ProUI

Banihal:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday inaugurated a rail line to connect the mountain-locked Kashmir Valley with the rest of the state and in future link the region with the country.The 17.7-km rail link connects south Kashmir’s Qazigund town with Banihal town of Jammu region. The train chugs through an 11-km tunnel that cuts through the mighty Pir Panjal range and is the country’s longest and Asia’s second longest.The new section, constructed at a cost of about Rs 1,700 crore, offers an all-weather surface link to the Kashmir region and reduces travel time to around 35 minutes for the return trip. Kashmir has remained connected with the rest of the country through a 300-km mountainous highway that would shut down in rain and snow.Flanked by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and state Congress president Saifuddin Soz, the Prime Minister flagged off the first train. He and the UPA chairperson were the first passengers on the train along with a group of Kashmiri schoolgirls.

Speaking on the occasion, the PM termed the Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla line as a “national dream”. “Today, we dedicate an incredible engineering marvel to the nation and the country. It has been carved out of the majestic Himalayas by technical experts and workers of the Railways,” he said. “As this project gathers pace, we will connect this line with other networks of India. Work on the Katra-Udhampur section will be completed in a few months.

After that, the only work left is on the section connecting Udhampur with Banihal, which is the most challenging,” he said.

Once Udhampur is connected with Banihal, which is expected to happen in 2017, it will link the Kashmir train with other networks of the country.

The 11-km tunnel on the Qazigund-Banihal section is fitted with CCTV cameras (every 62.5 metres), a linear fire detection system, a firefighting system (hydrants every 125 metres), emergency phones with communication to the control room (every 250 metres) and fire extinguishers and fire alarms every 250 metres.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah termed the inauguration of the Banihal-Qazigund section as a “historic event”, saying the link provided physical connectivity between Kashmir and the country. “It has not only linked the areas and the regions, but hearts as well. I have taken many train journeys, but I will always remember this ride with the children,” he added.

Banihal-Qazigund rail connectivity

The 17.7-km rail link connects south Kashmir’s Qazigund town with Banihal town of Jammu region
It offers an all-weather surface link to the Kashmir region and cuts distance and travel time
Till now, Kashmir was connected to the rest of the country through a 300-km mountainous highway that would shut down in rain and snow
The train chugs through an 11-km tunnel cut through the Pir Panjal range, which is the country’s longest and Asia’s second longest tunnel
114-yr-old dream becomes reality

1898: Maharaja Pratap Singh first explores the possibility to connect Jammu to the Valley via rail
1905: Maharaja Pratap Singh approves narrow-gauge line between Jammu and Srinagar via Reasi through the Mughal Road, but it did not take off
1947: Jammu disconnected from rail system as old Jammu-Sialkot Junction rail link shelved
1971: Jammu reconnected through broad-gauge line with Pathankot
1983: Jammu-Udhampur link project starts
2005: Jammu-Udhampur rail link commissioned
2009: 119 km line from Qazigund to Baramulla commissioned
2013: 17.7-km Qazigund-Banihal section inaugurated

Hyderabad: Secunderabad-Tirupati-Padmavati Express has become the first train, running completely with in the SCR circuit, to be retro fitted with Bio-toilets on all its coaches.

The earlier ordinary toilets of this train, which  runs  with 19 Coaches (12 Sleeper Class, one  AC III Tier, one AC II Tier, 3 General Second Class and two Second Class Luggage Cum Brake Van Coaches) have been fitted with Bio-toilet systems from June 26.

With this, Padmavati Express gets the distinction of being the first express train on SCR with environment friendly Bio-toilets in all coaches of a train.

As part of the eco-friendly/ green initiatives of South Central Railway, Bio-toilets are being retro fitted to the existing coaches in a big way. These will be of immense use in improving the cleanliness in the railway premises.

सीनी स्टेशन पर लगाई गई विज्ञान प्रदर्शनी छोटे-बड़े एवं छात्र-छात्राओं के लिये आकर्षण का केंद्र बनी है। हर रोज दर्शकों की भीड़ उमड़ रही है। बुधवार को कुल 6331 दर्शकों ने साइंस एक्सप्रेस का परिभ्रमण किया, जबकि प्रथम दिन मंगलवार को 3891 दर्शक पहुंचे थे। जानकारी हो कि साइंस एक्सप्रेस एक विशेष रूप से डिजाइन की गई 16 एसी कोच ट्रेन में स्थापित एक अभिनव मोबाइल प्रदर्शनी है, जो अक्तुबर 2007 से पूरे भारत में भ्रमण कर रही है। देश में चार सफल चरणों के बाद 2012 से यह ट्रेन साइंस एक्सप्रेस-जैव विविधता स्पेशल के रूप में चल रही है। यह ट्रेन 9अप्रैल 2013 को दिल्ली से चली और वर्तमान चरण में यह ट्रेन 9 अप्रैल से 28 अक्टूबर 2013 तक के अपने सफर के दौरान भारत में 67 स्थलों की यात्रा करेगी। प्रत्येक स्थान पर 3-4 दिनों के लिये रुकेगी और प्रदर्शनी खुली रहेगी। साइंस एक्सप्रेस में प्रदर्शनी का मुख्य उद्देश्य भारत की अद्वितीय जैव-विविधता, जलवायु परिवर्तन और समाज के विभिन्न वर्गो के बीच संबंधित मुद्दों पर विशेष रूप से छात्रों में जागरूकता पैदा करना है। सीनी में यह ट्रेन मंगलवार को पहुंची और जिले के पुलिस अधीक्षक इंद्रजीत माहथा एवं अपर उपायुक्त सीके सिंह ने इसका उद्घाटन किया। सीनी में यह ट्रेन गुरुवार तक रहेगी।

Waving a green flag, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi scripted a red letter day on Wednesday, launching a rail project to connect Kashmir with Jammu and the rest of the country.First, they inaugurated the newly constructed station at Banihal, the last one in Jammu, and then the 11.215-km Pir Panjal tunnel, before boarding the train they themselves flagged off.They travelled through the country’s longest transport tunnel, which links the valley with Jammu and opens up a new horizon of development in the State, ending its isolation from the rest of the country in winter.

They enjoyed the 12-minute ride to Qazigund with 100 students, mostly girls, of the Banihal Higher Secondary School, and made the 17.8-km ride back to Banihal, passing through the tunnel, the second longest in Asia. Those who accompanied them were Governor N.N. Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Dr. Singh and Ms. Gandhi interacted with the students and assured them of a prosperous future.

Hailing the Banihal-Qazigund section, which IRCON International executed at a cost of Rs.1,672 crore, as an engineering marvel, Dr. Singh said its importance was far greater as it would end the isolation of the valley at winter and speed up people-to-people contact across the country, besides boosting tourism. The rail link would make Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of the country’s development, he said, highlighting the scope for more growth in trade in commodities among various regions.

Dr. Singh asked the Railways to complete the Katra-Banihal section at the earliest so that the people and the region could be better linked to the rail network nationwide.

The Katra-Banihal section, comprising the highest bridge across the Chenab river, is considered the toughest portion of the Jammu-Srinagar-Baramulla link. It is expected to be completed by December 2017.

The Chief Minister exuded confidence that the return of UPA III would ensure the completion of the remaining section of Banihal to Katra and the whole rail link project.

Describing the rail project as part of the United Progressive Alliance’s efforts at developing the State, Dr. Singh said 34 of the 67 projects announced in 2004 had so far been executed. He said Rs.7,215 crore had been sanctioned for completing the rest. A sum of Rs.1,000 crore had been allocated for skills development and employment generation for the State’s youth.

Ms. Gandhi said the linking of the Jammu region to the Kashmir Valley was the fulfilment of a dream that seemed impossible. The project was a matter of pride because the Railways had to overcome several challenges. It would usher in a new era of development and boost handicraft and tourism and create jobs for youth and an opportunity for the people living on the edge, especially women, to change their lifestyle.

Roads and highways were also being developed, with priority for rural roads, she said.

Mr. Abdullah said the project would change the lives of the people by boosting trade and tourism. It would not only connect the two regions of the State but also the hearts of the people.

Indian Railways Undertakes Comprehensive Revision of its Refund Rules

The Revised Refund Rules will Come into Effect From 1st July 2013

Ministry of Railways has revised and amended Refund Rules in a very comprehensive manner and notified them which shall come into force with effect from 1.7.2013. The amendments made in the Refund Rules are aimed at simplification, efficiency in processing and reduction of bogus refund claims.

Railway Passengers (Cancellation of ticket and Refund of fare) Rules, 1998 have not been substantially revised in the last 15 years during which period a large number of changes have taken place in the ticketing system of Indian Railways. Firstly, Computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) as well asComputerised Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) have proliferated. Reservation through internet has also been introduced through which 45% of the total reserved tickets are issued. Integrated Train Enquiry System -- 139 is functional through which ticket status can be obtained through SMS. The above developments warranted that the refund rules be revised comprehensively.....

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The Carriage Repair Workshop (CRW) of East Coast Railway at Mancheswar is set to take up maintenance and repair needs of important long distance trains which are fast switching to the Linke Holfmann Busch (LHB) coaches.

This year only, the workshop achieved the capability to maintain LHB coaches which are modern, fire-retardant in nature, do not capsize during mishaps and have a longer shelf life. It was in May that one rake of Rajdhani Express was maintained by the workshop for the fist time.

In next few months, the entire rakes of Rajdhani and Duronto trains are targeted to be maintained at Mancheswar and need not be sent to far-off workshops. This will help better availability of coaches and problems can be better monitored too, Chief Workshop Manager of CRW SK Pankaj told mediapersons here on Wednesday.

He said ` 38 crore had been sanctioned by Railway Board to accommodate special facilities for maintenance of LHB coaches at the CRW and it has taken rapid strides. Indian Railways is fast switching over to LHB design steel shell and integral coach factory (ICF) bogie with air spring.

Earlier, these coaches were being repaired in West Bengal, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Now complete overhauling of bogies, air brake system and roof mounted air-conditioning system including poly-urethane paintings, interior and renewal of berths of LHB coaches have been achieved and sent for passenger carrying.

Pankaj said the workshop is also targeting to achieve a capacity augmentation from the 100 periodic overhauls (POH) of coaches per month to 150 POH per month by next year.

The capacity augmentation, sanctioned by Railway Board in 2008-09 at an estimated ` 25 crore, would enable the workshop to repair upto 150 coaches per month. The workshop achieved a record of highest ever outturn of 134 coaches in April 2013.

The Mancheswar workshop under ECoR would celebrate three decades of its operation in December this year. The first off POH coach was turned out on December 31, 1983. For capacity expansion, procurement of machinery and civil construction work is under advance stage. The CRW is spread over 314 acres of land with its workshop occupying 121 acres.

The workshop had started POH of hybrid coaches in February 2012 with Duronto Express. It is also developing infrastructure for supply of wagons and locomotive wheels to divisions.

Pankaj said a work order has already been sanctioned at the cost of Rs 57.7 lakh to develop facility for freight wheels.

NEW DELHI: Railway Ministry has revised its refund rules comprehensively under which passengers will have to present their confirmed tickets at least 48 hours before the journey instead of existing 24 hours to get the maximum refund. The new rules, which are aimed at facilitating early confirmation of wait-listed passengers, will come into effect from July 1.  
To get a refund with cancellation charges of 25 percent of the fare, passengers will now have to cancel their confirmed tickets within 48 hours and at least six hours before the train's departure against the existing four hours, the ministry said.  
The existing window of time for the same amount of fare deduction is between 24 hours to four hours before the train's scheduled departure.   Railway is deducting a minimum per passenger cancellation charge at the flat rate of Rs. 120 for AC first class/executive class, Rs. 100 for AC-II tier/first class, Rs. 90 for AC III-tier, economy and chair car, Rs. 60 for sleeper class and Rs. 30 for second class.

If the ticket is presented for cancellation within six hours before the train's scheduled departure of the train and upto two hours after its actual departure, the cancellation charge would be 50 percent of the fare subject to a minimum of the charge.

The existing rules, which are valid till June 30, allowed the cancellation of the tickets upto 12 hours after the train's departure if the distance was 500 km or more.

According to the new rules, no refund will be granted on the reserved ticket if it is surrendered for cancellation two hours after the train's actual departure.

Under the new rules, the time for filing of refund claims has been reduced from existing 90 days to 10 days of the train's departure in case of unforeseen circumstances like strike or any natural causes like floods.

According to the new rules, even those with waitlisted or RAC tickets would have to cancel their tickets three hours before the train's actual departure to get the refund after deduction of clerkage charge of Rs 30 once the new rules are implemented from July 1.

New rules would not allow any refund two hours after the train's departure. Existing rules permit cancellation till three hours after the train's departure.

Revised rules would reduce last-minute cancellation and give Railway more time to confirm and upgrade tickets of other passengers in the waiting list, railway officials said.

Justifying the revision, the Railway Ministry said "railway passengers (cancellation of ticket and refund of fare) Rules, 1998, have not been substantially revised in the last 15 years during which a large number of changes have taken place in the ticketing system of Indian Railways."


Railway said passengers seeking duplicate tickets for their confirmed or RAC tickets will have to pay Rs. 50 per passenger in case of second and sleeper class and Rs. 100 per passenger for other classes instead of paying only the clerkage charges as per existing rules.

The postponement or advancement of a journey will now be allowed in the same class and for the same destination instead of any longer distance or any higher class by any train.

Present rules allowed passengers to travel longer distance if they surrendered their tickets 24 hours before the train's scheduled departure. Under the new rules, such passengers would have to present their tickets 48 hours before the journey.

"In case no current counters are available at journey originating station for night trains leaving between 9 pm and 6 am, refund shall be admissible at the station within first two hours after the opening of reservation counter," the ministry said. The Railway Ministry has amended Refund Rules and notified them to come into force from July 1, said a Northeast Frontier Railway release today.
The amendments are aimed at simplification, efficiency in processing and reduction of bogus refund claims, N-F Railway Chief Public Relations Officer S Hajong said in a press release here.

The Railway Passengers (Cancellation of ticket and Refund of fare) Rules, 1998 had not been substantially revised in the last 15 years when a large number of changes took place in the ticketing system of Indian Railways, Hajong said.

The proliferation of computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS), computerised Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS), reservation through internet, Integrated Train Enquiry System warranted that the Refund Rules be revised comprehensively, he said.

The major changes in the existing rules and the amendments in Refund Rules were different for reserved tickets, Unused (unreserved) tickets, tickets issued in advance, reserved unused tickets, various air-conditioned class tickets, party ticket or a family ticket, RAC, E-tickets, Tatkal tickets, etc.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday chugged through the 11-km long tunnel in the inaugural train journey between Banihal to Qazigund along with 12 girl students of a government high school. Both, however, evaded questions on politics after their rally speeches in Banihal but CM Omar Abdullah, taking on the BJP, spoke out against dilution of Article 370.
    While the PM praised the engineers for the feat describing the tunnel as an example of engineering marvel that connects two regions of the state, Sonia reached out to the people with a salve saying, “I know very well that painful incidents happen here occasionally, but our democracy has enough scope to sort out issues through dialogue and negotiations.”
    “The people are fed up with violence and eager to taste peace and development. The large turnout of people during the Panchayat elections is proof of their desire for peace and development,” she said. The people’s hardships, Sonia said, with the new rail link would become a thing if the past. “The inauguration of the allweather track between Jammu and the Valley is part of the UPA’s commitment to peace and progress,” she said. Omar kept the pitch populist in an election year. “The people of J&K categorically say that revocation of Article 370 is not possible and any attempt to do so would be over our dead bodies,” he said.

Adding a new chapter to its glory after commissioning the escalator at Bhubaneswar Railway Station recently, East Coast Railway has provided four Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) in its jurisdiction for the convenience of the passengers and rail users to go from o­ne platform to another.At Chilika, Delang, Lingaraj Road Halt and Joranda stations under Khurda Road Division, Railways have commissioned Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) for passengers at Stations to go from o­ne platform to another and also to cope with the growing traffic at Railway premises. These facilities have been commissioned in about two months time.
Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) are commissioned by the Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical wings of Railways. Massive concerted efforts and co-ordination with detailed planning is put into these works with use of high end machinery like high capacity cranes and lifters.
These Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) are erected after ascertaining all safety measures and after taking proper traffic block (planned controlling of trains) under intimation to all concerned.
Construction of these Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) have been welcomed by the users of these facilities at the particular stations, as they will provide a lot of relief to Senior Citizens, ladies, students, children and medical patients.

Abiding by the Railway Board's decision not to charge any money on relief materials to Uttarakhand for 15 days, the East Central Railway zone is facilitating transportation of relief items to the devastated Himalayan state. "We are following Railway board decision not to charge any cost on relief materials being taken to Uttarakhand," Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) of ECR Amitabh Prabhakar said.
The free movement of relief materials is applicable for 15 days from June 25 to July 9, he said. The instruction is applicable on all the trains in which freight of goods are allowed, Prabhakar said adding the decision was part of Railways concern for humanity. He, however, said the consignment is properly checked to ensure only relief materials are packed for victims of Uttarkhand tragedy.

ECR facilitating free ferry of relief materials to Uttarakhand The Hajipur based ECR zone comprises of five Railway divisions - Danapur, Sonepur, Mughalsarai, Dhanbad and Samastipur.