Sunday, May 13, 2012

[rti4empowerment] Re: --- Metro Line Three, Rs.25000 Crores Elevated Railway Corridor, Rs.15000 Crores. Underground Metro Rs.18000 Crores. CTT, Rs. Zero Crores, Repeat, Rs. Zero Crores ---

 

Hello all,

Even though it is clear that these are totally cost inefficient, it is amazing how these are still being thrust on the City of Mumbai



The figures which are being claimed as the great achievement in 2031 and 2025, can be very easily be achieved today, repeat, today, with the Cyclical Time Table, described below.

Why are we determined to spend Rs.20000 crores for the elevated rail corridor, and Rs.18000 crores for such a marginal benefit, every other day, we are subject to news reports trying to justify these projects.

Why not use that money to strengthen the existing infrastructure, existing road transport system, existing rail network, existing human resources.

New terms are being created every time a new project is announced

01 Subsidy

02 Viability Gap Funding

03  State Support Agreement

All meaning that the public money is being used to fund these totally unfeasible and unviable projects.

This is really something.

Truly going to destroy what is left of Mumbai to destroy.

Thanqx.

Jagdeep

>>>

On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 3:41 PM, Jagdeep DESAI <jagdeep.desai1@gmail.com> wrote:
2012 APR 11
 
Shri SVR SRINIVAS
MD 
Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation

Namaskar,

In reference to the Public Hearing on the Metro Line Three, held at Insurance Institute of India, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra, on 2012 APR 11, between 10h00 to 13h00



During the questions, the undersigned mentioned

01 The figures given in the information pamphlet as given by MMRDA on the Metro Line Three, in the column for benefits, states that travel time for suburban rail from Cooperage to airport is 80 minutes.

This is not factual, because the time as per Western Railway Suburban time table for Churchgate to Andheri is thirty one minutes


02 As per the same pamphlet, the peak ridership in 2013, ie, after 19 years, will be 16.99 lakhs.

It is not clear how many of these would be passengers from the Western Railway, from other public transport like buses, taxis, and private vehicles.

Be that as it may, it is not really clear as to what real benefit this huge public investment of Rs.25000 crores is going to achieve.

After all, there already exist a suburban railway system, Western and Central, which caters to over seventy five lakh passengers today.

03 If the WR and CR were to implement the highly sensible, practical, Low Cost, High Value eminently logical Cyclical Time Table, as proposed by the Mumbai Suburban Railway Passengers association, then, there is an immediate bebefit to Mumbai's travelling public as follows

But what about the zero investment, Low Cost, High Value , proposal of the Cylcical Time Table, one would think that public money can be used for better things.

The CTT, as described below,  if implemented from the next day, will revolutionise the travel in Mumbai

01 Reduce load by one third immediately

02 Increase capacity by a third immediately, no need for twelve coach, fifteem coach, eightee coach, over haed, underground

03 Reduce ravel time by a third at least, more time for the people to relax after a hard day at work

Why is this proposal not being implemented.

Can the Railway  Ministry categorically prove that the CTT is not workable.

Can the Railways Ministry categorically prove that the CTT will adversely impact the network, which is any way overworked.

The advantages are there for anyone to see.

This is one suggestion that the Railway Ministry ca not refuse, it will benfit lakhs if not crores, if not the entire Nation.

Use the huge investment monies available elsewhere.

For further details, kindly contact

Shri Dipak GANDHI
Mumbai Suburban Railway Passengers Association

+91 99 6756 1799
+91 22 2612 1962


Thanqx.

Jagdeep DESAI

+91 98 692 7148

Secretary
Founder Trustee
Forum for Improving Quality of Life in Mumbai Suburbs


+91 98 6922 7148

>>>


In 1977, the Minister of Railways Mr.Madhu Dandavate in response to a letter by Mr. Gandhi from J J Chambers informed that the "Western Railway have already implemented this suggestion to provide uniform pattern to all fast trains in regard to stoppages, except two fast trains –one from Borivali and one from Virar for historical reasons.".

The implementation of the uniform pattern was discontinued after 1981 for reasons not known

 
YearWork done in the year
1977
  • The 'cyclic' pattern was introduced in October 1977 in the Western Railway which has provided a satisfactory and reliable service to the commuters of the Western Railway.
  • The punctuality of peak hour services has been maintained at a satisfactory level and uniform commuter flows have been observed during the peak hours. But it was only continued till 1982.
1964
  • The idea of change in time table was first raised in this year.
  • The time table said that it served services every N minute and only 3-6 stations should be served in each cycle, thus the cycle keeps repeating. By doing this it will increase services by minimum 30% and traveling would be safe and comfortable.
1995
  • As this pattern was discontinued in Western Railway Mr. Gandhi then wrote letters to the railway authorities and also filed petition but there were no proper replies from them.
  • The Petition No. 1092 of 1995 said that, "The plan for the railway's time table by Court due to overcrowded trains and security hazards is being looked forward".
  • He filed the PIL in 1995 and has continued fighting at a stretch of 15 years and still he is going further.
1997
  • Later the Cyclical time table was started in the Habour Line from 1stAugust 1997.
  • It ensured train availability at a uniform time interval and the trains will be available at a fixed frequency at different originating/terminating stations.
    Interactions with Vivek Sahai?
 
 
 

Besides this the members of the Mumbai Suburban Railway Passengers' Association have written many letters regarding the introduction of the cyclic time table to different railway authorities and some are replied saying your request will be taken into consideration.


 

RLY'S OUR ONLY OPTION

TO

UNJAM MUMBAI 

  1. Instead of Govt wasting time, money and energy on raising elevated rail & road corridors, sea links, water transport etc, it will be advisable to concentrate all efforts on optimization & rationalization of recently upgraded rail infrastructures under MUTP I & II that has the potential to give immediate relief to the city in respect of its twin problems of transport & pollution. The single largest factor to compel citizens to go for road transport is the hazardous rail journies which have claimed over 11000 lives and proved fatal for over 15000 Commuters during the last three years, inspite additional tracks & large no. of new rakes procured. If rail commuting were made safe for all commuters at all times of the day as is possible under Cyclic Time-Table explained below, there could be little doubt about bulk of road commuters switching over back to Rlys, being speedy, eco-friendly and economical. It must be realized that one additional suburban rail service has the potential to put off the road minimum 8500 private vehicles or 85 BEST Buses.
 
  1. RATIONALIZE SUB. OPERATIONS
 
    1. The upgraded rail potential is so huge that by just proper planning of its operations, it can not only solve today's problems almost overnight but satisfactorily meet our city's needs for the next 3 to 4 decades and give us an Reliable Suburban Rly.
 
    1. Mumbai's traffic volume and pattern have undergone such a sea change during the last about two decades that scheduling of trains on an Adhoc or historical basis as at present, packing commuters of 10 to 20 stations per service which gets jam packed twice or thrice its optimum rated capacity with those of only 3 to 5 stations is primarily responsible for such a heavy toll of Commuters. The situation is further accentuated with uneven frequencies, resulting in accident prone travels when too afar & waste of capacity when too close. It is simply senseless to clear recently grown heavy intrasuburban traffic through Churchgate / CST services which are jam packed with its own sector traffic. If this intrasuburban traffic is cleared by exclusive suburban shuttles available every10 to 12 mts. in both up & down directions from early morning till late night between Mahalaxmi & Virar on W. Rly & Dadar – Kalyan on CR, most of rail commuters hardships would be over. There is thus a dire necessity to revamp Suburban Rail operations in conformity with today's traffic needs and the provisions of law, not only in the interest of safety of commuters but also to save our city from further decay.
 
    1. The entire rail infrastructure has been created to clear traffic sectorwise with mid terminals developed at Dadar, Kurla, Thane, Diva, Dombivali on C. Rly and at Mahalaxmi, Bandra, Andheri, Goregaon, Borivali & Bhayander on W. Rly. If dedicated services, clearing only one sector traffic at one time are introduced as required by 5.57 of the Indian Rly.  Act, clearing long distance commuters through super fast trains & short distance ones by slow trains, as shown in one illustrative Cyclic Time-Table annexed herewith & designed on the principles of Time Table construction as laid down under the Rly Rules, overcrowding in all trains would be reduced by 30 to 50% at all times from tomorrow In addition to substantially reduced load on each service, sector wise traffic clearance has one added advantage of yielding 30% more services with the same no. of rakes and tracks in the same time due to superfast and short distance services reaching back to starting terminals earlier.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  1. HUGE POTENTIAL
 
    1. OPTIMISE SERVICES
 

      It is ridiculous to ply maximum possible services only during 3 hours each in the morning & evening, when suburban trains run overcrowded two to three times their optimum rated capacities from 6.00 a.m. to 12.00 mid night. Hence maximum no. of services should be plied right from early morning till late night, on both slow and fast corridors without withdrawing any rake from service during day time as done at present. Today the situation is such that often overcrowding during non office peak hours is worse than that during office hours in view of withdrawal of large no. of rakes from service between 10.00 a.m & 5.00 p.m. Prior to 1960, afternoon traffic was so thin that some rakes were withdrawn from service to conserve power. But today's scenario is totally different. Hence if this obsolete practice is given up, Rly's could provide from tomorrow totally about 4000 services (20 services/tracks per hour x 10 tracks x 20 hrs/day) at 3 minutes headway during the day as against only about 2700 plied now. There are no technical impediments since existing EMU rakes are certified to run continuously even for 20 hours a day, whereas their present average utilization is only for about 13 hours a day as per Rly. Board statistics. 

    1. OPTIMISE RAKES

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

      The Rly s. must move with the fast moving World. The existing high efficiency EMU rakes are certified to run at 100 Kmph. Yet presently services are scheduled to run at running timings slower than in 1937, wasting minimum of 30% better efficiency of the rakes. If the services are scheduled to ply at their certified running timings determined by Rly's Engineers, Churchgate to Virar fast service would take only 55 minutes as against 80 minutes taken today. This would not only help rlys. run minimum 25% more services with the same no. of rakes and tracks but city's commuters too would save millions of man hours every day. 

    1. OPTIMISE TRACKS.
 

         Suburban services are plied at 3 minutes headway since last about 4 decades on W. Rly. Since then Signaling systems have been upgraded to permit services to ply at 1½ minutes headway. Even if they were scheduled at 2 minutes headway, our city could have from tomorrow 6,000 services (30/track/hour x 10 tracks x 20 hours/day). With large no. of new rakes received and receivable in the near future, rakes are now no problem. 

      (4)  MUMBAI AN IDEAL CITY 

    1. If rail operations were rationalised & optimized as suggested above, our Rlys would be able to provide a safe rail travel for all its commuters at all times of the day both in up and down directions from any station to any station from tomorrow. In that scenario there could be little doubt about large no. of road commuters switching over to rail travels, being speedy, eco-friendly and economical. This is bound to reduce road traffic jams & city's air & noise pollution levels substantially to give relief to all Mumbaikars to make Mumbai one of the ideal cities of the world to live in, instead of being one of the worst as at present.

                    

      WIN WIN FOR ALL 

    1. Limited Loading: Since each service shall be loaded with commuters of only 3 to 5 stations only at any given time, commuting shall be safe for all commuters at all times. For fast corridor, this objective is achieved by skipping halts whereas on slow corridor it is attained through sequencing of services, shorter distance one just preceding the longer distance one, thus siphoning off bulk of shorter distance traffic from the longer distance trains. 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    Load of Commuters of: 

    1. Only 4 stations on Andheri Slow Service with BA Service just preceding it.
    2. Only 5 stations on BVI Slow Service, with ADH just preceding it, siphoning off bulk of ADH sector commuters from BVI slow services.
    3. Only 4 stations on Virar Super Fast Service.
    4. Only 3 stations on BHY Super Fast Service.
    5. Only 3 stations on each of BVI & GMN Super Fast Services.
    6. Only intra Suburban Commuters on MX-VR Shuttles.
 
  1. Total Services: 4000 with potential for 6000 in the immediate future as against only about 2700 plied at present.
 
  1. Safer travel at all times, with assured 30 to 50% reduction in overcrowding in all trains at all times at all stations with immediate effect.
 
  1. 25 to 30% saving in travel time for long distance commuters (ADH to VR) through super fast services.
 
  1. Direct services without any changeover at any in between station for all commuters to go from any station to any station between CCG & VR/CST- Kalyan, the most gruesome necessity under present time-tables.
 
  1. Reverse journies, commuters for south (CST / CCG) compelled to go first to the North would be a matter of the past with assured safe entry from any station for every destination.
 
  1. BEST buses, whose average km running has been reduced by more than half of what it was 3 decades back would improve substantially with substantial reduction in road Vehicles.
 
  1. Standing demand for local transport in the city Rly's revenue will also shot up substantially.
 

    It must be realized that our city is living on its seams. The authorities particularly the state government must therefore concentrate their efforts on a priority basis on optimization and rationalization of Mumbai's rail services before the situation goes out of control. Time at our disposal is extremely limited. It is a suggestion which is both cost and time effective recommended by the Rly, Board, universally acclaimed when tried last on W. Rly. and now satisfactorily in operation on Harbour Line since last 14 years. 

From MUMBAI SUBURBAN RAILWAY PASSENGERS'  ASSOCIATION 

                                                    (DIPAK J. GANDHI)

                                                            CHAIRMAN. 

Encl.:     Illustrative Cyclic Time Table with design. 

Your browser may not support display of this image. Your browser may not support display of this image.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CYCLIC TIME – TABLE

Date:- 14.11.2010.

      1. RINCIPLES
 
      1. Limited Loading: Each service be loaded with commuters of only 3 to 5 Stations at all times as against those of 10 to 20 stations commuters packed at present per service.
 
      1. Uniform Frequency: All sector services shall be made available at uniform intervals at all times to even out crowding in all services.
 
      1. Dedicated Sector Wise Services: All sectors would get minimum one exclusive service, long distance would be cleared by super fast & short distance by slow trains, at all times. This would yield 30% more services with the same no. of rakes & tracks as available now.
 

      All Services to repeat on a Cyclic Pattern every 12 MTS. that would make commuting safe for all commuters at all times as indicated in a specimen Cyclic Time Table shown below. 
       

      SPECIMEN PATTERN

      (2 Fast Services for VR Sector & One MX-VR Shuttle)

                          FAST CORRIDOR                                                           SLOW CORRIDOR DOWN                                                                                                                                                                                                       

                                    DOWN                                                                      ALL TRAINS STOPPING AT

                                                                                                                              ALL STATIONS.

DESTINATIONVRBHYBVI GMN BAADHBVIMX-VR
HOW RUN >>>>SUPER FASTSUPER FASTSUPER FAST SUPER FAST    SHUTTLE
CHURCHAGATE MARNINE LINES

CHARNI ROAD

GRANT ROAD

17.00

S

S

S

17.03

S

S

S

17.06

S

S

       S

17.09

S

S

S

 17.00

S

S

S

17.03

S

S

S

17.06

S

S

S

 
 
 
________
MUMBAI CENTRAL

MAHALAXMI LOWER PAREL ELEPHINSTONE DADAR

17.10

F

F

F

17.17

17.13

F

F

F

17.20

17.16

F

F

F

17.23

17.19

F

F

F

17.26

  17.10

S

S

S

17.22

17.13

S

S

S

17.25

17.16

S

S

S

17.28

--------------17.21

S

S

17.31

MATUNGA RD.

MAHIM JN. BANDRA

F

F

17.23

F

F

17.26

F

F

17.29

F

F

17.32

 S

S

17.32

S

S

17.33

S

S

17.36

 
 
17.39
KHAR ROAD

SANTACRUZ

VILE PARLE

ANDHERI

F

F

F

F

F  

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

          F

F

F

17.40

  S

S

S

17.48

=====

S

S

S

17.49

=====

S

S

S

17.52

JOGESHWARI

GOREGAON

MALAD

KANDIVALI

BORIVALI

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

17.51

S

17.52

=====

17.43

17.49

=====

   S

S

S

 

18.11

=====

S

S

S

S

18.12

DASHISAR

MIRA ROAD

BHAYANDER

NAIGAON

VASAI ROAD

NALLA SOPARA

VIRAR

F

F

F

17.53

17.58

18.03

18.09

====

17.47

17.51

17.56

====

  
 
 
 
    18.15

18.19

18.25

18.31

18.36

18.41

18.47

====

F = FAST                     S = SLOW STOPPING.


 

CTT appears to be a well tested scientific tool of time table planning which has benefitted many countries in their public transport operations.

  

Railways Viewpoint

In 2006 Mr. Vivek Sahai, now Chairman, Railway Board, gave an enthusiastic response to the pleas and communications of SRUCC regarding the introduction of CTT – saying "the principles of CTT are being examined and wherever the suggestion feasible will be considered while framing the time table."

Either the letter of 2003 was not a considered response or in 2006 Mr.Sahai was not aware of the response given by the WR in 2003. Clearly there is a need for a consistent response from the Railways regarding their opinion on the CTT.

 In a verdict dated 28.06.2007 in the Writ Petition No.1092 of 1995 the Bombay High Court has while accepting the hazards faced by the suburban commuters observed that it is beyond the technical capabilities of the court to plan the railways time table and it is upto the State and the Central government or the concerned authorities in the railways to determine the method and the mode which should be adopted by them.


Following are the few Studies carried out at IIT Bombay regarding the time tabling for the railways:

  • A cyclic time table can be specified concisely and can be abstracted using a limited number of patterns. Once this is done an optimisation procedure is possible using the representation. But this pattern is difficult to construct because of the various factors: on-off services, non-regular requirements and a large number of service patterns. These factors make it necessary to allow the timetable more control of the construction procedure and checking feasibility itself is a non-trivial task. For this purpose constraint based technique has been studied by Narayan Rangaraj and Milind Sohani, in the paper "Time-tabling of Suburban train services".
  • An article written by Prof. Narayan on the CTT ""An analysis of cyclic timetables for suburban rail services "which focuses on the issues and advantages of the CTT for the Mumbai railway system.
 
 

The advantages of CTT:

  1. The time table has a very concise and transparent description to customers. In the period of interest, customers travelling to and fro between locations know the frequency of services and are able to estimate their waiting/total travel time appropriately.
  2. The timetable permits easy quantification of waiting time related service measures for customers.
  3. The timetable allows for cyclic plans for rakes, crew and other resources. In particular, roistering of crew duties is much simplified.
  4. Techniques for construction of "good" cyclic timetables are more efficient, since the pattern (for a short duration) can be optimized based on given criteria. For timetables which requires specific timings of all services, both the optimization criteria and methods for construction are cumbersome.
  5. In actual operation, the time table allows easy recovery from minor disruptions to services.
  6. The time table allows customers to plan journeys more precisely, without necessarily having access to a complicated time table document. This leads to better spread of load on coaches and better utilization of available rolling stock
  7. A frequency based timetable is optimal as far as waiting times for customers is concerned. It is convenient for some operating plans, from the cost point of view
  8. Even for an announced timetable, with timings, a frequency basis is preferable for all or most locations. 
  
>>>


>>>


You may also check the email written 2010 APR 26, nearly two years ago, particularly the highlighted portions.

Does it show planing or foresight or what.


Also, it does MMRDA no good, when such reports show that it spends public money without any accountability







http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Airports-authority-grounds-elevated-metro-line-at-Juhu/Article1-820500.aspx 

>>>

Members of MMRDA's governing body push for underground metro in meeting
HT Correspondent
Mumbai, March 07, 2012
First Published: 01:55 IST(7/3/2012)
Last Updated: 01:57 IST(7/3/2012)
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Days after Hindustan Times reported about the hurdles being faced by the elevated Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd metro line, members of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority made a fresh pitch for the underground Metro in the city.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashish 
Shelar, who is part of the 28-member authority — governing body of the MMRDA — raised the pitch for an underground Metro and claimed that the it would be beneficial to the city in the long run. The authority is presided over by the chief minister.

"We demanded that the MMRDA should build an underground Metro because it is far more beneficial than an elevated line which has created numerous hardships for residents of the city," Shelar said.

Shelar also claimed that the elevated line was facing numerous problems of getting clearances and it made sense to opt for an underground line.

The Hindustan Times, on March 4, had reported about the problems the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd metro line was facing.

The line has still not got environmental clearance for Charkop and Mankhurd depots and the the Airport Authority of India has also not acceded to the demand of allowing construction of an elevated line along Juhu Airport.

A section of the bureaucrats are now seriously contemplating opting for an underground line on this stretch. "A lot of members raised the issue of going underground. The chief minister has, however, said that we first need to sort out the issue of getting the environmental clearance for the two car depots which will be required for either an elevated or an underground metro," metropolitan commissioner Rahul Asthana said.

Shelar, meanwhile, said the CM had assured the authority members that he would think positively on building an underground Metro line after clearances from the environment ministry were received.


>>>

City


Poor Metro planning will lead to jams: BEST

BEST general manager writes to metro development authority about lack of space for running buses to ferry passengers stepping out of metro stations

Posted On Tuesday, March 06, 2012 at 02:02:07 AM

In that sudden burst of infrastructure, seems they forgot about the very basics. The Versova-Andheri Ghatkopar Metro line and Chembur-Saat Rasta monorail sites lack a public dispersal plan. The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking has lodged a protest about this with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) which is constructing the metro and monorail.

A dispersal plan can be loosely defined as a connecting transport mode right outside a mass transport terminus that helps disembarking passengers to head out further to different directions. For example, the BEST bus depot (Bhatiabaug) at the southern end of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is a dispersal plan.

Following the protest, MMRDA has started taking steps to put in place a dispersal plan, although construction has almost been completed and the space around is limited.

BEST general manager O P Gupta confirmed having brought the issue to the notice of MMRDA, and its additional commissioner SVR Sreenivas has begun working on a plan. "There has to be some synergy and cohesion among the Metro, the monorail and BEST. We wanted a facility for BEST buses at Metro and monorail stations from where passengers can be picked up and dropped to other destinations,'' said Gupta.

The Mumbai Transformation Support Unit, a think-tank for makeover of the metropolitan region, has brought this lacuna to the notice of the offices of the chief minister and chief secretary.

In October last year, the traffic police department had warned MMRDA of traffic snarls that were likely to be caused due to autos and taxis. A traffic police officer said that Marol, which is a key Metro station, has no plan for passenger dispersal. "Once the project comes up, autorickshaws and buses will line up, consequently throwing traffic out of gear," said the officer.

"Metro stations are constructed on elevated platforms above road level. So, in addition to the usual vehicular traffic, there is likely to be a slew of taxis and autorickshaws outside each station,'' said a senior traffic police officer had told MMRDA officials. "Given that stations are barely a kilometre apart from each other this will lead to tremendous congestion on roads."

The metro and mono have also come under attack by municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar. Last month, Kumar travelled the 11.07-km metro route and found out that exits of all 11 stations landed on stormwater drains, footpaths and main roads.

An MMRDA officer explained that mono and metro lines pass through dense areas, due to which it was not feasible to allot spaces for connecting modes of transport. "In fact, we have taken some space from existing roads," said a senior MMRDA officer.

MMRDA spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar said that since buses would continue to run along the roads below stations, passengers streaming out of the stations would be picked up en route.


>>>


32-km second metro line may be on verge of being scrapped
Zeeshan Shaikh , Hindustan Times
Mumbai, March 04, 2012
First Published: 00:44 IST(4/3/2012)
Last Updated: 00:45 IST(4/3/2012)
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Two years after the state government signed an agreement with Reliance Infrastructure for building a metro network in the city, the 32-km Charkop–Bandra– Mankhurd line is very close to being put off altogether.
The entire project, which should have been operational by 2011, is facing 
seemingly insurmountable problems with the state government and the agency overseeing its construction, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), failing to get the requisite clearances so that construction can start.

The major problem is the land for carsheds at Charkop and Mankhurd, essential for starting work. However, MMRDA officials learnt only after selecting the bidder that the land falls under coastal regulation zone, and no work is permitted on it.

The Union environment ministry has so far refused to give clearance for the depots. "We have sent letters to the Centre and environment ministry. We are waiting for their response," Metropolitan commissioner Rahul Asthana said. The MMRDA has promised an alternate plot, but there has been no action on it so far.

R-Infra had even shot off a letter to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in November asking him to address these issues, but to little avail. To make matters worse, chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad held a review meeting of the second metro line in February without inviting Reliance to the meeting.

MMRDA officials claim in private that constructing an elevated metro line in a crowded city like Mumbai is not feasible. However, the state and MMRDA seem hesitant in taking a decision as they feel scrap the project in favour of an underground line will create a controversy.

Reliance, meanwhile, said the project will go ahead. "We are committed to the project. We are waiting for the  government to resolve the pending critical issues," an R-Infra official said.

>>>


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Airports authority grounds elevated metro line at Juhu
Zeeshan Shaikh, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, March 04, 2012
First Published: 01:11 IST(4/3/2012)
Last Updated: 01:16 IST(4/3/2012)
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In the latest addition to the series of obstacles facing the ambitious 32-km metro route connecting Charkop, Bandra and Mankhurd, the civil aviation authorities have objected to the height of the elevated section at the 1-km Vile Parle–Nanavati hospital stretch in the western suburbs. The 
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has communicated to the nodal agency, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), that the nine-metre-high elevated corridor is unacceptable as it will obstruct the flight path of aircraft at Juhu airport.

Following this, the state government has verbally requested the contractor, Reliance Infrastructure, to terminate plans for building the elevated line. "The elevated project will not go ahead as the AAI is insistent that the metro line affects flight path. We have asked Reliance to either create an underground metro or think about constructing it along the road," said a senior official involved with the project. 

Metropolitan commissioner Rahul Asthana, however, said there are no plans by the agency to build an underground line from Vile Parle to Nanavati hospital, which will add Rs750 crore to the construction cost. According to R-Infra's current estimates, the 32-km line will cost Rs11,500 crore. 

The development shows flawed planning on part of MMRDA officials, who were unaware about the problems an elevated metro will create near an airport till the AAI took exception.

Interestingly, residents of Juhu Vile Parle Development Scheme have also been demanding an underground metro line, but the state had claimed that the three-fold cost escalation, from Rs250 to Rs750 crore per kilometer, is unfeasible.




On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 1:42 PM, Jagdeep DESAI <jagdeep.desai1@gmail.com> wrote:
Namaskar,

Everyone wants to get into investing in huge infrastructure projects, money gets money

For the life of me, I can't believe the officials quoted in these reports actually believe what they are reported to have said.

And are the Citizens expected to believe that.

That, too, the superficial apparent benefits, will be available after over five years, by which time the projections of today will have gone totally off, just in time for he next no brain High Investment, Low Return project.

Rs.15000 crores elevated line claim to reduce load on current suburban network by a quarter.

Rs.18000 crores undergound metro claim to reduce load on current suburban network by another quarter.

Claimed reduction half.

Cost of this exercise, Rs.33000 crores, over th thext five to ten years, if at all.

Not counting the disruption and productive man hours lost.

But what about the zero investment, Low Cost, High Value , proposal of the Cylcical Time Table, one would think that public money can be used for better things.

The CTT, as described below,  if implemented from the next day, will revolutionise the travel

01 Reduce load by one third immediately

02 Increase capacity by a third immediately, no need for twelve coach, fifteem coach, eightee coach, over haed, underground

03 Reduce ravel time by a third at least, more time for the people to relax after a hard day at work

Why is this proposal not being implemented.

Can the Railway  Ministry categorically prove that the CTT is not workable.

Can the Railways Ministry categorically prove that the CTT will adversely impact the network, which is any way overworked.

The advantages are there for anyone to see.

This is one suggestion that the Railway Ministry ca not refuse, it will benfit lakhs if not crores, if not the entire Nation.

Use the huge investment monies available elsewhere.

Thanqx.

Jagdeep DESAI

+91 98 692 7148

Secretary
Founder Trustee
Forum for Improving Quality of Life in Mumbai Suburbs


>>>






Last Updated: 02:12 IST(15/12/2011)
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There is some relief in sight for Western Railway commuters, tired of jostling for space daily in overcrowded trains. From 2017, the city's first underground Metro line, running from Colaba-Bandra till SEEPZ, will be complete, and planners in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority
(MMRDA) have estimated that it can cater to 10.6 lakh passengers.

This is means that it could relieve the Western Railways of nearly 25% of their passenger load. The WR presently caters to 39 lakh passengers everyday.

The MMRDA has further estimated that by 2025, the Metro's capacity will increase to 13.87 lakh passengers and by 2031, it will reach 16.99 lakh passengers.

"We hope that once the Metro comes into operation, it will drastically reduce the burden on the existing suburban rail system," a senior MMRDA official working on the project said.

He added that the MMRDA is also planning to integrate the Metro and the suburban network, by having interchange stations – where passengers can switch between the two networks – at five spots in the city – Churchgate, Mumbai Central, Mahalaxmi, CST and Dadar. "We are planning an interchange station connecting the Metro to the Suburban railway to passengers can jump from one system to another, based on their convenience," the official said.

The planning agency earlier this week invited suggestions and objections from citizens on the underground Metro project.






"Currently, one and a half lakh people alight at Churchgate every hour during the three-hour morning and evening peak. The elevated rail line is expected to take away nearly 30 per cent of the load on the existing lines.

This thirty per cent can easily be done by introducing the Cyclical Time Table as included below at virtually no cost.

There wil be no need to disrupt the lives of spo many passengers, and others, when this low technology, high value method is available.

Almost all the metros, subways, in the World, follow this system, even the Southern Railway, for its Chennai suburban lines.

Aapart from increasing capacity by thirty percent or more, it will increase turn arounmd and therefor speed, reduce load on the road transporation since people will see the decrease in congestion, increase in speed of the locals, etc.

All round benefits.

Besides, the high speed local trains rated for 100 kmph +, just now being run at maximum 60 kmph, will be better utilised.

>>>

State's body blow to WR's elevated rail corridor

Wants Virar-Churchgate rail line to terminate at Mahalaxmi instead of Oval Maidan, railway officials say it will defeat the purpose

Binoo Nair
     

Posted On Monday, July 25, 2011 at 03:33:28 AM

It seems the Western Railway's (WR) ambitious multi-billion dollar elevated rail corridor project has received a death blow. The technical committee of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has termed the all-important Mahalaxmi to Oval Maidan leg 'not feasible'.

As per the current plants, the project will have an elevated line over the existing stations between Virar and Mahalaxmi, and will go underground between Mahalaxmi and Oval Maidan, including a massive terminus.

The MMRDA report, which was recently submitted to the state Urban Development (UD) department, says the underground portion would mean disturbing prime land holdings around the existing stations between Mahalaxmi and Churchgate. It would also include opening up of Oval Maidan under the 'cut and cover' technique for almost two years to build the terminus.

What the state wants

The state wants the rail line to terminate at Mahalaxmi and people be transhipped by high-speed elevators to the Colaba-Bandra metro route which is being considered by MMRDA. While the WR has accepted the feasibility report of the Virar-Mahalaxmi leg, it had put the burden of the remaining leg on the State considering it would disturb areas falling under the civic body.

Sources say the other hitch is that the private companies that will participate in this public-private-partnership project might demand FSI at station areas, something the State may not be able to provide. Allowing construction of multi-storeyed railway stations is an alternative, but the current levels of congestion and lack of proper commuter dispersal channels there will turn buildings into an 'urban nightmare'.

As per current plants, the project will have an elevated line over existing stations between Virar and Mahalaxmi, and will go then go underground till Oval

The UD department has now forwarded the file to Western Railway to take a call on what they propose to do and the file is expected to reach WR bosses by end of this week.

WR's Defence

A senior WR official said that the WR has been quite clear that project comes upto Oval Maidan or it does not serve its purpose of decongestion of the existing ground lines. Last month, WR General Manager Kul Bhushan, along with senior officials, had apprised Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Planning Commission officials of the need for the rail line terminating at Oval.

"Currently, one and a half lakh people alight at Churchgate every hour during the three-hour morning and evening peak. The elevated rail line is expected to take away nearly 30 per cent of the load on the existing lines.

"Since having an undergound station at Churchgate is not feasible because of the narrow dispersal points on the roads on either sides, the elevated corridor terminus was planned undergound at Oval Maidan. Having an elevated rail till Mahalaxmi will serve no purpose," said an official.


>>>

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 11:50 PM, Jagdeep DESAI <jagdeep.desai1@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear all,

This is a classic case of appearances are deceptive.

Mumbai's local trains hardly exceed 60 kmph during a normal run, Western, Central, Harbour.

So there is simply no point in getting trains capable of 130 kmph unless they are utilised on non stop Churchgate Virar or CST Dombivali, CST Panvel, etc.

Instead of all this high capital intensive investments, all the Indian Railways need to do is to implement the Cyclical Time Table, as described below.

This will improve turnaround by a third, thereby increasing effective speed by a third, increase capacity by a third, reduce congestion by a third, with almost nil spending.

Even today, empty new rakes are lying parked beyond Dahanu, Bharuch, etc.,  giving the distinct impression, that there already is over saturation of rakes, and Western Railway, even Central Railway, should replace the old rakes instead of getting more and more and faster and faster redundant rakes, and giving commuters the false impression that these will improve their lot.

If there is any clarification required, I am sure Shri Dipak Bhai GANDHI and his colleagues will be happy to provide.

Below are excerpts from a study from last year.

Thanqx.

Jagdeep DESAI

+91 98 6922 7148

For information


>>>

In 1977, the Minister of Railways Mr.Madhu Dandavate in response to a letter by Mr. Gandhi from J J Chambers informed that the "Western Railway have already implemented this suggestion to provide uniform pattern to all fast trains in regard to stoppages, except two fast trains –one from Borivali and one from Virar for historical reasons.".

The implementation of the uniform pattern was discontinued after 1981 for reasons not known

 
Year Work done in the year
1977
  • The 'cyclic' pattern was introduced in October 1977 in the Western Railway which has provided a satisfactory and reliable service to the commuters of the Western Railway.
  • The punctuality of peak hour services has been maintained at a satisfactory level and uniform commuter flows have been observed during the peak hours. But it was only continued till 1982.
1964
  • The idea of change in time table was first raised in this year.
  • The time table said that it served services every N minute and only 3-6 stations should be served in each cycle, thus the cycle keeps repeating. By doing this it will increase services by minimum 30% and traveling would be safe and comfortable.
1995
  • As this pattern was discontinued in Western Railway Mr. Gandhi then wrote letters to the railway authorities and also filed petition but there were no proper replies from them.
  • The Petition No. 1092 of 1995 said that, "The plan for the railway's time table by Court due to overcrowded trains and security hazards is being looked forward".
  • He filed the PIL in 1995 and has continued fighting at a stretch of 15 years and still he is going further.
1997
  • Later the Cyclical time table was started in the Habour Line from 1stAugust 1997.
  • It ensured train availability at a uniform time interval and the trains will be available at a fixed frequency at different originating/terminating stations.
    Interactions with Vivek Sahai?
 
 
 

Besides this the members of the Mumbai Suburban Railway Passengers' Association have written many letters regarding the introduction of the cyclic time table to different railway authorities and some are replied saying your request will be taken into consideration.


 

RLY'S OUR ONLY OPTION

TO

UNJAM MUMBAI 

  1. Instead of Govt wasting time, money and energy on raising elevated rail & road corridors, sea links, water transport etc, it will be advisable to concentrate all efforts on optimization & rationalization of recently upgraded rail infrastructures under MUTP I & II that has the potential to give immediate relief to the city in respect of its twin problems of transport & pollution. The single largest factor to compel citizens to go for road transport is the hazardous rail journies which have claimed over 11000 lives and proved fatal for over 15000 Commuters during the last three years, inspite additional tracks & large no. of new rakes procured. If rail commuting were made safe for all commuters at all times of the day as is possible under Cyclic Time-Table explained below, there could be little doubt about bulk of road commuters switching over back to Rlys, being speedy, eco-friendly and economical. It must be realized that one additional suburban rail service has the potential to put off the road minimum 8500 private vehicles or 85 BEST Buses.
 
  1. RATIONALIZE SUB. OPERATIONS
 
    1. The upgraded rail potential is so huge that by just proper planning of its operations, it can not only solve today's problems almost overnight but satisfactorily meet our city's needs for the next 3 to 4 decades and give us an Reliable Suburban Rly.
 
    1. Mumbai's traffic volume and pattern have undergone such a sea change during the last about two decades that scheduling of trains on an Adhoc or historical basis as at present, packing commuters of 10 to 20 stations per service which gets jam packed twice or thrice its optimum rated capacity with those of only 3 to 5 stations is primarily responsible for such a heavy toll of Commuters. The situation is further accentuated with uneven frequencies, resulting in accident prone travels when too afar & waste of capacity when too close. It is simply senseless to clear recently grown heavy intrasuburban traffic through Churchgate / CST services which are jam packed with its own sector traffic. If this intrasuburban traffic is cleared by exclusive suburban shuttles available every10 to 12 mts. in both up & down directions from early morning till late night between Mahalaxmi & Virar on W. Rly & Dadar – Kalyan on CR, most of rail commuters hardships would be over. There is thus a dire necessity to revamp Suburban Rail operations in conformity with today's traffic needs and the provisions of law, not only in the interest of safety of commuters but also to save our city from further decay.
 
    1. The entire rail infrastructure has been created to clear traffic sectorwise with mid terminals developed at Dadar, Kurla, Thane, Diva, Dombivali on C. Rly and at Mahalaxmi, Bandra, Andheri, Goregaon, Borivali & Bhayander on W. Rly. If dedicated services, clearing only one sector traffic at one time are introduced as required by 5.57 of the Indian Rly.  Act, clearing long distance commuters through super fast trains & short distance ones by slow trains, as shown in one illustrative Cyclic Time-Table annexed herewith & designed on the principles of Time Table construction as laid down under the Rly Rules, overcrowding in all trains would be reduced by 30 to 50% at all times from tomorrow In addition to substantially reduced load on each service, sector wise traffic clearance has one added advantage of yielding 30% more services with the same no. of rakes and tracks in the same time due to superfast and short distance services reaching back to starting terminals earlier.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  1. HUGE POTENTIAL
 
    1. OPTIMISE SERVICES
 

      It is ridiculous to ply maximum possible services only during 3 hours each in the morning & evening, when suburban trains run overcrowded two to three times their optimum rated capacities from 6.00 a.m. to 12.00 mid night. Hence maximum no. of services should be plied right from early morning till late night, on both slow and fast corridors without withdrawing any rake from service during day time as done at present. Today the situation is such that often overcrowding during non office peak hours is worse than that during office hours in view of withdrawal of large no. of rakes from service between 10.00 a.m & 5.00 p.m. Prior to 1960, afternoon traffic was so thin that some rakes were withdrawn from service to conserve power. But today's scenario is totally different. Hence if this obsolete practice is given up, Rly's could provide from tomorrow totally about 4000 services (20 services/tracks per hour x 10 tracks x 20 hrs/day) at 3 minutes headway during the day as against only about 2700 plied now. There are no technical impediments since existing EMU rakes are certified to run continuously even for 20 hours a day, whereas their present average utilization is only for about 13 hours a day as per Rly. Board statistics. 

    1. OPTIMISE RAKES

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

      The Rly s. must move with the fast moving World. The existing high efficiency EMU rakes are certified to run at 100 Kmph. Yet presently services are scheduled to run at running timings slower than in 1937, wasting minimum of 30% better efficiency of the rakes. If the services are scheduled to ply at their certified running timings determined by Rly's Engineers, Churchgate to Virar fast service would take only 55 minutes as against 80 minutes taken today. This would not only help rlys. run minimum 25% more services with the same no. of rakes and tracks but city's commuters too would save millions of man hours every day. 

    1. OPTIMISE TRACKS.
 

         Suburban services are plied at 3 minutes headway since last about 4 decades on W. Rly. Since then Signaling systems have been upgraded to permit services to ply at 1½ minutes headway. Even if they were scheduled at 2 minutes headway, our city could have from tomorrow 6,000 services (30/track/hour x 10 tracks x 20 hours/day). With large no. of new rakes received and receivable in the near future, rakes are now no problem. 

      (4)  MUMBAI AN IDEAL CITY 

    1. If rail operations were rationalised & optimized as suggested above, our Rlys would be able to provide a safe rail travel for all its commuters at all times of the day both in up and down directions from any station to any station from tomorrow. In that scenario there could be little doubt about large no. of road commuters switching over to rail travels, being speedy, eco-friendly and economical. This is bound to reduce road traffic jams & city's air & noise pollution levels substantially to give relief to all Mumbaikars to make Mumbai one of the ideal cities of the world to live in, instead of being one of the worst as at present.

                    

              WIN WIN FOR ALL 

    1. Limited Loading: Since each service shall be loaded with commuters of only 3 to 5 stations only at any given time, commuting shall be safe for all commuters at all times. For fast corridor, this objective is achieved by skipping halts whereas on slow corridor it is attained through sequencing of services, shorter distance one just preceding the longer distance one, thus siphoning off bulk of shorter distance traffic from the longer distance trains. 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    Load of Commuters of: 

    1. Only 4 stations on Andheri Slow Service with BA Service just preceding it.
    2. Only 5 stations on BVI Slow Service, with ADH just preceding it, siphoning off bulk of ADH sector commuters from BVI slow services.
    3. Only 4 stations on Virar Super Fast Service.
    4. Only 3 stations on BHY Super Fast Service.
    5. Only 3 stations on each of BVI & GMN Super Fast Services.
    6. Only intra Suburban Commuters on MX-VR Shuttles.
 
  1. Total Services: 4000 with potential for 6000 in the immediate future as against only about 2700 plied at present.
 
  1. Safer travel at all times, with assured 30 to 50% reduction in overcrowding in all trains at all times at all stations with immediate effect.
 
  1. 25 to 30% saving in travel time for long distance commuters (ADH to VR) through super fast services.
 
  1. Direct services without any changeover at any in between station for all commuters to go from any station to any station between CCG & VR/CST- Kalyan, the most gruesome necessity under present time-tables.
 
  1. Reverse journies, commuters for south (CST / CCG) compelled to go first to the North would be a matter of the past with assured safe entry from any station for every destination.
 
  1. BEST buses, whose average km running has been reduced by more than half of what it was 3 decades back would improve substantially with substantial reduction in road Vehicles.
 
  1. Standing demand for local transport in the city Rly's revenue will also shot up substantially.
 

    It must be realized that our city is living on its seams. The authorities particularly the state government must therefore concentrate their efforts on a priority basis on optimization and rationalization of Mumbai's rail services before the situation goes out of control. Time at our disposal is extremely limited. It is a suggestion which is both cost and time effective recommended by the Rly, Board, universally acclaimed when tried last on W. Rly. and now satisfactorily in operation on Harbour Line since last 14 years. 

From MUMBAI SUBURBAN RAILWAY PASSENGERS'  ASSOCIATION 

                                                    (DIPAK J. GANDHI)

                                                            CHAIRMAN. 

Encl.:     Illustrative Cyclic Time Table with design. 

Your browser may not support display of this image. Your browser may not support display of this image.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CYCLIC TIME – TABLE

Date:- 14.11.2010.

            1. RINCIPLES
 
      1. Limited Loading: Each service be loaded with commuters of only 3 to 5 Stations at all times as against those of 10 to 20 stations commuters packed at present per service.
 
      1. Uniform Frequency: All sector services shall be made available at uniform intervals at all times to even out crowding in all services.
 
      1. Dedicated Sector Wise Services: All sectors would get minimum one exclusive service, long distance would be cleared by super fast & short distance by slow trains, at all times. This would yield 30% more services with the same no. of rakes & tracks as available now.
 

      All Services to repeat on a Cyclic Pattern every 12 MTS. that would make commuting safe for all commuters at all times as indicated in a specimen Cyclic Time Table shown below. 
       

      SPECIMEN PATTERN

      (2 Fast Services for VR Sector & One MX-VR Shuttle)

                          FAST CORRIDOR                                                           SLOW CORRIDOR DOWN                                                                                                                                                                                                       

                                    DOWN                                                                      ALL TRAINS STOPPING AT

                                                                                                                              ALL STATIONS.

DESTINATIONVRBHYBVIGMN  BAADHBVIMX-VR
HOW RUN >>>>SUPER FASTSUPER FASTSUPER FAST SUPER FAST    SHUTTLE
CHURCHAGATE MARNINE LINES

CHARNI ROAD

GRANT ROAD

17.00

S

S

S

17.03

S

S

S

17.06

S

S

       S

17.09

S

S

S

 17.00

S

S

S

17.03

S

S

S

17.06

S

S

S

 
 
 
________
MUMBAI CENTRAL

MAHALAXMI LOWER PAREL ELEPHINSTONE DADAR

17.10

F

F

F

17.17

17.13

F

F

F

17.20

17.16

F

F

F

17.23

17.19

F

F

F

17.26

  17.10

S

S

S

17.22

17.13

S

S

S

17.25

17.16

S

S

S

17.28

--------------17.21

S

S

17.31

MATUNGA RD.

MAHIM JN. BANDRA

F

F

17.23

F

F

17.26

F

F

17.29

F

F

17.32

 S

S

17.32

S

S

17.33

S

S

17.36

 
 
17.39
KHAR ROAD

SANTACRUZ

VILE PARLE

ANDHERI

F

F

F

F

F  

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

          F

F

F

17.40

  S

S

S

17.48

=====

S

S

S

17.49

=====

S

S

S

17.52

JOGESHWARI

GOREGAON

MALAD

KANDIVALI

BORIVALI

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

17.51

S

17.52

=====

17.43

17.49

=====

   S

S

S

 

18.11

=====

S

S

S

S

18.12

DASHISAR

MIRA ROAD

BHAYANDER

NAIGAON

VASAI ROAD

NALLA SOPARA

VIRAR

F

F

F

17.53

17.58

18.03

18.09

====

17.47

17.51

17.56

====

  
 
 
 
    18.15

18.19

18.25

18.31

18.36

18.41

18.47

====

F = FAST                     S = SLOW STOPPING.


 

CTT appears to be a well tested scientific tool of time table planning which has benefitted many countries in their public transport operations.

  

Railways Viewpoint

In 2006 Mr. Vivek Sahai, now Chairman, Railway Board, gave an enthusiastic response to the pleas and communications of SRUCC regarding the introduction of CTT – saying "the principles of CTT are being examined and wherever the suggestion feasible will be considered while framing the time table."

Either the letter of 2003 was not a considered response or in 2006 Mr.Sahai was not aware of the response given by the WR in 2003. Clearly there is a need for a consistent response from the Railways regarding their opinion on the CTT.

 In a verdict dated 28.06.2007 in the Writ Petition No.1092 of 1995 the Bombay High Court has while accepting the hazards faced by the suburban commuters observed that it is beyond the technical capabilities of the court to plan the railways time table and it is upto the State and the Central government or the concerned authorities in the railways to determine the method and the mode which should be adopted by them.


Following are the few Studies carried out at IIT Bombay regarding the time tabling for the railways:

  • A cyclic time table can be specified concisely and can be abstracted using a limited number of patterns. Once this is done an optimisation procedure is possible using the representation. But this pattern is difficult to construct because of the various factors: on-off services, non-regular requirements and a large number of service patterns. These factors make it necessary to allow the timetable more control of the construction procedure and checking feasibility itself is a non-trivial task. For this purpose constraint based technique has been studied by Narayan Rangaraj and Milind Sohani, in the paper "Time-tabling of Suburban train services".
  • An article written by Prof. Narayan on the CTT ""An analysis of cyclic timetables for suburban rail services "which focuses on the issues and advantages of the CTT for the Mumbai railway system.
 
 

The advantages of CTT:

  1. The time table has a very concise and transparent description to customers. In the period of interest, customers travelling to and fro between locations know the frequency of services and are able to estimate their waiting/total travel time appropriately.
  2. The timetable permits easy quantification of waiting time related service measures for customers.
  3. The timetable allows for cyclic plans for rakes, crew and other resources. In particular, roistering of crew duties is much simplified.
  4. Techniques for construction of "good" cyclic timetables are more efficient, since the pattern (for a short duration) can be optimized based on given criteria. For timetables which requires specific timings of all services, both the optimization criteria and methods for construction are cumbersome.
  5. In actual operation, the time table allows easy recovery from minor disruptions to services.
  6. The time table allows customers to plan journeys more precisely, without necessarily having access to a complicated time table document. This leads to better spread of load on coaches and better utilization of available rolling stock
  7. A frequency based timetable is optimal as far as waiting times for customers is concerned. It is convenient for some operating plans, from the cost point of view
  8. Even for an announced timetable, with timings, a frequency basis is preferable for all or most locations. 
  
>>>

 
>>>

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 6:17 PM, A.V.Shenoy <shenoyav@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Kisanbhai

Our group had already made a suggestion to Railway Board to have an elevated pair of tracks which could be used for these trains. There was a news item sometime back that Railway Ministry is doing a survey on this.

Shenoy

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Kisan Mehta" <kisansbc@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 4:12 PM
To: "A.V.Shenoy" <shenoyav@gmail.com>
Cc: "Sujit Patwardhan" <sujitjp@gmail.com>; "Sulakshana Mahajan" <sulakshana.mahajan@gmail.com>; "Bina Balkrishnan" <binacb@gmail.com>; "Kanubhai Kamdar" <kanukamdar@gmail.com>; "Satish Mhatre" <satishchandra_mhatre@yahoo.co.in>; "Sudhir Badami" <sudhirbadami@gmail.com>; "Rajendra Aklekar" <rajendraa@gmail.com>; "Arun Mokashi" <arunpmokashi@hotmail.com>; "Waman Danait" <waman.danait@gmail.com>; "Jitendra Gupta" <jeetu21@gmail.com>; "V. Phatak" <vphatak@vsnl.net>; "Ashok Datar" <datar.ashok@gmail.com>; "Jagdeep Desai" <jagdeep.desai@gmail.com>; "Patankar Suresh N." <snpatankar@rediffmail.com>; "Thatte Surendra" <surendrathatte@gmail.com>; "Salvi Nandkumar" <nandkumarsalvi@hotmail.com>; "Ravindra Mahajan" <matadata@rediffmail.com>; "M. Ramamurty" <ramamurtym@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Hi-speed local set for trial in May - DNA

Dear Colleagues,

To ensure tht the benefits of high speed local train sets percolate to
commuters, it is important and unavoidable that three captive pairs of
railway tracks are provided and are in place from Churchage and CST
upto Valsad/Dahanu, Nashi/Kasara andPune/Karjat for running many more
triains
to match with the demand.  Slow and fast trains for commuter service and

intercity long dstance destination trains must run on three separate
pairs of tracks.

If the Ind Rlys do not provide for three separate pairs,  our fast trains will
stop for more and longer periods between the stations with no saving of
time in journey time to commuters.

Best wishes.

Kisan Mehta    -- Kanu Kamdar -- Priya Salvi


6/11, A.V.Shenoy <shenoyav@gmail.com> wrote:
     Hi-speed local set for trial in May
     Published: Tuesday, Apr 26, 2011, 1:22 IST
     By DNA Correspondent | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

           The city's hi-speed local trains that can achieve speeds of
130kmph are finally ready and will be in Mumbai in a month. A team of senior
officials of the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation and the Maharashtra
government would be visiting the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai on
Wednesday to inspect the new wonder that is the product of six years of
research.

           The Rs60crore train is expected to break the 100kmph barrier and
run at hi-speeds beyond Kalyan and Virar stations, on tracks that are used
for hi-speed trains like the Rajdhani.

           MRVC managing director Dr PC Sehgal confirmed that the "bogies"
(the wheel-sets) were ready and that they would be going for the final
inspection. "If everything goes well, the train should be in city by May,"
he said. Sehgal, who is retiring at the end of this month, said the new
train would be his gift to the city's commuters.

           Once the train is in the city, trials will be carried out and it
shall be in service within a month. DNA had first carried a news report in
November 2010 that the delivery of hi-speed trains had been delayed due to
problems. In fact, five such hi-speed trains are expected.

           "Within the city the there are limitations that don't permit
high speeds, but it is possible outside city limits. The tracks too need to
be equipped to cater to such speeds," a senior MRVC official said.

           The train was expected to arrive earlier but one of its crucial
components went missing at the last moment, delaying the delivery. The
bogies frames and technology has been bought from Siemens, Austria.

           "They will have bolsterless suspensions, which will give the
commuters a jerk-free journey," Sehgal added.

           The new train is being procured under the Rs4,500 crore World
Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). MRVC is co-ordinating the
project. While the train will look similar to the other trains, it will be
the train's high-speed bogie (wheel sets) that will make all the difference.

           "Once the new train arrives, it will be subjected to heavy
trials and oscillation tests. We will be loading them with sacks of sand
completely to match the crowding weight and take trials as they would a
fully-crowded train run," a senior official said.







--
Kisan Mehta Kanu kamdar  Priya Salvi
Save Bombay Committee,Prakruti and Life Foundation.
1203, Kanchanjanga "A",  Plot 20,
Sector 11,Koparkhairane,
Navi Mumbai 4000709 India
www.savebombaycommittee.org
Kisan Mehta:   0091 9223448857
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Kanu Kamdar:  0091 9821999401
Niraj Mehta:      0091 8097535559


Mumbai Metro Stations
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Jagdeep DESAI
4/26/10
to iqolmsashokNitinHarshadsonalirahulORFsudheendrarishiudayketanSChetanChetanKishoreTRAFFICCitispaceJanhitjagrutShantharamAnilAnilRyanmohit_bhattmohit
Hello all,

Looks like MMRDA is really desperate to get some good publicity, considering the metro and sky walk white elephant projects are going nowhere


Simple technology metro coaches arriving in the night, made in China, while ICF, RCF, BEML, Jessop, Bombardier make high tech coaches for Indian Railways and Delhi Metro.

And a photo showing the four car rake 'in the car shed' at Versova.


To any lay person, it looks more like a stretch of rail, laid on the ground, with the car shed yet to see light of day or night in a long time




Claims that state of the art stations are springing up.

From the state on the ground, at best two, ie Versova and Andheri East station work is barely going on at snail's pace, ruining daily commute of the people.

A seventy five minute trip will become twenty minutes.

Has any one counted the one twenty minute trips for two years which has ruined pepole's lives till date, not to mention loss of productive man hours.

Twelve stations for the 11.5 km Versova Andheri Ghatkopar route, a station a kilometre.

By the the time the rake starts to accelerate, its time to decelerate for the next stop. 

And look at the artiste's impression for Andheri  -  Versova station.

Looks like it is in the middle of the old Andheri jungle.

The artiste seems to have taken liberal use of artistic license and made the concrete jungle look green, the buildings around have mysteriously disappeared.

Like the buildings in Ghatkopar, conveniently shown as translucent grey boxes, to showcase the full bulk and volume of the grossly out of proportion over head metro station.

In the other stations also, the foot paths have suddenly become wide, whereas all over, MMRDA has reduced all foot paths to the bare minimum, and cut off pedestrians from safe walking.

If the metro was underground, the work would have completed by now, and instead of artiste's impressions, we would have had actual photos.

All kinds of facilities are claimed in the stations

 "Care is being taken to ensure that all modern requirements for Metro stations are incorporated into the designs, which will bring about a paradigm shift in the way people commute in the city,'' said additional commissioner for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), S Srinivas. 
    Detailing security systems, Srinivas added that the stations will have a central surveillance system, which would be connected to a control room to monitor all movement at the stations round-theclock. CCTV cameras will also be installed inside the coaches. So, security staff will immediately be alerted to any untoward incident. 
    "Access to the stations will be made easier by elevators, which will also be of great help to the physically-challenged,'' added Srinivas. 
    According to MMRDA officials, each Metro station will have a concourse and 
a platform level. Automatic fare collection counters will be situated at the concourse. The new systems would also ensure no serpentine queues. Commuters would have to go through the concourse to gain access to the platform and board the Metro.

Not surprisingly, MMRDA is silent on fire fighting, search and rescue, emergency evacuation by ambulance from below, since there is absolutely no snorkel which can reach upto all the levels of the stations, absolutely no place for quick exit by those in various areas of the stations.

It is also silent on where autos, taxis, buses, private vehicles will have drop off and pick up points, because there are hardly any.

Many buildings are in hand shaking distance of stations, which are cleverly air brushed, nowadays the terms is 'photoshopped' out.

People are not going to be fooled by such obvious disinformation.

Thanqx.

Jagdeep DESAI

+91 98 6922 7148


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Modern stations will dot first line of Metro

Ashley D'Mello | TNN 


Mumbai: State-of-the-art stations are springing up all along the route of the first Metro line from Versova to Ghatkopar. There will be 12 stations in all along the route, which covers a distance of 11.5 km. 
    "Care is being taken to ensure that all modern requirements for Metro stations are incorporated into the designs, which will bring about a paradigm shift in the way people commute in the city,'' said additional commissioner for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), S Srinivas. 
    Detailing security systems, Srinivas added that the stations will have a central surveillance system, which would be connected to a control room to monitor all movement at the stations round-theclock. CCTV cameras will also be installed inside the coaches. So, security staff will immediately be alerted to any untoward incident. 
    "Access to the stations will be made easier by elevators, which will also be of great help to the physically-challenged,'' added Srinivas. 
    According to MMRDA officials, each Metro station will have a concourse and 
a platform level. Automatic fare collection counters will be situated at the concourse. The new systems would also ensure no serpentine queues. Commuters would have to go through the concourse to gain access to the platform and board the Metro. 
    The travel time of 75 minutes from Versova to Ghatkopar would be reduced to 20 minutes once the Metro rolls out. 
    The corridor will have 12 stations including Versova, D N Nagar, Azad Nagar, Andheri, Western Express Highway, Chakala, Airport Road, Marol Naka, Sakinaka, Subhash Nagar, Asalpha Road and Ghatkopar.

IN THE OFFING: An artist's impression of the Metro station slated to be built at Versova 





































































































































































































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Committee hearing on third Metro line likely to be stormy

Ashley D'Mello TNN 


Mumbai: There are likely to be stormy presentations to the committee holding public hearings for the plan for the third line of the Metro with citizens' groups asking for a merger of the second and third line, forming one underground line from Cuffe Parade to Charkop. 
    The JVPD Residents' Association, which had fought for the second line of the Metro from Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd to be underground instead of being elevated, has brought up a plan for merging the two lines which they claim will benefit the city. 
    This new line planned by activist Nitin Killawala's firm of architects and planners envisages a fully underground line from Cuffe Parade-Bandra–Charkop a distance of 37 km. 
    The hearing will be held on Wednesday for the third line which is planned to be under
ground from Colaba-Bandra-Seepz and is expected to cost Rs 21,000 crores. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is taking no chances and will be holding the hearing at the BKC under tight supervision. 
    The JVPD Association, the HWest Ward Citizens Trust, AGNI and the Linking Road Residents' Association have objected to the elevated route of the second line from Andheri to Bandra and has called for an underground route. 
    The MMRDA had earlier re
jected pleas for having an underground route as it would be too expensive and not technically feasible. 
    In his letter to MMRDA, Killawalla said, "We compliment the government's initiative in implementing the fully underground 34-km-long Colaba-Seepz metroline after the disastrous experience of the elevated metroline (from Versova to Ghatkopar), which is nowhere near completion, missing every deadline till date.'' 
    Bandra activists are backing the JVPD residents. Shyama Kulkarni of AGNI said they are fully behind the new plan. 
    The elevated route of the second line had run into trouble as it would involve the rese
ttlement of residences and commercial establishments in the JVPD areas and the crowded Linking Road area.


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