ProUI

Thirteen-year-old Raju's life changed overnight when he was spotted by a police officer at the New Delhi Railway Station rummaging through garbage. Separated from his parents three years ago, Delhi Police helped re-unite the boy with his family. Delhi Police's 'Operation Khoj' - launched in March to re-unite lost children on railway platforms with their parents - has had many happy endings. Till June 30, 722 minors - below 18 years - found loitering on railway platforms got back their parents and their lives. The search operation helped to re-unite Raju, 13, with his parents and brought the joy back into his life. Raju, a native of Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur district, had got separated from his parents near New Delhi Railway Station. Operation Khoj has been started at all five railway stations of Delhi - New Delhi, Old Delhi, Sarai Rohilla, Hazrat Nizamuddin and Anand Vihar. According to Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Bhatia, the drive is aimed at preventing such lost children from turning to crime or being trafficked by criminals lurking on the railway stations. "Those who want to go back to their homes, we reunite them with their parents. Those who do not want to return are taken to the Child Welfare Committee. This helps them get a chance to reform themselves," Bhatia told IANS. Most of the lost minors are aged between five and 16 years. Of the 722 children restored to their families, 406 children were rescued from New Delhi Railway Station, 232 from Old Delhi Railway Station, 59 from Hazarat Nizamuddin, 14 from Sarai Rohilla and 11 from Anand Vihar railway stations. "Sometimes, we take the help of non-government organizations. Our officials directly spot the children and send them to CWC. We search for their parents by uploading the picture of children on Zipnet, which connects all the police stations. Once parents are located, we hand the children over," said the official. "Every morning, the beat constables look out for such children in their respective portion of the railways station," said the officer. "The drive is a first of its kind initiative to rehabilitate the abandoned children," a member of an NGO told IANS. According to another officer, whenever an abandoned child is found inside or outside the railway stations, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff and Delhi Police make all efforts to trace the parents. Most of the lost children are found to be from eastern states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Currently, around 700 Delhi Police personnel are deployed at the five railway police stations. "The abandoned children are also soft targets for human trafficking. They are reportedly sent to many foreign countries to work. The drive would help in preventing such crimes to some extent," a senior officer said.

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VIRUDHUNAGAR: The Virudhunagar - Manamadurai broad gauge (BG) section was formally inaugurated and dedicated to the nation at a ceremony held in Aruppukottai on Sunday. A diesel locomotive was flagged off on the occasion by Union civil aviation minister for state, K C Venugopal.

The 67-km stretch was reopened for train traffic after a period of five years and much persuasion from the local forums. The gauge conversion work was sanctioned during the railway budget in 2007-08. The stretch traverses through Virudhunagar and Sivaganga districts in Madurai railway division. The gauge conversion work for the project cost of Rs 231.58 crore involved reconstruction of five major bridges, 145 minor bridges, five stations including three crossing stations and 31 level crossings.

According to railway officials, the newly converted Virudhunagar - Manamadurai section when combined with the Trichy - Manamadurai section provides a perfect alternative route to the heavily congested Trichy - Dindigul - Madurai - Virudhunagar route. Further, the section is a flatter terrain with the ruling gradient of 1 in 200 making it a perfect route for goods traffic. The sanctioned sectional speed is 80 kmph at present. Upon commissioning, the Puducherry - Kanyakumari - Puducherry Weekly Express will be operated on this section. Train Number 16861 Kanyakumari - Puducherry Weekly Express will be operated every Thursdays while train number 16862 Puducherry - Kanyakumari Express will ply on Fridays. The announcement on operating passenger trains or express trains in the newly-converted section will be done later, railway officials said.

Members of the public, who were present during the inaugural function urged the railway authorities to operate more number of trains and provide stoppage at Aruppukottai since it was one of the important business centres in the district.

S Sivapragasam, municipal chairman of Aruppukottai said that the reopening of the section was one of the long-pending demands of the local people after it was closed in 2007. He suggested the railways to extend the recently-inaugurated Silambu Express that at present runs between Manamadurai and Chennai, up to Virudhunagar which will greatly help the people in the locality.

Virudhunagar MP, Manick Tagore in his speech said that Manamadurai - Virudhunagar section is part of the Madurai - Tuticorin railway project which is being planned by the centre and the section will eventually grow in the coming years, he said. He would pursue the matter of operating more trains in the section and added that efforts would be taken to make Aruppukottai as a junction.

Divisional railway manager, A K Rastogi, chief administrative officer (constructions), S Vijayakumaran, additional divisional railway manager, V Ajithkumar were present along with other railway officials from the division.

Mumbai :  P.K. Shrivastava, Chief Electrical Engineer, Central Railway commissioned the first retrofitted fully alternate current (AC) EMU rake made by Sanpada Car Shed from an old DC EMU rake. The rake is fit for operation in 25 KV AC section & rake is compatible with 25 AC EMU rakes of ICF built in its performance.
The cost of retrofitting work for one 12 car rake which includes electrical equipments, mechanical modification in coaches and replacement of old passenger seats, coach partition with stainless steel with improved ventilation, new fans & lights is approximately Rs.3.5 Crore as against the cost new AC rake which is Rs.24 Crore effecting a lot of cost savings. Fifteen 12-car rakes are planned to be converted from old DC rakes to AC retro rakes in near future.
Shri B.K. Sonwane, Chief Electrical Engineer (Rolling Stock), CR, Shri Harishanker Verma, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai Division and other Senior Railway officials were present on the occasion.
Source : Sachin Murdeshwar

Following recent alerts of terror threats and alleged border intrusions from the neighbouring country, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Gujarat will now assist ticket examiners (TTEs) in checking passengers on railway stations.RPF officials have been ordered to assist the TTEs on each railway station to check visitors and passengers before they board the train or leave the platform.RPF sources in Ahmedabad said, "The orders have come from the RPF headquarters to check trains and passengers on daily basis. Terror threats as well as incidents of illegal supply of arms, narcotics, hawala money have increased. Trains are becoming easy access for elements spreading terror". In a recent meeting with the railway board, RPF officials were briefed to increase their presence on railway stations in Gujarat.According to the new instructions the TTEs, while checking tickets, will have a RPF jawaan with them. The RPF will assist in ticket checking throughout the route, especially in long-distance trains heading to the southern states and Jammu and Kashmir.RPF stations at major railway stations in Gujarat will be revamped and equipped with more manpower, said RPF officials. Also, railways stations in coastal areas of Gujarat and Kutch sharing the border with Pakistan will be specially kept under the watch of the RPF.

A ticket checking drive, carried out under the supervision of Assistant Commercial Manager, Vijayawada Division, J.V.R.K. Rajsekhar, at Nuzvid railway station yielded revenue of Rs. 74,659.With the help of a railway bus, the checking squads swooped on the railway station to indentify and penalise ticketless passengers and un-authorised hawkers.In all, 30 staff and squads, in charge supervisors and RPF and GRP personnel were involved in the checking drive.

Puducherry government has refused to fund its share offifty per cent, says Narayanasamy

After the Puducherry government refused to provide 50 per cent of its share towards two bridge projects in the union territory, the Central government has taken it upon itself to fund the projects fully and complete them as early as possible, said Union Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy.The Arasalar bridge project in Karaikal has a total cost of Rs. 74 crore, of which the Puducherry government was supposed to give 50 per cent. Since, the government has not made any move to fund the project, the Ministry of Railway has agreed to bear the full cost, he told reporters on Sunday.The Arumparthapuram bridge project will receive Rs. 24 crore from the National Highways and 7.5 crore from the Railway Ministry.Work on the Karaikal Peralam broad gauge line has also started, he said. On the new train from Puducherry to Kanyakumari, Mr. Narayanasamy said that they had received several applications asking the train timings be changed and promised that the timings would be modified after consideration by the railway officials.From next month, Puducherry - Tirupati Superfast Express would also be operated. In the next phase, Puducherry would be connected to Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

Karaikal would be connected with Bangalore and Mumbai for which new trains would be launched in the next few months, he said.

In the past four years, Puducherry has been connected to New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Mangalore, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar and Kochi and Karaikal has been connected to Tiruchi, Kochi, Thanjavur and Nagore.

New Delhi : Starting Monday, don’t just carry your Metro card or wallet for buying a token, but also keep your suggestions ready, as you might be asked for feedback.Commuters’ expectations on various aspects of Delhi Metro operations will be taken into account during customer satisfaction week, beginning Monday. It will be observed from July 15 to 21.“During the week, activities like customer satisfaction survey, smart-card promotion drive and reverse journey drive will be undertaken by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) staff under the supervision of station managers,” said a DMRC spokesperson. “Also, passengers will be informed about the use of lifts and escalators, forming queues at token counters and during boarding and alighting from trains, and online recharge facilities,” he added.The spokesperson said the customer satisfaction survey will be conducted at 22 Metro stations with  the highest footfalls. These include Rajiv Chowk, Chandni Chowk, Kashmere Gate, New Delhi, Central Secretariat, Inderlok, Karol Bagh, Vaishali, HUDA City Centre and Dilshad Garden.

“The survey will include seven aspects pertaining to Delhi Metro services, such as availability, accessibility, information availability, quality of service, customer care, safety and security,” he added.

“Keeping a quality approach to public transport operations and focusing on interest of passengers’ requirement, the DMRC has implemented many new initiatives that will contribute to promote customer satisfaction,” said the spokesperson.

Some of them include reserving more seats for elderly and disabled commuters, raising awareness about them by conducting special drives on Saturdays and Sundays, and imparting sign-language training to station staff to facilitate hearing-impaired passengers, he added.

The Delhi Metro covers 190 km, including the Airport Line, spanning over 145 stations and carries about 23 lakh commuters on weekdays, and is expected to carry around 40 lakh passengers by the end of 2016.

Union Minister of State for Railways Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy will flag off the inaugural Puducherry–Kanyakumari special at 5 p.m. on Monday at Puducherry railway station.Among those expected to be present are V. Narayanasamy, Union Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office, and N. Rangasamy, Chief Minister of Puducherry.Train No 06861 Puducherry–Kanyakumari Special will leave Puducherry at 5 p.m. on Monday and arrive at Kanyakumari at 8.40 a.m. the next day.Train No 06862 Kanyakumari–Puducherry Special will leave Kanyakumari at 1.35 p.m. on Tuesday and reach Puducherry at 5.25 a.m. on Wednesday.

WEEKLY TRAIN

Regular service of Train No.16861 Puducherry – Kanyakumari (weekly) express will commence on July 18 (Thursday) and that of Train No16862 Kanyakumari (weekly) express from Friday.Train No16861 will leave Puducherry at 11.30 a.m. on Thursdays and arrive at Kanyakumari at 3.15 a.m. o n Fridays. Train No16862 will leave Kanyakumari at 1.35 p.m. on Fridays and arrive at Puducherry at 5.25 a.m. on Saturdays.The trains will stop at Villupuram, Tiruppadirippuliyur, Cuddalore Port, Chidambaram, Sirkazhi, Mayiladuturai, Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, Tiruchchirappalli, Pudukkottai, Karaikkudi, Devakottai Road, Sivaganga, Manamadurai, Aruppukkottai, Virudunagar, Sattur, Kovilpatti, Tirunelveli, Valliyur, and Nagercoil.

Advance reservation for the special trains as well as regular service commenced on Saturday.

दिल्ली से गुवाहटी जाने वाली नार्थ ईस्ट ट्रेन का इंजन रविवार दोपहर सिराथू रेलवे स्टेशन के पास खराब हो गया, जिससे कई ट्रेनें प्रभावित हुई। करीब दो घंटे बाद दूसरा इंजन पहुंचा, तब जाकर ट्रेन आगे रवाना हुई। ट्रेन के घंटों खड़ी रहने व भारी उमस से यात्री बेहाल रहे।नार्थ ईस्ट एक्सप्रेस रविवार दोपहर करीब 2.30 बजे सिराथू रेलवे स्टेशन के पास पहुंची ही थी कि अचानक इंजन फेल हो गया। चालकों ने इसकी जानकारी अधिकारियों को दी। खबर पाते ही दूसरा इंजन सिराथू के लिए रवाना किया गया। शाम करीब 4.30 बजे दूसरा इंजन सिराथू पहुंचा, तब जाकर करीब पांच बजे ट्रेन इलाहाबाद रवाना हुई। नार्थ ईस्ट का इंजन खराब होने से कालका, मूरी और हिमाचल एक्सप्रेस भी जहां-तहां खड़ी हो गई, जिस कारण उक्त ट्रेनें भी एक से डेढ़ घंटे तक विलंबित रही। विंध्याचल से लखनऊ जाने वाली इंटरसिटी ट्रेन रविवार को विलंबित हुई तो यात्रियों ने हंगामा शुरू कर दिया। रेलवे प्रशासन पर ट्रेन के बारे में सही सूचना न देने का आरोप लगाया। सूचना पाकर मौके पर पहुंची जीआरपी ने आक्रोशित यात्रियों को समझा-बुझाकर शांत कराया।

विंध्याचल से लखनऊ जाने वाले इंटरसिटी ट्रेन दोपहर करीब 2.30 बजे जंक्शन पर आती है और करीब 3.30 बजे लखनऊ रवाना होती है। किंतु, रविवार शाम पांच बजे तक ट्रेन का अता-पता ही नहीं था। इससे रायबरेली, लखनऊ जाने वाले यात्री परेशान हो गए और हंगामा शुरू कर दिया। आरोप लगाया कि रेलवे प्रशासन द्वारा भी इंटरसिटी ट्रेन के बारे में सही जानकारी नहीं दी जा रही है कि कब आएगी। शाम करीब 5.30 बजे ट्रेन जंक्शन पर पहुंची और जब 6.15 बजे तक रवाना नहीं हुई, तब भी यात्रियों ने हंगामा किया। सूचना पाकर मौके पर पहुंची जीआरपी ने यात्रियों को शांत कराया।