Title - Hitting a speed bump

Kochi: The Railways’ announcement of speeding up as many as 52 trains in the southern railway section may have brought cheers to many at the outset, but a closer look would reveal that it would be of no use for lakhs of daily commuters in the state.

Apart from the Mangalore-Thiruvananthapuram Maveli Express, the running time of most of the trains running within the state virtually remains the same. Worse, some of the peak hour trains like the Venad Express would now take more time to reach the destination from Monday, when the revised time-table comes into force.

“The change is mainly for long-distance trains which might depart 10 to 30 minutes late now and still make it on time to the destination. This we are doing with the co-ordination of other divisions, by reducing the gap between services at given stretches,” a top railway official said.

When asked about the trains running in the state, he admitted this wouldn’t be applicable to important trains like Venad or Ernad though some of the passenger trains will benefit.

“Currently the railway lines in the state are saturated. The running time of the trains can be reduced only if we install Automatic Block Signal system (ABS) and for that first we need to complete doubling works. It may take another 10 years before the ongoing track doubling works would be completed,” he said on the condition of anonymity.

For instance, the doubling works between the stretches of Piravom Road-Kuruppumtura and Ernakulam Jn-Kumbalam were included in the 2012 budget and the funds for that — over Rs 200 crore — were allotted. However, no work has been started, resulting in the funds lying unutilized.

“One has to take into account that land prices are spiraling each passing day. Also we are facing a big hurdle to acquire land in the Kayamkulam-Alapuzha section. It took us almost two years to double the stretch between Ernakulam-Mulanthuruthy. At this rate, it would take another 10 years for the doubling works to get completed,” the official said.

All Kerala Railway Users Association President Paul K.J. Manvettom however believes the railways could have done more. “Out of the 170 plus kms between the congested Kollam-Ernakulm section, doubling works have now been completed in 114 kms. They could have cut the running time of peak hour trains like Venad and Ernad with this. Now only the Piravom Road-Tiru­valla stretch is pending.”

Interestingly, as per the new time-table, the Venad Express (Train No 16302) would take an additional five minutes to reach Shoranur — the revised arrival time being 12.45 pm (earlier 12.40 pm). “It’s the office-goers who need to commute faster.

The long-distance passengers anyway need to travel two to three days and a change of up to 45 minutes won’t affect them. However, saving 15 to 30 minutes would be of great help to daily commuters,” Suresh Kumar, a government employee who regularly travels between Ernakulam and Thiruvanan­tha­­puram, said.

State gets five new trains

Thiruvananthapuram: The southern railway  has  introduced five new express trains for the state. Although the date of introduction of the trains has not been announced by the zonal railway authorities, the new time-table comes into effect from Monday.

The time-table of the five new trains is as mentioned here. The new  Thiruvananthapuram-Nizamuddin Express (22633)  will leave Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday at 2.45pm  and reach Nizamuddin at 2.20pm. on Friday. While on its return journey the Nizamuddin-Thiruvananthapuram Express (22634)  will leave Nizamuddin on Friday at 11.50pm  and reach Thiruvananthapuram at 2.45 pm on Monday.

Kochuveli-Lokmanya Tilak Super Fast Express  (22114/22113) a bi-weekly,  will depart from  Kochuveli on Mondays and Thursdays at 12.35 noon and reach Lokmanya Tilak Terminus at 4.10am. In the return direction, the train will leave Lokmanya Tilak Terminus at 4.55pm on Tuesdays and Saturdays and reach Kochuveli at 10.30 pm  on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Vishakapatnam-Kollam Express Train (185567), a weekly, will leave  Vishakapatnam on Thursday at 9am  and reach Kollam at 2.10pm the next day.  Kollam-Vishakapatnam Express (185568) will leave Kollam at 9pm on Saturday and reach Visakhapatnam at 1.35pm the next day.

The new Yesvantpur-Mangalore Central Express (16565), a weekly is yet another new train. This train will leave Yesvantpur at 11.45pm on Sundays and arrive in Mangalore at 5.40pm on Mondays. On the return journey the train  (16566) will leave Mangalore Central at 8pm on Monday and reach Yesvantpur at 12.30pm on Tuesday.

The Kacheguda-Mangalore Central Express (17605) a bi-weekly, will depart from Kacheguda at 6am on Tuesdays/Fridays  and reach Mangalore Central at  11.20am on Wednesdays /Saturdays. Mangalore Central-Kacheguda (17606) will leave Mangalore Central at 8pm on Wednesday, Saturday and reach Kacheguda at 3.30am on Fridays/Mondays.

Apart from this five trains,  three new daily passenger trains are also to be started namely the Punalur-Kollam Passenger (56339/56340), Kozhikode-Thrissur Passenger (56663/56664) and the Guruvayur-Thrissur passenger (56367/56368).

Two other  trains  Ernakulam-Kollam passenger  (66307/66308) via Kottayam and Ernakulam- Kollam passenger  (66309/66310) via Alappuzha  will run six days a week.

Revised rules for refund of cancelled tickets

The Railways’ revised rules for refund of cancelled railway tickets will come into force from July 1.

UNRESERVED TICKETS: Refund of fare will be made on every such ticket after deducting the clerkage. (i) The ticket should be presented for cancellation within three hours of issue of ticket. (ii) For tickets issued in advance, the ticket should be presented before 24 hours of the day preceding the day of journey.

RESERVED: The ticket has to be presented for cancellation before 48 hours of the scheduled departure of the train. In that case, a minimum per passenger cancellation charge will be deducted at a flat rate of Rs 120 for AC First/Executive Class, Rs 100 for AC-II Tier/First Class, Rs 90 for AC-III Tier/3 Economy/AC Chair Car, Rs 60 for Sleeper Class and Rs 30 for Second Class.

* If the ticket is presented for cancellation between 48 hours and six hours before the scheduled departure of the train, the cancellation charge shall be 25 percent of the fare subject to a minimum of the cancellation charge. This is 24 hours to four hours now.

* If the ticket is presented for cancellation within six hours instead of the existing 4 hours before the scheduled departure and up to two hours irrespective of distance instead of the existing 3/6/12 hours for distance 200 km/200-500 km/500 km and above after the actual departure, the cancellation charge will be 50 percent of the fare subject to a minimum of the cancellation charge.

* No refund will be granted on the reserved ticket if it is surrendered after two hours of the actual departure.

RAC/WAIT-LISTED: If a waitlisted/RAC ticket is presented for cancellation, refund of fare will be admissible after deducting the clerkage. (i) The ticket is presented for cancellation upto three hours after the actual departure of the train irrespective of the distance.(ii) The passenger may get the tickets cancelled from any PRS counters or the designated current counters. No refund of fare will be granted on RAC ticket/waitlisted ticket after three hours of the actual departure of the train.

E-TICKETS: Refund of fare will be credited to the customer’s account after dedu­cting the charges applicable. In case of a confirmed e-ticket, refund will be granted for unused tickets on which reservation has been made. In case of passengers on the waiting list even after preparation of charts, names booked on that PNR will be dropped from the reservation chart and refund of fare will be credited to the customer’s account after deducting the clerkage.

TATKAL: No refund on confirmed tickets.