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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Rlys aims for R1k-cr pvt fund for toilet project
After getting overwhelming response from the private sector in major rail infrastructure public private partnership (PPP) projects, Indian railways is now eyeing to attract an investment of around R1,000 crore from private sector for building toilets at 600 railway stations under PPP mode. The much-needed step to provide basic amenity at stations comes in at a time when the national transporter is cash strapped and has no money to complete its major infrastructure projects. Railways, for long, has been struggling to provide clean lavatories at its stations as hygienic toilets have never been a priority for railways due to cash crunch.
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Odisha seeks Rs 3,050 cr allocation in rail budget
The state government has sought Rs 3,050 crore outlay for the development of rail infrastructure in the state in the ensuing 2013-14 Railway budget. The state had received only Rs 723 crore allocation in last year’s rail budget against its demand of Rs 2,345 crore. Of the total budget allocation sought for the coming year, the government has asked Rs 1,440 crore for construction of nine new lines, Rs 50 crore for gauge conversion (90-km Rupsa- Bangiriposi), Rs 890 crore for doubling and laying of third line in some sections.
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Gurgaon Rapid MetroRail to begin in April
Phase-I of the Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon Limited (RMGL), a network of 5.1 km connecting Cyber City, National Highway-8 and Sikanderpur Metro station, is expected to become operational in April despite slowdown of work due to extreme cold, said RMGL managing director Sanjiv Rai here on Thursday. “Due to extreme cold conditions prevailing over the past few weeks, the de-stressing and welding of metro tracks have been delayed for a couple of weeks and work on a one-kilometre stretch is still pending. We also faced labour problems due to cold condition.
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Odisha seeks speed restriction of trains to save elephants
Seeking the Centre's intervention to ensure speed restrictions at crossing points used by elephants, Odisha government on Wednesday asked the railway board to revisit its advisories on prevention of train
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Rs 3269m transport sector scheme approved
The Punjab Government on Thursday has approved the scheme of Transport Sector with an estimated cost of Rs. 3269.678 million for “Construction of Metro Bus Transit System for Lahore-Ferozepur Road Corridor,
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Plan panel: Launch high-speed rail on Delhi-Agra corridor
The Planning Commission has suggested that the Railways should begin its high-speed rail (HSR) corridor project with the Delhi-Agra section rather than insisting on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor. In a recent note to a steering group, the Commission has asked the Railways to take up the Delhi-Agra section of the 991 km-long Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi corridor, as it would be able to execute the project on a stretch that is barely 200 km as a demonstrative exercise and before developing other corridors.
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All-round increase in Railway fares
In a rather unusual move, Railway Minister P.K. Bansal on Wednesday announced an across-the-board hike in passenger fares less than two months before presenting the Railway budget. The hike comes into effect from January 21. As a consolation, however, Mr. Bansal said there would be no further fare hike in the budget. The increase ranges from two paise a km in the basic fare for second class ordinary (suburban) passengers to 10 paise a km for AC chair car and AC first class.
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MoEF clears way for infra projects in forest areas
Following the PMO’s intervention to fast-track linear projects like roads, railway lines and power transmission lines, the Ministry of Environment & Forests has agreed to relax its guidelines for clearance of forest land falling in such project areas. The MoEF has agreed to “facilitate phased preparation and processing” of linear project proposals. It has, however, added that a “technically feasible alternative alignment” for segments that fall in forest land will have to be provided. The user agency must resort to this alternate alignment in case forest clearance is not granted.
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For safe journey, MMRDA triple-checks monorail
On track Authority hopes to commission first phase by mid-2013. With Mumbai’s first monorail line nearing completion, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has kicked off a three-stage certification process to ensure that this mode of transport is safe for the public. As part of safety checks being observed by MMRDA, which is implementing the Chembur-Wadala monorail corridor, the contractor for the 8.3 km line has started conducting trials.
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Metro Railway policy
The undersigned is directed to refer to the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure’s OM No.30(17)/PF.11/2012 dated 11.10.2012 and to say the following on the policy being followed by Govt. of India