Kolkata-Howrah Suburban, Kolkata Circular, West Bengal Railways

[Bombay2Calcutta]

Toy Train from Shantipur via Krishnanagar to Nabadwipghat

Part 1


Part 2

[Bombay2Calcutta]

[Bombay2Calcutta]

[jacob302]

Arriving at Sealdah Station.
image hosted on flickr

cc:Akshay 30005
image hosted on flickr

cc:Akshay 30005
image hosted on flickr

cc:Bharatiya
image hosted on flickr

cc:waka, waka- brazil
image hosted on flickr

cc:mitra chowdhury
image hosted on flickr

cc:Saugata Sengupta
image hosted on flickr

cc:Akshay 3005
image hosted on flickr

cc:abhirupsen_haldia
image hosted on flickr

cc:Mitra Chowdhury
image hosted on flickr

cc:Shyamal Chowdhury
image hosted on flickr

cc:Shyamal Chowdhury
image hosted on flickr

cc:Shyamal Chowdhury
image hosted on flickr

cc:Shyamal Chowdhury
image hosted on flickr

cc:Shyamal Chowdhury

[Bombay2Calcutta]

Source
Kolkata: After registering victory in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is pushing for initiating various development projects jointly by Railway Ministry, Union Shipping Ministry and the KMC.
While the shipping ministry will draw up a plan for setting up a port freight corridor, including a deep draught port in the state, Kolkata Municipal Corporation will tie up with Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) for beautification of the city’s riverfront.

The shipping ministry has also decided to set up a container terminal facility at Diamond Harbour in South 24-Parganas district for Kolkata Dock System (KDS) and four berths at Salukhali near Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) for handling bulk cargo.

“For making the proposed port corridor, a railway connectivity is required. We have spoken to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and she has asked for a detailed project report,” said Trinamool MP and Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy in Kolkata on Tuesday.

According to KOPT officials, the railways will have to lay two kilometres long tracks from Diamond Harbour station to the proposed container terminal site. It will also have to lay another eight kilometres track from Haldia-Panskura section to Salukhali near Haldia.

“The rail connectivity is very essential to make the proposed port facilities viable. The KoPT has decided to set up the port facilities on the new locations to overcome the ongoing draught problem which is affecting the business badly,” said Roy.

The minister said that KoPT chairman and Railway Board will also discuss the construction of a bridge over Muriganga river in South 24-Parganas and laying of around 40-km rail tracks from Namkhana to the proposed port site, about 32 kilometres down stream from Kachuberia.

The shipping ministry hopes that the port facilities at Diamond Harbour and Salukhali will become operational before December 2011. An expert committee has been set up to conduct feasibility survey for the deeper draught port near Sagar, Roy added.

“With the completion of deeper draught port and two new port facilities, a port freight corridor will be set up,” said the minister.

Meanwhile, the KoPT is all set to sign an MoU with Kolkata Municipal Corporation for beautification of Ganga river front.

“The beautification of 10-kilometre-long Ganga river front — from Cossipore to Garden Reach — in Kolkata will be carried out jointly by the KMC and KoPT,” Roy added.

[Bombay2Calcutta]

Source
The Railway Ministry will be keen to provide rail connectivity to various cargo handling projects being planned by Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT).

This was conveyed by the Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, to the Chairman of KoPT, Mr M. L. Meena. Earlier, Mr Meena had made a presentation on various port projects before the Railway Minister. Mr Mukul Roy, Union Minister of State for Shipping.

Mr Roy said the Chairman of Railway Board and the Chairman of KoPT would meet in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss rail connectivity issue for various cargo handling projects being planned by KoPT authorities. The scope of extending the dedicated freight corridor too would come up for a review.

Mr Roy identified three port projects in need of rail connectivity. First is the Diamond Harbour container terminal project for which about two km of new rail line would be needed for connectivity with the Diamond Harbour railway station. The proposal for the container terminal project had been inlimbo for the past few years.

Next is the Haldia Dock Two, also known as Shalukhali project, for which about eight-km railway line would have to be constructed to connect with the Haldia-Panskura rail network.

The third project involves road-cum-rail connectivity for the proposed deeper draught port at Sagar Island. First, the Sagar Island would be connected with the mainland by rail and road and then, about 32 km of road-cum-rail link would be needed for the proposed deeper draught cargo handling facilities. It might be noted that while presenting the Union Budget for 2010-11, the Finance Minister promised to provide funds for undertaking a study on the deeper draught port at Sagar Island. KoPT has invited expressions of interest (EoIs) for undertaking the study.

The Minister said that the differences between KoPT and the Ministry of Defence over the acquisition of about 45 acres of Defence land critical for the proposed container terminal project at Diamond Harbour had been resolved. The Defence authorities would provide the land to the port authorities; the port authorities would arrange for alternative site at Roychowk.

[Bombay2Calcutta]

[Bombay2Calcutta]

[Bombay2Calcutta]

HT
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday announced a new Duronto Express train between the metropolis and the seaside resort of Digha at the southern tip of West Bengal. "The fully air-conditioned train will take only about two hours to reach Digha and will be a boon to both tourists and the tourism industry at Digha," the minister said while inaugurating an express train to Digha from the industrial township of Asansol.

Duronto is a new concept in rapid passenger movement which came 41 years after the Rajdhani Express revolutionised train services between Delhi and major cities, she said adding the new multi-colour trains between metros were faster than the red and yellow locomotives.

[Bombay2Calcutta]

TELEGRAPH
The railways has revived a Rs 1,700-crore project that had been gathering dust for years as part of their efforts to turn the upcoming terminal at Majherhat into an integrated railway hub.

A bridge across the Hooghly with a road running above railway tracks will be built between Sankrail in the Howrah-Kharagpur section (of South Eastern Railway) and Budge Budge (Eastern Railway) as part of the project. There is a rail link between Budge Budge and Majherhat.

“A detailed survey is taking place and we are keen on the project,” a Railway Board official said.

The survey will, among other things, ascertain the availability of land and work out details for the construction of the 300-metre-long, two-tier, single-span rail bridge.

According to a senior South Eastern Railway (SER) official, the bridge will be more than 60 metres high to keep vessel movement on the Hooghly unhindered and the road will run 20 metres above the tracks.

The 25km railway link will connect Majherhat, off Diamond Harbour Road, with Sankrail, via Budge Budge.

“Once the new line is ready, long-distance trains bound for southern or western India can be extended up to Majherhat from Howrah. New trains to southern or western India can also originate or terminate at Majherhat,” the official pointed out.

A planned Metro Railway link between BBD Bag and Joka will convert Majherhat into an integrated terminal.

“The total cost of the (Sankrail-Majherhat) project would be Rs 1,720 crore. Of that, the bridge and the flyover will cost Rs 1291.77 crore,” the official said.

The South Eastern Railway had taken up the project in 2007, but little moved beyond the planning stage.

Railway officials feel Majherhat would be viable as a terminal since it has a convenient road link — Diamond Harbour Road — a railway link through Circular Railway, and the Metro is on the cards.

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) has completed a survey for the Metro connection from Joka to Majherhat, a 10km stretch where land for laying tracks and building stations has been identified.

“It is part of the Joka-BBD Bag Metro project. A passenger interface will be built at the Majherhat terminal,” a Rail Vikas Nigam official said.

Around Rs 2,600 crore will be spent on the 17km project.

Eastern Railway officials said the construction of the terminal building at Majherhat was on. It will take about Rs 7 crore to build the two-storey terminal.

“The work would be completed by the end of January 2011,” a railway official said.

The terminal is likely to be commissioned with three platforms, having the capacity to handle six trains at a time.

“It will be a modern station with escalators, pedestrian subways, food courts and a multi-functional complex where passengers can halt at night,” a railway official said.

“After getting off trains, passengers will have lot of transport options like the Metro, the Circular Railway and road transport,” he added.

[Bombay2Calcutta]

Mamata push for rail coach unit
Titagarh Wagons, Texmaco In Fray
Udit Prasanna Mukherji | TNN


Kolkata: With an eye on the assembly elections next year, railways minister Mamata Banerjee is pushing ahead with the Kanchrapara railway coach project she announced in her railway budget this year.
Last month, Mamata’s ministry issued a global request for qualification (RFQ) for the project, setting July 24 as the deadline for submission of requests by private companies interested in executing the project. “We shall complete the formalities as quick as possible once the submission is over,” sources in ministry said.
The country’s leading wagon manufacturers like Titagarh Wagons and Texmaco have already shown an interest in the joint venture project, it was learnt. Titagarh Wagons director Umesh Chowdhary said, “We have already started manufacturing EMU coaches in our factory in West Bengal and will be keen to participate in the Kanchrapara project.”
Texmaco CEO Ramesh Maheshwari said it is interested in the railway coach project. “We have set up a team to work on that project,” he added.
Both Titagarh and Texmaco are in JVs with foreign players to manufacture modern wagons. Titagarh has a JV with FreightCar America and Texmaco with United Rail of Australia. The Indian companies indicated that many foreign companies are willing to join hands with them to manufacture coaches, considering the demand in India.
The RFQ published by railways says that the ministry will form a JV for setting up a state-of-the-art EMU, mainline electrical multiple unit (MEMU) and metro coaches unit on 150 acres in Kanchrapara. Incidentally, MEMU is used for inter city trains.
“It will be a 74:26 JV. The partner will have 74% stake and the railways will have the remaining 26%,” sources added. As per the RFQ, the JV company will be required to supply a combined number of 500 coaches (EMU, MEMU and Metro coaches) to railways every year.
“This will be the first unit in eastern region to manufacture MEMU and metro coaches. A number of new metro projects are in the pipeline in Mumbai, Hyderabad as well as the East-West Metro in Kolkata. Though some of the projects are being implemented by private companies, they can buy from the JV unit rather than going for imports,” sources added.

[SarafIndian]

A new railway bridge further south to Vidyasagar setu? That means it has to be a critical suspension kind of a bridge and way above the river. It will be approved by the Delhi-walas by around 2025 and will be completed by 2050 for sure ..

Originally Posted by Bombay2Calcutta

TELEGRAPH
The railways has revived a Rs 1,700-crore project that had been gathering dust for years as part of their efforts to turn the upcoming terminal at Majherhat into an integrated railway hub.

A bridge across the Hooghly with a road running above railway tracks will be built between Sankrail in the Howrah-Kharagpur section (of South Eastern Railway) and Budge Budge (Eastern Railway) as part of the project. There is a rail link between Budge Budge and Majherhat.

“A detailed survey is taking place and we are keen on the project,” a Railway Board official said.

The survey will, among other things, ascertain the availability of land and work out details for the construction of the 300-metre-long, two-tier, single-span rail bridge.

According to a senior South Eastern Railway (SER) official, the bridge will be more than 60 metres high to keep vessel movement on the Hooghly unhindered and the road will run 20 metres above the tracks.

The 25km railway link will connect Majherhat, off Diamond Harbour Road, with Sankrail, via Budge Budge.

“Once the new line is ready, long-distance trains bound for southern or western India can be extended up to Majherhat from Howrah. New trains to southern or western India can also originate or terminate at Majherhat,” the official pointed out.

A planned Metro Railway link between BBD Bag and Joka will convert Majherhat into an integrated terminal.

“The total cost of the (Sankrail-Majherhat) project would be Rs 1,720 crore. Of that, the bridge and the flyover will cost Rs 1291.77 crore,” the official said.

The South Eastern Railway had taken up the project in 2007, but little moved beyond the planning stage.

Railway officials feel Majherhat would be viable as a terminal since it has a convenient road link — Diamond Harbour Road — a railway link through Circular Railway, and the Metro is on the cards.

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) has completed a survey for the Metro connection from Joka to Majherhat, a 10km stretch where land for laying tracks and building stations has been identified.

“It is part of the Joka-BBD Bag Metro project. A passenger interface will be built at the Majherhat terminal,” a Rail Vikas Nigam official said.

Around Rs 2,600 crore will be spent on the 17km project.

Eastern Railway officials said the construction of the terminal building at Majherhat was on. It will take about Rs 7 crore to build the two-storey terminal.

“The work would be completed by the end of January 2011,” a railway official said.

The terminal is likely to be commissioned with three platforms, having the capacity to handle six trains at a time.

“It will be a modern station with escalators, pedestrian subways, food courts and a multi-functional complex where passengers can halt at night,” a railway official said.

“After getting off trains, passengers will have lot of transport options like the Metro, the Circular Railway and road transport,” he added.

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by Bombay2Calcutta

Mamata push for rail coach unit
Titagarh Wagons, Texmaco In Fray
Udit Prasanna Mukherji | TNN

What irony! A state of the art factory to produce emus and memus. Hopefully they will design modern emus and memus. We have already seen the "world class" hype surrounding the new emus in Mumbai.

[Suncity]

Remember the grand promises from Indian Railways about the Sydney bridge copy over the Hooghly? They even had Mamata didi lay a foundation stone. But from this video nothing much seems to have progressed.
Didi needs to keep pressure on her babus and force them to deliver on their promises.



Proposal

from here

[Bombay2Calcutta]

[SamitB]

Dankuni rail factory on right track
TNN
Kolkata: Mamata Banerjees dream project of a locomotive component factory at Dankuni some 20 km from Singur is expected to start operations by August 2011.On Monday,Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) awarded the contract for construction of the factory to Simplex Infrastructures Ltd.Construction is expected to start in the next couple of days.
The factory will manufacture components for diesel locomotives built at Diesel Locomotive Works,Varanasi.The project was sanctioned in 2009-10.It was proposed to transfer the work to us on February 12,2010.It was finally transferred to us on April 19.The total project cost is Rs 84.21 crore.The factory will be completed by August 2011, said a senior RVNL official.
The total area of the factory will be 1,180 m x 100 m.Officials say the entire process from conducting soil investigation to the finalizing of tender was completed in a record three months.
We received 10 quotations in all.The rates were highly competitive.We adopted the two packet system that is extremely transparent.In the first packet,tenderers submitted technical and other details while in the second,they put in their financial bids.Only after shortlisting agencies,which are technically capable of handling the project,did we go into the financial details.Our way of working is much more business-like than public sector organizations and we will ensure that the project is completed on time in accordance with our specifications, the official said.
In December 2009,Mamata had announced her plans for the industrial development of Dankuni.Apart from the diesel locomotive components manufacturing unit,another factory will be set up to supply spares to Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.If things go according to plan,the Dankuni factory will sub-assemble locomotives for DLW.
While announcing the projects,Mamata had said nearly 100,000 people would get direct or indirect jobs once the factories came up.She said a number of ancillary units would also come up around the main factory,providing jobs to locals.No land acquisition had to be done as the land belonged to the railways.
While Rs 84.21 crore will be required for the factory,the total estimated cost of the project is Rs 261.99 crore.Constructing a factory is not everything.Other expenses are also involved to start operations.This factory will provide a major boost to industrialization in the state, said a senior railway official.

[Bombay2Calcutta]

C’wealth Express on a roll
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kolkata: The Commonwealth Express being run by the Indian Railways to commemorate the games to be held in Delhi will be on exhibit at the Kolkata station from Friday. The train was flagged off by railway minister Mamata Banerjee in Delhi on June 24.
Five coaches of the train highlight the concept of the Commonwealth Games and achievements of Indian sports personalities. There are also displays on the role of the railways in promoting sports in the country. The remaining six coaches highlight India’s glorious IT story.
“The train moved to Kolkata from Kharagpur. At Kharagpur, we received an overwhelming response. There were more than 20,000 visitors including school and college students and sportspersons. It will also be a great hit in Kolkata,” a senior South Eastern Railway official said.
On Friday, while inaugurating the exhibition, Eastern Railway will felicitate 15 serving sportspersons at the Kolkata station. If the Sanskriti Express is any indication, the railways will be overwhelmed by visitors.
“The Sanskriti Express flagged off by the railway minister to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore has been a great success. It stopped at 13 locations in Bengal, including Howrah, between June 26 and Tuesday. The total number of visitors was a whopping 4,39,249,” a senior ER official said.
From Krishnanagar the Sanskriti Express has moved to Berhampore Court. It will finally arrive at Sealdah on August 19 before moving to the East Coast Railway. “Tagore was from Bengal but he still attracts a lot of people. The Commonwealth Express is something new to this part of the country. Hopefully, it will attract many more people,” the official said.

[Bombay2Calcutta]

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by SamitB

Dankuni rail factory on right track
TNN
While announcing the projects,Mamata had said nearly 100,000 people would get direct or indirect jobs once the factories came up.She said a number of ancillary units would also come up around the main factory,providing jobs to locals.

A 100,000 jobs?

[Bombay2Calcutta]

http://www.rvnl.org/tender/view_tend...=4c2b1f877b35f
New line between Dankuni and Furfura Sharif via Jangalpara.
CONSTRUCTION OF NEW LINE BETWEEN DANKUNI-FURFURA SHARIF VIA JANGALPARA IN HOWRAH DIVISION OF EASTERN RAILWAY (20KM) IN THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA.