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Southern Railway will ask Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES), a public sector consultancy firm to study the feasibility of converting Royapuram railway station into a terminal and retain it as a heritage structure.Speaking at a press meet in the city on Wednesday, Surya Prakash Reddy, minister of state for railways and divisional railway manager Pradeep Kumar Mishra said a decision regarding the station would be arrived at once the study was completed. “It will be difficult to convert the station into a terminal, as it is quite small. The process will not be easy,” Mr. Reddy said. Officials from RITES said they had not received any formal work order from Southern Railway as of now. “Once we get the work order we will decide on how to go about the study,” an official said. The Royapuram station is the oldest in the country and was inaugurated on July 1, 1856. As per the city’s list of heritage structures, the station is under the Grade I category. Earlier, there were plans made to demolish the structure for various development projects.

In another announcement, Mr. Mishra said that the Moore Market Complex (MMC) suburban railway station will get two new platforms and the number of tracks from it to Basin Bridge station will also be increased.

As of now, there are four lines between these two stations and this will be increased to six. On an average, over 2 lakh commuters use the MMC station every day, and 275 services are operated from here. “As of now trains get delayed as there is not enough space for many trains in the station. This causes considerable delays,” said a senior railway official.

Tenders will soon be called for to start work on the two new platforms. According to officials, the work is expected to begin in the next few months and is expected to be completed by April next year. “The benefit of the additional platforms will be that services will be on time and the number of services can be increased later,” said the official.

Mr. Reddy also said the all the unmanned and manned level crossings will be replaced with rail underbridges or overbridges. “There are over 880 level crossings in the State and 35 in Chennai. All of these will be replaced,” he said. He said that the process of converting Chennai Central station into a world-class facility was also on. “As of now many projects have been delayed due to lack of funds,” he said.

Consultant to determine feasibility of converting building into terminal and retaining it as heritage structure

Southern Railway will ask Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES), a public sector consultancy firm to study the feasibility of converting Royapuram railway station into a terminal and retain it as a heritage structure.Speaking at a press meet in the city on Wednesday, Surya Prakash Reddy, minister of state for railways and divisional railway manager Pradeep Kumar Mishra said a decision regarding the station would be arrived at once the study was completed. “It will be difficult to convert the station into a terminal, as it is quite small. The process will not be easy,” Mr. Reddy said. Officials from RITES said they had not received any formal work order from Southern Railway as of now. “Once we get the work order we will decide on how to go about the study,” an official said. The Royapuram station is the oldest in the country and was inaugurated on July 1, 1856. As per the city’s list of heritage structures, the station is under the Grade I category. Earlier, there were plans made to demolish the structure for various development projects.

In another announcement, Mr. Mishra said that the Moore Market Complex (MMC) suburban railway station will get two new platforms and the number of tracks from it to Basin Bridge station will also be increased.

As of now, there are four lines between these two stations and this will be increased to six. On an average, over 2 lakh commuters use the MMC station every day, and 275 services are operated from here. “As of now trains get delayed as there is not enough space for many trains in the station. This causes considerable delays,” said a senior railway official.

Tenders will soon be called for to start work on the two new platforms. According to officials, the work is expected to begin in the next few months and is expected to be completed by April next year. “The benefit of the additional platforms will be that services will be on time and the number of services can be increased later,” said the official.

Mr. Reddy also said the all the unmanned and manned level crossings will be replaced with rail underbridges or overbridges. “There are over 880 level crossings in the State and 35 in Chennai. All of these will be replaced,” he said. He said that the process of converting Chennai Central station into a world-class facility was also on. “As of now many projects have been delayed due to lack of funds,” he said.

Consultant to determine feasibility of converting building into terminal and retaining it as heritage structure

RANCHI: Passengers to the Ranchi and Hatia railway stations may well find elevators next time they visit to the two junctions in the state capital.Set to be installed to cater to senior citizens and disabled people, this will not only facilitate faster movement of people across the station but also make the entire process less tedious for weary travellers.Prabhat Sahay, the additional general manager of South Eastern Railways said here on Friday, "I have found the existing infrastructure to be good enough and have given necessary advice to the officers here to make it even better." He was here to inspect railway stations and other railway properties on Friday.The railways had installed an escalator at Ranchi railway station recently. "I request the administrations in various districts to inform us in advance whenever there is any festival or a gathering near the railway lines in the state," said Sahay. When asked about what steps would they would be taking to prevent accidents like the recent one at Dharma Ghat in Bihar, in which 37 people were killed, he said, "We would impose speed restriction on trains whenever we get inputs about huge gathering near railway lines."Former DRM of Pune, Sahay recently took over as the additional general manager. "We are coordinating with different agencies of the state government in providing security to the passengers," he added.

BHOPAL: A number of trains were running late after a portion of support base of railway tracks between Magardoh and Barbatpur stations in Betul district on the New Delhi-Chennai route washed away due to heavy rain.Nearly 30-metre long support base has been washed away on the Up line affecting rail traffic in the section, said railway officials. Trains were running on the Down line only.The damage to the tracks was extensive and authorities could not give timeline for restoration.Accompanied by a technical team, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Nagpur division Brajesh Dixit visited the spot on Friday morning and inspected the restoration work.Besides, Up trains were running late 6-8 hours while Down trains about an hour, according to railway officials.Up trains like Andaman Express, Madurai Chandigarh Express, Gondwana Express, GT Express, Dakshin etc were running more than 6 hours late while Down trains like Patna Secunderabad Express, GT Express, Bangalore Hazrat Nizamuddin Express etc were about an hour late.

The railway traffic was being cleared at Itarsi station as only one track was available for trains.

Madanlal Meena took over as Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Waltair, from C. Madhusudhana Rao who has been transferred to Western Railway as Joint Secretary.Mr. Meena hails from Rajasthan and is an officer of the Indian Railway Services for Electrical Engineering 1988 batch. A graduate in Electrical Engineering from the Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, Mr Meena, was earlier Senior Divisional Safety Officer of Vadodara Division of Western Railway.

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress factions, allegedly owing allegiance to two MLAs, clashed on the East West Metro project site at Duttabad on Friday, leaving the ruling party embarrassed.The two groups are allegedly followers of Bidhannagar MLA Sujit Bose and Rajarhat MLA Sabyasachi Dutta. Both Trinamool leaders refrained from taking any names and blamed "outsiders" for the clash.Urban development officials and a KMRC team were surveying the site in the afternoon when a mob of over 100 people stormed in. A quarrel broke out between them and another group that was already on the spot. It quickly turned into a brawl.Sabyasachi Dutta was present when the clash occurred. Several people were injured. A few minutes later, MLA Sujit Bose arrived with the police and the two groups dispersed.The two MLAs avoided making any comment on whether the clash it was an internal feud. Dutta said he had gone to the project site on instructions of minister Firhad Hakim for the survey. "Everything was fine when suddenly some outsiders started creating a ruckus," Dutta said, refusing to say whether they belonged to the Sujit Bose camp or not.

Bose did likewise. "I do not want to take names. I was on EM Bypass When I was informed that some people had blocked the road in Duttabad. They were probably misguided. A survey is on to rehabilitate the people for the East West Metro project," Bose said.

Relocation of families in Duttabad has long been a problem for the EW Metro. A few weeks ago, the stalemate seemed to have ended when the government decided to rehabilitate 43 families to makeshift houses on the ground adjacent to Bidyadhari School. Apartments will be built for them later.

NEW DELHI: Loss incurred by the railways in the passenger segment is likely to touch Rs 25,000 crore this year, Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday.Freight revenue was being used to cross subsidise passenger train fares, minister of state for railways Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy said in written a response.A plan to constitute a Rail Tariff Authority to evolve and implement an integrated and transparent pricing mechanism for railway passenger and freight services is under consideration, he said.

South Central Railway will run four special trains to clear extra rush of passengers between Kakinada and Secunderabad till August 26.Train No. 07102 Kakinada Town -Secunderabad Special will depart Kakinada Town on August 24 at 6.00 p.m. and arrive at Secunderabad at 5.30 a.m., the next day.It will arrive at /depart from Vijayawada at 10.30 p.m./10.50 p.m.Enroute, the train will halt at Jangaon, Kazipet, Warangal, Khammam, Vijayawada, Eluru, Tadepallegudem, Nidadavolu, Rajahmundry, Anaparthi and Samalkot stations. The train will consist of One AC 2 Tier, One AC 3 Tier, 10 Sleeper Class, 4 General Second Class and Two Second Class Luggage cum Brake Van Coaches.Train No. 07002 Kakinada Town - Secunderabad Special will depart Kakinada Town on Sunday, August 25 at 4.00 p.m. and arrive at Secunderabad at 4.15 a.m., the next day. It will arrive at/depart from Vijayawada at 9.45 p.m./9.55 p.m.

Train No. 07001 Secunderabad-Kakinada Town Special train will depart Secunderabad on Monday, August 26 at 11.15 p.m. and arrive at Kakinada Town at 11.35 a.m., the next day.

It will arrive at /depart from Vijayawada at 5.30 a.m./5.50 a.m.

Enroute these trains will halt at Samalkot, Anaparthi, Rajahmundry, Nidadavolu, Bhimavaram Town, Akivedu, Kaikalur, Gudivada, Vijayawada, Mangalagiri, Guntur, Sattenapalle, Piduguralla, Nadikude, Mirayalaguda and Nalgonda stations in both the directions.

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress factions, allegedly owing allegiance to two MLAs, clashed on the East West Metro project site at Duttabad on Friday, leaving the ruling party embarrassed.The two groups are allegedly followers of Bidhannagar MLA Sujit Bose and Rajarhat MLA Sabyasachi Dutta. Both Trinamool leaders refrained from taking any names and blamed "outsiders" for the clash.Urban development officials and a KMRC team were surveying the site in the afternoon when a mob of over 100 people stormed in. A quarrel broke out between them and another group that was already on the spot. It quickly turned into a brawl.Sabyasachi Dutta was present when the clash occurred. Several people were injured. A few minutes later, MLA Sujit Bose arrived with the police and the two groups dispersed.The two MLAs avoided making any comment on whether the clash it was an internal feud. Dutta said he had gone to the project site on instructions of minister Firhad Hakim for the survey. "Everything was fine when suddenly some outsiders started creating a ruckus," Dutta said, refusing to say whether they belonged to the Sujit Bose camp or not.

Bose did likewise. "I do not want to take names. I was on EM Bypass When I was informed that some people had blocked the road in Duttabad. They were probably misguided. A survey is on to rehabilitate the people for the East West Metro project," Bose said.

Relocation of families in Duttabad has long been a problem for the EW Metro. A few weeks ago, the stalemate seemed to have ended when the government decided to rehabilitate 43 families to makeshift houses on the ground adjacent to Bidyadhari School. Apartments will be built for them later.

South Central Railway will run four special trains to clear extra rush of passengers between Kakinada and Secunderabad till August 26.Train No. 07102 Kakinada Town -Secunderabad Special will depart Kakinada Town on August 24 at 6.00 p.m. and arrive at Secunderabad at 5.30 a.m., the next day.It will arrive at /depart from Vijayawada at 10.30 p.m./10.50 p.m.Enroute, the train will halt at Jangaon, Kazipet, Warangal, Khammam, Vijayawada, Eluru, Tadepallegudem, Nidadavolu, Rajahmundry, Anaparthi and Samalkot stations. The train will consist of One AC 2 Tier, One AC 3 Tier, 10 Sleeper Class, 4 General Second Class and Two Second Class Luggage cum Brake Van Coaches.Train No. 07002 Kakinada Town - Secunderabad Special will depart Kakinada Town on Sunday, August 25 at 4.00 p.m. and arrive at Secunderabad at 4.15 a.m., the next day. It will arrive at/depart from Vijayawada at 9.45 p.m./9.55 p.m.

Train No. 07001 Secunderabad-Kakinada Town Special train will depart Secunderabad on Monday, August 26 at 11.15 p.m. and arrive at Kakinada Town at 11.35 a.m., the next day.

It will arrive at /depart from Vijayawada at 5.30 a.m./5.50 a.m.

Enroute these trains will halt at Samalkot, Anaparthi, Rajahmundry, Nidadavolu, Bhimavaram Town, Akivedu, Kaikalur, Gudivada, Vijayawada, Mangalagiri, Guntur, Sattenapalle, Piduguralla, Nadikude, Mirayalaguda and Nalgonda stations in both the directions.