ProUI

South Central Railway Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager Pradeep Kumar has donned the role of an instructor in the Electric Traction Training Centre (ETTC). He explained the Apprentice Loco Pilots (ALPs) about major components in the engine.

The DRM, who visited the ETTC last week, interacted with the students. He explained that sand box was an important part of the engine, which helps prevent slipping of wheels from the tracks.

“Automatic sanders (sand boxes) and manual sanders are arranged in the engines. Wheels usually lose grip during rainy and winter seasons and when oil and grease falls on the tracks. The pilot should press the pedal to apply sand on the tracks to provide friction between the wheels and the tracks. Only river sand should be used in the process”, explained Mr. Pradeep Kumar.

Likewise, simulators (computer-based locos) will help identify the mistakes committed by a driver during training.

The instructors explain the apprentice loco pilots about the mistakes committed by the learners on the screens. The ALPs can rectify their faults and improve their driving skills, said ETTC Principal D.R.J. Prasad.

The ALPs, who arrived from different States, completed training on technical and general and subsidiary rules at the ETTC.

They will undergo training on ‘road learning’ for about 15 days.

The apprentice pilots would accompany the senior loco pilots on running trains and learn on road rules. Finally the loco inspectors inspect the driving skills of the fresh candidates, Mr. Pradeep Kumar told The Hindu.

“The Indian Railways arranged three model cars to explain the ALPs on different components in the engine. A display of the major components is arranged in the loco training centre”, said Mr. Pradeep Kumar.

Later, he observed the driving skills of the women loco pilots on the model cars.

South Western Railway (SWR) on Tuesday said that there were still some seats available on trains to popular destinations on November 1 and 2 and that tickets were not sold out yet.

In a statement, its PRO said that while booking for  November 3 would be open on Wednesday, tickets could still be booked on some trains heading towards Mumbai, New Delhi, Kochi and Hyderabad for travel on November 1 and 2.

According to figures provided by the SWR at noon on Tuesday, less than 100 seats each were available on trains like Udyan Express and Kurla Express to Mumbai in all classes except the sleeper class. Similarly, seats were available for November 2 in trains to Kanyakumari, Kochuveli and New Delhi.

The consolidated figures show that sleeper class in all trains has a few hundred seats per train. As many as 462 sleeper class tickets were available in Kacheguda Express. However, the exact number of these seats may be different on Wednesday.

Recognised for Honesty

Two RPF officials were recognised for their honesty on Tuesday when DRM Anil Kumar Agarwal commended them for tracing the owner of a gold bangle found during regular inspection and returning it to him. Z Rahamathulla Khan, Sub-Inspector and Manjunath, Constable discovered the bangle in Kakinada-Bangalore City Sheshadri Express on September 1.

They noted the berth number and traced the PNR number and eventually the owner.

The bangle was valued at Rs 50,000 and belonged to the wife of Shrikanth who were travelling from Tirupati to K R Puram.

Augmentation of train

South Eastern Railway will be augmenting Howrah-Yeshwantpur-Howrah Duronto Express in order to clear extra rush on September 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 24, 25, 28 and 29 by adding one additional AC 3 tier coach and on September 6, 10, 14, 18, 22 and 27 by adding one second class sleeper coach from Howrah. In the return direction, the additional AC 3 tier coach will be added from Yeshwantpur on September 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 30 and October 1. The additional second class sleeper coach will be added on September 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 and 29, a press release said.

Train and boat services have emerged as saviours for commuters in flooded regions of the state this monsoon.
Indian Railways has brought in a special train to serve the flood-affected people in eastern Bihar allowing them to reach work and earn a livelihood without worrying about transport hurdles.
The Jamalpur-Sahibganj flood special diesel multiple unit (DMU) train via Bhagalpur started operations on the Kiul-Sahebganj loop section from Monday.
The DMU leaves Jamalpur in Munger district at 7am. After stopping at all the stations and halts on the way, the train reaches Sahibganj in Jharkhand at 12noon. On its return journey, it leaves around 1pm from Sahibganj.
The Telegraph hopped on the train from Bhagalpur around 9.30am to determine the people’s reaction to the alternative mode of transport in the flood-ravaged areas.
Rupesh Yadav, a resident of Kamarganj village in Bhagalpur district, said: “The train has come as a great relief to us. The flood has snapped the road link to Bhagalpur town. My wife and elder son are suffering from fever and I had to take them to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital. Since the special train stops at all the stations and halts on the way, we were able to take it from Gangania station (in Sultanganj).”
Divisional railway manager, Malda,Ravinder Gupta said: “As an alternative to the road network, which has been snapped because of the floods, the special DMU train has been introduced from Jamalpur to Sahibganj on the Kiul-Sahebganj loop section under Eastern Railway’s Malda division from September 2. At present, the train leaves from Jamalpur to reach Sultanganj, from where it goes to Bhagalpur and then Sahibganj. It takes the same route back to Jamalpur. We are trying to increase the train’s service on this loop section.”
The service, as much as it is now, has come as a huge boon to the people in the areas the train travels through.
For instance, a group of office-goers with work in Bhagalpur are happy.
“We used to take the road to work in Bhagalpur but because of floods, the entire network has gone for a toss. In this situation, this special train has been helpful in reaching work in time,” said Kumud Kumar, a resident of Sultanganj, who works in a private company in Bhagalpur. By road, it takes Kumud an hour to reach his office, around 28km away. By train, it takes him almost the same time.
At Manihari Ghat in Katihar district, the steamer and boat services are indispensable for commuters avoiding a circuitous route to Sahibganj town in Jharkhand.
Everyday, over a thousand people cross the river on rickety steamers and risky boats from the ghat, which is around 315km northeast of Patna, to save time and money. They pay Rs 26 as one-way steamer fare and Rs 10 for a boat ride to avoid a 250-km detour by road and train spending approximately Rs 300. The steamer ride takes one hour, boat two-and-a-half hours, while the road-rail journey takes six to seven hours.
There is no direct transportation among Katihar, Purnea, Kishanganj, Araria, Madhepura and Saharsa districts of Bihar and Sahibganj town in Jharkhand.
Purnea resident Sujeet Kumar uses the steamer twice a week to go to Sahibganj town, where he works for a nationalised bank. “I get a weekly off. Since Sahibganj is not a good town to keep my family, I visit my native place, Purnea, every week. The steamer often breaks down while crossing the Ganga. People suffer injuries while boarding the steamer but we do not have any option,” he said.
Despite the risky rides from Manihari Ghat, there is no proper arrangement to avert untoward incidents. Pashuram Paswan, a trained diver of Tanti Tola of Manihari, said: “We took training in saving lives but we have not been given any life-saving kit suchas lifeboats and jackets. We do not get any fixed pay even. Then, how can we stay at the ghat?” said Paswan.

Kolkata, Sept 3:   

Eastern Railway posted a 12 per cent growth in passenger earnings to nearly Rs 636 crore between April and July this year, as against a little more than Rs 567 crore during the year-ago period.

According to a release, ER’s miscellaneous earnings (particularly penalties collected from passengers) were nearly 7 per cent higher at Rs 14.33 crore during the period.

Guwahati, Sept. 3:The ministry of railways has told the parliamentary committee on home affairs that inadequate funds are holding up projects in the Northeast and that it gets less than half of the funds to complete the schemes.
The ministry informed the committee that projects worth Rs 48,000 crore had been allocated for the region and Rs 16,000 crore had already been spent. The committee submitted its report in the ongoing Parliament session.
“The ministry needs about Rs 7,000 crore every year to complete these projects in a designated time frame, but it was only able to get about Rs 3,000 crore, less than half of what it needs,” the committee, quoting the ministry, said in its report.
The ministry is dependent on gross budgetary support for allocation of funds for the projects. Since the ministry did not get even half of what was promised by the Planning Commission, the projects suffered time and cost overrun, the report said.
The ministry said three very important projects, Rangiya-Murkongselek broad gauge conversion with extension up to Pasighat, the Lumding-Silchar BG project and the Bogibeel bridge, were held up owing to inadequate funds. The report said if these projects are completed within the next few years, it would bring about improvement in the rail network in the region.
The Centre decided to clear additional funds for both the Bogibeel and the Lumding-Silchar projects recently.
On a query regarding absence of a targeted time period for completion of certain projects, the ministry said it was concentrating on certain important schemes to avoid spreading of the finances too thin.
“In view of this, it would like to complete certain important projects and then go ahead with others. That was why the ministry did not indicate completion dates for certain projects,” the report said.
On the issue of transfer of railway land at Pandu terminal in Assam to connect it to a national highway, the ministry said 6,000 square metres of railway land had to be acquired but because of 2,150 encroachments, which were still to be cleared by the state government, the ministry could not go ahead with the project.
But according to the finance ministry, it is not funding constraints that are holding up or delaying the execution of national projects in the Northeast but the lack of execution capacity.
The parliamentary committee said there appears to be communication gap between railways and finance ministries. “There is complete discord among the two ministries and the Planning Commission and we recommend that the commission and the ministries meet to resolve the issue and apprise the committee of the exact position in this regard,” the report said.

Jhansi | अंतिम अपडेट 4 सितंबर 2013 5:36 AM IST पर
झांसी। अगर आप दीपावली पर दूर किसी शहर से अपने घर आने का विचार कर रहे हैं तो ट्रेनों में असुविधा से बचने के लिए तुरंत आरक्षण करा लें। त्योहार के दो माह पहले ही अधिकांश ट्रेनों में वेटिंग शुरू हो गई है। स्थिति यह है कि तीन नवंबर के त्योहार के लिए प्रमुख ट्रेनों में एक तारीख तक की सीटें मिलना मुश्किल हो रहा है। आरक्षण की सबसे अधिक मांग नागपुर, पुणे, चेन्नई, मुंबई, बंगलूरू से आने वाली ट्रेनों में है।
देश के विभिन्न शहरों में नौकरी या अध्ययन कर रहे हजारों लोग दीपावली का त्योहार मनाने के लिए अपने घर आते हैं। परेशानी से बचने के लिए लोगों ने पहले से ही ट्रेनों में आरक्षण कराना शुरू कर दिया है। मंगलवार को दो नवंबर को चलने वाली ट्रेनों में रिजर्वेशन मिलना शुरू हुआ। पुणे से जम्मूतवी जाने वाली 11077 डाउन झेलम एक्सप्रेस में सुबह आठ बजे रिजर्वेशन खुलते ही पुणे से झांसी के लिए पंद्रह मिनट में ही ट्रेन की सभी क्लास की सीटें आरक्षित हो गईं और वेटिंग मिलना शुरू हो गई। आठ बजकर पंद्रह मिनट पर सेकेंड एसी में 15 वेटिंग, एसी थर्ड में 35 वेटिंग व स्लीपर क्लास में नो रूम की स्थिति बन गई। कुछ ऐसा ही हाल मुंबई से चलकर फिरोजपुर जाने वाली 12137 डाउन पंजाब मेल का भी था। शाम तक इस ट्रेन में दो नवंबर के लिए थर्ड एसी में 34 वेटिंग, सेकेंड एसी में 23 व स्लीपर क्लास में वेटिंग मिल रही थी।

इन ट्रेनों में भी आरक्षण मिलना मुश्किल
झांसी। वास्कोडिगामा से नई दिल्ली जाने वाली गोवा एक्सप्रेस, बंगलूरू से दिल्ली जाने वाली राजधानी एक्सप्रेस, मुंबई से गोरखपुर जाने वाली कुशीनगर एक्सप्रेस, मुंबई से अमृतसर जाने वाली पठानकोट एक्सप्रेस, वलसाड़ - कानपुर एक्सप्रेस, मुंबई से लखनऊ जाने वाली पुष्पक एक्सप्रेस, बंगलूरू से नई दिल्ली जाने वाली कर्नाटका एक्सप्रेस, यशवंतपुर से हजरत निजामुद्दीन जाने वाली संपर्क क्रांति, हैदराबाद से नई दिल्ली जाने वाली सदर्न एक्सप्रेस, बिलासपुर से अमृतसर जाने वाली छत्तीसगढ़ एक्सप्रेस आदि ट्रेनों में दीवाली के लिए वेटिंग मिलना शुरू हो गया है।

बिहार के लिए सबसे ज्यादा बन रहे टिकट
झांसी। दीवाली पर झांसी से दूसरे शहरों को जाने वाले यात्रियों की संख्या भी कम नहीं है। आरक्षण की सबसे अधिक मांग बिहार की तरफ जाने वाली ट्रेनों में है। इनमें प्रथम स्वतंत्रता संग्राम एक्सप्रेस, ग्वालियर बरौनी मेल, चंबल एक्सप्रेस, जनसाधारण एक्सप्रेस, लोकमान्य तिलक गोरखपुर एक्सप्रेस, यशवंतपुर गोरखपुर एक्सप्रेस आदि ट्रेनें शामिल हैं। इन ट्रेनों में भी आरक्षण की ओपनिंग डेट में ही सीटें भरती जा रही हैं।

South Western Railway (SWR) on Tuesday said that there were still some seats available on trains to popular destinations on November 1 and 2 and that tickets were not sold out yet.

In a statement, its PRO said that while booking for  November 3 would be open on Wednesday, tickets could still be booked on some trains heading towards Mumbai, New Delhi, Kochi and Hyderabad for travel on November 1 and 2.

According to figures provided by the SWR at noon on Tuesday, less than 100 seats each were available on trains like Udyan Express and Kurla Express to Mumbai in all classes except the sleeper class. Similarly, seats were available for November 2 in trains to Kanyakumari, Kochuveli and New Delhi.

The consolidated figures show that sleeper class in all trains has a few hundred seats per train. As many as 462 sleeper class tickets were available in Kacheguda Express. However, the exact number of these seats may be different on Wednesday.

Recognised for Honesty

Two RPF officials were recognised for their honesty on Tuesday when DRM Anil Kumar Agarwal commended them for tracing the owner of a gold bangle found during regular inspection and returning it to him. Z Rahamathulla Khan, Sub-Inspector and Manjunath, Constable discovered the bangle in Kakinada-Bangalore City Sheshadri Express on September 1.

They noted the berth number and traced the PNR number and eventually the owner.

The bangle was valued at Rs 50,000 and belonged to the wife of Shrikanth who were travelling from Tirupati to K R Puram.

Augmentation of train

South Eastern Railway will be augmenting Howrah-Yeshwantpur-Howrah Duronto Express in order to clear extra rush on September 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 24, 25, 28 and 29 by adding one additional AC 3 tier coach and on September 6, 10, 14, 18, 22 and 27 by adding one second class sleeper coach from Howrah. In the return direction, the additional AC 3 tier coach will be added from Yeshwantpur on September 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 30 and October 1. The additional second class sleeper coach will be added on September 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 and 29, a press release said.

Kolkata, Sept 3:   

Eastern Railway posted a 12 per cent growth in passenger earnings to nearly Rs 636 crore between April and July this year, as against a little more than Rs 567 crore during the year-ago period.

According to a release, ER’s miscellaneous earnings (particularly penalties collected from passengers) were nearly 7 per cent higher at Rs 14.33 crore during the period.

The much-awaited second daily night train on the Bangalore-Thiruvananthapuram Kochuveli-Bangalore sector will become a reality when the 16316 Kochuveli-Bangalore Express leaves here on Wednesday. 16315/16316 Kochuveli- Bangalore- Kochuveli Express has been made a daily train.

Train no: 16316 will leave Kochuveli at 4.50 p.m. to reach Bangalore at 8.35 a.m. In the return direction, train no: 16315 will leave Bangalore at 5.15 p.m. to reach Kochuveli at 9 a.m.

The other daily night train to Bangalore is the 16525/16526 Kanyakumary-Bangalore-Kanyakumary Island Express. Meanwhile, Railways have cancelled train nos:16322/16321 Thiruvananthapuram-Bangalore Weekly expresses with effect from Wednesday. The move has come in for criticism from several quarters. The general secretary of the Thrissur Railway Passengers Association, P. Krishnakumar, has urged Railways to restore the weekly train.

SURAT: The anti-tout squad of Western Railway along with the Railway Protection Force (RPF) conducted surprise checking against the unauthorized railway ticket agencies in the city.

Official sources said that the raids were conducted few days ago at M/s Thakkar International located at Sargam shopping complex at Parle Point.

The owner of the firm identified as Laxmichand Thakkar and his employee were arrested on the charges under section 143 of the Railway's Act, 1989.

During the check, an employee present in the shop admitted to generating tickets without any licence or authority issued by IRCTC for railway e-ticketing. He also admitted to generating tickets on different personal IDs and selling them at a premium of 200-300 per person above the actual fare.

Several articles such as 10 e-tickets generated using personal IDs, 2 e-tickets using different agent IDs, one partially used order-cum-bill book, etc were seized from the office.

A senior WR officer said, "The above action was taken in view of an incident brought to the notice of Mumbai Central Division of WR by an aware citizen in the city."