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Post Info TOPIC: Railways plan a take-off for stations in metros
karatecatman


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Railways plan a take-off for stations in metros
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http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=96417&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=



Railways plan a take-off for stations in metros
 
K P Naryana Kumar / New Delhi June 28, 2006
 
 
 
Airlines, watch out. Railway terminals at New Delhi, Mumbai (Chattrapati Shivaji station), Kolkata, and Chennai may soon look like airports, complete with separate arrival and departure lounges, shopping malls, and a high-tech electronic queue management system for passengers. 
 
Rail Bhawan officials said the railways plan to construct additional floors at these railway stations, which will be leased out to companies to run mini-theatres, shopping malls, restaurants and food plazas. 
 
“We want passengers to have an enjoyable time while they wait for trains,” an official said. 
 
The detailed plan to convert these four stations into mega-terminals is expected to be put up before the Railway Board soon. 
 
It also involves building a huge “holding space” next to the parking at each of these stations, which will function as a waiting hall, with an electronic system through which passengers will be informed of a train’s arrival. 
 
“This will regulate the traffic of passengers on platforms as only passengers whose trains are to arrive will be allowed to leave the waiting room; as happens at an airport,” the official said. 
 
This will also help streamline security and ticket check at the stations. 
 
If these mega-terminals are a success, the Indian Railways could think of setting up a chain of them, especially in other large cities where railway stations are increasingly losing out to airports. 



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vivekman


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Bad news for some of us - who are trainspotters or railfans - and enjoy spending hours at busy stations like New Delhi/Mumbai Central/Mumbai CST watching the arrival and departure of trains.

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the_380


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But you can have a good time watching these trains too

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karatecatman


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Railways to involve private players in passenger amenities segment
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www.ptinews.com


Railways to involve private players in passenger amenities segment


New Delhi, Jun 29


Faced with a stiff competition from low cost, no-frills airlines, the Railway Ministry today said an array of passenger amenities, including spick and span stations, deluxe toilets, ATM kiosks, refurbished waiting rooms and dormitories and better catering, would soon become a reality.


However, all these faciities will come for a price as the private sector is going to be involved in a big way in providing passenger amenities.


Unfolding the initiatives here today, Railway Board Chairman J P Batra said the State Bank of India (SBI) would install ATMs at 686 stations, providing facilities for withdrwaing cash through credit and debit cards of that bank. ATMs of other banks had also been proposed, he said.


With regard to the Automatic Ticket Vending Machines, he said a provison had been made for 200 ATVMs for suburban systems on Western and Central Railway.


‘‘Initial trials are being observed. This is to be commissioned by November. The scheme will be extended to suburban areas of Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi,’’ he said, adding that a sum of Rs 9 crore had been set aside for this purpose.


There is a proposal that the ATVMs should eventually start providing daily, monthly, quarterly and seasonal railway tickets too.


Under the Jansadhanarn Ticket Booking Scheme (JTBS), unreserved tickets are being issued, and it is being implemented by the Northern Railway on a trial basis.


Budget Hotels had been proposed at 40 stations tenders for such hotels at Chandigarh, Madurai, Vijayawada and Secunderabad were under finalisation.


Describing the existing toilets in several trains and at platforms as ‘‘an eyesore’’, Mr Batra said deluxe toilets would be built at A-1, A and B category stations on the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model, and the Railways would not be required to make any investment.


The successful bidders will also be required to provide value added services such as selling of newspapers and magazines at printed rates, provisions of cloak room, automatic vending machines for hot and cold beverages and protable water and shoe shining machines.


‘‘The service provider, who will be given the contract for 15 years, is free to charge for the services provided to passengers,’’ he said.


Normal pay and use toiets are to be built or renovated on the PPP model by private players at A, B, C, D and E category of stations. The charges will be Rs 2 for use of toilet and Rs 5 for bathing and toilet. Urinals will be provided free of cost.


The Railway Ministry has increased the amount for passenger amenities to Rs 353 crore in 2006-07 from Rs 273 crore in 2005-06.


Mr Batra also announced that telescopic benefits in fares, which were withdrawn in May, had been restored with effect from June 15.



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karatecatman


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Garib Rath’ all set to roll down from October 2
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PTI


Garib Rath’ all set to roll down from October 2


New Delhi, June 29


Railway Minister Lalu Prasad’s dream project -- Garib Rath -- touted as the country’s first fully air-conditioned train for the poor -- is all set to roll from October 2.


‘‘Work on the project is in full swing and the Garib Rath trains will stary rolling from October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi,’’ Railway Board Chairman J P Batra told reporters here today.


The Railway Minister had announced the Garib Rath in his Railway Budget 2006-07. These trains would be fully air-conditioned and having fares about 25 per cent lower than the existing AC 3-tier fares.


 It will initially run on the four sectors: Delhi-Patna, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai and Saharsa (Bihar)-Amritsar.


For a 1400-km journey, the cost would be about Rs 650 per berth and Rs 500 in a chair car. Thus the cost would be a quarter of the fares offered by low-cost airlines.


Care is being taken to ensure that this train does not prove to be a loss-making project.


Mr S P Ghosh Dastidar, Member (Traffic), had earlier said the design of the coach for the Garib Rath had been finalised and these would be produced at the Kapurthala Rail Coach Factory and Integral Coach Factory, Perambur.


Mr Batra said the design of coaches of ’Garib Rath’ trains would be different from the existing trains in that it would accommodate more passengers.


Space is the key word as coaches of Garib Rath will necessarily have more berths and seats as compared to the existing coaches if the train is to run on a no-profit, no-loss basis.


Ministry officials said work on finalising the length and the coach design for the train had been completed and it would be a mix of sleeper coaches and chair cars. There would be 21-22 coaches, of which about six would be chair cars and the rest sleepers.


While designing the new coaches, the capacity per coach in both sections will be increased. Normally, a chair car has 76 seats, but in the Garib Rath this could be increased to 108. Similarly, the number of berths would be increased from the present average of 64 to either 87 or 91.


The argument advanced by the officials is that if a full-capacity air-conditioned train has to be run, it should be able to undercut low-cost no-frills airlines.


A team of Railway Board Mechanical and Traffic members had recently visited Integral Coach Factory, Chennai and Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala in connection with the design of Garib Rath coaches.


There will be three berths on the side space instead of two in the existing coaches, and the height of the berths has been increased in the new arrangement.


Similarly, the space used for keeping bedrolls and for train attendants in the cabin near the door has been converted into berths or seats for passengers.


‘‘We have tried to squeeze out every bit of space by keeping bedrolls in the pantry car itself. But neither bedrolls nor bottled water will come for free though arrangements will be made for providing drinking water,’’ Railway Board officials said.


The toilets in the Garib Rath will be hi-tech with waster water tanks, which will discharge water only when the train is moving at a speed of more than 30 km per hour.


The officials said the objective behind the concept of ‘Garib Rath’ is not only to enable common people travel in the AC comfort but also to woo back the rail travellers from the low-cost airlines.


The inspiration for ‘Garib rath’ has come from Australia and Egypt where all trains are fully air-conditioned.


‘‘India, like Egypt and Australia, is a tropical country and travelling in torrid heat and stifling humidity is not an easy proposition. It is because of this reason that the Railway Minister has proposed ‘Garib Rath’ for providing comfortable journey to the common people,’’ the officials added.



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the_380


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RE: Railways plan a take-off for stations in metros
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I think Capt. Gopinath and Lalu shud sign a MoU and work together...


One wants the garibs to fly and the other wants the garibs to travel in AC trains 



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HAWK21M


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Interesting If the Railways Succeed.


regds


MEL



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vivekman


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Looking at the characteristics of the coaches, it appears that these are the LHB design coaches, pictures of which can be seen here:


http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Carriages/LHBSelfGenRake/


 


 


 



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the_380


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Neat lookin trains.. good snaps vivek


rgds


the_380



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ABN397


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vivekman wrote:
Bad news for some of us - who are trainspotters or railfans - and enjoy spending hours at busy stations like New Delhi/Mumbai Central/Mumbai CST watching the arrival and departure of trains.


You must have seen the upper class waiting room at Mumbai Central which is better than the waiting area at many Indian airports. It even has a large colour TV permanently showing a particular channel, like in the airports.

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