RailEnquiry

  Indian Railways News  / SPORT : SWR blanks BUFC

South Western Railway (SWR) blanked BUFC 3-0 in the BDFA ‘A’ division football league at the Football Stadium, here on Tuesday.

First-half goals from Nikhil Das, Kaviarasan and Arul sealed the match for SWR.

The results:

‘A’ Div.: SWR 3 (Nikhil Das, Kaviarasan, Arul) bt BUFC 0; AGORC 2 (Praveen, Marcus) bt Dharmaraja Union 0.

  Indian Railways News  / Railway accounts staff demand laptops

The All-India Railway Accounts Staff Association (AIRSA) today demanded that the Railways provide laptops to all its 26,000 members. Now the officials were getting one laptop every four years. "We want laptops for each of the 26,000 members for their entire service," a resolution adopted at the biennial general body meeting of AIRSA here said. Briefing reporters about the resolutions, General Secretary Unnikrishnan and President R.K.Saraswat demanded implementation of arbitration award, notionally from 1986, with credit of arrears to the Provident Fund as negotiated earlier. They warned the members that the multinational and corporate financiers were eyeing the railways' accounts department. The association wanted 14,000 vacancies in the department to be filled and creation of unified accounts cadre including data processing cadre as recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission.

  Indian Railways News  / Assam violence: Over 20,000 passengers stranded as 21 trains halted

Guwahati: With ethnic violence escalating in lower Assam's Kokrajhar area, train services to and from the north east have been severely hit. The railways estimate over 20,000 passengers are stranded at different places across Assam and neighbouring West Bengal; as many as 21 trains have been halted.At the Guwahati Railway station, hundreds of passengers have taken over all available spaces. Many of those planning to spend the night at the railway station are the elderly, or women and children.Today, the railways cancelled 11 express trains from Guwahati to Delhi and other parts of the country. All trains from Guwahati to other parts of the country have to pass Kokrajhar, as the station is located on the strategic Guwahati Delhi main railway line. This is also true for any train coming into Guwahati.This route, a section of which branches out to Kolkata beyond Assam, is the only one that connects Guwahati to the rest of the country. The only other way for passengers, is to take unaffordable flights, or to travel by roads.At the Guwahati railway station, the assortment of those spending the night is unique. From Naga students who were heading to Bangalore for jobs, to groups of CRPF Jawans who were heading to Delhi to report to their new companies after a transfer, all of them now face the prospect of endlessly waiting at the Guwahati station till train traffic is restored."My daughter has to get admission at a college in Mathura, and she has an important exam on the 27th. It is a question of her career, I don't know what to do," said a disgruntled passenger.

Another told us that left with no option he had to buy an air ticket for Rs. 16,000.

A host of trains coming to Guwahati have been stopped at railway station bordering Assam, mostly in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district. Many passengers here complain that even basic facilities like water are not available in these trains.

Railway Minister Mukul Roy says he has spoken to Home Minister P Chidambaram seeking enhanced security for the passengers who are stranded midway.

"It is a matter of serious concern and I have spoken to Home Minister P Chidambram asking for more security for passengers and train movement", Railway Minister Mukul Roy told reporters.

Mr Roy said that he also spoke to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi following the disruption of rail services.

With no end in sight to the tension in Kokrajhar, it seems the woes for train commuters will continue. Till now, 32 people have died and over one lakh people have been rendered homeless following clashes between two communities in Kokrajhar district of Lower Assam on July 19. There is no official word on what triggered the violence but dispute over land may have been one of the reasons.

The violence has slowly spread from Kokrajhar down to Chirang with reports of arson filtering in from these districts. Additional security forces have been deployed across the disturbed areas. Night curfew has been clamped at several places. The police has also issued shoot-at-sight orders in Kokrajhar.

The epicentre of the clashes, Kokrajhar, falls under the Bodoland Territorial Administered Districts (BTAD). So even though the Home Department of the state government is responsible for law and order, it is the autonomous district authorities who control the situation on the ground.

Assam has had had a history of ethnic clashes with the worst being witnessed in the nineties in Lower Assam and the North Bank of Brahmaputra that saw more than two lakh people from all communities being displaced. While some have returned to their homes, others are still languishing in relief camps.

In 2008, violence erupted again, with inter-community clashes claiming lives and destroying property.

  Indian Railways News  / Local timings changed

The railway authorities have changed the timings of local trains running between Pune and Lonavla. The first morning local would leave Pune railway station from 4.45 am instead of 4.25 am. The officials said that due to the change in timings, two additional services of local trains will be provided between Pune and Lonavla. At present there are 42 local train services, but from July 28, there will be 44 services between these two stations.

Railway administration has decided to run three local trains from Shivajinagar station from July 28 on an experimental basis for three months.

  Indian Railways News  / The British set to snip umbilical cord to Indian Rlys

A hundred and fifty-nine years after the first train run, the Indian Railways will finally be ours. The British, 65 years after they quit India, have formally proposed severing their old existing links with India's railway network. The British Law Commission has proposed revocation of all old laws and regulations pertaining to the operation and running of the Indian Railways in its latest statute law repeals report.
The proposals for repeals relate to 12 old companies of the Indian Railways - which were diluted following Independence - and, more particularly, the legislation that facilitated the construction of various railway lines across the Indian subcontinent, the subsequent maintenance of those railway undertakings and their gradual absorption into state control.
The latest report of the Draft Statute Law (Repeals) Bill, which was recently presented before the British Parliament, has recommended repealing 38 Acts related to the various railway com panies on the grounds that they are obsolete.
The Bill, the largest that the Law Commission has ever produced, has proposed the annulment of 817 Acts and part revocation of 50 others and is expected to be introduced in the ongoing session of the British Parliament. The commission does not just propose new laws, but also proposes the repeal of those which have become obsolete. The purpose is to modernise and simplify the statute book, reduce its size, and save the time of lawyers and others who use it.
This, in turn, helps avoid unnecessary costs. It also stops people from being misled by obsolete laws which masquerade as 'live laws'. The Law Commission presents their proposals to the government through statute law repeals reports, published with a draft Bill. Repeal proposals are implemented through special statute law (repeals) bills.
Eighteen such Bills have been enacted since 1965, repealing more than 2,500 Acts. The latest statute law (repeals) report was publ ished early this year and work on the next report (due for publication in 2016) has begun