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Bhubaneswar, Sept. 12: Passengers of the Secunderabad-Howrah Falaknuma Express survived a fire scare here today.
The gatekeeper at Retang railway station, around 12km from here, saw smoke emanating from one of the wheels and alerted railway officials who rushed in with help as soon as the train reached Bhubaneswar. There was no damage to the train.
Eyewitnesses said when the train arrived on platform No. 1 of Bhubaneswar railway station, smoke was emanating from under a first AC compartment. When the train stopped, fire brigade personnel and other railway officials arrived at the spot. Passengers of two compartments were evacuated immediately.
“When we saw officials approach the train, initially we did not understand what was going on. When we asked, they told us about a fire incident. We were terrified,” said Soumen Lenka, a youth who had come to see off his friend who was going to Howrah.
The fire brigade team had to intervene before the technicians could repair the damage. The train resumed its journey after a 20-minute halt at Bhubaneswar.
“We were worried about our safety when we were asked to board the train again,” said R. Khan, a passenger who had boarded the train from Berhampur. He said a team from the railway travelled till Bhadrak to ensure there was no further problem.
Bhubaneswar station manager Mohd M. Khan said after the train left Khurda Road junction at 12.30pm, the gatekeeper at Retanga station noticed the smoke and informed his station manager. The official immediately informed Khan.
“We immediately called the fire brigade. We also kept our technical, electrical and mechanical staff ready to check the problem and take necessary action as soon as possible. The train arrived at the station around 12.45pm and our teams began work right away,” said the station manager.
It was found that the smoke was emanating from the v-belt of a wheel under compartment due to excessive friction. The rubber belt had started to burn due to over heating.
After the fire brigade team cooled the damaged area, technical teams of the railway removed the belt. Thereafter, the train resumed its journey.
Assistant fire officer Ramesh Majhi said they had rushed to the station with two water tankers. “It was a minor accident, but it could have become big if the authorities did not take immediate steps,” said Majhi.
A railway official said had the gatekeeper not noticed it, a major mishap could have occurred.
“We removed the belt, which had begun to burn. There was no further risk. Still we sent a team of technical experts on the train till Bhadrak station to observe if there was any further threat,” said Khan.

New Delhi:  Northern Railway today launched Legal Information Management and Briefing System, (LIMS) a web-based portal, for effective monitoring and management of court cases of the zone here.

Developed in-house, the system will facilitate monitoring disposal of pending legal cases online through a customized web portal.

The system is envisaged to assist in managing, monitoring and briefing of the court cases of Northern Railway filed in various courts and forums in the jurisdiction of zonal railway, said a senior Northern Railway official.

Through multi-faceted features, LIMS provides all related information of cases for a holistic legal perspective.

One of the significant enabling features of the system is that it provides SMS alerts to concerned officers on notable orders of the court cases for prompt action and also enables the facility to know interim orders, the official said.

Through this common platform, a single database can be accessed by authorized users in zonal headquarters or units and workshops of Northern Railway.

The system provides online database of court cases, special emphasis on contempt cases, close monitoring of current month cases, court-wise summary, status-wise monitoring and generation of reports at different levels of the hierarchy.

The web-based portal also provides hyperlinks to the websites of the apex and subordinate courts, Central Administrative Tribunal, Consumer Forums and Railway Claims Tribunals.

New Delhi:  Northern Railway today launched Legal Information Management and Briefing System, (LIMS) a web-based portal, for effective monitoring and management of court cases of the zone here.

Developed in-house, the system will facilitate monitoring disposal of pending legal cases online through a customized web portal.

The system is envisaged to assist in managing, monitoring and briefing of the court cases of Northern Railway filed in various courts and forums in the jurisdiction of zonal railway, said a senior Northern Railway official.

Through multi-faceted features, LIMS provides all related information of cases for a holistic legal perspective.

One of the significant enabling features of the system is that it provides SMS alerts to concerned officers on notable orders of the court cases for prompt action and also enables the facility to know interim orders, the official said.

Through this common platform, a single database can be accessed by authorized users in zonal headquarters or units and workshops of Northern Railway.

The system provides online database of court cases, special emphasis on contempt cases, close monitoring of current month cases, court-wise summary, status-wise monitoring and generation of reports at different levels of the hierarchy.

The web-based portal also provides hyperlinks to the websites of the apex and subordinate courts, Central Administrative Tribunal, Consumer Forums and Railway Claims Tribunals.

Kochi: Directions have been issued to make peak hour trains like the Kottayam-Ernakulam passenger stick to the scheduled time by minimizing the halts at intermediate points for purposes like crossings, said Divisional Railway Manager Rajesh Agarwal, on Thursday.

“I’ve received complaints from office-goers that trains frequently run behind schedule and as a result, they never reach their offices on time. A two-minute technical halt would result in the train getting late by 20 minutes”, he said.

Earlier, the DRM travelled in the Quilon-Kottayam-Ernakulam passenger, interacting with commuters to know the deficiency in customer services. “We’ll run trains on an hourly basis between Ernakulam and Kottayam soon. For that, priority will be given to track doubling in the section”. DRM said

गोरखपुर : प्रतीक्षा सूची के यात्रियों की बढ़ती भीड़ को देखते हुए पूर्वोत्तर रेलवे प्रशासन ने 2 जोड़ी मेल गाड़ियों में विभिन्न तिथि और स्टेशनों से अतिरिक्त कोच लगाने का निर्णय लिया है। मुख्य जनसंपर्क अधिकारी आलोक कुमार सिंह के अनुसार 15004 चौरीचौरा एक्सप्रेस में 14 सितंबर को गोरखपुर से तथा 15003 चौरीचौरा में 15 को कानपुर अनवरगंज से शयनयान श्रेणी के एक-एक कोच लगाए जाएंगे।

Projects can be completed only if States share the costs’

Major projects coming under the Southern Railway can be completed soon only if the State Governments share the costs of the projects, according to Southern Railway General Manager (GM) Rakesh Misra.

Mr.Misra made a statement to this effect at a meeting organised with Members of Parliament here on Thursday to discuss the on-going railway projects ahead of the next railway budget, Virudhunagar MP (Congress) B. Manicka Tagore, who participated in the meeting, told The Hindu .

According to the MP, the General Manager attributed the slow progress of the project works to the decreased fund allocation.

The MPs demanded several projects like laying of a new line in Madurai-Aruppukottai-Tuticorin section, a new line linking Dindigul and Sabarimala, doubling of Villupuram-Nagercoil line and completion of Shengottah-Punalur and Madurai-Bodi gauge conversion projects.

Railway officials said some States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were making 50 per cent contribution for railway projects which were considered commercially unviable.

While new line projects worth Rs.5,000 crore had been sanctioned in the Southern Railway, the budgetary allocation made for 2012-13 was only around Rs.100 crore.

While around 30 MPs representing constituencies coming under the Madurai and Tiruchi railway divisions were invited for the meeting, only seven turned up.

Speaking at the meeting, Manishankar Iyer said the Southern Railway had neglected the Mainline (connecting Chennai with the Delta region) after taking up the gauge conversion work in 1988.

“Several trains that were running between Chennai and the Delta region have not been re-introduced after gauge conversion,” he said. He wanted the railway to resume the five passenger trains that were running on the Mainline.

He suggested a rail link between Mayiladurai and Tharangampadi for which, he said, the railway did not have to acquire any land afresh.

He also wanted a train connecting the popular pilgrimage destinations of Velankanni, Nagoor and Tirunallar.

He sought stoppage of mail and express trains at Tirusulam railway station for the benefit of air passengers going to the airport in Chennai.

Theni MP J.M. Haroon flayed the railway administration for not starting the gauge conversion work in Madurai-Bodi section even three years after the closure of the line. “The people of Theni did not ask for gauge conversion… It (not starting the work) is affecting transportation of goods like spices and tea,” he said.

He wanted the railway to set up its goods booking offices in Theni, Bodi and Usilampatti.

Other MPs who attended the meeting were N.S.V. Chitthan, O.S. Manian, S.S. Palanimanickam and Ramasubbu. Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), Southern Railway, S. Vijayakumaran, and Divisional Railway Managers, A.K. Rastogi (Madurai) and Manjula Rangarajan (Tiruchi) were present.

While new line projects worth Rs.5,000 crore had been sanctioned, the budgetary allocation made for 2012-13 was only around Rs.100 crore

Though around 30 MPs representing constituencies coming under the Madurai and Tiruchi railway divisions were invited, only seven turned up

LUDHIANA: With the festivals of Diwali and Chhath Puja less than two months away, there has been a heavy demand for railway tickets. Several city residents, who hail from UP, MP and Bihar, are finding it hard to get confirmed tickets for their journey back home. Dhananjay Kumar, an employee of an automobile parts factory who hails from Bihar: "I am planning to go home in October, to celebrate Diwali. I tried to book tickets for the same online, but found that the waiting list for 3-tier AC class is more than 50 for any train."

Many residents wishing to go to their home states are annoyed with the bookings on the IRCTC website. "The website crashes every now and then, and the number of tickets being booked at a time is very less. And even as a person manages to get to the website, the waiting list is too long. However, it is surprising that there is no waiting list for Diwali day," adds Anil Pandey, an employee of a garment factory who belongs to Lucknow, and who wishes to go home to celebrate Diwali and Chhath Puja with his parents there.

As the waiting list is growing by the day, residents are demanding that railways should start special trains around the festivals. Says Suresh Kumar of Indore, who works in a hosiery unit: "The rush during the festive season is not unexpected for the authorities. They should have taken advance measures to ensure that those wishing to travel home to celebrate festivals don"t face problems. Even now, they can start new trains for the festival season."

Meanwhile, railway authorities say that the rush for tickets around the festival season is always there. "Given the fact that the rush will be there during the coming festival season too, we are soon announcing the start of holiday special trains, and are also planning to attach more coaches in the existing trains," said NC Goyal, Divisional Railway Manager of Ferozepur division, who also looks after railway operations in the Ludhiana area.

It’s a Techie Life Techies are angling for more trains to halt at Kazhakkuttom

For all its status as Kerala’s premier IT destination thanks to Technopark nearby, Kazhakkuttom still has miles to go, it seems, especially with regards to rail connectivity. Techies – and local people too – bemoan the fact that very few trains, and practically none of the long distance ones, plying the busy route to and from the Thiruvananthapuram Central, stop at Kazhakkuttom railway station. They have been angling for increased connectivity for a while now.Kazhakkuttom, the nearest to Technopark of the three stations that serve the city, usually wears a deserted look. On weekday evenings, around 5.30 p.m. though, the station becomes (perhaps) the busiest of the three. Hundreds of techies and tens of others who work/study in one of the many institutes nearby cram into every available space on the platform to catch the Vanchinad Express, the one and only “useful” train, they say, for those who work in the area. On Friday evenings, the rush for the train, apparently, increases exponentially. “And today evening, when just about everyone will be heading home for the long Onam weekend, it will be a nightmare to even get a foothold on the train,” says Sudhish Radhakrishnan, who works for an multi-national company in Technopark and commutes to Kochi, his hometown, on Fridays.

Anil Kumar T.K., a regular commuter from Kollam to Kazhakkuttom, who works at Elemenz IT Solutions in Technopark, says: “Even if its an early morning commute, getting into Kazhakkuttom is fairly easy with the Madurai-Punalur passenger , the Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram Passenger and the Malabar Express halting there. It’s the return journey that’s the issue. Travellers to Kochi only have the Vanchinad, which goes via Kottayam. So that’s not an option for those proceeding to Alappuzha. Meanwhile, travellers to Kollam have the Passenger trains and the Kanyakumari – Kollam MEMU much later,” he says.

Padmakumar C., managing director, Sigtech Wireless Technology at Technopark, who also travels from Kollam daily, speaks for a lot of fellow commuters when he says: “I have been travelling the route since 2006 and nothing has changed. It really would be of great help if more daily trains stopped at Kazhakkuttom between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. As it happens, we have to watch helplessly as trains such as Jan Shadabti, Chennai Express, and Guruvayur Express, to name but a few, which start from Central station around that time, all whiz by without halting. All we need is a two to three-minute stop for some of these trains. Incidentally, even the Malabar Express doesn’t halt on its way out of the city.”

Also, techies say that the station itself has very little in way of infrastructure. The platform for instance, is open to the elements. “Season tickets are not available there. So, we often end up having to stand in long queues,” says Sudhish. Padmakumar adds: “Autos to Kazhakkuttom are available only around the time the trains come in and even then many of them would be pre-booked. Many of the travellers, men and women, thus end up walking all the way to the junction, which is almost a kilometre away. The connecting road is not safe especially for women, as it doesn’t have proper lighting. There are snakes on the road and, even worse, nefarious elements.”

Then again, isn’t Kochuveli Station only a few miles down the road? And in the evening, there is the alternate option to catch the Kochuveli-Bangalore daily… “Agreed, but its virtually impossible to get to Kochuveli from Technopark during peak hour traffic. If we have to catch the train at 4.50 p.m., we have to leave office by at least 3.30 p.m. Also, buses to Kochuveli are not so frequent and even if they do come, they come in a group, and almost never during peak hours. The only other option is to hire an auto, which costs more than a standard ticket to Ernakulam [Rs. 150 is the standard charge, say techies]! Then, if we do reach Kochuveli, there is a long queue for tickets,” says Mahesh B., who works in customer relations at Optiologic Technologies.

The train of complaints is long but is anyone listening?

Guwahati, Sept 13: Now some good news for the seven sister states post the Assembly Elections. Among many developments that the state is taking up, railway connectivity is also an important project that got sanction this year. The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has prepared a masterplan to establish railway connectivity between the northeastern states, Bangladesh and Myanmar. According to NFR chief engineer (construction) Harpal Singh, a survey of one of the proposed railway projects connecting Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar has already begun, reported TOI. He said, according to the Plan sanctioned by the Indian Railways, a 252-km railway track would be laid between Jawharnagar, the headquarters of Dhalai district in Tripura, and Darlong city of Myanmar through Kolasib, a town in Mizoram. "Survey of the 109-km railway line between Jawharnagar and Kolashib has started and the rest 148-km track, between Kolasib and Darlong, will be surveyed in the next phase. If all goes well, track-laying would begin in the next few years," said Singh. Railway authorities have also sanctioned funds for a feasibility study of a link between Belonia in Tripura and Chittagong in Bangladesh. Two more short distance routes are being considered. One of them would be a 80-km track connecting Panisagar in Tripura to Simanapur in Mizoram, while another would be a 45-km track connecting Patharkandhi in Assam to Kanmun in Mizoram, Singh added. NFR is all set to issue work order to Ircon International Ltd to lay the railway tracks linking Agartala with Akhaura of Bangladesh, as per the bilateral agreements during the last visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka, Singh said. But out of this, how much will be finished in how much time, only time will tell. OneIndia News For latest updates and breaking news, follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Topics: mizoram assembly elections 2013, mizoram, guwahati, manipur, railway, transport, travel, bangladesh, indian railway

New Delhi:  Northern Railway today launched Legal Information Management and Briefing System, (LIMS) a web-based portal, for effective monitoring and management of court cases of the zone here.

Developed in-house, the system will facilitate monitoring disposal of pending legal cases online through a customized web portal.

The system is envisaged to assist in managing, monitoring and briefing of the court cases of Northern Railway filed in various courts and forums in the jurisdiction of zonal railway, said a senior Northern Railway official.

Through multi-faceted features, LIMS provides all related information of cases for a holistic legal perspective.

One of the significant enabling features of the system is that it provides SMS alerts to concerned officers on notable orders of the court cases for prompt action and also enables the facility to know interim orders, the official said.

Through this common platform, a single database can be accessed by authorized users in zonal headquarters or units and workshops of Northern Railway.

The system provides online database of court cases, special emphasis on contempt cases, close monitoring of current month cases, court-wise summary, status-wise monitoring and generation of reports at different levels of the hierarchy.

The web-based portal also provides hyperlinks to the websites of the apex and subordinate courts, Central Administrative Tribunal, Consumer Forums and Railway Claims Tribunals.