ProUI

‘Science Express,’ a biodiversity special exhibition on wheels is arriving Kakinada Town station on a three-day halt on Friday. A specially designed train with 16 air-conditioned coaches provides knowledge on biodiversity and climate change to the students and teachers as well. The exhibition is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and a unique science lab attached to the exhibition can be used by the students with prior permission from the authorities concerned. The entry into the exhibition is free and the exhibits are self-explanatory, according to a South Central Railway press release issued here on Thursday.

Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar has urged authorities to expedite the construction of the Pettah-Anayara rail overbridge across the Thiruvananthapuram-Kollam railway line so that it could be opened by September. Mr. Sivakumar, who visited the work site, said a high-level meeting would be convened shortly to discuss ways to speed up the process. — Staff Reporter

The Bangalore-Nagore Passenger will be extended to Karaikal starting from Friday.
The passenger service will be flagged off at 9.45 p.m. on Friday. According to a release, The Bangalore–Karaikal Passenger (daily) (56514) will leave Bangalore at 7.15 a.m. and reach Nagore at 9.48 p.m.. The train will leave Nagore at 9.50 p.m. and reach Karaikal at 10.30 p.m. The Karaikal–Bangalore Passenger (daily) (56513) will leave Karaikal at 3.40 a.m. and reach Bangalore at 7 p.m. — Staff Reporter

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar today asked the Railway Ministry to expedite implementation of pending rail projects in the state to improve connectivity and spur economic growth.

In a meeting with Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, Sarkar sought immediate release of funds for laying of new tracks between Agartala and Sabroom and the Lumding-Silchar- Agartala gauge conversion project.

He also asked the Railway Minister to ensure expeditious implementation of the project to link Agartala with Akhaura in neighbouring Bangladesh.

India and Bangladesh had signed a MoU on May 21 for the project. Of the 15.054 km railway track, only 5 km fall in Indian side and the rest is in Bangladesh.

During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010, the two countries had agreed to lay the tracks between Akhaura and Agartala.

Sarkar told Kharge that Bangladesh government had already started the land acquisition process while the same was yet to start on the Indian side.

He also demanded setting up of a Railway division office in Tripura.

Tripura government officials said Kharge told Sarkar that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would soon hold a meeting with his ministry to take stock of implementation of various key railway projects.

Acting chairman of Railway Board Arunendra Kumar, who was also present in the meeting, said the ministry was working on the Agartala-Akhaura Railway link project.

Kerala State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) chairman J.B. Koshy has directed the Railways to take measures soon to strengthen the railway over-bridge (RoB) at Nagampadom.The directive was issued when a complaint regarding the RoB was taken up at a sitting of the commission held here on Thursday.The complainant, T.K. Suresh Kumar, an advocate, had stated that the bridge was in a weak condition and that it posed a threat to the commuters. According to him, the two cross beams that connect the arches on either side were poorly maintained and also came in contact with heavy vehicles that ply on the road. Mr. Kumar demanded the removal of the beams and urgent renovation of the bridge.The Public Works Department (PWD) also agreed that the bridge required strengthening and had written to the Railways stating the same.According to officials who had represented the department at the meeting, an inspection had been conducted on June 29 to evaluate the condition of the RoB.However, the railway officials said there were no issues with the bridge and that maintenance activities were being conducted on a regular basis. The cross beams and the bridge were strengthened using three iron girders some months ago, they said.After hearing the views of all the parties, Mr. Koshy pointed out that ensuring the safety of the bridge was the responsibility of the Railways. According to him, the Railways should also be held accountable in the event of any accident. He asked the Railways to take measures to either strengthen or replace the cross-beams at the earliest.

Representing the Divisional Railway Manager of the Thiruvananthapuram division at the meeting, Senior Section Engineer Anil Kumar said that a new bridge would be constructed during the next financial year to replace the existing one at Nagampadom.

All arrangements are being made to construct the new bridge planned to be 14 metres wide, he said.

New Delhi: The government Thursday approved an additional Rs.400 crore to complete three rail projects in the northeastern region before March 2014.The three critical rail projects are the Harmati-Naharlagun project to provide the first rail connectivity to Arunachal Pradesh; the Dudhnoi-Mehdipathar project to connect Meghalaya; and the Rangapura-North Lakhimpur gauge conversion project.The Railways ministry has committed that the first trial runs will begin on these lines in January 2014.The finance ministry will also provide upto Rs.200 crore for two more projects — the Lunching-Slichar gauge conversion and the Bogibeel bridge, said an official release here.These decisions were taken at a review meeting to take stock of infrastructure development in the Northeast. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by the finance minister, civil aviation minister, railway minister, minister for road transport and highways, telecom minister, minister for power, the minister for DONER and the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.The Prime Minister directed the Planning Commission to call a meeting of all the chief ministers of the north eastern states to improve inter-state coordination for speedy completion of the infrastructure projects.It was also decided to provide additional funds from the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) for intra-state transmission line networks in Arunchal Pradesh and Sikkim. The Power Ministry will expedite work on many hydro-projects, which are held up due to various reasons. Priority will be given to building strong transmission capacities to transmit power from this potential power rich region, both in hydro and gas based power.

An empowered committee will be set up to monitor progress on all infrastructure projects in the north east region.

Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the eight states of the region grew at 9.95 percent during the 11th plan period, well above the national average of 8 percent.

The government Thursday approved an additional Rs.400 crore to complete three rail projects in the northeastern region before March 2014.

The three critical rail projects are the Harmati-Naharlagun project to provide the first rail connectivity to Arunachal Pradesh; the Dudhnoi-Mehdipathar project to connect Meghalaya; and the Rangapura-North Lakhimpur gauge conversion project.

The Railways ministry has committed that the first trial runs will begin on these lines in January 2014.

The finance ministry will also provide upto Rs.200 crore for two more projects -- the Lunching-Slichar gauge conversion and the Bogibeel bridge, said an official release here.

These decisions were taken at a review meeting to take stock of infrastructure development in the Northeast. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by the finance minister, civil aviation minister, railway minister, minister for road transport and highways, telecom minister, minister for power, the minister for DONER and the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.

The Prime Minister directed the Planning Commission to call a meeting of all the chief ministers of the north eastern states to improve inter-state coordination for speedy completion of the infrastructure projects.

It was also decided to provide additional funds from the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) for intra-state transmission line networks in Arunchal Pradesh and Sikkim. The Power Ministry will expedite work on many hydro-projects, which are held up due to various reasons. Priority will be given to building strong transmission capacities to transmit power from this potential power rich region, both in hydro and gas based power.

An empowered committee will be set up to monitor progress on all infrastructure projects in the north east region.

Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the eight states of the region grew at 9.95 percent during the 11th plan period, well above the national average of 8 percent.

Ticketless train passengers at the Ernakulam Junction were in for a surprise when a posse of railway officials swooped down on them on Thursday.The mega drive conducted by the commercial wing of the railways along with the Railway Protection Force and the Government Railway Police to nab those travelling without tickets netted a fine of Rs.1.68 lakh.The drive led by Arun Thomas, assistant commercial manager, Thiruvananthapuram railway division, booked 428 passengers without tickets besides those travelling with inadequate or irregular travel papers.

Mostly women

Interestingly, the majority of the ticketless passengers were women and all of them were Malayalis.The drive started with the arrival of Dhanbad Express from Alappuzha at 7 a.m. It lasted five hours during the course of which the trains operating within the State and those having halt at the station were covered.The drive was held based on the realisation that a section of the passengers were using to their advantage the largely ineffective on-board checking of tickets owing to the shortage of hands. Those without platform tickets were not covered in the drive.

NAGPUR: In a bid to double its freight carrying capacity, the Nagpur division of Central Railway will go in for 'Locotrol' soon. Trials are being conducted at Ajni loco shed.Locotrol includes two to four or so locos which can usually be coupled together to operate automatically, without any special provisions, with the crew manning only one of them.Senior railway officials, who did want to be quoted, told TOI that three trials that were conducted have been partially successful. Ajni is one of the two sheds where this is being done. The other is Lallaguda in Hyderabad."There are some teething troubles and we will overcome them as engineers from Hyderabad are at work," officials said.The Nagpur division of Central Railway is already into long-hauling for transporting coal, containers and box wagons. wherein two freight trains with 59 wagons each - coupled together have one loco in the front and another at the rear. Both the locos have crew.

However, officials informed that under the new Locotrol system, there will be two or three locos in the train one at front and one in middle and another at the rear. The middle one will operate by remote control from front loco, so no extra drivers will be needed. It will allow for trains to become longer.

Officials said WAG 7 locos are being upgraded for the purpose. It will allow the loco to start with slightly higher loads. Another plan is to making the loco heavy so that wheels don't slip easily and the loco can pull more load.

Even as Locotrol is seen as the advantage, the flip side is that freight trains are slow. They get overtaken by passenger trains very often. So the freight trains have to be put on a side track called a loop line so that the train coming up behind can overtake.

However, the standard length of a loop line across Indian Railways these days is around 600 metres, which is the length of a standard freight train.

"If the railways run double length train, they will need a loop line that is around 1,400 metres long. But the railways don't have that. So even if they have the remote control technology there are limitations to how much it can be used," a senior officer said.

What is a Locotrol

* The locos at the middle and rear of the train are radio-controlled by the crew at the head of the train

* This system is used in some places for heavy freight sections

* With multiple locos lashed up, there are cables that pass between successive locos, which carry the control signals between the manned loco and the others.

* In Locotrol, railways will need minimum drivers

मुजफ्फरपुर से रक्सौल के लिये नयी ट्रेन चलायी जायेगी. वही सप्तक्रांति एक्सप्रेस को बरौनी, गरीब रथ को समस्तीपुर व सियालदह फास्ट पैसेंजर को सीतामढ़ी तक चलाने का प्रस्ताव है. सोनपुर मंडल के परिचालन विभाग ने इन ट्रेनों का प्रस्ताव पूर्व मध्य रेल को भेजा  है. मुख्यालय से अनुमति मिलने पर शीघ्र ही मोतिहारी रेल खंड पर रक्सौल के लिए नयी ट्रेन जुड़ जायेगी. बताया जाता है कि यशवंतपुर से मुजफ्फरपुर तक आने वाली 15227 यशवंतपुर एक्सप्रेस शनिवार की सुबह 4 बजे मुजफ्फरपुर आ जाती है. यह गाड़ी 15228 बन कर मुजफ्फरपुर से सोमवार की सुबह 7.25 बजे खुल कर यशवंतपुर को जाती है. इस गाड़ी का रैक 52 घंटे तक यार्ड में खड़ा रहता है. यार्ड में लंबे समय तक रहने से अन्य गाड़ियों के परिचालन पर भी असर पड़ता है. आये दिन परिचालन में परेशानी को देखते हुए एरिया मैनेजर कार्यालय से यशवंतपुर के रैक को रक्सौल तक चलाने का प्रस्ताव सोनपुर मंडल को भेजा गया है. रक्सौल तक नयी ट्रेन चलाने सहित अन्य प्रस्ताव पर मुहर लगाते हुए सोनपुर मंडल ने पूर्व मध्य रेल को भेज दिया है.

यहां बता दें कि मुजफ्फरपुर में 15227 यशवंतपुर एक्सप्रेस का लाइ ओवर पीरियड 52 घंटा, 12557 सप्तक्रांति एक्सप्रेस  26 घंटा, 12211 गरीब रथ 21 घंटा है. इसके अतिरिक्त सूरत व बलसाड़ एक्सप्रेस के परिचालन समय बदलने का भी प्रस्ताव भेजा गया है. बताया जाता है कि मुख्य परिचालन प्रबंधक से हरी झंडी मिलने का  इंतजार है. हालांकि इसके पूर्व भी यशवंतपुर के रैक को रांची तक चलाने का प्रस्ताव भेजा गया था. लेकिन आने-जाने के समय निर्धारण में तालमेल नहीं बैठ पाने के कारण प्रस्ताव पर मुहर नहीं लग पायी थी.