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Leisure, Travel and Holidays

Employment & NRI Times

Friday
November 28 - December 4
2014

Chinese tech for bullet trains likely

n Indian Railways
team is in China to
chalk out plans for
conducting feasibility study
to build the 1,754 km-long
Delhi-Chennai high-speed
train corridor, worlds second largest bullet train line.
The proposed corridor
could be the second largest in
the world after Chinas 2,298
km-long Beijing-Guangzhou
line which was launched last
year. Running at a speed of
300 km per hour, it covers the
distance in about eight hours.
The Delhi-Chennai high
speed line could cost around
US$32.6 billion. India is currently considering two corridors for high speed trains.
While Japan is conducting
feasibility study for the Bul-

let train project in MumbaiAhemdabad corridor, China

will do the same for the DelhiChennai route which expected to begin by early next
year.
Under the agreement,
China has agreed to provide
training in heavy haul for
100 Indian Railways officials, redevelopment of existing railway stations and
establishment of railway
university in India. The
training was expected to
begin soon. The two nations
have also agreed to co-operate to identify the technical inputs required to increase speed on the existing
railway line from Chennai
to Mysore via Bangalore.
The Delhi-Chennai route is

part of the proposed Diamond Quadrilateral project,

which aims to build a highspeed train network between different cities, including Delhi-Mumbai,
Mumbai-Chennai, ChennaiKolkata, Kolkata-Delhi and
Mumbai-Kolkata.
If materialised, the Indian bullet train project
could be a major gain for
China which is making an
aggressive pitch to market
its high speed train technology outside the country.
On Nov 20, China signed
its largest overseas project
worth about $11.97 billion
with Nigeria to build a railway line along the African
countrys coast. The contract
is its single largest overseas

project, China Railway Construction

Corporation
(CRCC) said. Earlier this
month, CRCC lost a $ 3.7 billion contract to build a highspeed rail link in Mexico after the countrys legislature
raised concerns about the
nature of the bidding process.
Commenting on the India-China High Speed train
deal, Feng Hao, a researcher
at the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation,
said if the deal is made, the
project opens the door for
Chinese companies to provide new railway design,
tracks made of durable materials, automated signalling for faster trains and
modern stations in India.
Besides cooperation in

More tourist trains

to be launched

fter the successful

launch of two tour
ist trains from Bangalore and Puducherry, Indian
Railway Catering and Tourism
Corporation would operate
three Pilgrim Special Tourist
Trains originating from
Madurai with 700 passengers,
IRCTC Additional General
General Manager L Ravikumar
informed. These trains are the
first special tourist trains from
Madurai after the announcement was made by the rail minister during the budget. The
Vishwaroopa Darshan train
would touch Mahakaleshwar
Director and Producer of A Rainy Day (Marathi film) Rajendra Talak and Dr Priyanka
Omkareshwar and Somnath,
Bidaye Talak with actor and actress Subod Bhave and Mrinal Kulkarmi on the Red
while Guru Kripa Yatra train
Carpet at the 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2014) in Panaji. IFFI
would visit Shirdi, Pandharpur,
Director Shankar Mohan was also present.
Mantralayam, among others.

Gadkari flags off Delhi-Nepal bus

he first-ever bus ser

vice from India to
Nepal was flagged off
to provide an alternative
mode of travel to commuters from the two countries,
with the government promising similar services for
other SAARC nations.
The bus was flagged off
by Road Transport Minister
Nitin Gadkari in Delhi at a
time when Prime Minister
Modi is in Kathmandu to
attend 18th SAARC (South
Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) Summit. While Modi has promised to foster better ties with
neighbours, there are expectations that some concrete

agreements could be inked

during his current Nepal
visit in the areas of connectivity and development cooperation.
Launching the luxury
bus service from the Indian
side at Ambedkar Stadium,
which will be run by Delhi
Transport Corporation and
would take 30 hours to reach
from Delhi to Kathmandu,
Gadkari said: India and
Nepal share old cultural ties,
which will be further
strengthened. There are over
one lakh retired military persons who get their pensions
in Nepal.Terming the occasion historic, he said, the
government is working to

launch similar services for

other SAARC nations. Delhi
Lt Governor Najeeb Jung was
present on the occasion.
This is the second international bus service being
operated by the DTC, which
has been running DelhiLahore International service
since 1999.
DTC will run a Volvo
and Mercedes buses daily
on the Delhi-Kathmandu
route, which will cover a
distance of 1,250 km to
reach Kathmandu in 30
hours from Delhi. The fare
of the bus has been kept Rs
2,300 per passenger.
It will travel via Yamuna
Express Highway, Agra,

Firozabad,
Kanpur,
Lucknow, Gorakhpur and
Sunauli. Thereafter, it will
enter Nepal territory to
reach Kathmandu. The service will be a direct one and
will neither pick up nor
drop any passenger anywhere in between. A provision of advance booking has
been kept.
The passengers will
have to carry proof of identification while purchasing
the ticket. The cabinet had
earlier approved the signing
of bilateral agreement for
the regulation of passenger
traffic between India and
Nepal on the sidelines of the
Summit.

Vistara fails to takeoff due to permit delay

ata-Singapore Air
lines promoted fullservice
carrier
Vistara will now start operations only next year due to
delay in grant of scheduled
Air Operators Permit (AOP).
The airline had applied to
the Directorate General of
Civil Aviation (DGCA) for
the permit in April and had
planned to launch services
by September.
Vistara has still not received the AOP and even if
it gets it in the days to come,
the airline will take at least
a month to launch, industry sources pointed out.
Besides, any airline looks
for few initial bookings before the launch and as of
now there is a total silence
from the airline on this
front, they said.
We are in the final
phase of securing the AOP.
We are working with the
regulator to complete the
remaining process expeditiously and look forward to
launch our services soon
after receiving the permis-

sion, a Vistara spokesperson said. The to-belaunched full service carrier, in which Tata Sons
holds 51pc stake and
Singapore Airlines the remaining 49pc, is also going

slow on inducting aircraft

due to the delay in flying
permit. It has taken delivery
of only two planes on lease.
The airline was scheduled
to take the third aircraft last
month but has deferred it

owing to the delay in the obtaining AOP.

On a long-term basis, the
airline has already decided
to lease 20 Airbus A320s,
including seven fuel-efficient A320 Neos.

Vatican confers sainthood on

two Keralites

ather Kuriakose Elias Chavara and

Sister Euphrasia from India were
among six conferred sainthood by
Pope Francis at a special canonisation mass
at St Peters Square at Vatican.
To witness the canonisation ceremony,
a 5,000-strong delegation of Kerala Catholic church had reached the Vatican. The
delegation included respected personalities
from other religions as well. The Kerala
government deputed two ministers for the
occasion. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman
PJ Kurien led the Indian delegation.
With Chavara and Euphrasias
canonisation , the centuries old Syro
Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala has
three saints, the first being Sister Alphonsa,
who was raised to the revered rank in 2008.
Father Chavara was ordained as a priest in

Father Kuriakose
Elias Chavara

Sister Euphrasia

1829. Revered as a reformist priest and

credited for initiating several measures, he
was beatified in 1986 along with Sister
Alphonsa. He received the beatification after claims of several miracles by his followers. He died in 1871 and is buried at Saint
Philominas Church at Koonammavu . Sister Euphrasia, who led a more secluded life
devoted to prayers, was beatified in 2006.
She died in 1952, at the age of 75 and is
buried at Ollur, Thrissur.

rail development, China has

agreed to invest about $ 20
billion in two industrial
parks in India. India is
pushing China to step up
investments in the country

to address the huge trade

deficit which officials say
averaged to $35 billion a
year in the last few years in
favour of China.
Currently, Rajdhani cov-

ers the distance between the

two cities in 28 hours and as
per the plan, the proposed
bullet train at 300 km per
hour speed will reduce the
travelling time to six hours.

BA-Visit Britain return offer to Indians

ritish Airways is to
launch an attractive
return offer between
London and five cities in India Mumbai, New Delhi,
Bangalore, Chennai and
Hyderabad. The offer is available on flights booked in British Airways Club World
(business cabin), World Traveller Plus (premium economy
cabin) and World Traveller
(econo- my cabin) for sale period until Nov 30, 2014 and
outbound travel on or before
March 31, 2015. Christopher
Fordyce, Regional Commercial Manager, British Airways,
South Asia, said: We, at British Airways, are pleased to
launch this campaign in association with Visit Britain to

welcome our customers in

India to visit and explore all
the magnificent cities and
towns across the UK.
There is so much more to

the UK than what is currently

known to globetrotters around
the world. Customers travelling with us can take advantage of our direct flights to the
UK, whilst enjoying our
award-winning on board services. All our flights arrive,
depart and transfer through
Terminal 5, British Airways

Ailing SpiceJet may

change hands

dedicated home at London

Heathrow, which offers a
smooth and seamless travel
experience.
Shivali Suri, Country
Manager VisitBritain India,
remarked: There is so much
more to Britain that meets the
eye. It is a great pleasure for
us to partner with British Airways on a digital campaign
which aims to promote the
more unexpected attractions
of England, Scotland and
Wales. British Airways currently operates 49 flights a
week from five key cities in
India- Delhi, Mumbai,
Chennai, Bangalore and
Hyderabad. For more details
and to book flights to the UK
visit ba.com

Crowne Plaza
Kochi offers
India Free Nights

piceJet promoter and media baron Kalanithi Maran

may be close to clinching a deal with an investor
for his ailing airline. Sources said the talks entered
the final round and are revolving around the valuation of
the company.
While the company is exploring various options to
further capitalise, we are unable to comment on specifics
at this stage, a SpiceJet spokesperson said.
The Bombay Stock Exchange, meanwhile, has sought
a clarification from the company with regard to media
reports that SpiceJet promoters were in talks to sell a part
or complete stake in the airline. SpiceJet shares rose
14.96pc to close at Rs. 16.06 on the BSE . Sources said
SpiceJet is being valued at around RS 1,500 crore. It is not
clear whether Maran wants to exit completely from the
budget airline in which he holds a stake of 53.48pc.
The cash-strapped airline has been cancelling flights
across its network on a daily basis prompting the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to recently ask for a
report from the airline. The size of SpiceJets Boeing 737
fleet, which stood at 35 in July, is down to 28 of which only
26 are operational. The number of daily flights has fallen
drastically from about 345 in July to around 300 at present.

rowne Plaza Kochi, a

part of InterConti
nental Hotels Group
(IHG), is offering one free
night stay for three consecutive nights booking under
India Free Nights Stay
programme for Indian nationals. Free stay can be redeemed at any of the 4,700
IHG hotels in more than 100
countries around the world.
This promotion is valid till
April 30, 2015. We intend to
target Indian nationals
through India Free Nights
and also allow them a chance
to explore other IHG hotel
brands around the world
without incurring any cost on
accommodation, Sanjay
Kaushik, General Manager,
Crowne Plaza Kochi, said.

Gulf Air-SITA
deal renewed

&

Gulf Air, Bahrains national

carrier, has signed a twoyear renewal deal with air
transport IT specialist,
SITA, for network, messaging and voice services. SITA
is providing the airline with
a comprehensive global network infrastructure, Type B
Messaging services, a mail
platform for operational
messages and global voice
and data services.
Gulf Air Acting CEO
Maher Salman Al Musallam
said: SITA offers the best
end-to-end solutions and
connects with all the cities
that our airline flies to. At
Gulf Air, we are committed
to providing our customers
with superior service standards and that encompasses
a broad range of deliverables
extending to our technological capabilities. We endeavor to have the best technology in place to ensure we
operate as efficiently and
cost-effectively as possible.

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