ProUI

Protesting the arrest of Asaram Bapu, his devotees blocked trains at Uttran railway station near Surat on Monday evening, for around 15 minutes. Around 35 supporters of the ‘demigod’ sat on railway tracks at around 5.30 pm with banners and posters of Asaram.They halted A’bad-bound Karnavati Express and Mumbai-bound Shatabdi Express, raising slogans against police and political leaders. Karnavati express driver informed cops about the mob, who rushed to the spot.Protesters fled the scene after police reached there, but their efforts to catch protesters went in vain. Though the protests stopped train services for 20 minutes, railway police did not register any complaint in this regard, till late evening.

Call it the Indian Railways’ shame in Jharkhand’s breathtaking bungalow town.

McCluskieganj — situated on the idyllic Chotanagpur Plateau 65km from capital Ranchi — is a classic example of how sustained indifference can put thousands of human lives at risk for decades.Back in the Nineties, a footbridge was proposed at the busy junction, but only to rust without a single day’s use. The reason is bizarre. The railways, which installed iron pillars and frameworks for stairways, conveniently forgot to join them with a common elevated landing to offer passengers risk-free passage over the tracks.This is not the sole howler in civil planning at a station that sees at least 40 pairs of halting and galloping trains — carrying either passengers or goods — pass by every day.According to retired IAF officer R.K. Prasad, low-lying platforms are the biggest threat.“I believe there are a few standard safety guidelines in the railway rule book when it comes to raising platforms. Unfortunately, none is followed here. You can’t make out the difference between tracks and platforms, especially after sundown, as both are almost at the same level. There are also no security barricades on either end of the three platforms despite heavy train traffic on this route,” said Prasad.

The McCluskieganj junction under East Central Railway (ECR) connects trains from Dhanbad-Bokaro to Daltonganj-Garhwa, from where the route splits towards Mughalsarai, Delhi and Mumbai. There are 14 pairs of trains that stop at this old station. These include the Hatia-Chopan Express, Palamau Express and Jabalpur-Howrah Express. Among galloping ones are Rajdhani Express and the Garib Rath. Local railway officials pegged the daily off-season passenger footfall at 800-1,000.

A journalist working with a local daily said that they had raised the issues with senior railway officials during inspections more than once. “Nothing has happened so far,” he rued, adding that the ECR authorities cited poor revenue generation and funds crunch for delay in revamp of the junction.

“People live on either side of the station and crossing tracks is common in the absence of a footbridge. Though there is a road for villages from Khelari, but that is an almost 8km detour,” the scribe said, recalling an incident a few months ago when a schoolboy had a close shave.

Sandeep Rajdan, another resident, added: “We recently saw what happened at Dhamaraghat in Bihar last month. Will only a tragedy jolt the railway authorities out of their snooze mode. Let alone a footbridge, McCluskieganj station does not have basic amenities such as drinking water. An elderly or an ailing person could collapse and die of thirst in peak summer.”

Dhanbad divisional railway manager (DRM) Sudhir Kumar did not take calls despite repeated attempts.

Additional DRM H.K. Raghu feigned ignorance. “I have to see files and that it will take some time. File an RTI to get answers,” he said briefly.

Do you think the footbridge will ever come up?

Call it the Indian Railways’ shame in Jharkhand’s breathtaking bungalow town.

McCluskieganj — situated on the idyllic Chotanagpur Plateau 65km from capital Ranchi — is a classic example of how sustained indifference can put thousands of human lives at risk for decades.Back in the Nineties, a footbridge was proposed at the busy junction, but only to rust without a single day’s use. The reason is bizarre. The railways, which installed iron pillars and frameworks for stairways, conveniently forgot to join them with a common elevated landing to offer passengers risk-free passage over the tracks.This is not the sole howler in civil planning at a station that sees at least 40 pairs of halting and galloping trains — carrying either passengers or goods — pass by every day.According to retired IAF officer R.K. Prasad, low-lying platforms are the biggest threat.“I believe there are a few standard safety guidelines in the railway rule book when it comes to raising platforms. Unfortunately, none is followed here. You can’t make out the difference between tracks and platforms, especially after sundown, as both are almost at the same level. There are also no security barricades on either end of the three platforms despite heavy train traffic on this route,” said Prasad.

The McCluskieganj junction under East Central Railway (ECR) connects trains from Dhanbad-Bokaro to Daltonganj-Garhwa, from where the route splits towards Mughalsarai, Delhi and Mumbai. There are 14 pairs of trains that stop at this old station. These include the Hatia-Chopan Express, Palamau Express and Jabalpur-Howrah Express. Among galloping ones are Rajdhani Express and the Garib Rath. Local railway officials pegged the daily off-season passenger footfall at 800-1,000.

A journalist working with a local daily said that they had raised the issues with senior railway officials during inspections more than once. “Nothing has happened so far,” he rued, adding that the ECR authorities cited poor revenue generation and funds crunch for delay in revamp of the junction.

“People live on either side of the station and crossing tracks is common in the absence of a footbridge. Though there is a road for villages from Khelari, but that is an almost 8km detour,” the scribe said, recalling an incident a few months ago when a schoolboy had a close shave.

Sandeep Rajdan, another resident, added: “We recently saw what happened at Dhamaraghat in Bihar last month. Will only a tragedy jolt the railway authorities out of their snooze mode. Let alone a footbridge, McCluskieganj station does not have basic amenities such as drinking water. An elderly or an ailing person could collapse and die of thirst in peak summer.”

Dhanbad divisional railway manager (DRM) Sudhir Kumar did not take calls despite repeated attempts.

Additional DRM H.K. Raghu feigned ignorance. “I have to see files and that it will take some time. File an RTI to get answers,” he said briefly.

Do you think the footbridge will ever come up?

New Delhi: “Gyanodaya Express”, an educational train of Delhi University, was today flagged off by the Minister of State for Railways, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dinesh Singh.In partnership with the Railways and the IRCTC, the train, the third one in line, is carrying almost 900 students and accompanying faculty and staff and will journey through Haryana and Punjab and return to Delhi on September 8. Among the passengers are 150 students and teachers from the UK who are here in Delhi to participate in this educational journey.

GUWAHATI: Work for the ambitious metro rail project in Guwahati is likely to start in 2015, said officials of Guwahati Development Department (GDD). GDD officials said the next few weeks will be crucial for giving a momentum to the project which is aimed at boosting public transport in the city."The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has submitted Request for Proposal (RFP) for carrying out pre-feasibility study on the project to the state government about a month ago. The RFP needs to be cleared by the government before GMDA floats tenders to invite firms to carry out pre-feasibility study and prepare a detailed project report (DPR)," an official here said.GMDA officials added that they are expecting the state government to clear the RFP by September-end, which will give an impetus to the metro rail project.M Angamuthu, chief executive officer of GMDA, told TOI that once the RFP is cleared by the government, GMDA will float a global tender inviting firms to conduct the pre-feasibility study on the project. He said the pre-feasibility study will present a clear view about the project. "It will decide where the stations should be constructed, whether metro rail will be over ground or underground and also the route alignments," he added.

Angamuthu said if everything goes well, the pre-feasibility study should commence by this year end or beginning of 2014. And, the pre-feasibly study and preparation of DPR will take another one year. "We are hopeful that by 2015, work of the project will kick off," he said.

The GMDA has recently sought Rs 25 crore from the Assam Infrastructure Financing Authority for meeting the expenditures of conducting the pre-feasibility study and preparation of DPR. Sources in GDD said it will take at least six years to complete the first phase of the metro rail project in the city which is estimated to be constructed at a cost of Rs 14,000 crore.

Under the metro rail project in Guwahati, 64.50 km and 56.30 km will be covered in the first and second phase respectively, while in the third phase 75.50 km will be covered.

मुगलसराय(चंदौली): स्थानीय जंक्शन पर क्या कुछ चल रहा है अभी तक इसकी जानकारी केवल जीआरपी कोतवाली तक सीमित होती थी लेकिन अब इस पर ऊपर के अधिकारी भी आनलाइन नजर रखेंगे। इसके लिए जंक्शन पर कुल आठ आनलाइन सीसी कैमरे लगाए जा रहे हैं। सबसे अहम यह है कि एक कैमरा जीआरपी कोतवाली में लगाया जाएगा जिसके माध्यम से अधिकारी रोजाना के जीडी का अवलोकन भी करेंगे।
पहले से लगे हैं कैमरे
दरअसल पहले से भी सुरक्षा की दृष्टि से जंक्शन पर कैमरे लगे हैं लेकिन ये आनलाइन नहीं है। इन कैमरों के माध्यम से स्थानीय जीआरपी प्रशासन जंक्शन पर नजर रखती है। वर्तमान में वहां लग रहे 8 आनलाइन सीसी कैमरे हमेशा इंटरनेट से जुड़े होंगे। जंक्शन पर क्या चल रहा है इसकी जानकारी इलाहाबाद व लखनऊ में बैठे उच्चाधिकारी सीधे देख सकेंगे। इतना ही नहीं मौके की नजाकत को समझते हुए समय-समय पर स्थानीय पुलिस अधिकारियों को निर्देशित भी करेंगे। अब तक इस काम के लिए या तो उन्हें अपने मातहतों से अथवा संबंधित सूचना एजेंसी से जानकारी मिल पाती थी। कई बार ऐसा भी होता था कि अधिकारियों के सामने सच्चाई से हट कर भी जानकारी पहुंचती थी। अब आनलाइन कैमरों के लग जाने के बाद एक तो जंक्शन की सुरक्षा व्यवस्था सुदृढ़ होगी दूसरे किसी आपातकालीन स्थिति में अधिकारी वहीं बैठे-बैठे पूरी व्यवस्था को मानीटरिंग कर सकेंगे।
कैमरा लगाने का कार्य शुरू
इस संबंध में कोतवाल रतन सिंह ने बताया कि जंक्शन के विभिन्न प्लेटफार्मोँ, आने जाने वाले रास्तों, मुसाफिर खाने सहित अन्य जगहों पर प्रोजेक्ट दृष्टि के अन्तर्गत 8 सीसी कैमरे लगाने का कार्य मंगलवार से शुरू हुआ।
एक कैमरे की जद में 50 फीट एरिया
वहीं ई मित्र एटी इन्फोटेक प्राईवेट लिमिटेड संस्था के प्रोजेक्ट मैनेजर राबीन राणा ने बताया कि खुद एडीजीपी रेलवे ने इसका डिमास्ट्रेशन कराया था। उसके बाद प्रदेश के सभी बड़े जंक्शनों पर इसे लगाने का निर्णय लिया था। उसी के तहत ये कैमरे लगाए जा रहे है। बताया कि ये विशेष तरह के कैमरे है जो 150 फीट एरिया को अपने जद में हमेशा रखेंगे। हालांकि इससे दूर का दृश्य भी कवर होगा।

NEW DELHI: Two Chinese companies are among six bidders in the race for setting up a modern electric locomotive factory at Medhepura in Bihar.CNR Corporation and CSR Corporation, both from China, have submitted qualifying bids for the proposed Rs 1300 crore factory, said a senior Railway Ministry official.Other four multinationals who have submitted the RFQ (request for quotation) proposals include GE Global, Bombardier, Siemens and AlstomBSE -1.59 %.Today was the last date for submission of RFQ application. These are qualifying proposals and Railways has to shortlist the bidders and then invite financial bids for the state-of-the-art factory.The proposals for the factory and also a diesel locomotive factory at Marhora in Bihar were announced during the then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in 2008.Both factories are to be set up in PPP model and there are many changes in the bidding documents over the clauses of transfer of technology and maintenance since the announcement.In order to give a boost to the infrastructure sector, setting up of these two factories on PPP mode is crucial for the current economy scenario and PMO is also monitoring these projects.Bidding documents were earlier discharged on November 2011 and Railways called for fresh proposals for the two factories.Finally the qualifying applications were opened today after many extension of final date, said the official.

However, the applications for the diesel locomotive factory at Marhora will be opened on September 22. The Marhora factory would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 2,025 crore.

At present, Railways has two locomotive factories in Varanasi (diesel) and Chittaranjan (electric).

Call it the Indian Railways’ shame in Jharkhand’s breathtaking bungalow town.

McCluskieganj — situated on the idyllic Chotanagpur Plateau 65km from capital Ranchi — is a classic example of how sustained indifference can put thousands of human lives at risk for decades.Back in the Nineties, a footbridge was proposed at the busy junction, but only to rust without a single day’s use. The reason is bizarre. The railways, which installed iron pillars and frameworks for stairways, conveniently forgot to join them with a common elevated landing to offer passengers risk-free passage over the tracks.This is not the sole howler in civil planning at a station that sees at least 40 pairs of halting and galloping trains — carrying either passengers or goods — pass by every day.According to retired IAF officer R.K. Prasad, low-lying platforms are the biggest threat.“I believe there are a few standard safety guidelines in the railway rule book when it comes to raising platforms. Unfortunately, none is followed here. You can’t make out the difference between tracks and platforms, especially after sundown, as both are almost at the same level. There are also no security barricades on either end of the three platforms despite heavy train traffic on this route,” said Prasad.

The McCluskieganj junction under East Central Railway (ECR) connects trains from Dhanbad-Bokaro to Daltonganj-Garhwa, from where the route splits towards Mughalsarai, Delhi and Mumbai. There are 14 pairs of trains that stop at this old station. These include the Hatia-Chopan Express, Palamau Express and Jabalpur-Howrah Express. Among galloping ones are Rajdhani Express and the Garib Rath. Local railway officials pegged the daily off-season passenger footfall at 800-1,000.

A journalist working with a local daily said that they had raised the issues with senior railway officials during inspections more than once. “Nothing has happened so far,” he rued, adding that the ECR authorities cited poor revenue generation and funds crunch for delay in revamp of the junction.

“People live on either side of the station and crossing tracks is common in the absence of a footbridge. Though there is a road for villages from Khelari, but that is an almost 8km detour,” the scribe said, recalling an incident a few months ago when a schoolboy had a close shave.

Sandeep Rajdan, another resident, added: “We recently saw what happened at Dhamaraghat in Bihar last month. Will only a tragedy jolt the railway authorities out of their snooze mode. Let alone a footbridge, McCluskieganj station does not have basic amenities such as drinking water. An elderly or an ailing person could collapse and die of thirst in peak summer.”

Dhanbad divisional railway manager (DRM) Sudhir Kumar did not take calls despite repeated attempts.

Additional DRM H.K. Raghu feigned ignorance. “I have to see files and that it will take some time. File an RTI to get answers,” he said briefly.

Do you think the footbridge will ever come up?

GUWAHATI: Work for the ambitious metro rail project in Guwahati is likely to start in 2015, said officials of Guwahati Development Department (GDD). GDD officials said the next few weeks will be crucial for giving a momentum to the project which is aimed at boosting public transport in the city."The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has submitted Request for Proposal (RFP) for carrying out pre-feasibility study on the project to the state government about a month ago. The RFP needs to be cleared by the government before GMDA floats tenders to invite firms to carry out pre-feasibility study and prepare a detailed project report (DPR)," an official here said.GMDA officials added that they are expecting the state government to clear the RFP by September-end, which will give an impetus to the metro rail project.M Angamuthu, chief executive officer of GMDA, told TOI that once the RFP is cleared by the government, GMDA will float a global tender inviting firms to conduct the pre-feasibility study on the project. He said the pre-feasibility study will present a clear view about the project. "It will decide where the stations should be constructed, whether metro rail will be over ground or underground and also the route alignments," he added.

Angamuthu said if everything goes well, the pre-feasibility study should commence by this year end or beginning of 2014. And, the pre-feasibly study and preparation of DPR will take another one year. "We are hopeful that by 2015, work of the project will kick off," he said.

The GMDA has recently sought Rs 25 crore from the Assam Infrastructure Financing Authority for meeting the expenditures of conducting the pre-feasibility study and preparation of DPR. Sources in GDD said it will take at least six years to complete the first phase of the metro rail project in the city which is estimated to be constructed at a cost of Rs 14,000 crore.

Under the metro rail project in Guwahati, 64.50 km and 56.30 km will be covered in the first and second phase respectively, while in the third phase 75.50 km will be covered.

CNB-JHS electrification inspection