Rail Budget: Peanuts in Lucknow’s kitty

LUCKNOW: Boarding a train will need one to shell out more for whichever class he wants to travel in the new financial year. The rail budget 2012-13 hasn't made much difference for Lucknow. The city had demanded trains between Lucknow-Delhi , Lucknow-Mumbai and Gorakhpur-Delhi , but the ministry has not responded to the demands this time too.
The Lucknow-Delhi and Lucknow-Mumbai routes witness a heavy passenger traffic all the year round.The already existing trains have a long waitlist almost every day. The trains to Delhi and Mumbai were demanded in the previous budget also. The two trains which will directly cater to Lucknowites are Lucknow-Chhapra (thrice a week) and Howrah-Lucknow (weekly).
On the other hand, Kanpur has got two direct trains - a weekly train Kanpur-Amritsar Express and a daily train Kanpur-Allahabad Intercity Express . On the hike in passenger fare, officials said it was very much needed. "The fare was not hiked in the last nine years and fund crunch had stalled many projects. People want improvement in the services, a little hike in fare is not a matter of concern,” said sources.
The officers also said that setting up of corporations will improve the services. Besides, the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) has been entrusted to ensure that train protection and warning system (TPWS) technology is suitably adapted to Indian conditions. This technology ensures automatic application of brakes whenever a driver overshoots a signal at danger , thereby eliminating the chances of collision of trains. The TPWS technology is proposed to be installed on more than 3,000 km of route.
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