CITIZEN’S CHARTER

 OF

COMMISSION OF RAILWAY SAFETY

 

1. INTRODUCTION TO THE ORGANISATION:       

           

            The Commission of Railway Safety, working under the administrative control of  the  Ministry  of  Civil  Aviation  of    the  Government of  India,  deals with matters pertaining   to safety of rail travel and  train operation  and  is charged with  certain  statutory  functions  as laid  down  in the Railways Act (1989), which are of an inspectorial,   investigatory  &  advisory  nature.   The Commission functions according to certain rules viz. Statutory investigation into accidents rules  framed  under  the  Railways Act  and executive instructions issued from time to time.  The most important duties of the Commission is to ensure that any new Railway line to be opened for passenger traffic should conform to the standards and specifications prescribed by the Ministry of Railways and the new line is safe in all respects for carrying of passenger  traffic. This is also applicable to other works such as gauge conversion, doubling of lines and electrification of existing lines. Commission also conducts statutory inquiry into serious train accidents occurring on the Indian Railways and makes recommendations for improving safety on the Railways in India.

 

2       SERVICES AND DUTIES:

           

                2.1        The duties of a Commissioner of Railway Safety as spelt out in Chapter            III of the Railways Act 1989 are as under:-

•     to  inspect  new  railways   with  a view to determine whether they  are fit to   be opened  for  the public carriage of   passengers, and  to report    thereon to the Central Government as required by or under this Act;
•     to make such periodical or other inspections of any railway  or of any  rolling stock used thereon as the Central                 Government may direct;
•     to  make  inquiry   under  this Act into the cause of any accident on a Railway;  to perform  such  other duties as are          imposed on him by this   Act or  any  other enactment  for the time being in force  relating to Railways.

2 .2     The  term “such other duties” has been detailed in Sections  22 to 24 of the Act and covers the  following:-

•     sanctioning the opening of new railway lines after  inspection on behalf of the Central Government;
•     sanctioning  the  execution  of  all  works, including new works, affecting the safety of running lines;
•     when, after inspecting  a line already in use or a rolling stock already  authorised, the  Commissioner  is  of the opinion     that  their  continued   use will be attended with  danger  to the  travelling  public,   he  may  report  his opinion  to the     Central government, who may then order the closure   of the line or  the discontinuance of the use of rolling stock; and
•     to  inspect   such  a closed line and sanction its   re- opening  for carriage of passengers  and  also  report to the               Central  Govt.on the fitness for use of discontinued rolling stock.

2.3    The  Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety  directs the  activities of the Organisation and is responsible for advising the   Central Government in  all  matters relating to Railway Safety, recruitment of officers, postings and promotions, budget and expenditure etc.  The Chief Commissioner deals principally with:-

• Matters   appurtenant   to  Field  Inspections and statutory inquiries into accidents;
• Inspection Reports of Commissioners of Railway Safety;
• Reports of  statutory inquiries held into accidents by the Commissioners. After careful study he forwards his   considered   opinion  to   the  Controlling  Ministry  and  the Railway Board with such recommendations as he considers necessary;
• Railway Board’s  suggestions  pertaining to corrections or amendments  to General Rules, Rules for  Opening of a  Railway,  Schedule   of  Dimensions, the  P. Way, Bridge and Signal Engineering Manuals,  Procedures  for inquiries into accidents,  Codes  of Practice for Engineering Works and other publications; and
• Preparation  of  the    Annual  Report on the working of the Commission of Railway Safety and its placement in each House of Parliament.   
• All  the  Technical publications indicated in para above including orders issued by Railway Board from time to time.

2.4    Field  duties  of the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety consist of inspections  of  sections  of  Railways, visits to the Railway Headquarters and Divisional Offices, Railway installations and Circle Offices.  If considered necessary by him, he may himself hold inquiries into important accidents.

 

3          NORMS SET FOR DISCHARGE OF ITS DUTIES:

         Normal Time period of various activities is outlined below. These are indicative only and vary from case to case depending on  special features etc.

3.1       Inspection of new lines, doubling, Gauge conversion etc. prior to introduction of passenger traffic: -  Inspection of line by CRS within one month of submission of documents by the Railways on mutually agreed date between CRS and the Railway Administration.

Authorization by CRS after the inspection                      - D+7 days

Submission of the Final Inspection report to CCRS      - D+60 days

Submission of the case to Railway Board by CCRS     - D+90 days

‘D’ is the last day of the inspection.

3.2       Investigation into serious Railway accidents:-   ‘A’-Day of accident.

A+3-    The CRS will commence his inquiry.

A+10-    The CRS will forward a brief preliminary narrative report and the provisional finding to –                   (i)Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety

                     (ii) General Manager of the Railway concerned.

(iii) Secretary, Railway Board;

A copy of the Preliminary report shall be sent to Press Information Bureau alongwith a Press Note for publication in the Newspapers etc.

A+60-    The Commissioner of Railway Safety will submit his detailed report to the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety and forward a copy of the report each to the Authorities mentioned in Rule 4 of the Statutory Investigation into Railway Accidents Rules, 1998. After receipt of Comments of Railway Administration CCRS note, containing his remarks on accident enquiry report as well as Railways comments is prepared and is sent to Railway Board generally within 30 days of receipt of Railways comments.

3.3    Proposals requiring Railway Board’s Sanction: -

         Submission of the case by CRS to CCRS                        -           30 days

         after receipt from Railway Administration.

            Disposal of case in CCRS office                                   -            30 days

3.4                  Proposals requiring Sanction at CRS level: - Disposal of the case is normally done in 30 days

 

4                        AVAILIBILITY OF INFORMATION:

The Commission is headed by a Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety  (CCRS), at Lucknow, who also acts as the Prin­cipal Technical Advisor to the Central Government in all matters pertaining to railway safety.  Working under the administrative control of CCRS are nine Commissioners of Railway Safety (CRS), exercising jurisdiction over the Zonal Railways. In addition, some of them have jurisdiction over railway establishments other than Zonal Railways viz (i) Metro Railway, Kolkata, (ii) DMRc, Delhi, (iii) MRTP, Chennai and (iv) Konkan Railway.  There are 5 Dy. Commissioners posted in the Headquarters at Lucknow for assisting the CCRS, as and when required.  In addition, there are 2 field Dy. Commissioners, one each in Mumbai and Kolkata, to assist the Commissioners  in matters concerning the Signaling and Telecommunication disciplines. The jurisdiction and other detail is as below:

 

    The Headquarters and the jurisdiction of each circle over the Railway Administration is as below: -

____________________________________________________________________

CIRCLE                            HEADQUARTERS       PRINCIPAL RAILWAYS

____________________________________________________________________

Central Circle                          Mumbai               Central,West central &  Konkan Rly.   

Eastern Circle                         Kolkata                Eastern &  East Central Rly.

Northern Circle                         New Delhi          Northern Rly. &  Delhi Metro           

North Eastern Circle                Lucknow            North Eastern & North Central

Northeast Frontier Circle       Kolkata              Northeast Frontier &  Metro Rly.,Kolkata.

Southern Circle                     Bangalore         Southern & South Western Railway

South Central Circle             Secunderabad   South Central Railway

South Eastern Circle             Kolkata              South Eastern ,South East Central 

                                                                                 & East   Coast Railway

The telephone nos. ,fax and email nos of the officers are as below:

O/O CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF RAILWAY SAFETY, ASHOK MARG, LUCKNOW.  (STD Code (0522)

 

5.         FOR INFORMATION OUTSIDE OFFICE HOURS :At present there is no system to deal with requests outside office hours.

6.         WEBSITE:     www.civilaviation.nic.in  with linkage to webpage Commission of Railway safety

7.         The  complaint  if any can  be registered in the o/o chief commissioner of railway safety, Ashok Marg, Lucknow and the other offices listed above.

8.         CONSULTATION WITH OUR USERS/STAKEHOLDERS:

            As the organization does not has any interaction with general public  so there is no mechanism of consultation. Our organization is governed by the Railways Act ,1989 and the instruction issued by the Government of India from time to time.

9. NODAL OFFICER FOR THE COMMISSION OF RAILWAY SAFETY:      

Shri Sudhir Kumar, Section Officer,

O/O CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF RAILWAY SAFETY,

ASHOK MARG, LUCKNOW. 

Ph.      0522-2629743

FAX -0522-2626608

 

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