Thrissur Railway Passengers' Association, TRPA is the confluence of all the stake holders who are interested in the development of Railway facilities in and around Thrissur. Naturally, all the people who avail Railway facilities from Thrissur and other neighbouring stations are automatically the members of this association. Due to the historic reasons, commuters from Thrissur towards Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Palakkad sides form the active group. TRPA always stands for meeting the public demands and this process is well supported by Railway Men, Political Leaders and the Media in Thrissur. The tireless efforts by TRPA in achieving the long standing basic requirements of Thrissur are well recognised and appreciated by one and all. TRPA is committed to continue its service to the society at large, cutting across all divisions. "Our prime focus is on the sustainable improvement of rail service in the country to world class levels with special emphasis on Thrissur"

Friday 28 June 2013

Thrissur in revised Railway Timetable

(Malayala Manorama dt 1-7-2013)
(Malayala Manorama dt 29-6-2013)

New trains for Keralam

(Mathrubhumi Kochi dt 18-7-2013)
(malayala Manorama Kochi dt 15-7-2013)
Highlights of revised Timetable wef 1-7-2013.
(Malayala Manorama dt 29-6-2013)

Two SMS and your rail ticket will be ready

Fed up with long rail ticket queues, exploiting touts and Internet blues? Here comes help. Now, in a matter of minutes and with two SMSs you can book your ticket through your mobile phone.
Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday launched the facility, making easy purchase of tickets by 80 per cent population that owns mobile phones. The only limitations are that the software will accept entries only in English, and you cannot book tickets between 8 a.m. and 12 noon.
IRCTC has come up with a number of options for passengers to buy tickets without having to access the Internet. Besides the short code 5676714, one can even send an SMS to 139 or the Airtel Money system *400# or the system powered by Pyro where one needs to have a BSNL SIM card enabled with Java computer language.
To make use of any of these options, you have to get your mobile number registered with IRCTC. Each SMS will cost Rs. 3 and as the project is being launched on a pilot basis, mobile service providers have dispensed with agent charges for now. These charges as and when imposed would be the same one pays to other agents, including online charges.
One will not be required to carry a hard copy of the ticket while travelling — the SMS confirmation will be valid proof.
The facility allows for ticket cancellation as well.
Mr. Kharge said anyone with a simple mobile phone would be able to buy reserved tickets from any corner of the country. This would put an end to fleecing by touts.
Railway Board Chairman Vinay Mittal said once the system stabilised it would be improved further. Noting that 45 per cent of the reserved tickets were booked through the Internet, he said one way of easing the pressure was to go for new technologies.
IRCTC Managing Director Rakesh Tandon said value-added services would be provided in due course.
Currently four lakh tickets were purchased online everyday, he said.
(K Balchand, The Hindu dt 29-6-2013)
(Malayala Manorama dt 29-6-2013)

Tuesday 25 June 2013

New Trains in Timetable

(Malayala Manorama Ernakulam edition dt 25-6-2013)
(Madhyamam dt 26-6-2013)

Sunday 23 June 2013

P C Chacko intervenes

(Madhyamam dt 23-6-2013)
(Malayala Manorama Kannur Edition dt 23-6-2013)
(Malayala Manorama dt 23-6-2013)
(Mangalam dt 23-6-2013)
(Deepika dt 23-6-2013)

Thursday 20 June 2013

DRUCC decisions

(Mathrubhumi Ernakulam Edition dt 21-6-2013)
(Mathrubhumi Thrissur Edition dt 21-6-2013)
(Malayala Manorama Metro dt 20-6-2013)
(Madhyamam dt 20-6-2013)

Sunday 16 June 2013

Fathers' Day programme by Trainmates

(Jayaraj Warrier inaugurating the programme. TRPA General Secretary P.Krishnakumar, Trainmates President K.Chandran Menon, Louis Master, Social Justice Dept. Supdt. E.J. James are also seen)
(Malayala Manorama Metro dt 19-6-2013)
(Mathrubhumi Nagaram dt 17-6-2013)

An effective SCC meeting

(Mathrubhumi dt 18-6-2013)

(Deepika dt 16-6-2013)
(Madhyamam dt 16-6-2013)

































(Malayala Manorama dt 16-6-2013)

Monday 3 June 2013

Railways to launch four-digit helplines

The Railways propose to launch a series of four-digit customer helpdesk lines for 900 crore passengers which will comprise either SMS or voice recording facility or both in some cases. Approving a uniform number scheme for the implementation of the service, the railways have obtained the permission of the Department of Telecom for the purpose.
Initially, only a security helpline was planned on 132, but it has been decided to migrate to a four-digit number for better uniformity and more services to the benefit of passengers. Now with the addition of the fourth digit, the series will start with 1320, which will be a complaint registration service. One can clock his or her complaint both through SMS and voice.
The next numbers, 1321 and 1322, will be the railways helpdesk for catering and security related issues respectively and in both the cases, complaints can be registered only through voice facility.
Officials said these services would be launched in the first phase, while several more would be launched in due course of time for which they have reserved numbers 1323 to 1329 with the Department of Telecom. Launch of these services will depend on the ability to develop the necessary software by CRIS (Centre for Railway Information Systems) to which the railways have entrusted the job.
(K. Balchand, The Hindu dt 4-6-2013)

Sunday 2 June 2013

Changing tracks to a faster railway

China opens about 15 Metro rail lines a year and is building expertise in operating high-speed trains, while India is only slowly warming up to mass transport solutions.
This is the contrast that France is highlighting, as its companies compete to supply a range of transport technologies and services to India. The public sector French train operator, SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français), is emphatic that the possibility of using high-speed trains as mass carriers should not be neglected.
The competition for high-speed rail also involves Korea, China, and Spain which have operational technologies. Brazil is also looking to implement high-speed rail, but has specified that only accident-free systems can submit tenders, reducing China’s prospects.
The focal point of the Indian effort is the Mumbai-Ahmedabad section, for which SNCF is conducting a feasibility study, and for which the French government has contributed €600,000 out of the estimated total cost of €1 million; there is no charge to the Indian Railways.
The study, begun in January, is expected to go on for a year and define high-speed for India (which in France is 320 km per hour for TGV trains); what kind of fares people can be charged; benchmarking of finance practices including public private partnerships; and the roadmap for manpower training.
On what separates the French high-speed train technology from the Japanese, who pioneered the system, Philippe Dumont, in-charge of issues related to transport in the Directorate of European and International Affairs, Government of France, told visiting journalists that TGV trains could be operated at a normal speed (160 kmph), and on special sections, shifted to peak speeds. This made it possible to integrate them easily with the existing railways. Costs are high for such systems, at €20 million per kilometre in normal terrain, going up to €50 million to cover tunnels, viaducts and so on. But Indian labour costs would make construction cheaper.
Operationally, high-speed trains can optimally connect cities 500 to 1,000 km apart, and in one of the best-known sectors, Paris-Lyon, the peak capacity is 12,000 passengers per hour at 1,000 people per train, providing service once in four minutes. TGV fares are not subsidised.
Six per cent of the world’s transport is on high-speed trains, and France operates 600 trains against about 100 in Japan, meeting the 300 km-plus per hour standard and remaining accident-free over a 30-year period. The Japanese rails are installed on concrete slabs, requiring higher maintenance, while the French use ballasts. Ride quality is better on the Japanese trains, however.
Mr. Dumont candidly pointed out that domestic growth prospects for rail were limited, and there was considerable interest in countries like India.

Urban rail

Alstom, the French engineering group, is firmly in place with its Rs.1,500-crore order to supply 168 coaches by 2015 and six additional cars for the Chennai Metro. It has built a Metro rolling stock factory at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, to cater to Indian demand and will participate actively in future projects. The company competes with Bombardier, Siemens, and General Electric, among others, in Indian railway expansion projects.
On modernisation of the Indian railway system to improve service, passenger comfort and capacity, Jojo Alexander, vice-president for Strategy, Alstom, said there had to be a radical change in approach on the part of agencies such as the Research Designs and Standards Organisation of the Indian Railways. The opening of the electric locomotive tender (to international competition for supply of 1,000 locomotives) represented the first big change.
Bangalore’s model of levying a cess on petrol and diesel to raise funds for its Namma Metro Phase I was encouraging. Such internal funding was important to expand urban rail systems in India, said Sunand Sharma, president, Alstom International, India and South Asia.
The urban rail story in France is centred on improvements to quality and introduction of new options. One component is the renaissance of the tramway system. In the 1960s, all but three cities in the country — Lille, Marseille and Saint-Etienne — had done away with tram tracks to make way for cars. But in the 1970s, the oil shock and car dominance issues helped to change policy, and led to the introduction of a tax on companies to fund public transport. Tramways were reintroduced, and a recent survey showed modern trams capable of carrying over 3,000 passengers per hour per direction, cater to between 33 and 75 per cent of passenger journeys on public transport (bus, Metro and high-service bus representing the rest) outside the Paris region.
An even cheaper alternative, in service in France’s second city Lyon, is the trolley bus that uses overhead traction on the road and is similar to the conventional articulated bus. On a per kilometre basis, a tram costs a fifth of a Metro, while a trolleybus with dedicated corridor costs a fourth of a tram system, based on French costs.
(G.Ananthakrishnan, The Hindu dt 3-6-2013)