Trains passing through the Meerut line of the Northern Railway have been either cancelled or diverted till 6 pm today, in the wake of the tragic accident at Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, a senior railway official said.

The sleepy town of Khatauli, about 100 kms from Delhi, became the epicentre of rescue operations yesterday after 13 bogies of the Puri-Haridwar Kalinga Utkal Express derailed near its station, killing at least 22 people.

“All services on Meerut line, on which the Khatauli falls, have been either cancelled or diverted through other routes till 6 PM, as the tracks are yet to be cleared of mangled train coaches,” DRM of the Delhi Division, R N Singh told PTI.

Delhi Division falls under the Northern Railway Zone, which administers some of the busiest stations in the country.

Singh said the diverted trains would run through Shamli till the restoration work is over.

The train was coming from Puri in Odisha and going to Haridwar in Uttarakhand, normally a journey of about 36 hours.

The train suffered huge damage in the accident last evening at Khatauli, around 40 km from Muzaffarnagar, which Singh described as “very grave”.

The derailment had such a massive impact that one of the train’s sleeper coaches climbed onto another, while its other end rammed into a house, shattering its facade, and leaving its occupants terrified.

Two of the sleeper coaches overturned, with one of them hitting the facade of a local college in Muzaffarnagar.

Bodies of two men and as many women were pulled out by the NDRF team, which worked from nearly 9 pm last night till 3 AM, to rescue survivors or extricate bodies with due dignity.

Asked about the allegation made by several locals and some passengers that “maintenance work” was underway when the accident happened, the DRM said, “It was just some routine work. And, the railway minister has already ordered an inquiry. So, let the report come, I cannot say, anything more on that.”

The injured have been taken to hospitals in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut and both the railway and the local administration have issued helplines.

Manoj Baliyan was enjoying the cool evening breeze sitting on the porch of his house on Saturday when he heard a massive thud. The next thing he saw was a blue railway coach flying over another coach and hit his house.

When he gathered his wits all he could see was scores of bodies in front of the house, along the railway track.

When he gathered his wits all he could see was scores of bodies in front of the house, along the railway track.

“A coach had even rammed the boundary wall of a college building near our house,” said Manoj Baliyan, who runs a shop in the area.

The railway accident in Khatauli brought tragedy for not only the passengers of the Utkal Express, but also for locals whose houses lined the tracks.

The accident occurred around 5.45 pm near Khatauli town and left 20 dead and over 90 injured, the Uttar Pradesh Police said.

Khatauli is approximately 40 km from Muzaffarnagar.

Manoj Baliyan, 42 and his family are still shaken as one end of the mangled sleeper coach (S2) of the train, which had rammed his house’s porch, shattering its facade, is leaning precariously on the house.

“There was a massive thud and one of the coaches flew over the pantry car and rammed our house’s porch,” he told PTI.

The other end of the S2 coach is resting over the pantry coach with its doors shattered.

NDRF personnel, pressed into service for search and rescue operations, were seen pulling out bodies from the mangled coach that had rammed the boundary wall of Choudhary Tilak Ram Inter College.

“We pulled out the body of a woman from underneath the coach. We have noticed a limb in the debris and efforts are on to pull out the body,” an NDRF personnel said.

Uttar Pradesh ministers Suresh Rana and Satish Mahana visited the accident site and took stock of the situation.

“The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister is continuously tracking the update on the accident,” Mr Rana said.

A sense of fear pervaded the site’s atmosphere, while for the passengers of the train and the locals the night has turned into a nightmare.

Thirteen coaches of the Utkal Express jumped the rails, with one of them crashing into a house adjacent to the track.

The train was coming from Puri in Odisha and going to Haridwar in Uttarakhand, normally a journey of about 36 hours.

The Ministry of Railway has announced that the US-made 55 computerised locomotives, with 4,000 horsepower, have become part of fleet of Pakistan Railways locomotives.

Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique congratulated Pakistan Railways CEO Javed Anwar, AGM Mechanical Nasarullah Babar, administration and employees on this occasion and said that these up-to-date engines are earning hands of Pakistan Railways, said a press release issued here on Thursday.

The minister further said that in second phase 20 special engines will be bought for passenger train in Bolan section. They will help in accumulating profit of emerging contemporary Pakistan Railways, he said. This national organisation will serve industrial and business sector in a better way and will play its role in improving the country’s economy, he said.

Saad said that procurement of dynamics brake engines for mountainous areas will be completed in the end of next year. He said that Pakistan Railways very much understands the requirements of locomotives in future and in this concern proper planning has been done.

For fulfilling the requirements of modern engines till 2025, PC-I for procurement of 300 engines has been sent to the Planning Commission. He said that after World War-II, for the first time revolutionary changes have been brought in Pakistan Railways. The foundation for modern railways has been laid down, he added.

Due to line block / power block for construction of subway at Level Crossing at Nayudupeta yard and Odur  yard the following trains are cancelled/partially cancelled/regulated/diverted on 22^nd / 23^rd August, 2017 as detailed below:-

Trains Cancelled:

• Train No. 66031 Sullurupeta-Nellore MEMU train is cancelled.
• Train No. 66032 Nellore-Sullurupeta MEMU train is cancelled.

Trains Partially Cancelled:

• Train No. 66036 Nellore-Sullurupeta MEMU will be partially cancelled between Gudur and Sullurupeta.

Trains Regulated:

• Train No. 12688 Dehradun-Madurai Express will be regulated by 45 minutes enroute.

Trains Diverted:

• Train No. 12841 Howrah-Chennai Coromandal Express is diverted to run via Renigunta, Arakkonam stations on 21^st August, 2017.
• Train No. 12665 Howrah-Kanniyakumari Express is diverted to run via Renigunta, Arakkonam and Chennai Beach stations on 21^st August, 2017.
• Train No. 12612 H.Nizamuddin-Chennai Garibrath Express is diverted to run via Renigunta and Arakkonam stations on 21^st August, 2017.
• Train No. 22645 Indore-Thiruvananthapuram Ahilya Nagari Express is diverted to run via Renigunta, Arakkonam and Chennai stations on 21^st August, 2017.
• Train No. 13351 Dhanbad-Alappuzha Express is diverted to run via Renigunta, Arakkonam and Chennai stations on 21^st August, 2017.

Additional Stoppages provided for Six Express Trains

Ministry of Railway have decided to provide additional stoppages for the following trains on experimental basis for a period of six months. Train No. 22663/22664 Chennai Egomore-Jodhpur – Chennai Egomore Express is provided stoppage at Chandrapur railway station. Train No. 12767/12768 H.S.Nanded-Santragachi – H.S.Nanded Express is provided stoppage at Chandrapur railway station. Train No. 12655/12656 Ahmedabad-Chennai-Ahmedabad Navjeevan Express is provided stoppage at Pulgaon railway station as detailed below:-

Additional Stoppage at Chandrapur Station:

1. Accordingly, Train No. 22663 Chennai Egmore-Jodhpur Express will arrive / depart Chandrapur at 06:10/06:12 hrs with effect from 3^rd September, 2017.
2. Train No. 22664 Jodhpur-Chennai Egmore Express will arrive / depart Chandrapur at 01:32/01:34 hrs with effect from 30^th August, 2017.                                 
3. Accordingly, Train No. 12767 H.S.Nanded-Santragachi Express will arrive / depart Chandrapur at 22:20/22:22 hrs with effect from 4^th September, 2017.
4. Train No. 12768 Santragachi-H.S.Nanded Express will arrive / depart Chandrapur at 11:28/11:30 hrs with effect from 31^st August, 2017.

Additional Stoppage at Pulgaon Station:

1. Accordingly, Train No. 12655 Ahmedabad-Chennai Navjeevan Express will arrive / depart Pulgaon at 21:55/21:57 hrs with effect from 31^st August, 2017.
2. Train No. 12656 Chennai-Ahmedabad Navjeevan Express will arrive / depart Pulgaon at 02:58/03:00 hrs with effect from 31^st August, 2017.

Trains Regulated due to Traffic Block

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In order to laying of points & crossing at Kavanur on Southern Railway on 19^th & 22^nd August, 2017 the following trains will be regulated as detailed below:-

Regulations:

1. Train No. 12578 Mysore-Darbhanga Bagmati Express will be regulated by 3 hrs Enroute on 19^th August, 2017.
2. Train No. 17209 KSR Bengaluru-Kakinada Town Seshadri Express will be regulated by 1 hour and 25 minutes enroute on 19^th August, 2017.

Train No. 17209 KSR Bengaluru-Kakinada Town Seshadri Express will be regulated by 25 minutes enroute  on 22^nd August, 2017

In order to clear extra rush a one way special train will be run from Howrah to Kanniyakumari as per the following schedule:-

Accordingly, Train No.05906 Howrah-Kanniyakumari special train will depart Howrah at 06:05 hrs on 19^th August, 2017 (Saturday) and arrive Kanniyakumari at 09:50 hrs on the second day.

Enroute, this special train will stop at Barddhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Adra Jn, Bankura, Midnapur, Hijili, Balasore, Bhadrakh, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda Rd, Berhampur, Palasa, Srikakulam Rd, Vizainagaram, Visakhapatnam, Duvvada, Samalkot, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Vijayawada, Ongole, Nellore, Renigunta, Katpadi, Jolarpettai, Salem, Erode, Tirupur, Coimbatore, Palghat, Thrisur, Aluva, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Chengannur, Kollam, Trivandrum, and Nagarcoil stations.

This special train will consist of one AC II Tier, three AC III Tier, eleven Sleeper Class, four General Second Class and two Luggage cum Brake van Coaches.

The Special Train will run on the Howrah / Asansol / Adra / Kharagpur / Khurda Road / Bhubaneswar / Waltair / Vijayawada / Guntakal / Chennai / Selam / Palghat / Thiruvananthapuram Divisions on various Zonal Rail systems of Indian Railways.

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has launched various railway related facilities and services for the benefit of different regions and the people there in Karnataka on South Western Railway. Speaking on this occasion Minister said “Karnataka is an important state for Indian Railways, we have allocated highest ever funds in the Budget for Karnataka for developing Railway infrastructure, almost quadrupling budget grant from that of 2013-14. Indian Railways is in transformation mode & is focusing on improving Rail Infrastructure & passenger amenities like never before. Cleanliness & Make in India programme have been successfully implemented in Indian Railways. High speed Railway network is being worked upon and soon we will operate trains at 200 Kmph on trunk routes. We are trying to make passengers comfortable in their journey and provide better quality of service; we are directing all efforts towards this.”

The following table indicates the work, venues of local function and dignitaries attended.

Delhi Metro recently raised the price of its ticket by up to 50 per cent for an average ride of 15 to 24 kilometres effectively taking the fare out reach for poorer income groups. The rationale offered by the Corporation is that it is necessary to keep it profitable. In the process, the benefit of the Metro to provide long-distance travel to low-income groups has gone for a toss. It is an example of tunnel-vision based accounting that the financial rate of return imposes on broad spectrum infrastructure projects.

The alternative floated by the central government on Wednesday requiring a higher than before commitment from states and public-private partnership (PPP), in terms of land clearances and funding obligations is more practical. The policy stipulates a shift from the present ‘Financial Internal Rate of Return of eight per cent’ to ‘Economic Internal Rate of Return of 14 per cent’ “in line with global best practices”  The new policy aims to encourage private investments across a range of metro operations through a PPP route for availing of central assistance for new projects. Private investment and other innovative forms of financing have been made compulsory to meet the huge resource demand for these capital-intensive schemes.

It is rarely possible for an urban transport project to be profitable. Yet for high-density populated cities infrastructure projects need to be constructed, says Shailesh Pathak, chief executive-deisgnate of L&T IDPL —the company executing the Hyderabad metro project. “The returns from these projects have to be assessed taking into account environmental costs, equity costs and so on”. For example, the Shanghai metro charges 3 and 4 yuan for journeys upto 16 kilometres, effectively encouraging all income segments to board. The costs that are saved are in terms of people opting for public transport  instead of taxis, bus et al. Writing sometime ago in Business Standard, Dinesh Mohan, one of India’s veteran commentator on transport economics, noted “One could demand lower fares if the Delhi metro operated as a service for the public good. But, in truth, the Delhi Metro has never presented itself as a public service, but more as a prestige project”.

Once those costs are built into the project instead of limiting the costs to only traditional ones, it is easy to understand why projects like city metros cannot be financed only through government handouts.  As a top former urban development department official said in the new policy a metro can be built as a joint venture between state and central government or it can rope in a private sector company.

Dinesh Mohan suggests those using cars should be taxed more to pay for the Metro subsidy. Metro man E Sreedharan thinks it is the government (state or central) which will have to foot the unlimited liability of building and running metros. He told, “Nowhere in the world has the construction and maintenance model of PPP in Metro rail completely succeeded”.

There is certainly no doubt the track record of Reliance Infra with Delhi’s airport line or Mumbai Metro does not inspire confidence.There is also little reason to believe that any other private sector company will be more socially attuned at the cost of its profit.

Yet is it fair to expect a government to choose between running hospitals and that of a metro within a limited budget, though the vocal public will make it choose the latter! At the end of the day bringing in an outside entity allows for more realistic recognition of the actual cost of such projects. This is vitally necessary to ensure these projects are built on tight deadlines and cost control. No government department can ensure that. As of now of the eight metro projects running in Delhi (217 kms), Bengaluru (42.30  kms), Kolkata (27.39 kms), Chennai (27.36 kms), Kochi (13.30 kms), Mumbai (Metro Line 1-11.40 km, Mono Rail Phase 1-9.0 km), Jaipur (9.00 kms) and Gurugram (Rapid Metro-1.60 km) has only two private sector players. The rest are joint ventures between the centre and the state governments. There are 13 more cities planning metros. Given the state finances it is impossible to expect that scarce public resources acutely needed for health care and education can be diverted to build these instead.

A suspicious object, suspected to be a bomb, was today recovered from a Silchar-bound parcel baggage in Guwahati railway station, GRP and police officials said.

A Home Guard on duty at the Railway Mail Service (RMS) area, behind platform number one, heard a ticking sound from the parcel baggage at around 9.45 am and immediately informed the Government Railway Police there, a GRP official told PTI.

Director General of Police Mukesh Sahay said it was not immediately known if the parcel contained a bomb. “The laid down drill for any suspicious object will be followed by isolating it and then finding out what it is,” Mr Sahay said.

“We will have to first detect whether it is a bomb. Only after that, will the question of who is involved will come in”, the DGP said.

On being asked as to why there was no CCTV in the RMS area, Sahay said, “Only the Railway authority can comment about it. It is good to have CCTV but nevertheless a security personnel detected it”.

Meanwhile, the suspicious object, weighing 10 kg, was taken safely in a special truck to an open uninhabited area of Rani on the outskirts of Guwahati, a bomb disposal official said.

The official suspected it to be a handmade improvised explosive device (IED) fitted with a programmable time device (PTD).

Urging photo journalists not to use camera flash while taking photos as it could trigger a blast, he said the object would be safely detonated with another IED.

The parcel sorting personnel at the RMS yard said, the baggage with many articles, had a GPO seal marked for Silchar in south Assam’s Barak Valley.

It was to be transported by truck as railway services were suspended for the last ten days due to floods.

Nitin Kannamwar is India’s most celebrated official at Wimbledon and is the first Indian Line Umpire for Men’s and Ladies Wimbledon finals. A gold badge referee of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Nitin has officiated in the Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and the Beijing (2008) Games. Along with that he was also the Assistant Chief of Umpires in both the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics and has participated in 28 Grand Slam tournaments. Nitin, who is also the first Indian to be designated as a Review Official at Wimbledon, in a video uploaded by Wimbledon on Facebook, shares his experience of being the same and how the Hawk-Eye technology is changing the game of tennis.

“My whole life has been basically about tennis. It’s a journey of tennis, as a player, as a coach, and into an official. This year hopefully will be my 21st Wimbledon. I have been involved in every part of officiating that there could be in Wimbledon. Which included line umpiring, as a chair umpire and now as a what they call now Off Court Technical Advisor, which they call OCTA.”

“So, I did that also for two years and now for the last three years, I have been doing the Hawk-Eye booth. Initially, when Hawk-Eye came into tennis, it added a certain amount of pressure. A call that you are going to make will be ratified by a machine. And the whole world will get to know whether the call you made was the right call or not.”

“Your job can be questioned by a player, but it can also be talked about by millions and billions of people watching that match on TV. So, it’s just about being able to perform whether you are a player or an official under pressure,” added the ITF Officiating Regional Officer for Asia.

Nitin’s big break came in 1994 when he was selected to officiate at Wimbledon. He had said, “I have officiated at all Wimbledon tournaments, barring 1998 to 2000. It is a privilege to represent the country.”

He has officiated at the US Open, French Open, Australian Open, Olympics, Women’s Tennis Association and ATP tours, Davis Cup and even the 2010 Commonwealth Games that were held in New Delhi.

Talking about being a Line Umpire, Nitin had said “When we select lines officials, we look at their confidence. When the ball runs past the line in a split of a second, you’ve got to be able to call out instantly. If we see consistent hesitance, they disqualify.”

Kannamwar, who was the chief umpire at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, said for an umpire a good personality bodes well and a good eyesight, with once a year check-ups is mandatory.

Though Nitin umpires at least 40 matches a year, he also has a job with Western Railway, managing its tennis team.

 

Works to restore railway infrastructure damaged by the flood under the jurisdiction of the N R Railway is on in the war footing in the wake of the Railway Board giving direction to all zonal railways to cancel trains travelling from various parts of the country beyond Malda town in West Bengal and Katihar in Bihar till August 20 next because of the damage to railway infrastructure by flood fury.

The damage of railway infrastructure due to flood fury forced the N F Railway to cancel altogether 77 trains so far. The railway link with North East India has remained snapped.

Meanwhile, a medical camp was conducted at Guwahati station for the passengers waiting in the station due to cancellation of train services. The N F Railway is running special trains from Guwahati to Dalkhola and from Dibrugarh to Guwahati for clearance of rush caused by cancellation of trains due to unprecedented flood, according to the CPRO of the N R Railway, Pranab Jyoti Sharma.

The CPRO informed that at Bridge No. 3 located at Km. 7/2-3 between stations Kuretha and Manian in the section Katihar- Kumedpur which was breached at 7.30 A.M. on Wednesday, N.F. Railway has been able to mobilise a 45 ft. girder along with a 140-ton crane which has reached site from Eastern Railway. Boulders for restoration have been mobilised from Pakur, Bakudi and Sakrigli.

This bridge which is crucial for connectivity from Katihar to Malda is being attended by more than 600 labours working round the clock and it is expected that if flood condition does not deteriorate further the bridge will be restored by tomorrow.

At Bridge No. 133 located between stations Sudhani – Telta of New Jalpaiguri – Malda section which was worst hit with almost 60 m approach being washed away on both up and down line, restoration work has already been started. The senior railway officials are camping at site while an NDRF team from Danapur has also reached the site today. Work is progressing day and night.

At bridge no. MK 8, 9, 11 between stations Kumedpur – Khurial of Malda Town New Jalpaiguri section which have been washed out by flood water from river Mahananda, restoration work is going on in full swing under supervision of senior Railway officials.

In Alipurduar Division, track connection from Fakiragram to Dhubri has been restored from Thursday morning after completion of work at Bridge no. 28. Train connection from Dhubri will be restored and DEMU services will be started from Friday. In Lumding Division, the flood-affected track between Silghat and Jakhalabandha stations has been attended and restored for movement of traffic at restricted speed.