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  Indian Railways News  / Himalayan Queen coaches get solar power - The Times of India

SHIMLA: The Kalka-Shimla toy train - Himalayan Queen - has become the first in the country whose coaches have been converted to solar-based power system.

Each coach has been fitted with a 100-watt solar panel at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh with which the coaches can function for two days without the sun and can make two trips to Shimla. The railways will also earn carbon credits through this green initiative.

The 96 km-long Kalka-Shimla rail track for the toy train is on the heritage list of UNESCO and the train on this passage passes through 102 tunnels and 864 bridges and is considered as an engineering marvel.

Divisional Railway Manager, Ambala, P K Sanghi told TOI that the railways has taken the initiative of using clean and green energy for the Himalayan Queen to spread the message of saving the fragile ecology of the Himalayan state.

Railway authorities initially conducted a trial run by using solar panels on the toy train running on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar track. Based on its success, all seven coaches of the Himalayan Queen were fitted with solar panels, railways officials said. After switching over to the solar system, each coach has become lighter by 500kg. It has also reduced the need for frequent maintenance.

  Indian Railways News  / Low-quality food on train leads to protest

alyan: Upset over sub-standard food and service inside a special train run by the IRCTC, hundreds of commuters staged a rail block at Kalyan,halting thetrain for nearly 45 minutes.
    According to GRP officials, when the train, booked by a group to travel from Ahmedabad to Pune, reached Kalyan around 8.00pm on Tuesday, passengers came out on and started protesting against the railway administration.
    However, CR officials, requesting anonymity, said the that train was booked by the IRCTC and the latter was responsiblefor theservices.

  Indian Railways News  / UP CS holds meet on Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Javed Usmani today directed revenue, PWD and other departments to dispose pending disputes, including those related to land acquisition, for Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.Chairing a meeting on the dedicated frieght corridor project, he said it was an important project of the Centre for development of infrastructure sector in which 1841 kilometre- long railway track would be laid from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal.

  Indian Railways News  / Panel prod on rail plans

Ranchi : The parliamentary standing committee on finance has expressed strong reservations against the tardy pace of work on several rail and road projects and the functioning of banks in Jharkhand. A 22-member delegation led by former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha today asked officials concerned during a review meet to take corrective steps immediately. Sources said the panel took exception to the poor progress of rail projects, especially the Koderma-Hazaribagh-Barkakana-Ranchi (189km) line. The other rail projects under the scanner were Ranchi-Lohardaga-Tori (113km), Koderma-Giridih (105km), Koderma-Tilaiya (14km), Dumka-Rampurhat (64km) and Godda-Hansdiha (30km) lines. Sinha, who represents Hazaribagh in the Lok Sabha, has been in the forefront of demands for rail connectivity to his constituency. The Dumka-Deoghar rail line is the only new rail project that has been completed after Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in November 2000. Gauge conversion has been completed in the Ranchi-Lohardaga section. But it is proving to be of no help for many passengers coming to Ranchi, since the gauge conversion between Lohardaga and Tori is incomplete. Also, long-distance trains coming to Ranchi have to take the lengthy Barkakana-Muri route. The committee is also said to have expressed unhappiness at the poor progress of national highway projects, especially four-laning works. The contract for four-laning of NH-33 between Ranchi and Jamshedpur was awarded about a year ago, but little is visible at the ground level other than felling of trees and dug up stretches. At the Hazaribagh end, four-laning work has almost been completed up to Apollo hospital, but the condition of remaining portion is pitiable. Sources added that while reviewing performances of banks, the panel observed that though the credit-deposit ratio had improved slightly in recent years, it was far below the national average. Priority sector lending needed more attention, the committee noted. "I cannot disclose the findings of this meeting. We have suggested corrective measures wherever we found lapses. We will soon submit our report to the Lok Sabha Speaker. Before this, we had similar meetings in Guwahati, Shillong and Calcutta," said Sinha.

  Indian Railways News  / Protestors block metro survey works

While Kochi is on a high after the Union Cabinet issued its nod for the Kochi Metro Rail, agitations are also on the rise against the project.

On Wednesday, the Vyttila-Petta Road agitation committee blocked the Public Works Department (PWD) officials, who were carrying out land survey for acquisition, at Vyttila junction.

 The agitators pointed out that the survey is being carried out without any official confirmation about the road alignment.

 Following the protests, the team of PWD officials comprising executive engineer Hashim, Tripunithura section assistant engineer Aniroopa and overseer Joy returned without undertaking the survey.

 The agitators pointed out there is lack of communication from the part of the officials.

 Vagueness persists regarding the road alignment through the Vyttila-Petta stretch, said Corporation former Opposition leader A B Sabu.

 “Six months ago, we had a meeting with District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth, Thrikkakara MLA Benny Behanan and Kochi Metro Rail managing director Tom Jose. During the meeting they had agreed for an alignment of 26 metre, instead of 30 metre. Now without any official communication, the PWD officials have come to acquire 30 metres of land,” he said.

 The agitators further demanded that they should be given proper rehabilitation package and official assurance about the 26-metre alignment.

 “The authorities concerned are yet to talk about the rehabilitation package. We must be given a assurance about the rehabilitation of residents near Champakkara fish market and Petta Warehousing godown,” he said.

 Meanwhile, Thrikkakara MLA Benny Behanan said the district administration would convene a meeting with the residents.

“In the meeting we will convince the people about the alignment.The meeting will also take decision about the rehabilitation package,” he said.