ProUI

PUNE: The Pune Railway Division will start the construction work of setting up a new foot over bridge (FoB) at Pune railway station after the monsoon. The Pune Railway Divisional Manager (DRM), Vishal Agarwal, informed the members of the District Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) about the new project at a meeting on Tuesday. The Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Alok Badkul, and the additional DRM A B Medankar, were also present. This new FoB will come up on the Alankar cinema side of the station and shall connect platform 1 with 2 and 3. This FoB shall ease the pressure on the other foot over bridge used by commuters. According to Agarwal, the Pune division had earned Rs 774 crore during the last fiscal, including Rs 534.56 crore from sale of passenger tickets. During the last fiscal, the division had undertaken the expansion of platform number 6 at Pune station and constructed a foot over bridge at Chinchwad station. "We have also opened three new counters at the Pune railway station computerised reservation centre that will function even on Sundays till 10 pm,” Agarwal said. “During the summer, we plied 194 special trains to different destinations. We attached about 314 extra coaches to different trains originating from Pune," he added. EASE PRESSURE - This new FoB will come up on the Alankar cinema side of the station and shall connect platform 1 with 2 and 3. - This FoB shall ease the pressure on the other foot over bridge used by commuters at the Pune railway station

The Kochi Corporation’s proposal for a corridor connecting the South railway station and North Town Station in the city is likely to see the light of day, with the Mayor proposing to submit the project details to the state government soon.

 Mayor Tony Chammany said that the proposal  could be incorporated in the metro rail preparatory works. The much-discussed plan has been included in this year’s Corporation budget. “If we are able to construct a road connecting the North station and the South railway station via the road adjacent to the Ambedkar stadium, it will help decongest the city traffic. Vehicles can be diverted through the North railway station towards the South railway station premises and enter MG Road. We are placing the project proposal with an estimate of Rs 8 crore before the government,” the Mayor said.

The Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry( KCCI) chairman K N Marzook, said that land acquisition may be a hurdle for the implementation of the project. However, if it becomes a reality, it will be a major boon for Kochiites. “There is already an existing road connecting both the North and South Railway stations. The GCDA has agreed to give the land for the project. Widening of the road would require land acquisition,” Marzook said.

However, GCDA Chairman N Venugopal slammed the project, saying that it was not practical. “A large number of families will have to be evicted in the area. The Corporation is yet to rehabilitate the Moolampally Canal evictees. How do they plan to accommodate so many families if the project is to be made a reality,” Venugopal said.

JAMSHEDPUR: South Eastern Railway (SER) authorities are likely to probe the alleged Illegal allotment of abandoned railway quarters in the Tatanagar railway colony to unauthorized people for money. The illegal practice has been going on for the past several years and will now be probed to identify the officials responsible.

The SER authorities recently ordered demolition of more than 250 abandoned quarters. But subsequent to the demolition order, the authorities are now planning to conduct a departmental probe into the matter to identity the culprits. "A few more abandoned quarters will be demolished and a departmental probe will be conducted to identify and expose the officials in the Tatanagar and the Chakradharpur divisions," said a senior railway official at SER's Garden Reach headquarters. According to sources, most of the 3,000 quarters in the Baghbera, Burmamines, Loco Colony, Carriage Colony areas near the Tatanagarstation have been allotted to unauthorized people for huge money. "The issue is not just about illegal allotment, but a large part of 100 acre is illegally leased out to the people for building construction purpose in exchange of money and this cannot be possible without the involvement of a section of the senior officials at the divisional level," said a senior railway official.

SER general manager A K Verma, who launched a drive to clear the abandoned quarters, said: his immediate task was to clear all the abandoned quarters.

"As soon as I was informed about the matter, I ordered the demolition of nearly 250 abandoned quarters and I will ensure that all such quarters are demolished." Though he did not categorically respond to a query on his plans to identify the culprits, authorities at Garden Reach are now suggesting that a departmental probe will soon be announced into the matter.

Overcoming several hurdles, Kerala Monorail Corporation Ltd (KMCL) on Wednesday signed the general consultancy agreement with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for the ambitious Rs.5,581-crore elevated mass rapid transit system in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.The agreement was signed by S.D. Sharma, Director, Business Development, DMRC, and P.C. Harikesh, Managing Director, KMCL, in the presence of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, his Cabinet colleagues including Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor, Speaker G. Karthikeyan, legislators, Principal Adviser of the DMRC E. Sreedharan, and top officials at the Assembly complex here.The Chief Minister said the monorail for the two cities were dream projects of his government like that of Kochi Metro Rail and sought the cooperation of all for time-bound completion of the projects. He congratulated Mr. Kunju and Mr. Sreedharan for enabling the project to take off. Mr. Sreedharan said it was a red-letter day for the DMRC and promised that the latest and the best of frontline technology would be introduced in the two cities.A single agreement was signed with the DMRC for the projects, as the general consultant and executing agency are the same. The DMRC will get 3.25 per cent of the Rs.5,581 crore as consultancy fee and the mode of payment will be on quarterly basis.

Of the Rs.5,581 crore, Rs.3,590 crore is expected to be incurred for the Thiruvananthapuram project and Rs.1,991 crore for Kozhikode. He said the pre-qualification tenders for the projects would be floated soon.

The agreement will make the DMRC responsible for the design, preparation of bid document, short-listing and selecting contractors, supervision, and quality certification of the 22.2-km monorail in Thiruvananthapuram and the 14.2-km in Kozhikode.

The capital monorail has been mooted from Technocity to Karamana and the Kozhikode monorail from the government medical college hostel area to Meenchantha.

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has inked MoUs with the IIT-Madras, the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and the Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) to improve coach safety and passenger comfort.The pact with the IIT-M will cover aspects of safety, emergency windows, fire retardant material, bio-degradable and recyclable material, skin tensioning, energy efficiency in use of solar energy and computer modelling for air flow in AC coaches, a press note from ICF said.

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro is rethinking its operational preparedness for launching an evacuation procedure faster after Tuesday's incident in which 1,791 passengers were stuck in a train inside a tunnel for over one-and-a-half hours. DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal told TOI, "The accounts of passengers are being collated by the inquiry committee. After receiving their feedback, we may look at a preparation strategy to respond better to situations like the one encountered on Tuesday." The incident in which passengers panicked and got down from the train and walked on the tracks even as Delhi Metro was attempting to send a rescue train has sent alarm bells ringing. This could have been disastrous, admit Metro officials. Though Metro claims that it did communicate with the passengers about the rescue operation, many passengers who were stuck in the tunnel claimed there were no announcements. The inquiry committee, set up by DMRC chief Mangu Singh, will collate data from different departments—including rolling stock, operations, signalling and electrical—to establish the reason behind the incident. Preliminary reports suggest that the train stopped because of a communication breakdown between coaches caused by a software failure. The rescue operation, which had come in for a lot of flak from the passengers, will also be reviewed. The passengers had also complained about the long delay by Metro in taking action to rectify the problem on Tuesday. Dayal admitted the first 15 minutes after a train stops is devoted to identifying the problem locally with the help of the train operator. The operator communicates with the operational control centre (OCC). Only the train operator is available at the spot. The operator is expected to make announcements about the reason for the malfunction.

Overcoming several hurdles, Kerala Monorail Corporation Ltd (KMCL) on Wednesday signed the general consultancy agreement with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for the ambitious Rs.5,581-crore elevated mass rapid transit system in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.The agreement was signed by S.D. Sharma, Director, Business Development, DMRC, and P.C. Harikesh, Managing Director, KMCL, in the presence of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, his Cabinet colleagues including Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor, Speaker G. Karthikeyan, legislators, Principal Adviser of the DMRC E. Sreedharan, and top officials at the Assembly complex here.The Chief Minister said the monorail for the two cities were dream projects of his government like that of Kochi Metro Rail and sought the cooperation of all for time-bound completion of the projects. He congratulated Mr. Kunju and Mr. Sreedharan for enabling the project to take off. Mr. Sreedharan said it was a red-letter day for the DMRC and promised that the latest and the best of frontline technology would be introduced in the two cities.A single agreement was signed with the DMRC for the projects, as the general consultant and executing agency are the same. The DMRC will get 3.25 per cent of the Rs.5,581 crore as consultancy fee and the mode of payment will be on quarterly basis.

Of the Rs.5,581 crore, Rs.3,590 crore is expected to be incurred for the Thiruvananthapuram project and Rs.1,991 crore for Kozhikode. He said the pre-qualification tenders for the projects would be floated soon.

The agreement will make the DMRC responsible for the design, preparation of bid document, short-listing and selecting contractors, supervision, and quality certification of the 22.2-km monorail in Thiruvananthapuram and the 14.2-km in Kozhikode.

The capital monorail has been mooted from Technocity to Karamana and the Kozhikode monorail from the government medical college hostel area to Meenchantha.

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has inked MoUs with the IIT-Madras, the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and the Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) to improve coach safety and passenger comfort.The pact with the IIT-M will cover aspects of safety, emergency windows, fire retardant material, bio-degradable and recyclable material, skin tensioning, energy efficiency in use of solar energy and computer modelling for air flow in AC coaches, a press note from ICF said.

CHENNAI: Southern Railway has installed more CCTV cameras at Mambalam and Beach railway stations, as part of expanding Integrated Security System (ISS) to more number of stations in the city. Divisional security commissioner SR Gandhi will inaugurate the CCTV network today evening.

Each stations have 16 CCTV cameras. The feed will be monitored round the clock by railway protection force (RPF) personnel. "The cameras have been fitted in platforms, railway reservation counters and foot overbridges. They will be monitored by a sub-inspector and constable and we are being trained on its operations," said the Mambalam RPF sub-inspector Maharajan.

Closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) have been installed in all major suburban railway stations on Tambaram to Beach (Parrys) route.

This move comes after repeated complaints of pick-pocketing, chain snatching and children going missing. Recently an ISS was inaugurated at Tambaram station. ISS was inaugurated at Tambaram station recently. Shar

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro is rethinking its operational preparedness for launching an evacuation procedure faster after Tuesday's incident in which 1,791 passengers were stuck in a train inside a tunnel for over one-and-a-half hours. DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal told TOI, "The accounts of passengers are being collated by the inquiry committee. After receiving their feedback, we may look at a preparation strategy to respond better to situations like the one encountered on Tuesday." The incident in which passengers panicked and got down from the train and walked on the tracks even as Delhi Metro was attempting to send a rescue train has sent alarm bells ringing. This could have been disastrous, admit Metro officials. Though Metro claims that it did communicate with the passengers about the rescue operation, many passengers who were stuck in the tunnel claimed there were no announcements. The inquiry committee, set up by DMRC chief Mangu Singh, will collate data from different departments—including rolling stock, operations, signalling and electrical—to establish the reason behind the incident. Preliminary reports suggest that the train stopped because of a communication breakdown between coaches caused by a software failure. The rescue operation, which had come in for a lot of flak from the passengers, will also be reviewed. The passengers had also complained about the long delay by Metro in taking action to rectify the problem on Tuesday. Dayal admitted the first 15 minutes after a train stops is devoted to identifying the problem locally with the help of the train operator. The operator communicates with the operational control centre (OCC). Only the train operator is available at the spot. The operator is expected to make announcements about the reason for the malfunction.