Archive for the ‘Observations’ Category

Feeder buses at Hitec City Station

March 21, 2008

Feeder bus at Hitec city Station

Things to come - led display board on mmts

February 16, 2008

Dangerous trespass: Illegal and unintelligent

February 11, 2008

Please do not tresspass and stop other passengers from doing so. The deep impact of runovers on the mental health of motormen is reason enough not to indulge in this practice.

The letter from Laxman, reproduced below indicates the myriad feelings experienced by aghast onlookers.

Nobody deserves to undergo the trauma of watching another human die for no good reason, certainly not the motormen!!

Regards,

ananth

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This is one stupid thing people do, cross the tracks when FOB’s are
present. It happens every day at Necklace Road in the morning when the
Falknuma hyderabad local arrives and people crazily go and stand near
the platform edge and to cross over to the other side, the line has
many movements at that time and the crossing point is on a blind curve
where trains come in at 50 kmph plus. When will people realize how
dangerous it is to do this, do we need a few run overs for people to
get some sense. I have seen it happen at Hitech city as well. Please
educate people when you travel in MMTS Trains about this danger of
line crossing. Sad part is even ladies do it quite often even the
educated lot.

Lakshman
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Overshoot

December 16, 2007

I  travelled by the 9:36 FL  MMTS local last  friday from MXT to SC.  I noticed something that I was curious to ask  a better informed railfan.

At Jamai Osmania, the  driver went past the sign that read “EMU drivers stop here”  and stopped further ahead such that the first door in the first coach crossed this board.

Does anyone know if this is permissible?  The local was terribly late. The time must have been around 22:40 at Jamai Osmania.

Personally,  I think that breaking a rule such as this may be a recipe for disasters…  Comments, brickbats and compliments welcome.

Until next time,

Ananth

Verbal Altercation with drivers

December 5, 2007

Please avoid  altercation with drivers.  The  higher ups are responsible for the delays. Here is the email from Arun Padmanabhan from MMTS Travellers describing today’s incident. This post  was made possible due to him.

Regards,

ananth

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Hi All

Though there has been a whole-hearted efforts from this group to facilitate in improving the MMTS services, it has been observed (of late) that the morning trains from falaknuma towards Lingampally are consistantly running late.

Today was a scene of outburst of commuter’s anger and frustration at Sec-Bad railway station - when the 8 04am train towards Lingampally was stranded on the 6A platform for more than 1/2 an hour. The result : roughing - up the driver verbally for misbehaving and not inquiring with station master on the reason for delay upon commuter’s request.

The point I would like to stress-upon here is that we have no infrastructure available in place for MMTS (a dedicated MMTS line) and that addition of more train services are going to add to our woes. The solution at moment and the need of the hour is to increase the rakes (probably to 9 or 12 rakes per train) and to strive to maintain the existing train services on time.

Moreover, a issue to be taken up with SCR is that MMTS trains get least priority over express/passenger trains (as could be witnessed in case of 8 04am train today). We need to stress upon getting MMTS services- the top priority.

Finally, a issue on annoucements informing about the delay and arrival of trains on platforms. With communication so advanced today, I still dont understand the reason for not keeping the commuters informed about the possible delay of train services/re-schedule of arrival platforms (through announcements as well as visual displays). There is a need for more visual displays on 6 and 7 platforms which shall provide a means of communicating the possible delays.

If SCR does not act soon, the day is not far when we shall witness commuter’s frustrations being turned into violent actions.

Arun Padmanabhan

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Delays - SC-FM section

November 28, 2007

As has been reported, there have been regular delays for the past few weeks in this section for MMTS trains.

Upon Enquiry at MXT ( Malakpet ), I found out that pf # 1 in KCG has been rendered unusable due to ongoing sleeper replacement work.

If I were to consider associating a number with the difficulties even as an academic exercise, 3 pfs were in use.. now only 2 pfs. therefore, 33 % outage :P.

The current scenario of delays is expected to continue for another 30 - 40 days. Hopefully, the HYB division can come up with some incredible workaround. A display indicating estimated minimum delay for a delayed local is the first step.

Until next time,

Ananth

PRS at MMTS Station

November 8, 2007

PRS Centers  at MMTS Stations:

CHANDANAGAR                         HITEC CITY     
NATURE CURE HOSPITAL   SANJEEVAIAH PARK
JAMES STREET                         KHAIRATABAD
NECKLACE ROAD                      LAKDIKAPUL
SITAFALMANDI                        ARTS COLLEGE
JAMAI OSMANIA                      VIDYANAGAR 
 
Observation at James Street : There is no POET 
( Passenger Operated Enquiry Terminal )  to support  PRS :P
 
 
Until Next Time,
ananth
 

On Board Security

October 20, 2007

On the issue of security, many pages can be written…. but I will try and keep it short.

I visited hyderabad on the  day of the infamous twin blasts at lumbini park and gokul chat. Ever since, security in public places, particularly crowded areas has become a concern for the public.

In particular, the security at SC had serious shortcomings. In order to augment it, the administration took up the initiative to put scanners in place  at various exit/entry points.

However,  a gaping hole was left in the security cover in the context of security onboard the trains.

There is no design element in the operation and maintenance of MMTS trains which caters to the security needs of today.

In my opinion,  the bare minimum security measures that could be easily incrementally incorporated during POH into the  rakes include metal detectors and simplest form of smoke/bomb detectors.  As commuter trains with reasonable occupancy,  the MMTS trains can be a deadly soft target.

Being a railfan and a responsible citizen,  I consider it a duty to expose the shortcomings and thereby contribute to better security.

I had written on security in the station to the railway authorities and the results have been very encouraging.

The monitoring of passenger traffic is being carried out as it rightly should have been done as a regular practice and not merely in response to imminent threats.

I would be glad if the authorities can produce results quickly.

More next time. Until then  keep a watch….

Ananth

SC - Malakpet - KCG - SC

October 19, 2007

As is the ritual, upon my arrival from NLDA, I went to my temple, the one and only Secbad Railway Station.

I needed to purchase a few digital ICs in Gujarati Galli. As a rail fan, I decided on the 16:57 MMTS from SC to Malakpet. The staff on 6/7 appeared busy so I walked down to the MLY End, only to find Rajkumar sir and a few other railmen welcoming me with their smiles. After the usual rail talk, I returned to pf 7b. The local appeared with its twin-beam at 1705. As I boarded the general compartment, it quickly crawled out of SC towards STPD immediately, much to my delight.

I reached Malakpet at 17:21. This beautiful creature took a measly 16 minutes to cover the distance from SC to Malakpet!!!! I dare the APSRTC or even bikers with 150 cc bikes to attempt a better performance.

The South Central Railway should use travel time to prove the merits of MMTS travel to all those who claim otherwise.

The MMTS has grown on its own from a fledgling service to a potential lifeline of the city.

It was exactly the same performance on the way back. I boarded the 1905 local at KCG and reached SC at 1921. It is my opinion that KCG holds a lot of promise as a railhead and has its history to buttress these claims.

The exterior is very appealing what with the whites and the intricate detail on its walls. I wished for a good cam!!!!! A good cam will definitely be my next investment….

So much for now. I plan for a MOB and LPI trip soon. Will add more then. My accounts are without pics :( . I wish I had pics…..

Cheers,

ananth

Update:Timing Board Back

August 20, 2007

Hi,

The missing timing board on pf 6/7 at SC is back. It is now  hung at a convenient level for passengers in the queue to look it up before they purchase the tickets.  An Awning has also been constructed to provide shelter from rain. Good Sign.  There is just one problem. The hand written board informing passengers of the absence of service on Sundays between 10:00 hrs  and  16:00 hrs  leaves much to be desired.

Hopefully things will improve.

Cheers

Ananth