Indian Railways Sidings Chapter XVIII 1801 PDF

1/27/25, 8:39 PM CHAPTER XVITI SIDINGS 1801 CHAPTER XVIII SIDINGS 1801. An Assisted/Private Siding is a siding c...

1/27/25, 8:39 PM CHAPTER XVITI SIDINGS 1801 CHAPTER XVIII SIDINGS 1801. An Assisted/Private Siding is a siding constructed to serve a Government Department, a factory, mill, industry, mine or other private party. 1802. The applicant for a siding should, before sanction is accorded to the construction of the siding by the competent authority, be required to execute an agreement. This agreement should, inter alia, embody the provisions of Paras 1824 to 1838 of the Indian Railways Code for the Engineering Department, as modified from time to time. 1803. A specimen form of agreement for Assisted/Private Sidings appears in Appendix X. The terms and conditions embodied therein are meant for guidance only and may be relaxed or altered wholly or in part, where necessary. 1804. A copy of each siding agreement should be supplied for guidance to the Divisional Railway Manager, the Divisional Accounts Office, the Traffic Accounts Office and the Station Master of the Station from where the siding takes off. 1805. The user of the siding has to pay to the Railway a Siding charge to be fixed by the Railway Administration from lime to time for every wagon whether loaded or empty hauled over the siding in each direction. If a Siding has been provided with complete facilities for direct reception and despatch of trains and such trams do not require to be dealt with at the station from which the Siding takes off/serving station but run through to or from the Siding with railway locomotive or originate from or terminate in the exchange/peripheral yard provided by the siding holder, the Railway Administration shall have the powers of levying freight charges on through distance basis upto the buffer end of the Siding or the farthest point of the Exchange Yard, instead of levying freight charges upto to the serving station and Siding charges for haulage of wagon over the Sidings. The Siding charges may be revised by the Railway Administration on giving not less than one month's notice to the user of the Siding. Interest Charges and Maintenance of Assisted Sidings. 1806. The applicant should pay annually to the Railway Administration interest and maintenance charges as follows : (a) Interest to be charged on the book value, of the portion of the cost of siding borne by the Railway at the prevalent rate of dividend payable by the Railways to the General Revenue as may be fixed from time to lime. (b) Repair and maintenance charges at the rate of 4.50% on the cost of the portion of siding borne by the railway or its present day cost, whichever is higher. For calculating these charges, the cost of the portion of siding borne by the Railway will be revalued every five years in accordance with such general or special orders as may be issued by the Railway Board from time to time. This payment will ordinarily cover the maintenance by the railway of the works paid for by the applicant outside his premises. The maintenance of the works inside the applicant's premises is the applicant's own concern. Railway should, however, ensure that the maintenance of works by the applicant beyond the railway limits conforms to the requisite standard prescribed by the railway. For this purpose railway should undertake periodical inspections and the cost of such periodical inspection should be a charge against the applicant. If. in any case, it is considered desirable that the railway should also maintain works beyond the railway limits, the railway may undertake maintenance of these works, provided the applicant agrees to pay the required charges to be fixed by the railway. In case provision of office and residential accommodation for Railway staff posted at the siding becomes necessary directly as a result of providing the facility to the party, the Railway Administration should recover repair and maintenance charges for these structures as an additional charge over and above the percentage charges levied on the Railway's share of the cost. https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/codesmanual/IRCTCD/TrafficCommericalDepartmentCh18_data.htm#1801. 1/5 1/27/25, 8:39 PM CHAPTER XVITI SIDINGS 1801 Fixation and Review of Siding Charges. 1807. Where freight is levied from and to the serving station and separate siding charges are levied for haulage of wagons between the serving station and the siding, the siding charges should normally be fixed on the basis of cost per engine hour and the average time for a round trip from the serving station to the siding and back for placement and/or removal of wagons whether loaded or empty. The charges per trip should be arrived at by multiplying the average time taken for the trip by the cost of engine hour, as per the formula given below: Siding Charge = Average trip time in minutes x (Engine Hour Cost ÷ 60) The resultant of the above formula will be rounded off to the next higher value to arrive at the net Siding Charge. In case 'average trip time' is less than one hour, the Siding Charge will be levied for a minimum of one hour. Siding Charges for originating station so fixed should be included in the Invoice alongwith freight instead of being separately collected from the siding holder. (Authority Board's letter No.TC-I/99/214/11 Pt.III dated 14.09.09 and TC-I/99/214/11 Pt.I dt. 2 5 - 0 1 - 1 2 ) ---ACS NO. 19 & 21 The siding charges should be reviewed periodically at intervals of not less than once a year to ensure that they adequately cover the cost of haulage of wagons over the siding. In the case of sidings where locomotives have to be brought from stations, other than the stations serving a siding, the time taken for bringing the locomotive from the Depot station to the serving station and back should also be taken into account in arriving at the time required for performing the round trip to serve a siding for the purpose of working out the siding charges. Annual Examination of Earnings of Sidings. 1808. An annual examination should also be made by each Railway Administration of the earnings of all sidings the agreements for which do not provide for lump-sum recoveries of interest and maintenance charges with a view to ensure that sidings which have been unprofitable for a long period and are not likely to bring enough traffic to the railway to justify their retention, are not retained. If the annual review reveals that the earnings from siding charges are not adequate to cover the interest and maintenance charges apart from the cost of working the siding, then the shortfall in interest and maintenance charges should be separately recovered from the siding holder, to ensure that Railway do not incur any loss in working the siding in any particular year. If any particular siding has been financially unremunerative for some time, a detailed examination in respect of that particular siding should be undertaken in order to sec whether it would not be worthwhile to close it down out right. In making such an examination the traffic in any particular year should not alone be considered the controlling factor in deciding whether the siding should be retained or not. If the siding has been giving substantial traffic to the railway generally, and if the fall in the earnings during the period under examination is temporary and is only due to causes like a general depression in a particular trade, it should be considered before its dismantlement is decided upon, whether it would not be profitable in the long run to retain the siding for some lime. Posting of Railway Clerks in Assisted/Private Sidings for tallying Goods. 1809. Railway Administrations are not under any obligation to provide Goods Clerks or other staff for tallying or supervising goods loaded in or unloaded from wagons in Assisted and Private Sidings. Railway Administrations may, however, consider requests for posting Goods Clerks in such sidings provided the owners thereof agree to bear the cost and other incidental charges of such railway staff. List of Assisted Sidings. https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/codesmanual/IRCTCD/TrafficCommericalDepartmentCh18_data.htm#1801. 2/5 1/27/25, 8:39 PM CHAPTER XVITI SIDINGS 1801 1810. A list of all Assisted and Private Sidings on a railway should be published in the Local Tariffs of the railways. The name of the stations from which the sidings take off together with the names of the firms or oilier Government Departments using the sidings and the siding charges should also be shown in the tariffs. Issue of "Said to contain" Railway Receipts 1811. If no Railway staff is provided at a siding or if the strength of railway staff provided is not adequate to check the weight or the number of packages loaded in a wagon, a remark should be recorded in the Railway receipt, by issuing a "said lo contain" Railway Receipt. In such cases, the burden of providing the weight or as the case may be. the number of packages stated in the Railway Receipt shall lie on the consignor, consignee or the endorsee. Goods to be Loaded or Delivered at a Siding not Belonging to a Railway Administration 1812. (1) Where goods are required to be loaded at a siding not belonging to a Railway Administration for carriage by railway, the Railway Administration shall not be responsible for any loss, destruction, damage or deterioration of such goods from whatever cause arising, until the wagon containing the goods has been placed at the specified point of interchange of wagons between the siding and the Railway Administration and a railway servant authorised in this behalf has been informed in writing accordingly by the owner of the siding. (2) Where any consignment is required lo be delivered by a Railway Administration at a siding not belonging to a Railway Administration, the Railway Administration shall not be responsible for any loss, destruction, damage or deterioration or non-delivery of such consignment from whatever cause arising after the wagon containing the consignment has been placed at the specified point of interchange of wagons between the railway and the siding and the owner of the siding has been informed in writing accordingly by a railway servant authorised in this behalf. Only Private Siding to be provided 1813. New Sidings are to be provided only as private sidings and no new siding is to be constructed on Assisted Siding terms. The entire cost of the siding including the cost of peripheral yards and facilities such as engine line, reception, despatch, and sorting lines etc. should be borne by the siding owners. However, if any existing siding which was provided on Assisted Siding terms is required to be extended/altered, the work can be taken up on Assisted Siding terms provided the cost of recoverable materials to be borne by the Railway is less than Rs. 5 lakhs. In case this cost is Rs. 5 lakhs or above, the work should be carried out on private siding terms. Facilities to be provided in the Sidings 1814. Proposals for construction of new sidings should be considered on the basis of jointly agreed facilities being developed for handling train loads and on the assumption that the freight trains would directly enter into and exit from private siding without being dealt with at the serving station or in an exchange yard. No exchange yard should be planned. The private siding railway network should be planned, on the basis of integrated peripheral yard inside the premises of the siding holder. Under these circumstances, normally, there should be no need to provide any facilities at the railway stations on account of Addl. traffic being dealt with at the sidings. However, if any additional facilities are needed at any station to start with or subsequently to cope with increased traffic arising in the region, then these should be provided in the normal manner through the Railway Works Programme. The cost of alterations in the station yard arising out of the.construction of a siding shall be borne by the siding owners. Take-off Point 1815.All private sidings should normally take off from the crossing station nearest to the party's premises. However, if the party wants to have take-off from the mid section to save the cost of construction of the extra length of the siding required, then the party should pay for the crossing station including its operation and maintenance cost except for the addl. facilities and staff, if any. required exclusively for traffic/factors not connected with the traffic https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/codesmanual/IRCTCD/TrafficCommericalDepartmentCh18_data.htm#1801. 3/5 1/27/25, 8:39 PM CHAPTER XVITI SIDINGS 1801 being offered by the siding owner. Electrification 1816. Private Siding (a) In the case of new sidings where the line/section is electrified, the entire cost of OHE will be borne by the siding owners, as in the case of Track. Maintenance cost will similarly be borne by the siding owners. (b) In the case of new sidings, where the line is not electrified, the siding owners shall be required to give an undertaking that in the event of electrification of the line within a period of 10 years, they will bear the full charges of electrification of the siding. Maintenance cost will also be borne by the siding owners. (c) With a view to expediting the electrification of existing sidings, it has been decided that if financially justified, incentive in the form of sharing of 50% cost by the Railways may be agreed to. In such cases, no departmental charges shall be levied while working out the cost of electrification. The siding agreement shall provide that electrification assets so created shall be taken as jointly owned by the Railway and the party in equal shares. All recurring expenses on account of repairs, maintenance and replacement as and when due, shall be borne entirely by the party since the contribution is only on a one-time basis. If. for any reason, the siding is closed before the assets as created have outlived their normal life span. 50% of the sale proceeds of the release materials shall accrue to the Railways. In case the siding owners do not agree to bear their share of the cost of OHE. the movement to the siding will have to be by Party's own locomotives. Assisted Sidings However, in the case of existing sidings provided on assisted siding terms. Railways may bear the cost of retrievable part of the OHE as in the case of track and the cost of non-retrievable portion will be borne by the siding owners. The interest and maintenance charges will be borne by the siding owner as in the case of track. Carriage and Wagon Facilities 1817. Regular facilities for carriage and wagon examination in the siding premises should be planned only if the level of loading/unloading from the siding is expected to be two or more rakes per day. In such cases, the capital expenditure on construction of sick line/train examination lines (other than on recoverable permanent way material) and cost of staff quarters should be borne by the siding owners, while the Railways should bear the cost of tools and plants consumable stores, cost of recoverable permanent way materials and recurring expenditure on staff involved in normal examination and repairs of rolling stock. However, in the case of sidings dealing with POL and other hazardous commodities and in certain exceptional cases as may be determined by the Railway from time to time, carriage and wagon facilities are to be provided in any case and in such cases, the siding owner shall bear all the expenses for examination, certification, repairs etc. including the cost of staff. In some cases, where traffic level is less than two rakes per day, and some minor facilities for carriage and wagon examination inside the siding premises are considered essential, they are to be provided at Railways' cost. Rest Room/Running Room 1818. The siding should invariably be planned with rest room facilities at the party's cost for the convenience of the Railway staff working at the siding. However, if running rooms and out- station sheds are considered necessary, these may be provided at the cost of the Railways. Staff Quarters 1819. Along with the siding. Railway should plan staff quarters for not less than 60% of the strength of Railway staff required for operation and maintenance of the private siding and these should be provided at party's cost. In addition, a dormitory to accommodate upto 15 persons of the Railway staff working at the siding and staying without their families shall also be provided at the party's cost. https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/codesmanual/IRCTCD/TrafficCommericalDepartmentCh18_data.htm#1801. 4/5 1/27/25, 8:39 PM CHAPTER XVITI SIDINGS 1801 https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/codesmanual/IRCTCD/TrafficCommericalDepartmentCh18_data.htm#1801. 5/5