one requisition from one passenger.
3. Cancellation is not shown when cancelled in manual system.
4. Violation of priority in allotment of berth.
5. Misuse of Emergency Quota released as vacant.
6. Messages received from roadside stations remain unattended.
7. Issue of ticket with out verifying various concessions.
8. Issue of ticket against pass or ticket without checking the validity.

42
9. Blockade of accommodation by way of interference of software
activities.
10. Preparation of final chart without imputation of actual defence, out
station and emergency quota.
11. Software programme is not revised in the computer system due to
revision of fare, fees, rules and instructions.
CIRCULATING AREA AND TRAINS
• CARRIAGE OF PASSENGERS WT
• IRREGULAR RESERVATION BY TTE
• UN AUTHORISED CATG/VENDING
• WRONG CHARGING BY TC
• BERTH CHARGE AND EARTH CHARGE
• PARKING/STAND
•
PARCEL AND LUGGAGE
• UNDER WEIGHMENT OF PARCEL PACKAGES
• WRONG CLASSIFICATION
• BOOKING OF PARCEL AS LUGGAGE

POLICIES
• LIST OF SUSPECTED STAFF
• TRANSFER OF STAFF IN CASE OF DECOY CHECKS
• SENSITIVE POST
• TOUTS
• RTSA

OTHER AREAS
• MISUSE OF MV BOOKS
• CONCESSIONAL TICKETS FOR HANDICAPS
• PREMATURE BLOCKING
• FRAUDS IN RAJDHANI/SHATABDI
• COMPLIMENTRY CARD PASSES
• MISUSE OF PASS
• CARRYING IN THE NAME OF MP
• LEASED SLR

RECORD MANIPULATION

• ISSUE OF TICKETS W/O ACCOUNTING

• TEMPORARY MISAPPROPRIATION
• MANIPULATION OF DTC BOOK
• TICKETS SECLARED DAMAGED BUT RESOLD
• WRONG ENTRY IN BPT &EFT
• REFUND STATEMENTS
• FORGED TICKETS TREATED AS PER BOUGHT TICKETS

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 • LUGGAGE: EXTRA FREE ALLOWANCE
• WC/DC
• DELIVERY WITHOUT PROPER I/BOND

FRAUD: FREIGHT
• NON COGNIZANCE OF LATEST RATE CIRCULARS
• IMPROPER ACCOUNTAL OF TO-PAY CONSIGNMENTS AT
DESTINATION
• IMPROPER ACCOUNTAL OF PAID CONSIGNMENTS AT
ORIGINATING POINT
• SHOWING WAGONS AS UNCONNECTED TILL THE CONSIGNEE
GETS THE RR FROM THE BANK
• DECLARING WAGONS/VPS AS UNFIT FOR LOADING OR AS
OVERLOADED

SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT
• COMPUTARISATION OF UNRESERVED TICKETS
• LCD DISPLAY IN FRONT OF PRS COUNTER
• COMPUTARISATION OF PARCEL OFFICES
• INSTALLATION OF WEIGH BRIDGES
• COMPUTARISATION OF GOODS OFFICES

SUGGESTIONS
• BE VIGILANT
• MORE SUCCESSFUL DECOY CHECKS
• JOINT CHECKS WITH CBI
• SCRUTINY OF COLLECTED TICKETS
• PERIODICAL TRANSFERS
• EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINARY ACTION
• PUBLIC AWARENESS

Guidelines for Assessment Delivery

Assessment Delivery

Definition
The delivery, which is granted to ascertain the extent of damage, is called
Assessment Delivery.

 While unloading the contents from wagon, wagon condition, provision

of dunnage, seal, watertight condition, manufacturing date, name of
the manufacturer tied with the bag (if any) are to be distinctively
recorded in the Tally Book. Position of the affected bags must be
incorporated in the Tally Book as a basic record.

44
 Thus the consignments received in damaged condition are to be
segregated and stacked in accordance with the quantum of damage.
The sound portion should be delivered to the party. In case party
prefers to keep the sound portion in go down, necessary Wharfage
charges will be levied at the time of removal of goods. But in no case
both the sound and damaged portions should be mixed together.

 Assessment delivery is to be granted only on damaged portion and in

no case should be included with the sound condition.
 In the Assessment report using of word ‘worm affected’ should be
supported by proper documents. The report should, however,
highlight the condition of booking, keeping adequate space both at
flap doors and on all sides, use of ‘old and used bags’, ‘date of
manufacturing’ and also other conditions observed in course of
assessment.

 When the consignment is considered as ‘unfit for human

consumption’, opinion of Railway doctor will be absolutely necessary,

 To avoid dispute, the consignee or his representative may be

permitted to select one damaged bag from each lot, while the
assessing authority will similarly select another bag from each of the
lots.

 Thus, at least two selected bags collected from each lot are to be cut
open and good/sound portion of the contents segregated and
weighment taken.

 The damaged portion of the consignment is to be assessed in terms of

salvage value and converted into percentage.

 It is examined to see whether any value is possible to rescue from the

damaged goods (portion) and this is called Salvage Value .

 The salvage value in terms of its percentage is deducted from the

percentage of damage to ascertain the actual percentage of damage

 Once it is done, there is hardly any scope for dispute as to the

percentage of damage, which is generally a bone of contention
between the assessing authority and the consignee or his authorised
agent.
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  Even if there is any difference of opinion between the
consignee/endorsee and the Railway Official granting
open/assessment delivery, two independent and respectable persons
should be called for and their opinion on the point/points under
dispute should be obtained in writing. The recorded opinion should be
forwarded to CCO along with other papers. In case of commodity for
which expert opinion in the form of chemical analysis etc is required,
a sample should be sent to concerned institution/laboratory for
testing.

NEW CATEROING POLICY – 2010

Objectives of New Catering Policy:-

1. To provide hygienic, good quality affordable food to the passenger.

2. The policy will have an inclusive approach where from the best
advantaged passenger to the relatively affluent will be provided
catering services in a socially responsible manner.
3. It should meet all the social objectives of the government directives
issued from time to time.

Role of Railway Board, Zonal Railways and IRCTC:-

1. Railways shall progressively take over management of all mobile

catering services including base kitchen through departmental
catering in a phased manner.
2. IRCTC will be primarily responsible for running of food plaza, food
courts, fast food units when the ambit of this policy.
3. All existing major and minor catering units will be awarded and
managed by the Zonal Railway except food plaza, food court, fast
food unit (by the IRCTC).
4. IRCTC will not renew any contract required to be handed over to
Zonal Railways on expiry of the contract.
5. The base kitchen and mobile catering services will be taken over by
the Zonal Railway in phases and will be manage these services
through departmental supervision by engaging reputed
professionals till Railways are in position to manage the
departmentally.
6. A specialized team will be formed by ex. Cadre supervisors and
officers upto senior scale and through redeployment by the Zonal
Railway and will be trained by providing in service training by
reputed institution.

46
 7. Trained personal from reputed institutes of hotel
management/catering institute etc. may also be involved to
upgrade and modernize the departmental catering services.
8. Zonal Railways will decide the exact type and scale of catering
services required to be provided at each station for common
passengers.
9. In view of the change in roles of IRCTC and Zonal Railways, the
revised MOU shall be issued.

Quality Assurance Programme:-

1. IRCTC shall have the mandate to frame on efficient quality

assurance programme to ensure good quality and hygienic and food
to the passengers.
2. Standard bidding documents shall be drafted by the Railway Board
by engaging suitable professional agency.
3. Special tender conditions whenever required may be framed by the
Zonal Railway or IRCTC as the case may be.
4. For food served on trains the mobile catering units will pick up
meals from nominated base kitchens. The base kitchens would be
managed and controlled by the Zonal Railway progressively in
phase to ensure quality of the food served on trains.

Scale of Catering Services Through Static Units:-

Zonal Railway will prepare a blue print for the catering units at each
station as per the category of station which are as under:-

‘A’ Category station - Fast food units, Jan Ahar, Food Plaza, Food
Courts, Refreshment rooms, AVMs etc. The number of catering units
excluding AVMs on the main platform should not be more than 6 and
not more than in island platform {upto 5 AVMs (if stand alone) on
each platform}

‘B’ Category Stations - Refreshment Rooms, Fast food units, Jan

Ahar outlets, Cell Kitchens, Snack Bars, AVMs. The number of
catering units excluding AVMs should not be more than 5 on the main
platform and not more than 4 on island platforms. {Upto 4 AVMs (if
stand alone) on each platform}

‘C’ Category Station - Fast Food units, and upto 5 catering units on
the main platform and not more than 4 on island platform excluding
AVMs. Since these are suburban stations, tea stalls/fast food
units/AVMs should be provided liberally {Upto 3 AVMs (if stand
alone) on each platform}

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 ‘D’ Category Station - Not more than 3 catering units on the main
platform and not more than 3 units on island platform excluding
AVMs {Upto 2 AVMs (if stands alone) on each platform}

‘E’ Category Station - One each on the main platform and island
platform including one AVM {if stand alone} on each platform may
also be provided.

‘F’ Category Station - AVMs and other units as per requirement.

One AVM {if stand alone} on each platform.

Base Kitchen:-

1. Infrastructure of basic kitchens should be designed to create a

modern and mechanized kitchen with latest state of art technology
by the Zonal Railway.
2. On the proposals by Zonal Railway for no. of construction of base
kitchen, cell kitchen, Railway board stall accordingly decide the
number and location of base kitchens to be set up on Zonal
Railway.
3. Zonal Railways will ensure that the laid down standards are
strictly followed and progressively all base kitchens be ISO 22000
certified.
4. High quality hygiene, cleanliness and use of standard ingredients
for food served on train. Henceforth all mobile catering will pick up
meals on transfer rate basis (rate as fixed by Railway Board) form
nominated base kitchens.

Infrastructure at Static Units:-

1. There should be no cooking on platform.

2. Trolleys/Khomchas may be continued on respective basis. Such
trolleys/khomchas must have adequate availability of the low
priced Janta Khana and food from Jana Ahar outlets.
3. Gradually all catering status should be replaced with compact
modular stall as per policy guidelines of Railway board.
4. Refreshment rooms/Restaurants/Snack bars should be self serviced
and should have computerized billing arrangement.
5. All systems and processes and equipments such as deep freezers,
hot cases, microwave ovens, refrigerated storage units, Bain-
maries should be progressively replace to existing tradition
equipments in static units.

48
 6. Zonal Railways may identify suitable space on Railway premises
near railway stations for setting up kitchens by the licensees of
static units.

Disposal of Garbage:-

1. All static and mobile units should liberally provide garbage bins
properly lined with garbage bags.
2. Garbage thus collected should be disposed off in the prescribed
manner as per extant pollution control and environmental norms.

Catering by Mobile Units:-

1. Mobile catering services shall be provided from suitable designed

pantry cars and providing equipments with state of art technology.
2. Zonal Railways will manage mobile catering services through
departmental management.
3. Ownership of pantry car in order to maintain effective control over
on board services, the Division responsible for the primary
maintenance of the train.
4. As a policy pantry cars should be attached to more and more
Premier/Supper fast and Mail/Express trains.
5. First priority to Duronto and Rajdhani Express train.
6. Second priority to long distance premier, supper fast trains
7. Third priority to mail & express trains with more than 24 hours
journey time either way.
8. Fourth priority the remaining trains preference to those trains
where vestibules are provided.
9. Pantry cars of Rajdhani trains/Duronto trains should be designed
to ensure that the pre cooked and hygienically packed food are
supplied from base kitchens with minimum handling in
transferring the same to the passengers.
10. Light weight compact trolleys(specially designed) will be used on
Rajdhani/Duronto trains is ensure that food is not kept on the
floors of the trains at the time of service.
11. All Shatabdi Express/Duronto trains should have mini pantries
equipped with modern gadgets such as hot cases, water boiler,
bottle cooler etc. in all coaches.
12. Allotment and priority will be decided by the Railway Board.

Other Units:-

Since all trains are not provided with pantry cars, Train Side
Vending, Automatic Vending Machines (AVMs), Milk and Milk

49
 products stalls will be provided at stations and would be governed
by policy guidelines issued by the Railway board.

MENU AND TARIFF:-

1. Menu and tariff of food items will be fixed as follows :-

(a) For Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto trains and such other trains
in which catering charges are inbuilt in the passenger fare,
the menu and tariff will be fixed by Railway Board.
(b) For controlled segment items (standard meals, beverages and
packaged drinking water), Janta Meals, the menu & tariff
will be fixed by Railway Board.
(c) Menu, recipes and tariffs for food plaza, Food court and fast
food units will be decided and fixed by IRCTC within the
ambit of this policy.
(d) Menu and the recipe of the food items served by static
including Jan Ahar outlets and mobile units on trains other
than those mentioned above will be decided by
(e) Zonal Railways including a-la-carte items served through the
units. The tariff will be fixed as per the extant procedure.
(f) Adequate emphasis should be laid on availability of regional
cuisine all over India Railway.
2. Board will periodically look into issues of menu and tariff revisions
as and when required and will considers proposals of Zonal
Railways on the subject of menu and tariff revisions and will issue
necessary directives from time to time.
3. Commercial advertising will be permitted and should be positively
attempted on equipments and accessories which are part of
catering services, to increase revenue.

ALLOTMENT PROCEDURE AND CONTRACT MANAGEMENT:-

1. Zonal Railway shall have an effective and transparent contact

awarding, management and monitoring system
2. Allotments of all major units and of General Minor Units at A, B &
C category stations will done through open, competitive, two-
packet tendering system duly following all the procedures/
instructions issued by Government of India/Railway Board time to
time.
3. A standard bidding Document shall be prepared to make
allotments through process of tendering. The standard bidding
document would include eligibility criteria, bid evaluation criteria,
details of technical and financial requirements along with general

50
 and special conditions of tenders and general and special
conditions of contract.
4. These conditions should be framed to ensure transparency, equity
and fair play in selection of contractors and award of contracts.
5. Special tender conditions, wherever required, may be framed by
Zonal Railways or IRCTC, as the case may be.
6. The contract document should clearly define as to what would
constitute deficiency in service and contain details of quality
checks, inspections, etc which the licensee will have to facilated
7. Suitable clauses to deal with defaults and failures in the
performance of contractors like penalties/ fines, termination, risk
and cost actions, exit clauses, etc. should be built in the SBDs and
contract documents.

ALLOTMENT OF SPECIAL MINOR UNITS & GENERAL MINOR

UNITS AT D, E & F CATEGORY STATIONS:-

Allotment of special minor units and General minor units at the D, E, F

category stations will be made by DRMs by calling applications and
selecting the licensee based on instructions as given bellow:-

1. Divisions will call for applications through press

notifications. Individuals/partnership firms/companies/Co-
operatives can apply. Allotments shall be based on these
main criteria:-

Allotment for 25% reserved Refreshment Rooms at B & C

category stations—
(a) Reputation/business standing of the applicant
(b) Turnover of applicants business in catering {to be supported
by income tax return for the last five (5) years}
(c) Financial standing to mobilize resources to employ the
requisite staff and to run the unit (to be supported by
certificate for last 5 years from scheduled Bank/Audited
accounts certified by chartered accountant).
(d) Previous experience in catering business
(e) Previous track record/experience of the applicant in Railway
catering.
(f) Size of the establishment and staff required for running the
unit.
(g) Location of the unit
(h) Domicile of the applicants with reference to the location of
the proposed units (supported with a certificate from the
District authorities).

51
(i) In case of partnership firms a certified copy of legal
partnership deed should be submitted.
(j) In case of individuals/partnership firms, the
individual/partners’ should be literate (supported by relevant
school/Education board certificate).
(k) An affidavit by the applicant stating that he/she has not been
convicted in any criminal case and does not have any past
criminal record.
(l) Any other facts considered relevant by Railways.

For 25% reserved stalls/trolleys at A,B & C category

stations—

(a) Reputation/business standing of the applicant.

(b) Turn over of applicants business in catering (to be supported
by income tax return for the last 5 years).
(c) Financial standing to mobilized resources to employ the
requisite staff and to run the unit (to be supported by
certificate for last 5 years).
(d) Previous experience in catering business (to be supported by
certificate/letter of experience/allotment from concerned
agencies for the last 5 years).
(e) Previous track record/experience of the applicant in Railway
catering, if any (supported by certificate/letter from
concerned Railways).
(f) Size of the establishment and staff required for running the
unit duly giving details of break-up of each activity i.e.
number of waiter/cooks to be employed.
(g) Location of the unit.
(h) In case of partnership firms, a certified copy of legal
partnership deed should be submitted
(i) In case of individuals/partnership firms, the
individuals/partners should be literate (supported by relevant
School/Education board certificate).
(j) An affidavit by the applicant stating that he/she has not been
convicted in any criminal case and does not have any past
criminal record.
(k) Any other facts considered relevant by Railways.

Allotment should be made subject to the fulfillment of all the

above criteria. The selection committee will tabulate, compile
and finalize the selection in a fair, equitable and transparent
manner.

For all units at D, E & F category stations—

52
Essential

(a) In case of individuals/partnership firms, the

individual/partners should be literate.
(b) In case of individuals/partnership firms, the
individual/partners should have good moral character.
(c) The applicant should be solvent.
(d) The individuals/partners and the employees, particulars
those handing preparation of food should not be suffering
from any infectious disease.
(e) For reserved categories, relevant certificate from concerned
authority as a proof of being a member of certain reserved
category should be furnished.

Desirable
(f) Previous experience in catering business.
(g) Financial standing to mobilize resources to employ the
requisite staff and run the unit, and
(h) Previous track record if any.

At the time of section, weight age should be given to each

parameter both in the ‘essential’ and ‘desirable’ category by the
selection committee. However selection would be based on
evaluation of the parameters as mentioned above. The selection
should be done in a fair, equitable and transparent manner with
the approval of DRM.

Selection committee to be nominated by DRM consisting of

three junior administrative grades officers (divisional level)
including one each from commercial, finance and one from any
other department.
Before calling the application through newspapers,
division will assess the potential sales turnover of such units.
The minimum license fee be 12% or any other percentage
commission on annual sales turnover notified from time to time.
Commercial department of the division will maintain the
record of application received through press notification for
various categories separately.
The total number of allotments of minor units to the
various reserved categories should also not exceed 49.5% of the
total allotments of minor units made on a particular division at
D, E and F category stations and 25% of the total allotments of
minor units made on a particular division at A, B and C
category station.

53
RESERVATION IN ALLOTMENT

1. Reservation in A, B & C categories

2. There should b no reservation for major units including pantry
cars.
3. There should be 25% reservation for minor units in A, B & C
categories of stations with the following break up.

S CATEGORY %AGE RESERVATIO

No
.
1 Scheduled caste 6%
2 Scheduled Tribes 4%
3 People bellow poverty line 3%
4 Freedom fighter/women including war 4%
widows and widows of railway employees,
persons who have been dislocated/displaced
due to their land having been taken over by
railways for its own use
5 Other backward classes 3%
6 Minorities* 3%
7 Physically-Challenged Persons 2%
TOTAL 25%
* The term minorities will include the communities namely (i) Muslims, (ii)
Christians, (iii) Sikhs, (iv) Buddhists, (v) Zoroastrians (Parsis).

4. RESERVATION IN D, E & CATEGORY

There willl be 49.5%reservation for allotment in D, E & F
categories of stations with following break up.

S. Category %age Reservation

No
.
1 Scheduled Caste 12%
2 Scheduled Tribes 8%
3 Other Backward Classes 20%
4 Minorities 9.5%
Total 49.5%
* The term minorities will include the communities namely (i) Muslims, (ii)
Christians, (iii) Sikhs,
(iv) Buddhists, (v) Zoroastrians (Parsis).
54
** Out of this 49.5% there will be sub quota of 10% for freedom fighters &
women including war widows & widows of railway employees and another
sub quota of 2% will be for physically challenged people. Within 49.5% of
total reservation 2% sub quota will be provided to this persons who have
been dislocated/ displaced due to their land having been taken over by the
railways for its own use.

The sub quota of 10% for freedom fighters & women including war widows
& widows of Railway employees, sub quota of 2% for physically & Mentally
challenged people will also apply in the general category of 50.5%.

TENURE

TENURE OF MAJOR UNITS & GENERAL MINOR UNITS

1. Tenure of all major units including Food Courts, Fast Food
units (except Food Plazas, Base Kitchens and AVMs) will be
for a period of 5 years. There will be no renewals.
2. Tenure of AVMs will be made for a period of 5 years. There
will be no renewals as per policy as these are major units.
3. Allotments of all General units at A, B & C category stations
shall be awarded for a period of 5 years with a provision for
renewal after every 3 years on satisfactory performance and
payment of all dues and arrears and withdrawal of court
cases, if any
4. Tenure of Food Plaza will be for 9 years with an extension of
3 years on satisfactory performance and payment of all dues
and arrears and withdrawal of court cases, if any.
5. All efforts must be made to manage the services
departmentally at the earliest.
TENURE OF SPECIAL MINOR UNITS

1. Special Minor units at A, B and C stations shall be awarded for a

period of 5 years with a renewal every after 3 years on satisfactory
performance and payment of all dues and arrears and withdrawal
of court cases, if any.
2. Special Minor units at D, E & F category stations shall be awarded
for a period of 5 years on satisfactory performance and payment of
all dues and arrears and withdrawal of court cases, if any. How
ever be made at the time of renewal to ensure a minimum increase
of 10% over the prevailing license fee.
3. License fee will be reassessed and revised at the time of each
renewal

55
RENEWAL

Renewal will not be a matter of right. The license must apply for renewal
minimum 6 (six) months in advance before the expiry of the contract.
Renewal will be based on the following:-

1. Satisfactory performance of the license during the tenure of the

contract. An imposition of fine/warnings on more than 5 occasions
will result in rejection of the application for renewal.
2. Payment of all dues/arrears – No dues certificate from the
concerned authority, must be attached along with the application
for renewal.
3. The application must submit the documents afresh along with the
renewal application.
4. The annual confidential reports (ACRs) on catering performance
will be modified in accordance with this policy. The detailed
instructions on ACRs will be issued by the Railway Board.
5. The license fee shall be revised and reassessed at the time of each
renewal subject to a minimum increase of 10% of the existing
license fee.

FIXATION OF LICENSE FEE

1. For fixing the license fee, a committee comprising three SA Grade

officers from Commercial, Finance and Civil Engineering shall be
nominated by the General Manager which shall fix the formula for
each category of stations.
2. Minimum license fee will be fixed as 12% of the estimated annual
sales turnover for static units, mobile units of ordinary
Mail/Express trains & premium supper fast trains and 15% for
Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto trains of the annual sales turnover
based on actual occupancy figures certified by the train
superintendent.
3. At the time of renewal of license, license fee should be
enhanced/reassessed based on actual sales turnover of the unit.
License fee will be reassessed and revised at the time of each
renewal subject to a minimum of 10% increase over the prevailing
license fee of the unit.
4. No operational charges like haulage/ maintenance/ detention etc. in
case of mobile services will be recoverable from the licenses.
5. Minimum license fee will be fixed by Zonal Railways (CCMs) for all
major units (except food Plazas, Fast Food units and Food Courts).

CEILING LIMITS ON HOLDING OF CATERING LICENSES

56
 Zonal Railway shall maintain a data base of the various catering
establishments to ensure that the under mentioned ceiling on holding of
catering licenses are complied with. The data base should be reconciled on a
regular basis. As and when a tender is finalized, the information may be
circulated to all concerned for updating the data base. Railways shall
consolidate and circulate a list of all catering establishment as on 1st
January of each year to be circulated latest by 31st March of that year. Such
information should uploaded regularly to the websites of the Railways.

TRANSFER OF LICENSE

Transfer of license to the spouse/legal heir would be allowed only in

the event of death of the original licensee. The license can be transferred in
the name of spouse/legal heir for the unexpired period of the agreement
only.

APPLICABILITY OF THE NEW POLICY:

1. The revised catering policy will be applicable with immediate

effect immediate effect i.e. from the date of issue. This policy
supersedes all prior policy circulars issued from time to time
unless specifically referred to in this policy document.
2. All existing operational catering license awarded by IRCTC
and transferred to Zonal Railways will be governed by the
existing Catering Policy 2005 upto the validity of their
contractual period.
3. The tenders for which the letters of allotment have been
issued, but the contracts have not operationalised or the
services have never commenced upto the date of issue of this
policy, will have no force in law.
4. All existing operational license awarded and managed by
IRCTC would henceforth be transferred to Zonal Railways
within a period of three (3) months in a phased manner, for
their management and monitoring.
5. Zonal Railways will ensure recovery of all due license fees
from the transferred contracts in case of contracts under
litigation; IRCTC will continue to represent on behalf of Zonal
Railways for the court cases where IRCTC has been named as
Respondent in consultation with Zonal Railways for further
disposals.

57
 6. Zonal Railways will intimate the process of taking over by
departmental management or award of fresh license under
this policy for the existing operational contracts for which the
tenure has been completed or the performance in
unsatisfactory.

Claims/Prevention:--

As other organizations Rly. Itself also

suffers a great loss due to leakage either in the form of claims
compensation. That’s why prevention of accident to trains and so also
the loss of Rly. Revenue claims &its compensation have become a
permanent phenomenon of the Rly. and also a headache.
If we consider the loss of Rly. happens
through train accident then it will not be out of place to mention that
claims and its compensation is considered as a economical accident.
But only difference between the two is that both are the either side of
a coin, if one (accident )is caused , claims and its compensation is the
effect with other non observance of commercial rules moreover both
are to be cope with by following the concerned departmental
principles.
In case of failure of operational system
serious accident occurs leading to payment of huge compensation and
so a huge claims may arise and inevitable for non following of
complaints of commercial rules and regulation in respect of
transportation/carriage of traffic. So the factors accident and claims
are due to human failure. Therefore the correct attention to follow
rules, rates etc. should be only recipe to avoid claims (accident too).
As we have known that packing, labeling
,marking ,acceptance ,examinations etc. of goods are essential factors
in commercial rules /works which should be given one respect. It is
due to ignorance of the commercial staff in regard to rules, rates and
general intelligency Rly.has to compensate a great loss.
The following are the reasons for claims (which fall under three main
heads ):----
a) Shortage:--It is due to theft or pilferage done by the miscreants,
accident (operational) and rough handling.
b) Damage: -- It is due to non judicious selection of wagons and use of
non -water tight wagon during the rainy season causing damage to
the consignments, rough handling of packages and accident.
c) Non-delivery: -- It is due to consignments going connected due to
non compliance of packing ,labeling and marking rules prescribed.

Remedy: -- In order to eradicate the above problems , the following

precautions must be adopted.

58
 a) In order to eradicate shortage due to theft and pilferage Rly.
protection force should be vigilant and sufficient number of RPF staff
should be deployed specially in yard to avoid theft (in yard and in
trains ).
b) In order to stop damage to consignments judicious selection of
wagons should be made and careful loading of packages to avoid breakage
or damage, rough handling of packages should be avoided . Packages to be
loaded carefully and evenly.Dunnage bags should be provided on the doors
and wherever necessary.

Prevention in respect to non – delivery :

To prevent non – delivery strict compliance of the rules of packing, labeling
and marking is necessary and inevitable. Packing conditions for different
commodities must be complied with. In case the conditions are not complied
with properly as per rules, remarks of the actual condition of packages
must be got noted by the consignor is the forwarding note and the same
should be copied out in the invoices.

Utility of Packing : --
1) Protect the contents.
2) Easy handling.
3) Saves space.
4) Tampering difficult.
5) Space of marking.
6) Withstand strain.
7) Avoid claims.

Procedure for settlement of claims in Claims Office

The Station where the consignment is suppose to reach, the claim amount
is normally paid by the Railway under which the destination station lies.
The claim later on prescribed form along with the enclosure if any, by
the consignee, are first received by the dealing clerk who deals with the
claim case of a particular Division. The claim case file is maintained by the
dealer during the processing of claim.
In the course of processing the claims thus preferred, the following
sections are involved.
i) General Record Section
ii) Central Record Section.
iii) Statistical Section
iv) Dealing Section including Rate verification.
v) Accounts section.
vi) Final record section.

59
 (i) General Record Section: Claim letter along with an
enclosure if any, are first received by the section. Claims are
sent by the party in two ways -
a) By hand delivery.
b) Through postal delivery ( registered with A/D, normal postage)
In the first phase (hand to hand), claims directly come to this section.
After the scrutiny of the claim, a claim serial no. is posted on the
claim letter. This serial no. is between 000001-099999 and this
number is reset in every financial year i.e. April to March. In second
case (registered with A/D and normal post), claim serial no. will be
between 100001-199999 for every financial year.

In both cases a date, stamp is put on the claim letter. At the end of
the day, a entry is made on the Letter Register which contain receipt
date, starting and ending serial no. of the day etc. and signature of
the receiving clerk.

(ii) Central Record Section: Claim letter comes to the

respective section from the general record section along with
the diary stock register and a claim file is open.
The claim case file is thus open against the claim letter as received
by the general record section. Therefore the claim case file is sent
to the statistical section for recording the case information.
(iii) Statistical Section: After arrival of the claim case file to
this section, an entry is made in commodity register.
Top sheet preferred claim Form- I is filled with the statistical
number as per details at the back cover of the claim case file and
sent to the machine section for recording the case information.
Top sheet settle claim Form-II is also print with the same
statistical number as above for each case and attached with the
claim file.
The claim file is sent to the respective dealing clerk as
mentioned in the claim page at the dealing section.

(iv) Dealing Section: The claim case file come to this section
from the statistical section. Section wise claim cases are
entered in the Sectional Intake Register.
The dealer studies the claim case and send the case file along
with primary report to the higher authority. The informations
that are primarily looked for are
The date of booking of consignment and the date of receipt of
claim letter and the title of the consignee in the
R.R/P.W.Bill/L.T.
Further enquiries are made at the destination station or
anywhere on Indian Railways according to the merit of the case.

60
 The file abstracts are sent to the concerned Railway Inspectors.
The claim Inspector, while inquiring at the destination station
and other points, collects the necessary documents related to a
particular claim case. After the enquiry, the details along with
the claim file or report come to the dealer.

(v) Accounts Section: The claim file is sent to the Accounts

section with –
The original claim letter,
the top sheet (settled claim)
the relevant documents collected by the Inspector.
All intermediate orders given by the authority, final orders
regarding disposal of the case, Pay Advice in case of disposal by
payment.
The Pay Order issued to the party are prepared based on
the Pay Advice and the mode of payment “A/C Payee” Pay order.
The Pay Order No. and date is posted in the monthly
payment register, R.R/P.W.Bill attached at the backing of the
claim file for further reference. The dealing section sent the
claim file with all its documents attached to the “Final Record
Section” where the file store for further reference.

(vi) Final Record Section: The claim case file received form the
dealing section are arranged in a particular way division wise in different
rakes so that they can be supplied as and when required by the authority.

PUBLIC COMPLAINTS

REASONS
1. Supply of wrong information.
2. Failure in maintenance of amenities.
3. Misbehavior of commercial staff including irregular activities.
4. Charging of fare and freight not as per rule.
5. Misbehaviors of Ticket Checking staff.
6. Undue preference.
7. Improper behavior.
8. Late running of train.
9. Loss of punctuality of train on run.
10. Deficiency of tools.

EFFECTS

1. In efficiency.
2. Damage of reputation as a Organization.
3. Management failure.

61
COMPLAINT RECORDING POINTS
1. Complaint Book.
2. Complaint Box.
3. Postal Correspondence
4. May I help you Booth or Public Grievance Redressal Booth.
5. Personal Interview or Contact.
METHOD OF RECORDING COMPLAINTS
1. In the complaint books, complaints are recorded. The book is bound
with 100 pages, each page having 3 foils namely (a) passenger (b) DCM and
(c) Record and is prepared by carbon paper by the passenger himself.
DCM’s copy is sent to DCM with proper remarks.
2. Complaint boxes are available at certain nominated stations under
the disposal of nominated officers. Complaints entered in the boxes dealt
with personally by the nominated officers.
3. At important stations, public grievance redressal booth / May I help
you Booths are available for instant action on the complaints received from
the Railway users. On receipt of the complaints the Booth in co-ordination
immediately attends these with associated departments without delay so
that passengers are not harassed or inconvenienced.
4. In addition to the above, passengers may record their grievances
directly to the DRM or DCM or GM for taking up immediate action
In order to avoid public complaints the available resources must be up
dated. Immediate action should be taken on receipt of any complain
received at any corner.
If any complaint lodged by an MP in the complaint book, the same must be
sent to the Secretary to GM for action.
Moreover, reasonableness of development of amenities should be taken care
of. Above all public relation is of highest importance. Every individual of
this organization should ensure that users are valued customer and there
fore salesmanship, showmanship and sales development are the three
important factors, which must be kept in mind for development of the
business.

STATION OUTSTANDING

Station outstanding represents those amounts for which the station is

accountable but has failed to liquidate the same either by remitting in cash
/ voucher or taking spl.credit during the month.

Major items of outstanding and measures to be taken for their

clearance are indicated below: -

SL ITEMS CLEARANCE
No.

62
 Imp rest cash It is cleared by remitting in cash only
01. when withdrawn.

02. Disallowance by Cashier By remitting in cash (Base coin)

Error sheet - This is cleared on the spot by remitting
(a) Admitted cash and by taking special credit when
recovered from salary.
03. Error sheet - This is cleared by taking spl.credit on
(b) Objected the strength of Credit Advice i or to be
transferred to admitted side if objection
is not valid and cleared accordingly.
Freight on to pay (a) Collecting freight charges when
Consign-ment on hand delivered,
awaiting for Delivery or
(b) taking special Credit when the
consigment, having
been rebooked and-
04. awaiting delivery
transferred to L.P.O
or,
(c) Utilizing sale proceeds when
consignment
auctioned.

Freight on to-pay Cleared as and when they are received

consign- ment not on and delivered to the consignee on
hand, the Invoice/way collection of the freight charges or by
05.
bills for which have been taken special credit when diverted /lost/
accounted for stolen.

Freight on to- pay The freight charges outstanding in

Consign-ment delive- red connection with the consign-ment
at the siding awaiting delivered in the sidings will be cleared
payment of the freight When payment in respect of such
06. charge by the siding users Consignments are received at the
station.

Freight on to-pay The outstanding will be cleared by an

Consign-ment,requiring over charge sheet certificate
overcharge sheets due to certified by the station whom the debit
07.
consignment, having does not lie.
diver-ted to other station
or over carried to or
63
 returned by other Rlys
Freight on to-pay invoices
not appearing in the
delivery books and
copied out from MPA
08.
Demurrage or
wharf age charge
09.
The freight outstanding in connection
with the to-pay invoices not appearing
in the delivery book but copied out
there in form MPA will be cleared by
taking special credit in the Balance
sheet sending a copy of reply, received
from the forwarded station in reply to
their enquiry, to the traffic Account
office along with the Balance sheet in
support of the credit taken.
The outstanding in connection with
Demurrage and Wharfage charges will
be cleared when the amount is collected
at the station or when the proper
remission statement is received from
the competent authority (when
waived/fore gone).

Other misce-llaneous These are cleared by remitting cash

Including unsold when the items are sold.
10. Indemnity notes, Time-
tables, tariffs etc.

UN-CLAIMED CONSIGNMENT

The consignment which are connected with the booking document but
cannot be delivered for not turning up of the consignee are called unclaimed
consignment

REASONS
Consignments do become unclaimed normally for the following
reasons:-
o Fall of market price of the item.
o Lack of storage facility by the consignee.
o Inability of the consignee to pay the Railway dues.
o Involvement of W/C or, D/C.
o Possibility apprehension due to mis-declaration.
o Loss of Railway receipt.
o Abnormal delay in arriving the consignment.
o Consignment left behind by any Rail user etc.

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 Rules for disposal.

 Subject to exception irrespective of perishable consignment,

unclaimed goods are kept on hand at the station to which it is booked
for a period, of not less than one month.
 During the above period, notice under section 83/84 of the Railway
Act, 1989 has to be served on consignee/ consignor/ SM of the booking
station, as the case may be to take delivery of the consignment within
7 days from the date of receipt of the notice.
 Unclaimed articles are liable to W/C, D/C as well as to all freight and
special expenditure, if any incurred by the Railway for custody and
disposal of the same.
 If the consignment is not taken delivery within the time limit
mentioned on the notice, the packages will be opened in presence of
RPF staff taking proper inventory and the matter reported to the Sr.
DCM for orders regarding disposal.
 Normally unclaimed articles are sold on auction.
 At least 7 days previous notice should be given through News Paper,
notice board etc. before conducting auction.
 Perishable consignments are sold on auction after the expiry of 24
Hrs. or earlier, if they are, or, are likely to become offensive.
 In case packages are found having seen` left behind by Railway user,
the same may be returned without any commercial charge.
 When auction sales are conducted, the Railway Administration shall
out of sale proceeds, retain a sum equal to freight and other charges
including expenses for the sale and the surplus, if any, of such sale
proceed shall be rendered to the person entitled there by.
 Unclaimed articles are some time sent to the LPO also with specific
orders of the competent authority but the following items are never
sent to the LPO which are to be disposed of as indicated below :-
Arms, Ammunition, Explosives to be handed over to the police.

Intoxicating substance Excise deptt.

UNCONNECTED CONSIGNMENT

The consignments which do not bear any booking particulars,

label, marks and there by cannot be delivered to the rightful owner are
called unconnected consignment: -

The reasons of Un connection are as follows: -

a) Absence of label and mark.

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 b) Non-provision of transit invoice inside the wagon in case of foreign
goods traffic.
c) Non- maintenance of proper records of the Junction / Transshipment /
Repacking points etc. regarding movement of the wagon etc.
d) Non – receipt / loss of invoice / Railway receipt.

Measures to prevent it:-

1. Instructions regarding labeling and marking should be strictly
followed.
2. Transit invoice should always accompany the consignment.
3. Address slip inside the package should be provided.
4. Invoice / through invoice should be dispatched to the destination
immediately after booking.
5. Proper records should be maintained at every point including
transshipment/ repacking / junction points.
6. Frequent checks should be conducted at Junction /intermediate
points to see whether the consignments are bearing label/mark etc.
7.Guard of the train must not accept any consignment without booking
particulars.

Rules for disposal & dealing of unconnected

consignments

The following procedures should be followed for dealing of unconnected

consignment :-
 The particulars whatever available on the packages/ wagons should
be recorded in the unconnected register maintained separately for
smalls and wagon load ( Such as wagon no, Train no, date by which
received, no of package, weight etc.).
 Weight of the consignment in case of smalls must be taken and
recorded.
 Message will be issued immediately to the Train originating ,
intermediate important Junction, Station, Transshipment repacking
point etc. with copy to Sr. DCM, commercial controller, CCO etc. for
backward tracing.
 In case of wagon load consignment, if no reply is received within 72
Hrs., the wagon must not be detained beyond this time.
 The wagon will be opened in presence of RPF staff and if any clue
such as transit invoice, Paste- on- label, marking on the package is
available, the wagon will be connected and dealt with accordingly.
 If no clue can be made available inside the wagon, the consignments
will be unloaded maintaining proper records and the matter informed
to the Sr. DCM for further orders.
 In case smalls, if no reply is received within a reasonable time the
package will be opened in presence of RPF staff taking proper

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 inventory. If any clue such as- address tag, package guidance etc, is
available inside the package, the consignment will be dealt with
accordingly. If however, no particular for connection of the
consignment is available inside the package, the matter will be
referred to Sr. DCM seeking order regarding its disposal.

Un connected consignments are normally disposed of the

following manner.:-

o By effecting match delivery, if there, remains similar type of

consignment due by any other consignee at the station.
o By offering the consignment to the Railway / other Gov’t.
department for their use.
o By Public auction.
o By sending to L.P.O. excepting wagonload consignment Arms/
ammunition, contraband goods, explosives/ dangerous goods/
intoxicating substance etc.
o In case of unconnected perishable consignment, the same are
disposed of through auction within 24 Hrs, or earlier depending
upon the condition of the consignments.
o A statement of all the unconnected wagons load consignment other
consignments should be made as every 1st and 15th in triplicate of
which one is sent to CCO’s office, one to Sr. DCM and the other is
kept as record.
o When any unconnected consignment is connected/ disposed of
suitable remarks is furnished against the relevant entry in
unconnected register.

WITHDRAWAL OF STATION EARNINGS

As per the following cases station earnings can be withdrawn.

1. Encashment of Cheque issued by FA&CAO.

2. Payment to complied with the P.W.Act in certain cases.
3. Payment of handling charges at station where station master
is the Handling contractor.
4. Encashment of pay order.
5. Payment against voucher or other document issued by the
competent authority.
6. Refund of wagon registration fee.
7. Departmental expenditure due to flood, accident or earth-
quick.
8. Refund of deposit money of Rs.5.00 to license porter .
9. Refund of fare.

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 10. Payment of commission to Halt agents, Etc.

GUIDELINE FOR OPENING OF HALT STATION

While sending Railway’s comments on the proposals for opening of halt

stations, the following information should invariably be given.

1. Inter-distance between the proposed site and adjoining stations.

2. Operational feasibility. In case the proposal is not found
operationally feasible, the exact constraints should be clearly
defined. The sectional capacity and its utilization should
invariably be given.
3. Engineering feasibility. The problem, if any, should be clearly
defined.
4. Availability of road transport.
5. Financial implications (vetted by Associated Finance).

A. (i) Fresh and diverted traffic per annum and total earnings there form.
(i) Other earnings per annum, if any.
(ii) Total earnings.

B. (i) Capital cost of establishing the halt without shramdan.

(ii) Whether shramdan offered by the local people (any written commitment
given may be specifically mentioned).
(iii) Capital cost involved with shramdan.

C.(i) Expenditure on repairs and maintenance @ 3% and amount.

(ii) Depreciation on the capital cost @7% and amount.
(iii) Commission payable to the contractor Rs. 500/- p.m. and
amount.
(iv) Cost of consumable stores Rs. 500/-.
(v) Interest on capital cost @ 7% and amount.
(vi) Cost of stoppage of one pair of train (detailed calculation for
arriving at this figure to be clearly spelt out).
(vii) Other expenditure, if any.
(viii) Total anticipated expenditure excluding the cost of
establishing the halt.
6. Gain/Loss (i.e. difference of 5A(iii) – 5C(viii).
(i) Gain/Loss excluding the cost of stoppage of one pair of train.
7. Recommendation of the Railway.

POLICY GUIDLINE FOR OPENING OF PRS

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The following guidelines are followed for opening of PRS at a location –

1. There shall be transaction of 100 passengers per day at a station.

2. There shall be at least one PRS in every civil District.
3. Free of cost accommodation at non-rail head shall be made.
4. Other costs will be borne by the Railway itself.
5. Important tourists, hill-stations or pilgrimages other than above may
qualify for PRS.
6. A Railway station without PRS within a vicinity of 50 kms may qualify
for a PRS.
7. Metro cities with population of 4 Lakhs or more may get additional PRS.
8. No new PRS at universities, Airports, Institutions, Courts etc will be
encouraged.
9. Manning of non-rail head locations by State Govt. under conditions may
be allowed.
10. PRS in post offices by postal staff may be manned.
11. PRS centers for armed forces under the Ministry of Defence at remote
locations are also taken into account.
12. Closure of non-rail head locations manned by Railway staff is
considered in certain cases.

PRS at remote Defence locations.

1. Ministry of Defence shall apply.

2. Provision of enclosed space.
3. All costs for opening to be borne by itself.
4. Payment of an advance lumpsum of Rs. 5 Lakhs.
5. The amount includes maintenance cost also.
6. No annual charge to be paid.
7. Manning of counter by the Defence itself.
8. Use of PRS by general public.

Policy Guideline on ATM

The following guidelines are followed for opening of ATM at a location –

1. ATM will be installed at all “A1” and “A” class stations to withdraw the
cash and deposit cash/Cheque by the customer through their credit cards
to avail the facility.

2. ATMs will be installed and operated by reputed Banks which will be

selected through press advertisement.

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3. The Bank should be selected by two packet tenders—technical bid and
financial bid.

4. A committee of JA grade officers belonging to Commercial, Accounts and

Engineering department will be formed for evaluation the offers.
5. Recommendation of the committee should be approved by concern
division’s DRM.

6. The agreement will be signed by the Chief Traffic Manager / Sr.DOM on

behalf of the President of India.

7. License fee / reserve price for utilization of railway premises for ATM
will be fixed as per commercial land license fee.

8. The contract for ATMs shall be limited to 5 years and can be renewed
after expiry of the period if applied within 90 days from the date of expiry
of the license.

9. The Bank must have at least 3 ATM operating in the city serving the
station where it is proposed to install.

10. The Bank must have sufficient client of ATM and credit cards and good
market share.

11. The Bank must have a minimum experience in the field of ATM in
India, at least one year.

12. offers will have to be submitted by the Bank along with a demand draft
as earnest money in favour of Sr.DAO of the concerned Division.

13. Offers should be submitted in sealed cover addressed to the DRM of the
concerned Division with duly superscripted “ OFFERS FOR
INSTALLATION OF AUTOMETIC TELLER MACHINE AT ---------------
----- STATIONS

Policy Guideline on STD/PCO

The following guidelines are followed for opening of STD / PCO at a location
1. Only educated un-employed persons are eligible to apply for allotment
PCOs with the certificate of MPs/MLAs,Revenue authorities, Panchayat,
secretary of Rotary Club, Lions club etc.

2. The educational qualifications of the applicant for rural areas must be 8th
middle school pass and above, and urban areas – matriculation or high
school and above.

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3. Applicant is to be submitted application in the prescribed form with the
un-employed certificate.

4. A committee will select the applicants for allotment of STD/PCOs.

5. The committee will allot the PCOs giving preference to following persons
with location.-
i) Handicapped including Blind persons.
ii) SC / ST applicants.
iii) Ex-servicemen / War widows
iv)Retired DOT employees or their dependents.
v)Dependents of Freedom Fighters.
vi)Charitable Institutions / Hospitals.

6) Committee will be formed with headed by a Chairman, an officer from

Finance $ accounts wings , 3 non-official members are nominated by the
Ministry for a period 2 years.

7) One applicant should be provided with only STD pay-phone with an

electronic exchange only.

8)The opening hours of PCOs would be at least from -- 6 A.M to 10 P.M.

9) The allotees of PCOs will be entitled to get 20 paisa per call upto 10000
call units, 15 paisa per call beyond 10000 to 20000 units, 10 paisa per call
beyond 20000 call units as commission for a period one month.

10) Allottee will deposit the entire collection of the day after deducting his
commission to the Bank / Post office account in the name of Department of
Telecom.

11) The allottee will also deposit 05 paisa per call unit in this account daily
as security deposit till the amount becomes equal to Rs.5000/- in respect of
Urban PCOs and Rs. 620/- in case of Rural PCOs or average of one month
revenue whichever is higher. (as per the previous 6 month revenue).

12) Rate of the pulses should be displayed prominently by the allottee of

PCOs
13) Incoming call facility will be allowed on all STD / PCOs.

14) Periodical surprise check should be done to see that the allottee realised
the charges from the customer as per guideline of department of Telecom.
Policy Guideline on - CYBER CAFÉ
The following guidelines are followed for opening of a CYBER CAFÉ

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1) The main object of this scheme is to formed with a view to expand,
modernize and make commercial utilization to Telecom facilities on
the Railway through RCIL( Rail Tel Corporation Of India Limited)

2) The number of Cyber Café at station will be decided by the RCIL with
the consultation of the zonal railway.

3) Booths will be operated by selected booth operators and selection will

be made by RCIL.

4) Minimum Educational qualification for operators will be Graduation

and age not less than 18 years.

5) Out of total number of Café of zonal railway, 50% of the Café will be
*reservation quota and rest 50% Café will be un- reserved quota.
(*educational un-employed youth, physical handicapped, women
including war widows and railway employee widow, SC, ST, OBC)

6) Initially, Cyber Cafes will be set up by RCIL at A1,A,B,C- category

station.

7) The design, size and location of the Café will be decided by RCIL with
the consultation of zonal railway.

8) Services, such as- High speed Internet Browsing, E-mail, Audio Video
chatting, Internet telephony, Video conferencing using ISDN lines,
printing/scanning/photo copying/Fax will be provided by RCIL.

9) The Franchise period for running of the Café will be not more than 5
years. ( Further extension may be granted.)

10) Railway will get 25% share out of the gross revenue of RCIL.

11) A proper agreement will be signed by RCIL and the Franchise

operator.

12) There should be periodical check on the service being provided.

13) Quarterly statement of amount due and paid by RCIL should be

prepared jointly by accounts and commercial department.

14) An officer should be nominated at Divisional / Zonal railway HQ to

monitor for timely payment by RCIL, performance of service etc.
********************

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