Kolkata-Howrah Suburban, Kolkata Circular, West Bengal Railways

[arijeetb]

Originally Posted by Suncity

Local train rush

photo copyright crthome83

Go Momota go - we need more ladies specials

[todscreen]

Originally Posted by Suncity

Local train rush

photo copyright crthome83

these species are as bad as men.

[todscreen]

good. waiting to see pics

from flickr

[todscreen]

Howrah Station, Kolkata





from flickr

[Suncity]

video by abhiroop07

[todscreen]

Howrah Grand Central, Kolkata
S@B!H

[sabya99]

Since when Howrah became Grand Central? It is just the Howrah station long distance side. But it really looks cleans now a days!

[todscreen]

i coined it the term grand central...every country deserves a grand central like NYC and we have one here.

yippie

[sidney_jec]

the station looks neat..

[Bombay2Calcutta]

Source: Telegraph India

The state government and the railways are working together to revamp Howrah station and its adjoining areas, including the bus terminus, which is in a shambles.

On Monday, chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti discussed the matter with senior officials of the state government, Eastern Railway, Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), Calcutta Port Trust and the Howrah administration.

“CMDA’s plan for developing the bus terminus adjacent to Howrah station was discussed at the meeting. A East-West Metro interface will also be built at Howrah station,” said Sumantra Chowdhury, the state transport secretary. Chowdhury conceded that the present condition of the bus terminus was “unhealthy and the planning very complex” and said around Rs 50 lakh would be spent on the upgrade.

“Hawkers and vendors have encroached on the terminus premises. There is no proper drainage and sewerage system in the area, leading to frequent waterlogging,” said Sanghamitra Ghosh, the district magistrate of Howrah.

A railway official said the East-West Metro interface at Howrah station would be set up 20ft underground between platforms 16 and 17.

[highrise-kolkata]

CANNING: Even as hectic parleys are on to get the Sunderbans on the Unesco list of New Seven Wonders of Nature, Mamata Banerjee has kicked off an
initiative to link the remote islands to the world.

The railway minister on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the first phase of an ambitious project to extend the tracks from the mainland to Gosaba in the heart of the world's largest mangrove delta. When the project is completed, this 40-km stretch can be traversed in an hour against several hours that people spend now, walking across islands and wading through meandering rivers during low tide.

As of now, a 4.48-km stretch up to Bhangonkhali is being taken up at a cost of Rs 123.71 crore. Five bridges, including a mega structure across Matla river, have to be constructed on this short stretch.

In the subsequent phases, tracks will be extended up to Gosaba via Sonakhali and Basanti, all densely populated blocks in the islands. Once the entire stretch is completed, the 85-km stretch between Gosaba and Sealdah can be covered in two hours against nearly half a day that villagers have to spend now to reach Kolkata.

To enhance existing capacity, the railway minister also laid the foundation stone for doubling of tracks along a 14.5-km section between Canning and Ghutiari Sharif. The remaining stretch till Sealdah has double tracks. This project will cost Rs 61.54 crore.

Speaking on the difficulties faced by residents of the Sunderbans, Mamata said a number of other projects were on the anvil to give the region a boost. Among them are extension of tracks towards Bakkhali from Namkhana and laying of tracks on the Joynagar-Raidighi stretch. The minister also said a bridge up to Gangasagar was on her list of projects.

The ground on which the programme was organized was to be converted into a stadium by the state government. During the day, Mamata said she was ready to build the stadium if state land and land reforms minister Rezzak Mollah handed the land over to the railway ministry. "We have already given Rs 17 crore for a stadium in Bongaon. The entire belt of Taldih, Canning and Champahati is known for sports activities. Our sportspersons deserve better infrastructure," she said.

Though she did not make any political statements, hordes of people had gathered to catch a glimpse of the Trinamool chief and not just the railway minister. Flush from victory at the Lok Sabha elections where Trinamool Congress and SUCI made deep inroads into the islands and swept away RSP and Forward Bloc that had held sway over decades, Mamata's promise of accelerated development was vociferously cheered.

"If I get some land, I can develop this area further. Some railway land at Canning will be utilized to set up a Railway Protection Force training centre that will generate more jobs," she said.
Source:Times of india,15/11/2009

[shanware]

Should help tourism in the Sunderbans.

[bharatiya]

Once we get cars like those you wont see the difference

[rupakd]

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee would lay the foundation of the first of 10 auto hubs the railways plan to set up all over the country at Shalimar in Howrah district of West Bengal on November 28.

In her efforts to turn the railways into an 'engine of economic growth', Banerjee has given green signal to the setting up of 10 auto hubs with private participation.

"The Railways would provide the land and private players would set up the units under Public-Private Partnership," Banerjee told PTI today.

She said she would disclose the names of other places where the auto hubs would be set up.

Source: PTI

[ARUNAVA_DEY]

AUTO HUBS

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has proposed the development of 10 new auto hubs across the country for the loading and unloading of vehicles and their transportation through rail. Indian Railways has offered its land to auto companies for setting up these hubs, which can also act as locations for auto ancillary industries. More than 20 lakh vehicles are manufactured in India every year; most of these are transported from production sites to cities by road. Only two per cent of vehicle transportation is carried out by the railways. This is in spite of the fact that rail transportation is safer and less time-consuming than road transportation.

Ms Banerjee told mediapersons that of the ten auto hubs being planned, two would be set up in Satragacchi and Shalimar in West Bengal. Other possible locations include Siliguri, Ranchi, Patna, Guwahati, Hosur, Palakkad, Ernakulam, Vijayawada, Chandigarh, Delhi Cantonment, Kharagpur, Chalapalli and Kalamasery. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said in a presentation on the proposed project that the Railways could earn an additional revenue Rs 1,000 crore by increasing its share in vehicle transportation from 2 per cent to 15 per cent, by 2015-16.

Source : DriveInside http://www.driveinside.com/News/Head...-railways.aspx


Auto-hubs would be developed as places where large scale loading/unloading of vehicles can take place and where auto ancillary industries can come up.

Banerjee’s idea seems to have clicked with the auto industry. In its first presentation to Banerjee and the experts’ committee headed by FICCI’s Amit Mitra set up by her on October 28, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) projected an additional revenue of Rs 1,000 crore to the railways if it can increase the movement by rail of new vehicles from the manufacturing hubs to distributors across the country from 2% at present to 15% by 2015-2016.

Apart from Satragacchi and Shalimar, the industry has identified Siliguri, Ranchi, Patna, Guwahati, Hosur, Palakkad, Ernakulam, Vijaywada, Chandigarh, Delhi Cantonment, Kharagpur, Chalapalli and Kalamasery
as probable locations for the auto hubs.

Banerjee, who is excited by the project, points out that the shifting of a considerable chunk of vehicles from road to railways would also help bring down pollution levels and fetch carbon credits for the railways

Source : Times of India .

[sidney_jec]

Originally Posted by ARUNAVA_DEY

AUTO HUBS
Other possible locations include Siliguri, Ranchi, Patna, Guwahati, Hosur, Palakkad, Ernakulam, Vijayawada, Chandigarh, Delhi Cantonment, Kharagpur, Chalapalli and Kalamasery.

what??
no mention of the automobile manufacturing hubs Chennai and Pune to be included for better transportation??

[Abhishek901]

Originally Posted by sidney_jec

what??
no mention of the automobile manufacturing hubs Chennai and Pune to be included for better transportation??

They may already have some facilities like this. Just a guess..

[achemsRaZor]

Are there any more trans river bridges under construction? Currently are there 3 - or more?

[Bombay2Calcutta]

Scource
Kolkata, Dec 5 (IANS) Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday flagged off two trains exclusively for women in West Bengal.
The trains were flagged off on the Eastern Railway Sealdah division and will run on the Canning-Sealdah and Bongaon-Sealdah routes.

“These two ladies’ specials will immensely help working women during the peak office hours,” Banerjee said.

Banerjee emphasised on the importance of s railway link to bridge the gap between India and Bangladesh.

“We have more plans lined up to improve India-Bangladesh relations and help increase economic activities with the railway’s network which I cannot reveal right now,” she said.

Talking about other railway issues, she said that there are quite a few projects for West Bengal in the pipeline.

Banerjee also laid the foundation stone of an outdoor railway stadium at Bongaon in North 24 Parganas district.

“We have already sanctioned Rs.17 crore for the stadium and it will come up shortly,” she added.

Attacking the ruling Left Front government in the state, the railway minister said that the state-run hospital at Bongaon lacked basic facilities.

“The railway hospital would now be opened for the general public. I have also sanctioned a small diagnostic centre here that will have basic medical facilities like X-ray and blood testing,” she said.

[Bombay2Calcutta]

TELEGRAPH
Passenger load, maintenance lack compromise Metro safety
SANJAY MANDAL
Metro Railway’s dalliance with danger continues with a recent discovery that a rake had been running with a damaged component that holds a coach together.

Sources said two central pivots of a coach of rake B6 were found to be “severely damaged”. The snag — which can result in a coach being dislodged — was noticed by maintenance workers at Metro Railway’s Noapara carshed at night about two weeks ago.

“The pivot was then taken off the coach as a safety measure and replaced. Since some of the rakes have become old, such snags do occur but repairs are carried out at once,” a Metro official said on Friday.

But sources said trains running with damaged pivots was “a major compromise of safety” as “pivots, placed on both ends of a coach, hold it together”.

If the pivot is damaged, an official added, a coach can be dislodged, although there is an axle. “It must be replaced immediately to avert an accident,” he pointed out.

Metro sources said the coach in question was “very old”, dating back to pre-1984. “All such coaches need to be replaced at once,” they said.

Rakes have been groaning under the pressure of the extended stretch since August. “Apart from being old, they have to carry passengers far beyond their capacity,” said an official. A rake has the load-bearing capacity of around 2,500 passengers on each journey. But after the opening of the Tollygunge-Garia Bazar section, the passenger count has gone up by 30 per cent.

That, coupled with the delay in getting new rakes, has overburdened the existing trains, especially during peak hours. “This is resulting in frequent snags,” said an official.

Out of 18 rakes, 17 have been pressed into service to maintain the timetable. “This means the daytime maintenance of trains has been all but scrapped. So, the pivot problem could not be detected during the day,” said a source.

The lack of daytime maintenance and added passenger pressure — both caused by the route extension — has lowered Metro’s safety standards.

Thirteen rakes are slated to be added to the present 18. The Railway Board recently sanctioned 14 more rakes. “Once all the rakes arrive, 11 of the old rakes will be discarded,” said an official.

The other tech trouble ailing Metro is the malfunctioning of smart card turnstiles, with stations on the new stretch being forced to shut them down for repairs from Wednesday evening. “The new smart card system will be installed within seven months,” said an official.