RailEnquiry

  Indian Railways News  / Railway tracks become death traps

TRICHY: Avoidable deaths on railway tracks have scaled unprecedented heights in the Tiruchirappalli railway sub-division in the first half of this year."Since January 2012, the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Tiruchirappalli railway junction registered 36 cases of death due to trespassing, whereas the cases numbered 58 in the previous year," said P Akbar Khan, sub-inspector of railway police, Tiruchirappalli junction.According to GRP, most 'trespassing deaths' occurred owing to negligence by people, whereas suicidal deaths were only a few. Four cases of suicide were registered in the division till June 2012.When contacted, C Senthil Kumar, inspector of railway police, Tiruchirappalli station, told TOI that in Tiruchirappalli sub-division, suicidal deaths were comparatively lower than accidental deaths. "Accidents mostly take place on the tracks near slum areas in Trichy as people, unmindful of consequences, use railway tracks and meet with fatal accidents. We have identified a few places such as Manthaithidal, fort railway station and Srirangam railway station where the number of such accidents is high. Plans are afoot to conduct awareness camps to educate people on limitations of using railway tracks. We hope it will have a positive impact," he said.On the other hand, loco pilots of express trains are prone to health problems and mental agony as accidents happen in front of their very eyes. D Sachidanandam, loco-pilot for mail and express trains, Tiruchirappalli railway division, said, "We witness such accidents frequently. A few days ago too, I saw an accident in which a 75-year-old man committed suicide by jumping in front of an express train in Vaiyampatti near Trichy. Likewise, we frequently see people losing their lives while walking on the tracks, unmindful of train movement. We cannot tolerate such moments and it affects our health and balance of mind. Sometimes, the accidents occur at unmanned level crossings also."

According to railway sources, as many as 296 unmanned level crossings and 401 manned railway crossing are spread across Tiruchirappalli railway division. The railways also takes steps to convert unmanned level crossings into manned level crossings or road over bridges, but despite both the safety department of the railways and the railway protection force (RPF) continuously taking action against those violating norms, people turn a deaf ear to appeals from the administration to follow rules.

  Indian Railways News  / Snapped wire delays trains

For about two hours on Thursday afternoon, train services between Tatanagar and Chakradharpur section of South Eastern Railway were disrupted when an overhead wire snapped near Kandra railway station.Movement of several trains, including South Bihar Express, Tata-Chapra Express (Dn), and Tata-Danapur Express, was affected. The Howrah-bound Janshatabdi Express ran as usual, but Titlagarh-Howrah Ispat Express was delayed by 45 minutes. "It not our fault, the snag near Kandra has led to disruption of the trains," noted a railway official.Railway sources informed that engineers were rushed to the site to repair the fault. It took about hours — from 1pm to 2pm — to repair the fault and to restore normal traffic.The Tata-Chapra Express which was delayed from Barauni had to halt for more than an hour at Gamharia railway station as none of the platforms at the Tatanagar railway station was vacant."Train services were disrupted in CKP division due to technical snag. Tata-Chapra Express was already running late. It got further delayed as we could not provide a platform for its arrival," said R Choudhary, the station manager at Tatanagar.A section of aggrieved passengers created a ruckus at the Tatanagar railway station when they came to know about the late arrival of the Bihar bound trains.

"I had to reach Chapra by tomorrow morning for a business meet. It was an important engagement but the incident has left me in lurch I don’t; know what to do," said Harendra Bhatt, a passenger.

However after the assurance of the authorities, the passengers some how got pacified. According to a railway official, trains on the fast track have been diverted to the slow section both on the Up and Down lines between the two stations.

This was the second time in the last two weeks that train services had been affected. Earlier, on July  4, a technical snag at Brijrajnagar under Chakradharpur division disrupted services on the Howrah-Mumbai main line .

  Indian Railways News  / New lab to slash treatment cost for hepatitis patients

KOLKATA:
In addition, LFWB will also talk with concerned authorities to include hepatitis/liver patients in categories of patients who are offered concession on travel by train. As of now, these patients are not included in the list of 50 diseases that are eligible for the 75% concession on railway ticket. According to the hepatitis registry started by LFWB on July 28, 2011, 2200 hepatitis B and 800 hepatitis C patients have registered themselves in the past one year.
****************Hepatitis B and C have been prevalent in the state for some time now, but the government has hardly taken any decisive step over the years to facilitate treatment of these fatal diseases. As a result, the patients are forced to pay through their nose for tests that they need to undergo at least four times a year.

However, the plight of hepatitis patients may ease to some extent soon with Liver Foundation of West Bengal (LFWB) taking up the initiative to open a molecular virology lab in the city on Saturday, the World Hepatitis Day. Installed at the organization's headquarters on Kyd Street, tests at the lab will cost a fifth of what private laboratories charge.

  Indian Railways News  / Truck breaks down at level crossing, rail traffic hit

Movement of suburban electric trains on the Tambaram — Chennai Beach sector was affected for 30 minutes on Friday afternoon after a truck broke down at the level crossing near the Pallavaram railway station.The vehicle, carrying a heavy load of boulders, broke down while crossing the track at the northern end of the station. Southern Railway sources said that it was carrying the load from a quarry at Tirusulam and was going toward Keelkattalai.While going past the crossing, the truck got stranded when an axle broke. Gates at the crossing could not be closed as a result. A couple of suburban electric trains proceeding towards Tambaram and Beach got stranded too.Police personnel brought a tipper truck which towed the vehicle from the spot. Train services were affected from 12.45 p.m. to 1.10 p.m..The level crossing (LC No. 24) is among the few remaining facilities that are still operational on this sector. Most of them have been closed following the completion of subways or road overbridges.Sanction for a road overbridge to replace this level crossing was given as early as 2000-2001. Work started in 2003 and was to have been completed by 2005.However, procedural problems and delay in acquiring land from the Ministry of Defence hampered the work.In April 2010, a sport utility vehicle fell from the bridge onto the railway track. The driver, who was unaware that the work on the structure was incomplete, had a miraculous escape.

  Indian Railways News  / Central Railway Nagpur Division sets national benchmark

NAGPUR: In 1999, Old Delhi's stations route relay interlocking (RRI), an advanced signalling system having 1,124 routes entered the record books for being commissioned in 48 hours. After 13 years, Nagpur Central Railway has scripted history by commissioning a RRI system with 533 routes in just two-and-a-half-hours without any hiccups.RRI is the system used at large and busy stations having large number of train movements. In this, an entire route through the station can be selected and all associated points and signals along the route can be set at once by pressing two buttons for receiving or dispatching trains. "Conventionally, commissioning of major yards of size comparable to Nagpur takes at least 96 hours with large-scale traffic disruption. Had we followed the old system, at least 600 trains would have been disturbed, but we accomplished the task in which 10% trains were affected," said divisional railway manager (DRM) Brijesh Dixit.Reviewing the RRI success after commissioning it a month ago, Dixit told TOI the results were evident. Entry and exit of trains at Nagpur has become safer, smoother and reliable. Now more signalled shunting is possible."Now we can manage all the four up and down lines simultaneously for movement of goods train in the yard. Earlier, only two lines could be operated. Secondly, restriction on trains moving to Itwari side have also been removed with the withdrawal of two diamond crossings at Howrah end," Dixit said.

The commissioning of RRI was done after a lot of brainstorming and meticulous planning. In 2008, Pune RRI with 425 routes was commissioned in 120 hours. In Nagpur, 533 routes were commissioned in 18 hours (yard remodelling in 15.5 hours and actual RRI commissioning in 2.5 hours). Now Dixit is flooded with calls from his counterparts all over India asking how he made it possible.

"It is all team work," said Dixit modestly. "We adopted a functional approach. It was like keeping a patient conscious while performing an open heart surgery. The life of new system will be 25 years," he said.

"First, all points, then track circuits and signals were shifted on new cable and patched with old panel during the preparatory stage. This entire exercise was done without causing a single detention," said Dixit.

Normally, getting Railway Board recognition is tough in railways, but board chairman Vinay Mittal announced an award of Rs 1 lakh for the feat. Besides, Central Railway general manager Subodh Jain announced an award of Rs 5 lakh to all departments involved.

Sudeep Shrivastava, deputy chief signalling and telecommunication engineer (construction), and others involved in project admit that situation in Nagpur was complicated compared to Delhi, Mumbai and Howrah where most of the trains terminate.

"Nagpur yard has most of the trains passing through it and hence any long duration working would have crippled operations in both north-south and east-west directions. We completed the work with bare minimum disruption," said Shrivastava.

Safer, smoother, reliable

* Operational flexibility enhanced as signalled movements increase from 369 to 533 in new RRI

* At Ajni end there will be more operational options

* Run through facility from Nagpur goods yard to Ajni yard

* Speed restrictions removed near diamond crossing

* Additional route for despatch of trains from platform no. 4, 5 and 6

* Entry and exit of trains has become more safer and smoother