ProUI

MADRID: Development Minister Ana Pastor said her department was "conducting a general review" of speed limits throughout Spain's rail network with a view to improving safety conditions.Pastor appeared before the lower house of parliament two weeks after a high-speed train went off the rails July 24 near the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela, killing 79 people.The minister, who oversees Spain's railways, Friday told lawmakers a review also was being carried out of the "protocols and systems" of "the entire rail network in the wake of the accident".The review of speed limits is the first action taken since Pastor ordered an audit of her portfolio the day after the derailment to ensure the Spanish rail network's safety and regulatory compliance.Referring to possible steps to improve safety, the minister mentioned the installment of warning lights along stretches of track with "significant" reductions in speed and the development of a satellite signaling system.She also said her department was considering stricter hiring requirements and medical and psychological examinations for engine drivers, as well as ways to better monitor their activity while on the job.
The high-speed passenger train went off the tracks along the route linking Madrid and the Atlantic coastal city of Ferrol, killing 79 people and injuring 150.
Driver Francisco Jose Garzon, who has been charged with 79 counts of negligent homicide and numerous other crimes, admitted that he was going at double the 80 kph speed limit on the A Grandeira curve.
The driver, who has been released without bail pending trial, told investigators that he managed to hit the brakes but it was too late.
Garzon acknowledged in his testimony July 28 that the accident was not caused by mechanical problems or the condition of the train, and he blamed "human error" for the deadly derailment.

New Delhi: In an effort to spruce up passenger amenities, Indian Railways has decided to install water-purifiers in coaches to improve the quality of drinking water and hygiene in trains. “The first coach with water purifier facility is being readied at the Jagadhri railway workshop in Jalandhar and it will soon be part of a long-distance express train as a pilot project,” said a senior Railway ministry official. “Trains get its water supply from stations and because of the prevalence of iron impurities in certain areas, quality of water also gets affected,” he said.

Currently, luxury trains are being equipped with water purifiers. Pantry cars of many trains including in Rajdhani and Shatabdi already have water-purifiers.

“Our aim is to provide clean water in trains and we are beginning with the facility in LHB coach first and later on conventional coaches will also be equipped with water purifiers,” the official said.

Besides, in view to improve the standards of cleanliness and hygiene in coaches, On-Board Housekeeping Services (OBHS) scheme has been introduced in all Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and important long distance Mail/Express trains.

Under the scheme, a set of housekeeping staff travels on-board and ensures cleanliness in compartments and toilets.

Railways has also decided to allot two berths in each train for OBHS who have been entrusted with the job to maintain cleanliness in trains.

Aerial patrolling planned to prevent untoward incidents

Additional Director-General of Police (Railways) Bhupathi Babu is monitoring the samaikyandhra agitation from the security point of view in the South Central Railway (SCR), Vijayawada and Guntur Divisions, and Waltair Division of East Coast Railway, to prevent any damage to Railway properties or disruption in train services.In the wake of the proposed ‘rail roko’ on August 11 (Sunday) as per the call given by supporters of samaikyandhra movement, the Additional DG, who camped at Vijayawada, reviewed the security personnel deployment on Saturday in sensitive areas and at important railway stations from Itchapuram in Srikakulam district to Tada in Nellore district. Three officers of Superintendent of Police rank will monitor the situation on Sunday. Security forces of the CRPF, RPF, Government Railway Police GRP, and civil police were deployed at stations.

Police are also planning to keep a vigil on tracks through aerial patrolling to prevent any untoward incidents.

Section144

Section 144 has been imposed at all the stations. Instructions have been issued to the police to deal sternly with trespassers. “Video cameras have been arranged to identify the agitators who resort to arson or try to disrupt train services,” said RPF Senior Divisional Security Commissioner Ramesh Chandra.

Police will invoke provisions of the Indian Railways Act against protestors, besides invoking IPC sections, said Vijayawada Division GR Superintendent of Police Ch. Syam Prasad Rao.

Samaikhyandhra JAC groups are said to be gearing up for a show down with rail-roko agitations on Sunday even as the police issued stern warnings to the protesters against stopping trains. The JAC groups had decided to stop trains as it would have an impact on the movement of people across the country and jolt the UPA Government at the Centre into going for a rethink on the bifurcation of the state. Leaders of Samaikyandhra Student JAC held a meeting with leaders of Telugu Desam, Congress and YSR Congress parties on Saturday and expressed their intention to stop trains as part of their ongoing agitation bifurcation of the state.The police officials ruled out allowing rail-roko agitations. Police Commissioner B. Shivadhar Reddy said that action against would be taken against the protesters as per law. He said Section 144 was clamped at railway stations and tracks under the city limits, banning unlawful assembly of people. Superintendent of Police (Visakha Rural) Vikramjeet Duggal said that trespass into railway stations, obstructing trains and causing inconvenience to passengers and damage to railway property are non-bailable offences.

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.

VISAKHAPATNAM: After bus travellers, it is now the turn of railway passengers to face the brunt of the Samaikyandhra protests against the Congress Working Committee's (CWC) resolution on bifurcation of the state following the call for a one-day 'Seemandhra Rail Roko' given by the leaders of the Samaikyandhra Youth JAC on Sunday.As many as 2,000 agitators are expected to participate in the protests that may hit 114 railway stations dotting the 400-km long railway line cutting across Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts that fall under the Waltair division of the East Coast Railways (ECoR). However, acting upon warnings by the Railways' intelligence sleuths about destruction of railway properties under the pretext of Samaikyandhra protests, officials from the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) have made security arrangements at all stations from 6 pm on Saturday (August 10) to 6 pm on Sunday (August 11). The GRP at Visakhapatnam railway station alone has deployed 769 police personnel, including 29 circle inspectors, 69 sub-inspectors, 119 head constables, 399 police constables, 153 women police constables and even 10 videographers, within its jurisdiction up to Kasimkota railway station towards Rajahmundry and Kothavalasa towards Vizianagaram. The GRP personnel will also put escorts in important trains up to Gudur railway station in a bid for passenger safety in addition to patrolling of tracks by a special pilot train with armed forces. The RPF will have striking, standing and Quick Reaction Team (QRT) attached to the station masters in all major railway stations. "We have been given strict instructions by our superiors to not hesitate to take any kind of action as per rules if the situation goes out of control. All 399 police constables have been instructed to take video recordings on their phones of any incidents of destruction to trains or railway properties. We have also organized videographers to gather any evidence of destruction," said Vizag GRP circle inspector A Parthasaradhi.

Twenty-one sensitive points have been identified within our limits, Parthasaradhi said, while appealing to protestors, particularly students, to not create any disturbance at railway stations or on the tracks as they could face cases under various sections of the Indian Railway Act. The Sections 147 (for trespass), 154 (damage and destruction) and Section 174 for organising rail rokos and disrupting trains) under the Act will be imposed on the accused, leading to a jail term of up to 10 years, he explained.

Railways sources said nearly 85 trains are scheduled to pass through the city railway station from various parts of the country on Sunday. Anil Kumar, divisional railway manager, Waltair Division, said he had already instructed his staff as well as security forces to take all precautionary measures for the smooth passage of trains during the rail roko.

Meanwhile, city police commissioner B Shivadhar Reddy instructed his staff to install CCTV cameras and video cameras at all railway gates and important junctions in the city limits and also instructed them to file non-bailable cases against the agitators.

On the other hand, Vikram Jeet Duggal, superintendent of police (Visakha rural) also alerted his staff to ensure that all trains pass through the stations without any interruption. However, the leaders of agitators, including Samaikhyandhra Youth JAC state president, Adari Kishore Kumar, on Saturday announced that they would stage a peaceful 'rail roko' without interrupting passenger services from 6 am onwards on Sunday.

Kolar Gold Fields ;
The Karnataka government has not been releasing its share of funds for the rail projects in the State, Union Minister for Railways Mallikarjun Kharge has said.“We are ready to spend an additional Rs 300 crore on the rail projects in Karnataka. But the State government has released only Rs 30 crore in the last four months,” Kharge said here on Saturday. The minister was speaking after flagging off the new Marikuppam-Bangalore train.Kharge said the Ministry of Railways had earmarked Rs 786 crore for Karnataka for rail projects and the work on the new lines could be expedited if the State government speeds up the land acquisition process and releases its share of the project cost at the earliest.“There is no point in blaming the Railways for no or little progress. The legislators of beneficiary constituencies should prevail upon the government to release funds,” he suggested.He said six acres of land in Karnataka and 17 acres in Andhra Pradesh were required for the Marikuppam-Kuppam line. The work would be completed at the earliest if the respective state governments hand over the land to the Railways. The gauge conversion of Kolar-Chikkaballapur line is almost complete, barring a few minor hurdles. Train services could be introduced on the route if the State government and local bodies clear the obstacles.

The minister said there have been complaints that the Demu (diesel multiple unit) between Bangalore and Kolar and Memu (mainline electrical multiple unit) trains between Bangalore and KGF were not of much use for passengers. He said the Centre was looking at shifting these trains to some other route.

Divulging the economics of train operations, Kharge said goods trains bring about 65 per cent revenue while passenger trains yield only 25 per cent to 27 per cent. “New projects could be conceived only in view of this operational efficiency. They cannot be announced at will,” he added.

Of the 368 rail projects in the country, 171 were on new routes and it required Rs 1.78 lakh crore to complete all the projects, he said.

He appealed to the public not to vent their anger on trains during agitations. Referring to disruption of train services in Andhra Pradesh owing to the Telgana stir, Kharge said the movement of trains had been hampered in some places and urged the state government to assist in ensuring smooth movement of trains.

Boon for passengers

The newly introduced Bangalore-Marikuppam rail has come as a boon for passengers who commute to the capital city on a daily basis. Thousands of people travel from KGF to Bangalore for work every day. Till now, they were dependent on Swarna Express, which used to be heavily crowded. Or else, the commuters come to Bangarpet by buses from where they catch Tirupati-Mysore or Jolarpet-Bangalore train. The new rail has eased the passengers’ woes greatly, saving their time and money. It leaves Marikuppam at 4.45 am and reaches Bangalore City at 7.40 am. In the return direction, the train departs Bangalore at 8.15 pm and reaches Marikuppam at 10.30 pm.

Contractors to clear dues

Union Minister of State for Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises K H Muniyappa has said that the global tender to be floated for re-opening of the gold mines at KGF would incorporate a condition that the successful bidder will have to pay Rs 52 crore due to the mine workers.

Speaking at a function to flag off the Marikuppam-Bangalore train at the KGF railway station on Saturday, Muniyappa said the Supreme Court had upheld the decision of the Union Cabinet to re-open the mines. “Accordingly, the Workers’ Forum will get an opportunity to operate the mines. If the Forum is not ready, the tender will be awarded to the highest bidder. The successful bidder will clear the wage dues of the workers,” Muniyappa said.

Aerial patrolling planned to prevent untoward incidents

Additional Director-General of Police (Railways) Bhupathi Babu is monitoring the samaikyandhra agitation from the security point of view in the South Central Railway (SCR), Vijayawada and Guntur Divisions, and Waltair Division of East Coast Railway, to prevent any damage to Railway properties or disruption in train services.In the wake of the proposed ‘rail roko’ on August 11 (Sunday) as per the call given by supporters of samaikyandhra movement, the Additional DG, who camped at Vijayawada, reviewed the security personnel deployment on Saturday in sensitive areas and at important railway stations from Itchapuram in Srikakulam district to Tada in Nellore district. Three officers of Superintendent of Police rank will monitor the situation on Sunday. Security forces of the CRPF, RPF, Government Railway Police GRP, and civil police were deployed at stations.

Police are also planning to keep a vigil on tracks through aerial patrolling to prevent any untoward incidents.

Section144

Section 144 has been imposed at all the stations. Instructions have been issued to the police to deal sternly with trespassers. “Video cameras have been arranged to identify the agitators who resort to arson or try to disrupt train services,” said RPF Senior Divisional Security Commissioner Ramesh Chandra.

Police will invoke provisions of the Indian Railways Act against protestors, besides invoking IPC sections, said Vijayawada Division GR Superintendent of Police Ch. Syam Prasad Rao.

Samaikhyandhra JAC groups are said to be gearing up for a show down with rail-roko agitations on Sunday even as the police issued stern warnings to the protesters against stopping trains. The JAC groups had decided to stop trains as it would have an impact on the movement of people across the country and jolt the UPA Government at the Centre into going for a rethink on the bifurcation of the state. Leaders of Samaikyandhra Student JAC held a meeting with leaders of Telugu Desam, Congress and YSR Congress parties on Saturday and expressed their intention to stop trains as part of their ongoing agitation bifurcation of the state.The police officials ruled out allowing rail-roko agitations. Police Commissioner B. Shivadhar Reddy said that action against would be taken against the protesters as per law. He said Section 144 was clamped at railway stations and tracks under the city limits, banning unlawful assembly of people. Superintendent of Police (Visakha Rural) Vikramjeet Duggal said that trespass into railway stations, obstructing trains and causing inconvenience to passengers and damage to railway property are non-bailable offences.

MARGAO: Minister of State for Railways Adhir Rajan Chowdhury, on Saturday,  assured to re-start the skybus project of the Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC) by overcoming the financial problem.  Commenting  on the skybus project, which has been the failure, the minister said that “despite having financial implications,  the KRC had tried the new phenomena and later viewed  it as non-viable  for  it could not fetch the expected revenue  and that led to  the scrapping of the project.”

“I feel that the KRC should have a re-look at this phenomena as this is one of salient features of the KRC,’’ he opined.

Acknowledging  the  `wonderful’  service being provided by the Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC), the minister  said  it needs to emulated by the railway sectors.

Chowdhury, during his  first  Goa  visit as the minister, inspected the innovation of the KRC including the anti-collision device (ACD).

The Minister said that “though the KRC had financial  problems, the officials  tried to  give best of the services  to the commuters and they need to be praised for that.”

He visited the Margao railway station and later Verna station. He inspected the  ACD.

The managing director of KRC, Banu Tayal, informed that the management had added skybus to the urban transport act  to enable to  get  the necessary certificate for commencing the project.

“The  necessary changes are effected  in the  urban  transport act and the Railway Safety Commission  would see about it later,’’ he said  adding nearly Rs 100 crore are required for  the research works.

Tayal informed that the   Indian Railway  has already financed the KRC and urged the  state government “to pitch in for the KRC effective skybus project.”