Hampi : I finally made it

(Writing from Bangalore)

This is my 3rd visit to Bangalore and this time I had made it to Hampi. Standing by the famed stone chariot at the Vittala temple complex, I said to me ‘this is why come all the way’. Among all the ruins in Hampi scattered over 25 sq km, what I really wanted to see were the Hampi Chariot. If you have read Indian history (I believe most of us did at least in school), then you probably had seen a photo of the Hampi chariot. There also is an old 5 paise postage stamp issued on this. This is a piece of history. My wish of being able to see it had fulfilled.

It was a real hectic trip. I started at 9 pm on Saturday from Bangalore and reached Hampi at 8 am next day. Hiring an auto, I could complete the sight seeing by 1 pm. I had seen almost all important monuments during this time frame. I also enjoyed a brief coracle boat ride on the Tungavadra. With the sightseeing trip ending well before I had expected, I boarded a bus back to Bangalore by 3 pm of Sunday and was back at Bangalore by 12 midnight. Thus in about 27 hours, I had traveled nearly 800 km by road. Yet the satisfaction of being able to see Hampi took away major part of the tiredness of such an arduous trip.

I will be putting up the details once I am back in Delhi.

The 1 rupee Volvo joyride in Bangalore

Back in Bangalore for a second time this year.

One of the front page news on Thursday’s TOI newspaper (Bangalore edition) was that take a ride in BMTC’s premium Volvo city bus service for just Rs.1. I was also a bit surprised at this news. The fare I had paid for my Volvo trips the earlier day was Rs.25/- for Domlur – Marathali Bridge section and Rs.15/- for Marathali Bridge – Sarjapur Jn. Section.

When I ride one Thursday morning at Marathali Bridge, I had kept a 1 rupee coin ready. The lady conductor was asking everyone to give one rupee change. Though hard to digest, the 1 rupee fare is a reality. Some of the Volvo regulars, who did not have time to read morning newspaper, was taken by surprise at this huge discount. As the bus progressed, more and more people had started getting into the bus. Soon the bus was full and it started to feel a bit suffocating. This is not what the premium service is meant for. I saw even a guy, who appears to be regular Volvo user, getting off after traveling hardly two stoppages, apparently to travel by other means.

The transport minister had reasoned that this is done to entice the bikers to use this bus service. Such a stupid idea. It is another example of the mental bankruptcy of our administrators. A biker will never trade his bike ride for a bus ride because a bike provides a cheap point to point ride -- right from his doorstep to gate of his office. Thus instead of bikers, it were the people who normally uses other type of cheaper city buses had crowded the buses.

Next morning the same newspaper (TOI) carried an article with photos telling that the 1 rupee fare scheme is a huge success. It also cited a different reason this time for the scheme. Such a crape! The reason for success is that the largesse had made the air-conditioned Volvo city buses the cheapest mode of transport for the day. Therefore only the fools and stupidest would have traveled by normal buses. This is just throwing a free ride for those people who would never ever travel by these once original fare is restored in 4 days. The fare of Volvo buses is too high for them to afford.

With a running cost of Rs.52/- per kilometer, the Volvo service is positioned as a premium service targeted for a certain set of users who are willing to pay the price for a comfortable travel. This stupid scheme of the government had put the regular users into lot of trouble. Instead of providing a feel of comfortable journey, it had made one to get out and travel by a regular bus. Unfortunately they will have to face this music till Sunday, the 14th Sept.

Update on train cancellations to Delhi

Railways has made available the list of affected trains online. You can access these details at the following links :

1) IRCTC news flash
2) Northern railway news flash

Cancellations / Diversions of trains to New Delhi wef 06.09.2008

Train services to Delhi, specially to New Delhi station is going to be severely affected between Sept 5 and 15. As I have read in the newspapers, 62 trains will be cancelled, 50 diverted and 126 will be terminated short. Some of these train will be terminated short as far as Kanpur which is another 5 hours journey to Delhi by train. If you are traveling during these dates, then you are in for a shock. What is more troublesome is that information on trains getting affected is not available on any of railway official sites. All one can gather is piecemeal information from various websites. I managed to find the press release on the Northern railway site which is reproduced below :

Quote:
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Press Release REMODELING OF NEW DELHI RAILWAY STATION 19/08/2008
In order to enhance train operational facilities at New Delhi railway station, Northern Railway will be carrying re-modeling work involving installation of the New Route Relay Interlocking with 1278 routes . For this purpose, New Delhi Railway Station will remain Non-interlocked from 06.09.2008 to 14.09.2008. The complete remodeling of New Delhi Railway station would involve installation of New Route Relay Interlocking (1278 routes) largest on Indian Railways. This Relay Room will be in place of existing British System (RRI) Route Relay Interlocking (690 routes). There would be additions and alternations of 125 routes in existing Delhi Jn. SIEMENS PANEL and Relay Room. Yard remodeling of triangle area of Delhi yard on New Delhi end, dismantling of 34 turn outs, 2.6 Tkm track 53 masts/posts, and foundation, leading out releases, making & formation earthwork, ballsting, casting of 16 foundations, erection of masts/posts, linking & insertion of 21 turn outs, 1.85 Tkm track and signals telecommunication and OHE works would be done in the remodeling work. There would be 33% increase in platform handling work at New Delhi Railway Station after the remodeling work. The bottleneck in Sadar area would be removed and there will be 6 lines in place of existing 3 at Sadar Bazar end of New Delhi Station making independent corridor for reception and dispatch of trains to and from Delhi Jn./Delhi Kishanganj, Subzi Mandi and Delhi Sarai Rohilla stations. Two additional lines on Tilak Bridge end will be connected with New Delhi Yard. Thus there will be 6 lines between New Delhi & Tilak Bridge in place of 4. There will be 2 Island platforms at New Delhi Railway Station, thus making a total 16 in place of existing 12 Platforms. In view to carry on the remodeling work at New Delhi Railway Station 62 trains will remain cancelled, 126 trains will be terminated short of destination which will originate from there and 50 trains will be diverted to run on alternative route for the period from 5 th Sep. to 15 th Sep. 2008.
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Unquote:
What is still bad is that there is no list available on the trains getting affected. You will have to keep a watch on the Northern railway site for further announcement, if any. These are :

NR Home Page and

NR New Press Releases

Apparently all these upgradation is being done keeping in sight the Commonwealth Games in 2010. I had also come across a ministry press release informing that platforms of New Delhi Railway Stations are being made compatible to 24 coaches. Platforms No. 10, 11 and 12 at New Delhi Railway Station are already compatible for 24 coaches trains. Works on seven platforms i.e. platforms No. 3 to 9 have been planned to accommodate 24 coach trains. Twenty four pairs of trains are presently running with 24 coaches.

Searching for this piece of information on train rescheduling, I came across two useful sites, supposedly put up fans of Indian Railway.
1) Indian Railways News
2) Indian Railways Fan Club

The Indian Railway News site had caught my attention. It is a very informative site with links to many railway related sites. Hats of to the person who has took all the pains to put up the site and maintain it.

Costlier air travel : UDF at HIAL and BIAL airports

More bad news for domestic air travelers. Not only taxes have gone past 3000, you will also have to pay an additional amount as UDF (User Development Fee) on flying out of Hyderabad, and soon from Bangalore as well. The Civil Aviation ministry has given approval for collecting a UDF of Rs.375/- per person for domestic passengers traveling out of the new GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL). However exact date of collecting UDF from domestic passengers have not been announced, but likely by August end. International passengers have already been paying Rs.1000/-(or USD25) as UDF since 11-June-2008.

Mounting taxes has already made air travel less lucrative then what it was a year ago. In fact airline passenger has registered a negative growth in last one year. Because of this, some airlines have refused to collect UDF as part of ticket cost. This may result in passengers queuing up at GHIAL to pay UDF. Something similar is being planned for BIAL at Bangalore. I had traveled to the BIAL recently. Traveling to the airport 50 km away from city itself is a headache. After traveling for at least an hour and half, one will have to queue twice -- first check in and then may be a second time to pay UDF.

Out of Rs 225 collected currently as passenger service fee (PSF), the airport operator receives Rs 80 for maintaining public amenities at the airport. The UDF is meant to enable the company to bridge the gap between the admissible expenditure and admissible revenue as estimated. This is to be reviewed every two year.

Read more on this at Economic Times.