ProUI

The Royapuram Railway Station, once "Madras Central", is today a shadow of its glorious past. With the Southern Railways planning to raze this heritage site to make way for developmental projects on the 72-acre station premises, we take a look at how it has survived over the past 157 years. Compiled by: Susanna Myrtle Lazarus

Fails to re-route diverted trains through Visakhapatnam

More than six months after Union Minister of State for Railways Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy’s announcement of re-routing of diverted trains through Visakhapatnam, the Railways seem to be averse to the decision. No provision has been made in the new Railway Time Table, to be issued on July 1, on re-routing of the diverted trains through Visakhapatnam. Mr. Suryaprakash Reddy had declared at a public function in the city in December last year that the trains being diverted via Duvvada would be re-routed through Visakhapatnam. He also agreed to provide a... halt to Garib Rath at Duvvada and said he was with the people of the region in their struggle for a separate railway zone with Visakhapatnam as headquarters to end the injustice to Waltair Division.“This indicates that the Railway Minister’s announcement has been bypassed by the Railway Board. It shows the ‘pull’ that the powers that be in Odisha have at the Board level and also the ‘commitment’ of our MPs in pursuing the demands of the people at the Board-level,” said Praja Spandana president C.S. Rao.“Waltair Division with an annual revenue of over Rs.5,000 crore earns more than the revenue of the other two Divisions of ECoR – Khurda and Sambalpur – put together. The ‘breadwinner’ of the zone is neglected while the other two Divisions, which are in Odisha, gets sops like development of over 550 km new tracks, new projects, new trains, increased reservation quotas and even new bogies,” a former railway employee said. “ECoR has been formed for the development of Odisha but not Andhra. It can be called ‘Odisha zone’ but not ‘ECoR Zone’. A new zone with Visakhapatnam as headquarters can be created and named as South East Coast Railway Zone. The new zone can be formed with Vijayawada, Guntur and Waltair Divisions,” feels R. Rama Rao, advisor to the Uttarandhra Rakshana Vedika (URV).

“A new Division can also be formed at Rajahmundry and there would be no objections as all these places are located in AP. Of late, the Zones have been created State-wise and some of the States have two zones and AP also deserves two zones,” he said.

It’s high time the Chief Minister took up the issue with the Prime Minister and the Railway Minister and ends the decade-old problem once and for all.

Banihal (Jammu & Kashmir): When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flags off a train to Qazigund on Tuesday from Banihal in Jammu that will travel through the 11km Pir Panjal tunnel, the Kashmir valley will be just a step away from being fully linked to India’s extensive railway network.
For Ijaz Bhat, who has laboured with at least 1,300 workers and 150 engineers to build the country’s longest railway tunnel, it will be a moment of pride. “For me this is the best,” Bhat says, though he knows there’s a longer rail tunnel in China.
Built at a cost of Rs.1,300 crore, the T-80 tunnel will provide a second, all-weather link to the Kashmir Valley, which often becomes inaccessible in winter when the road through the 60-year-old Jawahar tunnel is blocked because of snow.
For now, there will be train services from Banihal to Qazigund in Kashmir valley and onward to Srinagar and Baramulla. The rail link from Banihal to Udhampur in Jammu, expected to be completed by 2017, will then provide a seamless connection to the rest of the country.
Saif-ud-din Malik, 65, who has never seen a train before, is barely able contain his excitement. “I have no words to express how much the people will benefit,” Malik said. “We had to walk for miles together. In winters, it got very difficult for us. We used to be stranded for 10-15 days when it snowed. It used to get very tough if someone was sick. Now in 10 minutes you can take the patient to a doctor in Kashmir.”
The improved connectivity is not only strategically important for India but will also help in integrating the people there with the rest of the country, according to Afsir Karim, a retired army general.
“Roads are few in Kashmir and these get blocked due to floods or snowfall. An all-weather rail link will help movement of people, essential goods and goods for trade, besides the movement of people,” Karim said. “The people of Kashmir have been feeling deprived for years. The more facilities you provide, the more it will help link them to the rest of India. If terrorists target this (rail network), it is likely to turn the Kashmiri people against them, as it means cutting off facilities. The network will work in its own way to bring peace to the valley and the region.”
Gulab Hussain Bhat, a government employee, says the train service from Banihal will mean saving on commuting to Srinagar. “My children travel from here to Srinagar to study engineering,” Bhat said. “They spend Rs.100-150 a day, but now they will be able to travel very cheap. So Rs.4,000-5,000 of our expenditure towards conveyance will be saved.”
The benefit extends to social aspects as well. “Our girls, who go to study in Srinagar, will come back home the same day,” Bhat said. “Earlier there was a lot of problem. A lot of girls discontinued their studies because families would not allow for stay overnight or stay away from home. So this will do a lot of good.”
The Pir Panjal tunnel is a part of the 345 km Jammu, Udhampur, Katra, Qazigund, Baramulla railway line. Of this, the 119km section between Baramulla and Qazigund in Kashmir was commissioned in 2009. The 53km Jammu to Udhampur section was opened to the public in 2005. The section that would connect Udhampur and Qazigund is expected to be completed by 2017.
For the railways, safety is a top priority. “Given the sensitivity of the region, adequate safety provisions have been made,” said Neeraj Sharma, chief public relations officer at Northern Railways. “Both the stations, track and tunnel as well as the train will be manned by security personnel.”

AHMEDABAD: After successfully designing the blue colour scheme coaches for Mumbai local trains, National Institute of Design (NID) is set to redesign mainstream Indian Railway coaches as well. NID has signed an MoU with the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Chennai to redesign sleeper, II AC and AC chair car coaches. From interior panels to lighting to toilets, all the elements will be redesigned to cater to the changing needs of passengers with special focus on safety. "With changing times, passenger requirements have changed. There are a whole lot of things that people want in the journey. We want to cater to their needs", says S Srinivas, chief design engineer, ICF. "Our aim is to design coaches which are a mix of aesthetics, functionality and technology. We have done it in Mumbai before", said NID director Pradyumna Vyas. The project will also look into the passenger amenities for disabled people. The project will include colour schemes, interior and exterior signages.

"In a country like ours, we need rugged structures, the designs will be prepared keeping in mind the longevity factor", says Vyas. "We are looking for design changes which are easy to manufacture, easy to maintain and can survive the strain because we have large number of long-distance trains", adds Srinivas.

ICF is the premier production unit of Indian railways at Chennai manufacturing 1,600 railway passenger coaches every year.

AHMEDABAD: After successfully designing the blue colour scheme coaches for Mumbai local trains, National Institute of Design (NID) is set to redesign mainstream Indian Railway coaches as well. NID has signed an MoU with the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Chennai to redesign sleeper, II AC and AC chair car coaches. From interior panels to lighting to toilets, all the elements will be redesigned to cater to the changing needs of passengers with special focus on safety. "With changing times, passenger requirements have changed. There are a whole lot of things that people want in the journey. We want to cater to their needs", says S Srinivas, chief design engineer, ICF. "Our aim is to design coaches which are a mix of aesthetics, functionality and technology. We have done it in Mumbai before", said NID director Pradyumna Vyas. The project will also look into the passenger amenities for disabled people. The project will include colour schemes, interior and exterior signages.

"In a country like ours, we need rugged structures, the designs will be prepared keeping in mind the longevity factor", says Vyas. "We are looking for design changes which are easy to manufacture, easy to maintain and can survive the strain because we have large number of long-distance trains", adds Srinivas.

ICF is the premier production unit of Indian railways at Chennai manufacturing 1,600 railway passenger coaches every year.

MANGALORE: Mangalore Railway Development Committee has appealed to the new Union minister for railways MallikarjunKharge to establish a separate Railway Division, headquartered at Mangalore, without any delay as it is already hampered the progress of coastal Karnataka.

A delegation of the committee has met Kharge at his residence in the presence of Oscar fernandes, Union Minister for Surface Transport in Delhi. The delegation led by committee convenor PV Mohan, Moideen Bava, Mangalore North MLA and KCCI member Praveen Bangara discussed various issues concerning the railway development in Coastal Karnataka.

"We have urged the railway minister to give due consideration while implementing Railway projects in Karnataka. Coastal Karnataka has been neglected and meted with stepmother treatment by former railway ministers. Establishment of Railway Division at Mangalore is a long pending issue. Mangalore Railway is a hundred-year-old terminus and has all the eligibility for the creation of a Division. The people of this region are agitating for this cause for a decade. Apart from this Mangalore is still deprived of having trains to the internal part of Karnataka like Hubli, Gulbarga, and Shimogh," Mohan said.

At present Mangalore is not having a direct train to Bangalore, Mohan said. "We have urged the minister to convert the weekly train to Bangalore, which was announced (not started), in the Railway budget 2013 into Daily Train. Speedy completion of Mangalore-Bangalore via Shravanbelgola railway line, survey for doubling of Mumbai- Mangalore line and Bangalore-Mangalore line, Survey for new railway line to Shimogh via Kundapur are the other demands of the committee," Mohan said.

कासगंज से मथुरा जाने वाली ट्रेन के निरस्त होने की जानकारी यात्रियों को नहीं होनेसे भारी परेशानी उठानी पड़ी। लोग घंटों रेलवे स्टेशन पर खड़े होकर ट्रेन का इंतजार करते रहे।
उत्तराखण्ड में आई आपदा में फंसे लोगों को सहायता के लिए पूर्वोत्तर रेलवे ने कई ट्रेनों का संचालन हरिद्वार व देहरादून के लिए किया है। इसके लिए कई स्थानों से संचालित होने वाली ट्रेनों को निरस्त कर दिया गया है। शनिवार को भी कासगंज से मथुरा जाने वाली पैसेंजर ट्रेन 55535 को भी अनिश्चितकाल के लिए रद्द कर दिया गया। अब इस ट्रेन का संचालन हरिद्वार देहरादून के लिए किया जा रहा है। इधर ट्रेन रद्द होने की जानकारी यात्रियों को नहीं होने पर वे घंटों तक ट्रेन का इंतजार रेलवे स्टेशन करते रहे। यात्रियों का आरोप है कि उन्हें ट्रेन रद्द होने की कोई जानकारी नहीं दी गई। जानकारी के नाम पर सिर्फ कागज पर नोटिस लिखकर चिपका दिया गया, जिस पर हर किसी का ध्यान जाने से रहा। अनपढ़ तो वह नोटिस भी नहीं पढ़ सकते हैं।
रविवार की दोपहर में सैकड़ों यात्री हाथरस सिटी रेलवे स्टेशन पर मथुरा आदि स्थानों पर जाने के लिए ट्रेन के इंतजार में खड़े रहे। समय पर ट्रेन नहीं आने के कुछ देर बाद जानकारी की तब जाकर उन्हें बताया गया कि ट्रेन रद्द हो गई है। इस पर यात्रियों ने नाराजगी जाहिर करते हुए बसों आदि से सफर किया।

Banihal (Jammu & Kashmir): When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flags off a train to Qazigund on Tuesday from Banihal in Jammu that will travel through the 11km Pir Panjal tunnel, the Kashmir valley will be just a step away from being fully linked to India’s extensive railway network.
For Ijaz Bhat, who has laboured with at least 1,300 workers and 150 engineers to build the country’s longest railway tunnel, it will be a moment of pride. “For me this is the best,” Bhat says, though he knows there’s a longer rail tunnel in China.
Built at a cost of Rs.1,300 crore, the T-80 tunnel will provide a second, all-weather link to the Kashmir Valley, which often becomes inaccessible in winter when the road through the 60-year-old Jawahar tunnel is blocked because of snow.
For now, there will be train services from Banihal to Qazigund in Kashmir valley and onward to Srinagar and Baramulla. The rail link from Banihal to Udhampur in Jammu, expected to be completed by 2017, will then provide a seamless connection to the rest of the country.
Saif-ud-din Malik, 65, who has never seen a train before, is barely able contain his excitement. “I have no words to express how much the people will benefit,” Malik said. “We had to walk for miles together. In winters, it got very difficult for us. We used to be stranded for 10-15 days when it snowed. It used to get very tough if someone was sick. Now in 10 minutes you can take the patient to a doctor in Kashmir.”
The improved connectivity is not only strategically important for India but will also help in integrating the people there with the rest of the country, according to Afsir Karim, a retired army general.
“Roads are few in Kashmir and these get blocked due to floods or snowfall. An all-weather rail link will help movement of people, essential goods and goods for trade, besides the movement of people,” Karim said. “The people of Kashmir have been feeling deprived for years. The more facilities you provide, the more it will help link them to the rest of India. If terrorists target this (rail network), it is likely to turn the Kashmiri people against them, as it means cutting off facilities. The network will work in its own way to bring peace to the valley and the region.”
Gulab Hussain Bhat, a government employee, says the train service from Banihal will mean saving on commuting to Srinagar. “My children travel from here to Srinagar to study engineering,” Bhat said. “They spend Rs.100-150 a day, but now they will be able to travel very cheap. So Rs.4,000-5,000 of our expenditure towards conveyance will be saved.”
The benefit extends to social aspects as well. “Our girls, who go to study in Srinagar, will come back home the same day,” Bhat said. “Earlier there was a lot of problem. A lot of girls discontinued their studies because families would not allow for stay overnight or stay away from home. So this will do a lot of good.”
The Pir Panjal tunnel is a part of the 345 km Jammu, Udhampur, Katra, Qazigund, Baramulla railway line. Of this, the 119km section between Baramulla and Qazigund in Kashmir was commissioned in 2009. The 53km Jammu to Udhampur section was opened to the public in 2005. The section that would connect Udhampur and Qazigund is expected to be completed by 2017.
For the railways, safety is a top priority. “Given the sensitivity of the region, adequate safety provisions have been made,” said Neeraj Sharma, chief public relations officer at Northern Railways. “Both the stations, track and tunnel as well as the train will be manned by security personnel.”

BANIHAL: Undeterred by challenges it faced while executing two big-ticket infra projects here, Hindustan Construction CompanyBSE 8.34 % will bid for such upcoming works in this region like the 13-km Arpinchala-Dharam underground railway project.The Mumbai-based firm has recently executed the 11-km long Pir Panjal railway tunnel, the third longest in the world, and also the Uri-II hydro power project in Jammu and Kashmir.The company is set to bid for the 13-km long Arpinchala- Dharam project as well, the official said."The Banihal-Qazigund railway tunnel, the longest in the country, was awarded to us in 2005. The track is now ready for the Railways. The amount of challenges we had to face was mind-boggling."However, that does not deter us from bidding for more projects and we are, in fact, working on the same route that will connect between Dharam-Sumbar. We will bid for more projects on the same track in the coming days," said tunnel's project manager Sharanappa Yalal.Sources said that government has already come out with a tender inviting developers to bid for the Arpinchala to Dharam project and HCC is making preparations to bid for it.HCC had bagged the Pir Panjal tunnel project from IRCON, a construction subsidiary of the Railways, in 2005. Though the initial cost of the project was Rs 400 crore, it went up to Rs 800 crore as the scope of the project widened.The tunnel, which connects the Bichelri valley of Banhial in Jammu with Qazigund in Kashmir, will reduce the distance between the two places to 18 km from 35 km by road."It will also help the economy of the two places. The tunnel will facilitate transportation during winter. During the most part of the year, the inclement weather forces closure of the road tunnel and the highway," Yalal said."However, it was not easy to execute the project. Initially, we had brought two road headers from Germany for boring the tunnel. But, as we started working, we found the geologically young and unstable mountain range is not fit for traditional way of tunneling. We then brought the New Austrian Tunneling method for the first time in India," he said.The official said the Uri-II 240 MW hydro power project is also ready for commissioning though it has been taken out of the PM's inauguration agenda during his two-day proposed visit here as NHPC said it had developed some technical snag."We have done the civil construction part of the project and the project hand over is likely to happen soon. It is up to NHPC to decide on the date of commissioning of the project," he said.NHPC is building the Rs 1,724 crore project at Baramulla on the river of Jhelum. Talking about the Pir Panjal project, Yayal said: "The company faced weather problems as well. During November to June period of the year, the area remains almost inaccessible due to snow, which envelopes the arterial road causing huge problems for transporting required materials. Getting manpower, even those who are unskilled, was difficult." The tunnel is a part of the 345-km long Jammu Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Railway Link, aimed at connecting Jammu to Baramulla on the northwestern part of the valley. Trains now ply from Baramulla to Quazigund and Jammu to Udhampur on this stretch. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to inaugurate the tunnel, thereby connecting Qazigund to Banihal. Around 90-km long stretch, between Udhampur to Banihal is to be completed to get the stretch connected by the Railways. Meanwhile, sources said Railways is likely to tie up with state transport authority to help passengers reach out to the unlinked passage by bus at no extra cost. Passengers would be able to book tickets up to Baramulla. An announcement in this regard is likely during the tunnel's inauguration by the Prime Minister. HCC has executed a majority of India's landmark infrastructure projects. Its landmark works include the Bandra Worli Sea Link, Mumbai - India's first and longest open sea cable-stayed bridge; the Kolkata Metro, Farakka Barrage and India's largest nuclear power plant at Kudankulam - Tamil Nadu.

One special train with 18 coaches carrying pilgrims from Uttarakhand left Delhi (Hazrat Nizamuddin) for Secunderabad on Friday.As a majority of the passengers travelling by this special train are bound towards Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, it has been decided to divert the train from Kazipet and run it till Visakhapatnam instead of Secunderabad.For those bound for Ongole, Kavali and Nellore, two second class coaches have been kept ready at Vijayawada. For those bound for Secunderabad/Hyderabad, two second class extra coaches will transport them from Kazipet to Secunderabad.Senior railway officers from Secunderabad have been deputed to camp at Kazipet to monitor the transshipment of passengers. Requisite additional staff and porters have also been pressed into service.

EXTRA COACHES: With a view to clearing the stranded Chardham pilgrims, extra coaches are attached to the following three trains: One general second class coach by 12628 New Delhi-Bangalore Karnataka Express departing New Delhi on Saturday; two general second class coaches by 12722 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Hyderabad Dakshin Express departing Hazrat Nizamuddin on Saturday; and one general second class coach by 12708 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Tirupati AP Sampark Kranti Express departing Hazrat Nizamuddin on Sunday.

SURPRISE CHECK: Officials of the Secunderabad division of SCR conducted a special surprise check at Chintalapalli station in the Kazipet-Mahbubabad section. Many express and passenger trains were stopped at this station specially for ticket checking purpose and all the coaches of the trains were checked at a time without leaving any scope for the errant to escape.