NE BUSINESS BUREAU
CHENNAI, NOV 6
Railway Board Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Suneet Sharma, on Saturday lauded the achievements of the Southern Railway and exhorted the officers to focus on safety as well as staff welfare.
Shri Suneet Sharma, Chairman and CEO, Railway Board visited Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.
During his visit, he inspected the production of Vande Bharat Express coaches. pic.twitter.com/7ZIqnQBVAc— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) November 6, 2021
He chaired a review meeting at Southern Railway Headquarters with BG Mallya, General Manager (In-charge), Principal Heads of Departments of Southern Railway and DRM, Chennai Division. DRMs of the other five Divisions – Salem, Madurai, Tiruchchirappalli, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram joined the review meeting virtually, an official release here said.
Chairman and CEO, Railway Board, Shri.Suneet Sharma visited Chennai Central station and inspected Pasumai 3.0, the energy efficient shunting locomotive, developed by Loco shed, Arakkonam. He also lauded the freight marketing and energy conservation measures of Chennai division. pic.twitter.com/adrvdK3UYA
— DRM Chennai (@DrmChennai) November 6, 2021
A presentation was made to him regarding the various developments and achievements of the Southern Railway. In his address, Sharma ”lauded the efforts of Southern Railway and exhorted officers to focus on safety and employees’ welfare,” it said.
He also met representatives of the recognised union and various staff and officers associations.
Earlier, Suneet Sharma inspected the new PRS Data Centre at Chennai Moore Market Complex commissioned at a cost of Rs 14.31 Crore granted by Railway Board. During his inspection, J Vinayan, Chief Commercial Manager (Passenger Marketing) explained the functioning of Portable Unreserved Ticketing System (P-UTS) developed by Southern Railway which will ease the issue of unreserved tickets at halt stations, remote locations, at melas and large congregations. This P-UTS system is presently under off-field trial in Southern Railway with the approval of Railway Board.
Among others, Sharma inspected PASUMAI 3.0, the dual-mode Locomotive at Dr MGR Chennai Central that was inducted into service recently.
”The Chairman lauded the eco-friendly, cost-effective initiative of the zone in launching PASUMAI (green) series of locomotives,” which runs on diesel as well as electricity, the release said.
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) November 6, 2021
Sharma also visited the Integral Coach Factory at Perambur here and inspected the production of coaches for India’s first semi-high speed train set Vande Bharat Express, as per the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw .
The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai plans to launch the third rake of Vande Bharat Express in March 2022.
Suneet who reviewed the work with ICF General Manager A K Agarwal and other senior officials in the morning expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the Linke Hofmann Busch coaches and urged Team ICF to lead the project from the front.
The CRB/Chief Executive Officer also announced an award of ₹1 lakh to ICF staff in recognition of their good work.
Suneet expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the much-anticipated project of building 102 Vande Bharat trains for use across the country.
In addition to the Vande Bharat replica, the Chennai-based production unit is expected to roll out the first prototype of the Vande Bharat train with 16 coaches in March, followed by the second prototype in April next year, according to the ICF.
Suneet Sharma also met representatives of recognised union and various associations of staff and officers.
