Birthday celebrations for MMTS

Hi All,

Please post your ideas for the birthday celebrations of MMTS,

started on August 9 2003.

Regards,

ananth

Talking Points

Hi All,

It has been some time since I posted anything. Now, here is something that our regular visitors can contribute. The regular views are good and comments are most welcome.

Talking points:

1. MMTS Phase II

2. Route passes from Hitec City ( Mishra ji !! )

3. Security issues for ladies in the Ladies compartments

4. Extension of MMTS on SC- KZJ mainline upto bibinagar(?)

5. Timings : They may change from July 1, 2008. Any inputs on the current/future timings for the services

Please post your views on these topics and any others that you may have in mind as comments to this post.

All your suggestions will help shape the agenda for the next meeting with the officials.

Dangerous trespass: Illegal and unintelligent

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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Verbal Altercation with drivers

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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SC - Announcements not timely

It has been reported that  announcements for MMTS trains have been made at the last moment  resulting in difficulties.

When the platform assignment is  different from the regular patter, they should be announced  sufficiently ahead of time.

Keep in mind that the slowest of the passengers, namely senior citizens with luggage,  must be in a position to respond to the new situation.

They should be provided adequate time to walk from pf 6/7 to pf 10 or vice versa.

A board  on pf 6/7,  perhaps at the ticket counter should indicate the MMTS / suburban services that are regularly alloted  to pf 10 ( in the morning,  in particular) .

A simple act of kindness will help our senior citizens identify the platform correctly and  help them reach their destination without unncessry hassles.

As youth, we owe them at least  this much thoughtfulness.

LED display board

What is your opinion on the idea of LED Display boards

1) On pf 6/7 for  ARR/ DEP information  of various MMTS / Suburban services  including  platform number!

2) On-board the trains on the outer sides of the  coaches ?

Please write your  suggestions and comments  to

scr.mmts@gmail.com

ananth

Letter to SECY, PG , SC

Dear Sir,

I am regular commuter by MMTS from Hitec City to
Sitaphalmandi.

I wish to bring to your notice that morning train from
falknuma to lingampally at 7:55Am is getting delayed
daily.Today it was 1/2 hour late.On same day the 7pm
train was delayed by 1 hr.There was not even a single
announcement from station master and where it is not
required they will be announcing repeatedly.

request you to address following:

1.Please add additional bogies as there is heavy rush
at peak times

2.the travel time from begumpet to sitaphalmandy is
very high as train travles at very slow speed and
stops at inner and outer signals daily.

3.Many times when train from secbad is delayed the
train from nampally is also held up at begumpet outer
signal causing heavy rush.Why cannot offcials leave
the train from nampally so the rush is eased out.

4.Increase the frequency to secbad and make the travel
time less as more and more people are using these
route.

5.what is the use of giving timetable when the trains
are coming half hour late.We start early from home
from far off places to catch train but not sure of
reaching office ontime even though we are taking
early trains.

6.There are many illegal commuters without ticket and
travelling in first class.No action is taken against
these people and TTEs harass genuine passengers when
they forgot pass.

7.The quality of bogies is bad.All screws are coming
off and rust is found on seat frames.

8.Cleaning is not proper in bogies.lot of cobwebs,dust
seen.The tube lights are not cleaned and window
glasses are broken.

9.display the destination of train on sides also

10.please provide more ticket counters at hitec and
other stations as it is taking long to buy tickets.

11.Introduce ticket vending machine with common fare

12.Provide more security on trains and stations to
check miscreants.

13.Many people are losing lives on tracks(due to their
fault).Please display boards at stations
cautioning people to use only FOBs and may impose
fines who violate this.

14.Display station names and introduce public address
system announcing as commuters are finding difficulty
in identifying station when there is heavy rush.

15.Fans are switched off and will be put on only at
secbad.it will be suffocating sometimes.

16.Sometimes train drivers are stopping at secbad for
passengers coming at last minute eventhough the train
is already late.Let them take next train instead of
catching in a hurry.

17.The quality of construction at stations is poor.All
the tiles on walls,floor are coming off which presents
a bad picture
to visitors.

18.Recently on a rainy day the begumpet paltform was
flodded with water as the roof was leaking close to
station masters cabin.

Please take this as a positive feedback from a
commuter and address the issues and make the MMTS on
par with Bombay suburban services.

Thanks
T.R.Reddy

On Board Security

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

Time Table Handout Format

Any ideas on the template format for such a compact MMTS TT?

I would add the seasonal ticket pricing as well.

Please email ideas to scr.mmts@gmail.com . I love your ideas!!

Thanks

ananth

Excerpt from Ravi’s email.

A small hand out time table specifying the MMTS train timings in HL route as well as FL routes can be given. Also, the FH route and the DHMU trains in Bolarum to SC can also be given.

Common ticket

How many of you want a common ticket for buses and MMTS trains?

How should we follow up with the authorities on the progress?

Feedback welcome.

Techies.. need help with set up of polls and time logs of the locals. Please email me directly at saradhi.ananth@gmail.com