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In view of high ridership observed on the eve of Raksha Bandhan and the day itself for the past few years, the Delhi Metro has decided to run around 300 extra train trips each on August 19 and 20.Additional security personnel will also be deployed to cater to the rush of commuters expected on these two days, a DMRC spokesperson said.“Trains will be run at peak-hour frequency from 8 AM to 8.30 PM on August 19 and 20 and trains which are normally withdrawn from lines during off peak hours (i.e, 11:30 AM to 04:30 PM) will be kept in service to perform around 300 extra trips, making a total of about 2,900 trips on that day,” the spokesperson said.DMRC will also also deploy additional security guards and Customer Facilitation Agents (CFA) at major Metro stations to help and guide commuters on these two days.The prominent stations to have extra CFA deployment are Dilshad Garden, Shahdara, Welcome, Seelampur, Shastri Park, Pitampura, Rohini East, Rohini West, Rithala, Jahangir Puri, Adarsh Nagar, GTB Nagar, Yamuna Bank, Uttam Nagar East, Nawada, Noida City Centre, Botanical Garden, Noida Sec-18, MG Road, HUDA City Centre, Sarita Vihar, Lajpat Nagr, Badarpur, Peeragarhi, Nangloi and Mundka.“In addition, extra personnel will be deployed to handle the increased load on the ticketing system and the Metro ticketing staff in 75 stations will do 123 additional shifts,” the official said.

The Delhi Metro normally witnesses greater rush of commuters on the eve of Raksha Bandhan Day. In 2012, over 22 lakh passengers travelled on a day before Rakhi by Metro whereas close to 20 lakh travelled on the day of Rakhi.

At present, the Delhi Metro ridership has already increased substantially as the Metro carried over 25 lakh passengers for the first time ever on August 8.

Kolkata : Commuters in the Kolkata Metro railway - India's oldest undergr ound tube rail - will at last be able to use their mobile phones when the trains run inside the tunnel. The authorities expect the facility to be available before the coming Durga Puja in October. Despite the city getting mobile connectivity way back in the 1990s, the network was long silent inside the metro tunnels. But not any more. The Kolkata Metro, which began its journey Oct 24, 1984, has decided to introduce the Global System for Mobile Communications-Railways (GSM-R) technology which would enable the commuters to receive mobile connectivity inside the tunnel. "First we will use it on a trial basis in our work. We are at an advanced stage. It will help in improving communication between the motorman and the control room in the tunnels," Kolkata Metro's Deputy General Manager Protyush Ghosh told IANS. "In the next stage, we will give the bandwidth to the mobile service operators so that commuters can avail of the facility. We expect the facility to be available to the passengers before the Durga Puja," Ghosh said.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is pressing the first ever eight-coach Metro train into commuter services on its Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida City Centre/Vaishali route from Monday."This eight coach train will be introduced into service from Dwarka Metro station at 8am tomorrow and will go towards Noida City Centre," a DMRC spokesperson said on Monday said.This will be the first of a total of 31 eight coach trains, which will be introduced on Line-3/4 (Dwarka Sec-21 to Noida City Centre/Vaishali) in a phased manner, the spokesperson added.

श्रीगंगानगर-हरिद्वार के बीच 21 अगस्त (रक्षाबंधन) से 14711/14712 एक्सप्रेस चलाई जाएगी। रेलवे मुख्यालय द्वारा जारी पत्र के अनुसार यह ट्रेन हरिद्वार से रोजाना दोपहर 1.40 बजे चलेगी। यहां से दोपहर 2.03 रायवाला पहुंचेगी। यहां से दोपहर ढाई बजे ऋषिकेश पहुंच जाएगी। ऋषिकेश में आधा घंटे रुकने के बाद वापसी में दोपहर तीन बजे रायवाला दोपहर 3.23 बजे और दोपहर 3.50 बजे हरिद्वार पहुंचेगी। यह ट्रेन 4.10 बजे हरिद्वार से श्रीगंगानगर के लिए रवाना होगी।

शनिवार को कैमूरवासियों की अभिलाषा पूरी हो गई। भभुआ रोड से पटना वाया आरा होकर जाने वाली इंटरसिटी एक्सप्रेस का परिचालन शुरू होने से लोगों में खुशी की लहर दौड़ गई। यह कर दिखाया लोकसभा अध्यक्ष व स्थानीय सांसद मीरा कुमार ने।
उन्होंने 13250 डाउन भभुआ पटना इंटरसिटी एक्सप्रेस को पूर्वाह्न 11 बजे हरी झंडी दिखाकर रवाना किया। ट्रेन को हरी झंडी दिखाते ही प्लेटफार्म मौजूद भीड़ की तालियों की गड़गड़ाहट से गूंज उठा। दुल्हन की तरह सजी ट्रेन पटना के लिए रवाना हो गई।
इस दौरान मीरा कुमार ने कहा कि उनके क्षेत्र में दो-दो ट्रेनों को पटना परिचालन कराने के लिए रेल प्रशासन साधुवाद का पात्र है। जनता से किए वादे वे जरूर पूरा करेंगी। रेल संबंधित हर समस्याओं का समाधान होगा। जनता को रेल प्रशासन बेहतर सुविधा उपलब्ध कराए। ऐसा उन्हें विश्वास है। बता दें कि यहां से दिन में पटना के लिए कोई भी ट्रेन नहीं रहती थी। इससे पटना जाने वाले लोगों का काफी दिक्कतों का सामना करना पड़ता था। रविवार से सुबह 4.30 बजे दूसरी इंटरसिटी एक्सप्रेस भी चलने लगेगी। उन्होंने कहा कि हर क्षेत्र में विकास हुआ है। इस रफ्तार को आगे बढ़ाना है और यह सब जनता के सहयोग से होगा। इस मौके पर पूर्व मध्य रेलवे के महाप्रबंधक मधुरेश कुमार, मुगलसराय रेल मंडल के प्रबंधक अनूप कुमार, आरपीएफ कमांडेंट अजीत कुमार बरनवाल एवं अन्य अधिकारी उपस्थित रहे।

Railway officials in Kasaragod heaved a sigh of relief after deftly handling a chaotic situation on the Ernakulam-bound Marusagar express — which reached the town late on Saturday night with agitated passengers complaining of uneasiness after eating stale food served on the train.All the seven passengers, who showed symptoms of food poisoning, hyper-tension and low pulse rate were taken to the General Hospital and the nearby Malik Dinar hospital. Several others were administered first aid treatment inside the station and on-board the train, thanks to the well-coordinated efforts taken ahead of the arrival of the train at 11.02 pm, a senior railway official here said.On being alerted from Mangalore about the commotion inside the super-fast express train from Ajmer, the railway officials requisitioned the services of a team of physicians and paramedical staff. The initiatives were supervised by N. A. Nellikkunnu, MLA, who rushed to the station on realizing the gravity of the situation.

All the senior railway officials here were asked to rush to the station to tackle the emergency as volunteers from nearby area joined hands to facilitate urgent medical attention, the railway official here said.

Three ambulances from the hospitals and the fire service and police personnel were requisitioned at the station by 10 p.m., an hour ahead of the arrival of the train which reached 83 minutes late after it halted at the Mangalore Junction to facilitate medical treatment for the affected.Seven affected passengers, including Mohammed Kutty (35), Mohammed Ali (35), both hailing from Perinthalmanna, and Abu Baker (64) from Mannarcaud, were taken to the General hospital and Malik Dinar hospitals and were discharged by 3 a.m.. A few other affected passengers, in the S-11 and S-12 coaches of the train, were administered first aid treatment at the railway station.The agitated passengers complained about the “rude” behaviour of the pantry car Manager who reportedly insisted them to simply take the food offered by them, he said.N. A. Nellikkunnu, who complimented the steps taken here, said he experienced foul smell from the stale bread “delicacy” offered by the pantry car.DRM Palakkad Piyush Aggarwal had assured him to take up the matter with the railway ministry, he said, adding that he also would shoot a letter to the ministry about the poor but costly food served in quite a few long distance trains from Kerala.

Secunderabad railway station is the country's first to have 10 escalators and two lifts

Secunderabad railway station now has the distinction of being the first major station of the Indian Railways to have escalators on all 10 platforms and two lifts on both the entry points – the main entrance and the Bhoiguda entrance on the last platform.The South Central Railway (SCR) authorities last week commissioned the seventh escalator on platform no. 4 and 5 and two lifts – one each on platform no. 1 and 10.The SCR has spent about Rs. 6.60 crore towards establishing the seven escalators in the station, civil engineering works and electrical power supply arrangements etc. and Rs.98 lakh for setting up two lifts on the two main entrances.While, the capacity of each lift is 20 persons, the rated carrying capacity of each escalator is 180 persons per minute.On an average, it is estimated that around 43,000 passengers are using the escalators per day in the station.These escalators and lifts facilitate easy and quick movement of passengers, especially the elderly, sick, and physically challenged persons from one platform to other, said a press release.Meanwhile, the SCR authorities penalised about 7,200 persons in July 2013 for affecting cleanliness on the railway premises and nearly Rs. 14.61 lakh was realised from them towards penalties.

Of the 7,200 persons, 1,393 persons were detected in Secunderabad division, 573 persons in Hyderabad division, 2,393 persons in Vijayawada division, 716 persons in Nanded division, 1,306 persons in Guntakal division, and 836 persons in Guntur division.

In all, from April to July this financial year, 27,000 persons were caught for committing the offence of littering, spitting etc., on the railway premises and Rs. 54.32 lakh was realised towards penalties from them, according to a press release.

The SCR will run special trains between Secunderabad and Guwahati to clear extra rush of passengers. The 07149 Secunderabad-Guwahati special will leave Secunderabad at 7.30 am on August 23, 30 and September 6, 13, 20 and 27 (Fridays) and arrive at Guwahati at 7.55 am on Sundays.The 07150 Guwahati-Secunderabad special will leave Guwahati at 6 am  on August 26 and September 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 and arrive at Secunderabad at 9.15 am on Wednesdays.The 17230 Hyderabad-Trivandrum Sabari Express will be with one additional AC first class coach from August 25 to 31 and 17229 Trivandrum-Hyderabad from August 27 to 31.As many as 7,200 persons were penalised for littering on the premises last month.

Minister of State for HRD Shashi Tharoor has assured that the railway development at Nemom would become a reality soon.Inaugurating the 20th half-yearly meet of the Federation of Residents’ Associations, Thiruvananthapuram (FRAT), he said,” Thampanoor railway station would be raised to global standards. New booking station, escalators and other facilities would be set up here. An amount of Rs 10 crore was allocated for this”. He also said that the Kazhakoottam-Kaliyikkavila bypass construction would be started soon.The prospect of developing the ship building unit at Poovar as a unit of the Kochi shipyard would also be considered.Former Union Minister and BJP leader O Rajagopal, M Vijayakumar, M R Thampan, K Viswanathan, Kadakampally Surendran, Karamana Jayan, G Santhakumar, Nandakumar (IAS) and Madhavan Kutty also attended. National award winning teachers were honoured at the function. Mithranikethan director K Viswanathan was also honoured.

FRAT president Pattom Sasidharan Nair, general secretary Maruthamkuzhy Satheesh Kumar, treasurers C Manoharan Nair and others spoke.

Even three years after many families were displaced from their homes along the Mulanthuruthy-Kottayam, Harippad-Ambalappuzha sectors as part of doubling works, the railways are yet to provide them the compensatory jobs as per the job-for-land policy of the Indian railways.Fed up with the callousness shown by the authorities, the evictees have now approached the Kerala High Court seeking intervention in the matter.According to them, over 450 families, majority of who belong to the middle class income group, have been evicted along the once thickly populated belts, so that the railways could go ahead with the project which is considered as an answer to the rail bottlenecks in the state.“When acquisition procedures began in 2010 we were given ‘n’ number of promises, such as market price for our land as well as a permanent job in the railways.“Today, most of the families have been given less than the promised amount. Not even a single person has been given a railway job,” said a petitioner who moved the High Court, on conditions of anonymity.

“At least 360 families were displaced along the Mullanthuruthy-Piravom-Vaikom-Kurippunthura route alone,” he said.

In the Harippad-Ambalappuzha route, more than 100 families have been displaced so far. “The Railways asked us to move out of our land on promise of a job in the railways,” he added.

Suma from Ambalapuzha, whose land was acquired for the project and has been living at a rented house in Pathanamthitta since then, said, “I had to give away the only piece of land I had.

“For the last two years I have been walking up and down the Tahlsidar’s office, but to no avail,” Suma said.

Meanwhile, it is alleged that the Construction Wing of the T’Puram Division concerned with the task have not shown much interest in this regard. Chief Administrative Officer of the Railways, Kerala, was not available for comments.