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  Indian Railways News  / Railway station issues, rail services remain unattended

Friday's visit by the general manager of the Central Railway, Subodh Jain, to the Nashik Road railway station, which is the only railway station within the Nashik city limits, has brought to the fore not only the total lack of coordination between the railway authorities and the state government, but also the long pending woes of passengers using the station.Despite Nashik being an important and rapidly growing city in the state and the number of passengers using the railways on the increase, several issues on improving the rail services have been pending for a long time. Some of the perennial issues include the introduction of dedicated train services between Mumbai and Nashik, improvement in passenger amenities, catering services, lodging and waiting room facilities, additional platforms, lift or an escalators to climb bridges and terminus facilities, adequate parking space.There have been numerous meetings, visits of senior railway officials and agitations, but the issues have remained neglected. At times, senior railway officials visited Nashik Road railway station have mixed business and pleasure by visiting Shirdi and other pilgrimage spots rather than focusing on contentious issues of rail services.Even with regards to a mega-event like the Kumbh, the coordination between the state government has remained a perennial problem. Even during the last Kumbh mela held in 2003-04, the railway authorities made arrangements on their own through their own funds, without being actively involved by state government agencies that received funds from the state and central governments.

The Nashik Road railway station has remained neglected both by its own officials as well as those of the state.

When the Great Indian Peninsula railway started laying rail tracks during the British regime in the 19th century, completing the first stretch between Mumbai and Thane and moving northwards towards Nashik, it was to pass through the Nashik city. However, following opposition from certain quarters culminated in a change in the alignment and the tracks were laid about nine kilometres away from the hub of the city, where the Nashik Road railway station stands today.

Eventually, after independence and creation of Maharashtra state, as Nashik gradually started transforming itself from an ancient town of pilgrimage to a modern city, the Nashik Road railway station became an important embarking and disembarking spot on the country's rail network. However, while Nashik city continued to grow, with infrastructure being added - albeit too little, too late- the railway station continued to remain just a station, despite Nashik being the divisional headquarters of the State government.

The Manmad railway junction created about 100 km north of Nashik Road station has become one of the major junctions on the railway network, with all facilities of a terminus and a workshop. Eventually, whenever trains for commuters from Nashik visiting Mumbai were introduced, they originated from Manmad, because of the terminus facilities. Most of the trains plying from Manmad and Mumbai for passengers of Mumbai and Nashik (except the Panchavati Express and the Godavari Express) were further extended from Manmad to Aurangabad, Nanded and further.

The demand for upgrading Nashik Road railway station as a terminus has been raised intermittently at various levels by rail users and organisations, but have been told by railway authorities that in absence of terminus facilities, trains have to be send to Manmad. Commuters plying daily between Mumbai and Nashik have been seeking dedicated trains between the two cities and have pointed out that trains originating from places like Nanded for Mumbai are too crowded to take the daily load between Nashik and Mumbai.

The outbursts of Jain, who expressed inability in creating an additional platform -the fourth at the station- speaks volumes about the efficiency of the railways, which has not even been able to repair the baggage scanner at Nashik Road railway station lying defunct since October 2010.

  Indian Railways News  / The Hindu : NATIONAL / ANDHRA PRADESH : Several trains to be cancelled, diverted on December 11

There will be cancellation, diversion and short-termination of some trains in view of proposed development works at Gopalapatnam railway station from 6 a.m. to noon on December 11.

Senior Divisional Commercial Manager M. Yelveder Yadav appealed to the passengers to make a note of the changes and bear with the Railways for the inconvenience.

Cancelled

The trains cancelled are: No. 58501 Visakhapatnam-Kirandul passenger, train no. 67291 Vizianagaram-Visakhapatnam passenger and train no. 58526 Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger.

Short-terminated

Train no. 67294 Visakhapatnam-Palasa MEMU will be run from Vizianagaram to Palasa instead of Visakhapatnam to Palasa on December 11.

Train no. 57229 Machilipatnam-Visakhapatnam Passenger will be short terminated at Duvvada and the same train will start from Duvvada as train no.57226 Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada Passenger at its scheduled time.

Train no. 57255 Kakinada Town- Visakhapatnam Passenger will be terminated at Duvvada railway station. But, train no. 57256 Visakhapatnam-Kakinada Town will leave from Visakhapatnam at its scheduled time.

Diverted

The trains diverted via alternative route: Train no. 22860 Chennai-Puri weekly Express will be diverted via Duvvada and will not come to Visakhapatnam. Hence for the convenience of rail users, the train will have stoppage at Duvvada on that day only. 

Train no. 12807 Visakhapatnam-Nizamuddin ‘Samata’ Express and train no. 17016 Secunderabad-Bhubaneswar ‘Visakha’ Express will not stop at Simhachalam railway station as they will be diverted via another route.

  Indian Railways News  / Mamata rail budget promise still on paper, officials look for ‘missing town’

On February 25, 2011, presenting her Railway Budget, then railway minister Mamata Banerjee proposed a new rail line between “two towns of West Bengal” — Karimganj and Katwa.Almost two years later, work on it is yet to begin. The reason? Railway officials have been unable to find the Karimganj town Mamata mentioned.The Eastern Railway, under whose jurisdiction West Bengal falls, even sought the help of Congress MLA from Katwa Rabindranath Chatterjee — but to no avail.“It is a ghost location. Nobody knows where it exists, if it does,” said a senior official.The proposal is now set to be taken out of the Railways’ blue book, which details all ongoing and pending projects, and buried in the files.A letter sent to the Railway Board by then CEO (Construction), Eastern Railway, A K Harit, on June 21, 2011, reads: “The location of Karimganj has not been traced in West Bengal in the vicinity of Katwa despite best efforts.” The same letter also says that two locations called Karimganj had been traced, but one was in Bihar and the other in Assam.Railway officials also point to Mamata’s announcement to update the survey from Lebukhali to Pratapaditya Nagar — a distance of 3 km. The Eastern Railway has pointed out that, if laid, the 3-km-long track would serve no purpose, being a “dead end”. The Railways is now set to dump the proposal.

  Indian Railways News  / Timing of Inaugural Function of Secunderabad-Tirupati Bi-Weekly Express is Advanced

Timing of Inaugural Function of Secunderabad-Tirupati Bi-Weekly Express is Advanced
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The timing of the inaugural function of Secunderabad-Tirupati Bi-weekly Express at Secunderabad Railway Station (Bhoguda Side) is advanced to 11 00 hrs o­n 8thDecember, 2012 It was announced by thisoffice through a press release (No.343 dt 6th December, 12) that the function will be at 12 00 Noon o­n 8th December, 2012. There is no other change. The details of the programme with revised timing for the inaugural function are as follows:- ShriN. Kiran Kuamar Reddy, Hon’ble Chief Minister ofAndhra Pradeshwill flag off the inaugural run of the train at 11 00 hrs o­n 8thDecember, 2012.Shri Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy, Hon’ble Minister of State for Railways will preside over the inaugural function and other public representatives / dignitaries will participate. On its regular service, Train No.12770 Secunderabad – Tirupati Bi-Weekly Express will depart Secunderabad at 17 40 hrs o­n Tuesdays andSaturdays and arrive Tirupati at 06 35 hrs o­n the next day. In the return direction, Train No. 12769 Tirupati-Secunderabad Bi-weekly Express will depart Tirupati at 15 10 hrs o­n Fridays and Sundays and arrive Secunderabad at 04 05 hrs o­n the next day. This train will run via Kacheguda, Kurnool Town, Dhone, Gooty, Dharmavaram, Piler and Pakala

  Indian Railways News  / Minister takes a face swipe

Haldia: Junior railway minister Adhir Chowdhury today said the state director-general of police did not attend a meeting he had held yesterday to discuss the speed of night trains in Jungle Mahal, adding that "they may not like my face". "I will call him (DG Naparajit Mukherjee) again. They (those in the state administration) may not like my face. If necessary, I will ask somebody else to call him," Adhir said after laying the foundation of a coach factory in Haldia. "We need to hold a meeting because the speed of night trains in Jungle Mahal has to be increased. Trains are getting delayed because they are running slowly (through the Maoist-hit region)," Chowdhury said. Calls to Mukherjee's cellphone went unanswered. Night trains were suspended in Jungle Mahal after the alleged Jnaneswari Express sabotage in 2010 in which around 160 people were killed. Services resumed last December, but the average speed of 110-115kmph was reduced to 70-75kmph. Trains to cities such as Chennai, Mumbai and Pune pass through the region. "We can't increase the speed even though peace has returned to Jungle Mahal... the state government is not co-operating," Adhir said.