What are Rational Formulae? What is Maflin’s Formula? What is the Special Committee Formula?

Latest News

General Manager’s Safety Award for 10 Staff of Central Railway

View All >>

1 Rail News

क्षेत्रीय हिंदी प्रतियोगिता 2023 संपन्न

Central Railway Revolutionizes LHB Power Car Testing with Static Water Load Testing Units in a First of its kind Innovation
Shri Ram Karan Yadav takes over as General Manager, Central Railway
भारतीय रेल ने नवंबर 2023 तक 1015.6 एमटी माल लदान का लक्ष्य हासिल किया
जबलपुर-हजरत निजामुद्दीन एक्सप्रेस सहित 10 ट्रेन निरस्त, कामायनी एक्सप्रेस परिवर्तित मार्ग से चलेगी
रेलवे की बड़ी सौगात! अब इन स्‍टेशनों से पटना के लिए मिलेगी सीधी ट्रेन, जानें शेड्यूल
किसानों के बाद अब पूर्व सैनिकों ने घेरा रेलवे ट्रैक, One Rank One Pension की मांग को लेकर शुरू किया प्रदर्शन
रेलवे स्टेशन के फुट ओवरब्रिज पर ले सकेंगे स्ट्रीट फूड का आनंद

view all>>

2 Railway Employee

General Manager’s Safety Award for 10 Staff of Central Railway

view all>>

3 Always Important

जानिए पटरियों के साइड में क्यों लिखे होते हैं नंबर?

view all>>

What are Rational Formulae? What is Maflin’s Formula? What is the Special Committee Formula?

July 19, 2019, 12:11 PM

These are various formulae for calculating the gang strength required to perform maintenance of different kinds on a section of track.

Maflin’s Formula, adopted in 1931, is a very simple one (number of gangmen = 2.5 x ‘unit per mile’ x length of track, where the ‘unit per mile’ factor depends on the kind of traffic carried on the track). It assumes a standard requirement of manpower regardless of the track gauge.

The Revised Maflin’s Formula was adopted in 1962 following the recommendations of the Lobo Committee in 1959. In this, rather than using the length of track directly, the length is specified in Equated Track Miles (ETM), which depends on traffic density, type of track formation and gauge, special considerations such as curved alignment, and factors such as the annual rainfall in the region.

The Special Committee Formula was adopted in 1979 (as the name suggests, on the recommendation of a special governmental committee). It specifies the gang strength as 0.95 x M x K x E, where M is the Manpower Factor (1 for NG, 1.21 for MG, 1.47 for BG), K is the Correction Factor accounting for modernization of track and methods of maintenance (for instance, different factors are used for SWR / LWR track, types of fishplates and sleepers, whether ballast is packed manually or mechanically, etc.), and E is the Equated Track Kilometers (ETKM) which includes factors for the traffic density and type of track formation, etc., over the basic track length.

The newer Rational Formulae were developed because the Special Committe Formula above was felt inadequate to account for differing manpower availability (skill sets, age distribution) in different regions or zones, increasing use of casual labour and private contractors for certain track maintenance activities, etc. In 1996, another committee was constituted by the Railway Board to look into this matter and to recommend changes to the Special Committee Formula. These new Rational Formulae are much more involved, and account for a wide variety of factors in terms of the nature of the maintenance work, the type of track and traffic carried on it, the distribution of casual and contracted labour for permanent way operations, etc. The Rational Formulae are actually many different formulae, for each kind of maintenance operation, and they also specify the equivalence of different kinds of work for the purposes of computing wages and so on. The latest set of Rational Formulae were adopted in 2006.

Source – IFRCA.org

This entry was posted in 2 Railway Employee, STUDY NEW, Railway Employee