ProUI

INDORE: With travelling between Indore and Bhopal becoming a tough task for women, the railway police force (RPF) has escalated its drive to nab offenders by regular checking. Special arrangement of female guards in every ladies' coach has been made in meter gauge trains and Intercity Express. Many a cases of misbehaviour and men boarding women-only compartment has come up recently.Vandana Jain, a 30-year-old working professional from Indore, who regularly shuttles between the two cities said, "While returning from Bhopal recently, three males entered women coach of Intercity Express. When asked to stop smoking and change the coach, they abused women sitting inside the coach. The matter was reported to police.""There is a need to create greater awareness on the issue, especially among men. Despite repeated announcements at stations and advertisements in newspapers, many male passengers do not follow rules and travel in ladies' compartments," said another professional Afreen Khan.Public relation officer Pradeep Sharma said, "1,468 men were arrested for travelling in ladies' compartment just that in 2012 while 945 in 2013. All were booked under Section 162 of Railways Act. The fine collected in 2012 was Rs 2,65,250 and Rs 14,8900 in 2013.

The government railway police, Indore, in charge Dilip Gangrade said, "The reason why males board in women coaches is that women hesitate to report even the smallest of problems via helpline number. Once they start doing so it would instil fear into them."

"Three personnel have been deployed at all stations with one women guard, especially next to the ladies' compartments to ensure men do not enter these coaches. Daily, nearly four to five cases are reported where males are found breaking rules. Raids are conducted every fifteen days," said Indore RPF office in charge Mukesh Anandkar.

To curb incidents of crime in trains, Ratlam division has mentioned RPF helpline numbers in all coaches of the Bhopal-Indore-Bhopal Intercity Express.

Passengers can call 9752492709 for help.

Train No.57649/57650 Gulbarga- Wadi – Solapur Passengers are extended to run upto Vikarabad for three days i.e., from 22nd to 24th September 2013 to facilitate pilgrims attending Urs at Gulbarga.

Accordingly Tr No. 57649 Gulbarga-Wadi Passenger, o­n its extended run, will depart Wadi at 22 30 hrs and arrive Vikarabad at 01 15 hrs o­n the next day. In the return direction Tr No. 57650 Wadi - Solapur Passenger o­n its extended run, will depart Vikarabad at 02 30 hrs and arrive Wadi at 05 30 hrs.

23-09-2013
mumbai


WR introduces New Bandra (T)- Haridwar Weekly Express


Western Railway is going to introduce a new Weekly Express train between Bandra (T) and Haridwar from 25th September, 2013.


Train No. 22917 Bandra (T)- Haridwar Weekly Express will leave Bandra (T) at 11.50 hrs o­n every Wednesday from 25/09/2013 and reach Haridwar at 16.05 hrs, the next day.



Similarly, in return direction Train No. 22918 Haridwar - Bandra (T) Weekly Express will leave Haridwar at 18.50 hrs o­n every Thursday from 26/09/2013 and reach Bandra (T) at 22.00 hrs, the next day.



The train will have AC 2-tier, AC 3-tier, Sleeper class and second class general coaches.



The train will halt at Borivali, Boisar, Vapi, Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Ratlam, Bhawani Mandi, Ramganj Mandi, Kota, Sawai Madhopur, Gangapur City, Hindaun City, Bharatpur, Mathura Jn, Faridabad, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Ghaziabad, Meerut City Jn., Muzaffarnagar, Tapri and Roorkee stations in both directions.



Booking for Train No. 22917 which leaves o­n 25/09/2013 will open o­n 24th Sept 2013 and booking for subsequent trips of Train 22917 will open from 26th Sept 2013 at all Passenger Reservation counters.



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The President of Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce Dipen Agrawal today submitted a memorandum of demands to Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Minister of State for Railways and also apprised him of various problems faced by Nagpur and Vidarbha citizens and traders. He also put forward some suggestions to the Minister.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Minister of State for Railways and Vilasrao Muttemwar, MP, Nagpur paid a visit to Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce today at 3.30.p.m. in the meeting hall of the Chamber.

At the outset Shri Dipen Agrawal, President, NVCC welcomed the guests. Hemant Gandhi, Secretary of the Chamber introduced the chief guest Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Vilasrao Muttemwar.

Photo (5)Dipen Agrawal, President presented a shawl, shreephal and memento to Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Vilasrao Muttemwar, and Dr. (Mrs) Chowdhury. MLA Dinanath Padole and top officials of Central and South East Central Railway were also felicitated by the Chamber.

The Nagpur MP Vilasrao Muttemvar, while addressing the members also briefed the problems of Railway travellers of Vidarbha Region and informed the Minister that once upon a time Nagpur was the Capital of Madhya Pradesh but after re-organization of the States Nagpur and Vidarbha region were merged with Maharashtra State in the year 1960. Thereafter the development of Vidarbha is lagging behind. He also requested the Minister to give special attention in the matter of Railway facilities and constitute a separate Railway Zone for Vidarbha Region.

The Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, while addressing the traders, said that the suggestions and problems put forth before him are genuine and would be considered satisfactorily. In regard to formation of Railway Zone for Vidarbha, the demand would be looked into seriously and a decision in this regard would be taken at an appropriate time. He assured that Vilasrao Muttemwar and prominent office-bearers of Chamber would be welcomed in New Delhi and suggestions would be discussed with the officers.

Prominent Railway officials present on the occasion include Sunil V. Arya, G.M SEC Railway, B.K. Joshi, COM SEC Railway, Sharad Ingle, AGM, Central Railway, Prakashrao Wazalwar, CCM SEC Railway, Brujesh Dixit, DRM C. R., S. L. Varma, DRM SECR, R.K. Agrawal, DGM, SECR, Amlan Turkey, Secretary and Predeepkumr, Sr. DCM SECR., Dr. Suman Deolkar, Sr. DCMCR., Ramesh Jaiswal, Jt. MD. Neco Group, Govindlal Sarda, Prafulbhai Doshi, Radheshyam Sarda, Past Presidents NVCC. Mayur Panchmatia, Ajaykumar Madan, Sachin Puniyani, Chunibhai Shah, Arjundas Ahuja, Abhishek Jha, Bharatbhai S. Thakkar, Farooquebhai Akbani, Gajanand Gupta, Govind Mantri, Natwar Patel, Prabhakar Deshmukh, Pratap Motwani, Rajubhai Makhija, Rajeshkumar Ohri, Satish Bang, Shabbar Shakir, Sanjayraj Modh Saraf, Santosh Kabra, Suryakant Agrawal, Umesh Patel, Vijay Kewalramani, Hastimal Katariya, Sanjay K. Agrawal, Shankar Sugandh, Arvind Kotecha, Ranjan Agrawal, Dilipbhai Thakral, Assandas Balwani, Syed Nawab Ali, Rajesh Amte, Amjad Hussain, M. Aslam Khan, Dharamvir Sharma, Gajanand Mahajan, Lalchand Gupta, Prakash Jais, Nishikant Padmawar, Pankaj Padia, Vijay Chandak, Bashkar D. Ambade, Rajesh P. Shah, Subhash Agrawal, Yogendrakumar Agrawal, S. H. Agrawal,

Hemant Gandhi, Secretary, conducted the programme and Pratap Motwani, Convener Railway Sub Committee, NVCC proposed vote of thanks, said a press note issued by Hemant Gandhi, Secretary of the Chamber.

ALLAHABAD: Railway Recruitment Board examination was conducted at several centres in the city on Sunday. Chairman of Railway Recruitment Board Sanjeev Mathur said that RRB examination was conducted in two meetings.

In the first meeting, 18,308 candidates appeared, out of 48,240 who were expected to come. In the second meeting, 17,553 candidates appeared, out of 48,240 registered candidates.

The examination was conducted at 49 centres. It was held for selecting candidates for 71 posts of commercial clerks, 39 of accounts clerk, 85 of ticket examiners, four of junior clerks and nine of train clerk.

A flying squad was formed which kept vigil on the candidates. There was heavy crowd at Allahabad railway station as the candidates assembled to return to their respective destinations. GRP and RPF had a tough time in managing the crowd.

Though the Railways plan to kick off the work on the renovated parcel  office at the Ernakulam Junction station this month, the apathy on the part of the Kochi Corporation is delaying the project.

According to the Railway officials, unless a culvert is constructed, which  requires permission from the Kochi Corporation, the officials cannot construct a link road from the pay-and-park area to the first platform.

“A road is mandatory, otherwise it will be impossible for the lorries and  trucks arriving to the new parcel office to load and unload the items. Even  though the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) has submitted a request to the Deputy Mayor in this regard, there has been no response so far,” the officials said.  The work on the culvert is expected to cost `15 lakh while the total construction of the office is expected to cost another `25 lakh.

“The Railway officials have decided to shift the existing parcel office to the new location citing insufficient space for passenger movement. Frequent movement of lorries in the Railway station premises was causing unnecessary traffic at the station premises,” Thiruvananthpauram Divisional Railway Manager Rajesh Agarwal said.

Besides, there are plans to construct a tourism lounge of the Kerala Tourism Department Corporation (KTDC) in joint collaboration with the Railways at the existing parcel office location. The tourism lounge is a pilot project of the Kerala Government which includes facilities like a tourist information centre, locker facilities, souvenir shops, wi-fi facilities, rest rooms and online booking centres. The ideal place for the lounge has been identified at the entrance of the station.

However, the construction of a parcel office at the far end of the Ernakulam Junction station is drawing ire from the Unions in the Railways who state that the current location of the parcel office is unfeasible.

The following trains will be temporarily augmented with effect from the dates given against them :
1.Train No. 17230 Hyderabad – Thiruvananthapuram Sabari Express will be temporarily augmented by one First AC coach from 21.09.2013 to 20.10.2013 & Train No 17229 Thiruvananthapuram – Hyderabad Sabari Express from 23.09.2013 to 22.10.2013.
2.Train No. 17652 Kacheguda – Chennai Egmore Express will be temporarily augmented by 2 Sleeper Class coaches from 21.09.2013 to 20.10.2013 & Train No. 17651 Chennai Egmore – Kacheguda Express from 24.09.2013 to 23.10.2013.
3.Train No. 17643 Chennai Egmore – Kakinada Port Circar Express will be temporarily augmented by 2 Sleeper Class coaches from 22.09.2013 to 21.10.2013 & Train No. 17644 Kakinada Port – Chennai Egmore Circar Express from 23.09.2013 to 21.10.2013.

Delhi Sarai-Phulera-Delhi Sarai Bi-weekly Special Exp Train

The South Central Railway will provide one-minute halt for the Narsapur-Nagarsol-Narsapur Express at Basar.  Train 17213 Narsapur-Nagarsol Express will arrive/depart Basar at 11.45/11.46 pm with effect from September 25 and Train 17214 Nagarsol-Narsapur Express at 7.30/7.31 pm with effect from Sep 26.

EXTENDED: Train 57649 /57650 Gulbarga-Wadi-Solapur Passengers are extended to run to Vikarabad up to September 24 to facilitate pilgrims attending Urs at Gulbarga. Train 57649 Gulbarga-Wadi Passenger, on its extended run, will depart Wadi at 10.30 pm and arrive at Vikarabad at 1.15 am on the next day. Train 57650 Wadi-Solapur Passenger, on its extended run, will depart Vikarabad at 2.30 am and arrive at Wadi at 5.30 am.

NAGPUR: With Indian Railways running into losses to the tune of Rs 26,000 crore, minister of state for railways (MoSR) Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday although did not give any concrete assurance on fulfilling host of demands, his commitment to set up third line between Nagpur and Wardha was the only silver lining.

"The third line will not be discarded at the cost of Nagpur-Nagbhid broad gauge proposal," Chowdhury made it clear.

Chowdhury, accompanied by his family, was on a maiden visit to Nagpur at the behest of Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar. He briefly visited Ajni colony and station, besides Motibgah workshop and diesel loco shed and Nagpur station. He also took some time out to visit state EGS minister Nitin Raut's residence in North Nagpur.

Amid divergent views, Muttemwar wants Ajni station to be developed as world class instead of Nagpur. He is also pushing for an Railyway over Bridge (Rob) over Ajni station on a cost-sharing basis between Centre and the state.

"As the existing Rob is over 125-year-old, a new one estimated to cost Rs36 crore will come through on 50:50 cost sharing basis," said Muttemwar.

The seven-time Congress MP wanted Nagpur to be upgraded as a zone and Motibagh Diesel Loco Shed and workshop be upgraded to broad gauge in the advent of narrow gauge being phased out.

He also complained that Vidarbha continues to be neglected when it comes to upgrading railway network and infrastructure.

Chowdhury, an MP from West Bengal, did not agree with Muttemwar and recalled Bengal-Nagpur's 126-year-old association when Bengal-Nagpur Railway (BNR) was formed in 1887.

"Nagpur is state's third largest city and looking into its genuine demands I agree that small hammers should be replaced with big ones. Diesel locos should go as it is we have to import 80% of the diesel. Of the Rs23,000 crore railways fuel bill, Rs15,000 crore go towards diesel," said Chowdhury. More focus is now on electrification, he added.

"With more demand and scarce resources, I sometimes feel like a BPL mantri," Chowdhury said in lighter vein.

"Hence, I cannot fulfil people's all the expectations, but at the same time I promise that Vidarbha will not be neglected," he said.

On precarious finances, the minister said there are two railway divisions here. To earn Rs100, railways spend Rs158. "The operating ratio here is 158% which otherwise should be 80%. We will try to bring it down," he said.

This was the second time Muttemwar invited an MoSR to the city to review development. A similar visit of ex-MoSR KH Muniappa was initiated by him two years ago, but promises remained unfulfilled.

In the evening, while addressing a gathering of traders at Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce (NVCC), Chowdhury reiterated that railways was passing through a tough time as projects worth Rs4.50 lakh crore were already in progress.

"Yet, I will talk to Railway Board officials on all the genuine demands raised here," he said.

Although the visit seem to generate some electioneering mood ahead of Lok Sabha polls, at the end of the day sans any major announcements it looked as if - "he came, he saw and he went away."

However, Muttemwar was optimistic. "Chowdhury at least could understand our genuine demands. The Rs36 crore Ajni ROB proposal was agreed in-principle. Besides, upgradation of Motibagh workshop from narrow gauge to broad gauge will also come through," said Muttemwar.

"With more demand and scarce resources, I sometimes feel like a BPL mantri," Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, minister of state for railways, said.

Chowdhury at least could understand our genuine demands. The Rs 36 crore Ajni ROB proposal was agreed in-principle

What the minister touched upon

Third Line: The Rs 300 crore project will not be shelved, even as there were two different opinions of officials. Unanimous decision will be taken in the project's favour.

Motibagh Workshop & Diesel shed: Minister said workshop needs to converted into broad gauge with narrow gauge on the way out. Diesel locos should go. Will consider the demand of mass transfers of loco shed staff to Nainpur and elsewhere

Itwari-Kalamna doubling: 75% work has been completed and remaining will be taken up soon. The Rs23-crore project has been stalled for five years due to vote bank politics.

Quarters at Motibagh & Ajni: Muttemwar says all the quarters are 80-year-old and have outlived. These needs to be rebuilt by newly set up Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA). Minister says the demand may be considered

Fare hike: Chowdhury says now Rail Tariff Regulatory Authority (RTRA) will largely delink passenger fares from political process. Populism practised by successive rail ministers has left the railways in the lurch.

Vacant posts: All the posts of GMs will be filled up soon. Besides, there are 1.49 lakh posts vacant across Indian Railways. It is an ongoing process which is continuing.

Security System: Nagpur already has a security system. Petty crimes are taken care of by GRP and RPF.

Train Stoppage: Minister agrees to Wardha MP Datta Meghe's demand to give stoppage to trains at Chandur Railway on Narkhed-Amravati railway line.

What he ignored

Nagpur-Delhi Duronto: The announcement was made by ex-railway minister Mamata Banerjee on demand by Muttemwar 3 years ago. Chowdhury says Nagpur will not get the train immediately as already some trains have been given.

Nagpur Zone: In view of decentralization policy, Muttemwar demanded Nagpur to be upgraded as a zone due to its strategic location and revenue generation potential. Minister was not so forthcoming on the issue.

Ajni World Class: Muttemwar wants Ajni to be added to the list of 5 stations to be taken to develop as world class. Chowdhury didn't look keen.

Rly Medical College & Laundry: Both the projects were announced by Mamata Banerjee. Except for survey, nothing has been done. The minister did not touch the issues.

Caption: Minister of state for railways Adhir Ranjan Choudhury and Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar wave after inaugurating the new retiring room at Ajni railway station on Monday.