The Bombay High Court today threatened to halt the disbursement of salaries of the staff concerned of the BMC and the Central Railways over their failure to construct a new foot overbridge (FOB) in place of the now demolished Hancock Bridge.

A bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice M S Sonak said it was surprised that even though thousands of pedestrians risked their lives every day by crossing over the railway tracks in the absence of an alternative, the authorities chose to “turn a blind eye” to the problem.

“How can you be blind and deaf to the plight of the common man? You cannot just come to court and tell us that it is impossible to construct a new bridge at the spot.

“Your job is not just to identify the problem, it is also to come up with solutions,” the bench observed. “If you fail to act now, this court will be forced to pass an order to stop your salaries. Then, even if you go
challenge my order, at least you will realise how serious this court is about the issue,” it said.

The observations came while the high court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by a city resident, highlighting the rise in the instances of accidents and deaths of pedestrians and the plight of rail passengers, who were forced to walk across the tracks at Sandhurst Road in the absence of an alternate bridge.

As per the plea, ever since the Hancock Bridge was demolished in November 2015, pedestrians and suburban rail commuters have had no option but cross the tracks between the Sandhurst Road and Byculla stations to reach either side.

The 136-year-old bridge was demolished as its height restricted the speed of the trains passing under it.

Earlier this year, following a site inspection and joint meeting between the railways and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the former had submitted that it was not feasible to construct a new bridge at the proposed spot because a water pipeline ran very close to it.

The court, however, had insisted that the authorities sought a second opinion and took the help of experts for making a last attempt to come up with a feasible plan.

The BMC had then told the high court that while it was ready to fund the construction of a new FoB and provide the land for the same, the railways was still reluctant to take up the construction work.

The railways, in turn, had said constructing a bridge at the site was not possible since an adequate landing space was not available for the same.

The bench, however, dismissed the submission and said the authorities must put their heads together and come up with a solution by November 22, the next date of hearing.

It said the authorities could not let the thousands of school-going children and senior citizens, who cross over the tracks in the area every day, to continue risking their lives.

“Imagine that it is your own child or your own parent who has to cross over the tracks to reach from one side to another. And then think of a solution,” the bench said to the BMC and railways officials.

Railway Recruitment Cell (RRC), Central Railway Mumbai will recruit candidates under Sports and Guides quota. Online application process, which has begun on 16 November 2017 will continue till 30 November 2017 (5.00 pm). Recruitment will be held for filling 12 vacancies . ‘The posts are open to all regardless of Community and there is no reservation for any community. Further, only the candidates qualified in the Written Test shall be called for Scouting Skill Assessment,’ reads the official notification released at rrccr.com.

For level 1 post (10 vacancies), candidate must have qualified 12th pass exam and should not have secured less than 50% marks or must have completed Act Apprenticeship course or else should have passed matriculation plus ITI approved by NCVT/ SCVT.

For level 2 post, applicants must be 10th pass or ITI or NAC granted by NCVT or 10th passed plus National Apprenticeship Certificate (NAC) granted by NCVT or 10th passed plus ITI. Candidates should also note that,’ Persons if appointed to the category of Clerk-cum-Typist should acquire Typing proficiency of 30 w.p.m. in English or 25 w.p.m. in Hindi within a period of two years from the date of appointment and till such time their appointment to this category will be provisional.’

Candidates should also go through the Scouts and Guides eligibility as well, before applying.

Candidates must be age group of 18-28 years for level 2 post and must be in the age group of 18-31 years for level 1 post.

Candidates will be selected on the basis of written test and scouting skill assessment. The written test will be held on 4 February 2018.

For the first time, the Indian Railways is planning to give out tenders as large as 1,500 km, up from the present average of 30-40 km, for railway electrification in order to meet its full electrification target by 2021.

The tenders issued under the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model is expected to significantly cut down electrification costs which is now Rs 1-2 crore per km.

The railways has plans to issue tender packages ranging from 400 km to 1,500 km under the EPC contracts. Along with speeding up the electrification process, this move will be a point of departure after which all contracts would be in EPC mode, a senior railway ministry official told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

Last month, Railway minister Piyush Goyal had said that the ministry were to issue larger electrification tender to speed up the process. He said that instead of the railways issuing tenders for only 30-40 km, it would start giving tenders for minimum of 500 km of track, according to another report.

Additionally, the railways has uploaded a model EPC Agreement, model request for qualification (RFQ) and model request for proposal (RFP) and opened it for public feedback till November 16. This initiative was taken for the advancement of the electrification initiatives.

As per the Mint report, the railways plans to electrify 24,400 km of railway tracks within 2021 while incurring a total cost of Rs 35,000 crore. Several companies, including the public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), are eyeing the electrification contracts that are on the card.

A second railway official confirmed the development to the newspaper and said that the railways has only completed electrifying 40 percent of its existing 66,000 km till now and falling behind schedule.

He also said that big tenders are likely to attract bigger players as contractors who would be better equipped to finish the work faster and with more efficiency. He added that the EPC contracts would also be open for global companies.

Fogs in northern India are known for bringing cities and towns to a standstill when winter seeps in. This is also the time when the railway loco pilots have to be extra alert while navigating through clouded visibility.

In order to avoid delay owing to fogs and ensure trains stick to their timetable during winters, the Indian Railways is planning to incorporate GPS-enabled fog safety devices in trains to keep the pilots alert about approaching signals.

According to a railway official, over 2,400 devices have already been supplied by the national transporter in northern regions that are worst hit by extreme fogs during winter. Around 900 devices have been provided to the Delhi zone alone.

The Railways also intend to employ ‘fogmen’ who will fix detonators on tracks which will alert loco pilots about approaching signals.

Additionally, intensive night footplate inspection and track patrolling will be undertaken by railway authorities to detect cases of rail fracture, which is one of the major causes of derailment during winter.

The Railways also plan to provide sufficient walkie-talkie sets to the crew and station staff, convert the auto-signalling system to a semi-automatic mode, and impose speed restrictions when faced with intense fog situations.

Signal indication booklets are to be provided to loco pilots, who will be given special counselling sessions on working during fog.

With the onslaught of winter, the national transporter has to grapple with crises like slower mobility, shortage of crew due to longer working hours on a train, complete mishmash of timetable, non-availability of track maintenance slots and heavy crowding of waiting passengers.

With the implementation of the GPS-enabled devices, the Railways will be able to keep up with their schedule and avert accidents owing to fogs.

A satellite-based system will now alert road users at unmanned level crossings about approaching trains and also help in tracking train movement on a real-time basis.

The space technology, adopted with the help of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will warn road users through hooters once a train approaches an unmanned level crossing. The railways is installing ISRO-developed integrated circuit (IC) chips on 10,000 locomotives of trains.

About 500 metres before the level crossings, the hooter will be activated through a signal from the IC chip, warning road users as well as the train drivers near the crossing.

The hooter will become louder as the level crossing nears, and will fall silent after the train has passed.

On a pilot basis, two level crossing gates in Sonepur division on the Delhi-Guwahati Rajdhani route are to be equipped with the ISRO system, to be followed by a few gates on the Delhi-Mumbai route shortly.

Trials would be conducted on these two busy rail corridors and, according to the plan, all level crossings will be equipped with the ISRO system in phases, said a senior Railway Ministry official who did not want to be named.

Besides alerting road users, the satellite-based system will also be used for tracking trains for disseminating information about their movement on a real-time basis. At present, train movement related information is maintained manually, leaving scope for inaccuracies.

The trial for real-time train information system is already being carried out on Mumbai Rajdhani and Guwahati Rajdhani services, said the official.

Safety at unmanned level crossings is a cause of serious concern for railways as these crossings witness maximum mishaps. The public transporter had explored various ways to address the issue before settling for the ISRO system.

A few locos are being equipped with the device and installation of hooters at unmanned level crossings gates on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Guwahati routes is being carried out gradually.

There are about 7,254 unmanned railway crossings in the country which account for around 40 per cent of accidents involving the railways. There are about 18,000 manned level crossings.

While the Railways had eliminated 1,148 unmanned crossings in 2014-15 and 1,253 in 2015-16, it has scaled up its target and now plans to eliminate all such crossings in the next two to three years.

Once all unmanned level crossings are eliminated, the hooter system would be shifted to manned level crossings as per the plan.

The satellite-based system will also help railways in mapping the area and the technology will come in handy at the time of accidents when it can be used to ascertain the exact location of trains and topography.

Coal India is talking to the Railways to increase rake loading from an average of 216 so far since April to 250 by the end of the fiscal year, as it seeks to meet increased demand with both power and non-power sectors facing a short-supply of the dry fuel.

At present, the state-run monopoly has been focusing on supplying coal to the power sector, which is struggling with dwindling stocks and falling generation at many plants.

“The effort to increase rakes has started to show result. This month, average loading of coal on rakes for power has been 214 (238 including to non-power sectors) while last November, 199 (235 in total) rakes were being sent to the power sector,” a senior CIL executive said on Tuesday.

“In fact, on Monday, we managed to achieve loading on 249 rakes, close to the target. Of these, 224 went to the power sector,” he said. “However, we need to achieve loading on 250 rakes on a regular basis so that demand from both the power and non-power sector can be handled.”

Over the past few months, reduction in generation from non-thermal sources like hydel and wind resulted in increased demand for thermal power.

This led thermal power generators, which were witnessing damp demand during April and May, to ask for additional coal since they were using up stocks at a faster pace.

“Supplies could not be increased overnight as Coal India faces logistics constraints. This resulted in falling coal stocks and generation. In fact, a few generation units had to shut. In order to make sure the situation is not repeated in the future, Coal India is working hand in hand with the railways to increase rake loading to 250 on a daily basis,” the executive said.

At present, coal stocks at power plants are good for six days and 22 plants have critical stocks. Total stocks at power plants is about 8 million tonnes, compared with 18 million tonnes a year earlier when only 4 plants had critical stocks.

We do need to proactively liberalise fuel supply. Now that we have a policy on commercial mining, captive coal miners need to be encouraged to expand supply to more than one customer. It would boost economies of scale in mining and evacuation, and make sense nationally. We do need forward-looking policy so that the more efficient producers can readily seek custom.

A Japanese railway operator has issued a deep apology for the “tremendous nuisance” caused by a train departing 20 seconds early, surprising even a nation renowned for both punctuality and politeness.

The Tsukuba Express train linking Tokyo and the capital’s northern suburbs pulled out of Minami Nagareyama Station at 9:44:20 instead of 9:44:40.
“We deeply apologise for causing tremendous nuisance to customers,” said the Tsukuba Express company.

“There was no complaint from customers over this incident,” said the firm, which added that no one missed the train due to the premature departure.

Japanese railway services, including shinkansen bullet trains, are famous for their world-beating punctuality. Even the slightest delay prompts an effusive apology from the train guard, which often lasts longer than the hold-up itself.

With trains running the same route every few minutes to cope with huge numbers of passengers, even brief delays can back up the whole network causing overcrowding.

Stations in Toyko employs dozens of staff — with their famous white gloves — to ensure the prompt departure of trains and to manage the crush during rush hour.

The bullet trains in Japan are also famed for their customer service, with one offering passengers an onboard footbath to soothe their travelling woes.

The train firm said it was “surprised” by the attention the story was getting, saying: “We have issued similar apologies for trains that departed earlier than scheduled before.”

A spokesman told AFP the apology was issued because strict safety procedures were not followed.

“What matters is not the 20 seconds… The point is that our formal procedure should be this: A sound rings 15 seconds before the departure, followed by an announcement asking for caution due to the closing doors, and then the doors shut,” he said.

Lax management could cause safety problems in the future, the spokesman said. “There are sometimes passengers who try to jump on the train… they could be caught in doors” if the doors shut without warning, he said.

But the apology had several social media users scratching their heads.

“This is surprising even to Japanese,” said one user with the handle @takamin_.

“A weird country in which a 20-second difference prompts a sincere apology while faking quality data on aluminium and steel products or misconduct on car check-ups are done just like that,” another tweet read.

This was a reference to a recent string of corporate scandals that has floored the reputation of Japan Inc.

Car giants Nissan and Subaru have admitted that uncertified staff had inspected vehicles while Kobe Steel has been embroiled in a quality data-faking scandal.

Locals residing near the railway tracks at Poisar were shocked to see crows with a human ear and finger in their beaks on Monday. They immediately informed the police.

A police team from Samtanagar police station arrived and took the human body parts along with them after doing a punchnama. The officials also searched for a body but they did not find it. They then called the Borivali GRP and learnt that on Sunday night a youth had met with an accident on the railway tracks. His body was cleared from the tracks but some severed body parts were left behind, said an official from Samtanagar police station.

A 24-year-old youth Vivek Sharma, allegedly met with an accident and died on Sunday night between Kandivali and Borivali stations near Poisar subway while crossing the railway track.

Sharma hailed from Jaunpur District of Uttar Pradesh and stayed at Krantinagar in Kandivali east in a rented house. He was a fashion designer by profession and worked in a workshop situated in Malad. “An ADR has been registered at Borivali GRP,” said Police inspector Abhang Rao.

The trend of optimisation has spanned beyond the fields of electronics, technology and media, reaching key verticals in the transportation sector such as the railways. With the evolution of sensors and wireless connectivity, remote management of railways is becoming more accurate. Railways management systems are being developed on a range of new technologies that can potentially augment the operational performance of railways administration.

Considering how railways will remain to be the backbone of logistics, infrastructure, and the overall economy of a country, administrative authorities are expected to adopt railways management systems for bolstering this commodity. According to Future Market Insights, the global market railways management systems in anticipated to gain traction in terms of revenues over the period of next five years.

During this forecast period (2017-2022), advent of new and improved technologies and subsystems will continue to transform the efficiency of railways management systems. The report projects that by the end of 2022, the global market for railways management system will be worth nearly US$ 5 billion.

According to the report, North America is anticipated to represent the largest market for railways management systems. Robust railway infrastructure in the US, increasing interests of North American railway administration towards adoption of advanced technologies, and extended railway budgets will continue to factor the soaring adoption of railways management systems in this region through 2022.

Traffic planning solutions to make headway through 2022

On the basis of solutions facilitated through railways management systems & subsystems, the global market is anticipated to witness higher demand for traffic planning solutions. In 2017, close to one-third of revenues procured in the global railways management system market are anticipated to be accrued from the adoption of traffic planning solutions.

Advanced traffic management systems for railways are expected to enable local administration adapt to the changing traffic patterns of regional railways. Management and planning of narrow track traffic will continue to be a key concern for railways administration, especially in metropolitan environments.

Primarily, railway administrations are adopting fully-integrated railways management systems built around the operational plan of local, interstate and regional railways. The report further projects that adoption of track management systems will witness robust traction over the foreseeable future. These solutions are expected to provide better efficiency in management of high speed and conventional speed trains, as well as their long-hauling rolling stocks.

The demand for operation management systems is also expected to soar in the view of increasing incidence of train collisions due to operational flaws. By 2022-end, operation management systems sold across the globe are likely to bring in over US$ 1.1 billion in revenues.

Cloud deployment of railways management system to register highest CAGR

On-premise deployment of railways management system is anticipated to bring in nearly US$ 2 billion in global revenues by the end of 2017. In the approaching years, however, several railway administrations across the globe are likely to deploy railways management system through cloud-based networking models.

For improving compliance of railways management systems across integrated platforms, cloud deployment will be viewed as the best option. Moreover, real-time management and active notification systems will be working more effectively through cloud deployment of railways management systems. Through 2022, global revenues procured from cloud deployment of railways management systems are anticipated to register highest CAGR of 13.2%.

Tracking the competitors in global railways management system market

The report observes that companies namely, Hitachi, Ltd., Cisco Systems, Inc., IBM Corporation, ABB Limited, Thales S.A., General Electric Co., Toshiba Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., GAO RFID, and Amadeus IT Group, S.A will remain active in expansion of global railways management systems market through 2022.

Key developers of railways management systems are expected to focus on full integration and adoption of advanced sensors & monitoring tools. These companies will be compelled to offer comprehensive railways management systems, ones that adapt to every kind of railway traffic density, and across underground lines and conventional railways.

About Future Market Insights: Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.

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