150 Northern Railway officials felicitated

New Delhi, Apr 10 (UNI) About 150 Northern Railway officials were felicitated today for their outstanding contribution to the organisation in the year gone by.

Thirty Shields were also given by General Manager, Northern Railway Vinoo N Mathur to different divisions and departments for outstanding work, on the occasion of the 51st Railway Week to commemorate the first train run on the Indian sub-continent which took place from Bori Bunder to Thane on April 16, 1853.

The awards ceremony, attended by the AGM, S P Singh, Senior Railway Officials, office bearers of the Railway Unions, Federations and Associations along with Railway employees, was held at Vigyan Bhawan.

Elaborating the action plan for the year ahead (2006-07), Mr Mathur stated that the thrust areas would be improvement in the quality of services to the passengers, upgradation of facilities at nominated stations which will include introduction of UTS counters at more stations and improvement of cleanliness, lighting, platform surface, circulating area, waiting halls etc. Coach maintenance facilities and the length of several platforms will also be done during the year.

In keeping with the directives of Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad 'touch and feel' factors will be improved at stations and trains on a priority, he said.

The year 2005-06 was eventful in terms of performance for Northern Railway. There was improvement in operating efficiency as the overall through put went up to 27,084 wagons per day, registering a growth over 5 per cent from the through put of the previous year, 25774 wagons.

Passenger earnings increased by 11.8 per cent, other coaching earning by 24.7 per cent, goods earning by 1.7 per cent and Sundry earnings by 475 per cent up to February 2006. The total originating passengers on Northern Railway went up by 11.6 per cent.

Construction work on new railway lines progressed significantly over the zone which included the doubling of some sections on Jalandhar - Pathankot - Jammu Tawi section and the completion of a new Railway line between Chandigarh- Morinda.

Northern Railway Sports persons had an outstanding year by winning Gold Medals in the All Indian Railway Championship. Six Northern Railway Sports persons represented India in the Commonwealth games, winning a Gold and Silver Medal in Boxing.

Four Women Hockey players of Northern Railway played with the Silver Medal winning team of the Commonwealth Games.

In appreciation of the performance of Northern Railway for the year 2005-06, the Northern Railway was awarded Rs one crore.

UNI AR YA VC2115