Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

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A Nandy
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by A Nandy »

https://themetrorailguy.com/2021/01/01/ ... package-4/
Larsen & Toubro today emerged as the lowest bidder for major tunneling work on the under construction 125 km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway line which will link both towns in Uttarakhand through 12 stations.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by mappunni »

A Nandy wrote:https://themetrorailguy.com/2021/01/01/ ... package-4/
Larsen & Toubro today emerged as the lowest bidder for major tunneling work on the under construction 125 km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway line which will link both towns in Uttarakhand through 12 stations.
Why are Turkish companies being allowed to bid? I see a Turkish company won the bid in Surat?
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Suraj »

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1346094033957838849
In a game changing development, Freight Trains have started to attain top speeds of above 90 kmph on newly inaugurated New Khurja- New Bhaupur section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.

WAG12 12,000hp locos hauling strong:
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by CalvinH »

Suraj wrote:https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1346094033957838849
In a game changing development, Freight Trains have started to attain top speeds of above 90 kmph on newly inaugurated New Khurja- New Bhaupur section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.

WAG12 12,000hp locos hauling strong:
Counted 58+57 Wagons. At 90+ KMPH. Wonderful.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Suraj »

Then you stopped counting halfway - that has another WAG12 in the middle and a total of 116 wagon to my count - i may have blinked and missed some . Imagine the change in rail freight throughout - 3x faster, 1-2x longer, 2-3x more trains due to less congestion and advanced signaling . These are going to dramatically affect GDP growth .

Added later: ah I misread that as 57-58, not a plus in between.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by A Nandy »

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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by A Nandy »

Then you stopped counting halfway - that has another WAG12 in the middle and a total of 116 wagon to my count - i may have blinked and missed some . Imagine the change in rail freight throughout - 3x faster, 1-2x longer, 2-3x more trains due to less congestion and advanced signaling . These are going to dramatically affect GDP growth .
Yes in fact it might make the current stock market look like a valley :) . Along with the UK/French economy :twisted:
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by prahaar »

World’s first Double Stack Long Haul 1.5 Km long Container Train hauled by electric traction in WDFC. The impact on transportation will be immense when the section until Palanpur is completed, especially to the ports in Gujarat and Mumbai. DFC is coming up for commercial use, slow but steady. Hopefully EDFC and WDFC is concluded in 2021 (15 years if we consider 2006 start date).

https://youtu.be/t-pPzpc5aC0

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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Suraj »

The WAG12s with those super high catenaries and 1.5km of double stacked containers is such a shakinaw looking beast, as Singha would put it . Anyone want to compute the time taken for that train to start from standstill to last carriage clear, estimate the speed of the last carriage and then establish acceleration ? It picked up speed surprisingly fast to my eyes, given the load it is carrying, though it’s not clear how many containers are full .
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by venkat_kv »

Vsunder saar, hasn't been posting much lately. hope all is well with him.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by venkat_kv »

the double stacked ones seem to be 45+45 wagons with double stacking making a max of 180 big containers to be transported in one go. It should be able to transport 2-3x times normal load reducing the trucks plying on higways as well. its one big beast. hope to see more of those in the near future working to the full capacity.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by A Nandy »

I wonder if they can increase the length of the trains further to 3 to 4 km or more.

https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/ ... er/581796/
Moreover, there are other issues which are encountered at the level of states, the DFCCI official said.

“Right now, I can say that we are facing trouble in Maharashtra and West Bengal… For example, in Maharashtra, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port where the Western Corridor ends, there are about 3,000-4,000 non-title holders who need to be given compensation. But since they are non-title holders, we cannot do much. It is an issue that the state government has to resolve,” the official said.

This is why the DFCs are being inaugurated in patches, the official added.
The project, which was facing several roadblocks over land acquisition and loan approvals for over a decade, will triple the movement of goods (from approximately 25 kmph to 65-70 kmph), double the railways’ freight capacity (from 5,400 to 13,000 tonnes), and also double the length of the trains being used currently to up to 1,300 metres from the current 700 m, according to railways ministry officials.

At the same time, the DFC would reduce the high logistics cost in India, which averages from 13-15 per cent of the product cost as compared to the global average of 6 per cent.
For example, while the Golden Quadrilateral corridor, which connects Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai carries 58 per cent of India’s freight, it accounts for just over 15 per cent of the total length of the Indian Railways network.

As a result, a large part of the freight movement in India takes place through road transport, which raises the logistics cost of goods. According to the draft National Logistics Policy, the reason for a higher than global average logistics cost in India is that 60 per cent of transportation activities are conducted via road.

While the railways has undertaken a series of measures to attract road traffic — last year, it decided to set up Business Development Units at all zonal and divisional levels to stay in touch with industries and advertise the willingness of Railways “to attract new streams of traffic” — the DFC remains the most crucial aspect of this endeavour.

Since these freight corridors will be exclusively meant for goods trains, they will have one station every 50 km as compared to the existing railways, which has one every 10 km. This would mean that the cost of manpower, maintenance and operation for the DFC will be much lower.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by A Nandy »

Snow clearing in Srinagar posted by the Ministry: https://twitter.com/i/status/1347808050892001280
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by SRajesh »

venkat_kv wrote:the double stacked ones seem to be 45+45 wagons with double stacking making a max of 180 big containers to be transported in one go. It should be able to transport 2-3x times normal load reducing the trucks plying on higways as well. its one big beast. hope to see more of those in the near future working to the full capacity.
Noob Pooch??
Roof tops of moving trains be okay for solar panels or not!!
If so can the long haul containers be modified to generate electricity! :?: :?:
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by kit »

Rsatchi wrote:
venkat_kv wrote:the double stacked ones seem to be 45+45 wagons with double stacking making a max of 180 big containers to be transported in one go. It should be able to transport 2-3x times normal load reducing the trucks plying on higways as well. its one big beast. hope to see more of those in the near future working to the full capacity.
Noob Pooch??
Roof tops of moving trains be okay for solar panels or not!!
If so can the long haul containers be modified to generate electricity! :?: :?:
An easier way is to install solar panels at all the stations and use "regenerative power" that is generated when trains stop and feed it back to the grid. A "Green railway" initiative.

https://www.mitsubishielectric.com/en/o ... 07_01.page

The motor that propels a train can be used to generate energy when the rail vehicle is slowing down or stopping – which can then be transformed into electricity for use elsewhere. Mitsubishi Electric has developed advanced equipment that taps into this so-called "regenerative power", enabling the energy to be used to help other trains speed up or even provide power to station buildings.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by A Nandy »

Also I wonder if some of these containers are kept powered. Like can they be connected to the engine(along with taking in solar power) to maintain a refrigerated environment for perishables. Container ships seem to have this provision where an environment is maintained inside to keep vegetables from ripening early(high N2 I think), and as they come near to the port/market, a more normal atmosphere is restored so they ripen just in time.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by CalvinH »

A Nandy wrote:Also I wonder if some of these containers are kept powered. Like can they be connected to the engine(along with taking in solar power) to maintain a refrigerated environment for perishables. Container ships seem to have this provision where an environment is maintained inside to keep vegetables from ripening early(high N2 I think), and as they come near to the port/market, a more normal atmosphere is restored so they ripen just in time.
I am assuming that some wagons can carry battery banks similar to those that power passenger bogies. May be some wagons can be specialized for this while rest of the wagons are regular types. For the provisions as similar to mentioned by you many wont apply as train journeys are very short as compared to journey of a container ship. In any case logic for such provisions should be build in the containers. All that is needed from the railway is the power for such containers.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by sankum »

Why the wagons have to carry battery banks as the power regenerated can be fed back to grid just like in metro or is technically not feasible?
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by CalvinH »

sankum wrote:Why the wagons have to carry battery banks as the power regenerated can be fed back to grid just like in metro or is technically not feasible?
Regenerative power is only available during braking. Wont be sufficient to continuously power a large container based refrigerator.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Vips »

Indian Railways runs first goods train with an all-woman crew.

In a major breakthrough, the Western Railway zone has recently operated the first goods train with an all female staff crew. On 5 January 2021, an all female crew piloted a goods train from Vasai Road in Maharashtra to Vadodara in the state of Gujarat. With this, the national transporter has set an example that no job is beyond the capacity of women to perform as well as to excel. According to a press release issued by the Western Railway zone, the goods train that departed from Vasai Road to the city of Vadodara was helmed by Kumkum Suraj Dongre- the Loco Pilot, Udita Verma- the Assistant Loco Pilot and Akansha Rai- the Goods Guard.

According to the Western Railway zone, this was a first of its kind for the zonal railway, which ran its first manned goods train with an all women crew. The railway zone further stated that very few women come forward to join these posts due to the grueling nature of the job of guards and loco pilots, which also involves travelling long distances. The Western Railway zone believes that this move will be a game changer as well as an inspiration for other women to take up such challenging jobs in Indian Railways.

Indian Railways’ Western zone is always encouraging the participation of women in each and every department of the national transporter, including the heavy duty jobs which were earlier considered as men’s domain. According to the zonal railway, there are female porters across various railway stations of the Bhavnagar Division. Also, Preeti Kumari is the Western Railway zone’s first motor woman to run Mumbai suburban local trains. Now, the women of India are ready to accept challenging jobs and proving their abilities beyond the threshold of household chores, the Western Railway zone added.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Pratyush »

CalvinH wrote: Regenerative power is only available during braking. Wont be sufficient to continuously power a large container based refrigerator.
It should be possible to fit dynamos to power the refrigeration units and charge the battery while the wagon is in motion.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Vadivel »

Pratyush wrote:
CalvinH wrote: Regenerative power is only available during braking. Wont be sufficient to continuously power a large container based refrigerator.
It should be possible to fit dynamos to power the refrigeration units and charge the battery while the wagon is in motion.
The energy going into the dynamos to generate is essentially the same power that runs the engine, its like you are using power to run the dynamos and generating power again. Besides dynamos on wheels will increase the system weight and load on motors and not to say the least they generate not much electricity anyway.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Cyrano »

Wonderful video on how IR took advantage of Covid effect on traffic and did extensive repairs & upgrades. Many trains running faster now and in future were made possible by this stupendous effort !

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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Rohit_K »

Bombardier Wins Mumbai Metro Line-4’s 234 Coach Contract
https://themetrorailguy.com/2021/01/17/ ... -contract/
Bombardier Transportation on Saturday emerged as the lowest bidder to design and supply 234 metro coaches (Rolling Stock Package MRS2) for Mumbai Metro’s under construction 35.2 km Line-4 & 4A (Green Line) which will connect Wadala – Kasaravadavali – Gaimukh through 34 stations.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by darshan »

PM Modi inaugurates Kevadia railway station, launch 8 trains to Statue of Unity
https://www.deshgujarat.com/2021/01/17/ ... -of-unity/
Narmada: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is today inaugurating Kevadia railway station. Kevadia is located five kms away from the Statue of Unity. Kevadia is famous of Statue of Unity and other tourist attractions apart from Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam. With construction of a railway station and rail line connectivity, Kevadia is now placed at India’s railway map. New railway stations at Dabhoi and Chandod are also being dedicated today on Vadodara – Kevadia rail line. Inauguration of 8 new trains including one Jan Shatabdi Express from Ahmedabad with Vista Coach is also taking place today.
...
The Prime Minister said that, perhaps, for the first time in the history of Railways, trains have been flagged off for the same destinations from different corners of the country. He explained that this is because of the importance of Kevadiya as home to Statue of Unity and Sardar Sarovar. Today’s event exemplifies the vision of railways and mission of Sardar Patel.
...
Mentioning that one of the Kevadiya bound train is originating from Puruchi Thaliaivar Dr MG Ramachandran Central Railway Station, the Prime Minister paid tribute to Bharat Ratan MGR on his Birth Anniversary. Shri Modi praised his accomplishments on film screen and political platform. He noted that MGR’s political journey was dedicated to poor and he worked tirelessly for a dignified life of the down-trodden. The Prime Minister said that we are working to fulfil his ideals and recalled how the grateful nation renamed Chennai Central Railway station after MGR.

The Prime Minister, pointed out the new connectivity between Kevadiya and Chennai, Varanasi, Rewa, Dadar and Delhi along with MEMU service between Kevadiya and Pratapnagar and broad gauging of Dabhoi-Chandod and new Line between Chandod- Kevadiya will script a new chapter in the development of Kevadiya. This will benefit both the tourists and local Adivasis as this will bring new avenues of self-employment and employment. The railway line will provide connection to the places of faith like Karnali, Poicha and Garudeshwar on Narmada.
....
The Prime Minister said that it used to appear like a pipedream when, initially, Kevadiya was proposed as major tourist destination. Given the old way of working, this scepticism had a logic as there was no connectivity of roads, nor street lighting, rail, tourist accommodation. Now Kevadiya has transformed into a complete family package with all amenities. Attractions here include, grand Statue of Unity, Sardar Sarovar, vast Sardar Patel Zoological Park, Arogya Van and Jungle Safari and Poshan Park. It also has Glow Garden, Ekta Cruise and water sports. The Prime Minister said due to increasing tourism, Adivasi youth is getting employment and local people are getting modern amenities. There are new opportunities for local handicrafts items in the Ekta Mall. He also mentioned that about 200 rooms are being developed for Home Stay in the Adivasi villages
....
The Prime Minister dwelled at length on the transformation of Indian Railways through goal-centric effort. He said that apart from traditional role of passenger and goods transportation, railways is giving direct connectivity to places of tourism and religious importance. He said many routes including Ahmedabad- Kevadiya Janshatabdi will have attractive ‘Vista-Dome Coaches’

The Prime Minister also outlined the change in approach for developing railway infrastructure. He said that earlier focus was limited to keeping the existing infrastructure running and there was little attention on new thinking or new technology. It was imperative to change this approach. In the recent years, work was done on comprehensive transformation of entire railway system and it wasn’t limited to tinkering with budget and new train announcements. The transformation took place on many fronts. He gave example of the present project of connecting Kevadiya where multi-pronged focus led to completion of the task in record time.

The Prime Minister also presented Dedicated Freight Corridor as an example of change in approach from earlier times. The Prime Minister dedicated the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors recently. This project was under progress and between 2006-2014 work was done only on papers with not even a single kilometer track laid. Now a total of 1100 Kilometer are about to be completed in next few days.

Prime Minister also elucidated on new connectivity as unconnected parts of the country are being connected. Speed of broad gauging and electrification has gained momentum and tracks are being prepared for higher speed. This has enabled running of semi high speed trains and we are moving towards high-speed capabilities, for this budget has been enhanced manifold, said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister also pointed out that it is being ensured that railways remains environment -friendly. Kevadiya Station is India’s first railway station to start with green building certification.
...
The Prime Minister stressed the need for skilled specialist manpower and professionals to meet the requirement of the railway transformation. This need drove the establishment of Deemed Railway University in Vadodara. India is one of the few countries to have an institute of this stature. Modern amenities for rail transport, multi-disciplinary research, training are being made available. Talented youth from 20 states are being trained to steer the present and future of railway. This will help in modernizing railway through innovation and research, Concluded the Prime Minister.
Boats, sea plane, and trains
https://www.deshgujarat.com/2021/01/17/ ... iverfront/
Sabarmati: This new AC boat will undergo trial first and later it will be opened for public through tickets. This closed body AC boat has 60 seats. It will be run by a private agency that operates boating and number of other water sports activities near Vallabh Sadan at Sabarmati Riverfront already.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Suraj »

Cyrano wrote:Wonderful video on how IR took advantage of Covid effect on traffic and did extensive repairs & upgrades. Many trains running faster now and in future were made possible by this stupendous effort !

All of this youtube channel is spectacular. They are so much more informative than mainstream press. Here are more railway ones:
Chenab Railway Bridge

Jammu-Baramulla link

Railway electrification project

Madhepura ELF - IR/Alstom WAG12 construction plant
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Cyrano »

Travelled in vistadome coaches couple of years ago from Vizag to Araku valley. These coaches are very nice and must be deployed on all scenic routes.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Sachin »

Cyrano wrote:Travelled in vistadome coaches couple of years ago from Vizag to Araku valley. These coaches are very nice and must be deployed on all scenic routes.
Nearly a year & half back I had made a trip to Vizag only to experience the travel on Vistadome coaches and seeing the submarine museum. Unfortunately there were no tickets available, and I also found out that the Vistadome coaches were not in the rake which was planned for that day. But luck was on my side as a friend helped me to travel on this train; on the locomotive (WAG 9) :lol:. And this was one of my child hood dreams, which I could achieve only much much later. Perhaps there is a time for every thing.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Cyrano »

IIRC there are just 2 vista dome coaches in the train rake, the rest are regular coaches. Thats why reserving them is so difficult. BTW, not just the submarine museum, but the Tu 142 aircraft museum right opposite is also a great visit when you are in Vizag !
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by A Nandy »

https://theshillongtimes.com/2020/12/30 ... next-year/
GUWAHATI/AGARTALA: The Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR), which operates trains and executes projects partially in Bihar and West Bengal besides the northeastern states, will link India with Bangladesh and Nepal via rail in the next nine months.

NFR’s spokesman (Construction Organisation) Jayanta Kumar Sarma said that with an estimated cost of Rs 967.5 crore, the Agartala-Akhaura railway project would be completed by September next year while the Jogbani-Nepal project, with an estimated cost of Rs 374 crore, would be finalised by July 2021.

According to the another senior railway official, six of the eight northeastern states’ capital cities will come on the Indian railway map by March 2023.

The NFR, which has already connected Assam’s main city Guwahati (adjoining capital Dispur), Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh’s capital cities, is laying tracks to connect the capital cities of three more northeastern states – Imphal (Manipur), Aizawl (Mizoram) and Kohima (Nagaland) — by March 2023.

The first train in the northeast region of India chugged out from the industrial city of Dibrugarh in eastern Assam 138 years ago.


https://www.railpost.in/jiribam-imphal- ... ter-to-ls/
Image
Jiribam-Imphal project was included in the railway budget in 2003-04. Latest anticipated cost of the line is 12,264 crores and 10,089 crores have been spent up to March 2020. Rs 800 crores have been provided for the project in FY 2020-21, the minister stated.

Minister Goyal also explained that Jiribam-Imphal new line project is a challenging project in the hilly terrain of the young Himalayas having 47 nos. tunnels, 156 nos. bridges including 141-metre high pier bridge etc. In addition, COVID-19 pandemic has also adversely affected the progress of the work at the site.

Mining of 46 nos. tunnels out of total 47 tunnels have been completed. Mining of 47.40 km tunnel has been done during 2014-19, which is 110% more than tunnel mining done during 2009-14 (22.52 km).

5 out of 11 major bridges, 108 out of 128 minor bridges, 3 out of 5 Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and 2 out of 12 Road Under Bridges (RUBs) have been completed, the minister’s response further elaborated on the progress of the work done so far.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

DFCs will become the lifeline of India. The Eastern DFC runs parallel to the busiest route in India. 110 freight rakes move on the Grand Chord section each day, roughly 55 in each direction. This is 2018 figures. All this traffic will move to the EDFC once the EDFC is fully constructed to West Bengal. Even in its current state the figure of freight rakes will be certainly more than the figure I stated on the already constructed sections.


On the Western DFC, also traffic is projected to be an astounding 109 rakes each way everyday by 2023. 6.2 million TEUs of container traffic and 40 million tonnes of bulk traffic every year in 2023. So on the WDFC a train will pass every 10-15 mins in one direction. On the Grand Chord currently a train that is freight+passenger passes every 5 mins(this is for both directions)


Definition of TEU:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-fo ... alent_unit


The DFCs will double the throughput that major freight routes carry now.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

Here are two videos that explain operations at the container terminal at Kathuwas (between Ateli and Rewari) on the WDFC. This is a major container terminal. Material handling systems, tagging containers and how each port has its own siding line at the terminal is shown and explained. How errors are caught etc.

https://youtu.be/A3E1FP6z-rA

https://youtu.be/08EPTGK3uFU
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

^^^^ Listen carefully at what is being explained. The manager states that 180 TEUs can be put onto a rake double stack. This is a IR rake not a DFC rake. DFC rakes are double the length. So DFC rakes double stacked capacity is 360 TEUs. As I said 109 rakes will run in each direction on the DFC per day. Assume that the other direction runs empty containers, that is equivalent to assuming roughly half the container traffic on any rake is empty containers. So we have the number of TEUs annually, that is rakes running continuously with no downtime for maintenance of the WDFC and ideal conditions thus establishing an upper limit for the maximal capacity of the system.


360x 109x365= 14.3 million TEUs annually.


I stated a figure of 6.2 million TEUs by 2023 above and in addition 40 million tonnes of bulk traffic, stones, food grains, gypsum, cement(many cement plants on the WDFC), fertilizer(petrochemical complexes in Gujarat), Paan ka masala and we can see why the over count we have obtained in our calculation and by how much and you can now calculate how many rakes will be container traffic and how many rakes of bulk goods. We can also see how much capacity the system has for pure container traffic. Of course this is a back of the envelope calculation to get a rough idea of the proportion of rakes that will be containers and those that carry bulk goods. So 6.2 million TEUs is hardly stressing the system at this point with a lot of room to grow.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

Both bridges across Yamuna at Noida and across Hindon River on the WDFC connecting Dadri on EDFC and Rewari are complete. Yamuna bridge was constructed by using a coffer dam to stop the flow of the river which needed the cooperation of the environmental agencies of Haryana and UP governments. L&T completed both. Now work is going on the massive viaduct at Sohna. There was an accident launching gantry collapsed, maybe a pier suffered some damage and an SUV was destroyed but fortunately nobody got hurt.
https://youtu.be/i2fAcirX-7M

https://static.toiimg.com/thumb/msid-79 ... 380687.jpg

Yamuna Bridges were built by putting completed spans into place and not by the time consuming launching mechanism for cantilever bridges which is slow. There are excellent videos about all this.

Here is another bridge on the verge of being completed on River Mahi, southwest of Vadodara on the Iqbalgadh--Vadodara section of the WDFC.

Bridge on River Mahi on WDFC between Nadiad and Vadodara at this location. Bridge is 150m long.


https://www.google.com/maps/place/22%C2 ... 73.0611315


Bridge is southwest of Vadodara. WDFC will not enter Vadodara but go on the outskirts.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1350149457199861760


Seems like 4 spans left, piers ready.

Bridge on Sabarmati river south of Ahmedabad on the WDFC is also ready.
Last edited by vsunder on 21 Jan 2021 04:30, edited 1 time in total.
hnair
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by hnair »

Good to see you back, vsunder-saar, this thread missed your very detailed posts during DFC commissioning and it is always a pleasure to read :)
vsunder
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

hnair wrote:Good to see you back, vsunder-saar, this thread missed your very detailed posts during DFC commissioning and it is always a pleasure to read :)
Many Thanks.



EOTT, End of Train telemetry devices a new era on IR.


A new era has dawned in IR. End of Train telemetry devices were supposed to be part of the DFC and I was looking forward to some news of trials somewhere. An innocuous new item barely noticed by anyone alerted me that trials occurred a few days ago on ECoR. Thus the era of the guard, last vans and caboose is on the way out. It might be pointed out that in the US, introduction of EOTT was met with stiff resistance by labour unions due to the loss of jobs. It might be helpful to understand the role of guard to understand the role of EOTT.

The role of the guard primarily is to monitor brake pressure at the rear. Brake feed lines on most railways including IR operates at 6 kilo Pascals(kPa) corresponding to 90 psi. While brake pressure is 5 kPa 70 psi. Braking is effected by 3 systems.

1. Dynamic braking where the loco pilot reverses the polarity on the electric motors and so slows the train down. This is not enough to stop the train(see the Locotrol post above that is a long time ago). The air brakes that does stop the train. Lastly brakes on the leading loco. A skilled pilot uses a combination of the three brake systems.

2. If a decoupling happens, the brake pressure in the gauge in the guard's van falls and he is alerted and may apply some form of braking. However, the Westinghouse brake or its many variants is a fail safe brake system where brakes will apply as soon as the brake pressure falls. It is based on an ingenious 3 connection valve invented by George Westinghouse which more or less remains at the heart of train braking systems with an air reservoir in each and every wagon or bogie.


EOTT systems will do away with a guard, and attendant pensions and benefits and personnel. Last vans and cabooses will not have to be built nor will there be a need for Periodic overhauling(POH). The telemetry device communicates with the HOT(Head of train device in the cabin of the leading loco). In the US and in India(I attach RDSO guidelines for EOTT devices) the loco communicates with the EOT device at a certain frequency and the EOT communicates with the HOT at a slightly higher frequency. IR has chosen the frequencies:

452.9375 MhZ front to back
457.9375 MhZ back to front


https://rdso.indianrailways.gov.in/work ... 122018.pdf

This is very close to the US frequencies. In Australia and NZ communication is done at the same frequencies. Most likely Hitachi will implement EOTT on the WDFC. Wabtec/Faively and Inteletrak are other EOTT leaders.

In fact the caboose/last van and the guard at the back you see in the video will be a thing of the past. Gone the guard with his big trunk and flags and lamps etc. DFC is moving to EOTT devices called Wilma in the US. It needs a corresponding Wilma enabled loco and a Head of train device that will monitor via telemetry rear brake line pressure and is standard on all advanced rail systems worldwide. There will also be a savings in salary/pensions as guards will no more have any role and also savings in buying and maintaining the last van. I suppose these Alstom locos and the corresponding GE diesels are Wilma enabled.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-of-train_device


A Wilma device

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-of-tr ... _wilma.jpg


More info about EOTT, frequencies they operate on in the US and range 3-5 miles enough for a mile long DFC train.

https://trn.trains.com/railroads/abcs-o ... in-devices


Railfans in the US can tune into the Wilma chirps and know a train is coming, Indian railfans can also do so soon, by building Wilma scanners using commercial electronics parts.

I mentioned Wabtec above, here is a video from them that explains EOTT better:

https://youtu.be/eD7LDQiwWt8

And lastly the news reports from ECoR:

ECoR successfully commissioned EOTT system on a freight train
Bhubaneswar, Dec 15 (UNI) East Coast Railways (ECoR) has commissioned the End <br />of Train Telemetry (EOTT) system to run trains without guards.


http://www.uniindia.com/ecor-successful ... 64438.html
suryag
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by suryag »

vsunder sir, welcome back.

The Chenab Bridge seems to have about 75feet to go, feel it will be done in the next 6-8 months(cant marvel enough) latest video here




There seems to be a minor bridge at 8:00 min may take a year to complete

The Anji Khad bridge seems to be the only big one left now, latest video here, looks like quite a lot of work left
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