ProUI

Once again, the Northern Railways has breached the deadline for much awaited 25-km Udhampur-Katra railway line which was set to be commissioned in the month of September this year or before Navratras.             Official sources told Greater Kashmir that most of the formalities as well as construction work on the railway line has been completed, but it still awaits the final clearance by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS).  The CRS team could not conduct the mandatory inspection for the trial run on the section before throwing it open for passenger trains, sources said. “Safety clearance from CRS is mandatory for making new line operational,” they said, adding that the Chairman Railway Board and General Manager of Northern Railway will conduct thorough inspection of the hilly track before it is made operational. Sources added that after inspecting track and construction work, the Ferozpur division gave approval to the 25 kilometer long track and wrote a letter on August 19 to CRS for conducting final inspection but nothing has been done so far.     “Now the track awaits only final inspection by CRS authorities” sources said and added that the reason for delay was well known to higher ups.        The track consists of 11-km of tunnelling passage, nine major bridges, 29 minor bridges and 10 rail under-bridges. The tallest bridge on the section is 85 metres and the longest tunnel is 3.15 km. Pertinently, the inauguration of the 25-km long railway track by Prime Minster on June 25 was postponed because the Chairman Railway Board had found some technical snag along the track. Earlier, the rail link between Udhampur and Katra was scheduled to be completed by 2005. The survey on the rail project was conducted in 1998 but the actual groundwork was started in 1999 setting 2005 as deadline to connect Katra with the rest of the country. Sources said that the Katra Railway station has also been completed with modern facilities including tourist guide counter, cloak room, waiting hall, VIP lounge, escalators and lifts, besides parking space on either                                                   side. They said that the Railway authorities were  mulling to extend Jammu mail and Samparak Kranti trains up to Katra, besides introducing new trains including Katra-Kalka (Chandigarh) Express (bi-weekly), Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Udhampur Express, (fully air-conditioned) and Ahmedabad-Udhampur Express. They said a set of local trains from Jammu to Katra and Pathankot to Katra are also likely to be introduced to cater to the rush of Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims from Jammu and Pathankot to Katra.

MUMBAI: Train services on the Konkan Railway (KR) route was affected today due to a derailment of the locomotive and brake van of Mandovi Express near Khed railway station.Said KR senior spokesperson Vaishali Patange: "The derailment of the locomotive and the brake van of CST-Madgaon Mandovi Express between Diwankhavati and Khed stations occurred at 12:30 pm. On this account, only one train, namely Sawantwadi-Diva passenger train, has been terminated at Ratnagiri and there is no cancellation of any services. However, the trains may be running late due to this and the public may call 022-27561721, 27561723, 27561725 for information.""There is no injury or casualty. Our officials had rushed to the spot of derailment for expeditious restoration of the traffic. The work is going on in full swing and the engineers and the staff are working on a war footing," she said. The commissioner of railway safety was apprised of the incident and an inquiry has been instituted, officials said. "The inconvenience caused to the public is deeply regretted," a senior official added.

Vijayanagaram: Curfew has been imposed in Vizianagaram town with police given the orders to shoot at sight in the wake of large-scale violence by anti-bifurcation agitators, police said in Hyderabad. Additional forces have also been rushed to the district. More than 50,000 employees of the electricity department have threatened to boycott work. As a precautionary measure, the railways have cancelled fifteen passenger trains. "In view of the prevailing situation in Seemandhra and also the commencement of strike by the electricity department employees, this morning railways have cancelled 15 passenger trains on Vijaywada to Kanchipet and also to Vijaywada, Gonur, Renigunta, Tirupati sections," said Railway PRO K Sambasiva Rao.

Southern Railway has cancelled a number of trains between Chennai and Andhra Pradesh tomorrow due to agitation by some workers of Andhra Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation over the Telangana issue.

The Jan Shatabdi Express running between Chennai Central and Vijayawada, scheduled to leave the city tomorrow, has been cancelled, a Southern Railway release said.

Similarly, tomorrow's Chennai Central-Gudur Passenger, Vijayawada-Chennai Central Pinakini Express and Bitragunta-Chennai Central Passenger have also been cancelled, the release said.

GORAKHPUR: The Gorakhpur railway station became the proud owner world's longest home platform on Sunday after GM, NER, KK Atal inaugurated the remodelled Gorakhpur Yard.The remodelling work was completed on war-footing within the scheduled time. With the inauguration of the remodelled yard, Gorakhpur now has a platform measuring 1366.33 metres with ramp and 11355.40 metres without it. With this achievement, the NER has also secured a place in the Limca Book of Records. The certificate for the same would be issued soon. The achievement of the Gorakhpur station would also be incorporated in the Guinness Book of World Records. The postal department too is likely to release a special cover to mark the achievement.After inaugurating the newly installed route relay interlocking system, the GM also flagged off 12555 Gorakhdham Express (Gorakhpur to Hisar). Later, talking to reporters, Atal, said, "I congratulate the people of Gorakhpur on getting the privilege of world's longest railway platform in the city. I also appreciate the cooperation of the people of Gorakhpur as more than half of the work was completed within 11 days. I also appreciate the dedication of rail employees and officers who worked day and night for to ensure completion of work within the time limit."On the occasion, the GM announced award of Rs 1 lakh each for the construction department, signal construction department and Lucknow division and an award of Rs 50,000 for the headquarters.

Chief operating manager, RV Singh, chief signal and telecommunication engineer, HK Agarwal, chief administrative officer, Onkar Singh, chief signal telecommunication engineer, HK Agarwal, DRM Lucknow, Anoop Kumar, ADRM (Lucknow), chief engineer (construction), ON Verma, chief signal telecommunication engineer (construction) SN Sah, SDGM, PN Rai, CCM, Arvind Kumar, CPRO, Alok Kumar Singh, secretary to GM, Amit Singh along with senior railway officials were also present at the inaugural ceremony.

PATNA: About 17,000 people have visited Bharatiya Nritya Kala Mandir so far to have a look at the photo exhibition put up by East Central Railway (ECR) to mark the 160 years of Indian Railways. The exhibition is a repository of rare photographs of Railways right from 1853 to the present time. There are about 250 photographs at this exhibition which will conclude on Monday.

A visit to the photo exhibition gives an idea of how the Indian Railways has been progressing since its first run on April 16, 1853, between Bori Bundar (Mumbai) and Thane. There was a time when shunting engine was hardly available to haul passenger train rake or goods train in the yard. Railways had then adopted a novel idea to keep elephants on the payrolls of railways and they were used in place of locomotives to push the coach or a rake in the yard for shunting purpose. The rare photographs in black and white in which elephants are shown pushing rake or coach attracted attention of the visitors, especially schoolchildren who were visiting the photo exhibition almost everyday.

The youth and children throng the exhibition to view the rare photos of 'refugee special train' during partition of India in 1947. People was shown sitting on the roofs of the train which came from Pakistan to Amritsar and Ambala during partition.

The exhibition show is a thrill for the visitors who found it highly informative and educative. Railways has been a mode of transport for every section of the society during pre and post independence era. Rare photographs of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, Nizam of Hyderabad, Lord Linlithgow, Dr S Radhakrishnan, Babu Jagjivan Ram, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Satyajit Ray, Rajiv Gandhi and many others were the cynosure of all eyes. A rare photograph of Patna Junction in 1939 is also displayed.

Various models of locomotives right from 1853, coaches of passenger trains including the modern LHB coaches, the biggest railway yard of Mughalsarai, upcoming Patna-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge over the Ganga, Harnaut coach maintenance workshop, Chhapra wheel factory, saloon of Darbhanga Maharaj, 1906 tunnel in Maharashtra, flood situation at Patna Junction, 1920 passenger engine, steam engine bearing National anthem, models of Victoria Terminus, old Delhi and Madras stations in 1873 are other highlights of the railway photo exhibition, said ECR CPRO Amitabh Prabhakar.

ALLAHABAD: Incessant rain severely affected the movement of trains at Allahabad railway station. With the railway yard heavily waterlogged and signal failure reported early in the day, several trains were delayed.

The problem was worse on platform number 1 and 2 of the railway junction where the movement of severak New Delhi-bound trains was affected. The trains which arrived late at the station included Kalka Mail and North East Express. Due to the non-functioning of signals for a certain period, train traffic was handled through log books until the signal failure was rectified.

VISAKHAPATNAM, OCT 6:   The two-month-long agitation against the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh by the UPA Government has turned violent in Vizianagaram, 60 km from here, a historical town from where the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President, B. Satyanarayama, hails.

Curfew was imposed late on Saturday night. However, samaikhyandhra (united AP) agitators came out into the streets on Sunday, in spite of the prohibitory orders, and they made vain attempts to attack the properties of Satyanarayana.

PCC president Satyanarayana incurred the wrath of the public in his home town and his properties were attacked on Saturday and there were pitched battles between the police and the agitators. Rubber bullets were used to disperse the agitators. But the infuriated mobs were not deterred.

Satyanarayana had made statements in the past that there was nothing wrong if there were two states - Telangana and AP - for Telugu-speaking people and the public in Vizianagaram was also infuriated by his recent pronouncements. Even though he too had expressed his support for a united AP overtly, the public suspect him of striking secret deals with the Congress high command to divide the state.

Satyanarayana is perceived to be “a traitor to the cause of a united Andhra Pradesh” in sharp contrast to the AP Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who came out openly opposing the Congress High Command's decision to bifurcate the State.

The Chief Minister publicly urged the High Command to reconsider the decision.

Power supply disrupted: Power supply was disrupted in the State as the joint action committee of the electricity employees began an indefinite strike from Sunday morning. The Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Station at Vijayawada is presently generating only 200 MWs or so against its usual capacity of 1,750 MWs. Power supply to several coastal districts and other parts of AP was disrupted.

The movement of trains was also affected on the Vijayawada-Chennai, Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam routes. The railway authorities cancelled several goods trains and passenger trains. Some of the important trains were operated on diesel engines.

VISAKHAPATNAM: The indefinite strike in the 13 Seemandhra districts by the Samaikya Andhra Vidyut Employees (SAVE) joint action committee from Sunday morning has impacted railway services, with two trains being delayed by more than three hours at the Ongole and Vijayawada railway stations.The 16323 Shalimar Express (Trivandrum Central-Shalimar), which is scheduled to reach Visakhapatnam Railway Station (VRS) at 10.55pm on Sunday, is now expected to reach at 2.20am on Monday. Another train, 12842 Coromandel Express (Chennai Central-Howrah), which was to reach VRS at 9.50pm on Sunday, is now expected at 1.23am on Monday.Railway officials pointed to the disruption in power supply for the train and at the railway stations as the reason for the delay. If the strike continues, train services would be interrupted on Monday too, the officials said.

Emergency services such as health and water would also be affected by the strike, said its convener, Polaki Srinivasa Rao. On Sunday, nearly 4,000MW of power generation was affected, he pointed out.

Nearly 14,000 regular and contract employees of the Eastern Power Distribution Company of AP Limited (EPDCL) would participate in the strike from 6am on Monday. "On Sunday, the Save JAC members under the Southern Power Distribution Company of AP Limited (SPDCL) took part in the strike. From Monday, EPDCL staff would take part in the strike," said Rao.

Earlier, Save Jac held a 72-hour strike but exempted emergency services. As this did not have the desired result, JAC took the decision of holding an indefinite protest from Sunday across the 13 Seemandhra districts without exempting emergency services, Rao told TOI.

A senior EPDCL official informed TOI that because of the strike at the power generation stations at Vijayawada and Kadapa on Sunday, the discom faced power shortage of nearly 600MW against the actual demand of 1,600MW.

The Konkan Railway that has been hit by a derailment will be fully restored by 8 pm on Sunday.

"The derailment of the locomotive and the brake van of train no. 10103 CST-Madgaon Mandovi Express between Diwankhavati and Khed stations occurred at 12:30 pm. On this account, only one train, namely 50106 Sawantwadi-Diva passenger train, has been regulated at Ratnagiri and there is no cancellation of any services. However, the trains may be running late due to this and the public may call 022-27587938, 27587939 for information," Vaishali Patange, chief public relations office of Konkan Railway said.

"There is no injury or casualty. The officers and staff from Corporate Office and Ratnagiri region have rushed to the spot of derailment for expeditious restoration of the traffic. The work is going on in full swing and the engineers and the staff are working on a war footing," she added.

"Commissioner of Railway Safety has also been apprised of the incident and as desired a senior administrative grade level enquiry into the incident has been ordered," she added.