ProUI

With the life span of railway tracks coming down sharply over the years due to increasing passenger-freight operations, higher axle loads on dense traffic routes and corrosion, Southern Railway has set a rail renewal target of 72 kilometres this fiscal as a key component of its measures to maintain safety.

Going by standard estimates, a 60-kg rail segment with a traffic density projection of 800 Gross Million Tonnes (GMT) is about 15 years, but this conventional calculus is being constantly revised, as many rail segments are coming up for renewal in less than half that time, Railway officials said.

With a route length of 5,000 kilometres, Southern Railway is the fifth largest rail network among the 17 zonal railways in Indian Railways network. It runs about 434 suburban trains and 742 non-suburban trains and transports around 2.4 million passengers on an average every day. On the freight front, the originating freight loading from April to July this year was 14.81 million tonnes, the 14 per cent increase over last year being the best-ever loading for the first four months of any year in Southern Railway’s recorded history.

“The upkeep of the vast rail network involves a well-drawn out daily, monthly and periodic maintenance schedule involving men and machines,” said S. Anantharaman, Chief Safety Officer, Southern Railway.

For instance, a track recording car to detect defects, twists or faulty alignment is deployed once every four months in Grade A segments (based on a set of wear-and-tear parameters), once in six months for Grade B sections and once a year for other segments. The data is analysed to arrive at a Track Geometry Index (TGI) value that determines the course of action.

Ultrasonic Flaw Detectors (USFD) to spot weld failures, Oscillation Monitoring Systems to measure vertical and lateral displacement from a normal axis of coaches moving across a particular rail section and tight tamping to bind together caked up ballast are also part of standard procedure, officials said.

Apart from machines, the Railways also deploys gangmen and keymen to physically inspect every bit of the 5,000-km route length.  Weld failure is a common cause of derailment; corrosion a threat to health of tracks.  Hence these gangmen and keymen shall monitor the tracks on daily basis.

In the four months of this fiscal, yard derailments have halved from 22 in the same period last year, while mainline accidents dropped from eight to just one.

One of the most common causes for derailments is weld failure. In-house studies in the Railways estimate that rail and weld failures currently account for over 60 per cent of engineering-related mishaps – a sharp rise from the 25 per cent about four years ago.

Commissioner of Railway Safety S. K. Mittal’s preliminary report on the derailment of Muzaffarpur-Yesvantpur Express near Arakkonam on April 10 too has upheld rail weld failure as the cause of the accident that killed one person.

The other significant threat to the health of tracks is coming from corrosion due to exposure to coastal atmosphere or contact with toilet waste. It is estimated that corrosion causes fracture of an estimated 20 per cent of rail lines.

“The Chennai-Gudur and Chennai-Villupuram lines are among the worst affected lines due to corrosion,” said a track engineering official.

Though the Railways has started using corrosion-resistant alloy-rails to beat the problem, the proportion of these rail segments is minuscule with regard to the magnitude of the problem.

बिलासपुर। रेलवे के ठेकेदार ही रेलवे की सुरक्षा में सेंध लगा रहे हैं। ट्रेनों में पानी भरने का काम करने वाली जीएसआई नामक कंपनी ने बिना किसी दस्तावेजी कार्रवाई के कर्मचारियों को नियुक्ति दे दी है। दो दर्जन कर्मचारी हर दिन अनाधिकृत तरीके से रेलवे स्टेशन में प्रवेश करते हैं और 12 घंटे तक मौजूद रहते हैं। आरपीएफ ने मंगलवार को ऐसे ही कर्मचारियों के खिलाफ कार्रवाई की।

बिलासपुर रेलवे स्टेशन में ठहरने वाली ट्रेनों की बोगियों में पानी भरने का काम ठेके पर दिया गया है। जीएसआई नामक कंपनी ने इसका ठेका लिया है। नियमानुसार ठेकेदार को हरेक कर्मचारी की पूरी जानकारी रखनी होगी और इसकी सूचना रेल प्रशासन को भी देनी होगी। कर्मचारियों को पहचान पत्र जारी करने के साथ ही उनकी मेडिकल जांच भी करानी है, जिससे साबित हो कि कर्मचारी स्वस्थ है।

ठेका कंपनी ने इन तमाम नियमों की अनदेखी की और मनमर्जी से कर्मचारी नियुक्त कर लिए। आरपीएफ ने मंगलवार को स्टेशन परिसर में जांच अभियान चलाकर वाटरिंग स्टाफ से पहचान की टोह ली। पता लगा कि किसी कर्मचारी के पास परिचय पत्र नहीं है। दर्जनभर कर्मचारियों को थाने लाया गया।

इसके बाद भी कंपनी का कोई जिम्मेदार अफसर थाने नहीं पहुंचा, जो कर्मचारियों की पहचान करा सके। आखिरकार आरपीएफ ने सभी के खिलाफ स्टेशन में अनाधिकृत प्रवेश का मामला दर्ज किया। आरपीएफ थाना प्रभारी केबी तिवारी ने बताया कि ट्रेनों में पानी भरने वाले कर्मचारियों की पहचान ही नहीं है। इन पर कार्रवाई करने के बाद भी कंपनी की ओर से कोई जवाब नहीं आया। अनाधिकृत प्रवेश का अपराध दर्ज किया गया है। बगैर पहचान पत्र के मिले तो इनके खिलाफ आगे भी कार्रवाई की जाएगी।

क्या है नुकसान: ट्रेनों में पानी भरने वाले कर्मचारी दिन-रात स्टेशन में मौजूद रहते हैं। कर्मचारी पानी भरने या फिर सफाई के लिए बोगियों में प्रवेश भी करते हैं। इन कारणों से ही हरेक कर्मचारी की पहचान अहम है। सवाल उठता है कि किसी यात्री के साथ अप्रिय घटना हो जाए या सामान चोरी चला जाए तो पुलिस संदेही तक कैसे पहुंचेगी।

87 मामले, जुर्माना 20 हजार रु.

रेलवे अफसरों की टीम ने मंगलवार को बेटिकटों को अनियमित यात्रियों को पकड़ने की मंशा से ट्रेनों में छापामार कार्रवाई की। बिलासपुर से चांपा के बीच चार ट्रेनों जांच हुई, जिसमें 35 बेटिकटों सहित 87 यात्रियों पर 19 हजार 215 रुपए जुर्माना किया गया।

त्योहारी सीजन में लोगों की आवाजाही बढ़ गई है, ट्रेनें पैक चल रही हैं। ऐसे में कुछ लोग भीड़ का फायदा उठाने की मंशा से बिना टिकट या फिर रेलवे के नियमों को ताक पर रखकर सफर करते हैं। रेल प्रशासन ने ऐसे लोगों को ही सबक सिखाने के लिए छापामार कार्रवाई शुरू की है। बिलासपुर रेल मंडल के वरिष्ठ वाणिज्य मैनेजर तनवीर हसन ने टीम के साथ ट्रेनों में औचक निरीक्षण किया।

चांपा से बिलासपुर के बीच चले अभियान में चार ट्रेनों की जांच हुई। इस दौरान 35 यात्रियों को बिना टिकट के सफर करते पकड़ा गया। इन पर 10 हजार 765 रुपए जुर्माना किया गया। 19 यात्रियों को जनरल टिकट से स्लीपर क्लास में सफर करते पकड़ा गया, जिनसे बतौर जुर्माना 6 हजार 620 रुपए वसूल हुए। 33 यात्री बिना लगेज बुकिंग के भारी भरकम सामान के साथ सफर कर रहे थे। इन पर 1 हजार 830 रुपए फाइन हुआ।

भास्कर न्यूज -!-राजनांदगांव
रेलवे स्टेशन परिसर में बने अघोषित पार्किंग स्टैंड पर पुलिस ने मंगलवार को चालानी कार्रवाई की। पुलिस की टीम सुबह से ही कार्रवाई के मूड में थी। टीम नौ बजे रेलवे स्टेशन परिसर पर पहुंची और 18 गाडिय़ों को उठाकर ले गई। गाडिय़ा लॉक थी, इसलिए पुलिस को उठाने के लिए डग्गा ((पुलिस वाहन)) का सहारा लेना पड़ा। 'यादातर गाडिय़ां दैनिक यात्रियों की थी, जो पार्किंग स्टैंड के बाहर ही गाड़ी रखते हैं।
पर्किंग स्थल पर जीआरपी और आरपीएफ के जवानों की तैनाती नहीं होती है। इसलिए लोग गाड़ी कहीं भी खड़ी कर देते हैं। इससे यातायात का दबाव बढ़ रहा था। इसकी शिकायत लगातार पुलिस को मिल रही थी। इससे पहले भी यहां पुलिस ने कार्रवाई की है। यातायात प्रभारी एमएस चंद्रा ने बताया कि रेलवे स्टेशन परिसर में अघोषित पार्किंग में वाहन रखने वाले 18 लोगों पर कार्रवाई की गई है। यह कार्रवाई लगातार जारी रहेगी। शहर में भी यातायात व्यवस्था को बनाए रखने के लिए चालानी कार्रवाई की जा रही है।

Visakhapatnam: A Zonal Electrical Training Institute of East Coast Railway for imparting various training courses to the loco running staff and loco maintenance staff was inaugurated by Divisional Railway Manager Anil Kumar at Marripalem here on Tuesday.

Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer (Op.) of Waltair Division M.S.Sansanwal and other Branch Officers and staff were present. The foundation stone for the training institute was laid by then Railway Board Chairman K.C. Jena on October, 31, 2008. The Railway Board had sanctioned the training institute at an estimated cost of Rs.4.35 crore.

The training institute offers induction courses for newly recruited Assistant Loco Pilots from RRBs, newly promoted Loco Inspectors, refresher courses for Loco Pilots, EMU Pilots, Promotional Courses to the LP (Shunter), LP(Goods), LP(Passenger) and Conversion Courses to Diesel ALP/LP to Electrical ALP/LP. It also imparts initial courses, refresher course and promotional courses to maintenance supervisors and technicians. The training institute started imparting initial course of ALP training to first batch of 43 Assistant Loco Pilots recruited through Railway Recruitment Board on August 20. The training institutehas 64 bedded hostel accommodation with recreation facilities like meditation/yoga room, play ground, spacious class rooms, hi-tech computer lab, library facility, seminar hall and trouble shooting Electric Locomotive Simulator for imparting the trouble shooting training to the running staff.

MANGALORE: Indian Railways has renumbered six trains including the Chennai Egmore - Mangalore Central - Chennai daily express. Train numbers 16107/16108 Chennai Egmore - Mangalore Central - Chennai (daily) express will be re-numbered as 16859/16860 with effect from September 1. Train numbers 16865/16866 Karaikal - Ernakulam - Karaikal (daily) express will be renumbered as 16187/16188 with effect from September 1.Train number 12653 Puducherry - Mangalore Central (weekly) express will be renumbered as train number 16857 with effect from September 7 and train number 12654 Manglore Central - Puducherry express will be renumbered as train 16858 with effect from September 8. Train numbers 16857/16858 will run via Coimbatore Junction and will not stop at Podanur. Extension of these trains to Puducherry from and to Tiruchchirappalli will be notified later.Train 12998/12997 Hapa - Tirunelveli - Hapa (bi-weekly) express will be renumbered as 19578/19577 with effect from November 1 and 4 respectively.

मेट्रो रेल की तर्ज पर रेलवे जल्द ही प्लेटफार्म टिकट कार्ड उतारने जा रहा है। यह कार्ड प्री-पेड होगा, जिसमें आपको हर समय अपनी सुविधानुसार बैलेंस रखना होगा। यानी जब भी आप पटना जंक्शन जायेंगे, प्लेटफार्म पर जाने से पहले आपको प्लेटफार्म टिकट काउंटर के सामने लाइन में धक्के खाने की जरूरत नहीं पड़ेगी। जंक्शन के सभी गेटों पर लगी मशीन में आप अपना कार्ड स्वाइप करेंगे और उनको तत्काल प्लेटफार्म टिकट मिल जायेगा।
इस कार्ड का सबसे अधिक फायदा उन लोगों को होगा, जिन्हें अक्सर जंक्शन आना-जाना पड़ता है। अक्सर प्लेटफार्म टिकट काउंटर के बाहर खड़ी लाइन को देख कर ही लोग अपने रिश्तेदार को स्टेशन परिसर में उतार लौट जाते हैं। प्लेटफार्म कार्ड रहने पर आपको ऐसा करने की जरूरत नहीं पड़ेगी। आधिकारिक सूत्रों के मुताबिक यह कार्ड नियमित रूप से प्लेटफार्म टिकट लेने वालों के लिए ही उतारा जा रहा है। पहली बार कार्ड बनवाने के लिए कितने पैसे देने होंगे? इसकी वैधता कितने दिनों की होगी? यह निर्णय फिलहाल नहीं हुआ है। हां, इस कार्ड में कम से कम सौ रुपये का बैलेंस रखना होगा। इसके बाद आप बीस मर्तबा प्लेटफार्म पर आने-जाने के लिए अधिकृत रहेंगे। जैसे ही प्लेटफार्म के गेट पर लगी मशीन में कार्ड डालेंगे एक प्लेटफार्म टिकट मिलेगा। जिस पर तिथि व समय दर्ज होगा। टिकट पर ही आपके कार्ड का बैलेंस भी लिखा रहेगा। रेल प्रशासन जंक्शन के हर प्रवेश द्वार पर ऐसी कंप्यूटरीकृत मशीन लगाने की योजना बना रहा है।

With loco pilots threatening to launch a countrywide campaign, train operations are likely to be adversely impacted in the coming months.

The provocation comes from the recommendations of the DP Tripathi committee set up in 2010 to review the duty hours and period of rest rules of train drivers. The committee submitted its report on Wednesday.

“Recommendations are cleverly worded, but the duty hours have been left unchanged at 13 hours. The committee also recommends 40 hours of weekly rest for loco pilots, although the Karnataka HC has already ruled 46 hours rest period for drivers”, said Sanjay Pandhi, Central Working President of the Indian Railways Loco Running men Organization (IRLRO).

Approximately 18% short of its sanctioned strength, the over-worked lot of train drivers have been demanding that eight hours of work be stipulated for them in accordance with the International Labor Organization convention.

The Tripathi committee recommends the installation of “automatic signaling systems” across the railways network for enabling faster movement of trains on a single track. “Indian Railways do not have the human assets or training processes to accommodate high technology of such nature on a massive scale. If this recommendation is accepted, the number of accidents is likely to increase,” Pandhi warned.

Majority of train accidents reported in past years have been caused by “human error” and a substantial number of these have been reported during night.

However, the Tripathi committee has recommended reduction in night hour duty allowance for drivers.  “This is a regressive recommendation”, an IRLRO functionary said.

With the life span of railway tracks coming down sharply over the years due to increasing passenger-freight operations, higher axle loads on dense traffic routes and corrosion, Southern Railway has set a rail renewal target of 72 kilometres this fiscal as a key component of its measures to maintain safety.

Going by standard estimates, a 60-kg rail segment with a traffic density projection of 800 Gross Million Tonnes (GMT) is about 15 years, but this conventional calculus is being constantly revised, as many rail segments are coming up for renewal in less than half that time, Railway officials said.

With a route length of 5,000 kilometres, Southern Railway is the fifth largest rail network among the 17 zonal railways in Indian Railways network. It runs about 434 suburban trains and 742 non-suburban trains and transports around 2.4 million passengers on an average every day. On the freight front, the originating freight loading from April to July this year was 14.81 million tonnes, the 14 per cent increase over last year being the best-ever loading for the first four months of any year in Southern Railway’s recorded history.

“The upkeep of the vast rail network involves a well-drawn out daily, monthly and periodic maintenance schedule involving men and machines,” said S. Anantharaman, Chief Safety Officer, Southern Railway.

For instance, a track recording car to detect defects, twists or faulty alignment is deployed once every four months in Grade A segments (based on a set of wear-and-tear parameters), once in six months for Grade B sections and once a year for other segments. The data is analysed to arrive at a Track Geometry Index (TGI) value that determines the course of action.

Ultrasonic Flaw Detectors (USFD) to spot weld failures, Oscillation Monitoring Systems to measure vertical and lateral displacement from a normal axis of coaches moving across a particular rail section and tight tamping to bind together caked up ballast are also part of standard procedure, officials said.

Apart from machines, the Railways also deploys gangmen and keymen to physically inspect every bit of the 5,000-km route length.  Weld failure is a common cause of derailment; corrosion a threat to health of tracks.  Hence these gangmen and keymen shall monitor the tracks on daily basis.

In the four months of this fiscal, yard derailments have halved from 22 in the same period last year, while mainline accidents dropped from eight to just one.

One of the most common causes for derailments is weld failure. In-house studies in the Railways estimate that rail and weld failures currently account for over 60 per cent of engineering-related mishaps – a sharp rise from the 25 per cent about four years ago.

Commissioner of Railway Safety S. K. Mittal’s preliminary report on the derailment of Muzaffarpur-Yesvantpur Express near Arakkonam on April 10 too has upheld rail weld failure as the cause of the accident that killed one person.

The other significant threat to the health of tracks is coming from corrosion due to exposure to coastal atmosphere or contact with toilet waste. It is estimated that corrosion causes fracture of an estimated 20 per cent of rail lines.

“The Chennai-Gudur and Chennai-Villupuram lines are among the worst affected lines due to corrosion,” said a track engineering official.

Though the Railways has started using corrosion-resistant alloy-rails to beat the problem, the proportion of these rail segments is minuscule with regard to the magnitude of the problem.

28-08-2013
Secunderabad
..
SCR to Provide 4608 Additional Berths by attaching Additional Sleeper Class Coaches to Certain Express Trains
..
South Central Railway will temporarily augment the following express trains with additional Sleeper Class Coaches to clear the extra rush / waitlisted passengers as detailed below:-

1.Tr.No. 17225 Vijayawada - Hubli Amaravathi Tri Weekly Express will be augmented with two additional Sleeper Class Coaches  on 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 26thand 28th September, 2013 (Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays)
2.Tr.No. 17226  Hubli - Vijayawada Amaravathi Tri Weekly Express will be augmented with two additional Sleeper Class Coaches Coaches  on 4th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 23rd, 25th,28th and 30th September, 2013 (Mondays,Wednesdays, Saturdays)
3.Tr.No. 17208 Vijayawada - Sai Nagar Shirdi Weekly Express will be augmented with two additional Sleeper Class Coaches o­n 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th September, 2013
4.Tr.No. 17207  Sai Nagar Shirdi - Vijayawada Weekly Express will be augmented with two additional Sleeper Class Coaches o­n 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th September, 2013

          These additional 64 Sleeper Class Coaches will make available 4608 additional Sleeper Class Berths.

Ludhiana : The chairman of Yatri Sewa Samiti, which looks after the services being provided to the railway passengers, inspected the city railway station today. The chairman, Jagdish Chander, inspected various areas on the railway station premises and took notes of problems being faced by visitors and passengers at the railway station.While addressing a long-pending demand of city residents, Jagdish Chander said the Lakkar Bridge will be completed by the end of this year. The project has been hanging fire for several years, inconveniencing the residents.Although the station authorities had cleaned the station, Chander was not satisfied by the basic infrastructure. He instructed the railway station staff to keep the station more neat and clean.The chairman said the ongoing construction of foot bridge will be completed by March 31. He said the railway hospital will also be upgraded."The grant for installing escalators on the railway platforms has been released. We have sent the design to Railway Board. When they pass the design, the work will start,” said Jagdish Chander.A delegation of industrialists and Congress leaders also met the Chairman to discuss various problems.The delegation demanded the opening of a ticket reservation centre on the Civil Lines side, and a new Shatabdi from Ludhiana.