ProUI

The Kerala Government has decided to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the proposed suburban rail service connecting Thiruvananthapuram with Chengannur and Harippad.   This was decided at a meeting of senior railway officials chaired by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy here yesterday, an official press release said.   The government plans to start the service close on the heels of the completion of the doubling of railway lines on these two routes, it said.   Mr Chandy said Kerala should also get the benefit of the Railways' Suburban Corridor project and adequate measures should be taken for the purpose.   The suburban rail service will be implemented jointly by the Centre and the State.    The SPV formed will undertake works pertaining to setting up of automatic signaling system and modernization of stations.    The project would incur an expenditure of Rs 3500 crores, which will be funded by the Word Bank. The per kilometer work rate has been estimated at an average of Rs 20 crores.   Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation would be asked to prepare the Detailed Project Report, which is expected by the end of December this year, the release added.   Briefing reporters after a meeting of the State Cabinet today, Mr Chandy said Rs 10.99 crore had been sanctioned for the Detailed Project Report.   He said a five-member Joint Steering Committee has been formed with Chief Secretary Bharat Bhushan as chairman and S Anantharaman, Chief Safety Officer, Southern Railway, Rajesh Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, Southern Railway and Ravi Agarwal, Executive Director, Planning at Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation as members. Mr Biju Prabhakaran will be nodal officer and convener of the committee.      Mr Chandy said the Kerala Government and the Central Government would have 50:50 stakes in the SPV.   As part of the project, an automatic signaling system will come into place and about 25 stations will undergo modernization. No land acquisition is involved.   As part of the operations, 10 MEMU trains, each having seven coaches, will be used.   In the suburban rail service, trains can approach and leave stations at 60 km/hr and thus save time on stoppage, he said.   The government has also suggested to the Southern Railway to commence high-speed train service in the Malabar region, where the doubling works of railway line would be over in a month’s time.

Indore, Ujjian, Mhow, Rau, Pithampur and Tehi stations to be modified
Three more platforms for city; platform four’s length will be increased.
Mhow station to be used as source station
Indore: In view of the forthcoming Simhastha- 2016, the railway has chalked out various development and modification plans for the convenience of the passengers. It is planning to run more than 100 special trains for the mega event.

Indore, Ujjain, Mhow, Rau and Tehi stations will be upgraded along with gauge conversion and new platforms will be developed. Highly placed official sources told Free Press that the railway is going to make elaborated arrangements to meet the heavy flow of passengers during the Simhastha.

The meter gauge track in Ujjain station will be converted to broad gauge and two new platforms will be developed there to accommodate 24- coach trains. With this, the station will be nine such platforms.

Similarly Indore railway station will also be upgraded along with gauge conversion of Mhow, Rau, Tehi and Pithampur line. Three new platforms will be developed in Indore besides extending platform No 4 to accommodate 24- coach trains. Two new platforms are under construction at old ‘ mal godam’ ( Goods storage).

The Mhow railway station will be developed as major source station in order to reduce the pressure at Ujjain and Indore station during the Simhastha.

Two new pit- lines will be constructed for maintains and examinations of the coaches. Western Railway’s Ratlam Division PRO Pradeep Sharma said more than 100 special trains would be run during the Simhastha.

Chief operating manager of Western Railway R K Tandon visited Indore, Ujjain, Mhow, Pithampur, Rau and Tehi stations recently assess the modification and expansion of these stations.

AHMEDABAD: Security at Ahmedabad railway station in Kalupur will soon be strengthened with sharper vision. Dissatisfied with the unclear and grainy images of the old CCTV network, Western Railway plans to install high definition (HD) CCTV surveillance system at Kalupur railway station to monitor activities at different places more effectively.

Around 50 HD CCTV cameras are to be installed at ticket booking counters, platforms, reservation centers, parking space and also in the shunting yards. "The entire HD CCTV project will cost Rs 17 lakh and should be installed in two months. The new cameras are based on the latest HD-IP technology," said Jitendra kumar Jayant, public relations officer of Western Railway, Ahmedabad.

Nearly 175 trains stop at the Kalupur station daily and, on an average, 1.20 lakh to 1.30 lakh passengers pass through it every day. But the security arrangements at the station were not up to the mark. The station got its CCTV system in 1998 but these were now proving inadequate in providing clear video images of the goings-on at the station.

The Ahmedabad railway terminus at Kalupur has only 17 CCTV cameras. Moreover, they are not able to provide clear images of commuters' faces and other details. Moreover, the 17 cameras cover only Platform Nos. 1 to 5 while Platform Nos. 6 to 12 are without any electronic surveillance. At these platforms, long distance trains bring passengers daily from the border states.

The new HD CCTV network will have zoom facility and will help the police identify and locate troublemakers and untoward occurrences from the control room.

Jayant said that the Western Railway was setting up an 'RPF Sankul' near the reservation office at the Ahmedabad railway station. "This will enhance security and safety and improve services. The RPF Sankul will be the control point from where goings-on within and outside the railway station will be monitored," he said.

Officials at the CCTV control room will also keep an eye on ticket black-marketers and track movement of unauthorized personnel near booking centers. The 'RPF Sankul' will be run round-the-clock by RPF personnel who will keep an eye on platforms, the railway yard and ticket-booking counters. "They will be better equipped to initiate immediate action in times of emergency," said a railway official.

MANGALORE: Konkan Railway will augment train no 12051/12052 Dadar - Madgaon 'Janshatabdi' Express (Daily) and trains 12432/12431 Nizamuddin - Trivandrum 'Rajdhani' Express (tri-weekly) on temporary basis with effect from September 13 to November 22 during Ganpati, Deepawali and Chhath Festival.

Apart from this, Konkan Railway has also decided to provide two minute halt to 12133/12134 Mumbai CST-Mangalore Express at Kundapur Station from September 25 to March 24, 2014 on experimental basis.Regarding the two-minute experimental halt at Kundapur, Vaishali Patange, chief public relations officer, Konkna Railway said: Train No 12133 will arrive at Kundapur Station at 12.50 am and depart at 12.52am during monsoon period - up to October 31. From November 1, train 12133 will arrive at Kundapur Station at 10.40am and depart at 10.42am.The Train no 12134 will arrive at Kundapur Station at 6.10pm and depart at 6.12pm during monsoon period and train no 12134 will arrive at Kundapur Station at 3.28pm and depart at 3.30pm. The experimental halt will be withdrawn if the traffic during the period does not justify the halt, she said.

GUWAHATI, Sept 20 – The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has announced three more special trains to cater to the extra rush of passengers during the Durga Puja festive season.
Among the special trains are 02435/02436 AC Special between Guwahati and New Delhi. The train will depart from Guwahati every Wednesday at 5.55 am between September 25 and November 27 and will depart from New Delhi at 9.30 am every Friday between September 27 and November 29.

The 07150 will leave at 6 am every Monday between October 7 and December 2 for Secunderabad. The 07149 will depart Secunderabad at 7.30 am every Friday between October 4 and November 29.

In addition, the 05609 will leave from Guwahati for Gorakhpur every Friday at 9 pm between October 11 and November 29. The 05610 will depart from Gorakhpur to Guwahati at 11.30 pm every Saturday between October 12 and November 30.

4 UNRESERVED SPECIAL TRAINS BETWEEN GULBARGA AND HYDERABAD

Railways will run 4 unreserved special trains between Gulbarga and Hyderabad to clear the extra rush of passengers during 609th Urs-e-Shareef of Hazrath Khaja Banda Nawaz – 2013  The details are as under:

07178 Special will leave Hyderabad at 22.00 hrs o­n 21.9.2013 and will arrive Gulbarga at 04.15 hrs next day.

07177 Special will leave Gulbarga at 05.25 hrs o­n 22.9.2013 and will arrive Hyderabad at 11.30 hrs same day.

07180 Special will leave Hyderabad at 05.30 hrs o­n 25.9.2013 and will arrive Gulbarga at 11.20 hrs same day.

07179 Special will leave Gulbarga at 12.35 hrs o­n 25.9.2013 and will arrive Hyderabad at 18.35 hrs same day.

HALTS: These Specials will halt at Begumpet, Sanatnagar, Hafizpet, Lingampalli, Nagalapalli, Shankerpalli, Ravalapallikalan H, Gullaguda, Chitgidda, Viakarabad, Godamgura, Mailarum, Dharur, Rukmapur, Tandur, Mantatti, Nawandgi, Kurgunta, Seram, Malkhaid Road, Chittapur, Sulehalli, Wadi stations.

COMPOSITION: These specials will have 10 General Second Class and 2 General Second Class cum Guard’s brake vans.

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The UDF government in Kerala has decided to tie up with Railways to develop a Rs 3500-crore high-speed suburban corridor stretching some 100 km north of the state capital.The state cabinet today cleared the proposal chalked outduring discussions with senior officials of Railways and Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters today.A special purpose vehicle (SPV) would be formed for implementation of the project and MRVC would be entrusted with the task of preparing a detail project report within three months at a cost of Rs 10.99 crore.The railways and the state would bear 50:50 stake in SPVand the project would be carried out by utilising the existingdouble-line track from Thiruvananthapuram to Chengannur and Kayamkulam to Haripad."The greatest advantage of the project is that it would not require land acquisition as it could be materialised by utilising the existing double-line in the stretch," Chandy said.

The vital component of the project would be automation of the signalling system which would enable operation of as many as 10 MEMUs (Mainline Electrical Multiple Units ) in the stretch without upsetting the current traffic, he said. Modernisation of some important stations would also be part of it.

This particular stretch in south Kerala was selected as the tracks in the area were entirely doubled. Also, this was an area where passenger density is higher compared to other parts of the state.

In the case of central and north Kerala, where the track doubling was yet to be completed, Railways had promised to introduce a few high speed trains. One such service would be between Ernakulam and Kannur, Chandy said.

A Central team led by Anil Swarup, Additional Secretary in Cabinet Secretariat, reviewed Central sector projects in the infrastructure, coal, railway, and power sectors here on Friday.

Issues relating to forest clearances, taking possession of the land acquired, tree cutting, overlapping coal block areas, utilisation of low grade ore by domestic industries, evacuation of surplus power generated within Odisha concerning a total of 44 projects were discussed.

Railway authorities are focussing more on hygiene and security

The authorities are focussing more on security and hygiene at the city railway station here following the high footfall of passengers in view of Mysore’s status as a major tourism destination.Officials have been directed to increase passenger amenities with more emphasis on drinking water and toilets and special attention on women.Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, chairman, Passenger Amenities Committee, told The Hindu that the thrust on security was to ensure smooth conduct of Dasara.“Metal detectors will be installed at the station while CCTV cameras will be positioned at critical places for round-the-clock monitoring. These facilities will be in place within a week to ensure that security is tightened ahead of Dasara,” Mr. Narayanaswamy said. He apprised himself of passenger amenities and issues pertaining to rail commuters and passengers during a visit here on Thursday.“Mysore is way ahead compared to other stations and far better with some of the facilities being in excess of the actual requirements. But being a heritage and tourist city, more passengers arrive and depart from here compared to other stations in the division, and it is prudent to have increase the capacity for future,” he added.Mr. Narayanaswamy said hygiene in catering would be accorded high priority and officials had been instructed to ensure there was no compromise on cleanliness. On enhancing connectivity to different centres, he said the number of passengers and daily commuters had increased significantly and introduction of additional trains would depend on the availability of rakes, platforms and operational feasibility. “There was demand for additional trains across the country, but track capacity constraints are also a limiting factor,” he added.On the track-doubling between Mysore and Bangalore, Mr. Narayanaswamy said there were some issues related to land acquisition between Mandya and Maddur and he had appealed to the district administration and the State government to expedite the process.“The work till Mandya is over but there are issues of shifting the Tipu’s armoury at Srirangapatana and acquisition of early 9.7 acres between Mandya and Maddur. Once this was done and the Cauvery bridge completed, then only the rail links will have to be provided as most of the civil and earth works have been done,” Mr. Narayanaswamy said.The electrification of tracks was taking place concurrently and once completed, the railways could introduce additional train services between Mysore and Bangalore, he added. Mr. Narayanaswamy will soon visit Hassan and other major stations as part of his official tour.

Railway authorities are focussing more on hygiene and security

The authorities are focussing more on security and hygiene at the city railway station here following the high footfall of passengers in view of Mysore’s status as a major tourism destination.Officials have been directed to increase passenger amenities with more emphasis on drinking water and toilets and special attention on women.Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, chairman, Passenger Amenities Committee, told The Hindu that the thrust on security was to ensure smooth conduct of Dasara.“Metal detectors will be installed at the station while CCTV cameras will be positioned at critical places for round-the-clock monitoring. These facilities will be in place within a week to ensure that security is tightened ahead of Dasara,” Mr. Narayanaswamy said. He apprised himself of passenger amenities and issues pertaining to rail commuters and passengers during a visit here on Thursday.“Mysore is way ahead compared to other stations and far better with some of the facilities being in excess of the actual requirements. But being a heritage and tourist city, more passengers arrive and depart from here compared to other stations in the division, and it is prudent to have increase the capacity for future,” he added.Mr. Narayanaswamy said hygiene in catering would be accorded high priority and officials had been instructed to ensure there was no compromise on cleanliness. On enhancing connectivity to different centres, he said the number of passengers and daily commuters had increased significantly and introduction of additional trains would depend on the availability of rakes, platforms and operational feasibility. “There was demand for additional trains across the country, but track capacity constraints are also a limiting factor,” he added.On the track-doubling between Mysore and Bangalore, Mr. Narayanaswamy said there were some issues related to land acquisition between Mandya and Maddur and he had appealed to the district administration and the State government to expedite the process.“The work till Mandya is over but there are issues of shifting the Tipu’s armoury at Srirangapatana and acquisition of early 9.7 acres between Mandya and Maddur. Once this was done and the Cauvery bridge completed, then only the rail links will have to be provided as most of the civil and earth works have been done,” Mr. Narayanaswamy said.The electrification of tracks was taking place concurrently and once completed, the railways could introduce additional train services between Mysore and Bangalore, he added. Mr. Narayanaswamy will soon visit Hassan and other major stations as part of his official tour.