Bengaluru Express

(Malayala Manorama dt 9-7-2012)

(Madhyamam dt 8-7-2012)

(Veekshanam dt 8-7-2012)

(Timely intervention by our MP. Thanks to him)

(Malayala Manorama dt 7-7-2012)

Decision on Kochuveli-Bangalore Express might be delayed

George Adimathra TNN 

Thiruvananthapuram: The conversion of the tri-weekly Kochuveli-Bangalore Express to a daily train now depends solely on the pressure exerted by the peoples’ representatives from the state. Highly-placed sources in the Southern Railway (SR) said that a decision in this matter might take months since no discussion in this regard is going on at the headquarters in Chennai at the moment. 

    A senior official from the SR operating department in Chennai told TOI that for the time being, train no 16315/16316 Kochuveli-Bangalore-Kochuveli express would continue to be a tri-weekly one with the same timings. 

    “SR has completed all formalities related to running the train as a daily service. However, following protests by passengers from Kerala and Bangalore regarding the change in timings, the decision was withdrawn. The change in timing was inevitable since it would be very difficult to operate the train considering the already congested lines. Now both the railway zones require time to analyze the situation and arrange other services without causing problems for the train in question. However, no discussion is underway at the moment and a decision might take three to four months,” the official said. Meanwhile, passenger associations are planning to continue their protests till the objective is met. 

    “We are studying the matter. Steps will be taken to ensure that people face no difficulties due to change in timings,” said state minister in charge or railways Aryadan Mohammed.

(Times of India dt 5-7-2012)

(Malayala Manorama dt 4-7-2012)

(Mathrubhumi dt 4-7-2012)

(Malayala Manorama dt 30-6-2012)

Finally much awaited MEMU

(Malayala Manorama dt 30-6-2012)

Tatkal site can’t keep up with demand

New Delhi: Try booking a tatkal train ticket online at 8am, when railway booking counters and the web portal open simultaneously, and you would invariably find the website hanging frequently. Do not expect the situation to improve drastically as IRCTC, the agency that runs the website, has plainly said it cannot meet the surging demand. 
    A GM-level IRCTC official said there were simply too many users, especially ahead of festivals and summer vacations. “We have seen a peak of 13,000 hits per minute during the first 10-15 minutes from 8am. Our capacity is 1,500-2,000 successful transactions a minute. ,” the official said. 
    “We have ensured our system is as tout-free as possible. For faster usage, we have installed iridium servers and increased bandwidth . But demand keeps on rising,” said an official. He added that CRIS, the company that set up the website, had been told about the problems.
( Dwaipayan Ghosh TNN Times of India dt 29-6-2012)

Time changes

(Malayala Manorama dt 28-6-2012)

Railway budget promise for Kerala to face alteration

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One morerailway budget promise for Kerala seems to be headed the wrong way after general public found that an interstate express train would soon adopt timings not benefiting rail travelers from the state.

Union railway minister declared in the 2012-13 railway budget that the tri-weekly trains 16315/16316, connecting Thiruvananthapuramand Bangalore would be made a daily train. The announcement was applauded by Keralites due to the fact that only Island Express (Train number 16525) currently serve as a daily train to Bangalore.

According to railway passenger association members, without consulting them, new timings are are under consideration by railway, which would come into effect from July 1, when Southern Railway (SR) announces the timetable for 2012.

P. Krishnakumar, General Secretary, Thrissur Railway Passengers Association pointed out that the former timings, to and from Bangalore, ensured that passengers reached destinations during morning hours, however under the revised timings, the passengers would lose half a day before reaching destinations.

"We were the only state in the country which lacked a minimum of two daily trains to Bangalore and so the budget announcement was considered as one of the biggest gains. Railway ran the service without issues, thrice a week, all these years and so this sudden change in timings is baffling. If implemented it would end up as an unbeneficial service as public prefers not to waste daytime while undertaking a train journey. No passenger associations were consulted in this regard and we want SR to take steps to retain the present timings," Krishnakumar said.

He added that public who went to book tickets for July journey to Bangalore on Tuesday, were informed by booking counter clerks on the change of timings.

"If initiated, then Kerala would lose a night train and people would start opting for Island express, which in turn would create unwanted rush," said Rahul Raman, a software engineer, based in Bangalore.

While senior officials of SR Thiruvananthapuram Division said that since the train is operated by South Western Railway, SR has not much say in the matter.

A Sundar, senior divisional commercial manager, Thiruvananthapuram told TOI that the change of timings is news to them, as the department is yet to receive any instruction on the matter.

(George Adimathra, TNN | Jun 27, 2012, 10.39PM IST) Times of India dt 28-6-2012

Green signal for speedier rail travel

Railways to cut running time of 80 trains

Rail commuters can look forward to speedier travel with Railways set to reduce the running time of 80 trains by five minutes to an hour.

For this, Railways will increase the speed of these trains, mostly express services, to the permissible 110 km an hour. “This will mostly reflect in the railway timetable that will come into effect from July 1,” Divisional Railway Manager Rajesh Agrawal told The Hindu.

The initiative will increase line capacity enabling Railways to operate more trains. This will come in handy for Railways, which is finding it difficult to introduce the newly sanctioned trains in the rail budget.

A team led by Mr. Agrawal had recently covered 500-route km from Vallathol Nagar, near Shoranur, to Melepalayam in Tirunelveli, boundary of the Thiruvananthapuram railway division, in two days to clear bottlenecks for implementing the initiative.

Railways have also initiated steps to overcome several hurdles such as platform availability. Besides they will have to go for sequencing and scheduling of trains, monitoring of trains at coaching depots and stations, and revise the guidelines among other things for reducing the running time.

The “speeding up” will be resorted to without affecting the timings of the trains. Almost all trains plying through the State are sticking to the timings despite the accelerated infrastructure works and the availability of only one line for operations.

The maximum speed on the 600-km Shoranur–Mangalore stretch has also been increased from 100 kph to 110 kph. The decision to decrease the running time of the trains comes close to a proposal mooted by the divisional railways to limit the number of stops for the superfast trains to six on the Thiruvananthapuram- Shoranur stretch.

(The Hindu dt 27-6-2012)

Hopes for Vallatholnagar

(Mathrubhumi dt 29-6-2012)

(Mathrubhumi dt 28-6-2012)

(Mathrubhumi dt 27-6-2012)

Bolt from the Blue (read Bus lobby)

(Malayala Manorama dt 26-6-2012)

(Mangalam dt 26-6-2012)

(Mathrubhumi dt 27-6-2012)

Sponsors wanted

(Mathrubhumi dt 21-6-2012)

Suggestions in DRUCC Meeting

Some suggestions by TRPA in DRUCC Meeting.
(Madhyamam dt 29-5-2012)

Master Plan

(Malayala Manorama dt 19-6-2012)

(Mathrubhumi dt 19-6-2012)

(Madhyamamdt 19-6-2012)

Wheel Chair donated

(Mathrubhumi dt 12-5-2012)

Cheruvannur Sandhi

(Malayala Manorama dt 1-5-2012)

Our President celebrates 84 birthday

(Mathrubhumi dt 26-4-2012)

Homage to C.K. Chandrappan

(Mathrubhumi dt 23-3-2012)

(Madhyamam dt 23-3-2012)

Roll back of rate increase

(Mathrubhumi dt 23-3-2012)

Budget Hopes

(Madhyamam dt 14-3-2012)