Vvip Station
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If the presumption was that VVIP culture had long been ended, the unfolding events on the intervening night of August 28-29 – when a Superfast train pulled in at the Gwalior railway station – turned up as rather a shocker. Weaving through the mass of drowsy passengers making their way out of the station, a SUV numbered MP-07-BR-4779 made its way to where the AC-1 coach was positioned with the apparent aim of receiving Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Narendra Singh Tomar. A video clip of the incident went viral on the social media; although Tomar has himself denied that the breach of Railway regulations had been done for his benefit.
Successive governments and political leaders have pledged austerity in public life, but the political class has continued to perpetuate India’s feudal culture – so signified as the “Lal Batti” (red beacon) culture. The last one had heard of a car being driven down a platform was at the Bengaluru railway station to receive former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.
For historical reasons perhaps, the officialdom of the Indian Railways has remained steeped in a medieval time warp. There is the case of a former Railways Minister who handed out a dressing down to the bunch of officials accompanying him for not having taken care of positioning the Minister’s railway saloon close by. As a result, the Minister had to walk a few steps in Delhi’s balmy monsoon months to board the regal carriage!
Common knowledge is that the office of Delhi’s Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) functions as the port of call for VVIPs embarking or disembarking on train journeys. On an average, approximately 300 VVIPs are either arriving or departing on train journeys from the New Delhi or the peripheral stations. Each one of these are usually escorted to their berths by personnel of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) or the Government Railway Police (GRP). Along the journey, the catering and housekeeping staff are usually found cringing and crawling to please the special travellers.
The “Mai Baap” (My Lord) culture hurts professionalism and denies customers their rightful claims to services that are commensurate of their money’s worth. The VVIP culture must end.
Rail Land Monetisation
On paper, the idea appears grand: The Railways will lease out an estimated 12,066 acres of unused or abandoned land to private players to build shopping malls, plazas, offices or residential complexes; fetching investments worth a whopping Rs. 1 lakh crore and generating additional revenues of an estimated Rs. 10,000 crore. While this proposal awaits approval of the Union Cabinet, a key question remains unanswered: What about the ethical issues involved in the move of the Indian Railways to monetise land that was awarded to it for building tracks or developing rail infrastructure?
The Rail Yatri Niwas – providing affordable lodging facilities for inter-change passengers – had been a permanent feature at major railway stations including New Delhi in past decades. During UPA-1, the Rail Yatri Niwas at the New Delhi station was leased out to the Tata Group, which now runs the renovated structure as the Ginger Hotel. No concessions or special facilities are offered at the hotel for rail passengers as the facility is now run as a commercial enterprise. Of course, the Indian Railways are benefiting in terms of lease money; but rail passengers have been denied a service that had been originally intended for them. Will passengers find themselves similarly short-changed; now that the Indian Railways is moving in for commercial exploitation of vacant land? Such questions are arising.
Along with the Defence Forces, the Indian Railways are the largest owners of land. Through its 165 year history, the Railways have acquired land to build tracks or to expand its infrastructure. “The idea of commercial exploitation of railway land had been rejected in past years on such premises alone. Several committees including the parliamentary standing committee on railways have held the view that rail land cannot be put to any use apart from providing public utility to the passengers. According to the original provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, land not required by the Railways was needed to have been returned to the state government concerned,” said R Jaruhar, founding Chairman of the Rail Land Development Agency (RLDA).
According to the railway proposal, vacant land at 600 identified stations will be bid out for commercial use such as construction of malls, offices or residential buildings on a 99-year lease. This is in contravention to the accepted international norms of awarding PPP projects on a 40-year lease. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is also said to have reservations to the Railway proposal of leasing land for housing purposes also. The Union Cabinet, at its next meeting, is likely to deliberate on such issues.
Very Very Important Person (VVIP) AW101
There are a number of nations introducing the AgustaWestlandAW101 into VVIP service.
In the VVIP role the large AW101 cabin has the flexibility to be fitted out in a wide range of configurations.
Artists Impression of a Possible VVIP AW101 Cabin Fit
One easy way to visualise potential cabin layout options is now offered by 3D printing techniques. The images below shows a range of single VVIP seats, double staff seats, a medical station (in place of the 4 side facing seats above), galley, toilet and even a shower. The shower though is limited to ground use only!
Deconstructed Cabin Layout (Credit: Adam Poole)
UPDATE November 2014:Aerossurance has also discussed the booming aircraft interiors sector and its challenges.
The type entered service in the VVIP role in 2013 in the oil and gas rich Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan. They received the first of two in March 2013.
The first flight has recently taken place at Yeovil of the first of two VVIP AW101′s to be operated by the Nigerian Air Force (with a Defensive Aids suite visible and national marking covered).
NAF AW101 (Credit Rick Ingraham)
Meanwhile, one of the aircraft originally intended for India, AW101 Mk641 ZR343, shown here with British Prime Minister David Cameron, was conducting VVIP movements for the NATOSummit in Cardiff in September 2014.
VVIP AW101 Supporting the NATO Summit in Cardiff (Credit: AgustaWestland)
AW101 Background
The Agusta Westland AW101 (nee EH101 and known in UK military service as Merlin) first flew as a prototype 0n 9 October 1987 and entered service in 1999.
There are however a wide range of developments underway at the moment: The Royal Navy (RN) are taking delivery of the upgraded Merlin HM2 at RNAS Culdrose, being declared operational four months ahead of schedule in July 2014. This followed the largest-ever deployment of Merlins in Exercise Deep Blue in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean.
UPDATE: December 2014Lockheed Martin released this video on Exercise Deep Blue:
Nine aircraft flew 480 hours. during the deployment on HMS Illustrious in June 2014 (shortly before her retirement). These aircraft have been equipped with a new mission system and avionics suite as part of the Merlin Capability Sustainment Programme (MCSP). In the longer term the Royal Navy will be taking over the Royal Air Force (RAF) Merlin HC3, after a programme of ‘marinsation’ (ultimately to create the Merlin HC4), to replace the Sea King HC4s of the Commando Helicopter Force.
UPDATE 30 September 2014The transition has started with 78 Squadron RAF standing down at RAF Benson. Flight trials will soon be underway of both the Thales and Lockheed Martin Merlin based solutions to the RN’s Cowsnest requirement to replace the Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASaC) Sea Kings Mk7s.
A video of the Royal Danish Air Force Merlins operating in the medevac role in Afghanistan has recently been released:
The Royal Norwegian Air Force will receive the first of 16 AW101s for the Norwegian All Weather Search & Rescue Helicopter (NAWSARH) requirement in 2017. The AW101 has been in SAR service with the Royal Canadian Air Force as the CH-149 Cormorant for over 12 years. The Portuguese Air Force Esquadra 751 has demonstrated the AW101′s SAR capability with missions to a radius as great as 380nm. In particular, in February 2013, they completed a challenging 360nm night-time rescue mission to rescue a casualty in the water in the mid-Atlantic, after a yacht had capsized. Deploying from Lajes in the Azores, the crew faced an 8.5 hour flight as the 360nm was from the intermediate refuelling stop at Santa Maria in the Azores. The standard Portuguese SAR fuel load is 3,000kg fuel load (three hours cruise at 120kt plus 400-600kg reserve). For ultra long-range missions, range is extended through completely filling the internal tanks and adding an internal ferry tank (with an extra 900kg of fuel). The total fuel on board when departing Santa Maria was around 5,000kg and the helicopter. Video of a more ‘modest’ daytime 185nm rescue:
The type is in service in Italy and Japan also.
UPDATE November 2014: AgustaWestland has recently shipped the first of two VIP AW101s to the Nigerian Air Force, via an AN124 Ruslan from London Stansted. The helicopter was transported on a custom-built cradle designed to enable the aircraft to fit into the AN124.
Loading (Credit: via Helihub)
UPDATE 25 November 2015:Helihub report a sale of three to Indonesia.
UPDATE 2 December 2015:The Indonesian sale is now reported to have been vetoed.
UPDATE 4 December 2015: …or maybe just postponed.
Aerossurance is an Aberdeen based aviation consultancy with a proven background in helicopter design, airworthiness and operations. For expert support on helicopter selection, modification and certification, contact Aerossurance: enquiries@aerossurance.com
