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Salem (TN):A lorry driver was injured after the vehicle went out of control, ploughed through the overbridge parapet wall and fell on the railway track near here, police said today.The lorry was on its way from Salem to Omalur when the mishap occurred last night.Following this, departure of six trains from here was delayed for three hours. The lorry has been removed from the track.The driver has been admitted to hospital.

PUNE: The Pune railway division has penalised 911 commuters for littering, at the Pune Railway Station and inside trains, during the first five months of the current fiscal.
The erring commuters paid fines totalling Rs 95,650. "The Pune railway administration conducted a drive to keep a check on commuters spitting and littering at the station premises and in trains.
Those commuters who were caught red handed by the railway staff, were fined,” railway officials added. Railway rules stipulate a minimum fine of Rs 500 on a person throwing garbage or spitting on railway premises.
"People spitting or throwing garbage at the railway station and in trains is not a healthy sign. We have been advising passengers to not dirty the booking counters, reservation counters, platforms and trains through posters and announcements," stated rail officials.
Railway officials have cautioned the commuters that the drive could continue at Pune and other stations, to ensure that the stations and trains are tidy.

Chandigarh: To clear the extra rush of passengers of the region during the festivals from the next month, the railway authorities have decided to start two special trains from the Chandigarh Railway Station. Taking cognisance of the demand of tickets, the authorities have decided to commence weekly express to Dibrugarh and tri-weekly express to Varanasi from the Chandigarh Railway Station.Train number 05903 Dibrugarh-Chandigarh weekly express special train will depart from Dibruagarh from October 11 to November 29 on every Friday at 08.40 am to reach Chandigarh at 01.10 pm on the third day. In the return direction, 05904 Chandigarh-Dibrugarh special train will depart from Chandigarh on every Sunday from October 13 to 2 at 11.15 pm to reach Dibrugarh at 06.15 am on the fourth day.Their will be 16 coaches, which include o­ne AC 2 Tier, o­ne AC 3 Tier, nine sleeper class, four general class and two disabled-friendly second class-cum-luggage van.The train will halt will at New Tinsukia, Simalugarhi, Mariyani, Furkating, Dimapur, Diphu, Lumding, Guwahati, Rangiya, New Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, New Alipurduar, New Cooch Behar, New Jalpaiguri, Kishanganj, Katihar, Nauguchia, Khagaria, Barauni, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Hajipur, Sonepur, Chhapra, Siwan, Deoria Sadar, Gorakhpur, Gonda, Lucknow, Bareilly, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Ambala and Chandigarh en route in both the directions.

Another train number 04504 Chandigarh-Varanasi tri-weekly special train will depart from Chandigarh o­n every Monday, Thursday and Saturday from October 3 to November 28 at 11.15 pm to reach Varanasi at 05.30 pm on the next day.

In the return direction, 04503 Varanasi-Chandigarh tri-weekly will depart from Varanasi on every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday from October 4 to November 29 at 09.10 pm to reach Chandigarh at 02.30 pm the next day.

Their will be 14 coaches, which include six sleeper class, six general class and two second class-cum-luggage van. The halt will be at Ambala Cantonment, Jagadhari, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Lucknow and Sultanpur stations en route in both the directions.

मीरजापुर : उत्तर मध्य रेलवे इलाहाबाद जोन के डिप्टी सीसीएम मुदित चंद्रा ने सोमवार को स्थानीय स्टेशन का निरीक्षण किया। इस दौरान उन्होंने ट्रैक पर पड़ी गंदगी देख नाराजगी जताई। उन्होंने कहा कि नियमित साफ-सफाई का अभियान चलाकर स्टेशन परिसर को साफ-सुथरा रखा जाए।
निरीक्षण को लेकर सोमवार को स्टेशन पर सघन चेकिंग अभियान चलाया गया। बिना टिकट यात्रियों को अंदर नहीं आने दिया जा रहा था। तीनों प्लेटफार्म पर बैठे यात्रियों की सघन तलाशी ली जा रही थी। इस दौरान अप में महानगरी, लालकिला, जनता, जोधपुर हावड़ा, इलाहाबाद पैसेंजर, कालका मेल, पुरुषोत्तम एक्सप्रेस में चेकिंग की गई। यह अभियान इलाहाबाद व मीरजापुर के चेकिंग दल की संयुक्त टीम ने चलाया। डिप्टी सीसीएम ने इस दौरान बुकिंग काउंटर को भी देखा। आमदनी बढ़ाने की हिदायत दी। कहा कि स्टेशन पर बिना टिकट कोई यात्री प्रवेश न कर सके। सभी निकास द्वार पर चेकिंग कर्मचारियों की तैनाती की जाए। आमदनी बढ़ाई जाए। उन्होंने हर माह होने वाली आमदनी की भी समीक्षा की। उनके स्टेशन पर पहुंचने पर कर्मचारियों में हड़कंप मच गया। बुकिंग काउंटर पर तैनात कर्मचारी सतर्क हो गए। स्टेशन परिसर में विचरण कर रहे अवैध वेंडरों को भगा दिया गया था। इस दौरान एसएस सुभाष सिंह, सीआइटी जय गोविंद सिंह आदि मौजूद थे।

MANGALORE: Konkan Railway will run unreserved special trains between Ratnagiri and Roha during Ganpati Festival and between New Delhi and Kochuveli during Onam festival to clear extra rush of passengers.Trains 05009/05010 Ratnagiri - Roha unreserved passenger will run on September 11, 15, 16 and 19 Train 05010 Ratnagiri - Roha train will leave from Ratnagiri at 6.50am and reach Roha at 12.50 pm same day. Train 05009 Roha - Ratnagiri will leave from Roha at 3.30pm and reach Ratnagiri at 9pm same day. The special trains will have total 12 coaches.Train 040906 New Delhi - Kochuveli Superfast Express will leave from New Delhi at 11.30pm on September 12 and will reach Kochuveli at 2:45am on fourth day. Train 040906 Kohcuveli - New Delhi will leave from Kochuveli at 9.40 am on September 17 and will reach New Delhi at 3.20pm on the third day.The special trains will halt at New Delhi, Mathura, Sawai Madhopur, Kota, Nagda, Ratlam, Dahod, Godhara, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Navsari, Valsad, Vapi, Vasai Road, Panvel, Roha, Chiplun, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pernem, Madgaon, Karwar, Udupi, Manglore Jn, Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Tirur, Shoranur Jn., Thrisur, Aluva, Ernakulam Town, Kottayam, Tiruvalla, Chengannur, Kayankulam, Quilon, Kochuveli. The train will have 15 coaches.

Rajbhasha Week Celebrations-2013 has begun today (10thSeptember, 2013) in South Central Railway.  Sri Laxman Shivhare, Senior Rajbhasha Adhikari, while addressing the gathering said that Hindi was adopted as official language of the Union of India o­n 14th September, 1949. To mark this memorable event, Hindi Week is celebrated o­n this railway every year from 10th to 16th September  and Hindi Day is celebrated every year o­n 14th September, he added. Various programmes in Hindi are conducted to reiterate the importance of official language during this week.The inaugural day programmes included Hindi Shrutlekhan, Hindi Typing and Hinid Quiz competitions.  Hindi Quiz programme included questions from various fields such as general knowledge, Constitutional provisions for Rajbhasha, Railways, Health, Environment, Science etc. Spot cash awards were given away to the winners.  Officers and  employees have participated in large number with great enthusiasm. Hindi Geet Antakshari programme will be organised at various levels from 11th September  2013 o­nwards. The valedictory function will be held o­n 16 September, 2013.

North Central Railway invited applications for recruitment for various posts against Cultural quota. The candidates eligible for the posts can apply through prescribed format before 14 October 2013. Important Date Opening Date for Submission of Application Form: 14 September 2013 Closing Date for Submission of Application Form: 14 October 2013 Details of Posts Discipline No of Post Drama (Play/Skit/Monoact) 1 Classical Singer (Male/Female) 1

Konkan Railway’s Sky Bus Technology was dumped on safety considerations while Mumbai Mono Rail is getting delayed due to safety concerns. Even, imported technology Monorail that costs 70% more than the Skybus, is being given preference. Why are we so defeatists towards not adopting Indian innovations?   Engineering innovations such as Konkan Railway’s Sky Bus Technology, costing one-fourth the elevated Metro Rail, is dumped on safety considerations while safety concerns are causing delays in commissioning of Mumbai Monorail. The imported monorail technology, which costs 70% more than the Sky Bus, has been given preference (over Skybus) despite its capacity being barely one seventh of the indigenous Sky Bus capacity. Why are we so defeatists towards not adopting Indian innovations?   Newspapers reports on 6 September 2013...   “Monorail likely to be delayed further, contractors pulled up” … Hindustan Times   “Chembur Wadala Monorail Unsafe: MMRDA Officials” … DNA   “MMRDA raises doubts over monorail safety” … Times of India   “Madan (Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA) spoke about the lack of safety on the monorail while referring to last month’s incident of a panel door falling. Additional commissioner Bhide said that since the monorail was in its first phase (from Chembur to Wadala), there was ample space below, luckily, no one was hurt. The case would have been different if it was in phase 2 – from Wadala to Saata Rasta – where the stretch below is narrow and crowded.”  … Mumbai Mirror   Scene: end September 2004, location Madgao, Goa.   Venue: Test track of Sky Bus Metro, the innovative mode of transport of Konkan Railway.   “Onboard staff has accidental fall from 6m height from the Sky Bus on a test run, meets fatal end.”   This was the news headline at that time. Further testing was totally halted by the investigating agency. The innovator and team leader is not given extension to bring the Sky Bus Technology to logical conclusion. Ministry of Urban Development appoint an expert’s committee comprising of engineers, some from the Railways, including commissioner of Railway Safety and some from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, competitors to Sky Bus technology, to see the viability of Sky Bus Metro. The expert’s committee was chaired by Prof Indiresan, former director of IIT Madras. It recommended to the Ministry to invest Rs50 crore  to improve certain aspects of design over a period of two years. About Rs50 crore were already spent by industry partners with Konkan Railway for the test track and an additional Rs50 crore would have been very useful in terms of getting the Sky Bus Technology off the ground had Prof Indiresan recommended that the full amount be made available for spending immediately, with outer limit of two years. This kind of recommendation would have helped in giving Indian innovators the signal that government of India is serious in research and development (R&D) that would benefit our nation through indigenous innovations.    The author even spent some time with Dr Mashelkar, the then director general of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) discussing the Sky Bus innovation of B Rajaram, the then managing director of Konkan Railway. CSIR was sitting with funds as much as Rs5,000 crore for R&D then. Perhaps Dr Mashelkar, the advocate of “Gandhian Engineering—Maximum benefit to Maximum number of people with minimum expenditure” failed to recognize such an innovation could compete with the monorail and Metro Rails, with some additional benefits thrown in. Perhaps CSIR did not cover “technological innovations”.   There have been fatal accidents in the construction phase of Mumbai Metro as well as Mumbai monorail. Falling of the door of a monorail could have happened in habited areas of the route and would have had, on its record, some deaths too. It was just a coincidence that it fell on an empty road.   Having stopped further testing for three months in the case of Sky Bus, should not the government have stopped construction or testing of monorail or Metro Rail? Delhi Metro too has had its share of accidents, and not to speak of 3,600 people losing their lives every year on the suburban railway in Mumbai.   Are we not self-defeatists that we allowed the Konkan Railways team of enthusiastic and energised engineers disperse to their respective parent railways, and that we allowed the test track and the rail coach lie idle in Goa to get rusted?   While about 3,600 people get killed every year on the Mumbai suburban railway system, mainly due to heavy overload, the government does not seem to care to work on something like Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), which will cost less than one twentieth of Metro Rail and allow Indian geniuses to develop to serve.   With current prices and sliding rupee-US dollar parity, comparative statements for various modes of mass transits are presented. It is obvious that BRTS should be priority one followed by the Sky Bus. Construction time is also indicated, considering that a highly stressed Mumbai transport infrastructure will not be significantly further stretched during construction phase. Mumbai has to be functional even as infrastructure projects are taken up for implementation.  

The figures shown above may appear to be exaggerated. If there are enough challenging queries on this article, the Author is willing to put the computations in the public domain. Let us be practical, pragmatic in developing our technologies and use them to make “Gandhian Engineering” a reality. Let us not be defeatists.   (Sudhir Badami is a civil engineer and transportation analyst. He is on Government of Maharashtra’s Steering Committee on BRTS for Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s Technical Advisory Committee on BRTS for Mumbai. He is also member of Research & MIS Committee of Unified Mumbai Metropolitan Transport Authority. He was member of Bombay High Court appointed erstwhile Road Monitoring Committee (2006-07).  He is member of the committee constituted by the Bombay High Court for making the Railways, especially the suburban railways system friendly towards Persons with Disability (2011- ). While he has been an active campaigner against Noise for more than a decade, he is a strong believer in functioning democracy. He can be contacted at sudhirbadami@gmail.com)

New Delhi: Railways have earned Rs 54,462.79 crores during April-August this year as compared to Rs 49,382.94 crores during the same period last year, registering an increase of 10.29 percent.The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs 34,067.51 cr during April 1 - August 31, 2012 to Rs 37,085.96 crore during the corresponding period this year, an increase of 8.86 percent, according to the Railway Ministry data.The total passenger earnings during the five months of the current fiscal were Rs 14,758 cr compared to Rs 13,005.37 cr during the same period last year, registering an increase of 13.48 percent.The earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs 1560.67 cr during April-August 2013 compared to Rs 1261.35 cr during the same period last year, an increase of 23.73 percent.The total approximate numbers of passengers booked during April- August 2013 were 3533.86 million compared to 3566.83 million during the same period last year, showing a decrease of 0.92 percent.In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the numbers of passengers booked during April-August 2013 were 1883.14 million and 1650.72 million compared to 1840.18 million and 1726.55 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 2.33 per cent and a decrease of 4.40 per cent respectively.

Union Railway Minister M Mallikarjun Kharge was optimistic about bridging the gap of the fall in the revenue mobilisation in the Railways and achieve the plan targets for the year 2013-14.Talking to “The Hindu” in Gulbarga city on Tuesday, Mr. Kharge said that there has been buoyancy in the revenue generation through freights in the last couple of months and if the same trend continued the plan targets would be achieved as planned earlier.Mr. Kharge said that the planning commission had imposed a cut of Rs 5000 Crore in the plan size of the Railways this year and he would be meeting the planning commission shortly to plead for sanction of funds for the national projects and would make all out effort to bring down the plan size cut from Rs 5000 crore to Rs 2000 crore.