Coal: a heavy burden on the Indian railways
India’s power demand is rising more quickly than its renewable capacity additions, accelerating plans to mine, transport and burn up to 65% more thermal coal for electricity generation by 2030. Several
Rail Transport
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Green toilets for Pinakini Expresss
Pinakini Express between Vijayawada and Chennai has been fitted with newly-built environment-friendly toilets.
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AIDS awareness train to arrive at Howrah
Red Ribbon Express (RRE), a seven-coach train, aimed at creating AIDS awareness across the country, is scheduled to arrive at Howrah station on 24 March.
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Railways to put on track its own luxury train
A route being explored is Delhi-Kolkata wherein Agra, Varanasi, Khajuraho, Gaya could be covered
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Mumbai's metro rail on wrong track
<table width="100" border="0" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12px" align="left"> <tr> <td> <img src="files/images/20080315/52.jpg" border="0"></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#660000"><b>V K J RANE</b></font></td> </tr> </table> The Mumbai metro looks set to run on standard gauge tracks. The Union Ministry of Railways had recommended the broad gauge system, but the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority deemed the narrower standard gauge system suitable for Mumbai's geography. Not everybody is pleased with the decision.
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Freight corridor to link Nano factory but no funds yet
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's budget has good news for Tata Motors. The Railway Budget proposes a dedicated freight corridor from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni, located near Tata Motor's small car project site at Singur. Needless to say, the dedicated corridor will connect the Tata factory with the rest of India. However, there's some bad news for the company as well. As the preliminary survey work for the project from Dhanbad to Dankuni remains incomplete, funds have not been allocated. With Nano expected to hit the roads by October-November this year, the dedicated freight corridor might be a long way away for the Tata Motors to reap its benefit, unless put on fast track. Apart from this, however, there is not much for West Bengal to be happy about. The state has got only four new trains. Moreover, long standing projects like development of Howrah and Sealdah stations, Shalimar terminal station, the Kolkata station in Chitpur and extension and improvement of the Metro have been ignored. "Continuing the trend of the past few years, the Railway Budget is hopeless for Bengal. The dedicated freight corridor will benefit the much talked about Singur project. The original corridor was from Ludhiana to Dhanbad, which has now been extended to Dankuni. But no funds have been allotted and even preliminary survey is incomplete. Therefore, it will take years to become operational,' said Bhaskar Chaudhuri, a retired chief commercial manager of Eastern Railways. Tata's small car project lies in Singur, which is close to both the Dankuni Expressway, part of the Golden Quadrilateral, and the proposed freight corridor. The four new trains for West Bengal state are
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Green toilets in four years
Lalu Prasad has gone green with a vengeance. And it's not just colour of the unprecedented cash surplus of Rs 25,000 this fiscal that's green, there are other moves too. Railways will switch over to green discharge-free toilets by 2012 and switch over to energy-efficient CFL lamps in all staff quarters. Calling discharge from toilets a
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But it won't lower oil prices
Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's announcement of a 5% cut in the freight rates for moving petrol and diesel is indeed an effort to bring back the oil traffic from roads to the railways. The reduction in freight rate, announced as part of the Railway Budget proposals for 2008-09, is not sufficient enough to warrant any cut in the consumer prices of petrol and diesel. The freight rate cut will help the oil Companies
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Protest against rail line plan
Call to abandon Angamaly-Azhutha line
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Monorail gets nod, to hit streets by 2010
It's official now. You can expect to take a monorail through the congested lanes of the Walled City or hop onto a tram running at road level to catch an event at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the C o m m o n we a l t h Games. The technical feasibility reports for Light Rail Transit (LRT) and monorail are in and both the modes have been found
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ADB opens rail project in Cambodia
The Asian Development Bank Monday launched a multi-million dollars project to restore Cambodia's devastated railways in a key step towards the creation of a regional rail system. Approximately 600 kilometres of track destroyed during Cambodia's protracted civil war will be rebuilt at a cost of 42 million dollars, the ADB said.