ProUI

The other special train will commence its journey from Asansol every Friday at 9 am and reach Kanpur Central at 9.10 pm and proceed towards Jaipur. From Jaipur this train will depart every Saturday at 8 am and reach Kanpur Central at 7.15 pm. After halting here for five minutes the train will depart for Asansol.

Nagercoil junction is the busiest one which served for both Tamilnadu and Kerala.So Southern railway authorities should fill-up all essential shunting workers vacancies to avoid frequent traffic disturbances.Moreover new Tirunelveli railway division have to be created for Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts

A railway spokesman was left red faced on Saturday when he found that his pocket had been picked during a function to flag-off a new train.

Not only the spokesman, but several others, including a journalist, also became the target of the pickpocket during the function where Union Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Choudhary flagged-off the Habibganj-Indore double-decker train at Habibganj station.

Press Information Bureau’s Additional Director-General and Railway spokesperson Anil Saxena said his wallet containing $80, two pen drives and nearly Rs.1,500 was picked at the station. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The dilapidated and dismal state of coaches has landed the Indian Railways in trouble with the consumer disputes redressal forum. The central district forum has asked the chairman of Indian Railways to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh to a man who injured his fingers while travelling on the Sapt Kranti Express.Complainant Bharat Bhushan Dinkar, a resident of west Vinod Nagar, was travelling from Muzaffarpur Junction in Bihar to Anand Vihar railway station on August 21. "It is alleged that when he was reaching for his upper berth, his fingers hit the moving overhead fan which was loosely fitted with a broken cover," said the forum.As per the court order, under president C K Chaturvedi, the complainant suffered soft tissue injury to the index, middle and ring finger on his right hand. "He was referred to RML Hospital where he was diagnosed with a fracture of the middle finger and laceration to distal phalanx and ring finger,'' said the court order. The complainant said that, being an advocate, his work suffered as he could not work on his laptop or handle papers due to the injury.While the Indian Railways disputed territorial jurisdiction of the forum by saying that the complaint should be filed in Bihar, the court noted that "the Indian Railways is one entity".

JAIPUR: The Jaipur Metro project has come at the right time to cover up for the poor public transport in the state capital. Relating the project to boom in population, private vehicles, industrialization and employment in the recent times, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has complied several reports finds that the existing public transport system is inadequate in terms of quality, quantity and coverage, which could not cope with ever increasing pressure.The reports say that the Rajasthan Transport Department has about 0.82 million registered motor vehicles (2011), of which 76% or 629,265 are 2-wheelers. A total of 2.7 million vehicular trips are generated every day (2006). A meagre 13-19 % trips are by city buses covering an average distance of about 9 km.The city has about 350 buses and some 3,500 minibuses, but it is not sufficient to cater to the city people. Most of the people are dependent on private vehicles for daily commuting. A senior Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) official said, "It is expected 2 lakh people will commute by Metro per day till 2014. It is not possible to increase the buses as it would lead to congestion on the roads. Mass rapid transport is the only possible solution."

In terms of population, Jaipur is the 10th largest metropolitan city of India. The city has been growing at a higher rate compared to the population growth in the district. The development area of the city as per Jaipur Master Plan 2025 extends over 600 sq km. An official said, "It is not possible for other mode to travel quickly with large number of commuters. A Metro can accommodate commuters of 5 buses in one coach. The total capacity of the train is 1,034 passengers."

The official added that the project will benefit all sections of the society, especially weaker ones as they will use the most equipped mode of transport at a low cost. "Rajasthan has more population in the lower bracket of per-capita consumer expenditure compared to the national figures," the report reads.

Many students who come from across the country are expected to benefit once the Metro starts operating. "The city is very peaceful and many north Indian families prefer to send their children to Jaipur for higher and technical education. Jaipur has more than 60 engineering colleges, 40 business management institutes, 15 pharmacy institutes, 4 hotel management institutes, 3 medical colleges and 6 dental colleges. It also has eight universities including Rajasthan University and Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, which is one of the best technical institutes in India," reads the report.

KOLKATA: Alok Kumar Roy still feels the pain at the base of his spine. His daughter hasn't yet overcome the trauma she suffered four years ago and every time he leaves home to join duty at Howrah, his child asks: "GRP'r lok e ra aar tomake maarbe na to (Make sure that you are not beaten up again by the GRP men)."The Government Railway Police (GRP) wasn't involved in what happened to Roy on May 2, 2009. The miscreants who threw him out of the Howrah-Hatia Express and thrashed him merely claimed that they were GRP personnel but for the child, who saw her father suffer for four long months, this made little difference. The worst part is that Roy's effort has remained unrecognized by the railways. Roy's wife has sent several letters, even to railway ministers, but he has not been considered for an award.Roy was the train superintendent on the Howrah-Hatia Express and knew that a marriage party of 47 from Burrabazar in Kolkata was travelling in the B1 and B2 coaches. He later came to know that it was an affluent family of goldsmiths from Burrabazar travelling on the train.When the train reached Tatanagar at 2.15am that dayon May 2, 2009, six persons approached the two compartments. Roy could make out that they were not passengers from Tatanagar. One of them wore a khaki shirt and trousers and the rest wore normal clothes. All of them had gamochhas tied around their heads and also on their shoulders.

When Roy the train superintendent wanted to know where they were headed, they replied that they were GRP constables. Roy asked them to move to the general class coaches but they tried to push through the door of the AC-III tier ones. Roy wouldn't let them through though. Suddenly, the miscreants pushed him out of the doorway. Fortunately, the train hadn't started moving as yet. He fell on his back on the platform and the six started beating him up. Roy's screams alerted ticket checking staff and coach attendants, who got off the train and intervened. Finding themselves outnumbered, the miscreants fled via the foot over bridge. Roy and the others gave chase but couldn't catch up.

"My husband's white shirt was covered in his own blood. He was bleeding profusely from injuries to his face. He had also hurt his spine and couldn't move normally.

Nobody attended to him till he reached Ranchi, nearly seven hours later.

He received four stitches to his lips there. He took charge of the return train back to Howrah.

He was later admitted to the South Eastern Railway's central hospital at Garden Reach for 17 days and was declared unfit by doctors for the next four months. He protected the property of so many passengersand may have also saved them from possible injury. We had expected the railways to recognize his effort. I even wrote to senior officers and railway ministers but to no avail," said Roy's wife Monideepa.

Senior South Eastern Railway (SER) officials said that Roy had performed a commendable feat and deserved an award. Though his name was recommended, it failed to make the list of those who receive awards on the occasion of Railway Week every year. This hasn't changed Roy's attitude towards life though. A TS on the Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express, he took charge of 19-year-old Shamima Yasmin on Thursday after coming to know that she had lost her way while on her way to college in Balurghat from Kushmundi in South Dinajpur. He escorted her back to Howrah and handed the girl over to her parents.

LUDHIANA: The railway over-bridge (ROB) being constructed in place of the Lakkar-Pul will be completed by November this year.The ROB construction was delayed as some part of it was to be constructed by the state government through Ludhiana Municipal Corporation.This was disclosed in a letter by the Union Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge to the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, who had sought his personal intervention for the early completion of the overbridge.The Railways were supposed to construct two spans, one straight and another curved, while the approach roads were to be completed by the Municipal Corporation.The Minister said, while the work on the Straight Span was expected to be completed by the month of October this year, the work on the curved span will likely be completed by November this year and the ROB will be fully operational by that time.The Railway bridge portion consists of two separate legs in Y shape and each leg is of two road-widths and another leg is on a curve having two spans.The foundation and sub-structure of the straight span has been completed. The super-structure girder for one span has been fabricated, tested and brought to the site for launching and the girder for another span has also been fabricated and is undergoing testing. The work on this span is expected to be completed by October 2013.Foundation and sub-structure of the curved span has been completed while design of the pier cap is in progress and is expected to be completed by November 2013.The ROB pending completion for some time will facilitate the smooth movement of vehicular traffic between the parts of the Old and New city divided by a railway line.

Considering the high density of population and limited land area, the people of the Union Territory (UT) region of Mahe will, in all probability, oppose Kerala’s plan to route the proposed High Speed Rail Corridor through the UT, Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy has said.

The Minister was talking to mediapersons after inaugurating a series of development works here on Saturday.

A delegation would meet Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to seek alterations in the alignment of the proposed line.

Mr. Narayanasamy said he had earmarked Rs.1.25 crore out of his MP fund of Rs.5 crore for development activities in Mahe. This included Rs.40 lakh for the renovation of Tagore Park and Rs.45 lakh for a new building of Government Lower Primary School, Palloor North. The extension of the riverside walkway till the beach would be get Rs.40 lakh, he said.

The Minister said Rs.2.5 crore had been sanctioned for repair of the national highway stretch passing through Mahe. The work would commence before the next monsoon. A desalination plant would be set up using Rs.5 crore with the support of the Department of Atomic Energy, he said.

The defects of the Mahe bridge would be rectified. The proposal to construct a new bridge would also be examined, he said.

The Minister flagged off the Mangalore Central - Puducherry express (train number 16858) at the Mahe railway station. Addressing a gathering there, he said with the launch of the service, Mahe would have two trains connecting Puducherry. Another would be added in 2014. The Mangalore - Coimbatore intercity express and the Yeshwantpur - Kannur Express would stop at Mahe from October, he added.

The Minister said that he would seek early clearance for land allocation for a Kendriya Vidyalaya. The Home Ministry usually provided land on lease for a maximum of 19 years and as Kendriya Vidyalaya was seeking a 99-year lease, a special request would be made. Village Resource Centre by ISRO

The Minister inaugurated a Village Resource Centre established by the Indian Space Research Organisation at the Fisheries compound at Poozhithala. This would help the local population get the benefits of tele- medicine and education facilities. Fishermen would also get information on the availability of fish and weather.

Mr. Narayanasamy, who is also Member, Space Commission, said the country would launch its first rocket to Mars next month.

VADODARA: Over 10,000 visitors, including groups of students from 20 schools, visited the Science Express: Biodiversity Special (SEBS) to see innovative exhibits on biodiversity in the country. The express is a unique exhibition on wheels that uses rail coaches for the educational exhibition.The exhibition has 16 coaches, eight dedicated to the geographical zones of the country, namely Trans-Himalaya and the Himalayas, the Gangetic plain, North-East India, the desert and semi-arid zone, the Western Ghats, the Deccan Peninsula, the coasts and the islands. The exhibition also covers the linkage with livelihoods and challenges of conservation.SEBS 2013 edition was inaugurated and flagged-off from Delhi Safdarjung station on April 9, 2013. Since its launch in October 2007, the Science Express exhibition train has travelled over 98,000 km across the country.

NASHIK: The Maharashtra government has urged the Central Railway (CR) to commence work planned for the forthcoming Kumbh Mela in Nashik. The office of the Nashik divisional commissioner has sent a letter to the CR, urging it to undertake Kumbh-related works at the earliest. The state has also urged the CR to start a permanent reservation counter at Trimbakeshwar town and begin construction work of platforms 4 and 5 at the Nashik Road Railway station.With just 19 months left for the Kumbh Mela scheduled in 2015-16, the Maharashtra government has already twice asked the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the Public Works Department (PWD) to commence infrastructure work related to the Kumbh, given that such work will require 18 to 20 months to be completed."Follow-ups pertaining to Kumbh work are being done regularly," divisional revenue commissioner Ravindra Jadhav told TOI on Saturday.In its last Mumbai meeting, the High Power Committee for Kumbh had in principle approved a Rs 2,297-crore Kumbh plan for all government departments, including Rs 1,031.91 crore for the NMC, Rs. 654.21 crore for the PWD, Rs. 80.76 crore for the Water Resources Department WRD and Rs. 25.75 crore for the Railways. The plan will soon be presented to the apex committee of the state government, chaired by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, for approval.