ProUI

To cope with extra rush of passengers during Onam, Southern Railway will run special trains. Ernakulam-Chennai Central-Ernakulam Superfast special trains will leave Ernakulam Junction on September 5 and 12 at 7 p.m. and reach Chennai Central at 7.45 a.m. the next day. Chennai Central-Ernakulam Junction Superfast special will depart Chennai Central at 9 p.m. on September 6 and 13 and reach Ernakulam Junction at 8.30 a.m. the next day. Chennai Central-Tirunelveli Special which will run via Coimbatore, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercoil will leave Chennai Central at 3.15 p.m. on September 13 and arrive Tirunelveli at 11 a.m. the next day. In Kerala the trains will stop at Palakkad, Thrissur, Aluva, Ernakulam Town, Kottayam, Tiruvalla, Chengannur, Kayamkulam, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram and Neyyattinkara stations.

“We like the job and we are confident of operating the trains on par with male drivers. The job is good and the encouragement from parents and staff is good,” said the eight women loco pilots who successfully completed training at Electric Traction Training Centre (ETTC), Vijayawada.

The eight loco pilots who passed out were — G.V.S. Nalini Kumari, G. Sirisha, P. Lavanya, B. Hymavathi, Ch. Sirisha, Binni Kumari, Seema Kumari, and K. Reenam.

“Out of them, five are from Andhra Pradesh, two from Bihar, and one from Odisha,” Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager Pradeep Kumar told The Hindu on Tuesday.

“For the first time, we have imparted training for 14 women. The successful candidates would be appointed as Assistant Loco Pilots (APLs) in the South Central Railway,” said Mr. Pradeep Kumar.

The women pilots were trained in engine components, driving skills, troubleshooting, identifying and rectifying faults, wheel alignment, brakes, driving rules, simulator, and other parts, said ETTC principal D.R.J. Prasad.

During the 79-day training, we taught them on technical and general and subsidiary rules. Already, the Apprentice Loco Pilots underwent training at the Zonal Railway Training Centre (ZRTC) at Moulali on signalling, said instructor Vivekananda.

“My father is a loco pilot and my dream to become a train driver has come true now. The job is good and I am ready to face the challenges, if any,” said Ms. Reenam, a native of Bihar.

Ms. Seema Kumari, who completed ITI in Electronics in Odisha, said the encouragement from parents and the trainers was good.

Meanwhile, South Central Railway Women’s Welfare Organisation president Preeti Awasthi felicitated the eight women loco pilots. “It is a proud moment for women of the country that the fair sex has forayed into loco pilot profession, which is a male bastion till date. The SCRWWO will make efforts to arrange separate food and rest rooms for women pilots,” said Ms. Awasthi.

South Central Railway Women’s Welfare Organisation president Preeti Awasthi felicitates the eight women

loco pilots

28-08-2013
Secunderabad
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SCR to Provide 4608 Additional Berths by attaching Additional Sleeper Class Coaches to Certain Express Trains
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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.

PUNE: Passenger movement on platform number one of the Pune railway station was disrupted for some time on Tuesday afternoon, when a portion of the false ceiling became dislodged around 4.30 pm and was left dangling.

Railway officials later removed the dangling portion. No casualty or damage was reported.

Officials said the portion of the aluminium ceiling came unstuck near a book stall on the platform and was dangling about one to two feet below its original position. It had to be removed as there was not enough support to reattach it.

An official said the portion was dislodged as the rods that attached it to the roof had been stolen. The administration will now ask the government railway police (GRP) and railway protection force (RPF) to increase vigil at the station to avoid such incidents, he said.

Both agencies will also be asked to restrict entry of people creating nuisance at the station premises. The official added that the engineering department would check if the remaining ceiling needed to be removed.

Harsha Shah of the Railway Pravasi Group said, "Such incidents of thefts have been reported on the station premises. The administration needs to restrict illegal activities at the station and initiate regular drives on all platforms." Shah said the security at platform number one should be increased as most trains operate from this platform.

Government Railway Police officials said the coaches of a good train that was bound for Trombay derailed near Kurla blocking the tracks on the up and down lines of the railway line.
Trains linking the city to Navi Mumbai were hit. Services on the harbour line of Central Railways, which link the city to the satellite city of Navi Mumbai, were shut down after coaches from a goods train derailed and fell on the tracks near the suburb of Kurla.
Government Railway Police officials said three coaches of a goods train that was bound for Trombay derailed near Kurla, blocking the tracks on the up and down lines of the railway line.

Shimla : To save tourists from being fleeced by taxi owners, the Himachal Pradesh Transport Corporation (HRTC) is launching a new scheme wherein anybody can travel the whole day in government buses on the purchase of a Rs 20 ticket.Addressing a press conference here today, Transport Minister GS Bali said the government also proposed to start two air-conditioned deluxe buses between Kalka and Shimla for those travelling by the Shatabdi Express. "The deluxe buses will provide a direct link, both to locals as well as tourists, between Kalka and Shimla and save them from being fleeced by taxi owners," he said.Bali said there was a proposal to start an AC deluxe bus in Shimla town, in which people could travel by purchasing a Rs 400 monthly pass or buy a onetime ticket of minimum Rs 20. "Since this bus will not be crowded, those going to work can travel by comfortably," he said. He added that this would also save people from the hardship of searching for a parking place for their vehicle.He said the HRTC proposed to buy 10 new buses for Shimla. The minimum fare in these buses would be Rs 5. "We also propose to buy five new buses for the Shimla-Solan route at a fare of Rs 40 and 10 for Shimla-Bilaspur and Shimla-Sirmour routes," he announced.Bali also announced that 250 new bus routes would be issued to create better transportation facility in rural and remote areas. "Preference will be given to war widows and unemployed youth in the grant of permits on these routes," he said.

He also cautioned that strict action would be taken against drivers and conductors against whom complaints had been received with regard to their bad behaviour. He added that the government would ensure that all drivers and conductors wore uniform and name plates while on duty.

As announced in last Railway Budget for running of weekly Super Fast Express trains towards New Delhi and Tirupati from Bhubaneswar, Ministry of Railways has decided to introduce Bhubaneswar-New Delhi-Bhubaneswar super fast via Angul, Sambalpur City and Rourkela from 7thSeptember 2013 and Bhubaneswar-Tirupati-Bhubaneswar super fast express from 14th September 2013.22805 Bhubaneswar-New Delhi weekly super fast Express will leave Bhubaneswar at 1245hrs o­n every Saturday w.e.f. 7th September 2013 and will arrive at New Delhi at 2050hrs o­n every Sundays. In the return direction, 22806 New Delhi-Bhubaneswar weekly super fast Express will leave New Delhi at 0700hrs o­n every Monday w.e.f. 9th September 2013 and will arrive at Bhubaneswar at 1630hrs o­n every Tuesday.
This train has o­ne AC First Class, O­ne-AC 2 tier, Four-AC 3 tiers, Eight-Sleeper Classes, Two -Guard cum Luggage Vans and o­ne-Pantry Car in its composition having stoppages at Dhenkanal, Talcher Road, Angul, Rairakhol, Sambalpur City, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Chakradharpur, Muri, Bokaro Steel City, Gomo, Kodarma, Gaya, Mughalsarai, Allahabad and Kanpur Central between Bhubaneswar and New Delhi.
22879 Bhubaneswar-Tirupati weekly super fast Express will leave Bhubaneswar at 1200hrs o­n every Saturday w.e.f. 14th September 2013 and will arrive at Tirupati at 0925hrs o­n every Sundays. In the return direction, 22880 Tirupati-Bhubaneswar weekly super fast Express will leave Tirupati at 1245hrs o­n every Sunday w.e.f. 15th September 2013 and will arrive at Bhubaneswar at 1010hrs o­n every Monday.
This train has O­ne-AC 2 tier, Three-AC 3 tiers, Eleven-Sleeper Classes, Four General Second Class coaches, Two-Guard cum Luggage Vans and o­ne-Pantry Car in its composition having stoppages at Khurda Road, Balugaon, Chatrapur, Brahmapur, Ichhapuram, Srikakulam Road, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Duvvada, Samalkot, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Vijayawada, o­ngole, Nellore, Gudur and Renigunta between Bhubaneswar and Tirupati.

Twenty five-year-old Vrinda Kapoor often travels by train to meet her parents in Mumbai. However, she is unable to eat the insipid train food and is forced to binge on chips and biscuits. But not anymore, thanks to food portals that deliver to her favourite chicken pizza at her seat, guaranteed hot and fresh.

"Travelling is easier now as I can now eat whatever I like instead of the watery dal and bland subzis served by the pantry and are a sorry excuse for food," Kapoor, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University here, told IANS.

Continental, Chinese, Italian, Mughlai and even fast food, varied cuisines are on offer by portals like comesum.com, travelkhana.com and merafoodchoice.com.

These portals, who have partnered with restaurants across the country, give their customers the freedom to order food from any famous eatery along the route.

The meals can be booked online or through phone by submitting train details or the passenger name record (PNR) number.

The customer can then choose any restaurant en route the destination and the meal is delivered at a pre-decided station. Payment can be made online as well as on delivery.

"Today's customers are quality conscious and know better than just to pick up food from an average hawker, they look more at multi cuisine delicacies," Abhishek Agrawal, managing director at Comesum, told IANS.

Comesum, started 40 years ago as railway caterers and apart from delivering meals in trains also operates 25 multi-cuisine food plazas that are open 24X7 round the year at railway and Metro stations in Delhi and around the country.

"We offer different cuisines to our customers but Indian food especially thalis (meal made of selection of several dishes) are quite favourite," said Agrawal adding that the cost of a thali ranges between Rs.80 and Rs.150 depending on the food items selected.

While Comesum offers food prepared at its own outlets, travelkhana.com and merafoodchoice.com have partnered with restaurants and eateries.

Travelkhana.com, which started operations in Aug 2012, has tied up with over 200 restaurants and caterers at over 80 stations and has delivered food to about 60,000 passengers.

"Indian Railways is the lifeline of passengers but the quality of food leaves a lot to be desired... we provide fresh food across all major trains and you won't have to depend on the pantry food anymore," Travelkhana CEO Pushpinder Singh told IANS.

The Indian Railways ferries 23 million travellers and 2.65 million tonnes of goods daily on 12,000 passenger and 7,000 freight trains. The network is spread over 64,000 route km and has 7,083 stations.

At present, only 302 trains have pantry cars.

Describing Travelkhana's functioning, Pushpinder Singh said that GPS-enabled mobile applications keeps them updated about train delays and diversions. In case an order does not reach the passenger at a particular station, it is delivered at the next one.

Serving both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, Pushpinder Singh has his eyes set on expanding to 30 new stations soon as well collaborating with more outlets.

"We are in talks with McDonalds," he said.

Meanwhile, Nashik based merafoodchoice.com, which started in Nov 2012 offers only vegetarian meals and specialises in thalis from different states.

"We are trying to promote the Indian food culture and offer thalis of various states," said founder Piyush Kasliwal adding that the portal is offering its services at 145 stations across the country and has so far catered to over 30,000 clients.

"The vegetarian thali, is priced between Rs.100 and Rs.200 and the customers don't mind the pricing because they know that they are getting quality food," added Kasliwal, who now plans to expand to 200 stations.

With several complaints against the food served in trains, the portals have definitely come to the rescue of the people.

Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge recently told the Lok Sabha that 1,279 complaints about sub-standard food were received in 2012, of which 115 were for lack of hygienic conditions in superfast premier trains like the Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express.

So, the next time you travel on a train, remember that your favourite butter chicken or masala dosa or chicken manchurian is just a call or a click away.

A 40-year-old MBA graduate, whose idea of fun is making hoax bomb threat calls to the Mumbai railway police helpline, has landed in trouble.In the past week, Dhanwin Ramlal Barot, a resident of Tilak Nagar in Chembur working in a textile firm, made four such calls to the helpline number. Explaining his modus operandi, Shivaji Dhumal, senior inspector of Kurla GRP police station said that Barot would make the calls to the number (9833331111) from a particular public phone booth located at Sable Nagar, near Tilak Nagar. Every time he called, he either told the telephone operator that there was a bomb planted at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) in Kurla.On receiving the information, the helpline personnel would pass the message on to the Kurla GRP police station, who would conduct a search of the entire area with the help of Bomb Detection & Disposal Squad and Anti-Terrorism Squad personnel.“The Kurla GRP had received four such calls since August 19,” said Dhumal. During investigations, they found that it was Barot making the prank calls. On Monday, the police team, with the help of the PCO operator, laid a trap at the PCO and nabbed Barot while he was making another hoax call. Dhumal said, “Barot has been booked under sections 177 (furnishing false information), 182 (false information with intent to cause public servant to used his lawful power to inquiry of another person) and 505 (i) (b) (with intent to cause or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) of the IPC.”The PCO operator confirmed that Barot had made the previous hoax calls. Barot was subsequently remanded in judicial custody by the court on Tuesday.

Twenty five-year-old Vrinda Kapoor often travels by train to meet her parents in Mumbai. However, she is unable to eat the insipid train food and is forced to binge on chips and biscuits. But not anymore, thanks to food portals that deliver to her favourite chicken pizza at her seat, guaranteed hot and fresh.

"Travelling is easier now as I can now eat whatever I like instead of the watery dal and bland subzis served by the pantry and are a sorry excuse for food," Kapoor, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University here, told IANS.

Continental, Chinese, Italian, Mughlai and even fast food, varied cuisines are on offer by portals like comesum.com, travelkhana.com and merafoodchoice.com.

These portals, who have partnered with restaurants across the country, give their customers the freedom to order food from any famous eatery along the route.

The meals can be booked online or through phone by submitting train details or the passenger name record (PNR) number.

The customer can then choose any restaurant en route the destination and the meal is delivered at a pre-decided station. Payment can be made online as well as on delivery.

"Today's customers are quality conscious and know better than just to pick up food from an average hawker, they look more at multi cuisine delicacies," Abhishek Agrawal, managing director at Comesum, told IANS.

Comesum, started 40 years ago as railway caterers and apart from delivering meals in trains also operates 25 multi-cuisine food plazas that are open 24X7 round the year at railway and Metro stations in Delhi and around the country.

"We offer different cuisines to our customers but Indian food especially thalis (meal made of selection of several dishes) are quite favourite," said Agrawal adding that the cost of a thali ranges between Rs.80 and Rs.150 depending on the food items selected.

While Comesum offers food prepared at its own outlets, travelkhana.com and merafoodchoice.com have partnered with restaurants and eateries.

Travelkhana.com, which started operations in Aug 2012, has tied up with over 200 restaurants and caterers at over 80 stations and has delivered food to about 60,000 passengers.

"Indian Railways is the lifeline of passengers but the quality of food leaves a lot to be desired... we provide fresh food across all major trains and you won't have to depend on the pantry food anymore," Travelkhana CEO Pushpinder Singh told IANS.

The Indian Railways ferries 23 million travellers and 2.65 million tonnes of goods daily on 12,000 passenger and 7,000 freight trains. The network is spread over 64,000 route km and has 7,083 stations.

At present, only 302 trains have pantry cars.

Describing Travelkhana's functioning, Pushpinder Singh said that GPS-enabled mobile applications keeps them updated about train delays and diversions. In case an order does not reach the passenger at a particular station, it is delivered at the next one.

Serving both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, Pushpinder Singh has his eyes set on expanding to 30 new stations soon as well collaborating with more outlets.

"We are in talks with McDonalds," he said.

Meanwhile, Nashik based merafoodchoice.com, which started in Nov 2012 offers only vegetarian meals and specialises in thalis from different states.

"We are trying to promote the Indian food culture and offer thalis of various states," said founder Piyush Kasliwal adding that the portal is offering its services at 145 stations across the country and has so far catered to over 30,000 clients.

"The vegetarian thali, is priced between Rs.100 and Rs.200 and the customers don't mind the pricing because they know that they are getting quality food," added Kasliwal, who now plans to expand to 200 stations.

With several complaints against the food served in trains, the portals have definitely come to the rescue of the people.

Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge recently told the Lok Sabha that 1,279 complaints about sub-standard food were received in 2012, of which 115 were for lack of hygienic conditions in superfast premier trains like the Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express.

So, the next time you travel on a train, remember that your favourite butter chicken or masala dosa or chicken manchurian is just a call or a click away.