RailEnquiry

  Indian Railways News  / 40 injured as locomotive collides with passenger train in Maharashtra

At least 40 passengers were on Thursday injured when a defunct locomotive collided with the stationary Nagarsol-Nanded passenger train in Jalna district of Maharashtra, railway officials said.The incident took place when the engine of the passenger train developed a technical snag between Satona and Osmanpur railway stations, following which another locomotive was dispatched from Parbhani, they said.However, when the engine was being attached to the stationary train, the pilot could not stop it, reportedly due to failure of brakes, as a result of which it hit the train, the authorities said, adding a few bogies of the passenger train got derailed due to the impact.The injured were rushed to hospitals in Sellu and Jalna.Meanwhile, the railway traffic on the route remained out of gear for nearly two hours

  Indian Railways News  / Seven railways officials suspended in Andhra Pradesh train accident

Seven officials, including two loco drivers, have been suspended by the Railways in connection with last Tuesday's rail mishap in Andhra Pradesh that claimed 25 lives.The May 22 accident of Hubli-Bangalore Hampi Express at Penukonda station in Anantapur district of South Western Railway also injured 55 people.The suspended officials included station master of Penukonda Station of Bangalore division M Sri Ramulu, traffic inspector of Hindupur Station of the same division C Ramanjaneyulu, commercial inspector of Hospet Station of Hubli Division B S Chatrappa and senior commercial clerk of Hospet station parce office P Hanumanthappa, a railway release said.Besides, loco pilot of Guntakal division of South Central Railway M Yesu Ratnam, assistant loco pilot of the division G Balaraju and loco inspector V Vinod Kumar have also been placed under suspension.Ratnam and Balaraju were injured in the accident.The mishap took place when the Bangalore-bound Hampi Express rammed into a stationary goods train after its driver apparently overshot the signal near the Penukonda station.An inquiry has already been ordered into the incident and Commissioner Railway Safety (Southern Circle) has been asked to submit a report at the earliest.According to railways, prima facie it suggestes that the driver of Hampi Express overshot the signal.

  Indian Railways News  / More Mumbaikars shun vehicles, take to trains

With fuel prices steadily shooting up, especially in the past two years, more and more Mumbaikars seem to leave their cars behind home and opt for trains for their daily commute.

“In 2010-11 and 2011-12 , the number of Western Railway commuters has increased by 3% annually , while earlier, the yearly rise used to be by 2.3%. The steep hike in fuel prices, especially over the past two years, is playing a crucial role in the trend, with increasingly more people shunning their cars and taking trains,” a senior Western Railway official told TOI. He also attributes the never-ending snarls on roads as another reason, saying people would rather reach their destinations fast by train than swelter on roads, stuck in traffic jams.

The scene is similar even on Central Railway, which has recorded a 2.7% rise in the number of daily passengers in 2011-12 , a figure higher than that over the past fourfive years. “Earlier, the number of passengers on CR would go up by up to 2% every year,” a Central R ailway official said. The official attributes this rise to the new services and rakes recently launched by the railway, but at the same time, agrees that the fuel price increase does a play a vital role in more people opting for trains as a mode of transport.

Incidentally, ever since the petrol prices started to spiral up, the first round of Rs 48.76 per litre in 2009 and now Rs 78.58 per litre, the number of vehicles on roads has also been going up by 12%; earlier the figure used to be an average of 7-8 %, the data with regional transport suggests. The increase of vehicles on road translates into snarls on roads, which in turn, has been forcing people to shun roads and take trains, a traffic analyst says. “I think, 10-15 % of train commuters use the mode of transport owing to these two reasons,” said analyst Sudhir Patil. “Fast AC bus and train services will change the scene even further. Now the administration should start dedicated bus lanes.”

Suggesting that the government should take more steps to further alleviate commuters’ travail, transport expert Jagdeep Desai said, “People need point-to-point fast AC bus services. To help them reach their destinations according to their convenience and within time, the administration must increase the frequency in services and chalk out routes that pass through better commuter-density areas. Unfortunately , the sector is unorganized and haphazard.

  Indian Railways News  / RInfra bets on transport for growth

With ten highway projects, metro lines and many toll bridge operations likely to begin, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) sees a jump in revenue at over Rs. 1,000 crore in the current fiscal year from transport projects alone. The firm expects revenue from such projects to touch Rs 2,000 crore in the next fiscal.“Revenue from our transport infrastructure business tripled last fiscal to Rs. 366 crore,” Lalit Jalan, CEO, RInfra told HT. “Most of our projects are goin to be operational this fiscal year. This will cross Rs. 1,000 crore this fiscal year and will touch Rs. 2000 crore next year.”The company posted a 59% topline growth at R24,271 crore  in the last fiscal year, with electricity distribution and engineering, procurement and construction business contributing more than 95%.“We operate five regional airports,” said Jalan. “Our ten road projects will be operational this year. We have closed retail deals and advertisement deals at our metro airport link in Delhi. Our Mumbai metro line will be commissioned this fiscal.”The company plans to bid for more road projects as National Highway Authority of India plans to put out road projects with total length of 8,500 kilo metres. However, Jalan said, the company will not bid aggressively at the cost of profitability.“We are looking at many secondary assets, predominantly in road sector,” he said.

  Indian Railways News  / Reach 1 of Namma Metro breaks even in first 6 months of operations

BANGALORE :  Reach 1 of Bangalore's Namma Metro has achieved break-even in the first six months of operations since the launch in October 2011.According to Mr N. Sivasailam, Managing Director, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL), the Reach 1 between Byappanahalli and M.G. Road, which has seen 20 per cent capacity utilisation, has been able to “break even fully”.He said, “In a full line, we should be able to do a considerable part of our debt servicing even during the project time.”

VIABLE METRO
If the current operations are any indication, “we will have a viable Metro,” he added. As of March 2012, BMRCL has made a surplus of Rs 5 lakh with Reach 1, said Mr Sivasailam.On the impact of rupee depreciation on BMRCL's imports, he said that though some imports would be impacted, it wouldn't be much. “Our borrowings are in yen, and so the impact would be that much less,” he added.

FOREX EXPOSURE
The forex exposure of BMRCL was 25 per cent of the total project cost at about Rs 2,500 crore.About 50 per cent of that was dollar exposure, he said. “Any cost escalation due to currency fluctuation would be borne by government,” he added.

The northern reach of Bangalore's Namma Metro will be commissioned by December 2012, he said. The 12.4-km northern reach would connect Sampige Road with Nagasandra.

“We have no problems barring a small stretch in Malleshwaram — 66-metre line — for which clearance is awaited from Railways,” he said.

The track-making on the northern reach was already on, pointed out Mr Sivasailam. “The trial run would be done by end of this year,” he said.

On the other reaches, Mr Sivasailam said that work was over on the Jayanagar stretch, and the extension till Puttenahalli Cross was on, and would take 9-12 months. “Most of the work, except Majestic station, will be over by December 2013,” he added.

MAJESTIC STATION

The work at the Majestic station would be done by “sometime in 2014”, he said. “Though the station will not be open, the idea is to take trains through Majestic but bypass the Majestic station,” he explained. The issue of temporary removal of the statue near Vidhana Soudha was yet to be resolved, said Mr Sivasailam.