ProUI

The beginning of a long weekend ahead of the Ganesh festival on Monday triggered a rush at the city’s bus-stands and railway stations as large crowds made their way back to their hometowns.Slow-moving traffic was reported in and around the Kempe Gowda bus station and Shantinagar bus-stand. With extra buses pressed into service to clear the festival rush, traffic near these bus-stands was dense. Residents of Shantinagar said many buses had been parked on the road, making movement of vehicles difficult. The traffic officer at the Kempe Gowda bus-stand said lines and lines of outgoing Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses were waiting to get as many passengers as possible on board. “A lot of my friends, like me, work in the information technology sector. As we have the weekend off, many of us are heading out of the city to celebrate the Ganesha festival with our families,” said Sanjana Sastry, a native of Mysore.However, expecting large crowds in popular tourist destinations, many are keeping holiday plans at bay. “My colleagues and I were planning to go to Kodagu on Saturday and Sunday and return on Monday. But we heard that the place would be too crowded. We were not sure if we would get bus tickets or hotel rooms. So we cancelled our plan,” said Allen D’Souza, a media professional.

Railway officials said swelling crowds are typical of this time of the year as it is the beginning of the long festive season. “The rush usually starts during Ganesh festival and continues till the end of the year, over Dasara and other long holidays,” an official said.

Ludhiana: Railway employees staged two separate dharnas in support of their demands at the railway station today. The Northern Railway Men's Union (NRMU) organised a protest at the entrance of the station and criticised the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority Bill (PFRDA) passed by the Central Government recently.Large number of employees gathered outside the inquiry window and staged protest. Passenger also faced inconvenience as the employees were sitting outside the inquiry window.Daljit Singh, Divisional Secretary, Northern Railway Men's Union (NRMU), while addressing the employees, said: “The new pension bill is anti-pensioners and it will not serve them. As per the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority Bill, the government will put the 26 per cent amount of pensioner's fund in share market. The increase in the amount will not be distributed among the employees as the corporation or board concerned will be the beneficiary.”“Government has decided to withdraw the Family Pension Scheme so now an employee will get pension for only 20 years after retirement. We oppose the anti-employees bill,” said Daljit Singh.Meanwhile, the activists of the Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union also staged a protest at platform number 1. The union leaders had been organising meeting from several days.Ajay Kumar, divisional vice-president, Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union, said the railway employees have been facing several problems due to the negligence of railway authorities. “Non-availability of specialist doctors at the Railways Hospital is a major concern. The railway quarters are in bad shape, roads of railway colonies are bumpy,” he said.

PUNE: The city should consider underground metro only if it has sufficient funds to shoulder the excessive project cost, Vivek B Gadgil, Chief Executive and Managing Director of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad), said on Saturday. Speaking to press persons, he also said that, the world over, cities are opting for elevated metro because of techno commercial and security reasons and suggested that Pune should follow suit.

There are pros and cons of elevated and underground metro. The decisions should be made on the basis of techno commercial reasons, he said. However, across the world, cities are opting for elevated metro in the backdrop of rising terror threats. Especially after the attack on the London underground, security concerns determine decisions on transport projects like the metro,” Gadgil said during a discussion with faculty members of Vishwakarma Institute of Information and Technology at Kondhwa.

When asked if Pune should go ahead with the elevated metro plan, Gadgil said, “If the city has funds, it should go ahead with underground metro. However, an underground project is very expensive compared to elevated metro. Also, it is a wrong notion that underground metro causes lesser nuisance then the elevated metro during construction. In fact, even the underground metro cause disturbance during construction phase.

Majority of work for underground project, like opening of tunnel and metro stations, has to be started on ground.”

He added that political interference in transport projects delay them and the city has to suffer. Gadgil said that, if there are no socio-political and economic hurdles, it is possible to complete a 60km metro project within four-to-five years.

The Pune elevated metro project proposal has been pending with the state government for three years and is likely to be tabled before the state cabinet next month. The project for Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad includes two routes with a total length of 31.5km. The first route is between Vanaz and Ramwadi in Pune and the second between Pimpri Chinchwad and Swargate. As per the revised costs in 2013, the metro rail project will cost Rs 10,183 crore.

Gadgil said that the metro project alone is not going to solve city’s traffic problem. “The city has to develop a connectivity network around the metro project. Only then citizens will be able to use the metro,” he said.

Speaking on engineering requirements for modern metro projects, Gadgil said, “When we compare the situation in our country with other nations, we realize they have moved far ahead of us in terms of technology. In fact, we need to introduce metro engineering as a subject in colleges. Building metro projects is a critical task. If one thing goes wrong, it will affect the end result.”

PUNE: The state government will not impose cess on the sale of petrol and diesel in the city to raise funds for the Pune Metro project.Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan convened a meeting of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the state urban development department officials on Tuesday. The project was discussed with the finance department on Wednesday. The project's proposal is likely to be tabled before the state cabinet next month.The project for Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad includes two routes with a total length of 31.5 km. The first route is between Vanaz and Ramwadi in Pune and the second route is between Pimpri Chinchwad and Swargate. As per the revised costs in 2013, the metro rail project will cost Rs 10,183 crore."The state government is discussing the financial model for the project. Earlier, the government was mulling a metro cess on the sale of petrol and diesel in the city. However, in the view of the public indignation against inflation and constant rise in fuel prices, the state has decided shelve this option," a senior state government official said.Tax on commercial vehicles entering Pune metropolitan area and levy of additional charges on new registration of vehicles is being considered. "There are suggestions of a green cess on existing vehicles. But these options to raise funds may also run into opposition. The state and the PMC have to look for options that will go down well with citizens," he added.

Finance department officials have already raised questions over the financial model and have suggested that the municipal corporation's share in the metro be hiked to 20% from the existing 10% of the total project cost, while the state and the centre chip in 20% each. The remaining should be raised via a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), they said.

An increased floor space index along the metro corridors is among the sources the state is looking for implementation of the project along with property development on government land, the government official said.

PUNE: The city should consider underground metro only if it has sufficient funds to shoulder the excessive project cost, Vivek B Gadgil, Chief Executive and Managing Director of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad), said on Saturday. Speaking to press persons, he also said that, the world over, cities are opting for elevated metro because of techno commercial and security reasons and suggested that Pune should follow suit.

There are pros and cons of elevated and underground metro. The decisions should be made on the basis of techno commercial reasons, he said. However, across the world, cities are opting for elevated metro in the backdrop of rising terror threats. Especially after the attack on the London underground, security concerns determine decisions on transport projects like the metro,” Gadgil said during a discussion with faculty members of Vishwakarma Institute of Information and Technology at Kondhwa.

When asked if Pune should go ahead with the elevated metro plan, Gadgil said, “If the city has funds, it should go ahead with underground metro. However, an underground project is very expensive compared to elevated metro. Also, it is a wrong notion that underground metro causes lesser nuisance then the elevated metro during construction. In fact, even the underground metro cause disturbance during construction phase.

Majority of work for underground project, like opening of tunnel and metro stations, has to be started on ground.”

He added that political interference in transport projects delay them and the city has to suffer. Gadgil said that, if there are no socio-political and economic hurdles, it is possible to complete a 60km metro project within four-to-five years.

The Pune elevated metro project proposal has been pending with the state government for three years and is likely to be tabled before the state cabinet next month. The project for Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad includes two routes with a total length of 31.5km. The first route is between Vanaz and Ramwadi in Pune and the second between Pimpri Chinchwad and Swargate. As per the revised costs in 2013, the metro rail project will cost Rs 10,183 crore.

Gadgil said that the metro project alone is not going to solve city’s traffic problem. “The city has to develop a connectivity network around the metro project. Only then citizens will be able to use the metro,” he said.

Speaking on engineering requirements for modern metro projects, Gadgil said, “When we compare the situation in our country with other nations, we realize they have moved far ahead of us in terms of technology. In fact, we need to introduce metro engineering as a subject in colleges. Building metro projects is a critical task. If one thing goes wrong, it will affect the end result.”

Kozhikode: The festive season and vacations bring with them a surge in air and rail passenger traffic, but the state has proved a complete failure in handling the rush of people.With  Onam falling on September 16, a Monday this year, train tickets from  cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai to major cities in Kerala have been sold out weeks ago.In the struggle to reach home, non-resident Keralites are being forced to depend on tatkal tickets as there is a nearly 3000 long waiting list on most of the daily trains to the Malabar, such as the Chennai- Mangalore superfast, and Yeshwanthpur- Kannur Express.But diminishing the hopes of passengers, only less than a  100 tatkal tickets are issued for a train on a given day and that too at a cost of Rs 1200 or more by some travel agencies in Bengaluru. Adding to passenger troubles, tickets of the Kerala bound Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses for the first three weeks of September were completely sold out by August last. Also, while bus fares from cities like Bengaluru to the state have risen sharply,  air fares between the Middle East and Kerala have risen by nearly 300 per cent. “There is usually a surge in inward bound travelling to Kerala during Onam, Christmas, Eid and the summer vacations coinciding with the closure of schools in March with a good many Malayalis settled in other  parts of the country and abroad heading back home.

Even if 10 per cent of the millions of Keralites working in cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and  other places in the country travel to Kerala during the Onam or Christmas season it works out to a huge number,” notes N. Subramanian, vice president (marketing and sales) of the Kozhikode- based Superstone Properties and a frequent traveller on the Kochi- Bengaluru and Kozhikode- Kochi sectors.

Vijayakumar, Kozhikode regional officer, National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC),  says the festive season usually sees a four to five per cent rise in passenger traffic.

And according to a pre- feasibility report of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd on the ‘Kerala high speed rail between Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam’, traffic in Kerala has been growing at a rate of 10 to 11 per cent every year, resulting in high traffic and pressure on the roads and increased travel time.

Although Kerala is well connected to its neighbouring states through inter-city and inter-state bus services run by the KSRTC and private operators, their capacity, constraints, and ultimately the riding quality and safety has made road travel the least preferred by the public. 

“The situation has resulted in a three-fold rise on train dependency,” says C.E. Chakkuni, general secretary of the Malabar Rail Users Association, and a member of the Calicut Airport Development Committee. 

“Prediction of the growth in the number of passengers is not such a herculean task today and so there is no justification for the delay in announcing special trains  during the festive seasons,” he maintains, blaming the lethargy of the governments in the state for the lack of planning.

Pointing out that around 9000 people depend on the Kannur- Yeshwanthpur Express every day, he wonders why the services of around a 1000 KSRTC buses were abruptly stopped from the Malabar. “Why isn’t the  government not showing any interest in restoring these services?” he asks.

The time has obviously come for travel demand forecasting, which is today an integral component of  modern transport planning. Like in any other field, travel demand forecasting can be divided into two components – long term and short term.

The first takes into account mainly demographic factors, economic and infrastructure growth in a particular region. And the second focuses  on  short term fluctuations, especially  seasonal variations and trends.

In fact, in countries like the US, the surge in air and road passenger traffic on the eve of Christmas and New Year Holiday season  frequently makes headlines. The surge or decline in holiday travel is also used as an important indicator of  economic health.

But despite a  large number of Keralities working abroad or outside the state often returning home for festivals or vacations, its transport department  has made no room for travel demand forecasting, which could make life much easier for most travelling to the state, deplore experts.

The CCTV cameras have been provided at platforms and surrounding areas and their footage is being made available in the main control room, which is manned by security personnel round the clock.       Surveillance cameras are being installed to help security personnel monitor the activities at railway stations. This helps providing security to passengers, said a senior Northern Railway official.       He said the recordings will be stored digitally for future analysis. CCTV surveillance system has been provided at 20 stations including 12 stations in Delhi area.       The coverage of CCTV surveillance system has now been extended to passenger reservation system (PRS) centers also in order to keep vigil on activities of unauthorized personnel in the ticketing areas.       Senior officers at Northern Railway headquarters can now monitor the activities at stations through the surveillance system. Northern Railway is also planning to provide CCTV surveillance system at other major stations in a phased manner.

The passenger train between Virudhunagar and Karaikudi was flagged off by local MP Manicka Tagore (Congress) here on Saturday.The service had been suspended between Manamadurai and Virudhunagar in view of gauge conversion work.The service began in this section seven weeks after the dedication of the new BG line. It took five years for the railway authorities to connect the missing BG link between Manamadurai and Virudhunagar after spending a whopping Rs.178 crore. Though the BG track was laid on the fourth platform in Virudhunagar Junction, the passenger train is being operated in the first platform now in the absence of a foot overbridge. The foot overbridge is available only up to the third platform.When this was brought to the attention of Commissioner of Railway Safety Sathish Kumar Mittal when he came here on June 21 to give final clearance for fitness of the track, top officials accompanying him asserted that the foot overbridge would be constructed within a couple of months. But no work started in this regard.

In a big relief to bi-weekly Bilaspur-New Delhi Rajdhani passengers, berth quota from Nagpur has increased with immediate effect. Central Railway DRM Brijesh Dixit said quota for AC I is consistent at 4 while quota for AC II has gone up from 24 berths to 64 and AC III from 54 to 112. Train number 12441 leaves Nagpur at 8.45pm on every Monday and Thursday and reaches Delhi next day at 10.45 am.

A. Bharath Bhushan, chief commercial manager of South Central Railway (SCR), on Sunday inspected the main railway station in Nellore city and took stock of the facilities and sanitation here. He was accompanied by the railway station manager Shah Jahan. The CCM also held a meeting with the travel ticket examiners.