10 May 2015

Ticket coupon machines on Mumbai railway become history

    
The Coupon Validating Machines (CVMs) installed and developed 21 years ago by the Railways, as an alternate to the then ticketing system, will be going down the memory lane from 1stof May 2015. The Coupon Validating Machines (CVMs) also synonymous as the"Red Boxes" will be a matter of reminiscence, as the Railways has bid farewell to it once and forever.
          The Coupon Validating Machines (CVMs) and its Coupons were introduced in the Mumbai suburban section of W. Rlys on 15/08/1994. The basic idea behind the introduction of Coupon Validating Machines was to bring down the length of queues at the booking counters and to reduce the time taken for purchasing tickets. The commuter was required to purchase the coupon booklet available from the booking counters and punch the coupons of the appropriate ticket value at the machines installed at the stations, which print the station code of validation, date and time of validation, to undertake the journey on the Western as well as the Central Railway suburban trains. The coupon booklets were initially available with the denominations of Rs. 40 /- & Rs. 60/-, which was later increased to Rs. 50/- and Rs. 100/-. There were a total of 306 nos. of Coupon Validating Machines (CVMs) on the Western line for the convenience of the commuters.
It is worth mentioning that true to its concept, the Coupon Validating Machines was an instant hit among the general commuters, especially, for the occasional travelling masses, thus gaining momentum to its popularity. The average sale of coupon booklets was approx. 20,000 per day and used by approximately 1.70 lakh passengers daily, which amounted to 15% share of the total daily travelling traffic.
          The Ministry of Railways has discontinued the Coupon Validating Machine (CVM) Coupons with effect from 1st April 2015 and accordingly, the sale of CVM coupons had been discontinued w.e.f. 01/04/2015. However, the CVM coupons available with the commuters were permitted to be continued upto 30.04.2015 by stamping on the coupons.

Now, these Coupon Validating Machines (CVMs) and the coupon booklets are set to enter into the annals of Railway history as the same has been discontinued to make way for the more technologically advanced ticketing system of Automated Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM) and Mobile Ticketing. They are retired from Railway service and will find its place in the archives after the completion of its final innings on 30th April, 2015.

Story of the railway turntable

http://abpmajha.abplive.in/videos/2015/05/04/article576369.ece/railway-back-to-forward?id=576369


10 April 2015

Yes! Dining car of iconic train will be back

Two weeks after highlighting the fact that the dining car of the iconic Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen had been discontinued leading to strong reactions from regular commuters and rail fans, the Central Railway said they will get it back. Officers said they were working on building a new dining car for the Queen at its Parel workshop, trying to be readied by the train's 86th anniversary.

Moreover, they have now invited also suggestions from commuters with ideas on how the interiors of the train should look like.

"There is good news. The Deccan Queen will get a new dining car," tweeted Narendra Patil, chief spokesperson of Central Railway, breaking the news, leading an overwhelming reaction.
Patil said that we want the regular commuters and railfans to decide how should the interiors of the trains be designed. "All suggestions are welcome and they can be sent to us on our official email or tweeted onto the @Central_Railway twitter ID which we monitor every single day," he said.

Another top official said that the car is going to be manufactured at the Parel workshop. "Basically, a pantry car is being redesigned as a dining car and it will take two to three months to complete the entire process. The 86th anniversary of the Deccan Queen falls in June as it was on 1 June, 1930 that the rain had first run. We are trying to complete the process by that date but it looks difficult," the official added. 

He said the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) is open to suggestions from railfans and users on the colour scheme, furnishing and decor of the interiors.

The iconic dining car had been discontinued after its codal life was over and it has been replaced with normal pantry car. The dining car offered a table service for 32 passengers and had modern pantry facilities such as microwave oven, deep freezer and toaster. The dining car had also been tastefully furnished with cushioned chairs and carpet.

22 March 2015

Bye, bye Deccan Queen dining car!

Rajendra B. Aklekar
@rajtoday
Baked beans with buttered bread, cheese toast sandwich, omelette bread, pomfret bread with potato chips and chicken cutlet--people will no longer be able to sit and enjoy the popular items on the menu of 85-year-old restaurant-cum-dining car of the Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen.

The iconic dining car is no longer in service and has been replaced with a normal pantry car. Food items, however, will still be delivered on order. The dining car used to offer table service for 32 passengers and had facilities such as microwave, deep freezer and toaster. It was tastefully furnished with cushioned chairs and carpets, and food was served in customised crockery, and regular commuters are ruing the change.



Badlapur resident Amol P Nikam, who works for Infosys, queried the Central Railway (CR) about the dining car and was told that the car's codal life was over and it has been replaced with another one. "But sadly, the new one is a normal pantry car," he lamented.

"It is the end of an era. The railways should continue the legacy of the dining car, as it has history and was quite popular among generations of commuters," said Pune resident Apurva Bahadur, who has been documenting railways for more than 20 years now.

Borivali resident Akshay Marathe said, "The dining car was an integral part of the Deccan Queen experience. Its ambience complemented the delicious food. Sitting by a window of the car and sipping coffee while the train slowly wound its way up the Bhor ghats was heavenly. Without the dining car, Deccan Queen is incomplete."

Frequent Mumbai-Pune traveller Abhishek Risbud has fond memories of the Deccan Queen dining car. "Possibly the only train where you could get a fresh pizza. Baked beans with toast was my wife's favourite dish, while I liked chicken cutlet. It had fabulous seating. Food and beverages were served in nice crockery," he said.

CR officials said they will have to examine the feasibility of introducing a new dining car again. "As of now, the train has been given a pantry car, which stocks all the required food and beverages. It has been painted in the Deccan Queen paint scheme so that the coach does not look odd," said a senior official.

The Deccan Queen, initially, had only first class and second class accommodation.  First class was abolished on 1st January 1949 and second class was redesigned as first class, which continued up to June 1955 when third class was introduced on this train for the first time.  This was later re-designated as second class from April 1974 onwards.   The coaches of the original rakes were replaced in 1966 by anti-telescopic steel bodied integral coaches built by Integral Coach Factory, Perambur. 

These coaches incorporated improved design of bogies for better riding comfort and also improvements in the interior furnishings and fittings.  The number of coaches in the rake was also increased to 12 from the original 7 coaches providing additional accommodation.  Over the year the number of coaches in the train has been increased to the present level of 17 coaches.

From its inception, apart from providing high standards of comfort to the passengers, the train has witnessed various improvement such as introduction, for the first time in India, of coaches with roller bearings, replacement of end on generation coaches with self generating coaches with 110 volts system and introduction of first and second class chair cars providing increased accommodation to passengers.  The distinctive colour scheme of cream and oxford blue with red band above the window level has been recently adopted as the colour scheme for this train.

With the ever-growing aspirations of the travelling public for better amenities, improved standards of comfort and better quality of service, it was considered necessary to give a complete facelift to the Deccan Queen.

The rake was changed in 1995 with the following special features:



* All newly manufactured or about a year old, air brake coaches.

*The 5 first class chair car in the old rake have been replaced by 5 AC chair cars providing an additional seating capacity of 65 in a dust-free environment.  Also the 9-second class chair cars provide additional seating capacity of 120 seats compared to the old coaches.  Thus, new rake provides a total seating capacity of 1417 as against 1232 seats in the old rake i.e. an increase of 15%.

* The dining car offers table service for 32 passengers and has modern pantry facilities such as microwave oven, deep freezer and toaster. The dining car is also tastefully furnished with cushioned chairs and carpet.

*The history of Deccan Queen (Dakkhan ki Rani) is literally a tale of two cities.  The public of both the cities are happy with the impeccable record of “right time start” and “arrival” of Deccan Queen. Over the last 80 years of its colourful history, the train has grown from a mere medium of transportation between two cities into an institution binding generation of intensely loyal passengers.

*The management systems of Deccan Queen (2123 Dn / 2124 Up) have been assessed by International Services Ltd. and found to comply with the requirements of ISO 9001-2000 under the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand in November 2003.

*At Present Deccan Queen (12123/12124) runs with 17 coaches including 4 AC chair car, one Dining Car, 10 second class chair car and two second class cum brake vans.

rajendraa @ gmail.com
(Thanking Akshay Marathe, Aditya Kambli for pics and Amol Nikam for the query)

11 March 2015

Mumbai CST -- Stunning images of life in stone

Stunning images of life in stone. Playful bird carvings on Mumbai CST railway station building, world heritage site.