The Train and Railway Thread - CHOO CHOO!

The government says it will delay or cut back a number of modernisation projects planned for Network Rail.

Transport Secretary Patrick Mc Loughlin says rising costs and missed targets make the £38.5bn plan untenable.

He blamed Network Rail, saying it should have foreseen the improvements would cost more and take longer.

Labour said it had warned the government needed to change how the railways were run but had "dithered" over taking action.

He also announced Network Rail's chairman, Richard Parry-Jones, would leave the group after his three-year term and told M Ps none of the executive directors would get a bonus for the past year.

Mr Parry-Jones will be replaced by Sir Peter Hendy, the current commissioner of Transport for London.

AGARTALA: The Indian government has sanctioned around Rs.1,000 crore for a 15-km India-Bangladesh railway project, an official said on Sunday.

The union government on Saturday communicated to Tripura that it had sanctioned Rs.580 crore to lay the rail tracks and acquire required land in Tripura, Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik said.

The external affairs ministry earlier agreed to provide Rs.400 crore to lay the new tracks and to acquire land in Bangladeshi territory.

Union cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha is looking after the execution of the project after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina discussed it during Modi's Dhaka visit June 6-7.

Union cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha is looking after the execution of the project after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina discussed it during Modi's Dhaka visit June 6-7.

Bhowmik told IANS: "The alignment and other technicalities of laying the 15.06 km track to link Agartala with Bangladesh's Akhaura railway station has been changed by top engineers and railway officials."

"In order to reduce the land requirement, a proposal to lay 3.7 km of track on viaduct has been accepted by the central government."

Of the 15 km, five km falls in Indian territory and the rest in Bangladesh.

Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey said: "The new railway connectivity between Tripura and Bangladesh will boost socio-economic, trade and business ties between the two countries."

The 1,650-km distance between Agartala and Kolkata would be reduced to 515 km once the rail track is constructed through Bangladesh.

HARDA (Madhya Pradesh): At least 29 passengers, including five children, were killed and several others injured when two trains derailed simultaneously at the same spot while crossing a culvert on the swollen Machak river in Harda district, 160 km from Bhopal, 30 minutes before midnight on Tuesday. Ten bogies - seven of the Varanasi-bound Kamayani Express and three of Mumbai-bound Janata Express - fell into the rising waters.

Most of the casualties were reported from the Mumbai-Varanasi Kamayani Express, which had almost 200 people travelling to UP. Some people died of electrocution after the overhead traction wire snapped and fell on the tracks. Several passengers were trapped in two bogies of Patna-Mumbai Janata Express perilously hanging from the culvert. Rescue operations could begin four hours after the tragedy and the injured lay writhing in pain without any medical help.

Passengers said they woke up to a big jolt, which was followed by muddy water entering the compartments.

Barely 20 minutes before the tragedy,11065 Pawan Express and a goods train crossed the culvert without any trouble.

Railway officials told TOI the tragedy was fallout of flash floods triggered by a breach in a bund (embankment) at the nearby Mandla village under Khirkiya tehsil. On Tuesday, Khirkiya Tehsil received 29cm of rain.

But Harda administration denied that embankments on Machak river had collapsed. "There was no dam burst. The district received heavy rainfall and the soil beneath tracks eroded which led to the accident," district collector Rajnish Shrivastav told TOI.

In the Rajya Sabha, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu confirmed that flash floods caused the swollen Machak river to overflow and wash out a section of the rail tracks, leading to the derailment of the two trains. "The prima facie cause of the incident is stated to be 'flash flood due to heavy rains'," Prabhu told the Rajya Sabha.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the accident site was totally cut off from the main road as it was raining heavily in and around Harda. "We rushed teams from Khandwa, Hoshangabad and Harda districts," he said. Chouhan, who visited the accident site, announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the family of the deceased.

Harda SP Prem Babu Sharma said 25 bodies were retrieved from the accident site. Eleven bodies were identified in Harda while the remaining brought to Bhopal for identification by their kin. State Disaster Management Force and National Disaster Management Force were roped in for rescue operations.

Accident Relief Medical Van (ARMV) from Itarsi railway station reached the Bhirangi station at 2.20am and ARMV from Bhusawal railway station reached the nearest Khirkiya railway station at 3.25 am.

Twenty-six trains were cancelled and 82 were diverted on different routes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed distress and pain over the loss of lives in the twin derailment and said authorities are doing everything possible on the ground.

The railways have set up the following helpline numbers to deal with inquiries regarding the tragedy: Harda: 09752460088, Bhopal: 07554061609, Bina: 075802222, Itarsi: 0758422419200.