The Union Ministry of Surface Road Transport and Highways has declared two roads of Assam, linking neighbouring states Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, as National Highways.

The highways starting from Tinsukia on NH15, connecting Naharkatia and Hukanjuri of Assam and terminating at Khonsa on NH215 in Arunachal Pradesh has been declared as NH315(A) and the other highway starts from Srirampur on NH27, connecting Phulbari, Tura, Rongram, Ronjeng and terminating at Nongston on NH106 in Meghalaya has been declared as NH127(B), an official release said here on Thursday.

The BMTC has decided to run 150 more Volvo buses to IT corridors from various destinations in the City.

Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on ‘Doubling public transport share: A thrust to make public transport a choice for every citizen’ on Thursday, Principal Secretary for Transport P B Ramamurthy said, in a recent meeting held with heads of IT companies, it was decided to increase the number of buses to IT hubs like Electronic City and Whitefield.

After a study by the Institute of Urban Transport revealed that the Kolkata tram is a cheaper, environment-friendly mode of transport, the Ministry of Urban Development has asked metropolitan cities to consider re-introducing trams. The ministry suggested that trams could be introduced along Bus Rapid Transit corridors.

India has sought Japan's assistance in setting up more urban transport systems like monorail projects, intelligent transport networks and the Regional Rapid Transit Systems (RRTS). Japan has already been extending financial assistance for the construction of Delhi Metro.

Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, now in Tokyo participating in the India-Japan Business Summit, has acknowledged Japan's assistance in the development of India's urban transportation, elicited more assistance and invited investors to the Indian markets.

New Delhi Highlighting its inability to support increasing number of metro projects, the Centre has asked state governments to follow the models of Karnataka and Delhi for financing capital-intensive Metro rail projects by levying cess on residential and commercial developments, and increasing house tax. It has also urged them to set up state-level urban transport funds with such levies to finance the projects.

The Centre says its unable to support the increasing number of metro systems through the Budget and therefore wants the states to develop their own funding sources to part-finance such capital-intensive systems.

Apparently giving preference to political considerations over eligibility norms, the Centre is all set to clear the Kochi Metro Rail project, which will have three coaches in the first phase and will thus be the smallest metro in the country. The matter is likely to come up in the Union Cabinet meeting on Thursday. Sources in the Union Urban Development Ministry said that last month, the Ministry forwarded the Rs 5,200-crore project connecting Alwaye to Pettah in the district to the Union Cabinet for final approval.

New Delhi: The Delhi government finally seems to be waking up to the threat of environment pollution from the expanding private vehicle pool in the city. Based on an EPCA (environment pollution control authority) recommendation, the transport department is putting together a proposal for mandatory fitness checks of all private vehicles. At present, only commercial vehicles need to get an annual fitness check done at authorized regional transport offices.

From Wednesday traffic snarls will be back to trouble lakhs of commuters on the BRT corridor with Delhi Government deciding to revert back to the dedicated lane system. The decision was taken in a meeting held by the transport department of Delhi Government, headed by Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, on Tuesday and the same will be effective from Tuesday midnight.

ThiruvananthapuramKerala, counting on debt funding by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to feed 80% of its proposed R1.18-lakh-crore high-speed rail corridor project, is likely to corner some Japanese industrial investment too, as if in bonus.

A business team, led by Japanese diplomatic officials, has been in talks with state industry officials on a project for manufacturing advanced technology components for high-speed trains.

Changes in traffic flow at Chirag Dilli, Siri Fort intersections

The flow of traffic between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand along the Capital's much talked about Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor will revert to the original lane system from Wednesday. The Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System Limited (DIMTS), which operates the corridor, said on Tuesday that following the end of the trial runs by Central Road Research Institute on the instructions of the Delhi High Court, the corridor was handed back to it on Saturday.