ProUI

A public interest writ petition has been filed in the Madras High Court to restrain the authorities concerned from deleting Royapuram railway station from the list of heritage buildings in phase-I, prepared by the CMDA and the Heritage Conservation panel.

The second bench comprising Justices R Banumathi and T S Sivagnanam before which the PIL from advocate S Sathia Chandran came up for hearing on Wednesday, ordered notice returnable in two weeks.

The PIL’s interim prayer was to restrain the Southern Railway GM from carrying out any repair or renovation work, including painting of the building.

According to the petitioner, he came to know through a newspaper that the Southern Railway officials had approached the Heritage Conservation Committee for removal of the Royapuram railway station building from the list of the heritage buildings so as to enable them to demolish it and undertake some other projects.

It was most unfortunate that the Railways had mooted this extreme, destructive and disastrous step of wiping out the history from its precincts and at the same time, claiming heritage of various kinds.

The building is of historic importance, remaining the oldest station in the entire sub-continent from 1856. On the 72-acre station premises, the heritage building did not even occupy a quarter ground of 2,400 sq.ft.

Hence the insensitivity of the railways to the history and heritage of the station building was highly condemnable, the petitioner contended.

GUWAHATI: Differences in opinion among senior officials of the Northeast Frontier Railway came to the fore over shifting of 10 unreserved ticketing system (UTS) counters from inside the Guwahati railway station to outside the building.

The divisional railway manager (DRM) of Lumding division, R K Goel, under whose jurisdiction the Guwahati railway station falls, is in favour of shifting the UTS ticket counters to the place where the passenger reservation system (PRS) counters are located, 50 metres away from the station, in order to provide more passenger amenities in the space where these counters are now located.

But, some senior officials are of the opinion that the move will make crowd management difficult on the station premises, which sees thousands of passengers depart and arrive every day.

In a recent letter to the DRM, the chief commercial manager of NF Railway wrote that his proposal of shifting the UTS counters from inside the station building to outside where the PRS counters are located is inappropriate.

"Passengers without reservations prefer to purchase tickets after ascertaining the availability and running schedule of the trains through the enquiry counter. The present arrangement enables the general public, including ladies, to purchase unreserved tickets on the station premises without going to any isolated area, particularly at night," said the chief commercial manager in his letter.

The manager also wrote that the proposed shift of the counters would be inconvenient for passengers who get off at the station from one train and buy tickets to catch another train to reach their desired destinations.

"The operation of reserved and unreserved ticket counters in one row will confuse many passengers," the letter said. The manager noted that in major cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Patna, the PRS counters are kept separate from UTS counters for better crowd management.

However, the DRM informed that the shifting of the counters is underway. "We have planned to shift out the UTS ticket counters from the station building to provide passenger amenities like ATMs, internet cafe etc for the passengers in that space," Goel said.

A senior official of NF Railway said 13,000 to 14,000 tickets are issued to passengers from the UTS counters every day.

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.

Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge today assured to take up the issue of setting up a separate Divisional Railway Headquarters based in this city of North Karnataka in view of the long pending demand of the people of his home town.
Speaking to reporters here last night, he said in addition to the Central, South Central and South Western Railway Zones, efforts were on to carve out a new Division based in Gulbarga.
The proposed division may cover Yadgir, Bidar, Raichur, parts of Bijapur besides Gulbarga, he said. While the state has three Railway divisions for over 3,150 kms of railway tracks, Maharashtra has seven and Andhra Pradesh six, he said.

PATNA: Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) of Danapur, Sonpur and Dhanbad Divisions of East Central Railway (ECR) have been transferred by the Railway Board, New Delhi, following completion of their two-year tenure in their respective divisions. However, officials orders in this connection are yet to reach the ECR headquarters.

According to sources, NK Gupta, an officer of IRSE cadre presently posted in Southern Railway, has been posted as new DRM of Danapur division. Present DRM LM Jha is likely to be transferred to the ECR’s construction wing, sources said, adding Rajesh Tiwari and BB Singh are likely to be posted as new DRMs of Sonepur and Dhanbad divisions, respectively.

Passengers could be able to board and disembark from trains at Patliputra railway station from Independence Day this year provided all the services are ready.

The station, which has been constructed at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore, is expected to reduce the load on Patna Junction and Rajendra Nagar Terminus. Located 12km northwest of Patna Junction, it is ready to receive trains.

The commissioner of railway safety gave the green light for operation of trains from the station in November last year.

But passenger services are not ready yet.

A senior officer at the Danapur division of East Central Railway, who did not want to be named, said: “Patliputra railway station is ready for trains. There is no problem with that. But the passenger services are not ready at the station yet.”

Asked about the missing services, the officer said: “There are no shops and eateries at the station. Passengers have to be provided with this facility. Bids have been invited to open shops and bidders would be shortlisted soon.”

The station also does not have a cloakroom — a facility, which every station needs to have. Passengers keep their luggage in cloakrooms while they wait for trains. For 24 hours, passengers have to pay Rs 15 to use the cloakroom service.

Sources said pending work on other aspects of the station like modification of the parking space, booking-cum-reservation office (with bandwidth and routers provided by RailTel Corporation of India Limited – a Telecom PSU under Ministry of Railways and CRIS), enquiry counter, parcel office, and rooms for Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force, have been completed.

The officer said: “The railway would be very happy to open the station to the residents on Independence Day. But it all depends on the pending work being completed.”

The work is being done at a steady pace, he added.

Another important aspect that the railways need to look into before the station is opened is deputation of staff for the management of the station. At present, more than 350 trains pass through the two stations in Patna. Once ready, some of these trains would be able to use the new station at Patliputra.

Trains going towards Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad could pass through this station. It has parking space for 100 autos and 50 cars, a rest room for travelling ticket examiners, wooden benches on platforms and drinking water facility.

Lights have been installed at all three platforms, which can accommodate trains with up to 24 compartments.

ECR chief public relation officer Amitabh Prabhakar said: “The station will solve the problem of congestion of trains at Patna Junction. It will improve arrival and departure timing.”

INDORE: After months of delay, survey work for metro rail service in Indore is all set to take off.

A team of representatives from joint venture firm comprising German firm LRTC (GmbH) and Mumbai-based Rohit Associates Architects & Engineers Pvt Ltd, which has got contract for preparing detailed project report (DPR) for Indore and Bhopal metro, will be in Indore on Thursday to initiative survey works.

Urban administration and development department of Madhya Pradesh government had signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the JV firm on May 5 for preparation of DPR.

Representatives of the company will interact with the officials of IMC and district administration following the survey.

Initially, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was supposed to prepare DPR for metro but it did not work out and the state had decided to issue global tender for DPR. The state government will be paying around Rs 10.50 lakh per kilometre for preparation of DPR. The firm will carry out techno-commercial and economic viability survey of metro, mono and light rail models. They will do the feasibility study for all three modes and analyze before preparation of DPR.

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.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is moving towards the final stages of the monorail project as it begins tests for safety certification.

It has asked citizens not to venture into the area between GTB Nagar monorail station and Wadala monorail, as well as near the Wadala depot belt, where tests are being conducted.

Dilip Kawathkar, joint project director, MMRDA, said the entire process was being conducted as a safety measure.

“We are appealing to people not to venture near these spots. These tests are a process towards securing the safety certificate required to commission the monorail,” he said.

“Others tests for signalling, communications, rolling stocks and auto fare collection are being conducted simultaneously,” he added.

MMRDA officials said unlike metro services, which need clearance from the commissioner of railway safety (CRS), an international independent agency would be issuing the safety certificate for monorail operations.

The Singapore-based SMRT agency has been appointed as the independent assessor for testing and commissioning of the corridor.

On Wednesday, the conductor rails fitted on the monorail concrete guideway beams between GTB Nagar monorail station, Wadala monorail station and Wadala depot were energised as part of the test.

While the 8.8-km Chembur Wadala line will be open to the public by September, the second phase — the 12.2km WadalaJacob Circle stretch — seems to have hit several hurdles.

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government Tuesday announced that a 29.5-km Metro rail route will come up between Boraki and Noida City Centre to link Noida and Greater Noida.

Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani said the new Metro route has been necessitated to decongest the city roads, increase connectivity and smoothen traffic. Work on the proposed line was likely to be completed by 2017, he said.

He also said that a total of Rs.5,000 crore would be spent on the ambitious Metro rail link.

Holding a meeting of officials of the departments concerned, the chief secretary said the project would be developed on the lines of the proposed Metro projects in states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, West Bengal and Kerala.

Principal Secretary (Industrial Development) Surya Pratap Singh said that due to some reasons, the Metro line between Noida and Greater Noida is not possible as an extension of the projects undertaken by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

As a result of this, a decision was taken at the 179th board meeting of the Noida Authority, held May 27 that a company be formed for the work, he said