Joint conference held to address key commercial issues at Eastern Railway

Kolkata: A joint conference with senior Divisional Operations Managers (Sr. DOMs) and senior Divisional Commercial Managers (Sr. DCMs) was held on Sunday to address key operating and commercial issues at Eastern Railway (ER). The agenda included several critical areas to enhance efficiency and service quality.

Safety compliance was under review, staff training and analysing yard derailments and shunting procedures was discussed upon. Freight discussions aim to set ambitious loading targets, explore new traffic opportunities and improve terminal performance. Initiatives include developing world-class goods shed facilities, revising the GCT policy to accommodate more participants and increasing the Rail coefficient for short lead traffic.

Mobility improvements target reducing terminal detention, optimising crew planning, enhancing yard facilities and increasing the efficiency of crack trains and long-haul operations. Plans are also in place to reduce crew changing time at platforms to five minutes.

The conference also addresses rolling stock management, including reviewing loco performance, reducing dead power running and minimising wagon damage during handling. Discussions on coaching focus on improving the punctuality of mail and express, passenger, and suburban trains, ensuring optimal corridor utilisation and increasing loop speed from 15 to 30 kilometre per hour. “Crew management is a significant focus, with targets to review lobby-wise crew performance, reduce spare running and stationary duties, ensure adequate crew availability, and increase crack running by at least 25 per cent in 2024-25,” ER stated.

Milind K Deouskar, General Manager of Eastern Railway, Sumit Sarkar, Additional General Manager, Soumitra Majumdar, Principal Chief Commercial Manager, R D Meena, Principal Chief Operations Manager and all Divisional Sr DCMs and Sr DOMs took part in the joint conference.