ProUI

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.

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.

Train No.17016 Secunderabad- Bhubaneswar Visakha Express scheduled to depart Secunderabad at  17 00 hrs today i.e., 11th September, 2013 (Wednesday) is re-scheduled to depart at 19 15 hrs due to late running of its pairing train.

Kochi: Labor disputes once again disrupted the Kochi Metro works, which has already suffered six man days, forcing the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to demand a Labor policy to be issued by the State Government.

Contractor Soma Constructions, which is entrusted with work of the third reach from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to South railway station, said it’s suspending the work after employee union at the Cheranellor casting yard demanded inclusion of more local employees in the work.

“The contractor informed us the civil works at Kaloor has to be suspended due to this, besides that, in the casting yard. We’ve already lost six man days. Though we could make up the lost days so far, we can’t afford further stopping of works if it has to be completed in 843 days from now. The State Government should roll out a labor policy which should be accepted by all party involved,” said a senior DMRC official.

While 1000 days are remaining, before the end of the official deadline, as announced by the Chief Minister, during the project inauguration, it’s only 843 days as per the internal deadline set by the DMRC.

“While the Kochi Metro project will ensure that workers are not denied any of their rights, all of us involved in the implementation of the project are anxious to ensure that the work is not disrupted on account of any labor dispute,” said KMRL MD Elias George, who assured immediate action to resolve the dispute.

The additional cost on account of any kind of delay will have to be borne by the Government and the people of Kerala.  Issues or grievances related to labor welfare can be settled through dialogue and discussion, but the work should be allowed to go on without any kind of interruption, he said. 

Meanwhile, the CITU categorically said that their workers were not the cause for stopping the Metro work at the casting yard. “The sub-contractor stopped the work due to non-availability of funds,” K.N. Gopinath, CITU leader, said.

‘If the trend continues, it will be easy to achieve the plan target’

Railway Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge has said that the revenue mobilisation by the Railways has seen an upward swing, and if the trend continues it would be easy to achieve the plan target set for the year 2013-14.“There has been a marked improvement in mobilisation of revenue because of increased movement of freight in the last couple of months raising hopes of the Ministry of achieving the plan targets,” Mr. Kharge said.Speaking to The Hindu in Gulbarga on Tuesday, Mr. Kharge said that if the present trend of increased resource mobilisation continues, the Railways would be able to achieve its plan targets easily.He participated in an awareness programme organised by the Information and Publicity Department and Press Information Bureau here on Tuesday.He said among the reasons for the fall in the revenue of the Railways was the ban imposed on mining of iron ore in Karnataka and other States. Besides that economic crisis resulting in the fall in the production levels in the manufacturing sector in addition to fall in the growth of the infrastructure sector had contributed for the fall in the revenue of the Railways. If there is buoyancy in the economy and general improvement in the GDP rates, the revenue of the Railways would improve because of increased movement of freight. We have also taken measures to plug the leakages to save the precious resources of the Railways”.

‘Railway division for Gulbarga and Mangalore being considered’

Setting up of CRPF battalion in Gulbarga put off for now

Kochi: Labor disputes once again disrupted the Kochi Metro works, which has already suffered six man days, forcing the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to demand a Labor policy to be issued by the State Government.

Contractor Soma Constructions, which is entrusted with work of the third reach from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to South railway station, said it’s suspending the work after employee union at the Cheranellor casting yard demanded inclusion of more local employees in the work.

“The contractor informed us the civil works at Kaloor has to be suspended due to this, besides that, in the casting yard. We’ve already lost six man days. Though we could make up the lost days so far, we can’t afford further stopping of works if it has to be completed in 843 days from now. The State Government should roll out a labor policy which should be accepted by all party involved,” said a senior DMRC official.

While 1000 days are remaining, before the end of the official deadline, as announced by the Chief Minister, during the project inauguration, it’s only 843 days as per the internal deadline set by the DMRC.

“While the Kochi Metro project will ensure that workers are not denied any of their rights, all of us involved in the implementation of the project are anxious to ensure that the work is not disrupted on account of any labor dispute,” said KMRL MD Elias George, who assured immediate action to resolve the dispute.

The additional cost on account of any kind of delay will have to be borne by the Government and the people of Kerala.  Issues or grievances related to labor welfare can be settled through dialogue and discussion, but the work should be allowed to go on without any kind of interruption, he said. 

Meanwhile, the CITU categorically said that their workers were not the cause for stopping the Metro work at the casting yard. “The sub-contractor stopped the work due to non-availability of funds,” K.N. Gopinath, CITU leader, said.

‘If the trend continues, it will be easy to achieve the plan target’

Railway Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge has said that the revenue mobilisation by the Railways has seen an upward swing, and if the trend continues it would be easy to achieve the plan target set for the year 2013-14.“There has been a marked improvement in mobilisation of revenue because of increased movement of freight in the last couple of months raising hopes of the Ministry of achieving the plan targets,” Mr. Kharge said.Speaking to The Hindu in Gulbarga on Tuesday, Mr. Kharge said that if the present trend of increased resource mobilisation continues, the Railways would be able to achieve its plan targets easily.He participated in an awareness programme organised by the Information and Publicity Department and Press Information Bureau here on Tuesday.He said among the reasons for the fall in the revenue of the Railways was the ban imposed on mining of iron ore in Karnataka and other States. Besides that economic crisis resulting in the fall in the production levels in the manufacturing sector in addition to fall in the growth of the infrastructure sector had contributed for the fall in the revenue of the Railways. If there is buoyancy in the economy and general improvement in the GDP rates, the revenue of the Railways would improve because of increased movement of freight. We have also taken measures to plug the leakages to save the precious resources of the Railways”.

‘Railway division for Gulbarga and Mangalore being considered’

Setting up of CRPF battalion in Gulbarga put off for now

Chandigarh: The Northern Railways is introducing a new train on the Ambala-Delhi route to ply daily from September 14. On the inaugural day, the Ambala Cantonment-Delhi junction train (No. 14522) will depart from the Ambala station at 11.25 am and reach the National Capital at 5.20 pm. The train will halt at Barara, Jagadhari Workshop, Jagadhari, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut City, Modi Nagar, Ghaziabad and Shahdara stations on the way to Delhi.Official said the routine schedule will be different from timings on the inaugural day. According to the schedule, the train will depart from Ambala Cantonment at 5.40 am and arrive at Delhi at 11.40 am. On the return journey, the 14521 Delhi junction-Ambala Cantonment train will depart at 1.10 pm and reach Ambala at 7.10 pm.The train comprises 16 coaches that include an AC chair car, ten general class and two differently abled-friendly second class-cum-luggage van coaches.

Announced but awaited

Former Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said he has been communicating with the ministry to commence two trains announced during his tenure: bi-weekly Kalka-Sai Nagar Shirdi Express, via Chandigarh, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Bhopal and Itrasi, and weekly Una-Nangaldam-Hazoor Saheb Nanded Express, via Chandigarh. The schedule for running these trains has not been finalised yet, due to the non-availability of rail coaches.

Other trains still awaiting the green signal despite being announced by Bansal include the Chandigarh-Amritsar Intercity Express, via Mohali and Ludhiana (daily); Indore-Chandigarh Express, via Dewas, Ujjain, Guna, Gwalior and Hazrat Nizamuddin (weekly); Kalka-Jammu-Udhampur to Katra Express, via Chandigarh (bi-weekly); Patlipura-Chandigarh Express, via Chandigarh, Ambala Cantt. and Saharanpur (bi-weekly); Amritsar-Lalkuan Express, via Chandigarh (weekly); and Yesvantpur (Bengaluru)-Nizamuddin to Chandigarh.

New Delhi: The Himachal Pradesh Government today sought a special assistance from the Centre for development projects underway in the state and requested Rs 500 crore to strengthen infrastructure network.In his meeting with Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram here, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also requested that the Chandigarh-Baddi railway line be declared as a project of national importance, considering the geographical and strategic importance.Virbhadra urged the Union Minister to speed up the work on the pending Bhanupalli-Bilaspur railway line and provide funds for the rail project at the earliest. He reminded Chidambaram that it was decided by the Prime Minister’s Office in August 2007 that the state government would provide 25 per cent of the funds and the rest by the Railways for the project.Since Independence, the state has seen the construction of just 44-km rail line. Referring to the report submitted by the Central team on the loss caused by floods in the state, Virbhadra asked the Centre to expedite early release of funds so that development work in the flood-affected areas could be undertaken.

To take the industrialisation process in the state forward, he requested that the industrial package be extended till 2020. He clarified that providing incentive to the state would not affect investment in neighbouring states and as against the proposal of Rs 48,000-crore investment, only Rs 14,000-crore investment by industrial houses had materialised.The state also requested the release of Rs 2,100 crore for the annual plan of 2013-14 in view of the financial constraints and the Planning Commission’s nod to enhanced funds for the plan period.

State Revenue Minister Kaul Singh and Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri accompanied the Chief Minister in the meeting.

In order to clear extra rush of passengers during ensuing festive occasions, South Eastern Railway (SER) has decided to run 17 pairs of fully air-conditioned special  trains with pantry car facility between Santragachi-Chennai and Santragachi-Mumbai(LTT) on different nominated days in between October 5 and December 2.

(08041) Santragachi-Chennai Weekly AC Superfast Special (nine pairs), leaving Santragachi every Saturday at 7 pm will reach Chennai at 10.45 pm the next day.  In the return direction, the train (08042) will leave Chennai at 7.50 am every Monday arriving Santragachi at 10.25 am, the next day. The AC Superfast Special train consisting of 15 coaches (AC 3 tier-7, AC 2 tier-4, 1st AC-1, Pantry Car-1 and Luggage Van-2) will have stoppages at Kharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar,Khurda Road, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Samalkot, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, Ongole, Nellore & Gudur between Santragachi and Chennai.

(08060) Santragachi-Mumbai (LTT) Weekly Superfast AC Special (eight pairs), leaving Santragachi at 06.05 am every Wednesday will reach Mumbai (LTT) at 1.35 pm on the following day.  In the return direction; the special train (08059) will leave Mumbai (LTT) at 00.45 am every Friday arriving Santragachi at 08am on the next day. The Superfast AC special train consisting of 15 coaches (AC 3 tier-7, AC 2 tier-4, 1st AC-1, Pantry Car-1 and luggage van-2) will have stoppages at Kharagpur, Tatanagar, Chakradharpur, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Bilaspur, Raipur, Durga, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha, Badnera, Akola, Bhusawal, Manmad, Nasik, Igatpuri and  Kalyan between Santragachi and Mumbai(LTT).

This is in addition to 73 pairs of Puja Special Trains between 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) which have been announced earlier by SER