Train 18 - Vande Bharat

Vande Bharat - TRAIN 18

400 Vande Bharat Trains will introduced in the next 3 years (2022-25)

·         Semi High speed Intercity train 

·         Engine less train.  That means Train 18 driven by a self-propulsion module sans/without a separate locomotive.

·         Rather than being pulled by a locomotive, 'Train 18' sets are powered by traction motors fitted underneath each coach to render them self-propelled, just like metro trains.

·         Compact set/ pack of 18 coaches.  Coaches cannot be separated like in regular trains.

·         The train has 16 Passenger cars. Driver coach on both ends.

·         Developed by ICF, Chennai. MCF- Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareli will also manufacture Train 18 in the coming days.

·         Speed - 160 kmph

·         Fully AC Train

·         Estimated cost - Rs. 100 Crores

·         Automatic doors like in Metro train.

·         Footstep in a coach's doorway slides outward only when the train stops at a station.

·         First  train18 set is named as "Vande Bharat Express" and plying between New Delhi and Varanasi.

·         Regenerative braking system - 30% savings in Electricity.

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Cash in Transit

 Cash in Transit (CinT)

• • Station cash received in Cash Office after one or two days of the following month

  • and after the closing of the General Books is called Cash in Transit. 

   

  • Stations take credit in their Balance Sheets in the month in which Cash is realized,

  • but the same is not accounted for in the General Books due to delayed receipt in Cash Office.     

   

  • Example: Station Cash (accounted on 31st December 2021 in Station Balance Sheet)

  • received in the Cash Office on 3rd January 2022 after closing of the General Books of December 2021. 

  
  

  The following are the initiatives to minimize or Nil in Cash in Transit: 

  
  

  1. Single Deposit Pooling Account “ Rail Shakti Account” - Operated by SBI at Focal Point Branch (FPB)

  2. to facilitate the remittance of Railway Earnings by Stations to nearby SBI branches without opening a Railway Deposit Account.  

  
  

  2. The said SBI branches will credit the amount instantly to FPB on a daily basis. 

  
  

  3. FPB will provide a Daily scroll incorporating all such details to PFA Office.  

  
  

  4. DSB - Door Step Banking was introduced in almost all the Zonal Railways. 

   

  
  

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SFC - Specific Fuel Consumption and SEC - Specific Energy Consumption

 

SFC - Specific Fuel Consumption

• Indicator of Fuel economy

• Measured in terms of Tonne KMs 

 

• Definition: Amount of fuel consumed per unit of work done. 

• Measured both for the Engine and the Total formation of the Train. 

 

• Lower the SFC, the Better the Fuel Economy. 

 

Engine:  

  

• The  unit of  SFC  for  Engine is Grams/bhp hour.  Grams represent Quantity of Fuel, whereas bhp hour (brake horsepower) represents work done. . 

• At present, the SFC of ALCO Engine is 155 Grams and of GM Engine 150 Grams (Approx.)  

 

• ALCO stands for American Locomotive Company

 

• GM stands for General Motors 

 

• For  the locomotive, the SFC  of  the engine  can  be  calculated by  measuring time  to  calculate the  Horse  Power  output in  terms  of  BHP.Hr  for a  specific  amount  of  fuel  consumption while the  engine  is  put  on load  during  load  box  test. 

•  This  is  more  accurate  in  order  to  calculate  engine  efficiency,  because  output  of  the  engine is  measured  at  the  crankshaft,  neglecting  all  other  losses  of  the  locomotive.   

 

• There  is  a  second  method  of  calculating  SFC,  in  which  the  amount  of  work  done  is measured  in  terms  of  Tonne  Km.  This  is  more  practical  because  here  the  total  losses incurred  in  the  locomotive/  formation  of  train  are  taken  into  consideration  for  calculating the  SFC.  

• The  unit  used  is  in  liters/  1000  GTKM.  (GTKM  means  KM  earned  with  the gross  tonnage  hauled  including  the  weight  of  the  locomotive). 

• As  train  resistance,  air  resistance  and  other  parasitic  loads  of  locomotive/  train  varies  at different  speed  ranges,  so  SFC  of  the  locomotive  is  calculated  with  respect  to  its  service. 

Train: 

• Calculated per 1000 GTKMs 

• SFC =  HSD oil in Liters / 1000 GTKMs 

• HSD Liters represent Quantity of Fuel, whereas 1000 GTKM  represent work done. 

• HSD stands for High-Speed Diesel

• GTKMs -Gross Tonne KMs -  KMs earned with the Gross Tonnage hauled (incl: of Weight of Locomotive & Rolling Stock ) 

 

• NTKMs - KMs earned with the Net tonnage hauled (excl: Weight of Locomotive & Rolling Stock)  

 

• Indian Railways -SFC (Approx)

Goods	2.50 Liters per 1000 GTKMs
Passenger	4 Liters per 1000 GTKMs

• SCR - 2017-18- SFC

Goods	1.52 Liters per 1000 GTKMs
Passenger	2.81 Liters per 1000 GTKMs

 

• SFC for Shunting services - not calculated 

 

SEC - Specific Energy Consumption  

• For Traction - SEC - Specific Energy Consumption = Used KWH  / 1000 GTKMs  

 

• Amount of Electricity (in KWH - Kilowatt hours) consumed per unit work (1000 GTKMs done 

 

• Engine: The amount of electricity (in KWH - Kilowatt-Hour) consumed per unit work done. 

 

• Over the last few years, Railways have been able to improve upon Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) by about 19% through various energy conservation initiatives. 

 

• For electric locomotives,  there are mainly  3  modes of service for which  GTKM  earning is recorded to calculate  SFC.   

The  figures  of  SECs (Approx),  accordingly  are: 

• SEC-EMU     = 40  KWH./  1000  GTKM 

• SEC-Pass        =  20 KWH./  1000  GTKM

•  SEC-Goods    =  8   KWH/  1000  GTKM 

• The  figures  represented  by  electrical  department  is  entirely rhetoric.  Because for  EMUs for recording energy consumption the energy meter is not available with the  locomotive and the figures are purely based on assumption.   

• For passenger and goods service locomotives,  although an energy meter is available figures are manipulated.  

 

• For locomotives in shunting service  GTKM  earning can’t be recorded,  hence it is not calculated.   

 

• Both SFC and SEC units are used in the Fuel budgeting of Diesel and Traction.  

Factors that affect SFC

1. Engineless loaded 

2. Weak Engine 

3. Other factors P.Way, Signaling, Operating facilities

4. Vehicle Design 

5. Driving techniques

Steps were taken to bring fuel efficiency 

1. Arresting any leakages. 

2. Application of Fuel Kit

3. High performance & high capacity turbo supercharger

4. Improved Air Cooler  

5. Improved Piston and Piston ring 

6. Use of Multigrade oil 

7. Minimum inventory in RCDs - From 15 days to 5 days  

8. Use of B-5 blended HSD - 5 % Bio Diesel  

9. Fuel pattern - Cheaper RCDs are fuelling more to Diesel Locomotives to avoid fuelling at costlier RCDs  

10.  Withdrawn overaged WDMs Locomotives from mainline services 

11.  DPC - Driving Power Car of DEMU train  -  Conversion to dual-fuel i.e., Diesel + CNG 

12.  Auxiliary Power Unit - introduced in Diesel Locomotives - for automatic shutting down of Diesel Locomotives while standing idle.  

13. CReDI - Common Rail electronic Direct Injection - Developed & Fitted in Diesel Locomotives  

14.  Developing alternative fuel systems like Traction, Solar Power to reduce the consumption of Diesel. 

15. IROAF - Indian Railways Organization of Alternate Fuels, Chennai - Developing the alternative fuel.  

16. The performance of Loco Pilots is being monitored regularly. 

17.  Monitoring of idling of Locomotives has been started through REMMLOT - Remote Monitoring and Management of Locomotive and Trains fitted in Locomotives. 

18.  All overaged Broad Guage Diesel Mixed Traffic Engines (WDM2) locomotives have been withdrawn from mainline service. 

19.  Retro-fitment of Microprocessor control system in diesel Locomotives have been executed to achieve fuel efficiency.

20. Miller cycle-based turbochargers and Variable Turbine Geometry (VTG) Turbochargers have been developed for ALCo locomotives to achieve fuel efficiency.

Solar Energy

•  Indian railways have planned for 1000 MW of solar power plants by 2020-21 with 500 MW at railway rooftops for non-traction use and 500 MW land-based for mostly in traction use. 

• The solar power from land-based plants shall be mostly used in train operations.

•  IROAF is implementing the provision of Solar Panels on the rooftop of coaches and Brake Vans of freight trains for taking up part of hotel load (electric lighting and fans load).

•  In Goods train, Solar Panels on a trial basis have been fitted on the rooftop of 50 Nos. Guard Brake Vans.

•  In passenger Trains, Solar panels on a trial basis have been fitted on the rooftop of 06 Nos. Trailer Coaches of Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMU).

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Appendix3 exam notification 2022 (special)

Click for notification of Appendix3 exam 2022

Results of previous Appendix3 examination

2017-18 List of candidates of passed in Appendix3 exam  

Question papers of 2017-18 Appendix3 examination

MCQ Test on Financial Rules in AME Exam of ECoR

 

Click  below

MCQ Test on Financial Rules

Advanced Commercial Book Keeping

 

Book suggested by Expert for Advanced Commercial Bookkeeping for Appendix3 Exam

Final decision is depends on the discretion of the Candidates. It is only suggestion. 

Appendix3 Exam - New pattern - RBA 71 dated 15.12.2021

Click below for 

Appendix3 Exam - New pattern - Railway Board RBA 71 dated 15.12.2021  

Salient features of New pattern of Appendix3 Exam 

vide RBA 71 dated 15.12.2021

• Introduction of Objective type questions / MCQs 

 

• Merger of 3 cadres i.e., Sr.SO(A), Sr.TIA &Sr. ISA with prospective date. The Objective is to acquire knowledge and experience of the Accounts Dept as a whole.

 

• Conducted by Railway Board  

• All papers - Without Books  

 

• Examination will be on bilingual (at the option of the Candidate)

• Objective type & Descriptive type - Both conducted through online i.e., CBT - Computer Based Test 

 

• 3 Objective Question Papers - Each 100 marks - Time - 2 hours for each Paper. Negative marks 0.25 for each wrong answer. 

 

Candidates	Passing Marks
	Individual Paper	Aggregate of 3 Papers
General	40 Marks	45 %
SC/ST	30 Marks	35 %

 

  

• One Subjective/Descriptive Question paper - 300 marks - Time - 3 Hours  - Valuation of Subjective paper.  Passing marks - 40 % for General Candidates and 30 % for SC/ST Candidates.   Subjective paper will be corrected subject to qualifying the minimum marks in Objective type tests. 

•  Combined marks of Objective & Descriptive  - Determine the position of the candidates in the Merit list. 

• Unlimited attempts    

•  Exemption marks  - 60 %.  The Exemption will be applicable for 5 years. 

• Syllabus as detailed below is indicative only. That means suggestive only. Detailed syllabus will be spelt out in Notification of the examination.  

 

• Syllabus of 3 Objective type papers: 

1.    GRP, Establishment, PF, NPS, Pension, Labour Laws and Associated Finance, Expenditure, Budget & Bookkeeping 

 

2.            Stores, COS Procedures, Workshops, Workshop Costing & associated finance, Expenditure, Budget & Bookkeeping 

 

3.            Traffic Accounts, Traffic Statistics / Costing, Station Accounts and associated finance, Accounting & Bookkeeping  

• Syllabus of 1 Descriptive paper:  

 

A.            General Essay, Letter writing & Precis  - English medium and Hindi Medium

 

B.   Rajbhasha  (Question on Official Language Policy) - English or Hindi 

 

C.   Practical aspect of Finance & Accounts, Approaching Finance, Comprehend/understand the issue and conclusions arrived thereby 

 

D.   Advanced Bookkeeping - Numerical Questions - Calculator allowed.      

 

• Negative marking - 0.25 marks for each wrong answer in Objective type tests.  Different possibilities are as follows.  (for an idea to the Candidates)  

 

 

Probability	Total Questions  (Guessed randomly, if not sure of correct answer)	Correct	Wrong	Marks secured	Probability Percentage
First probability	5	5	Nil	5	16 %
Second probability	5	4	1	3.75	16 %
Third probability	5	3	2	2.5	17 %
Fourth probability	5	2	3	1.25	17 %
Fifth probability	5	1	4	Nil	17 %
Sixth probability	5	Nil	5	Minus 1.25	17 %

  

•  83 %  Positive or Nil effect   

•  17 % - Negative

•  It is better for the Candidates to go to a random guessing subject to be confident of Correct answers for at least 55 objective questions out of 100 questions. 

• Overall, the above Railway Board letter is indicative only.  Detailed policy guidelines / instructions on implementation of new pattern of Appendix III IREM examination and merger supervisory cadre of Accounts Dept will follow.