ProUI

Posters and hoardings put up illegally on railway property are causing financial losses to the tune of almost Rs1 crore to the railways by edging out legitimate advertisers who are willing to advertise in your locals and hoardings on railway property.

The railway authorities have failed to initiate action even as posters and stickers of tantrik babas are slapped on in local trains while hoardings and banners at railway stations have been “taken away” by illegal display mafia.

This issue has now caught the attention of the railway board after the government auditor pulled up the railway’s Mumbai division. The audit report, which was presented in Parliament on August 13, was made public last week.

The report states that three contracts for display of advertisements in local trains had to be closed as the railways could not provide a proper advertising site due to unauthorised and illegal display of advertisements. “The railways failed to prevent such displays, resulting in a loss of 0.73 crore (or Rs73lakh),” the report stated.

The audit report said lack of vigilance indicates a clear risk of possible collusion between railway authorities and the illegal users, resulting in leakage of revenue”.  A Central Railway spokesperson confirmed that illegal advertisements have become a menace.

Kochi:  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.

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.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan had on a recent visit, objected to too many workers being posted at piling and casting sites, on seeing many of them standing idle.

Metro officials expressed shock at frequent interruptions in the work because of problems posed by local-level construction and headload workers’ unions. “We are fed up with too many rounds of talks with union leaders. There is no tangible increase in output despite union workers being posted at worksites.”

Meanwhile, Kochi Metro Rail Limited’s (KMRL) managing director Elias George reminded that Kochi Metro is Kerala’s flagship infrastructure project and the entire State is looking forward to the timely unveiling of a world-class metro system. “While we will uphold workers’ rights, we are eager to ensure that the work is not disrupted on account of any labour dispute. The additional costs incurring on the project on account of any kind of delay/cost overrun will have to be borne by the State government,” he said.

Labour issues, if any, can be settled through dialogue and discussion, but the work should be allowed to go on without any interruption, he said.

The district secretary of the construction workers’ union affiliated to the CITU, K.V. Manoj said that work at the casting site was stopped since the sub-contractor was unwilling to employ more union members. The regional labour commissioner has promised to convene a meeting on September 22 to discuss the issue.

The DMRC is peeved at frequent disruptions to work since each day’s delay in commissioning the project (whose deadline is March 2016) will increase the project cost by over Rs.50 lakh. Meanwhile, the State government allotted Rs. 234 crore more for the project on Tuesday.

Posters and hoardings put up illegally on railway property are causing financial losses to the tune of almost Rs1 crore to the railways by edging out legitimate advertisers who are willing to advertise in your locals and hoardings on railway property.

The railway authorities have failed to initiate action even as posters and stickers of tantrik babas are slapped on in local trains while hoardings and banners at railway stations have been “taken away” by illegal display mafia.

This issue has now caught the attention of the railway board after the government auditor pulled up the railway’s Mumbai division. The audit report, which was presented in Parliament on August 13, was made public last week.

The report states that three contracts for display of advertisements in local trains had to be closed as the railways could not provide a proper advertising site due to unauthorised and illegal display of advertisements. “The railways failed to prevent such displays, resulting in a loss of 0.73 crore (or Rs73lakh),” the report stated.

The audit report said lack of vigilance indicates a clear risk of possible collusion between railway authorities and the illegal users, resulting in leakage of revenue”.  A Central Railway spokesperson confirmed that illegal advertisements have become a menace.

Kochi:  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.

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.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan had on a recent visit, objected to too many workers being posted at piling and casting sites, on seeing many of them standing idle.

Metro officials expressed shock at frequent interruptions in the work because of problems posed by local-level construction and headload workers’ unions. “We are fed up with too many rounds of talks with union leaders. There is no tangible increase in output despite union workers being posted at worksites.”

Meanwhile, Kochi Metro Rail Limited’s (KMRL) managing director Elias George reminded that Kochi Metro is Kerala’s flagship infrastructure project and the entire State is looking forward to the timely unveiling of a world-class metro system. “While we will uphold workers’ rights, we are eager to ensure that the work is not disrupted on account of any labour dispute. The additional costs incurring on the project on account of any kind of delay/cost overrun will have to be borne by the State government,” he said.

Labour issues, if any, can be settled through dialogue and discussion, but the work should be allowed to go on without any interruption, he said.

The district secretary of the construction workers’ union affiliated to the CITU, K.V. Manoj said that work at the casting site was stopped since the sub-contractor was unwilling to employ more union members. The regional labour commissioner has promised to convene a meeting on September 22 to discuss the issue.

The DMRC is peeved at frequent disruptions to work since each day’s delay in commissioning the project (whose deadline is March 2016) will increase the project cost by over Rs.50 lakh. Meanwhile, the State government allotted Rs. 234 crore more for the project on Tuesday.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has prepared a masterplan to establish railway connectivity between the northeastern states, Bangladesh and Myammar.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.

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.

Survey of the route from Jiribam to Moreh and then to Tamu in Myanmar via Imphal is expected to be completed by next March, said Singh.

Survey for the route connecting Aizawl and Myanmar from Sairang covering 226 km has already started, he added.

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.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is on a three-day visit to China to take part in the World Economic Forum (WEF), met Hakubun Shimomura, Japan’s Minister for Education and Science and Technology, and discussed the possibility of seeking Japan’s support for setting up a high speed rail network and infrastructure corridors in Karnataka. — Special Correspondent

Rajesh Agrawal, Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Railway Manager, has expressed serious concern over the gross underutilisation of the rail corridor linking the Vallarpadam transshipment terminal with Edappally. He was interacting with reporters here on Thursday.

He said now, only one train plied the railway link, exclusively meant for goods container traffic to and from ICTT, every week. This was mostly because goods transporters preferred to transport containers by road. The rail corridor could be put to optimum use only if at least three to five trains ply the route every day, he said.

(Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL) had constructed the dedicated track linking the terminal with Edappally station in record time. The track is underused as most containers are transported in lorries through congested highways.

This practice has derailed the Railway’s ambitious project to transport 10 million tonnes of cargo in five years’ time from the terminal and Kochi port.

The port had lost out to other ports in the South India, Mr. Agrawal said.

Aimed at ferrying more goods from the terminal and port through trains, railway engineers are engaged in restoring deserted tracks and wharfs of Kochi port.

“We hope to achieve some breakthrough in transporting goods from the adjacent Harbour Terminus railway station,” he said.

बिलासपुर. दुर्गा पूजा व दीपावली त्योहार के अवसर पर हावड़ा-मुंबई मार्ग की ट्रेनों में होने वाली भीड़ को ध्यान में रखते हुए भारतीय रेलवे ने 9 अक्टूबर से साप्ताहिक सुपर फास्ट पूजा स्पेशल ट्रेन चलाने का निर्णय लिया है। सांतरागाछी से लोकमान्य तिलक टर्मिनल के बीच यह स्पेशल ट्रेन 8 फेरे के लिए चलाई जाएगी।


यह ट्रेन सांतरागाछी से 9 अक्टूबर से 08060 नंबर के साथ तथा लोकमान्य तिलक टर्मिनल से 11 अक्टूबर से 08059 नंबर के साथ चलेगी। यह पूजा स्पेशल सांतरागाछी से अक्टूबर महीने में 9, 16, 23 व 30 तथा नवंबर में 6, 13, 20 व 27 तारीख को छूटेगी। वहीं लोकमान्य तिलक टर्मिनल से अक्टूबर माह में 11, 18 व 25 तथा नवंबर में 1, 8, 15, 22 एवं 29 तारीख को छूटेगी। इस ट्रेन में 2 जनरेटर कार, 1 पैंट्रीकार, 7 एसी-३ , 4 एसी-२ व 1 एसी-एक सहित कुल 15 कोच होंगे। ट्रेन बुधवार को सुबह 6.05 बजे सांतरागाछी से छूटकर खडग़पुर, टाटानगर, चक्रधरपुर, राउरकेला, झारसुगुड़ा होते हुए रात 8.15 बजे बिलासपुर पहुंचेगी। यहां से रवाना होकर ट्रेन रायपुर, दुर्ग, गोंदिया, नागपुर, वर्धा, बडनेरा, अकोला, भुसावल, मनमाढ़, नासिक, इगतपुरी, कल्याण होते हुए दूसरे दिन गुरुवार को 12.45 बजे लोकमान्य तिलक टर्मिनल पहुंचेगी। पूजा के दौरान हर साल स्पेशल ट्रेन चलाई जाती है।
नियमित ट्रेनों में अतिरिक्त कोच लगाने की भी पहल

मुंबई-हावड़ा के बीच बिलासपुर जोन से होकर गुजरने वाली एक दर्जन से अधिक ट्रेनों में त्योहार के समय भारी भीड़ रहती है। ऐसे में यात्रियों को ट्रेनों में पैर रखने तक की जगह नहीं मिलती है। जनरल डिब्बों की हालत तो और खराब रहती है। टिकट आरक्षण में वेटिंग लिस्ट 300 से अधिक हो जाती है। रेलवे इस रूट पर नियमित व साप्ताहिक चलने वाली ट्रेनों में भी अस्थायी तौर पर अतिरिक्त शयनयान कोच और एसी कोच बढ़ाने का विचार कर रही है।

A few passengers cancelled their trip, some chose to travel without tickets and a few others rushed to the bus stand

The counter to issue reserved/ unreserved tickets remained empty at the railway station here on Thursday.The station was manned by a Station Master and the job of issuing tickets, both reserved and unreserved, was vested with a commercial clerk. Thursday happened to be his weekly off. A commercial clerk from Rajapalayam was supposed to join duty. Due to a personal work, he took leave. In such a contingency, the railway authorities are supposed to post a ‘reserve’ person from any other nearby railway station to do the work. But, no such arrangement was adopted on Thursday.As a result, the Station Master (on night duty whose working hour ends at 7.00 a.m.) himself issued unreserved tickets to passengers bound for Shencottah or other stations en route in Pothigai Express since there were only a few passengers and there was only one train at that time (6.50 a.m.). But Madurai to Shencottah Passenger and Shencottah to Madurai Passenger trains reached the station at 8.50 a.m. in both directions. The Station Master abandoned the counter and took care of trains.

Tiruvarur District Railway Users Association has urged the Railways to divert Mannargudi-Chennai Mannai Express via Tiruvarur and Mayiladuthurai.In a communication to the Divisional Railway Manager, Tiruchi, S.Swaminathan, president of Tiruvarur District Railway Users’ Association, said that Mannargudi-Chennai-Mannargudi Express trains (16179/16180) since introduction, were being operated via Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, and Kumbakonam.With the introduction of Thanjavur-Chennai Uzhavan Express, the commuters from Thanjavur and Kumbakonam have got an overnight train to the State capital.So the Railways should divert Mannai Express via the shortest route – Tiruvarur and Mayiladuthurai.The diversion will help commuters from Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts save an hour in travel time and save their ticket fare. The present allocation of berths under general quota in the train is inadequate.Diversion of this train will add more berths to the general quota from the present pooled quota allotted to the passengers from Thanjavur and beyond.Mannai Express was introduced mainly for the benefit of the commuters from Tiruvarur, Mr.Swaminathan pointed out.