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  Indian Railways News  / Baisakhi festival: Arrangements to facilitate pilgrims finalised

As many as 6,000 Sikh pilgrims will start arriving at Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal from April 10 to celebrate the 313th Baisakhi festival. The arrangements for the festival, including accommodation and security, have been finalised by the Evacuee Property Trust Board (EPTB). The pilgrims will cross over from the Wagah Border and will be taken to Punja Sahab on special trains from April 11 to 13. “They will perform their final rituals on April 14. After visiting Punja Sahib, they will visit Nankana Sahib and other places, and then return to Lahore,” said an official of EPTB. The official said the board has completed the renovation and decoration of the Gurdwara, while additional rooms for accommodation have been constructed by the government. Every year, thousands of Sikhs from across the world, especially from India and parts of Pakistan, gather to attend their religious festival, where they perform rites such as Akhand, Paath Sahib, Bhog, Ardas and Hukamnama. Baisakhi is an ancient harvest festival which marks the beginning of a new solar year and harvest season. Although originally a harvest festival, the establishment of the Khalsa (pure) order on April 13, 1699 led to it becoming the most prominent festival in Sikhism. On that day, Guru Gobind Singh (the 10th Sikh Guru), established that all human beings are equal. Sikhism in its present form owes its existence to that day. After that day, the tradition of Gurus was put to an end by the Sikhs and later the Guru Granth Sahib scripture was declared as their eternal guide and holy book by the 10th Guru.

  Indian Railways News  / Why The Poor Can't find a Seat on Indian Railways

Traveling by train from Lucknow to Delhi two years ago, I got a sense of the price that the common man pays for the slow pace of decision-making by the powers that be. As the overcrowded train took a winding turn, I spotted a column of elbows and heads jutting out of the windows of the neighboring general compartments. This pathetic sight was naturally the result of a shortage of additional coaches and locomotives.
But when will the railways buy the coaches and locomotives that the system needs? How long will the average rail traveler have to put up with sleeping on the floor or fitting in like cattle?
The fact is that the shabby condition of rains is the result of intense apathy on the part of the railways. The case of two locomotive production units planned as a joint venture with the private sector serves as an indicator of all that is wrong with the national carrier.
Among the many achievements of the railways that minister Dinesh Trivedi would reel out during his rail budget speech on Monday, he may want to add a particularly interesting one. The railways may be the only organization in the country that has been unable to put out tenders for locomotives that were planned six years ago.
The staggering amount of time taken by the Railway Board to chew on the matter pertaining to establishment of locomotive factories in Madhepura and Marora in Bihar would put any black and white movie to shame. But like the Dedicated Freight Corridor project that’s running way behind schedule, the case of the proposed production units too seems to be in stall mode.
One man who would be very interested in hearing from the railways on their plans pertaining to the factories would be Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Over the last year, the Prime Minister’s Office has been writing a series of letters to the Railway Board urging it to present a status report on the setting up of diesel and electrical locomotive factories.

In June last year, the PMO had co-ordinated a meeting of top bureaucrats from the railways in which these projects were discussed. The railways agreed to fast-track these projects by calling for tenders. And that was that. Since then the PMO has been writing regularly to the Board asking for its response. But the Board has decided to keep mum.

“One must understand that it is a coalition government. Mamata Banerjee does not seem to like the idea of bringing in the private sector and so the Railway Board has decided that it need not answer the Prime Minister,” says a senior government officer who did not wish to be identified.
Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal says that his department has been keeping the PMO orally updated on the issue. “The PMO knows where we stand on these projects and we are in the process of examining the papers pertaining to these projects. It is going to take time and I cannot specify by when we will be ready.”
Railway Board member, electrical, Kul Bhushan, said that the Board was unable to say by when the tenders would be put out. “Its too early to comment on this issue. The processes is on and we are working on it,” said Bhushan.
Two days after the Uttar Pradesh election results were announced, minister Trivedi stated that the mid-term elections could be a possibility. Given that the government now faces some serious political challenges, it is unlikely that the Congress would want to exert pressure on Trinamul Congress to push ahead with the factory projects.
The two factories were conceived in 2006 when Lalu Prasad was the railways minister. The idea was that since the locomotive factories under the railways were unable to produce the numbers that were required, why not set up factories with private sector participation that could produce coaches and locos.
In 2008, after getting the cabinet approvals, the railways floated tenders for setting up a diesel loco factory in Marora and an electric loco factory at Madhepura. The two plants were to deliver 100 locos each every year over ten years; an order worth around Rs 40,000 crore.
The tender ran into controversy as only GE submitted a bid for the diesel locos. Railway officers say that they were in no position to grant the contract as it would then be perceived to have been given on nomination, which would have been in conflict with CAG norms.
“Had we accepted that bid, then every officer who had signed off on the contract would have been held answerable,” says a former Railway Board official. The tender for the electrical locos did not get any response although Seimens, Alstom and Bombardier had expressed interest. “We believe they did not pursue the tender as the general elections were only a few months away and they thought there was some political uncertainty which could affect these projects,” this person said. Competition in the locomotive space is limited to global biggies such as Bombardier, Alstom, EMD, GE and Seimens.

Railway officials who spoke about the background also say that since the competition is limited to a handful of big companies, the pressure was enormous. “Most officials therefore prefer to play safe and are reluctant to move on these tenders.”
An executive with a global transportation company that had expressed an interest in the tender was cautious. “We understand that calling for the tender would be a tedious process for the railways and we are hopeful that the tender would be called once again. After all the railways needs these coaches and locos,” said this person on condition of anonymity.
But what gets forgotten in the bureaucratic red-tape and the political cat-fight is the fact that the railways needs urgent attention. The shortage of locomotives, coaches and signaling systems is leading to congestion on the lines as well as over-crowding in the trains. And if the passengers of the railways want a better ride, it would be important to overhaul the lethargic system through which the railways places its orders.
The Dhall committee which examined the procurement system of the railways was caustic in its remarks about the Vendor Registration System followed by Indian Railways. Under the system, the railways procures goods worth over Rs 20,00 crore from vendors registered with the Research Design Standards Organisation. The committee has pointed out that the prevailing system curtailed open competition and gave room for unfair practices in the selection of vendors.

Unless processes in the railways are fast-tracked, that absurd sight of people spilling from trains would continue to be a part of the India post-card.

  Indian Railways News  / Dhanbad division touches new high

Dhanbad division of East Central Railway has broken several records in the 2011-12 fiscal to emerge as the second highest freight loading division of the country after Bilaspur.The division also created a record for loading 118 rakes comprising 6,315 wagons on March 31, 2012, the highest loading figure of any division on a single day.Providing details, divisional railway manager, Dhanbad division of East Central Railway (ECR) Sudhir Kumar said the division loaded 91.030 million tonnes, including 86.062 million tonnes of coal and 4.968 million tonnes of other goods to become the second highest loading division after Bilaspur, which loaded 117 million tonnes. Chakradharpur division came third with 80 million tonne of freight loading.“The division was given a target of 91 million tonne for 2012 and it achieved it despite several constraints like and law and order problems and frequent bandhs,” said Kumar at the annual press conference of his division on Tuesday. He added that the revenue earning during 2011-12 through freight loading was Rs 6,062.63 crore which was Rs 883.62 crore more than last year (2010-11).The gross earning of the division was Rs 6,276 crore in 2011-12, including Rs 6062 crore through freight loading, Rs 186.84 crore through passenger earnings and Rs 26.83 core through other earnings.Kumar also provided details of other achievements and initiatives of the division to improve passenger amenities and safety and staff welfare activities.Over the delay in developing the southern side of Dhanbad railway station —work on the Rs 4 crore project began last year —Kumar said only Rs 30 lakh had been made available for the purpose during the last year. He added that efforts were on to complete the project by the end of the new financial year.“Not only the southern side, but the existing northern face of Dhanbad station needs refurbishment. In the circulating area, there is need for separate lanes for different kinds of vehicles like cars, rickshaw and bikes to do away with the messy look,” said Kumar. He informed that work to this effect had already begun with the razing of some unused quarters.Over the manpower crisis in Dhanbad division he said more than 8,000 posts were lying vacant though 1,600 people were expected to be recruited through a panel soon.When asked about the underground fire near the railway track in Bansjora, senior divisional engineer (coordination) Bansh Narayan Singh said though the underground fire had spread from one side of the track to the other, it was simmering about 45 metres below the surface. Since the texture of the soil was rocky, there was no immediate threat to the track though the fire was being monitored continuously.Over reports of coal smuggling through passenger trains like Dhanbad-Gaya-Varanasi Passenger and Maurya Express, Kumar said a special drive would be launched to prevent smuggling of coal through trains, but also sought the cooperation of passengers who should inform the railway authorities, particularly the railway protection force.Additional divisional railway manager Rajesh Mohan, senior divisional commercial manager Dayanand, senior public relations officer Amrendra Das, senior divisional operating manager Ved Prakash and others were also present at the news meet.Over the steps taken by the division to ensure safety, senior divisional operating manager Ved Prakash said out of the 33 unmanned level crossings of the division, three have been manned during the last year, while the rest would be made manned in the coming days.

  Indian Railways News  / Demand for amenities at Garhwa station

Garhwa railway station has been crying for basic amenities for the past several years. Till date there is nothing in the name of facility for travellers despite the fact that over 400 commuters travel to and from the railway station everyday, said railway sources here on Thursday.Situated on the Garhwa Road under Chopan rail division, the station lacks basic amenities like drinking water, a waiting room, over bridge and an inquiry counter.There is only one hand pump, which is not sufficient to quench the thirst of the large number of travelers who use this station.Garhwa railway station earns about Rs 2.4 crore revenue per annum, besides crores of rupees from transportation of raw materials.For long, the residents and commuters have been demanding the doubling of Garhwa Road-Chopan railway section.When there is a power cut, the entire station is plunged into darkness. There is no power generator. Passengers feel very insecure in the dark waiting for a train.As many as 20 trains, including six express trains, run through the station daily besides goods trains.The Garhwa Road-Chopan railway section has direct links with two metro-cities - national capital Delhi and Kolkata.Being a big market of Palamu division, the Garhwa district is known as a commercial hub in the region.The former president of the Garhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Santosh Kesri, had handed over a memorandum to the divisional railway manager last year demanding construction of platform No.2, an over bridge, drinking water facility and an inquiry counter. But no action has been taken in this regard so far, rued local residents and businessmen.

  Indian Railways News  / Railway Link to Jain Pilgrim Centres in Budget

A 14-km project linking Parashnath railway station to Madhuban, a pilgrim centre of the Jains, has been included in the railway budget 2012-13. This information was given by Hazaribag MP Yashwant Sinha to the Madhuban Rail Jodo Samiti.Samiti convener Kamal Kumar Jain said at a press conference here on Monday that the Jain community from the entire country and abroad urged the railway ministry for linking Parasnath station with Madhuban for the convenience of the pilgrims who visit Madhuban throughout the year. The community formed Madhban Rail Jodo Samiti a few years ago to take up the matter with the MPs of Jharkhand. In this connection they met Sinha, who took them to the Union Railway Minister at Rail Bhawan in Delhi when the debate on the railway budget for 2012-2013 was underway on March 22 and 23.Sinha in a message to the samiti said the railway ministry took up the matter seriously and sent the project report to the Planning Commission for its approval. He said it was expected that the project would start soon for fulfilling long-cherished demands of the Jain community. The samiti members also met chief minister Arjun Munda who also assured them that the government would do everything for completing the project.