ProUI

Following floods in the region, South Western Railway has provided one-minute temporary halt at Ugar Khurd station on Hubli Division for Train no.17416/17415 Kolhapur-Tirupati- Kolhapur Haripriya Express for ten days with effect from Thursday, a release said.

Accordingly, Train no. 17415 Tirupati-Kolhapur Haripriya Express will arrive at and depart from Ugar Khurd station at 1.44/1.45 p.m. till August 3.

In the return direction, Train no.17416 Kolhapur-Tirupati Haripriya Express will arrive at and depart from Ugar Khurd station at 1.45/1.46 p.m till August 3, stated a release from South Western Railway.

The decision was announced after increasing water-levels submerged several bridges in the area, affecting commute.

NAGPUR: After both the tracks were thrown open for traffic near Sindi Railway, between Nagpur and Sewagram, passenger train movement started rolling simultaneously on both the tracks that had been damaged due to rains on July 19.After a 17-hour mega block on Thursday-Friday, the railways set everything right on the 360 metre damaged section of the track. More than 1,000 employees, including 100 officers, worked round-the-clock under the supervision of DRM Brijesh Dixit.Central Railway PRO PD Patil informed that all the passenger trains will operate as scheduled and there will be no more diversion or short termination of trains. However, trains will continue to operate with speed restriction at the affected spot.Meanwhile, passengers of Delhi-Chennai Rajdhani Express who arrived in Nagpur on July 24, have blamed the railways' lack of communication for their hardship. "Rajdhani is the only train which has public announcement system inside. Yet, passengers were not informed about the diversion of trains. It was only at Bhusawal we learnt about it," said a passenger.The railways spent huge money on expanding IT network for sharing information and providing better services to the passengers but it failed to utilize the services in the hour of crisis. "Announcements should have been made at Delhi and other major stations in between but this was not done," complained Sunil Razdan, another passenger.

AHMEDABAD: In a meeting on Wednesday with Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) authorities, the forest department made it clear that the preventable death of birds due to electrocution will not be tolerated.Chief wildlife warden C N Pandey asked DFC authorities to submit a detailed technical report about the possibility of electrocution of birds due to the new railway tracks to be laid near Thol bird sanctuary. This step was taken following the Times of India report on Sunday: "Khadir frying pan to freight line fire." TOI reported that the Gujarat government had decided to allow railway tracks to be laid within 700 metres of Thol bird sanctuary. The tracks will be for electrified railway lines capable of handling 25 tonne axle load and trains of 750 metres. There are fears that high-tension wires near the sanctuary will lead to disasters like the one that took place in Khadir in Kutch.Thol, a sanctuary visited by migratory birds, is a freshwater lake. The shallow body is surrounded by marshes and scrubby forest on its banks. Covering an area of 7 square kilometers, the lake area was officially declared a sanctuary in 1988.

Railway officials said that the electricity lines passing near Thol will carry power at around 25 KV. The standing committee of the National Board of Wildlife, which had approved the project, had ignored the electrification aspect.

Sources said that the forest department was unaware that the railway lines would be electrified. On discovering this fact, the department immediately called the authorities of the project to seek an explanation.

On Wednesday, the official project team reached Gandhinagar and tried to convince Pandey and his team that the electric lines were safe and that there have been no instances of electrocution at the railway lines.

Forest department officials insisted that trains approaching the sanctuary should slow down in order to minimize the disturbance to the birds. The team was warned that if the forest department feels the tracks are threatening the sanctuary, the department will ask the team to change the alignment of the tracks.

Pandey said, "We had a meeting with senior officials from the DFC and have asked the Railways to declare the area near the sanctuary a 'no honking zone.'"

A staffer at the sanctuary said, "When the officials were considering the proposal, we had objected as 750 metre long trains moving at a speed of 100 km/hr will disturb the birds. We had also said that the tracks should not be electrified."

गोरखपुर : प्रतीक्षा सूची के यात्रियों की बढ़ती भीड़ को देखते हुए पूर्वोत्तर रेलवे प्रशासन ने दो जोड़ी मेल गाड़ियों में विभिन्न तिथि और स्टेशनों से अतिरिक्त कोच लगाने का निर्णय लिया है। मुख्य जनसंपर्क अधिकारी आलोक कुमार सिंह के अनुसार 12541 गोरखपुर-एलटीटी एक्सप्रेस में 26 व 27 को गोरखपुर से तथा 12452 एलटीटी-गोरखपुर एक्सप्रेस में 28 व 29 को लोकमान्य तिलक टर्मिनस से शयनयान श्रेणी के एक-एक कोच लगाए जाएंगे।

लखनऊ। डीएमयू से रायबरेली तक का सफर करने के लिए यात्रियों को मात्र 15 रुपये किराया अदा करना होगा। प्रतापगढ़ के लिए प्रस्तावित डीएमयू को चलाने के लिए रेलवे ने किराया तय करने के साथ ही ईंधन की भी व्यवस्था कर दी है। लखनऊ से प्रतापगढ़ तक 173 किलोमीटर की यात्रा में डीएमयू प्रति फेरे पर 900 लीटर डीजल की खपत होगी। इस पर करीब 45 हजार रुपये ईंधन की लागत आएगी। डीएमयू में दो इंजन होंगे। आगे वाला इंजन छह बोगियों को खींचेगा जबकि पीछे वाला इंजन सपोर्ट करेगा।

दो इंजनों के एक साथ काम करने के कारण डीजल की खपत बढ़ने के बावजूद रेलवे ने डीएमयू का किराया पैसेंजर ट्रेन की तर्ज पर रखने का आदेश दिया है। शुक्रवार को वाणिज्य अनुभाग के अधिकारियों ने डीएमयू का किराया निर्धारित कर दिया। जानकारी के अनुसार डीएमयू (74202) लखनऊ से रायबरेली का सफर करीब दो घंटे में तय करेगी। इसके लिए यात्रियों को 15 रुपये किराया चुकाना होगा। जबकि प्रतापगढ़ के लिए यात्रियों को 30 रुपये चुकाने होंगे। फिलहाल रेलवे प्रशासन अब इसको चलाने की तिथि का इंतजार कर रहा है।

-------------------------------------------- स्टेशन आना जाना किराया (रुपये में ) लखनऊ - 16:25 उतरेटिया 16:49 16:50 5 मोहनलालगंज 16:59 17:00 5 कनकहा 17:06 17:07 5

निगोहां 17:14 17:22 10 श्रीराजनगर 17:28 17:29 10 बछरावां 17:35 17:36 10 कुंदनगंज 17:45 17:50 15 हरचंदपुर 17:59 18:00 15 गंगागंज 18:06 18:07 15 रायबरेली 18:17 8:22 15 रूपामऊ 18:33 18:34 20 फुरसतगंज 18:42 18:50 20 जायस 18:59 19:00 20 बनी 19:18 19:29 25 गौरीगंज 19:36 19:37 25 तालाखजूरी 19:48 19:50 25 अमेठी 20:05 20:11 25 मिसरौली 20:19 20:20 30 सहजीपुर हाल्ट 20:25 20:26 30 अन्तू 20:36 20:37 30 जगेशरगंज 20:49 20:57 30 चिलबिला 21:12 21:13 30 प्रतापगढ़ 21:25 ----- 30

Southern Railway will add one more air-conditioned chair car to Train No. 16649/ 16650 Mangalore Central – Nagercoil Junction- Mangalore Central Parasuram Express from July 26 and July 27.

This additional coach will be in Train No. 16649 till October 25 and in Train No. 16650 till October 26. With this, there will be three AC chair car coaches in these trains.

ट्रेनों की अपडेट जानकारी के लिए राजधानी के लोगों को स्टेशन के इंक्वायरी काउंटर पर जूझने की जरूरत नहीं होगी। घर में टीवी पर ही उनको सभी ट्रेनों की पूरी स्थिति का पता चल जाएगा। इसके लिए रायपुर रेल मंडल के वाणिज्य विभाग की ओर से पहल की जा रही है।
रायपुर स्टेशन के विभिन्न प्लेटफार्मों पर ट्रेनों की ताजा जानकारी के लिए 21 एलसीडी लगाए गए हैं। इस एलसीडी पर ट्रेनों की समय-सारणी को सीधे शहर के केबल से जोड़ने की कोशिश की जा रही है। बिलासपुर और नागपुर में यह प्रयोग काफी सफल रहा है। कोशिश की जा रही है कि दो महीने के अंदर यह सुविधा रायपुर में भी शुरू कर दी जाए।
केबल से हजारों घरों के टीवी सेट जुड़े हुए हैं। ऐसे में शहर के लोगों के लिए रेलवे की इस नई सुविधा से विशेष फायदा होगा। रेलवे के इंक्वायरी सिस्टम पर दबाव भी कम होगा। ट्रेनों की रनिंग स्थिति बताने इंटरनेट व एसएमएस सिस्टम रेलवे पहले से ही चला रहा है। एसएमएस के लिए प्रति मैसेज 3 रुपए खर्च करने होते हैं। केबल के माध्यम से टीवी पर सीधे और सरल तरीके से ट्रेनों की जानकारी लोगों को मिलने लगेगी।

Southern Railway hopes to showcase the 150 years of its existence with a museum in Tiruchi.

Maps, bells and lamps made of “China Glass”. Staff badges, clocks and yellowing piles of paperwork. Huddled together under the soaring ceiling of the ‘Heritage Room’ of Southern Railway’s General Office building in Tiruchi, they seem to be passengers waiting for their journey to start.

And, in a way, perhaps they are. For these artefacts of a bygone era are to form a part of the upcoming railway museum. The collection, curated by an in-house team of officials, includes items such as old manuals, maps, gazettes, and files containing Indo-Ceylon Steamer service records and photographs in addition to out-of-use equipment such as stamping sticks, belt buckles of foremen and signal devices.

The museum is meant to be part of the erstwhile South Indian Railway’s sesquicentennial (150 years) celebrations, though as Mrs Manjula Rangarajan, Divisional Railway Manager, concedes, it’s a little behind schedule.

“The building is now complete, we are working on the electrification. Due to fund constraints, it is not possible for us to throw open the entire museum in one go. So we thought we’d do it in phases. The central hall is ready, and as part of our sesquicentennial celebrations, we thought we would inaugurate this part of the museum. We have a broad idea of where we want to place the exhibits, though it is subject to change in the future,” said Mrs Manjula in an interview with The Hindu.

The site shortlisted for the Railway Heritage Centre, as the museum will be known, is adjacent to the Community Hall near the Tiruchi railway junction, with a total area of about 15 acres. The original station building of the city that was then known as Trichinopoly, built in 1886, will be spruced up to serve as the office and ticket sales counter of the museum.

When we visited, the flooring tiles were being laid in the central exhibition hall, built in a quasi-Raj style. The proposed centre (with an approximate budget of Rs20mn) will be allocating 500 square metres for indoor exhibits. Besides the transport artefacts mentioned above, there is provision for a study room for researching railway history, philately on railway themes, and a digital archive of rare documents related to the South Indian Railway.

“We are planning a family-friendly destination,” said Mrs Manjula of the project. The indoor exhibits will be complemented by an external visitor area containing shady alcoves and eateries, and even a toy train and one or two vintage locomotive engines.

As to what she feels is the most significant part of the heritage collection, Mrs Manjula pointed out to the vintage paperwork that “tell us how we used to run the railways 150 years ago, and how much of it is still in place. It seems we have very good systems in place which are time-tested. Whatever mishaps occur would be mainly due to human error. The signalling systems were rudimentary, technological advancements may have occurred, but the system remains the same.”

The fragile paper documents need a climate-controlled storage system, which, for now, says Mrs Manjula, is still to be finalised.

Reflecting on the future of train travel in India, she said, “I think we are here to stay definitely for a couple of centuries. Our avatars may change, but we will always be there because it will take some time for our people to move away from the railways to the roadways as they have done in the West. More people are indeed taking flights to their destinations (in the domestic sector), but it’s a very large pie, and we have a very large share of that pie.”

Mr S Sayinathan, Traffic Inspector and one of the collection’s curators, says that only after he got formally involved in the project did he realise the indelible link between the railways and India’s history. “After coming to this department to preserve heritage material, I found out that the South Indian Railway is a great organisation,” he said, adding that the development of rail routes throughout the country reflected the India’s growth as well.

“Among our records we have details of how a 542-km stretch on the Tiruchi to Erode route was converted into broad gauge in a mere five hours, on the Pamban cantilever bridge that connects the Palk Strait to mainland India, and which opened to traffic in 1914, and the Unesco heritage status-Nilgiri Mountain railway (inaugurated in 1899 and still in service),” said Mr Sayinathan.

The museum project has also sparked interest among the families of the British staff who worked in South Indian Railway, says Mr Sayinathan, many of who have got in touch and shared their own memorabilia related to the years spent by their forefathers in India.

In 2010, Southern Railway published a glossy volume of rare photographs and historical information titled Marvels of The South Indian Railway, compiled by S Subramhanyan, then-Divisional Railway Manager, as part of the sesquicentennial celebrations.

Considering the potential value of the antiques inside, the Heritage Room is kept locked and out of bounds to the public. The room has the railway security force personnel’s protection throughout the day, and fire alarm systems are in place to avert potential disasters.

An expert from the Saraswathi Mahal in Thanjavur has helped to guide the team in preserving the artefacts for posterity against termites. But dealing with the mice and other rodents has required the services of the rather more simple mousetrap.

Mr Sayinathan checks the authenticity of each piece individually, a process made easier, he says, due to the British habit of stamping every item with the name of the company. “We cannot display all the old materials, because some may still be in use,” he said. “[But] we want to showcase our history to the public, so that they can understand our achievement.”

“From tomorrow, the normal activities could be seen at the Nagpur Railway Station as either no trains will be cancelled or diverted or short-terminated or rescheduled. Trains originating from Nagpur will run on scheduled time and scheduled routes.”
..
Nagpur News: The Nagpur Division of Central Railway has finally announced normalcy in train traffic after a 7-day “war” over the restoration of Up and Down rail lines between Sindi and Tuljapur Stations in Nagpur Section. The “war” bore fruits and at 3.30 pm of July 26, the first train passed through the section thus bringing the much much needed normalcy and providing a sigh of relief for thousands of passengers who underwent hellish ordeals by cancellation of dozens of long-distance trains, diversion of several trains, short-termination of trains and very very late running of trains.

The Central Railway press release issue at 3.30 pm of July 26 said, “From tomorrow, the normal activities could be seen at the Nagpur Railway Station as either no trains will be cancelled or diverted or short-terminated or rescheduled. Trains originating from Nagpur will run on scheduled time and scheduled routes.”

“The job of restoration of washed away tracks was short of a war. All the concerned departments, officials and employees worked as a team against all odds like heavy downpour, transporting required material to the spot. Around 500 wagons brought stones, sandbags, gitti (crushed stones). The Divisional Railway Manager Brujesh Dixit and other top officials reached the spot and immediately started restoration works on war-footing. The restoration, and the subsequent normalcy was achieved by Nagpur Division’s 1000 employees and 100 officials under the guidance of DRM Dixit who worked day and night,” the press release said.

It may be recalled, heavy rains that lashed Wardha and Nagpur had disrupted the train traffic as the ballast under the Railway track and bank including minor bridge was washed out away completely between Sindi and Tuljapur station on Nagpur–Wardha section of Nagpur division. The disaster of a sort triggered a terrible chain reactions as dozens of trains were either cancelled or diverted or terminated at the specific stations and resumed their journey back to the originated stations.

The disaster created a hell of a situation for thousands and thousands of passengers as they either found themselves stranded at Nagpur Station or had to go to the several stations of diverted trains. This nightmarish situation forced hundreds of passengers to cancel tickets, other hundreds went through ordeals of boarding trains from diverted routes thus making them feel in hell.

Southern Railway hopes to showcase the 150 years of its existence with a museum in Tiruchi.

Maps, bells and lamps made of “China Glass”. Staff badges, clocks and yellowing piles of paperwork. Huddled together under the soaring ceiling of the ‘Heritage Room’ of Southern Railway’s General Office building in Tiruchi, they seem to be passengers waiting for their journey to start.

And, in a way, perhaps they are. For these artefacts of a bygone era are to form a part of the upcoming railway museum. The collection, curated by an in-house team of officials, includes items such as old manuals, maps, gazettes, and files containing Indo-Ceylon Steamer service records and photographs in addition to out-of-use equipment such as stamping sticks, belt buckles of foremen and signal devices.

The museum is meant to be part of the erstwhile South Indian Railway’s sesquicentennial (150 years) celebrations, though as Mrs Manjula Rangarajan, Divisional Railway Manager, concedes, it’s a little behind schedule.

“The building is now complete, we are working on the electrification. Due to fund constraints, it is not possible for us to throw open the entire museum in one go. So we thought we’d do it in phases. The central hall is ready, and as part of our sesquicentennial celebrations, we thought we would inaugurate this part of the museum. We have a broad idea of where we want to place the exhibits, though it is subject to change in the future,” said Mrs Manjula in an interview with The Hindu.

The site shortlisted for the Railway Heritage Centre, as the museum will be known, is adjacent to the Community Hall near the Tiruchi railway junction, with a total area of about 15 acres. The original station building of the city that was then known as Trichinopoly, built in 1886, will be spruced up to serve as the office and ticket sales counter of the museum.

When we visited, the flooring tiles were being laid in the central exhibition hall, built in a quasi-Raj style. The proposed centre (with an approximate budget of Rs20mn) will be allocating 500 square metres for indoor exhibits. Besides the transport artefacts mentioned above, there is provision for a study room for researching railway history, philately on railway themes, and a digital archive of rare documents related to the South Indian Railway.

“We are planning a family-friendly destination,” said Mrs Manjula of the project. The indoor exhibits will be complemented by an external visitor area containing shady alcoves and eateries, and even a toy train and one or two vintage locomotive engines.

As to what she feels is the most significant part of the heritage collection, Mrs Manjula pointed out to the vintage paperwork that “tell us how we used to run the railways 150 years ago, and how much of it is still in place. It seems we have very good systems in place which are time-tested. Whatever mishaps occur would be mainly due to human error. The signalling systems were rudimentary, technological advancements may have occurred, but the system remains the same.”

The fragile paper documents need a climate-controlled storage system, which, for now, says Mrs Manjula, is still to be finalised.

Reflecting on the future of train travel in India, she said, “I think we are here to stay definitely for a couple of centuries. Our avatars may change, but we will always be there because it will take some time for our people to move away from the railways to the roadways as they have done in the West. More people are indeed taking flights to their destinations (in the domestic sector), but it’s a very large pie, and we have a very large share of that pie.”

Mr S Sayinathan, Traffic Inspector and one of the collection’s curators, says that only after he got formally involved in the project did he realise the indelible link between the railways and India’s history. “After coming to this department to preserve heritage material, I found out that the South Indian Railway is a great organisation,” he said, adding that the development of rail routes throughout the country reflected the India’s growth as well.

“Among our records we have details of how a 542-km stretch on the Tiruchi to Erode route was converted into broad gauge in a mere five hours, on the Pamban cantilever bridge that connects the Palk Strait to mainland India, and which opened to traffic in 1914, and the Unesco heritage status-Nilgiri Mountain railway (inaugurated in 1899 and still in service),” said Mr Sayinathan.

The museum project has also sparked interest among the families of the British staff who worked in South Indian Railway, says Mr Sayinathan, many of who have got in touch and shared their own memorabilia related to the years spent by their forefathers in India.

In 2010, Southern Railway published a glossy volume of rare photographs and historical information titled Marvels of The South Indian Railway, compiled by S Subramhanyan, then-Divisional Railway Manager, as part of the sesquicentennial celebrations.

Considering the potential value of the antiques inside, the Heritage Room is kept locked and out of bounds to the public. The room has the railway security force personnel’s protection throughout the day, and fire alarm systems are in place to avert potential disasters.

An expert from the Saraswathi Mahal in Thanjavur has helped to guide the team in preserving the artefacts for posterity against termites. But dealing with the mice and other rodents has required the services of the rather more simple mousetrap.

Mr Sayinathan checks the authenticity of each piece individually, a process made easier, he says, due to the British habit of stamping every item with the name of the company. “We cannot display all the old materials, because some may still be in use,” he said. “[But] we want to showcase our history to the public, so that they can understand our achievement.”