ProUI

Traffic on Mysore-Nanjangud railway line came to a standstill for more than one hour due to a protest against an accident which claimed the legs of a woman who fell under a train.Rathnamma (59), a native of Thandavapura, suffered grievous injuries and was shifted to K R Hospital.She had come to her daughter’s house in Badanaval  village and was at the railway station to board a train to Chamarajnagar when she lost balance, slipped and fell under the Chamarajnagar-Mysore passenger train. She lost both her legs though passengers tried to pull the emergency chain to stop the moving train.Enraged, villagers and passengers accused the driver and staff of callousness and sat on the track in protest, blocking traffic for more than 90 minutes. They also demanded compensation for her from the Railways.The Railway police refused to accept their complaint. The train was finally allowed to leave at 3.10 pm.

New Delhi: Bullet trains are becoming popular for sharply reducing commute times from smaller cities to large megacities and fueling real-estate boom. economists from UCLA and China's Tsinghua University observed in a new study in China that bullet trains could act as a safety valve for crowded megacities in the developing world and ease the effects of overpopulation.The report further said high-speed trains would improve quality of life by easing congestion in the major cities while giving more isolated cities greater access to metropolitan hubs. The study also found that bullet trains have created a new category of suburbs in China: about 60 to 470 miles from megacities — which are impractical for frequent car travel. High-speed rail gives these distant cities big-city benefits without downsides like high housing costs, overcrowding, or air and water pollution, they discovered.“The bullet trains could act as a safety valve by encouraging people to move to second-tier cities, improving the quality of life in both areas and creating more sustainable growth," the study said.

Bengaluru: The plan to revive Monorail project has been meet with stiff opposition, and there seems to be ample and valid reasons for the protest.First of all, the construction work for the required monorail or light rail is only going to add to the traffic chaos in the city. The monorail or light rail would, like Metro Rail, again require rigid elevated structures that will lessen road space in the city.Take for example, the 15 kilometre monorail alignment, Greenline, that was proposed from Majestic to Agarahara Lake. The plan had envisioned that the Greenline will traverse through Majestic, High Grounds, Cubbonpet, Wilson Garden, Adugodi, Koram­an­gala, Madiwala, HSR Layout, Sarjapur and Agara.These areas witness very high traffic and any major construction activity is going to cut off the moving space for commuters. Beng­alureans have already suffered because of the long-delayed Namma Metro and the city planners have enough lessons to learn from that project.The Metro work has already taken up a large amount of space and if the city is to go for monorail, it will again bring down the space for road users.Urban experts have vehemently opposed the monorail project and majority of them opine that the existing bus transport system should be improved. “There is already quite a bit of chaos in the city, from ongoing construction projects.Metro is likely to continue its work for several years with resulting challenges from that construction work too. People need a break from all this inconvenience and annoyance. The last thing we need is one more massive construction project, while we have not yet figured out how to do these things with proper work-zone planning and diversions,” stated Ashwin Mahesh, ABide member and urban expert.“Even after all these expensive things are built, the backbone for mobility in the city will be bus. If only our leaders showed half as much enthusiasm for investments in bus transport as they do for the far more expensive alternatives!" wondered Mahesh.If traffic woes are not enough a reason for giving up on monorail, there are several studies that point out that monorail is only efficient for a city with a population of 10 lakh or less. But Bengaluru has already crossed the one crore population mark.However, another urban expert R.K. Misra, founder of the Nav Bharat Democratic Party, said that any mode of transport that promises to ease traffic should be welcomed.“Roads in the city are already overburdened. Mono­rail promises much in addressing the traffic volume. But yes, when it comes to planning and completing projects, our administration is found to be not very efficient. But still, monorail should be welcomed. Look at Tokyo, it has all sorts of transport modes from metro to monorail to high-speed rail," Misra said.While the plan is being proposed, it is felt that the city should first have an independent mechanism to decide whether a project is needed or not. 

Cost high, capacity low

Ashish Verma

Since monorail runs on single rail, its coach size and length are smaller and so is its carrying capacity, which is in fact less than the bus system.But to run it, you need to have rigid infrastructure (only elevated tracks) on the city's roads and landscape. If you work out the carrying capacity added per unit and the infrastructure cost, monorail system will prove to be the costliest.Under such circumstances, no one will recommend a monorail system unless you have no other option. This is why monorail systems are used worldwide mostly in amusement parks or as airport shuttles between different terminals. Monorail is hardly of any use in Indian cities, including Bengaluru, where heavy corridor volumes require much higher capacity systems.At the same time, we need to optimise the fund requirements for building such infrastructure. Monorail has no value even as a feeder system, where corridor volumes may be low, because same or even higher capacity can be achieved using the bus system with much less investment.Also, you cannot change the network of monorail as the demand pattern changes. But with the bus system, you can do so easily. What authorities need to work out is the means of prioritising buses on city roads. It will be best that we concentrate on expediting the construction of metro rail network and keep rationalising the bus services as the public transport network evolves in Bengaluru.The writer is President (Transportation Research Group) Assistant Prof (Dept. of Civil Engg.) and Associate Faculty (CiSTUP) Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

NEW DELHI: The Airport Metro Express will have a new helpline number from Sunday.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's 24x7 helpline number 155370 will replace the existing Airport Express line number '30802030', which was earlier operated by DAMEPL.

"From Sunday, DMRC helpline number will be available for providing speedy solutions to public queries and complaints regarding Airport Express line," Delhi Metro spokesman Anuj Dayal said. TNN

Mumbai: The statutory amount of compensation -- Rs 4 lakh -- that a family of any bonafide passenger is entitled to receive upon his or her death in a railway accident must be enhanced now, the Bombay High Court has suggested.The court, last week, overturned the Railway Tribunal's 2009 order, and directed the authorities to pay Rs four lakh to the family of Anil Thalkia, who died after falling from a local train in 2001. But it also noted that the law should be amended to increase the compensation amount."Railway Administration has undertaken hazardous occupation to carry passengers safely from place to place and it must have all security arrangements in order to carry bonafide passengers safely to their destination," Justice AP Bhangale said, setting aside a 2009 order of Railway Tribunal.Under the Railways Accident and Untoward Incidents (Compensation) Amendment Rules, 1997, dependents of a deceased passenger are entitled to Rs four lakh. Justice Bhangale said that 15 years had passed since the last amendment, and considering the inflation, authorities should consider increasing the amount.30-year-old Thalkia, his wife and three-month-old daughter were travelling from suburban Borivali to Churchage in south Mumbai on March 30, 2001 when he fell down on the tracks and died.

According to his wife, the station authorities wrongly recorded that Anil had been knocked down by a train (while crossing the tracks), based on hearsay evidence.

Railways denied the family any compensation, on the ground that he had been knocked down on the tracks, and was not a bonafide passenger. However, Madhuri's lawyer pointed out that valid tickets were recovered from Anil's pocket.

A Japanese railway operator on Friday unveiled a new super-luxury train it hopes will appeal to well-heeled travellers who don't mind splashing out to have their every travelling need fulfilled.

Kyushu Railway's "Nanatsuboshi" -- Seven Stars -- service has a lounge car with a piano and a bar, top-end dining and 14 private suites. Each wood-panelled bedroom has plush beds and a desk along with an ensuite bathroom with a shower and toilet, equipped -- of course -- with a heated seat.

The train travels around the rural southern island of Kyushu, with a four-day, three-night package costing up to 1.13 million yen ($11,000) per couple.

The company's website boasts of a "refined and dignified" design that is a "fusion of Japanese and Western and of new and old".

The train goes into service in October this year, but is already fully booked until June 2014.

Seated in his Delhi office Amitabh Kant says with a tinge of sarcasm: "I am not here to build a mall." The chief executive of the $100-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC), India's biggest-ever infrastructure project, is piqued about "some people" saying that the project is "not on the fast track".

Several government officials ET Magazine spoke to say DMICDC — which in its first phase will set up six cities each of 40-50 sq km and one of 153 sq km — has to be "expedited" so that it spurs manufacturing growth in the country and helps the country ride out the bad times. Once completed, the mega project is expected to generate 2.15 lakh direct jobs and 6.18 lakh indirect jobs in the country.

The deadline for the first phase is 2019. While Kant finds such statements laughable empty talk, Vinayak Chatterjee, founder and chairman of Feedback Infra, which advises infrastructure companies, makes a point: "Well, it [DMICDC] can't go as fast as his political bosses expect it to because it is a complex project and it is a conceptually sound one. It has to proceed at an appropriate pace."

In its first phase, DMICDC, which falls under the industry ministry and envisages creating 24 new cities in the country by 2040, will build cities around the high-speed 1,483-km-long dedicated freight corridor (DFC), a fast-progressing railway network funded by the Japanese government. DFC doesn't face issues with buying land because it will mostly use the land owned by Indian Railways.

The genesis of the idea called DMICDC lies in the need to develop industries around DFC and that makes a lot of sense, points out Chatterjee. On Tuesday, nine projects of the first phase were approved by the DMIC Trust, a body that gives the go-ahead for individual DMICDC projects once it secures all other regulatory nods. It is headed by the Department of Economic Affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram.

"People who criticise the so-called slowness of the work in progress don't understand how intricate and highly complex this is. In fact, I don't want to do what Kalmadi did," thunders Kant, referring to the sloppy construction work undertaken for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Suresh Kalmadi, a former Congress leader and Union minister, was later arrested for causing major losses during the event.

जागरण संवाददाता, वाराणसी : कैंट रेलवे स्टेशन व उसका यार्ड, सेफ्टी में मामले में 70 फीसद सही पाया गया जबकि 30 प्रतिशत सुधार की जरूरत है। सभी प्वाइंटों का आडिट करने के बाद शुक्रवार को नई दिल्ली से आए उत्तर रेलवे के मुख्य संरक्षा अधिकारी सीबीके सिंह ने यह जानकारी दी।

स्टेशन प्रबंधक कक्ष में मीडिया से अनौपचारिक बातचीत में श्री सिंह ने कहा कि यार्ड में शंटिंग के दौरान घटनाओं को रोकने के लिए जो भी कमी पाई गई है, वह छह माह में दूर कर ली जाएगी। आडिट रिपोर्ट के आधार पर सुधार के लिए प्लान बनाए जाएंगे। अब रही बात मेन लाइन की आडिट की तो कैंट स्टेशन के एरिया में कहीं कोई कमी नहीं मिली।

एक सवाल के जवाब में मुख्य संरक्षा अधिकारी ने बताया कि यार्ड में 202 प्वाइंट (एक पटरी दूसरे से जुड़ना) हैं। इनकी जांच की गई। इनमें लगभग 150 प्वाइंट अच्छी स्थिति में मिले। शेष में सुधार की आवश्यकता महसूस की गई। इन्हें भी ठीक कर दिया जाए तो कैंट स्टेशन का यार्ड नो एक्सीडेंटल जोन बन सकता है।

निरीक्षण व आडिट के दौरान लखनऊ मंडल के एडीआरएम आरके लाल, मुख्य क्षेत्रीय प्रबंधक पंकज सक्सेना, स्टेशन प्रबंधक एके पांडेय, आरपीएफ के प्रभारी निरीक्षक कमलेश्वर सिंह, मुख्य खानपान निरीक्षक एसके पांडेय समेत विद्युत, मैकेनिकल, संकेत एवं दूरसंचार विभाग के अधिकारी मौजूद रहे।

INDIA: Konkan Railway has begun equipping its stations with 'bio-toilets' which used anaerobic biodigester technology developed by the Defence Research & Development Organisation for use in remote areas.

The railway said the maintenance-free toilets can be installed in two days rather than the two months needed for standard toilets which require a sewer or septic tank, and are 70% cheaper at Rs30 000.

The bacterial breakdown of waste produces gas which can be utilised as fuel and clean odourless water which can be extracted for irrigation

Ambala: Union minister and MP from Ambala Kumari Selja has flagged off the Ambala-Delhi Express via Saharanpur and Meerut at the Ambala Cantt railway station today. Selja also travelled in this train up to the Jagadhari workshop railway station. Divisional Railway Manager A K Khatpal, senior DCM Gulshan Kumar and Deputy Commissioner KM Pandurang were also present.Selja said the people of Ambala, Barara, Jagadhari and Yamunanagar had been demanding the train. Earlier, the train was to be launched on August 9 but due to some changes in timing schedule, it was delayed.She said the Centre and state government had started the acquisition of land for Naraingarh-Chandigarh rail track which would be completed soon. She had requested the Railway Minister to include the NCR region in Ambala railway division while it was existed in the Delhi railway division.According to a railway official, the new train will depart from Ambala Cantt at 5:40 am and reach Delhi at 11:40 am. In return journey, it will depart from Delhi at 13.10 pm and will reach Ambala Cantt at 19:10 pm. It will stop at Barara, Jagadhari workshop, Yamunanagar, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Modi Nagar, Ghaziabaad and Shahdara.

Shatabdi halt demanded

Rajya Sabha MP Ishwar Singh disclosed that Selja had written a letter to the Railway Minister for making a halt of newly launched Chandigarh-Delhi Shatabdi and Amritsar-Delhi Shatabdi at Ambala Cantt.Talking to mediapersons here today, he said the trains crossed through a large part of the state territory and the people of the state had the right to avail of at least one stoppage in their territory.