ProUI

Bangalore: The Karnataka government will release Rs 150 crore this month for railway projects in the state being taken up with the Ministry of Railways on a cost-sharing basis, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Thursday. A sum of Rs 100 crore has already been released in this regard, and Rs 150 crore would be pumped in this month, the Chief Minister said after a meeting with senior Railway officials. "The remaining amount, including additionalities, would be released this year," Siddarmaiah said. In addition to the Rs 350 crore Budget provision made by the Karnataka government for the projects, the state would have to provide another Rs 200 crore as its share as Union Railway Minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge, who hails from the State, had announced additional funding for such projects in Karnataka, the Chief Minister said. Minister of State for Infrastructure Development Santosh Lad said Karnataka would give within a week a list of projects to the Railways that needed to be taken up on a priority basis. State officials said the government has taken proactive steps to speed up land acquisiton, including invoking emergency clause, and 2500 acres was acquired and handed over to the Railways in the last three years. The state government urged the Railways to focus on completing and operationalising ongoing projects that are nearing completion such as Kolar-Chikkaballapura gauge conversion, Kadur-Chikmagalur and Kottur-Harihara lines. State officials expressed concern that the burden of cost-sharing is high and uncertain. While initial approval for projects is based on line estimates, their cost gets escalated, they said. They also pointed out that the fund requirement for already committed projects is around Rs 10,000 crore in addition to land acquisition cost.


"Hence, Railways should encourage public-private-partnership when PPP policy has been announced," officials said.

According to officials, there are 27 Railway projects in Karnataka having a total length of 2876 km and anticipated cost of Rs 22,400 crore. There are 16 projects which are being cost shared by Government of Karnataka.

For the convenience of rail passengers, Northern Railway introduces NewExpress train no. 14011/14012 Delhi Jn.- Hoshiarpur- Delhi Jn. (Weekly), as per the following programme:-
            The 14011 Delhi Jn.- Hoshiarpur (Weekly) Express train shall depart from Delhi Jn. at 11.05 p.m.on every Saturday from 05.10.2013 to reach Hoshiarpur at 07.10 a.m. the next day. In the return direction, the 14012 Hoshiarpur- Delhi Jn. (Weekly) Express Train shall depart from Hoshiarpur o­n every Sunday at 10.30 p.m. from 06.10.2013 to reach Delhi Jn. at 07.10 a.m. the next day.
            Consisting of o­ne AC II Tier, Two AC III Tier, Five Sleeper Class, Six General Class, two Disabled friendly Second Class cum Luggage Van coaches, the 14011/14012 Delhi Jn.- Hoshiarpur- Delhi Jn. (Weekly) Express Train will stop at Panipat, Ambala Cantt., Ludhiana, Phagwara & Jalandar Cantt. stations enroute in both the directions.

The State government will release Rs. 150 crore this month to expedite work on the ongoing railway projects taken up on cost-sharing basis with the Ministry of Railways.Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who on Thursday chaired a meeting of officials of the South Western Railway, Infrastructure Development, Revenue and other departments concerned, said that Rs. 100 crore had earlier been released and Rs. 150 crore more would be released this month.The Chief Minister reviewed 18 projects taken up by the Railways in the State and directed Deputy Commissioners to expedite land acquisition process.The State government has spent Rs. 1,500 crore on railway projects. It has agreed to take up 10 projects on cost-sharing basis.In addition to the Rs. 373 crore set aside in the State budget 2013-14, the government would have to provide another Rs. 200 crore as its share as Railway Minister M. Mallikarjuna Kharge has announced additional funding for such projects in the State, the Chief Minister said. The Railways released Rs. 328.84 crore in 2013-14.Minister of State for Infrastructure Development Santosh Lad said that the State would give within a week a list of projects to the Railways to be taken up on priority.

The Railways has been completing work on 100-km network a year and Mr. Kharge has instructed the Railways to increase this to 180-200 km a year in the State.

KOLHAPUR: The Konkan railway officials in a statement said that Konkan Railway has earned Rs 50.10 crore from its Roll on-Roll off service for transportation of loaded trucks from Mumbai area to southern states. The Konkan railway has started the service more than a decade ago. In last 15 years, the railways have earned Rs 205.60 crore so far. The Railways had offered a special service for the heavy commercial vehicles to transport the loaded trucks to the southern parts of the country. The offer proved to be economical as the railways is not charging very high amount while the trucks are saving heavy expenses on fuel and maintenance. It also reduces transportation time as the railway speed is faster. The annual transport figure is close to 35,000 and it is increasing every year as demand for goods is going up. The railways need more allocation of compartments to transport the vehicles while the vehicles also need a service like Ro-Ro to minimize their expenses over fuel costs and wages.

The proposed connection of Karad with Chiplun is also another aspect which may increase the number of vehicles going to south via train route. The survey is going on from Chiplun to Karad town, which will cover aspects like increase in potential revenue, growth in the business and infrastructure for the project. The railway officials also said that the survey was done by a private company and it will submit a detailed report about it soon.

Amritsar : Many city residents, especially those belonging to the Sikh community who have their relatives in the Lal Kuan area of Uttarakhand, have a reason to cheer. For, the weekly Amritsar-Lal Kuan Express proposed in the budget, would take them to and fro Lal Kuan which is home to a large number of Sikhs.Lal Kuan, 25 km from the lake district of Nainital, is a nagar panchayat. Among the first batch of passengers, who boarded the inaugural run of the train, were a five-member group from Slovakia.Lubisa, one of the group members, said it would be a good opportunity for those travelers from the city who were keen to explore the picturesque hills of Uttarakhand. She said her group had contacted a travel agent after arriving at Delhi. “That travel agent guided them to utilise the services of new AC train to travel to Nainital from the holy city.”She said their stay at a hotel in Nainital was already confirmed and the hotel management conveyed them a taxi would come to pick them at the Lal Kuan railway station, which is said to be one of the biggest in Uttarakhand.A couple Rashpal Singh and Sarbjit Kaur said their relatives reside close to Lal Kuan. Earlier, they used to travel by the Amritsar-Dehradun express train to reach Uttarakhand and from there they used to catch a connecting train or bus to commute the remaining journey.Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRA) president APS Chatha said apart from meeting the long pending demand of the Sikh community residing in that geographical stretch of Uttarakhand, the train links the holy city with tourists’ circuit of Nainital. He said the city already had air connectivity with tourist circuit of western India by a daily flight to Mumbai and with Jammu and Kashmir by having a flight to Srinagar. Besides, the holy city has road and train links to hilly states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Chatha said so far tourists from Amritsar preferred to travel to Mussorie and religious tourist destinations like Hemkunt Sahib, Badrinath and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand. He anticipated this tourist realm to expand now.

Adding a new chapter to passenger amenities, East Coast Railway has provided another facility by inaugurating air-conditioned Dormitories at Bhubaneswar Railway Station yesterday.The Upper Class waiting Hall in the first Floor of the Station Building at Bhubaneswar Station has been converted as air-conditioned dormitories both for ladies and Gents, separately in which 10 beds for Gents and 04 beds for ladies passengers have been kept.
The dormitories were opened to facilitate the passengers who come to Bhubaneswar from far places. Any person with a valid ticket can book a bed in the dormitory for Rs 135 for 12 hours and Rs 225 for 24 hours at Bhubaneswar Station. The passengers can book a dormitory to avoid fleecing by cabbies, who charge excessive fare during the night.

Shri H. L. Luang, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of Khurda Road Division inaugurated the air-conditioned dormitories.

HAZARIBAGH: The first phase of the Koderma-Hazaribagh section, covering a distance of 76km of the Koderma-Hazaribagh-Barkakana-Ranchi B roadguage railway line of the East Central Railway, has now been completed and the first trial run between Koderma to Hazaribagh will take place on November 1 on the auspicious occasion of the Dhantaras, said Yashwant Sinha, the Hazaribag MP to mediapersons here on Wednesday.He also said earlier he held a review meeting with the railway engineers of the project to know the progress of the railway track.They informed him that now the track is ready for trial.

The delay in the movement of trains in Kashmir has led to a situation where the charm of travelling on the rail network is not only dwindling but also forces passengers many time to vent their anger on the railway infrastructure. In one such incident passengers waiting for a train at Budgam railway station went on a rampage and broke all the window panes of the buildings at the railway platform yesterday. The passengers went berserk when the train came one hour late from the scheduled time.“This is becoming an everyday trouble for us,” says a passenger.The Banihal-Baramullah train never come on time allege passengers. The scheduled time for departure of train from North Kashmir’s Baramullah is 4:55 pm which then takes a halt at Central Kashmir’s Budgam district. After this halt the passengers have to wait for another train which according to them always comes late.
“The main problem is the train from Budgam which never arrives on the scheduled time,” says Zahid, a passenger. The delay in timings is causing much inconvenience to the passengers. “This completely disturbs our schedule, we wait for hours and we never reach home at time,” says another passenger.“Yesterday it crossed all the limits says a passenger. It came late by one hour. Till 7 pm we were waiting at platform.” And when they train came late the passengers broke the window panes of main building of the railway station. According to people the timing of departure was changed after PM Manmohan Singh inaugurated the train some months back.
“Till then it was all fine but ever since Manmohan Singh inaugurated the railway we are facing inconveniences,” says another passenger. However, according to Chief Controller Vikram Jeet Singh the delay was caused due to the maintenance of train. “Every day we send our trains for maintenance for nearly five hours, it takes time due to which sometimes delay takes place,” he says.
There are certain other reasons he says which adds to this problem. We have currently three trains plying which make six rounds in a day and sometimes the rush is too heavy that unloading of passengers also take time, he adds. He also says that they too face the pressure at the hands of higher officials to make it sure that trains run on time.“We always ensure that train leaves on time but sometimes its unavoidable,” he says.

For the convenience of rail passengers, Northern Railway introduces NewExpress train no. 14011/14012 Delhi Jn.- Hoshiarpur- Delhi Jn. (Weekly), as per the following programme:-
            The 14011 Delhi Jn.- Hoshiarpur (Weekly) Express train shall depart from Delhi Jn. at 11.05 p.m.on every Saturday from 05.10.2013 to reach Hoshiarpur at 07.10 a.m. the next day. In the return direction, the 14012 Hoshiarpur- Delhi Jn. (Weekly) Express Train shall depart from Hoshiarpur o­n every Sunday at 10.30 p.m. from 06.10.2013 to reach Delhi Jn. at 07.10 a.m. the next day.
            Consisting of o­ne AC II Tier, Two AC III Tier, Five Sleeper Class, Six General Class, two Disabled friendly Second Class cum Luggage Van coaches, the 14011/14012 Delhi Jn.- Hoshiarpur- Delhi Jn. (Weekly) Express Train will stop at Panipat, Ambala Cantt., Ludhiana, Phagwara & Jalandar Cantt. stations enroute in both the directions.

Chennai: A civil court Thursday directed the Southern Railways to pay a compensation of Rs. 1.30 lakh to a person who sustained head injury after a wooden-sleeper fell from the railway track while he was riding his two-wheeler through a underpass six years ago.
Ramakrishna Rao, a designer with a private company in Parrys, was on his way to the office when the mishap occurred on November 1,2007. Even though he was wearing helmet, he sustained injury as the 40 kg sleeper came down crashing.He was unable to attend office for more than six months and filed a suit claiming Rs two lakh compensation from the Southern Railways for its negligence in maintaining the Railway Track. The Railways submitted there was no negligence on their part. Pronouncing the judgment, the Second Assistant City Civil Judge G. Vinobha said eyewitnesses said the sleeper fell on the head of the victim and directed the SR to pay Rs.1.30 lakh as compensation.