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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.

Railways hike the fares second time in this fiscal year.Due to higher revenue they should allot more funds for the on going Uni-gauge, Doubling,New line and Electrification works .

KOZHIKODE: One special train will be run between Mangalore Central and Kozhikode from October 7 to 16 to clear the extra rush of passengers due to cancellation of trains during non-interlocked work at Shoranur Junction.

Mangalore Central-Kozhikode Express special train will leave Mangalore Central at 6.50 a.m. and will reach Kozhikode at 11.15 a.m.

Kozhikode-Mangalore Central Express special train will leave Kozhikode at 5 p.m. and will reach Mangalore Central at 9.50 p.m., a release from Palakkad division of Southern Railways said.

Southern Railway has cancelled a number of trains between Chennai and Andhra Pradesh on Monday 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 on Monday, has been cancelled, a Railway release said. Similarly, Chennai Central-Gudur Passenger, Vijayawada-Chennai Central Pinakini Express and Bitragunta-Chennai Central Passenger have also been cancelled, the release said.

Every day, elderly and physically challenged passengers at the Pune rainway station can be seen struggling to climb the steep ramp of the foot overbridge to reach the platforms. Meanwhile, the battery-operated vehicle, which is supposed to ferry them to the platform for free, lies unused.

The vehicle remains parked near the accounts department office where passengers who need it cannot see it. The driver is never around. Calls on the helpline number (8600974444), printed on the vehicle, are either never picked up, or the person at the other end informs the caller that the services are unavailable at that hour.

The vehicle had come into service after the Ministry of Railways in 2009 received proposals to run free round-the-clock services to carry disabled and elderly persons on railway platforms and it decided to allow private parties to run these battery-operated vehicles. The idea was initially tried out on a pilot basis at a couple of railway stations in south India.

In accordance with the policy formulated by the ministry, the service is free of cost and the private player is not supposed to charge any money either from the passengers or the Railways. Also, the vehicles are only supposed to carry the physically challenged and the elderly. To help private players earn some revenue, the Railways allowed the operators to advertise on the vehicles. The Railways provides electricity free of cost to charge the vehicle.

However, on multiple visits to the station, Newsline found that the vehicle remains parked in front of the accounts department throughout the day. It also found that several senior citizens and their families were struggling to reach the platforms 3 and 5 on the foot overbridge. When asked, Sudhindra Saraf, who was accompanying his grandfather, said, "We are not even aware of any such service. If there is such a facility available they should publicise it through ads and announcements over the public address system."Harsha Shah of Railway Pravasi Group said that the vehicle is proving to be of no use for the elderly and the physically challenged."Apparently, the drivers employed are relatives of the railway officials who are engaged in some other private job and don't bother to carry out the duty of facilitating the transport of the intended beneficiaries in the project. Even if, by sheer luck, you find the vehicle, the driver will refuse to help you, saying that the vehicle can't be operated in the heavy passenger traffic on the overbridge," said Shah.

Shah said battery-operated vehicles at other stations in the country were fully functional and were available for the needy 24 hours a day.

"However, at Pune station the service is only available on the days when higher authorities like the general manager are visiting the station," he said.

Work for 2 foot overbridges, four escalators and lifts to start next month

In order to provide better facilities to over 1.5 lakh railway passengers, the Pune railway division will be making two new foot overbridges (FOB) and also install four escalators and lifts.Pune railway division is planning to commence the work next month. Officials say that the two new FOBs -- one at Solapur end and the other on Tadiwala Road -- will be constructed within 12 months.Senior divisional commercial manager of Pune railway division, Alok Badkul, said, “One FOB, which is 4.5 metre wide will be connecting platform number one to six while the other bridge will connect platform number one to platform number 3.”“We have also planned to install four escalators, two on platform number one and two on platform 6. We will be installing lifts on platform number two, three, four and five. There will also be a small foot overbridge at the Solapur end,” Badkul explained. With more than 150 trains per day, plus 44 local trains, the footfall at the Pune railway station is increasing rapidly. Railway officials believe that the numbers can soon cross the two-lakh mark.

The daily passengers are happy with the authorities’ new decision. Nitin Singh (45), a resident of Vimannagar, said, “I travel by local train everyday as my office is in Pimpri. The new FOB with more width will help passengers to walk freely with their luggage.”

Ragini Gaikwad (28), resident of Dehu Road, said, “Escalators coupled with lift is like a dream at Pune railway station. It will be a boon for senior citizens.”

More parking space

The Pune railway station authorities are planning to increase the parking space for two-wheelers near the state transport bus stand. A parking space of 5,800 square metre will be created. Presently, the Pune railway station has a parking space for 1.75 lakh vehicles.

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.