ProUI

A first class AC coach (H-1) of the 12402 New Delhi-Patna Magadh Express caught fire near Buxar station, 100km west of Patna, around 11.25am on Monday.
The fire struck between Gahmar and Chausa stations. It took two fire tenders two-and-a-half hours to douse the fire. Danapur division railway manager of East Central Railway (ECR) N.K. Gupta toldThe Telegraph: “The reason behind the fire is not yet known. A forensic team from Patna has rushed to the spot to investigate.”
He further said: “The good thing is there were no casualties and all passengers in the coach are safe.”
ECR chief public relation officer Amitabh Prabhakar said: “As soon as the train left Dildar Nagar station at 11.02am and crossed Karmnasha overbridge, smoke began emanating from a coach. All seven passengers, including a vendor, pulled the emergency chain and the train stopped. All five AC bogies, including the one that had caught fire, were detached and taken to Chausa station where firemen doused the flames.”
Driver of the train, P. Nath, who decided to isolate the AC bogies, said: “It was important to detach the bogies, otherwise the flame could have spread to other bogies.”
Former Sikandarpur MLA Bhagwan Pathak who was in the compartment that caught fire said: “A few passengers came and told me smoke was emanating from the compartment. They then went and informed the guard.”
Buxar superintendent of police (SP) Babulal has reached the spot to look after the rescue operations.
The train left Chausa station around 3:30pm and reached Patna Junction around 6.20pm, almost seven hours behind schedule. The incident affected running of at least 20 trains.

A train block is being imposed on Wednesday to facilitate launching of RCC boxes at unmanned Railway Level Crossing between Vishnupuram and Pondugala stations of Bibinagar - Nadikude Section. Train No-17256 Hyderabad-Narasapur Express, leaving Hyderabad on Wednesday night will be diverted to run via Kazipet and Vijayawada.The train will not touch Guntur Division. Train No-57620 Kacheguda-Repalle Passenger, leaving Kacheguda would also be diverted to run via Kazipet, Vijayawada and New Guntur stations.

नोएडा : सिटी सेंटर मेट्रो स्टेशन के पिलरों में आई दरार के चलते द्वारका से नोएडा रूट पर मेट्रो के चक्कर कम होने से यात्रियों को परेशानी झेलनी पड़ रही है। यात्रियों को सबसे ज्यादा दिक्कत पीक आवर में हो रही है। मंगलवार को लोगों को रोजाना की तुलना में दस मिनट से ज्यादा देर के अंतराल पर मेट्रो मिली। इस वजह से काफी भीड़ हुई और यात्रियों की परेशानी बढ़ गई। कई बार लोग खचाखच भीड़ से भरी मेट्रो ट्रेन में चढ़ भी न सके। बताया जा रहा है कि जब तक मरम्मत कार्य चलेगा, यात्रियों को परेशानी झेलनी पड़ेगी।
सिटी सेंटर मेट्रो स्टेशन के पिलरों में आई दरार के चलते अब मेट्रो रेल के प्रतिघंटे चक्कर कम हो गए हैं। सिटी सेंटर पर मेट्रो रुक-रुक कर आ रही है। सिटी सेंटर मेट्रो स्टेशन पर एक सप्ताह पहले पिलर नंबर 174 में दरार आने से सपोर्ट लगाई गई थी। इसके बाद पिलरों की जांच करने पर पिलर नंबर 185 में भी दरार सामने आई। इससे पिलर नंबर 185 में भी सपोर्ट लगाई गई है। स्टेशन पर पिलरों में आई दरार के चलते सिटी सेंटर मेट्रो स्टेशन के प्लेटफार्म नंबर एक को यात्रियों के लिए बंद किया गया है। यात्रियों का प्लेटफार्म नंबर दो से ही आवागमन हो रहा है।
सप्ताह के दूसरे दिन सिटी सेंटर मेट्रो स्टेशन पर सोमवार के मुकाबले मंगलवार को यात्रियों की अधिक भीड़ रही। सेक्टर-51 निवासी योगेश कुमार ने बताया कि सिटी सेंटर से दिल्ली की तरफ मेट्रो जाती है। मेट्रो के पहले स्टेशन पर ही मेट्रो रेल भर जा रही है। आगे अन्य स्टेशनों पर मेट्रो खचाखच भरी जा रही है। सेक्टर-15 मेट्रो स्टेशन से करोलबाग दिल्ली तक सफर करने वाली मोना मौर्य ने बताया कि मंगलवार सुबह उसे मेट्रो के लिए दस मिनट से अधिक इंतजार करना पड़ा। दस मिनट बाद भी मेट्रो रेल यात्रियों से भरी हुई थी। इससे उसकी हिम्मत मेट्रो में चढ़ने की नहीं हुई। उसके बाद दूसरी आई मेट्रो में भी यही स्थिति थी। मजबूरन भीड़ में ही उसे सफर करना पड़ा।

मुजफ्फरपुर से बांद्रा जा रही 19040 अवध एक्सप्रेस स्थित पेंट्रीकार के वेंडर गोरखपुर में गाड़ी से नीचे उतर गए। वे कार्यदायी संस्था पर यात्रियों को जबरन खाद्य सामग्री बेचने के लिए बाध्य करने का आरोप लगा रहे थे। ऐसे में गाड़ी यहां से बिना वेंडरों के ही रवाना हुई। यात्री परेशान रहे।
मंगलवार को दिन के 2 बजे जैसे ही ट्रेन गोरखपुर पहुंची, पेंट्रीकार के सभी वेंडर प्लेटफार्म नंबर 1 पर उतर गए। वे वहीं प्रदर्शन करने लगे। संबंधित अधिकारियों के समझाने के बाद भी वे माने नहीं और कार्यदायी संस्था के स्थानीय कार्यालय हड़हवा फाटक पर पहुंचकर अपनी समस्याओं को गिनाया। उनका कहना था कि संस्था के लोग उनका उत्पीड़न करते हैं। हर दिन एक लक्ष्य निर्धारित कर देते हैं। कहते हैं कि जबरदस्ती और मनमानी सामान बेचों। किसी तरह टारगेट पूरा करो। ऐसे में हमें जबरदस्ती सामान बेचना पड़ता है। लेकिन, मौजूद अधिकारियों ने उनकी एक न सुनी। ऐसे में वे वहीं प्रदर्शन कर वापस लौट गए। इधर, ट्रेन बिना वेंडरों के ही आगे बढ़ गई। बता दें कि इस गाड़ी में चलने वाली पेंट्रीकार कार्यदायी संस्था के हाथों में है। वह गाड़ी पश्चिम रेलवे से संचालित होती है। ऐसे में इसकी मानीटरिंग में वहीं से की जाती है।
बस्ती में की गई वेंडरों
की व्यवस्था: सीपीआरओ
मुख्य जनसंपर्क अधिकारी आलोक कुमार सिंह ने बताया कि यात्रियों की परेशानी को देखते हुए बस्ती में अतिरिक्त वेंडरों की व्यवस्था की गई। आगे गोंडा स्टेशन से पेंट्री कार के स्टाफ ट्रेन के साथ आगे तक गए। आवश्यक कार्यवाही के लिए पश्चिम रेलवे को सूचित किया गया है।

NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) standing committee will take a decision on bearing 5% of the total project cost of metro rail in a meeting on September 27. The civic body's consent letter is very crucial to move the project further.

The standing committee will consider five proposals, including the metro rail. According to the proposal, NMC will have to bear Rs450.35 crore of the total project cost of Rs9,007 crore. The administration submitted the proposal to mayor Anil Sole for tabling in the general body. Sole forwarded the proposal to standing committee as the proposal is related to finance. After standing committee's decision, the proposal will go for discussion in the general body.

Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) has submitted the detailed project report to the state government. The state planning department sent the report back with four queries on July 23. The first query was related to NMC's consent to bear 5% of total project cost. NIT has to satisfy all four queries and submit the report again.

Another proposal is related to construction of sewage treatment plant on PPP model. The proposal is shrouded in controversy following a complaint and objection from MP Vilas Muttemwar on July 12. The civic chief had withdrawn the proposal from the standing committee meeting at that time. Now, the proposal will be tabled for the second time.

NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) standing committee will take a decision on bearing 5% of the total project cost of metro rail in a meeting on September 27. The civic body's consent letter is very crucial to move the project further.

The standing committee will consider five proposals, including the metro rail. According to the proposal, NMC will have to bear Rs450.35 crore of the total project cost of Rs9,007 crore. The administration submitted the proposal to mayor Anil Sole for tabling in the general body. Sole forwarded the proposal to standing committee as the proposal is related to finance. After standing committee's decision, the proposal will go for discussion in the general body.

Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) has submitted the detailed project report to the state government. The state planning department sent the report back with four queries on July 23. The first query was related to NMC's consent to bear 5% of total project cost. NIT has to satisfy all four queries and submit the report again.

Another proposal is related to construction of sewage treatment plant on PPP model. The proposal is shrouded in controversy following a complaint and objection from MP Vilas Muttemwar on July 12. The civic chief had withdrawn the proposal from the standing committee meeting at that time. Now, the proposal will be tabled for the second time.

Issues like acquisition of lands and cut in financial allocation have affected development and infrastructure related works of the Railways, said General Manager of Southern Railway Rakesh Misra on Tuesday.He was here to inspect the Signal and Telecommunications Workshop at Podanur.Mr. Misra told The Hindu that the allocation of funds had come down from Rs. 1,100 last year to Rs. 560 crore in the current fiscal and this had a telling effect on the pace of various works being undertaken by the Railways. The increase in diesel and electricity charges also affected the financial stability of the Railways, he added.Kerala accounted for the maximum number of issues concerning land acquisition while it was relatively less in Tamil Nadu. Issues always cropped up when the lands identified for acquisition were wet/agricultural lands, he added.Mr.Misra was accompanied by the Divisional Railway Manager, Salem, Sujatha Jeyaraj. He said land acquisition issues as far as the Podanur - Pollachi gauge conversion stretch had been overcome and now the wait was for funds. “I have personally appealed to the Railway Board to sanction funds to complete the Podanur – Pollachi gauge conversion at the earliest in order to restore the rail connectivity of Western Tamil Nadu with the Southern districts,” Mr. Misra said.

Southern Railway was confident of completing the Pollachi – Palakkad gauge conversion by March 2014. Mr. Misra added that the Palani – Pollachi gauge conversion was in its final stages. The route was likely to be opened by 2014, after Commissioner of Rail Safety’s (CRS) inspection. Referring to safety, Mr. Misra said the objective of the Southern Railway was to eliminate 800 unmanned level crossings in a phased manner. Either these crossings would be manned or bridges constructed. In some cases, Southern Railway would bring in Limited Use Subway for light motor vehicles and two-wheelers with a restriction on the height of the vehicle.

At present, the railway was on the job of constructing bridges at over 100 level crossings. The rest would be taken up as and when the funds were available.

On the growth pattern, Mr.Rakesh Misra said there had been 2.3 per cent slide in the passenger traffic in the five months of this year. Considerable fall was from short distance unreserved ticket sale. With regard to freight traffic, Mr.Misra said there had been a 10 per cent to 12 per cent growth. However, the number of kilometres of ferrying the cargo had come down due to various factors and the fall in distance factor resulted in the revenue growth touching only eight to nine per cent.

East Coast Railway has conducted a 36 hours long massive ticket checking drive and awareness programme at Bhubaneswar Railway Station to discourage ticketless travelers and unauthorised visitors at the station premises.

          During the special massive ticket checking drive at Bhubaneswar Station o­n Monday and Tuesday, East Coast Railway detected about 600 passengers who have travelled without tickets or with improper tickets and also collected a fine of Rupees 01 Lakh 60 Thousand approximately.Apart from this, 42 persons were fined for spitting, littering & violating cleanliness rules.

Similarly, the passengers have been counseled and educated to buy bonafide tickets from the ticket counters to make their journey hassle free. Daily commuters have also been advised to buy Monthly Season Tickets (MST) to avoid standing in the queue at Booking Counters. The MST is also much cheaper (about o­ne third) than the regular journey fare of a month.

Passengers were also encouraged to buy ATVM (Automatic Ticket Vending Machine) Smart Card which is one of the most convenient ways to buy tickets now a days. Passengers have also advised to carry minimum luggage during their train journey, so that, their journey will be more comfortable. The passengers were convinced that their cooperation was essential in these areas.

About 67 ticket checking staff including commercial supervisors, Chief Ticket Inspectors (CTI), Train Ticket Examiners (TTE) form Khurda Road Division with the help of Railway Protection Force (RPF) were involved in the drive and awareness programme headed by Shri H. L. Luang, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of Khurda Road Division.

AHMEDABAD: Train services were affected for the second straight day after heavy rain in the state. On Tuesday, rail services were hit after water at the railway bridge between Palej and Miyam in Vadodara Division started flowing above the danger mark.

Officials said that traffic on Ahmedabad-Mumbai route was stopped later in the day. On Monday, following heavy rain in South Gujarat, trains were late by nearly three to four hours. Officials said long distance trains bound for northern, central and eastern parts of the country were diverted by alternative routes via Ratlam, and Bhopal. Officials said that, since the bridge was an important connection between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, important trains like the Mumbai-Ahmedabad double decker and Ahmedabad-Mumbai Shatabdi were cancelled.

Cancelled trains

Mumbai Central - Ahmedabad Double Decker

Bandra (T) - Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad - Mumbai Central Shatabdi Exp

Surat Intercity Express

Bhilad - Vadodara Express

VadtalSwaminarayan - Bharuch Passenger

Ahmedabad - Bandra (T)

Ahmedabad - Mumbai Central

Ahmedabad - Borivali

Terminated Trains:

Mumbai Central - Porbandar Saurashtra at Surat

Jamnagar - Bandra (T) terminated at Ahmedabad

Jaipur - Bandra (T) terminated at Vadodara

Bikaner - Bandra (T) terminated at Vadodara

Okha - Mumbai Central terminated at Vadodara

Diverted trains

Gandhidham - Bangalore via Ratlam, Bhopal, Bhusaval

Okha - Rameshwaram via Bhopal, Bhusaval

Jodhpur - Pune via Bhopal, Bhusaval

Ahmedabad - Bangalore via Bhopal, Bhusaval

Jaipur - Pune via Bhopal, Bhusaval

BANGALORE: After The Times of India brought to light how trains are manually stopped at the Allalsandra level crossing to allow vehicles to cross the tracks, work on constructing a railway overbridge (ROB) has begun. The road that leads to Yelahanka has been partially closed for over a month now, and soil testing is over.

Minister Mallikarjun Kharge highlighted this problem in his 100-day report card on the railways and wanted the project to be speeded up.

A temporary subway is being constructed 500-odd metres ahead of the same junction that leads traffic through Judicial Layout. This will allow vehicles to go towards Yelahanka. South Western Railway (SWR) authorities told TOI that the ROB will be ready only in a year's time-tentatively by September 2014.

"If city traffic police deems it fit to keep the temporary roads open for public use even after the ROB is ready, it can do so. Otherwise, the roads will be closed It all depends on the public pressure whether they want to use the subway also or not," said an official. The cost of this bridge alone is Rs 5-6 crore.

The overbridge work was stalled for over six months due to paperwork delay. The ROB construction has to be done in tandem with line-doubling work that is taken up by the railway division, Bangalore. The railway board had sought several clarifications on this matter.

But this one bridge won't end the woes of Bangaloreans risking their lives to cross railway tracks. But this isn't the only railway bridge which has to end the turmoil of Bangaloreans to cross the deadly tracks.

Some 22 ROBs/RUBs await construction around the Outer Ring Road and major streches on a cost-sharing basis between the SWR and BBMP. But a cash-starved Palike hasn't prioritized these projects.

Kharge has directed the BBMP commissioner to expedite these projects too. BBMP chief M Lakshminarayana has agreed to release Rs18 crore from the civic agency's kitty as a first installment. But BBMP needs to shell out around Rs 84 crore overall. The remaining 50% will be borne by the Railways.