ProUI

The Railways have decided to change the schedule of Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Duronto Express and Bhubaneswar-Tirupati Express from September.

The Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Duronto Express, which starts from Bhubaneswar on Sundays, will leave on Wednesday instead. This will come into effect from September 4. In the return direction, the train will leave New Delhi on Thursday, beginning September 5, not Mondays.

Similarly, the Bhubaneswar-Tirupati Express will run on Sundays (not Saturdays) from Bhubaneswar starting September 8 and in the return direction, it will start on Mondays, not Sundays.

The change in schedule is attributed to operational inconvenience.

South Central Railway will divert Train No. 16351/16352 CST Mumbai-Nagercoil-CST Mumbai Balaji Express to run via Renigunta without touching Tirupati  with effect from the dates mentioned below:-

1)  Train No. 16351 CST Mumbai-Nagercoil Balaji Express will run via Renigunta without touching Tirupati with effect from 03rd September, 2013.

2) Train No. 16352 Nagercoil-CST Mumbai Balaji Express will run via Renigunta without touching Tirupati with effect from 05th September, 2013.

South Central Railway will divert Train No. 16351/16352 CST Mumbai-Nagercoil-CST Mumbai Balaji Express to run via Renigunta without touching Tirupati  with effect from the dates mentioned below:-

1)  Train No. 16351 CST Mumbai-Nagercoil Balaji Express will run via Renigunta without touching Tirupati with effect from 03rd September, 2013.

2) Train No. 16352 Nagercoil-CST Mumbai Balaji Express will run via Renigunta without touching Tirupati with effect from 05th September, 2013.

The train number, days of Service and timings of  Visakhapatnam-Mumbai LTT Bi-weeklyExpress train will be  revised as detailed below:
Train No. 22819 / 22820 of Visakhapatnam-Mumbai LTT-Visakhapatnam bi-weekly Express will be revised as 18519 / 18520 Visakhapatnam-Mumbai LTT-Visakhapatnam Express with effect from 10th September, 2013 ex. Visakhapatnam  and  from 12th September,  2013 ex. Mumbai  LTT.

Train No. 18519 Visakhapatnam-Mumbai LTT bi-weekly Express will depart Visakhapatnam at 23 30 hrs instead of 08 45 hrs and arrive Mumbai LTT at 04 40 hrs o­n the  next day  instead of 11 05 hrs with effect from 10thSeptember, 2013.

In the return direction, Train No. 18520 Mumbai LTT-Visakhapatnam by-weekly Express will depart Mumbai LTT at 06 55 hrs instead of 12 25 hrs and arrive Visakhapatnam at 11 15 hrs. o­n the next day instead of 14 45 hrs with effect from 12th September 2013.

Similarly, the days of service will be also changed.  Train No. 18519 Visakhapatnam-Mumbai LTT bi-weekly Express will depart Visakhapatnam  o­n Wednesdays and Saturdays as existing whereas Train No. 18520 Mumbai LTT-Visakhapatnam by-weekly Express will depart Mumbai LTT o­n Fridays and Mondays instead of Thursdays and Sundays.

Chandigarh: Railway passengers had to face a lot of inconvenience today as all trains plying between New Delhi and Chandigarh were delayed by an hour due to a disruption between Ganaur and Sandankalana stations. Sources in the Railway Department said an overhead electrical wire between the Panipat and Sonipat stations was found missing this morning due to which the trains were diverted on a single track. Due to this reason a majority of the trains from New Delhi got late.

The Shatabdi from New Delhi to Chandigarh reached an hour late at the railway station. The arrival time of train number 12005 at the city railway station is 11:05 am, but due to the technical fault it reached at around 12:15 pm. Even the evening Shatabdi from New Delhi to Chandigarh left the Delhi railway station 45 minutes late. The departure time the train from Delhi station is 5:15 pm .

There was a heavy rush of passengers at the enquiry counter of the Chandigarh railway station to get the status of the Shatabdi this morning. The worst affected were those who came to pick and drop their near and dear ones in the morning. A majority of the people had a harrowing time as they did not get any space to park their vehicles.

BSNL All-India general secretary RP Sahu, who was travelling in the morning Shatabdi from New Delhi to Chandigarh to hold a rally of employees, got late by an hour due to the delay in the arrival of the train.The organisers of the association, who went to receive him at the railway station, faced trouble as hundreds of workers were waiting since morning for the rally.

Railway officials said during the inspection of this track in the morning, they found that an overhead wire was missing after which it was decided to use a single track for running the trains till the repair of the track.

South Central Railway will divert Train No. 16351/16352 CST Mumbai-Nagercoil-CST Mumbai Balaji Express to run via Renigunta without touching Tirupati  with effect from the dates mentioned below:-

1)  Train No. 16351 CST Mumbai-Nagercoil Balaji Express will run via Renigunta without touching Tirupati with effect from 03rd September, 2013.

2) Train No. 16352 Nagercoil-CST Mumbai Balaji Express will run via Renigunta without touching Tirupati with effect from 05th September, 2013.

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.

Chandigarh: Railway passengers had to face a lot of inconvenience today as all trains plying between New Delhi and Chandigarh were delayed by an hour due to a disruption between Ganaur and Sandankalana stations. Sources in the Railway Department said an overhead electrical wire between the Panipat and Sonipat stations was found missing this morning due to which the trains were diverted on a single track. Due to this reason a majority of the trains from New Delhi got late.

The Shatabdi from New Delhi to Chandigarh reached an hour late at the railway station. The arrival time of train number 12005 at the city railway station is 11:05 am, but due to the technical fault it reached at around 12:15 pm. Even the evening Shatabdi from New Delhi to Chandigarh left the Delhi railway station 45 minutes late. The departure time the train from Delhi station is 5:15 pm .

There was a heavy rush of passengers at the enquiry counter of the Chandigarh railway station to get the status of the Shatabdi this morning. The worst affected were those who came to pick and drop their near and dear ones in the morning. A majority of the people had a harrowing time as they did not get any space to park their vehicles.

BSNL All-India general secretary RP Sahu, who was travelling in the morning Shatabdi from New Delhi to Chandigarh to hold a rally of employees, got late by an hour due to the delay in the arrival of the train.The organisers of the association, who went to receive him at the railway station, faced trouble as hundreds of workers were waiting since morning for the rally.

Railway officials said during the inspection of this track in the morning, they found that an overhead wire was missing after which it was decided to use a single track for running the trains till the repair of the track.

SINDI (RAILWAY): Harried railway passengers can now heave a sigh of relief with trains beginning to roll on the second track damaged by rains last Friday near Sindi in Wardha district. Last six days must have perhaps seen the biggest detention of trains in Indian Railways.

The first train to pass through the newly repaired up line (towards Mumbai) was Gondia-Kolhapur Maharashtra Express at 11.30am n Thursday. Since then, at least 15 more had passed till 5pm through the 360 metres restored tracks damaged due to flooding in Pipra nullah near Sindi Railway. However, both tracks are still not fit for operating loaded freight trains.

The down line (towards Nagpur) was restored after 60 hours on Monday morning. It took over 134 hours to ready the up line due to continuing rains. Till Thursday, a limited number of trains was moving on down line and at least three were cancelled while three operated partially. Besides, eight trains were diverted. For the next few days, trains may continue to run late due to diversions and rescheduling.

By Thursday afternoon, all passenger trains started moving on both lines on the affected patch at speed of 15-20 kmph. Most trains that were diverted via Itarsi, Khandwa and Bhusawal besides Badnera, Amravati and Narkhed passed through Sindi Railway on Thursday. Though both the tracks have been restored, they are tracks still at lower than usual level. Central Railway divisional railway manager (DRM) Brijesh Dixit showed mediamen the enormity of the tast. Senior divisional safety officer (SrDSO) S K Solanki and senior divisional mechanical engineer (SrDME) Rajesh Dwivedi were also present.

"Now that the up line has been set right, we will take a 17-hour block beginning Thursday night to bring the down line to proper level." The railways have not withdrawn earthmoving machines and men from the site, in case there's another emergency. Dixit said around 800-1000 men were still at work in different shifts.

The huge 5.50 to 3.5 metres gap beneath the hanging tracks was filled. It required around 20,000 cubic metre material including boulders, soil and ballast. Around 500 wagons of material was utilized and more of it will be required to level the tracks, said Dixit.

Asked if the danger could not have been anticipated, Dixit said, "It happened out of the blue. Never in the history had the spot given in. There is list of 40 such vulnerable places in Nagpur division where regular monitoring is done. Pipri nullah turned out to be an exception and has now been added to the list."

The disaster put huge financial burden on railways and the overall loss of passenger and freight trains detention, diversion cost besides expenses towards restoration of tracks may be around Rs100 crore. In the last five days, railways refunded Rs85 lakh to passengers towards cancellation of tickets.

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."