Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Sridhar K · Post by **Sridhar K** » 25 Jan 2019 21:18

From Sudhanshu Mani's Twitter

Good news for Train 18..the intractable stalemate on Elect. inspection of the train resolved today with the intervention of PCME ICF@shubhranshu..it finally took the passion & plain speak of the builder, moistened by blood & sweat of ICF, to get an unconditional certification..

Great moment as Train 18 shd be in commercial service, finally..It's time to remember that the project had the support of those who matter; PM himself had endorsed the work of Integral Coach Factory and ICF had always received great support form Sri Piyush Goyal, the Hon'bl MR.

https://twitter.com/ManiSudhanshu58/sta ... 01921?s=19

Ashokk · Post by **Ashokk** » 25 Jan 2019 22:10

From Sudhanshu Mani's LinkedIn page -
Train 18 ..The concept
About ICF before the Train 18 story
Train 18 series part III
Train 18 series..part IV
Train 18 series, part V..our vendors, our partners
Train 18 series, part VI..everyone aboard!
Train 18 series, part VII..welcome dear consultants!!
Train 18 series, part VIII..Public Procurement Policy is certainly not a disabler!!

mridulmm · Post by **mridulmm** » 28 Jan 2019 11:24

First Train 18 service between Delhi to Varanasi, to be known as Vande Bharat Express.
https://twitter.com/PiyushGoyal/status/ ... 5383322624

Arima · Post by **Arima** » 28 Jan 2019 18:20

How much similar or different does the traction differ between Train 18 vs EMU.
dont EMU have multiple transaction units, distributed regenerative brakes and power transmission between all transaction wheels?

JayS · Post by **JayS** » 29 Jan 2019 00:21

Vande Bharat feels like a cheap knock off of Vande Mataram. Why couldnt they come up with something better..?

Indranil · Post by **Indranil** » 29 Jan 2019 00:31

I agree, that sounds like a lame name. How does "Praying/Bowing to ___" pass for a name of a superfast train?!

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 29 Jan 2019 21:16

I think as India becomes an educated society they should do away with giving names to trains and instead use codes.

Meanwhile, the difference between privatization of railways in UK and Japan.

https://www.ft.com/content/9f7f044e-1f1 ... e4dbd3580d

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 30 Jan 2019 06:00

Supratik wrote:I think as India becomes an educated society they should do away with giving names to trains and instead use codes.

Meanwhile, the difference between privatization of railways in UK and Japan.

https://www.ft.com/content/9f7f044e-1f1 ... e4dbd3580d

I think we can all agree that Japan in an educated society. All the long distance passenger trains have assigned names.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_n ... s_of_Japan

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 30 Jan 2019 09:30

IR has train names and numbers. Whats the hangup?

ks_sachin · Post by **ks_sachin** » 30 Jan 2019 11:36

Supratik wrote:I think as India becomes an educated society they should do away with giving names to trains and instead use codes.

Is this only for trains or do aircraft also not have names. I much prefer LCA to Tejas!

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 30 Jan 2019 11:39

JayS wrote:Vande Bharat feels like a cheap knock off of Vande Mataram. Why couldnt they come up with something better..?

It'll make the 'vande mataram' haters say vande bharat

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 30 Jan 2019 18:49

I was thinking more of how they name the national highways. There can be standardized names with numbers e.g. Rajdhani 1, Rajdhani 2, Shatabdi 1 shatabdi 2, tejas 1, tejas 2, etc. Right now IR has a very high number of train names which could be hard to recall specially for foreign tourists.

yensoy · Post by **yensoy** » 30 Jan 2019 18:58

Supratik wrote:I was thinking more of how they name the national highways. There can be standardized names with numbers e.g. Rajdhani 1, Rajdhani 2, Shatabdi 1 shatabdi 2, tejas 1, tejas 2, etc. Right now IR has a very high number of train names which could be hard to recall specially for foreign tourists.

Trains do have numbers, and those are unique. Tourists will tend to use numbers to avoid confusion. Remember many years ago even numbers weren't unique across IR - we needed names as well - though they would be unique in any given section.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Jan 2019 19:22

everyone is armed with phones, data plan and even IRCTC app may be available.
the old days of going through printed time table books from wheeler book store to get the routes , stations and times are over - an exercise to sharpen the mind for sure onto database indexing and manual searching

I doubt todays app tap munnas will appreciate those old works of art.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 30 Jan 2019 19:37

ks_sachin wrote:
Supratik wrote:I think as India becomes an educated society they should do away with giving names to trains and instead use codes.

Is this only for trains or do aircraft also not have names. I much prefer LCA to Tejas!

many Indian airline carriers have also individually named their aircraft.

AI and spicejet come to mind.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 30 Jan 2019 21:29

A non-issue if there ever was one. Let's also not name ships, D61, 62, 63 should suffice, no? Come on people

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 30 Jan 2019 21:47

Pliss to look at the names given by Lufthansa for their planes

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 30 Jan 2019 21:53

It is a small issue agreed but I am just wondering from experience if it can be made better. Recently I was trying to book a train ticket from Kolkata to Kharagpur. Never been on that route. It is a relatively small distance. There were between 15-20 trains each with unique names. It will be OK for a regular passenger. But hard to recall for say someone from southern or western India not to mention foreign tourists. The train numbers are unique but they are even harder to recall. So always thought if it could be made simpler going forward. Right now it is OK as many would be more comfortable with say Vidyasagar express than say something like Superfast 21D.

No one looks at airlines names.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 30 Jan 2019 22:08

Supratik wrote:The train numbers are unique but they are even harder to recall.

That's exactly why they are given names...

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 30 Jan 2019 22:11

Supratik wrote:I think as India becomes an educated society they should do away with giving names to trains and instead use codes.

Meanwhile, the difference between privatization of railways in UK and Japan.

https://www.ft.com/content/9f7f044e-1f1 ... e4dbd3580d

I agree. To add to the code should be departure time and Platform. 930 to Bengluru 12, 1030 to Bengluru 11, 1130 to Bengluru 12, etc.

You can organise a clock work society around such a schedule. The Airlines do something similar. In fact much of the organised world runs that way. It will come to India too, once time becomes money.

But what will the politicians do then...

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 30 Jan 2019 22:26

Yes politicians naming things can be hilarious. Mamata didi named the metro stations in Kolkata after different personalities when she was railway minister. The end result was that even hardcore Kolkatans forgot which station was which and where to go and where to get off. They eventually had to bring back the locality names. Vande Bharat could have been a short name with a code for such a modern train.

andy B · Post by **andy B** » 31 Jan 2019 00:30

suryag wrote:Pliss to look at the names given by Lufthansa for their planes

Trains too sir ji the ICE all have names even the Swiss fast trains have names

Avtar Singh · Post by **Avtar Singh** » 31 Jan 2019 04:05

Lufty. msn;177 380-841 D-AIMM
Named DELHI
seen it around a few times

https://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/luf ... e-a380.htm

Indranil · Post by **Indranil** » 31 Jan 2019 04:30

Should we move on from this naming convention discussion? 2 days back, I flew on "Chattisgarh" from Kolkata to Delhi. Typically "Chattisgarh" is not used on this route, but had to be pressed into service, thanks to overbooking. Let's not get into this moot discussion.

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 31 Jan 2019 06:32

To get back to regular programming
***

In the North-East

Railway Ministry to approach CCEA for doubling of Railway Line from New Bongaigaon to Guwahati via Rangiya: Piyush Goyal

GUWAHATI: Union Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal said that Railway Ministry will soon approach Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for clearance of doubling of railway line from New Bongaigaon to Guwahati via Rangiya.
...
The Railway Minister was apprised that Tetelia – Byrnihat new railway line, doubling of Lumding – Hojai section, Agartala – Sabroom new railway line and international line from Jogbani would be ready very soon.

Survey for another Bridge over Brahmaputra near Silghat nearing completion

MALIGAON: Shri Rajen Gohain, Minister of State of Railways today said that survey for construction of a new bridge over river Brahmaputra near Silghat is nearing completion and once the survey is complete it can be considered for inclusion in the Budget. The Minister was speaking in the ceremonial function for flagging off of a new train from Silghat (Assam) to Kolkata

***

Southern division

151 Kms Manoharabad-Kothapalli Railway line to be ready by March 2019

This one is a little unclear, since only land acquisition has been completed and earthworks etc started. Will be much longer than March 2019, for sure.

Korukkupet-Tiruvottiyur fourth rail line work gets underway

CHENNAI: The fourth rail line between Korukkupet and Tiruvottiyur railway stations, an important link in Chennai rail network, is about to be commissioned even as work is going on in full speed

http://www.railnews.in/guntur-tenali-ra ... uary-2018/

Typo I suppose, should be Feb 2019.

***

East

SER’s Adityapur-Kharagpur 3rd Railway line to speed up trains, freight

KOLKATA: Punctuality of passenger trains running in Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway is all set to improve in the coming days, thanks to the new third-line project and the latest initiative to introduce convoy system for freight trains.

Following the removal of encroachments by the railways and the state government at Krishnanagar near Tatanagar station in November, decks have been cleared for the ambitious railway project, a major portion of which is expected to be completed by 2019. Work has already gained pace after the removal of the squatters.

The 132km third-line project was sanctioned in 2015-16 at an estimated cost of Rs 1,312 crore. Out of the total stretch, 77km falls in Jharkhand and the rest 55km in Bengal. The project includes construction of 18 major and 157 minor bridges connecting as many as 16 stations.

***
North

Railways to extend 4 lines in Himachal Pradesh

SHIMLA: Railways is going to expand four railways lines network in Himachal Pradesh. Projects taken up for expansion include 63.1 km long Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri railway line at an estimated cost Rs 6,769 crore, 50 km long Una-Hamirpur railway line at an estimated cost of Rs 3,044.10 crore , 33.23 km long Chandigarh-Baddi railway line at an estimated cost of Rs 1,540 crore, and 112.9 km long Nangal Dam-Talwara railway line at an estimated cost of Rs 2,528.49 crore.

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 31 Jan 2019 06:38

This is a big one

Railways completes 306 km of western dedicated freight corridor

NEW DELHI: The railways on Sunday said it has completed the 306-km section between Madar (Ajmer) in Rajasthan and Kishangarh (Rewari) in Haryana in the western segment.

A Railway Ministry official said a trial run of freight train on this newly completed section was done on Sunday in the presence of Anurag Sachan, MD.

Equipped for heavy-haul train operation with 25 tonne axle loads for the first time in the country, the section contains 15 major bridges and 271 minor bridges and 177 Road Under Bridges (RUB).

The 306-km route has six newly-built freight stations – Dabla, Bhagega, Sri Madhopur, Pachar Malikpur, Sakhun and Kishangarh and three junctions – Rewari, Ateli and Phulera.

On November 30, the railways completed the 194-km section from Bhadan to Khurja in Uttar Pradesh of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC).

saip · Post by **saip** » 31 Jan 2019 07:15

arshyam wrote:
Supratik wrote:The train numbers are unique but they are even harder to recall.

That's exactly why they are given names...

Not always. Railways gives the same number and name to special trains as regular trains though they run at slightly different times.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 31 Jan 2019 08:26

>> The Railway Minister was apprised that Tetelia – Byrnihat new railway line, doubling of Lumding – Hojai section, Agartala – Sabroom new railway line and international line from Jogbani would be ready very soon.

this Byrnihat is in meghalaya on the border. this line was planned to link Shillong onto railway map. but a mix of "student orgs" who claim it will lead to influx of outsiders (never mind the NH from all directions is there but outsiders will come by train only!) and "influential politicians" with land holdings along proposed route have blocked it for years.

so line is curtailed to byrnihat only and its unlikely that shillong will get a train anytime soon. a pity because that region is rich with tourism potential and cherrapunji is a major draw for domestic tourists as is dawki famous for its crystal clear waters in winter

"outsiders" will skip this road and use trains only to infiltrate

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 31 Jan 2019 09:07

saip wrote:
arshyam wrote:
That's exactly why they are given names...
Not always. Railways gives the same number and name to special trains as regular trains though they run at slightly different times.

For example?

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 31 Jan 2019 18:31

vsunderji, if you are reading this what will be the current status of tripling/quadrupling of the Golden Quad railway lines with all these new lines opening?

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 31 Jan 2019 22:57

Unmanned level crossing in India eliminated - Piyush Goyal tweet.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 01 Feb 2019 08:09

by unmanned did it mean free for all, or included those which are remotely controlled from the nearest line cabin and no staff to physically keep impatient people in line ? (each such cabin few 100mts away could control multiple such remote gates)

uddu · Post by **uddu** » 01 Feb 2019 08:37

Unmanned means no gates but there exist a crossing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-zhNSJ3Xs4

Already manned level crossing are also getting removed by underpass and overbridge build. Now that process will speed up.

A Nandy · Post by **A Nandy** » 02 Feb 2019 20:51

T18 on service from Feb 4th?

https://twitter.com/ManiSudhanshu58/sta ... 8831463426

https://www.zeebiz.com/india/news-train ... late-83749

The Indian Railways has completed all preparations for running the country's most modern and first semi-high speed train Train 18. It was on trial today between New Delhi and Varanasi. During the trial run, the railways attempted to take the train from New Delhi to Varanasi under 8.35 hours. According to senior railway officials, this train may be opened for passengers travelling between Delhi and Varanasi on any day between 07 to 10 February. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the train from New Delhi. The exact date of the launch of Train 18, however, will be announced after the railways get a date from the Prime Minister's Office.

Destination On Time

Officials said Train 18 has passed the time trial. Today, it started at the laid down time of 6 am from New Delhi and reached 15 minutes before to Kanpur at 10.18 am. It reached Allahabad 12 minutes before the laid down time at 12.25 pm. However, it reached Varanasi 10 minutes late. Train 18 had to start its return journey from Varanasi at 3.00 pm and reach New Delhi at 11.35 pm.

Indian Railways has announced the country's first semi-high speed train will be named as Vande Bharat Express across the country. This train has been developed by Indian Railway's Chennai-based coach factory. Train 18 has been previously tested at a speed of up to 180 kilometer per hour.

But during the New Delhi to Varanasi journey, this train will be run at a speed up to 130 kmph because of busy routes and tracks.

The ticket cost of Train 18 will likely be more than Shatabdi Express.

Train 18 has features like modern trains running in Europe and runs without a separate engine.

Meanwhile, reports say that Train 18 was vandalised by stone-pelters in the morning today when it was being taken from Shakur Basti to New Delhi Railway Station. The attack took place near Daya Basti.

Train 18 was previously attacked on 20 December during the trial run around the same place in Delhi.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 02 Feb 2019 21:02

Good. It is going to be "Vande Bharat" express "across the country".

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 02 Feb 2019 21:56

RRTS project to start.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-ne ... gFYGK.html

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Feb 2019 01:14

IBNLIve

New Delhi: Miscreants pelted stones on a new Train 18 during its trial run on Friday, barely a month after a similar incident, officials said.

No one was hurt in the incident and no arrests were made after the incident that occurred when the train left Sakurbasti at around 11:03 pm on Friday to reach New Delhi to begin its trial run to Allahabad, railways said.

The train was escorted by Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel.

"On reaching New Delhi station, the escort party informed about stone pelting. Second coach from the front was hit near Sadar area under DLT(Delhi Lahori Gate) post.

"A railway servant present in T-18 informed the escort party that a stone hit the window glass of coach no.188320 of T-18," a northern Railway official sai

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 03 Feb 2019 07:43

And they still insist on running every brand new train out of Delhi. Why not try Mumbai-Ahmedabad till the HSR arrives?

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 03 Feb 2019 07:49

More apt route would have been Chennai Bangalore. All they had to do was replace shatabdi with Train 18. 5 hours journey can come down to 4 hours.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 03 Feb 2019 08:23

Though I'd personally love that, the problem is that there is no sign of upgrading speeds on this route. For the railway board, Delhi and its environs are the only ones that deserve greater speed tracks (and I am talking about measly 120/130, forget T-18 type 160/180). The max permissible speed has languished at 110 on this route for decades now (the ghat section of course is lower) and the Shatabdi expresses do not cross 105 anywhere. SR takes a cue from the RB and does not bother upgrading simple things like turnout speeds, junction crossover points like Jolarpettai (all trains spend at least 15 mins crossing this one junction, stop or no stop), and Katpadi insists on sticking with 15kmph turnouts. When such simpler efforts that could speed up existing trains aren't being attempted, what's the point of running T-18 here?