BLACKOUT (The Northern GRID Collapse)

• Delhi Metro began running after 7 am which usually begin at 6 am.

• Out of 19,000 trains, around 300 trains halt, hundreds of passenger stuck between 4 to 11 hours of Indian Railways.

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 Northern GRID Collapsed??

The time saving machine became time consuming machine

When the automated ticket vending machine (ATVM) was installed by the railway authorities, it was meant to be a blessing for those passengers who are waiting in the endless lines for the local train tickets. How far is it true?

According the Railway sources, there are 250 ATVM installed on Central Railway Stations and 115 ATVMs were in Western Railway Stations from Churchgate to Virar. Of which around 40 per cent of the ATVMs were inoperative on the both Western & Central railway lines.

As per the Railways the ATVMs supposed to provide travelers relief from long queues instead they are compounding problems for the passenger.

Flash strike by WR Motormen kill two commuters & injured several

Death on railway tracks is not a new thing in Mumbai. However, most of the time it happens because of the carelessness of the commuters. However, the death of two commuters on 20 July 2012 cannot be ascribed to the above reasons. On that fateful day, the western railway (WR) motorman went on flash strike at 4 pm. without any prior notice. This led to a chaotic condition when offices were closed for the day and Mumbaikers came to the railway station to board train to travel back home.

When the motormen called off their strike at around 8 pm, the crowd gathered at the stations. The commotion was so much that many elderly, week people were injured. The inconvenience caused to the lakhs of commuters including pregnant women, senior citizen and students was unbearable.In this commotion, a 26 year old fashion designer Reema Kulkarni lost her life, when she slipped into the gap between the platforms at Borivali station. Six commuters suffered injuries at different stations while they were trying to board overcrowded trains.

Everyday, the Western Railways carry around 34 lakh passengers from the Mumbai suburbs to the Main land. On that fateful day, because of the untimely strike around 20 lakh passengers had to depend on the limited services of BEST and taxis.

Railways: Needs Private Mind & Money

Indian Railways runs around 11,000 trains every day, of which 7,000 are passenger trains. On an average IR carries 21 million passengers per day and moves around 2 million tonne of freight. In other words, IR carries around 35 per cent of national freight traffic and 20 per cent of total passenger traffic. Over the years Indian Railways has failed to meet the demand for passenger services for want of adequate railway infrastructure [like capacity constraint, low speed, safety, etc].

The Vision 2020 document states that the demand for passenger services will continue to outstrip supply for some time to come and the Railways will have to pay close attention to the issues of speed, comfort, convenience, choice, elimination of shortage, punctuality maintenance, elimination of equipment failures, improved quality of service and a pleasant travel experience overall - right from booking of ticket to disembarkation at the destination point.

The total number of passengers carried grew at a compounded rate of 5.6 per cent from 5,112 million in FY04 to 7,885 million in FY11. Passenger earnings grew at a CAGR of 8.8 per cent over the past eight years. In FY11, passenger earnings stood at `2,600.79 million. During the ten year period ended March 2011, the revenue earning freight traffic carried by Railways increased from 492.5 million tonne in March 2002 to 921.51 million tonne by March 2011, indicating an average growth rate of 6.5 per cent. Among the major goods carried by the Railways, Coal accounted for around 45 per cent of the all freight traffic. Cement (10.5 per cent), Iron Ore (4.9 per cent), Fertilisers (4.9 per cent) and POL (4.4 per cent) were the other major commodities moved majorly through the rail route. Improvement in the highways over the last few years has weaned away some of the freight traffic from the Railways and this was evident from the falling share of Food grains, Fertilsers and POL products carried by Railways. Revenue surplus declined a lot since FY07-08. Pay Hike in FY08-09, inflation, rise in fuel and material prices affected the profitability.