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PUNE: Passengers with reserved tickets, who are on the waiting list will no longer be able to travel in reserved coaches.
According to the railway rules, anyone with an unconfirmed reserved ticket or an e-ticket is not allowed to travel in reserved coaches.
"However, a large number of passengers illegally board these coaches. Now, with strict implementation of the existing rule, no passenger with a waitlisted ticket can travel in a reserved coach as it causes inconvenience to passengers," said Chairperson of the Railway Pravasi Group, Harsha Shah.
She claimed that earlier there used to be a lot of congestion in second class coaches as many passengers used to travel without a confirmed ticket.
"Railway officials allowed them to travel and there has been lots of complaints from passengers travelling with confirmed reservations about congestion in reserved coaches,” Shah added.
However, when contacted, the Pune Divisional Railway Manager, Vishal Agarwal, said the rule was always in place and a passenger holding a waiting list ticket cannot travel in a sleeper coach and there used to be checking regarding the same from time to time.
"However, many passengers without confirmed tickets were found travelling in these coaches. Hence, the implementation of this rule is being made stricter for the convenience of bonafide passengers travelling with a confirmed ticket," added Agarwal.
According to the guidelines, if a passenger is found travelling without a confirmed ticket in a reserved coach, he will have to pay a penalty and alight from the train at the next station.

वाराणसी। अब रेलवे का टिकट मिलना उतना ही आसान हो जाएगा जितना की मोबाइल रिचार्ज कराना। आपके घर के बगल की परचून की दुकान से ही रेल टिकट देने की योजना है। यात्री अपने पास की दुकान पर जाएगा, पैसा चुकाएगा और उसका टिकट बुक हो जाएगा। इंडियन रेलवे कैटरिंग एंड टूरिज्म कार्पोरेशन (आईआरसीटीसी) ने एम टिकटिंग के दायरे को बढ़ाते हुए यात्रियों की सुविधा के लिए नई कार्ययोजना तैयार की है। इसके तहत परचून के दुकानदारों को प्रीपेड डिपाजिट स्कीम से जोड़ा जाएगा।

इस नई योजना के प्रभावी होने के बाद रेलवे के आरक्षित और अनारक्षित टिकट के लिए रेलयात्रियों को अब काउंटरों पर लगने वाली लंबी लाइन से भी निजात मिल जाएगी। रेलवे ने यह योजना मध्यम और निम्न आय वर्ग के यात्रियों को ध्यान में रखकर तैयार की है। आईआरसीटीसी के मैनेजिंग डायरेक्टर राकेश टंडन के अनुसार देश की बड़ी आबादी आर्थिक रूप से कमजोर है। ये लोग भुगतान के लिए मोबाइल का इस्तेमाल नहीं करते हैं। ये अपने सारे भुगतान कैश में करते हैं। रेल यात्रा को प्राथमिकता देने वालों में ऐसे वर्ग के यात्रियों की संख्या सबसे ज्यादा है। इसे ध्यान में रखते हुए ही इनकी सहूलियत के लिए नई कार्ययोजना तैयार की गई है। जिसके तहत आईआरसीटीसी परचून के दुकानदारों को अपना प्रतिनिधि बनाएगी। दुकानदार यात्रियों से पैसे लेकर टिकट बुक कर सकें गे। मोबाइल धारक दुकानदार को ही रिटेलर बनाया जाएगा, ताकि वह टिकट बुकिंग के लिए आईआरसीटीसी को मोबाइल से भुगतान कर सके। इस योजना के प्रभावी होने के बाद यात्रियों को रेल टिकट के लिए परेशान नहीं होना पड़ेगा। अपने आसपास के लिए संबंधित रिटेलर के पास जाकर वे अपना टिकट बुक करा सकेंगे। रिटेलर उनसे निर्धारित टिकट मूल्य लेकर टिकट बुक करेगा और उसका मैसेज यात्री के मोबाइल पर पहुंच जाएगा। इन दुकानदारों को आईआरसीटीसी की प्रीपेड डिपाजिट स्कीम के तहत जोड़ा जाएगा। इसके लिए टेलीकाम कंपनियों से भी बातचीत चल रही है।

प्वाइंटर

31 करोड़ ट्रेन टिकट बुक होते हैं सालाना भारत की 15 फीसदी आबादी इंटरनेट का इस्तेमाल करती है 70 फीसदी आबादी मोबाइल का करती है इस्तेमाल एम टिकट पर रोजाना बुक हो रहे हैं 150 टिकट

KOLKATA: Indian Railways is expected to get investment worth Rs 1 lakh crore through public-private partnership (PPP) route in the 12th Plan period, a Planning Commission official said today.

"During the 11th Plan period, the Railways received a mere Rs 3,000 crore investment through the public-private partnership route. We expect PPP investments in the current plan (2012-17) period of Rs 1 lakh crore," Manoj Singh, Adviser-Transport, Planning Commission, told reporters at a CII seminar on logistics here.

The government has chalked out six unique models to relax the norms in a bid to attract more Public Private Partnership investments.

Singh said that "underfunding" was a major challenge in expanding rail connectivity.

"If we want to match our logistic infrastructure with the global standards, PPP is the only model," he said.

PUNE: Passengers with reserved tickets, who are on the waiting list will no longer be able to travel in reserved coaches.
According to the railway rules, anyone with an unconfirmed reserved ticket or an e-ticket is not allowed to travel in reserved coaches.
"However, a large number of passengers illegally board these coaches. Now, with strict implementation of the existing rule, no passenger with a waitlisted ticket can travel in a reserved coach as it causes inconvenience to passengers," said Chairperson of the Railway Pravasi Group, Harsha Shah.
She claimed that earlier there used to be a lot of congestion in second class coaches as many passengers used to travel without a confirmed ticket.
"Railway officials allowed them to travel and there has been lots of complaints from passengers travelling with confirmed reservations about congestion in reserved coaches,” Shah added.
However, when contacted, the Pune Divisional Railway Manager, Vishal Agarwal, said the rule was always in place and a passenger holding a waiting list ticket cannot travel in a sleeper coach and there used to be checking regarding the same from time to time.
"However, many passengers without confirmed tickets were found travelling in these coaches. Hence, the implementation of this rule is being made stricter for the convenience of bonafide passengers travelling with a confirmed ticket," added Agarwal.
According to the guidelines, if a passenger is found travelling without a confirmed ticket in a reserved coach, he will have to pay a penalty and alight from the train at the next station.

COIMBATORE: Railway users here have reiterated their demand for creation of entry-exit point near the second subway to ease congestion in the main entrance.

Coimbatore Railway Users Welfare Association president Jameel Ahmed said that a signature campaign has been planned in August to urge the railway authorities for creation of additional entry-exit point as well as augmentation of facilities that are long pending. "We aim to collect at least one lakh signatures from the rail passengers and to submit it to the railway authorities", he said.

It may be noted that even though the second way is put to use people will continue to use the eastern and western entrances, and so the very purpose of the second subway that is to ease congestion in the entrances will not be solved.

Earlier Coimbatore MP and Railway Struggle Committee convenor P R Natarajan had asked the district collector M Karunagaran to take necessary steps to hand over government land at Thomas Club to the railway authorities so that an additional entry-exit point can be created.

Apart from seeking additional entrance, the signature campaign is planned also with the demand for providing amenties like battery cars, escalators and elevators at key points in the railway station. "Railway authorities have promised it much earlier and the assurances has missed several deadlines", he said and added that ultimately the passengers are affected.

Katra : Locals from Katra, Agar, Reasi, Bakal, Gran Morh and Mari staged a protest at the Konkan Railway office Reasi. The protesters were demanding clearance of their liabilities pending with Apex Encon Projects Pvt Ltd (AEPPL). Apex Encon Projects Pvt Ltd is an Andhra-based company engaged for construction of tunnels on the Katra-Dharam railway section, which has abandoned the project without clearing liabilities of over Rs 2.60 crore of local labourers, contractors and suppliers.Official sources said as per one list available with the district administration Reasi, the liability of Apex Encon is to the tune of Rs 2.60 crore. However, there may be many other such cases as all the aggrieved persons may not have been able to reach the administration.Apex Encon, which has moved out of the project without making payments to different stakeholders, misled the workers, labourers, contractors and suppliers by sending a letter dated July 14, 2013 to Deputy Chief Engineer (Tunnels) KRCL Reasi mentioning that the payments as per the list will have to be made by KRCL. However, the KRCL informed the District Development Commissioner that neither funds or security nor the bills and claims of Apex Encon were available with KRCL, sources said.Raj Kumar, sarpanch of Gran Morh, who was among the protesters, said, "We were happy with the start of rail project in our area. Many of us have taken loan from different financial institutions to get employed, but as Apex has left the project without clearing liabilities of local labourers, contractors and suppliers, this is a big blow to the local enterprises and people working with the company. We demand immediate clearance of our liabilities pending with Apex Encon Projects Pvt Ltd."

VARANASI: An altercation between a ticket checker (TC) a Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawan at platform IV of Cantonment Railway Station led to high voltage drama on Thursday. Taking serious note of the incident, the divisional railway manager (Northern Railway) Lucknow, Jagdeep Rai constituted a two-member committee to probe into the matter.

According to reports, a TC Jamaluddin was busy in checking the passengers at platform-IV when he caught one of them and penalised him. Following his action the passenger started requesting him to waive off penalty as he was unable to pay. But the TC was rigid. On seeing it a RPF jawan, Sivanand Rai intervened and asked Jamaluddin to show some mercy for the passenger by keeping his financial condition in view.

It led to a heated argument between TC and RPF jawan who later indulged in fighting. Situation worsened when more TCs reached there in support of Jamaluddin. In the meantime 13049 Howrah Amritsar Express, in which hundreds of Army personnel were traveling, arrived on platform-V. On seeing a uniformed person in trouble the army jawans came out of the train and thrashed the assailants. The high drama continued until the train left the platform with army personnel.

Following this development several RPF personnel also reached the incident site in support of Rai. But before the situation could worsen more the GRP personnel intervened. Later, both groups were taken to GRP station where the heated argument between TCs and RPF personnel continued.

On receiving information the station manager AK Pandey also reached the GRP station. The matter was brought to the knowledge of DRM(NR), who constituted a two member committee consisting of assistant engineers RK Solanki and JK Lolia to probe into the matter, confirmed Pandey adding, this committee will give its report in two days. The GRP said that any case would be registered in this matter after submission of the probe report to the DRM.

Meanwhile, the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee of Varanasi division of North Eastern Railways (NER) held its 81st meeting at divisional railway manager (DRM) office on Wednesday.

DRUCC members from Mau, Mirzapur, Balia, Deoria, Varanasi, Azamgarh and Ghazipur were present on the occasion. Issue including expansion and maintenance of Ghazipur City Station, proper lighting and cleanliness at Azamgarh Station, renovation of platform number three of Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station, construction of public convenience, extra stoppages and opening extra reservation counters on various stations were discussed on the occasion.

LUCKNOW: The first phase of North-South (N-S) corridor of Lucknow metro rail from Amausi airport to Munshipulia would commence over the next six months and its completion is estimated by March 2018, announced the high level committee headed by chief secretary, Jawed Usmani in a meeting held on Thursday with the principal secretaries of finance, housing and urban development, transport, home and planning department.
Though each corridor would take about 5-6 years to complete, senior officials predicted that the first train may start plying anytime after 2016, essentially on the N-S corridor which is proposed to be completed by 2018.Likewise, the East-West (E-W) corridor from Lucknow railway station at Charbagh to Vasantkunj on Hardoi Road would start after a gap of about one year and be complete by March 2019. The North-South Corridor would run on 22.878 kms with three underground and 19 elevated stations while the East-West Corridor will cover 11.098 kms with seven underground and five elevated stations.
An official said, "Normally, about 5-6 kms of metro stretch is taken in every phase which takes about 3-4 years to complete as it involves a lot of formalities." Officials said till the time next phase starts, metro feeder services would be given to passengers of the left out areas on that route and their feeder fare would be inbuilt in the metro fair.
The committee revealed a comprehensive blueprint of the mass rapid transit project which is planned keeping in mind 28 years of traffic forecast up till 2041. It is estimated that both corridors extending up to 42 kms including the loop links (alternative routes) would easily help about 4 lakh passengers commute daily.
A significant move in the direction was that Delhi Metro Rail Corporation submitted the revised DPR (detailed project report) to the committee which would now discuss it in detail and forward it for cabinet approval. The committee gave a green signal to the construction of the North-South Corridor.
The metro tracks would be designed to sustain a maximum speed of up to 80 kmph. However, the scheduled speed for metro on N-S Corridor would be 34 kmph and for E-W Corridor would be 32 kmph. Total estimated completion cost (including cost escalation factor and Central taxes) for N-S Corridor would be Rs 6,757 crore and for E-W Corridor would be Rs 5,396 crore. Hence, the total estimated project cost is Rs 12,153 crore.
The fare collection system would be automatic through smart cards and POM. Metro rail would have two maintenance facilities-at Transport Nagar for N-S Corridor and at Vasnat Kunj Depot for E-W Corridor.
To execute the project, an SPV (special purpose vehicle) - 'Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation' is to be formed regarding which a proposal of memorandum of association and article of association was floated. A committee has been formed under the chairmanship of principal secretary of finance to review the proposal and submit its report to the high level committee over next 15 days.
The committee also approved conducting a techno-feasibility study of about 42 kms of the first phase of the project including the loop links (alternative corridors) namely Gomtinagar link, Tulsidas Marg, Subhash Marg, Mill Road and Ring Metro line by DMRC based on its terms of reference.
It has formed a high-level committee comprising principal secretaries of all related departments to inspect a proposed site at 32 battalion of PAC to create the depot for N-S corridor and give its approval in the next 15 days.
Also, the options of financial assistance through alternative resources presented by the sub-committee formed under the chairmanship of housing secretary and chairman of metro cell Rajiv Agarwal were discussed at the meeting. It was decided that approval would be sought from the departments concerned and submitted to the high-level committee.
The sub-committee proposed that the stamp duty of all properties lying within 500 metre of metro track on both sides shall be increased by 1% to avail necessary funding for metro's operation. Also, UP Bridge corporation has been deployed to carry out geo-tech exploration of the project at a later stage.

मीरजापुर : स्थानीय रेलवे स्टेशन के दो व तीन नंबर प्लेटफार्म पर शेड निर्माण के लिए नींव खोदकर छोड़ दिया गया है। माहभर से अधिक समय से निर्माण बंद है। इस दौरान चारों तरफ फैले मलबे में फिसलकर लोग गिर रहे हैं। बरसात में स्थिति नारकीय बनी हुई है।
ए श्रेणी के स्टेशन पर यात्रियोंकी सुविधा के लिए दो व तीन नंबर प्लेटफार्म के पूरब तरह शेड निर्माण के लिए रेलवे बोर्ड द्वारा पर्याप्त बजट दिया गया है। मौके पर काम भी शुरू करा दिया गया लेकिन नींव खोदने के बाद आगे का निर्माण बंद करा दिया गया। बरसात हो रही है। यात्रियों को भींगकर ट्रेन पकड़नी पड़ रही है। एक्सप्रेस ट्रेनों में 21 से 24 बोगियां रहती हैं जबकि आधे से अधिक बोगियां खुले रहती हैं। यात्रियों को मुसीबत का सामना करना पड़ रहा है। जनप्रतिनिधियों की मांग पर बजट दिया गया है। कार्य की प्रगति धीमी है। उधर खंड अभियंताओं का कहना है कि बरसात की वजह से काम ठप है। जल्द पूरा कराया जाएगा।

VARANASI: In the month of Shravwan, when the city witnesses a huge rush of devotees from across the country and tourists from different parts of the world, piles of garbage is what welcomes the visitors outside the Cantt railway station and other areas of the city.Though the authorities claim to be prepared for heavy rush of devotees but poor sanitation conditions make it difficult for visitors to have a hassle free piligrimage in the city of Kashi.According to additional municipal commissioner, Sachchidanand Singh, the routine work of garbage collection and disposal is being carried out on daily basis in the city but it might be not up to mark in some areas.The city is witnessing serious problem of garbage disposal in different areas.Piles of garbage can be seen scattered and dumped on main roads not only near regional collection centres at Sonia, Beniabagh, Sonarpura, Maidagin but also near parks, river beds, ponds and residential areas

The auto stand at the Cantt railway station has become a virtual garbage dumping site. While Andhra Pul area and around 500 metres stretch on Sanskrit University to Teliyabagh area, huge amount of garbage is dumped and burnt against the environmental norms in the absence of any proper garbage disposal site in the city.

The situation does not seem to improve despite several instructions by district administration.