ProUI

VADODARA: Lord Ganesha - the remover of obstacles - seems to have removed obstacles along communal lines at Godhra's railway institute. A member of the minority community at the institute has been at the forefront of organizing the Ganpati festivities for over a decade.From procurement of the idol to organizing events - Siraj Ansari has been neck deep in preparations for the festival for 15 years now. Ansari took over the reins of the institute as its secretary in 1997 and since then has been actively involved in organizing the festival.Ansari said that the committee for the Western Railway Institute at Godhra organizes a series of events including festivals, sports meets, cultural programmes and others. "The Ganpati festivities are one of the important events that we have been organizing since 1942," Ansari says.Besides organizing the event, Ansari is also well acquainted with the history of the Ganpati pandals in Godhra. "In 1942, when the festivities started, it was held only at our place, state reserve police group here, civil lines and police lines. My father also followed the festival keenly and told me about its background in the town," he said. Ansari says that the railways were a melting pot of all religions and communities. "There is a spirit of unity. When I need help or leaves for my festivals or functions, all officers and colleagues send me," he said.

Ansari pointed out that as an organizer, he ensured that interesting competitions and cultural events were held during the festival. "Children and families of employees enjoy these events.

For us Indians all festivals are alike. My organizing the festivities should not come as a surprise," he said.

CHENNAI: With festival season round the corner, the railways are hunting for coaches and loco pilots to run special trains. As there is a shortage of loco pilots, loco pilots who drive passenger trains and occasionally goods train drivers are assigned to special trains.Southern Railway is short of coaches and loco pilots because the centralised system of allott has not helped many zones meet the demand for new and special trains. Sources said that "instructions have been given to maximise utilisation of rakes to operate as many special trains as possible during the festival season on popular routes. But, there is a 13% shortage of experienced loco pilots."Rakes of trains that are operated only once or twice a week are also used as specials to Madurai or Coimbatore. Such rakes are also used to operate daytime special trains.However, shortage of assistant loco pilots and loco pilots is a stumbling block before running specials. "A few loco pilots who operate goods trains are being used to run special trains from Egmore. This can be a safety risk because express trains run at 110km per hour while goods trains are run at a maximum speed of 70km per hour," said an official.The sequence of postings and promotions designed to help a recruit gain experience is also violated to meet demand for manpower. A fresher is posted as assistant loco pilot on a goods train, then to assistant in passenger trains, and then promoted as a loco pilot and is posted to drive a shunting loco. After gaining experience driving a shunting loco at slow speed, the loco pilot is posted to run passenger trains and mail or express trains.

Southern Railway chief public relations officer D Lakshmanan said that "a special train is operated only if we have adequate loco pilot and coaches. If we do not have them, trains are not operated." It takes more than a year for fresh recruits to join duty. "Those who were selected in 2011 have just started to join. Many leave during training because of poor pay (5,830 plus 1,900) and inconvenient nature of duty," said an official.

The training period has been reduced from 52 weeks to 17 weeks so that fresh recruits can join duty quickly. All India Loco Running Staff Association has demanded that recruitments should be held every year so that shortage of staff will not impact passenger safety.

Demand to employ more labour union members at work sites

With precisely 1,000 days left for Kochi Metro to be commissioned, interference by regional construction unions brought the metro’s piling works to a standstill at Kaloor on Tuesday. Early in the day, union workers reportedly obstructed works at the casting site in Cheranalloor. With materials for piling not arriving from the site, the sub-contractor had to stop piling at Kaloor.Though trade union leaders say that they are open to the work resuming on Wednesday, sources associated with metro expressed annoyance at constant obstruction of work by trade unions. “Works will resume only after a permanent solution is found, since we will not brook undue interference from unions,” they said.Speaking to The Hindu , Minister for Transport Aryadan Mohammed said that he had taken up the issue with CITU’s State general secretary Elamaram Karim. “He has promised all help to end the impasse.”The deadlock arose after the sub-contractor refused to yield to the demand to raise the number of union workers from 10 to 22 at the casting site. With each worker being paid over Rs 700 for a 12-hour shift this would set a bad precedent and also increase the project cost, sources said. Moreover, work sites have sufficient number of skilled workers trained by contracting firms and modern machinery is in place to do most of the work. “We do not need excess workers since they do not have much work to do. Moreover, they set a bad example for trained workers who are willing to put in hard work,” they said.

बरेली: रेलवे बोर्ड लोकल ट्रेनों में सफर करने वाले यात्रियों की संख्या जुटाने में जुट गया है। ताकि यात्रियों की संख्या के लिहाज से कोच बढ़ाने और होने वाली आय का आकलन किया जा सके। रेलवे बोर्ड ने अपने कॉमर्शियल विभाग को 10, 11 और 12 सितंबर में लोकल ट्रेनों के जनरल कोचों में चेकिंग कर यात्रियों की संख्या जुटाने के निर्देश दिए हैं। जिसके चलते मंगलवार को सीएमआइ एके सिंह, जंक्शन सीटीआई मो.विलाल, सीटीआइ आरएस श्रीवास्तव, आरके सक्सेना ने टीमों के साथ अलीगढ़ पैसेंजर, दिल्ली पैसेंजर, सीतापुर पैसेंजर, इलाहाबाद पैसेंजर, ऊना-हिमाचल, त्रिवेणी और मुगलसराय एक्सप्रेस में चेकिंग की। इस दौरान अलीगढ़ पैसेंजर को छोड़ बाकी ट्रेनों के जनरल कोच में यात्रियों की संख्या 60 से 100 के बीच मिली। कॉमर्शियल टीम अपनी रिपोर्ट तैयार कर शुक्रवार को मंडल रेल मुख्यालय, मुरादाबाद भेजेगी। इससे पूर्व रेलवे बोर्ड मुफ्त रेल सफर करने वाले यात्रियों की संख्या का आकलन दिल्ली से टीम भेज करा चुका है।

NAVI MUMBAI: Railways have introduced additional festival special trains along the Konkan coast to clear extra rush during the ongoing Ganpati and upcoming Onam festivals.

The unreserved special trains between Roha and Ratnagiri will run during Ganesh Chaturthi and New Delhi-Kuchuveli Superfast express will run during the upcoming Onam festival.For Ganesh Chaturthi, train no. 05010 Ratnagiri - Roha will leave Ratnagiri at 0650 hours and reach Roha at 12:50 hours the same day. Train no. 05009 Roha - Ratnagiri will leave Roha at 15:30 hours and reach Ratnagiri at 21:00 hours the same day. These trains will run on September 11, 15, 16 and 19 which will have 12 unreserved coaches.For Onam, train no. 04096 New Delhi-Kochuveli Superfast Express will leave New Delhi at 23:30 hours on September 12 to reach Kochuveli at 02:45 hours on the fourth day. Train no. 04095 Kohcuveli-New Delhi will leave Kochuveli at 09.40 hours on September 17 to reach New Delhi at 15:20 hours on the third day.The special trains will halt at 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 Junction, Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Tirur, Shoranur Junction, Thrisur, Aluva, Ernakulam Town, Kottayam, Tiruvalla, Chengannur, Kayankulam, Quilon and Kochuveli.

Agartala : The work on extending railway connectivity between Agartala and Tripura’s southernmost subdivision Sabroom is hamstrung by funds crunch and land acquisition problems.A 5km stretch of land between Bishalgarh subdivision and Charilam continues to be under encroachment.Almost 80 per cent of the 135km-long railway track between Agartala and Sabroom passes through a reserve forest area, which has not yet received clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests. So this stretch of land cannot be brought under railway network.Harpal Singh, chief engineer (construction) of NF Railway, said they have sought chief minister Manik Sarkar’s intervention in clearing the land between Bishalgarh and Charilam of encroachers and to secure clearance from the Centre.He visited Tripura yesterday as the head of a delegation of NF Railway officials to monitor the progress in work.“Another major problem we are facing is funds crunch, mainly because of the steep price escalation. The project was scheduled to be completed by March 2014 but, as things stand now, it will take another year. We hope the railway connectivity between Agartala and Sabroom will be effective in March 2016,” Singh said.

He said the chief minister he assured them of all co-operation and that land acquisition problems would be satisfactorily resolved.

Besides, Singh said, the task of laying broad-gauge track between Lumding and Agartala would be completed by March 2015.

South Eastern Railway (SER) will run 17 pairs of special air-conditioned trains to clear additional rush during the ensuing festive season, beginning October first week.

According to a release, the trains will be operated on Santragachi-Chennai and Santragachi-Mumbai routes between October 5 and December 2. While nine pairs of such trains will be run on the Santragachi-Chennai route, SER will introduce eight pairs of special trains between Santragachi and Mumbai.These trains will be in addition to the 73 pairs of Puja Special trains on various destinations along south eastern routes such as Santragachi-Puri (9 pairs), Shalimar-Yeswantpur (8 pairs), Santragachi-Anand Vihar (8 pairs), Santragachi-Kochuveli (9 pairs), Sealdah-Puri (7 pairs), Tata-Bhagalpur (8 pairs), Hatia-Yeswantpur (8 pairs) and Ranchi-Kathihar (16 pairs).

#Broadgauge rail link to Agartala by 2016
#AGARTALA, Sept 9 – The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has set a target to bring Agartala in the country’s Broad Gauge (BG) rail network by March 2016, according to official sources.
NFR Chief Engineer (Construction) Harpal Singh who inspected some on-going railway projects here on Monday, told reporters here that Agartala is scheduled to get BG link by March 2016 provided fund shortage do not come in the way.

“If the required fund is available, the NFR will extend BG rail connectivity to Agartala within the stipulated time”, Singh said. He also said that the railway extension work upto Sabroom would be implemented in two phases. The ongoing railway extension work from Agartala to Udaipur is expected to be completed by March 2015 while people of Sabroom would see the railhead by March 2016, he said.

According to him, the BG conversion work from Lumding to Silchar is in full swing. “The NFR has set a target to complete the project by March 2015”, he said. He further said the rail service in between Lumding and Silchar would be suspended for six months starting from October 2014 to expedite the BG conversion work.

The NF Railway official, however, hinted at shortage of fund to execute different railway projects undertaken in the land-locked State. He said the NFR had sought Rs 135 crore for the BG conversion work from Silchar to Agartala but the Centre has allocated only Rs 5 crore.

It may be noted that Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to expedite all the railway projects in the State.

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.

Southern Railway closed its booking counter nearly a week ago citing a hike in rent by AAI

Passengers may now be unable to make railway reservations at Chennai airport as Southern Railway closed its booking counter there nearly a week ago.Railway officials cite a hike in rent by Airports Authority of India (AAI) as the reason for this move.The facility that was started in the airport in March 1996 came in handy for air passengers who were planning travel to other districts from Chennai.Southern Railway sold about 180 tickets a day on an average and paid around Rs. 5,000 a month as rent for the space given to them near the arrival hall of the old domestic terminal. In the new domestic terminal, though, AAI had asked them to pay nearly Rs. 15,000 a month, said an official of Southern Railway.“They have tripled the rent for us and we can’t afford to pay so much for a counter. Apart from rent, we will also have to pay for electricity and telephone. Hence we don’t want to shift to the new domestic terminal. Now, we plan to shift this facility to Tirusulam station and have sent a proposal for the same to the board,” he said.Many AAI employees too were using the facility for several years now. According to an AAI official, the Railway paid only half the rent collected from the other counters, including the airlines.

“This is an important passenger facility that should be present at airport. Citing increased rent for shutdown of counter seems too trivial a reason. Many passengers will suffer without the facility,” he added.