ProUI

ALLAHABAD: North Central Railway organized a review meeting of various projects on Friday. Speaking on the occasion, NCR general manager AlokJohri stressed that the proposed work on important stations of the zone including Allahabad junction, Chheoki, Subedarganj, Kanpur Central, AgraCantt, Jhansi junction, Gwalior junction and Mathura junction should be completed on priority basis. The work related to circulating area, passenger amenities and cleanliness work at all these stations should be completed in a time-bound manner, he said. Work of construction of about 25 railway overbridges and 75 railway underbridges/limited height subways should be expeditiously completed in the current financial year, he instructed.

In the meeting, various heads of department, divisional railway managers of Allahabad, Agra and Jhansi were present.

ALLAHABAD: North Central Railway organized a review meeting of various projects on Friday. Speaking on the occasion, NCR general manager AlokJohri stressed that the proposed work on important stations of the zone including Allahabad junction, Chheoki, Subedarganj, Kanpur Central, AgraCantt, Jhansi junction, Gwalior junction and Mathura junction should be completed on priority basis. The work related to circulating area, passenger amenities and cleanliness work at all these stations should be completed in a time-bound manner, he said. Work of construction of about 25 railway overbridges and 75 railway underbridges/limited height subways should be expeditiously completed in the current financial year, he instructed.

In the meeting, various heads of department, divisional railway managers of Allahabad, Agra and Jhansi were present.

Its unclean premises and the apathetic attitude of railway authorities is robbing Old Delhi Railway Station of its heritage character

If you ask me, I would give two on a ten-point scale to this station considering the unhygienic condition here, said Chirag, who had just arrived by the Jammutavi-Delhi-Jaisalmer Express at the Old Delhi Railway Station. This one-and-a-half-century-old station, a part of the Delhi’s cultural heritage, is fast losing its attraction among travellers due to its deplorable condition.

The oldest station in Delhi, it was established in 1864 when trains from Howrah started operating up to Delhi. The station is also known as Delhi Junction. The colonial government constructed the present station building in red stone to give it the effect of the nearby Red Fort. The station was opened to public in 1903.

Starting out with two platforms and a handful of passengers, the station now handles lakhs of passengers and nearly 200 trains daily. The station was re-modelled in 1934-35 after the opening of the New Delhi Railway Station in 1926 and the inauguration of New Delhi in 1931. Since 1935, the station building was renovated again only last year.

But the scenes at the station, even after renovation, hardly evoke positive feelings. Even before one enters the station, the stench of urine punches ones senses. The boundary wall has become a public lavatory with the authorities turning a blind eye to the situation.

Vehicles can be seen entering the no-entry zone. The main entrance gate stands in a mess with sewer water and waste being collected there. Passengers themselves have added to the woes by littering the area — heightening the fear of spread of diseases. Again, the accumulated stagnant water is a perfect breeding ground for malaria and dengue causing mosquitoes.

According to rules, one has to buy a platform ticket to enter the station and luggage is allowed inside only after a thorough check by security personnel. Here, however, there are many loopholes through which people can enter the station premises unchecked, thus raising a question on the security system.

On the way to platforms, one has to cross the over-bridge which is overcrowded with people sitting and some even sleeping there. The information boards on the over-bridge calls it a offence where one can be fined Rs. 200. But it seems that both the lawmakers and breakers are on equal ground as neither of them bother about this mismanagement.

On the steps descending to the platforms from the over-bridge, people with huge luggage occupy most of the space — leaving little space for others to negotiate the crowd. Same is the case on platforms, too. The situation becomes even more chaotic when a train arrives and passengers are in a hurry to either board it or get down.

The open sewer by the railway tracks in another eyesore; it appears that the sewers have not been cleaned for ages. These, again, serve as public lavatories for ignorant passengers. With this amount of littering and dirt, the number of railway cleaning staff appears insufficient to keep the premises clean.

Even the roof of the platform shade has not been spared. Plastic bottles, chips packets, broken biscuits and beverage cans are found thrown here and there, dirtying it and giving out a foul smell.

The only question that comes in mind after surveying the scenario is, what are the authorities doing?

SIRSA: Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday announced that the state government would give 50% of Rs 2,515 crore for implementation of three railway line projects of Delhi-Sohna-Nuh-Ferozpur Jhirka-Alwar, Hisar-Agroha-Fatehabad-Sirsa and Yamunanagar-Sadhora-Naraingarh-Chandigarh thus paving the way for their early construction. The length of these rail lines would be 104km, 93km and 91km respectively. CM Hooda who addressing a massive rail-road rally at Hansi, was responding to the suggestion made by Union railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge, at the same venue that railway ministry would take up the three important rail lines on priority basis provided the state government bear half of the expenditure. The rally was organized to mark the occasion of foundation stone laying ceremony of Hansi-Meham-Rohtak rail line and four lanning of Hisar-Hansi-Meham-Rohtak section of National Highway No-10. The Union railway minister appreciated the state government's initiative of contributing 50 per cent share in the railway projects of the state. He said that he would personally take up the three new projects with the Planning Department and fully support the early completion of these rail projects for the districts of Yamunanagar, Mewat and Fatehabad. He also announced that Delhi-Ludhiana Shatabdi would run on all seven days of the week and would also halt at Jind. This demand was raised by Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda and Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar. Earlier, this train used to run four days in a week. On the request of Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar, Union surface transport minister Oscar Fernandes announced to sanction Railway over Bridge (ROB) at Dabwali which would cost more than Rs 37 crore. CM Hooda has also announced to give Rs 10 crore each to all seven assembly segments of district Hisar for development works. These segments are Hisar, Hansi, Narnaund, Barwala, Uklana, Adampur and Nalwa.

ROHTAK (Haryana): The bi-weekly Shatabdi train between Ludhiana and Delhi will run seven days a week, railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge said here on Sunday.The express train will also have a stoppage at Jind in Haryana, the Union minister told reporters here.Kharge was here to lay foundation for Rs 181 crore Rohtak railway bypass line.The bypass would replace the old Rohtak-Gohana rail track starting from the railway station upto Makrauli Kalan village in the district.The bypass would ease the traffic jams in the city. The minister said that with the shifting of this line, a third Rohtak-Samargopalpur line will be available which will facilitate straight route to Panipat."This will help the development of Rohtak city, because the earlier Rohtak-Makrauli line will be eliminated," Kharge said.He appreciated the progress made by Haryana and said the state is producing sufficient foodgrain and "adequate railway network is required for its transporting."

He also thanked UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for entrusting him with the responsibility of railway ministry and said that efforts are being made to improve the facilities for commuters.

Road minister Oscar Fernandes, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Rajya Sabha MP Shadilal Batra, Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda and railway board chairman Arunendra Kumar were present at the occasion.

Hooda said, "in 1957, Rohtak-Panipat railway line was provided with the efforts of his father late Ranbir Singh and at that time Hanumantaya was the railway minister".

"34 years back, Rohtak-Bhiwani railway line was constructed when Bansi Lal was the chief minister and after that no other rail project was considered for Haryana," the chief minister said.

"Rohtak-Jhajjar-Rewari railway line was sanctioned in 1997, when I was MP. This railway line is operational now. The work of Sonipat-Gohana-Jind railway line is in progress," he said.

NEW DELHI: Stepping up efforts to increase freight loadings, the railways is planning to run 60 heavy haul trains on the existing path, a move which will also help to decongest the busy trunk route.Heavy haul trains at present comprise about 118 wagons instead of the convention 59 wagons. These are achieved by joining two freight rakes, thus enabling railways to double up the carrying capacity in a single trip.Our aim is to make railway financially and technically viable and to generate more revenue and create additional capacity, newly-appointed Railway Board Member (Traffic) Debi Prasad Pande said here today.Currently 25 such trains are being operated across the network, transporting raw materials like coal, iron ore and fertilisers to ports, power houses and steel plants.With the new technology and improved track position, efforts are on to run about 50 to 60 heavy haul freight trains to increase the loading capacity, Pande said.Several countries including South Africa, Australia and the US have made great strides in running this type of trains.Railways have set the target of nine per cent growth in the freight loading and eight per cent increase in passenger traffic in the current fiscal.Though there will be two engines of 4,500 horse power (HP) each at both end to haul the train, it will be run with a single loco pilot with the help of remote control system as there is no need of deploying drivers at two locomotives, Pande said.
He also said currently there are no shortage of wagons and all power houses have adequate coal supply.
On passenger sector, he said said "The cross subsidy of Rs 36,000 crore has been reduced to Rs 32,000 crore for running passenger trains after the recent fare hike in fares."
Railways have effected about 21 per cent hike in passenger fares this year.
Pande said, "We are running additional trains, adding more coaches in the existing trains to cater the growing demand of travellers."
More than 100 trains were announced in the Rail Budget this year to meet the increased demand for new trains across the country.
He said in order to assess the requirement and demand for new trains, train-wise and route-wise analysis are being carried out by railways.
About the steps to prevent accident, Pande said, "It is a continuous effort. Recently we are planning to introduce an automatic alarm system for loco pilots. If the train exceeds the prescribed speed limit on a particular stretch, an automatic hooter system will be activated to warn the drivers."

Aimed at fine-tuning numerous aspects related to Kochi Metro’s civil works, the Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Mangu Singh, visited different work sites in the city on Saturday. He also inspected the metro’s alignment from Aluva to Ernakulam Junction railway station and the barricaded area near Changampuzha Park where L&T is engaged in piling works. He was accompanied by S.D. Sharma, DMRC’s Director (Business Development) who is also a member of KMRL’s Director Board. Sources said Mr. Singh and senior DMRC officials visited the casting yards at HMT, Kalamassery and the port, where land is being levelled for casting girders and other structures.

NEW DELHI: Stepping up efforts to increase freight loadings, the railways is planning to run 60 heavy haul trains on the existing path, a move which will also help to decongest the busy trunk route.Heavy haul trains at present comprise about 118 wagons instead of the convention 59 wagons. These are achieved by joining two freight rakes, thus enabling railways to double up the carrying capacity in a single trip.Our aim is to make railway financially and technically viable and to generate more revenue and create additional capacity, newly-appointed Railway Board Member (Traffic) Debi Prasad Pande said here today.Currently 25 such trains are being operated across the network, transporting raw materials like coal, iron ore and fertilisers to ports, power houses and steel plants.With the new technology and improved track position, efforts are on to run about 50 to 60 heavy haul freight trains to increase the loading capacity, Pande said.Several countries including South Africa, Australia and the US have made great strides in running this type of trains.Railways have set the target of nine per cent growth in the freight loading and eight per cent increase in passenger traffic in the current fiscal.Though there will be two engines of 4,500 horse power (HP) each at both end to haul the train, it will be run with a single loco pilot with the help of remote control system as there is no need of deploying drivers at two locomotives, Pande said.
He also said currently there are no shortage of wagons and all power houses have adequate coal supply.
On passenger sector, he said said "The cross subsidy of Rs 36,000 crore has been reduced to Rs 32,000 crore for running passenger trains after the recent fare hike in fares."
Railways have effected about 21 per cent hike in passenger fares this year.
Pande said, "We are running additional trains, adding more coaches in the existing trains to cater the growing demand of travellers."
More than 100 trains were announced in the Rail Budget this year to meet the increased demand for new trains across the country.
He said in order to assess the requirement and demand for new trains, train-wise and route-wise analysis are being carried out by railways.
About the steps to prevent accident, Pande said, "It is a continuous effort. Recently we are planning to introduce an automatic alarm system for loco pilots. If the train exceeds the prescribed speed limit on a particular stretch, an automatic hooter system will be activated to warn the drivers."

Ludhiana :
In the absence of any boundary wall on the railway station premises and ample space, the station has become a safe haven for stray dogs. The stray dogs can be seen roaming on the station premises.During a visit to the railway station, a number of stray dogs were seen roaming on the platform. Some of the dogs were seen sleeping inside the offices at the railway station. Tables of officials at various offices seem the favourite place of dogs for sleeping.The dogs were also spotted under the benches installed for passengers on various platforms. Though no passenger or visitor at platforms complained against stray dogs, a vendor said a dog tried to bite a girl last Sunday at platform No 1.“With the increase in the number of dogs at the railway station, we can see them roaming everywhere. The government should control the population of dogs in the state. The railway authorities are helpless in keeping the dogs away from the station as they can enter the station through railway tracks,” said Sukhdev, a Railway employee.The stray dogs are also seen sleeping inside cloak room, goods godown and parcel office in the railway station.A worker of the railway station said: “It is too hot outside and the dogs find the surfaces of offices and platforms comfortable. However, no case of dog bite has been reported yet".

ALLAHABAD: North Central Railway organized a review meeting of various projects on Friday. Speaking on the occasion, NCR general manager AlokJohri stressed that the proposed work on important stations of the zone including Allahabad junction, Chheoki, Subedarganj, Kanpur Central, AgraCantt, Jhansi junction, Gwalior junction and Mathura junction should be completed on priority basis. The work related to circulating area, passenger amenities and cleanliness work at all these stations should be completed in a time-bound manner, he said. Work of construction of about 25 railway overbridges and 75 railway underbridges/limited height subways should be expeditiously completed in the current financial year, he instructed.

In the meeting, various heads of department, divisional railway managers of Allahabad, Agra and Jhansi were present.