ProUI

NEW DELHI: The 60-km Churchgate-Virar elevated rail corridor, announced in 2007, may finally take off following PMO's intervention as the Indian Railways and the Maharashtra government have ironed out most of the disagreements holding up the state support agreement (SSA) for the 20,000 crore-plus Mumbai Elevated Rail Corridor.Just one point of contention remains to be sorted out, after which the SSA is likely to be ready, railways officials have said. The state government and the railways are now discussing the payment mechanism to be adopted when the concessionaire asks for the penalty due in cases where the authorities do not fulfil obligations such as shifting of utilities, removing state pipelines or local disturbances that hamper the project.The project has failed to take off for the past six years for various reasons including the non-signing of the SSA. "The disagreement now is over how the penalty will be paid to the concessionaire in cases where the default is on part of the state government," said a senior railways official, adding that the issue was raised by the state government last month. "While the SSA is signed between us and the state governments, the concession agreement is signed by the concessionaire with the railways. The state government was of the opinion that since the concession agreement is signed with the railways, the concessionaire should ask us for the penalty."

The railways, while agreeing to pay the concessionaire the penalty, said the amount would be deducted from the concessionaire's central assistance fund. The state government has agreed to deal with the concessionaire directly, the official said, adding, "We are writing to them on having a meeting on this. We basically just need to fine-tune the payment mechanism." Previous contentious issues like the floor space index (FSI), which is essentially the commercial space or real estate that can be developed from the land allotted to developer, have also been resolved with the state agreeing 'in-principle' to give enhanced FSI. A higher FSI will mean greater space to develop real estate, making the project more attractive to potential investors. The railways will give 12 plots from their land for commercial use for this project.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will soon install new booths that will allow women commuters to keep an eye on their belongings while they are being frisked at stations.The new booths come in the wake of a spurt in complaints of baggage thefts from x-ray scanners while commuters are being frisked by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at Metro stations.Interestingly, it was the CISF that had asked the DMRC to come up with covered booths as women often complained of lack of privacy during frisking.“At the same time, we have to be sure that they can also keep an eye on their belongings as they go through the bag scanners. The new booths are covered from both sides and have a space at the eye level from where commuters can watch their bags,” said a senior CISF official, requesting anonymity.One such booth was installed at Barakhamba Metro station last week and both the CISF and DMRC seem to be satisfied with the response.

“More or less, we have approved the new frisking booth and the same model will soon be placed at metro stations across Delhi and NCR,” the official added.

The blue coloured booths are portable too. Being made of fibre, these booths can be shifted from one location to another without any hassles.

“At some stations we do not have much space, but we are working out the modalities. Soon, every station will have booths of similar design,” he said.

Once the booths are installed at every station, the CISF will change the location of the baggage scanner so that women can see their baggage.

ABOHAR : The Haridwar intercity train was held up here for three hours on Saturday as the engine developed a fault. Hundreds of commuters were inconvenienced. The train finally left at 8 am after the Station Superintendent arranged another engine from Bathinda.

NEW DELHI: Unmanned railway crossings continue to take a heavy toll of human lives with 194 people killed in the last three years. According to latest figures, 48 people were killed in mishaps at unmanned crossings during 2012-13, while 115 people were killed in 2011-12 and 31 in 2010-11. While the number of accidents at unmanned railway gates continues, the cash-strapped national transporter is yet to put its act together to eliminate these death traps numbering about 12,582 across the country. Though faced with financial stress, the transporter has set an ambitious target of eliminating 10,797 level crossings during the 12th five-year plan (2012-17) and not adding any new level crossing to the rail network in future. Currently, railways has 31,254 level crossings, around 40% of which are unmanned. The unmanned crossings are responsible for the maximum number of train accidents, around 40%. As manning these unmanned crossings has not been found to be an ideal solution, the transporter has decided to eliminate all such crossings. According to the Kakodkar committee, elimination of all level crossings (manned and unmanned) within five years would cost around Rs 50,000 crore which can be recovered over the next 7-8 years due to savings in operation and maintenance costs and improved train movement.

Railway officials blame states for the slow progress in eliminating level crossings or putting people in charges of the unmanned ones, saying they are not sharing the cost on a 50:50 basis.

Railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge had said that bridges could be constructed provided state governments or local bodies agreed to share 50% cost of the project.

He admitted that railways was not able to achieve the desired level of progress due to limited availability of funds which were being distributed over a large number of projects, .

The transporter paid Rs 10.88 lakh in compensation to families of victims of accidents at unmanned crossings in 2012-13, Rs 2.22 lakh in 2011-12 and Rs 17.41 lakh in 2010-11.

SANGRUR: Sangrur MP Vijay Indersingla on Sunday early morning flagged off a passenger train at Dhuri railway station for Bathinda. The passenger train will pass through Barnala, Tapa, Rampura to reach Bathinda in 2.25 hours.

Vijay Inder said after being elected MP from the Sangrur parliamentary constituency, I had consistently raised the demand for Introduction of new trains services, extension and increase in frequency of existing services.

Train no. 54765 Dhuri- Bhatinda passenger train would start from Dhuri daily at 4.00am and reach Bathinda at 06.25 am via Barnala,Tapa, Rampura Phul. On its return journey, the train no. 54746 would start at 7.35 pm and reach Dhuri at 10.15pm.

ईद के बाद ट्रेनों में उमड़ी भीड़ को देखते हुए उत्तर रेलवे लखनऊ मंडल प्रशासन 11 अगस्त को दिल्ली के लिए स्पेशल ट्रेन चलाएगा।

साथ ही कई ट्रेनों में अतिरिक्त बोगियों के इंतजाम करने के आदेश दिए गए हैं। इसके अलावा नई दिल्ली से लखनऊ एसी स्पेशल और डिब्रूगढ़-चंडीगढ़ स्पेशल ट्रेन भी चलाई जाएंगी।

वरिष्ठ मंडल वाणिज्य प्रबंधक अश्विनी श्रीवास्तव ने बताया कि ट्रेन 04209 वाराणसी से लखनऊ के रास्ते दिल्ली के लिए चलायी जाएगी।

यह ट्रेन 11 अगस्त को दोपहर 3:15 बजे छूटकर, शाम 4:50 बजे जंघई, शाम 7:05 बजे प्रतापगढ़, 7:44 बजे अमेठी, रात 8:43 बजे रायबरेली होते हुए 10:35 बजे लखनऊ आएगी।

यहां से बरेली व मुरादाबाद होकर ट्रेन सुबह 10:10 बजे दिल्ली पहुंचेगी। ट्रेन में शयनयान श्रेणी के 10, एसी तृतीय व एसी द्वितीय कम्पोजिट की एक, एसी तृतीय की एक और एसएलआर श्रेणी की दो बोगियां लगेंगी।

इसी तरह 14 अगस्त को एसी स्पेशल ट्रेन 04208 नई दिल्ली से शाम 7:30 बजे रवाना होगी। गाजियाबाद, मुरादाबाद, बरेली, शाहजहांपुर, हरदोई होते हुए ट्रेन 15 अगस्त की सुबह 04:45 बजे लखनऊ पहुंचेगी। रेलवे 11 अगस्त से 23 सितम्बर तक डिब्रूगढ़-चंडीगढ़ साप्ताहिक स्पेशल ट्रेन चलाएगा।

ट्रेन 05903 डिब्रूगढ़-चंडीगढ़ स्पेशल रविवार रात 1:50 बजे लखनऊ आकर चंडीगढ़ की ओर रवाना होगी। इसी तरह ट्रेन 05904 चंडीगढ़-डिब्रूगढ़ स्पेशल प्रत्येक सोमवार को सुबह 11:15 बजे लखनऊ होते हुए� डिब्रूगढ़ की ओर जाएगी।

लगेंगी अतिरिक्त बोगियां रेलवे 11 अगस्त को कई ट्रेनों में अतिरिक्त बोगियां लगाएगा। ट्रेन 14205 दिल्ली-फैजाबाद एक्सप्रेस में एसी तृतीय, 14207 पद्मावत एक्सप्रेस में एसी तृतीय, 12233 एसी एक्सप्रेस में एसी तृतीय की तीन, एसी द्वितीय की एक, एसी प्रथम की एक, 12231 चंडीगढ़ एक्सप्रेस में शयनयान व एसी तृतीय की एक-एक अतिरिक्त बोगियां लगाएगा

Debaraj Panda, an officer of 1985 batch of the Indian Railway Traffic Service has joined as New Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) in Sambalpur Division of East Coast Railway. Prior to this new posting Panda was serving as Chief Freight Transportation Manager (CFTM) of East Coast Railway at Bhubaneswar.  Thereafter, he has worked in various important capacities in Adra, Waltair and Khurda divisions of South Eastern Railway and East Coast Railway.  He worked as Chief Vigilance officer in East Coast Railway Head quarters office. He also served in IRCTC as Group General Manager at Kolkata and as Chief Passenger Transportation Manager (CPTM) of East Coast Railway head quarters office. Apart from the above, he has also undergone training in strategic Management at Paris and Johannesburg.

MUMBAI: The railways will run four special trains from Mumbai to Velankanni to clear the extra rush of passengers for the Velankanni festival. A CR official said, "A special train will leave CST at 11.30 am on August 26 and will arrive Velankanni at 7.15 pm the next day. "Another special train will leave Velankanni at 1.35 pm on August 28 and will arrive CST the next day at 11.40 pm." The halts will be at Dadar, Thane, Kalyan, Lonavla, Pune, Solapur, Gulbarga, Wadi, Raichur, Guntakal, Gooty, Kadapa, Renigunta, Puttur, Tiruttani, Katpadi, Vellore, Arni Road, Tiruvannamalai, Tirukkovilur, Villupuram, Cuddalore Port, Chidambaram, Sirkazhi, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam. The train will have one AC first cum AC 2-tier, one AC 2-tier, two AC 3-Tier, 12 sleeper class, four reserved second class seating and two General second class cum guard's brake vans.

A third special train will leave LTT (Mumbai) at 12.05 am on August 27 and will arrive Velankanni at 6.45 pm the next day. And, the fourth special train will leave Velankanni at 1.35 pm on August 29 and will arrive LTT in Mumbai at 11.45 pm the next day, officials said.

A coach of a suburban Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) train derailed near Chennai Central railway station this evening, but there were no casualties, railway sources said.

The incident occurred at around 6.30 PM as the Electric Multiple Unit from Gumidipoondi was arriving at a platform. One of the wheels got dislodged from a coach near Basin Bridge and it derailed, they said.

Train services were disrupted for over an hour on the route due to the incident, the sources said.

Railway officials rushed to the spot to repair it, they said, adding that services would soon be restored.

MUMBAI: The railways will run four special trains from Mumbai to Velankanni to clear the extra rush of passengers for the Velankanni festival. A CR official said, "A special train will leave CST at 11.30 am on August 26 and will arrive Velankanni at 7.15 pm the next day. "Another special train will leave Velankanni at 1.35 pm on August 28 and will arrive CST the next day at 11.40 pm." The halts will be at Dadar, Thane, Kalyan, Lonavla, Pune, Solapur, Gulbarga, Wadi, Raichur, Guntakal, Gooty, Kadapa, Renigunta, Puttur, Tiruttani, Katpadi, Vellore, Arni Road, Tiruvannamalai, Tirukkovilur, Villupuram, Cuddalore Port, Chidambaram, Sirkazhi, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam. The train will have one AC first cum AC 2-tier, one AC 2-tier, two AC 3-Tier, 12 sleeper class, four reserved second class seating and two General second class cum guard's brake vans.

A third special train will leave LTT (Mumbai) at 12.05 am on August 27 and will arrive Velankanni at 6.45 pm the next day. And, the fourth special train will leave Velankanni at 1.35 pm on August 29 and will arrive LTT in Mumbai at 11.45 pm the next day, officials said.