Trial run on Udhampur-Katra line starts

The Northern Railways on Monday successfully carried out the trial run of the 16-coach DMU between Udhampur and Katra, the base camp of the Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage. The train is the Prime Minister’s new year gift to the people of the country.

Water-logging and intense seepage around the shrine site spoiled years of labour and have made four deadlines elusive for the engineers in the last five years.

Chief Public Relations Officer with the Northern Railways Neeraj Sharma informed that the Central government already had a provision of three special trains to Katra in the current year’s budget.

New trains to be introduced

A set of local trains from Jammu to Katra and from Pathankot to Katra are also likely to be introduced to cater to the rush of pilgrims, the Northern Railways officials said. With the opening of the Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Katra, the authorities are likely to extend Jammu Mail and Uttar Sampark Kranti to Katra.

Some new trains, including Katra-Kalka (Chandigarh) Express (bi-weekly), Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Udhampur Express (fully air-conditioned) and Ahmedabad-Udhampur Express, are also set to be introduced on the route subsequently.

Even as General Manager Northern Railways V.K. Gupta refused to specify a date of the commercial operation and maintained that it would be decided after the mandatory inspection and clearance by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, authoritative sources disclosed to The Hindu that the UPA government was “terribly keen” to see that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi inaugurate the train to Katra in the first fortnight of the new year.

“Inaugurations are done and forgotten but this would be a memorable one,” said a senior official. Chief Executive Officer of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Mandeep Bhandari said over 1.05 crore pilgrims had visited the shrine to pay obeisance last year.

“This year, 90 lakh devotees have visited till date,” Dr. Bhandari said.

The whole Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Banihal-Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla railway link will come closer to its logical conclusion,” Deputy Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said. He said the railway authorities were hopeful of connecting the whole State, including the Kashmir Valley, to the rest of the country, with this dream project.

Concrete lining Pir-Panjal Tunnel

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION OF TRACTION SYSTEM OVER C. RLY.

Shri Kharge said that DC traction was the most modern traction system available at that point of time, and was the turning point in the development and growth of suburban transport system for the city of Mumbai. After 1945, AC traction was adopted all over the world for Railways, but Mumbai Suburban traction system continued to remain as DC traction because large number of trains were running on it and changeover to AC traction without affecting the train services was very difficult.

The Minister for Railways said that Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) services are the lifeline of Mumbai. Over the past seventy years, there has been a substantial growth in the demand on suburban train services. He also mentioned that Indian Railways carry about 75 Lakh commuters daily in Mumbai alone in about 3000 trains daily. To cater to these increasing demands, Indian Railways has undertaken many major steps. One such effort has been going in for improved electric traction system in Mumbai, as the existing DC traction system could not cope up the higher power requirement for increased train services. The work of conversion of electric traction system from 1500 Volt DC to 25000 Volt AC was approved in 1996-97 consisting of 1681 Track Kilometers, costing about Rs. 1300 Crore, out of this only 492 Track KMs remain to be completed.

The balance portions of this work of Main line connecting up to Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Harbour & transharbour lines will be completed very shortly. Once these works are completed it will result in uni-traction system of 25 KV AC on Indian Railways with all its attendant benefits. With the completion of this work of DC-AC Conversion, trains originating from and terminating at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus can directly run on 25 KV electric traction system, without any change of locomotive, thus reducing travel time by at least 15/20 minutes.

Shri Kul Bhushan, Member Electrical, Railway Board in his address said there will be savings in the cost of energy, locomotives and manpower, to the tune of about Rs 67 Crores annually. Precious space in Mumbai occupied by numerous substations and manpower engaged in these will be released for other essential works. He also said that the execution of this challenging work of very complex nature in the busiest network of Indian Railways is being carried out, without any disturbance to the Mumbai Suburban Rail traffic.

Shri Devi Prasad Pande, Member Traffic, Railway Board in his address said that the introduction of four trains will cater to the demands of Konkan, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand. He also said Railways are planning 20 new premium fare trains to others places considering the tremendous response to Mumbai-Delhi premium fare service.




Shri Sunil Kumar Sood, General Manager, Central Railway welcomed the dignitaries and in his welcome address said that DC-AC traction conversion on Kalyan-Thane-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus section will provide seamless operation on AC traction in Igatpuri. He also said the introduction of new train 22113 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Kochuveli Bi-weekly Superfast Express will meet the demand of passengers.
Shri Kul Bhushan, Member Electrical, Shri Devi Prasad Pandey, Member Traffic Railway Board, Shri Sunil Kumar Sood, General Manager, Central Railway, Shri Hemant Kumar, General Manager, Western Railway, Shri B. P. Tayal, MD, Konkan Railway, Shri Mukesh Nigam, Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai Division (CR), Shri Shailendra Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai Division (WR) and other Principal Heads of Departments of both Railways were also present on this occasion. Shri Mukesh Nigam , Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai Division, Central Railway proposed the vote of thanks.  Ms. Mansi Sontakke, compered the programme.

Railway Jobs 2014 Opening(32303 Vacancies)

Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB) is fully organized and operated by Government of India under Ministry of Railways. RRCB under Railway recruiting boards (Present 19) calling various posts / vacancies through direct recruitment and competitive examinations for every year.

Railway Recruitment Posts: Gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and Non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D'). C. 19 RRBs to recruit Group C and D posts.

Group 'A' Posts - Group A posts is carried out by UPSC - appointed through Civil Service Exam, Engineering Service Exam, and Combined Medical Service Examination.

Group 'B' Posts - This posts are not open to directly. The Group B posts link Section Officers Grade - upgraded posts from Group 'C' railway employees on deputation basis.

Group 'C' Posts - Technical and Non-Technical cadre posts like Clerk, Station Masterm Ticket Collector, Commercial Apprentice, Traffic Apprentice, Engineering posts (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Signal & Telecommunication) etc.

Group 'D' Posts - These posts in various disciplines include Trackman, Helper, Assistant Points Man, Safaiwala, Ganman, Peon etc.

Indian Railway Recruitment Zones: Indian Railways organizational structure is divided into 17 zones, which are further sub-divided into various city wise divisions.

1. Central Railway (CR) - Mumbai
2. East Central Railway (ECR) - Hajipur
3. East Coast Railway (ECoR) - Bhubaneswar
4. Eastern Railway (ER) - Kolkata
5. North Central Railway (NCR) - Allahabad
6. North Eastern Railway (NER) - Gorakhpur
7. North Western Railway (NWR) -  Jaipur
8. Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) -     Guwahati
9. Northern Railway Railway (NR) - Delhi
10. South Central Railway (SCR) - Secunderabad
11. South East Central Railway (SECR) - Bilaspur
12. South Eastern Railway (SER) - Kolkata
13. South Western Railway (SWR) - Hubli
14. Southern Railway (SR) - Chennai
15. West Central Railway (WCR) - Jabalpur
16. Western Railway (WR) - Mumbai
17. Metro Railway, Kolkata  - Kolkata

Group C & D Qualifications: Minimum 10th class pass or ITI or equivalent trade.

Indian Railways latest government jobs opening details available on below table: (Last updated on 30th January 2014)

1. Assistant Loco Pilot,Technicians- Last date to apply-17/2/2014(26567 Vacencies)
2. Northern Railway(Group D Poats)- Last date to apply-10/02/20149(5679 Vacencies)
3. South Eastern Railway(Group D posts against Sports Quota)- Last date to apply-24/02/2014(02 Vacencies)
4. RITES Limited(Graduate Executive Trainee (Civil, Mech.)- Last date to apply-25/02/2014(39 Vacencies)
5. RITES Limited(Assistant Manager)- Last date to apply-17/02/2014(02 Vacencies)
6. Central Railside Warehouse Company Ltd(Secretarial Assistant)-  Last date to apply-18/2/2014(06 Vacencies)
7. Northern Railway(Group C,D against Scouts & Guides- Last date to apply-20/01, 31/01/2014(06 Vacencies)
8. West Central Railway(Group D against Scouts & Guides)- Last date to apply-04/02/2014(02 Vacencies).

02113 Lokmanya Tilak Kochuveli Express

02113 Lokmanya Tilak Kochuveli Express

Mumbai Monorail Runs For its First Test Run Today

The much-awaited Mumbai monorail will be inaugurated on Saturday and will be opened to the public on Sunday, as the Maharashtra government rushes to unveil goodies with an eye on  general elections due by May and Assembly elections scheduled later this year.

In the first  phase of operation, the monorail, the country's first, will run between Wadala and Chembur, an 8.26 km route. Six trains will be operated in the first phase and will run at a 15-minute interval
The four coaches on each train can carry 560 passengers, who will pay from between Rs. 5 and Rs. 11 on the Wadala-Chembur route.

There will be no monthly passes like the ones on Mumbai's lifeline, the local trains, but there will be a system of smart cards.

The monorail will be connected to other modes of transport like local trains. At Chembur, a skywalk connects the railway station with the monorail station. Feeder bus services are planned soon.

The monorail aims at cutting down travel time - a 40-minute commute will be reduced to 21 minutes, the MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) has said. It is also eco-friendly and less noisy than other modes of transport.

The second phase of the Rs. 2,700 crore project, from Wadala to Jacob's Circle, is expected to be operational in a year from now. 


Earlier this month, Mumbai's brand new airport terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The swank T2 will be opened to passengers on February 15.