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  Indian Railways News  / Special trains for Vinayaka chathurthi festival

Hyderabad, Sept 7 (TMS): The south central railway chief public relations officer K Sambasiva Rao informed that four special trains would run between Secunderabad and Aurangabad in order to clear the rush for the coming Vinayaka chathurthi festival.

The train will cover enroute important stations like Jalna, Parbhani, Purna. Nanded, Mudkhed, Basara, Tirupati, Secunderabad, Kajipet, Warangal, Khammam,  Vijayawada,  Tenali, Chirala, Ongole, Nellore, Gudur, Venkatagiri, Srikalahasti, Renigunta and Tirupati. As part of the efforts to popularize the festival keeping in view the factor of ecology and environment effects a singer Sunitha had played her role having donated newspapers here yesterday.

  Indian Railways News  / ट्रैक पर स्पीड का इंतजार

रतलाम। भले ही ट्रेनों की स्पीड 200 किमी प्रतिघंटा बढ़ाने के लिए देश में कवायदें चल रही हों, लेकिन गति को पाने के लिए भारतीय रेलवे को व्यवस्थाओं में बदलाव करने होंगे। ऎसे में इस प्रोजक्ट को पूरा करने में लंबा इंतजार करना पड़ सकता है। हाल ही में स्पीड बढ़ाने के लिए जापानी दल ने रतलाम सहित अन्य सेक्शनों में निरीक्षण किया था। इसके बाद इसी से जुड़े मुद्देें पर भारतीय रेल अधिकारियों की टीम जापान गई थी। दल में रतलाम से सीनियर डीईई (टीआरडी) वीके नागर शामिल थे। सूत्रों के मुताबिक वहां की टेक्नोलॉजी के अनुरूप यहां बदलाव करने होंगे। इसमें भारी खर्च और पर्याप्त संसाधन जुटाने होंगे।

जापानी दल ने लिया था जायजा : ट्रेनों की स्पीड 200 किमी प्रतिघंटा करने के लिए पिछले महीनों में अलग-अलग प्रोजेक्ट के तहत व्यवस्थाओं का जायजा लेने जापानी दल रतलाम आया था। दल ने रतलाम मंडल के नागदा, रतलाम तथा गोधरा तक निरीक्षण किया था।

पर्याप्त बदलाव करने होंगे : अधिकारिक सूत्रों के मुताबिक ट्रेनों की गति बढ़ाने में पर्याप्त बदलाव करने होंगे। इसमें ट्रैक की बेहतर स्थिति, पुल-पुलियाओं और ब्रिज का विस्तार, ट्रैक के आसपास बाउंड्रीवाल के अलावा अधिक क्षमता वाले इंजन तैयार करने होंगे। इनमें लंबा समय लगने की संभावना है। रेलवे अधिकारियों की मानें तो स्पीड बढ़ाने में रेलवे को भारी खर्च और पर्याप्त संसाधन जुटाना जरूरी है। ऎसे में तेज गति की ट्रेनें देखने और इसमें बैठने का आनंद अगली पीढ़ी ले सकेगी।

रिपोर्ट नहीं मिली है जापानी दल द्वारा पिछले दिनों निरीक्षण के बाद वहां से रिपोर्ट नहीं मिली है। ट्रेनों की स्पीड बढ़ाने में फिलहाल समय लगने की संभावना है।

प्रदीप शर्मा, जनसंपर्क अधिकारी रतलाम

रेल मंडल

  Indian Railways News  / Railway guidelines on e-ticket booking

CHENNAI: The Southern Railway on Thursday warned passengers against buying e-tickets from agents. The Central Railway Board has issued a set of "Do's and Don'ts" while buying e-tickets . It said the passengers should not buy e-tickets issued between 8am and 12noon from agents.

Violation of this rule will attract serious charges, including cancellation of the ticket and penal action under the Railway Act. The railways has advised passengers to make sure of the authority of private agents before booking tickets with them.

  Indian Railways News  / CCTV cameras to be installed inside trains

Thrissur: CCTV cameras would be installed in selected trains to curb attacks against women. It will be installed on a trial basis in one or two trains first and the equipment needed for the same are ready. The help of state government has been sought for implementing this. It will be installed once railways get sponsors. Special squads will be appointed to ensure hygiene foods in trains. The employees who distribute foods will be given charge of collecting used plates and cups to avoid littering platforms.

  Indian Railways News  / ‘MMTS provides wheels to City’

Divisional railway manager of Secunderabad, Sushant Kumar Mishra talks to Padmini C of Postnoon about the challenges of MMTS in the City and the relevance of commuter trains in the age of the metro.

Should the MMTS serve a viable alternative to other modes of public transport in the city?

Yes, absolutely, only if it’s organised properly. In cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, the organising principle has been to segregate commuter lines from non-commuter lines, long-distance trains. But in this City, what has happened is that there seems to have been some corner cutting. On the same lines that we have passenger trains, we have commuter trains. As long as there was spare capacity in the lines, it wasn’t a problem but now with Hyderabad growing, there are more trains being introduced every year and that has resulted in increased traffic across the City’s stations.

So right now, what are the challenges this has lead to?

Due to these lines, there are conflict points. For instance, Kachiguda was not a major terminal in the past. Now, scores of trains connect this station. There are other constraints too. There are surface crossings. It means that one train has to pass before another one can go. This is affecting the punctuality of the trains.

Commuter services are good if they are reliable. We are not able to meet these expectations because of our infrastructural constraints. To increase the number of tracks, to have dedicated lines, and to implement bypass crossings. All these must get serious attention. Hopefully, that’ll change in the future.

As you say, timings and cancelled trains are the presently the biggest grouses of passengers.

Due to the running of trains throughout the day and night, there’s no time for track maintenance. So recently, we have taken the decision to cancel some trains in the lean hours for about ten days. By then, we expect the track to be restored to health and the time we are losing for some trains can be improved.

Will the Phase II of MMTS provide remedy the situation?

Unfortunately, Phase II is not addressing the issue. What it is aiming to do is to double bypasses on a few routes. But the main issue of segregating commuter and non commuter remains. Maybe in the next phase, we’ll have to look at this. While the current workings might be imperfect, they are at least, immediate.

Another problem felt by many passengers is the lack of feeder services. What do you think can be done to improve them?

The planning bodies of the State must get involved. Commuters should get the issues to the relevant authorities. RTC has to run buses. Taxi services have to be better organised. Parking areas have to be improved. Level crossings should be eliminated and subways built. The State government is alive to the issue and taking note. But resources are a problem.

Speaking of, a railway official termed the MMTS service a social service obligation. The financial returns are truly negligible, are they not?

It’s not the commuters’ fault. They will surely pay a little more if Railways charged more. But we have a national policy to keep tickets at nominal prices. So, if the policy changes at some point and if we charge at the same rate as an APSRTC bus, it will still be cheaper than any other mode of transport.

Also, with ever increasing patronage, will we soon reach saturation in terms of capacity in Hyderabad?

While the trains are quite popular in the City, they haven’t reached the levels of Mumbai or Kolkata. In fact, we should not reach those levels. People should be able to travel in comfort, which also means more frequency of running trains. We are running trains at fifteen minute intervals now, after segregation, we would be able to run at five minute intervals.

In the age of the Metro, what role will the MMTS play?

They are not competing corridors at all. If anything, they will complement each other. In fact, Railways would like Metro to take over the commuting services. But every city cannot afford a metro. So what we are trying to do is that, because habitations are coming up along the railway track, we aim to provide them with an affordable mode of transport.

So the MMTS will still be relevant.

Yes, the MMTS is connecting the growing parts (the suburbs) with the heartland. And with Hyderabad growing into a metropolis, the need for good commuter services will become paramount. The Metro will be there for some areas, of course, but it is expensive. The MMTS will be a cheaper alternative. Fortunately, there is a healthy co-operation between the State Government and Railways here, so this integration between the two might be realised and also solve long-term issues.

Any other initiatives on the MMTS front?

Nothing major. We have quite a bit of problems running the existing services very well. If we can operationally sort them out and run them well, it’s enough. But having said that, despite all these congenital constraints, even during the peak hours we are able to maintain an acceptable amount of reliability, so that’s a challenge accomplished.