Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Nick_S · Post by **Nick_S** » 01 Mar 2017 11:04

Hyperloop One's Vision for India - Full Event Recording

Rishi Verma · Post by **Rishi Verma** » 02 Mar 2017 17:49

Extremely innovative, juggad, tailored to Indian condition step by railways to reduce vehicle emissions in New Delhi.

http://m.timesofindia.com/city/delhi/to ... 430091.cms

JTull · Post by **JTull** » 02 Mar 2017 21:17

Rishi Verma wrote:Extremely innovative, juggad, tailored to Indian condition step by railways to reduce vehicle emissions in New Delhi.

http://m.timesofindia.com/city/delhi/to ... 430091.cms

More sustainable solution than the odd-even thingy

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 02 Mar 2017 21:43

Right now those trucks are not allowed to ply through the city during the day time. Will save time and money till the new by pass road comes along.

kapilrdave · Post by **kapilrdave** » 02 Mar 2017 23:05

Per the article 66000 trucks pass through NCR daily. If we consider 100 trucks per ferry, and considering roughly equal flow of trucks to and from, railway still needs to do 330 ferry on a daily basis. Possible?

disha · Post by **disha** » 03 Mar 2017 02:41

kapilrdave wrote:Per the article 66000 trucks pass through NCR daily. If we consider 100 trucks per ferry, and considering roughly equal flow of trucks to and from, railway still needs to do 330 ferry on a daily basis. Possible?

Only 20000 per day. Of the 66k trucks heading into Delhi., 20k go to delhi for onward journey and their destination is not delhi. By taking them off the roads, it reduces congestion and pollution.

Once a dedicated freight corridor comes through, one can put 30 trucks on a single train and a train every 5 minutes (their average speed can be 40 kph) will still allow 7200 trucks to bypass!

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2017 15:51

Its better railway offer the konkan railway type truck hauler service betweek long haul points esp leaf nodes like itanagar or imphal or itanagar. A ip tunnel over ip or ip over mpls.

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 04 Mar 2017 15:31

Suresh Prabhu‏Verified account @sureshpprabhu
2/Dedicated 5th and 6th line between Moore market complex and Basin bridge.Will pave way for seamless connectivity, reduction in time
6/Dedicated new gauge converted BG line between Sengottai and New Aryankavu #RailInfra

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » 04 Mar 2017 20:55

X Posted on the STFUP Thread.

If Pakistan does not agree to India-Afghanistan Trade and Transit then how will it allow India Access to Iran and Turkey?

Does the Indian Government not remember the wholesale Looting and Destruction of US-NATO Containers transported from Karachi to Afghanistan?

India takes lead to run freight train from Dhaka to Istanbul

Codenamed the ITI-DKD-Y corridor, the container train’s route is scheduled as Dhaka-Kolkata-Delhi-Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul.

Taking a leaf from China’s run to Europe, India is going to showcase its might in freight movement by running a trans-continental container train full of goods from Dhaka to Istanbul, covering a 6,000-km journey across five countries — Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey.

Codenamed the ITI-DKD-Y corridor, the container train’s route is scheduled as Dhaka-Kolkata-Delhi-Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul. Eventually, Yangon will also be connected to Dhaka. The missing Tamu-Kalay link in Myanmar is still to be built.

Indian Railways has called South Asian railway heads involved in the project to work out the nitty-gritty at a high-level meeting on March 15-16. Pakistan railway chief Javed Anwar is also being invited. There is one issue with Pakistan that needs to be fixed. While Pakistan allows freight trains and passenger trains from Delhi to Lahore via Attari, it has historically cited security reasons to not allow movement of containers on this route. For the demonstration, Indian officials said, it will not be a problem as it is a one-off run.

What energized the project is that a long missing link of 150 km in Zahedan, in the Baluchestan province of Iran, has now been established, connecting the country to the Pakistan Railway network on the border. So the Trans-Asian Railway Southern Corridor, as it is formally named, under the aegis of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), is good to go all the way to Turkey after certain operational exchange of notes and coordination between the nations concerned, which India is anchoring this month.

“The demonstration run will happen very soon in 2017 and we will sort out all the issues with the countries concerned. It’s a great leap for South Asian regional connectivity in the rail sector. This will also demonstrate to the world that there can be a real, commercial trans-Asian container corridor of this magnitude in the rail sector,” Mohammad Jamshed, Railway Board Member (Traffic), told The Indian Express.

Currently, goods take a long, roundabout route from Ludhiana to Lahore which otherwise are just a few hours apart by rail. The March 15-16 meeting is aimed at discussing some common technical and operational parameters between the railway systems of the countries involved.

So far, in communications between the railway systems, all countries have on paper endorsed the project and have said that the demonstration is technically feasible.

India, on its part, had already sent a high-level team of officers from the Railway ministry and Container Corporation of India late last year to Dhaka on a reconnaissance of the proposed route. It was found that the rail bridge over the Padma river cannot carry the load of heavy freight trains and allows only passenger operations. So it was agreed to keep the demonstration train relatively light, filling it preferably with a cargo of cotton garments.

Past the Dhaka border, there is the inland container depot in India which will service the rail cargo train on its way to Kolkata. From Kolkata to Delhi and then to Attari and Lahore will be smooth sail, officials said.

In January this year, China sent a container train from East ‘China’s Yiwu all the way to London via Germany, covering a distance of 12,000 km and demonstrating that it can be cheaper, even faster mode of freight movement between the Asian giant and countries in Western Europe and all in between.

“In the recent past, countries across the world have realised the potential of carrying out trade through land routes which existed in ancient eras and much is being done to revive the same, the policy document on the project says. The project can provide a new lifeline for trade in South and South West Asia.
Cheers

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 05 Mar 2017 21:14

^^^^Old Aranyakavu station on Sengottai-Punalur GC line will now be a halt station, but New Aranyakavu is a crossing station. New Aranyakavu station is not completely ready, approach road to the station not done etc. tiles on platform not fixed so it was rather premature to declare it open, need to complete all this before onset of SW monsoon when things will turn into slush and a mess. Ditto for all gauge conversion works between Edamon and New Aranyakavu 23 km as work will have to be halted during monsoons.
The stretch Bhagwathipuram-Aranyakavu-Edamon-Punalur is at the top of the Western Ghats and so gets tons of rain. Tenders were out to test viaducts between Edamon-New Aranyakavu for stress loading as the old viaducts were jacketed for GC and there are numerous tunnels in this 23km section including one new viaduct and one new tunnel. Regarding 5,6th lines at Moore market, the other related news is that Railways has decided to open a 4th terminal at Tondiarpet for the Chennai area. So Central, Egmore and Tambaram and now Tondiarpet. The idea of having a 4th terminal at Royapuram fell through as LA problems arose including taking land from Stanley Medical College.

When the British landed at Ft. St. George, they found a man selling buttermilk where the Moore market is, and they asked him the name of the place and he said Moore, so the British gave the name Moore market.
Don't for once think one Moore an angrez, built that market. Likewise Tondiarpet, a Britisher pointed at a man and said what is the name of the place, man thought he was being asked the name of his paunch so he said Thondhi and so Tondiarpet. All this story of a Muslim saint Mastan sahib from Thondhi in Rameswaram district coming to Tondiarpet is wrong history.

The other famous Mastan sahib is the famous weaver devotee of Ramana Bhagawan, whose samadhi lies near Desur, near Poondi, (of Poondi swami fame)

http://sri-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.com ... astan.html

Other related works:

1. Tipu Armoury will be on the move March 8th-13th. Armoury was lifted by 2 feet and rails placed underneath. Things are going well. It will be moved 350 feet and then wheels adjusted and then moved right for 100 feet to its new resting place. By end of April the 1.5km tracks of doubling at Srirangapatna should be ready and so completing Bangalore-Mysore doubling and electrification.

2. Chennai-Trichy doubling and electrification should be done by mid April. Valadi-Srirangam-Golden Rock/Ponmalai is the section that needs to be completed. Rumor has it that it is almost done and CRS will be called by mid April for a dekho.
Beyond: Trichy-Dindigul LA problems are hampering doubling in a few block sections, but fresh impetus will hopefully see the issues resolved. Hopefully then Chennai-Madurai is double lined and electrified.

3. Bina-Bhopal third line only a 5 km section between Vidisha- Betwa Cabin there is some minor work going on, and hopefully in 2 months the entire 130km section third line will be done. Work has also started on third line between Jhansi and Bina third line. Good to decongest this busy route in Central India that carries Delhi-Chennai and Delhi-Mumbai traffic. Train speeds have significantly increased and delays are minimized.
Jhansi-Bina third line is a Modi project and so is Mathura-Agra Cantt-Jhansi third line all cleared by CCEA last year.

4. Bangalore needs another terminal Yeshwanthpur, city and Bypannahalli(which is not yet a full fledged terminal) and smooth integration with Metro and airport. But here SWR and KA govt. are both lazy.

5. A list by each zone is out with the money returned by each zone for non-utilization of funds. Very revealing list and one can see the bad boys, Northern Railway, Central Railway, SWR etc all figure, the zonal heads should be pulled up. Sizeable chunks of money returned as % of money given.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 05 Mar 2017 21:58

Welcome back saar, missed your detailed posts. I had a q. for you on the MRT thread about namma metro.

vsunder wrote:The stretch Bhagwathipuram-Aranyakavu-Edamon-Punalur is at the top of the Western Ghats and so gets tons of rain. Tenders were out to test viaducts between Edamon-New Aranyakavu for stress loading as the old viaducts were jacketed for GC and there are numerous tunnels in this 23km section including one new viaduct and one new tunnel.

This looks like another 2 years given the tight curves and bridges, which are in MG alignment. I would expect most of them to be rebuilt to support BG, as in Old/New Arayankavu. Any idea what the targeted date of completion is?

vsunder wrote:Regarding 5,6th lines at Moore market, the other related news is that Railways has decided to open a 4th terminal at Tondiarpet for the Chennai area. So Central, Egmore and Tambaram and now Tondiarpet. The idea of having a 4th terminal at Royapuram felll through as LA problems arose including taking land from Stanley Medical College.

RPM frankly was a non-starter given the loco shed that came up only recently. Otherwise, that land could have been utilized. TNP is not too bad either, only issue is the lack of metro connectivity (RPM had metro at Washermanpet, which could have been connected, given 24 coach platforms of the terminal). TNP will also require more work in approach roads, since one side of it is the huge marshalling yard + IOC area. Plus they'll need to add more tracks toward BBQ for loco lines and use the existing trip shed instead of building a new one. The current rail overbridge has space only for two tracks below and will need to be rebuilt. I still think the salt cotaurs area would have been a better bet, given most of the existing Central infra could have been upgraded and re-used. Anyway, let's see.

vsunder wrote:When the British landed at Ft. St. George, they found a man selling buttermilk where the Moore market is, and they asked him the name of the place and he said Moore, so the British gave the name Moore market.
Don't for once think one Moore an angrez, built that market. Likewise Tondiarpet, a Britisher pointed at a man and said what is the name of the place, man thought he was being asked the name of his paunch so he said Thondhi and so Tondiarpet. All this story of a Muslim saint Mastan sahib from Thondhi in Rameswaram district coming to Tondiarpet is wrong history. The other famous Mastan sahib is the famous weaver devotee of Ramana Bhagawan, whose samadhi lies near Poondi, (of Poondi swami fame)

Never knew that - 'thondhi'-yar-pet

. But why was MMC called "moore market" and not "more market" as that would have been more apt for buttermilk ("moru")?

vsunder wrote:3. Bina-Bhopal third line only a 5 km section between Vidisha- Betwa Cabin there is some minor work going on, and hopefully in 2 months the entire 130km section third line will be done. Work has also started on third line between Jhansi and Bina third line. Good to decongest this busy route in Central India that carries Delhi-Chennai and Delhi-Mumbai traffic. Train speeds have significantly increased and delays are minimized.
Jhansi-Bina third line is a Modi project and so is Mathura-Agra Cantt-Jhansi third line all cleared by CCEA last year.

This is some seriously fast progress. Well done, IR. The number of freights on this route is seen to be believed. I recall seeing a TN express video on YT which overtook ~24 trains in its day time run between Bina and Ballarshah. Most of it was goods. Of course, that could just be TN being TN

Another bottleneck is NGP-Sewagram, which carries both Delhi-Chennai and Howrah-Mumbai traffic. Needs to be quadrupled, but only tripling was sanctioned IIRC. Any idea if at least that was done?

vsunder wrote:4. Bangalore needs another terminal Yeshwanthpur, city and Bypannahalli(which is not yet a full fledged terminal) and smooth integration with Metro and airport. But here SWR and KA govt. are both lazy.

BYPL has no space for expansion, now that the metro has come up with its station and the depot. Till then, it had the potential, but now looks difficult. Same with Banaswadi - the 3rd PF is not even a full length one, not sure what can be done there. Perhaps move that satellite goods terminal from BYPL and use that space for a proper terminal. Or Hebbal station - it has space around that could be acquired, and run south bound trains from there. Good location too. Then there was some talk on YNK, not sure what happened about that.

SWR missed a serious opportunity when building up YPR - they have inefficiently left a lot of space outside the PF 5 entrance. Instead, they could have accommodated 4-5 more platforms here, and moved the exit a bit more north near the parcel office. That would have given a deeper inset from Tumkur road for parking, etc. and still not compromised on the station's capacity. It would have required some LA, but BLR would have got a proper full fledged Egmore like terminal with 10 platforms. The current one is neither here nor there.

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 05 Mar 2017 22:20

GC on New Aranyakavu-Edamon is at a very advanced stage. All the old viaducts are jacketed, the new viaduct was to remove a tight curve and some parts are on a new alignment. Old MG can be used for hiking/trekking in the ghats. All expect work to end certainly by year end with end to end connectivity. The only downer is the speeds that CRS approved. Sengottai-Bagvathipuram 80kmph, but Bhagvathipuram-New Aranyakavu 30kmph. Could be this will be increased eventually after track settles. People have posted videos of a ride on the CRS inspection train between Sengottai-New Aranyakavu. Here is a video of TN express ripping and crossing other trains on third line on Bina-Bhopal:( from a few days ago) one section is Sumer-Sorai immediate block section to Vidisha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zinEhNtA5gc

3 arch bridge between New Aranyakavu and Edamon
http://s410.photobucket.com/user/ambatt ... j.jpg.html

13 arch bridge New Aranyakavu-Edamon
http://s410.photobucket.com/user/ambatt ... v.jpg.html

Regarding Namma Metro Rail, unless BMRC issues a tender for laddus and catering for inauguration ceremony, do NOT believe anything. No such tender has been issued. Underground tunnel portion etc will open at this rate by mid 2018 if all goes well. What is making the rounds is that Metro railways are a jinx in India. Whichever govt. builds them or opens them demits office.

Namma Metro---Yediyurappa, now Siddharamaiah is scared to open completed Phase 1.

Jaipur Metro---Gehlot lost office

Mumbai Metro ----. Fadnavis came to Pawar

Lucknow Metro----> Akki Yadav may go

Chennai Metro-----> Amma, who knows worse.

Delhi Metro------ need I say who came to power

And you people say Dilbu ka jinx bahut tagada hai

But I say Kochi Metro being in godless country( God's own country yeh kya cheez hai, do even CPI people say this phrase, religion is the opiate of the masses and all) will be the counterexample.

NGP-Sewagram, even 4th line is approved, but no real work even on 3rd line. Some desultory earthworks here and there on videos, naam ka vaste. Wardha-Balharshah third line approved by Modi and also Balharshah-Kazipet third line, here Godavari bridge at Manchiryal is coming up fast, at the stage of putting spans, 9-10 spans placed as on Google Earth. Pillars are all done. Gondia-Jabalpur is moving fast, hopefully by mid next year GC will be done and provide an alternate route to trains to bypass Itarsi, example trains for S. india to Bihar and Jharkhand, and Eastern UP, Varanasi etc.

DFCC I think more show, I don't believe a word that they will complete by 2020. All gas, too much razmatazz and less work. Their newsletters always have very tiny sections on work completed and more on Hindi prashikshan diwas at headquarters and Swacch Bharat at headquarters so on or visit of this fellow from World Bank and that goon from Sweden. On Vaitarna-Sachin section they are still doing geotechnical surveys and hydrological surveys on major bridges and saying DFCC will be complete by 2020. All gas!
They just finished tendering WDFC 100% and Eastern DFCC leave alone Dankuni-Son Nagar the parts under construction, tendering is not complete. Even Khurja-Bhaupur (Delhi-Kanpur)LA problems are there 190 hectares and this is the most advanced section after Mughalsarai-Son Nagar 118 km.

Do not know progress on Bhopal-Itarsi third line work supposedly started late 2015. This will be a major engineering feat(tunnels/viaducts etc etc), as we have the famous Bulb Ghat/ Curve at Bhadbhada (Vindhyas) and the bridge over Narmada. Narmada bridge seems 3 pillars foundation is not sunk as can be seen on Google earth, remaining pillars have come up to a certain height.

ManuJ · Post by **ManuJ** » 06 Mar 2017 03:38

A very informative 4-part documentary on CST and Mumbai railway network is now available on Netflix.
Called 'Mumbai Railway', it goes behind the scenes to the control rooms, maintenance yards, centralized railway linen laundry and kitchen, engine driver simulators (didn't know we had them!), CST interiors, etc.
Also has several 'side-bars' like Darjeeling toy train, archaic signaling systems including a silver-ball token system(!).
The last episode shows the new Metro line and talks about plans to increase the suburban network capacity.
Must see for all IR aficionados.

There is another good documentary on Netflix called India's Frontier Trains.
Has episodes on the Maitree and the Samjhauta expresses, and one on the now derelict Nepal narrow-gauge line.

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 06 Mar 2017 03:44

Here is the document, see pg. 2 for funds returned by various zones. Pg. 10 is the schedule for CRS inspections for various electrification projects. For example March 2017 is listed for Chervattur-Mangalore CRS inspection of OHE prior to commissioning. With this end to end Mangalore to Shoranur is doubled and electrified. Though sub-stations at Tirur, Uppala( between Mangalore-Kasragod) are not ready and also one at Jokatte, Mangalore-Panambur Harbor(harbor for Mangalore). So there may be problem for supplying enough juice for heavy freight and passenger trains. Maybe trains proceeding towards Hassan-Bangalore or on to Konkan railway they can run diesels under wires, what to do onlee, in Kerala, LA held up Tirur substation for years. Also SR has asked Railway Board for additional 10 e-locos to run trains between Mangalore and Shoranur. So effective utilization of RE is some ways off.

http://elocos.railnet.gov.in/Agenda_27& ... s_meet.pdf

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 06 Mar 2017 10:32

vsunder wrote:But I say Kochi Metro being in godless country( God's own country yeh kya cheez hai, do even CPI people say this phrase, religion is the opiate of the masses and all) will be the counterexample.

Even in the socialist heaven the jinx worked. The previous CM Oomen Chandy inaugurated the Kochi metro (even before it was fully completed), and Congress lost big time in the state elections.

ManuJ wrote:Also has several 'side-bars' like Darjeeling toy train, archaic signaling systems including a silver-ball token system(!).

That is known as the Nealle's Ball Token system. Was used in many single line tracks, but now pretty much non-existant on the main line. Now they have another system - Single Line Tokenless block system; but not too sure on how they work. Similar token system is used in the Nilgiri Mountain Railways as well.

Avik · Post by **Avik** » 06 Mar 2017 12:05

vsunder, arshyam- Thank you for your insights on IR developments. I have a question though- what is the status of the Mhow-Sanawad gauge conversion? Is it stuck because of the Narmada bridge and the ghat section after Mhow? I ask because once this section is converted, this would become another N-S connector line

As a separate comment, N-S connectivity in the country appears to be moving apace with Konkan Rail doubling, Doubling of Bengaluru-Miraj route, doubling of Daund-Renigunta section, alongwith existing double lines on Howrah-Vijayawada and Nagpur-Vijayawada sections.

I think once all these route doublings come through N-S connectivity might obviate the need for a DFC in the W-S route

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 06 Mar 2017 21:12

^^^ Indeed Akola-Khandwa-Mhow gauge conversion will open a shorter path between various cities in S. India and Jaipur-Delhi. It was the Metre gauge link between the Northern and Southern metre gauge networks in India and Meenakshi express between Jaipur and Secunderabad ran on it. It is a substantial saving in distance and time between Bangalore and Delhi if trains run on it between these two cities in say 5-6 years. The gauge conversion was sanctioned in 2008, and a sum of 1421 crores assessed for completion of works but only 40 crores given a token sum. However serious work started only after Modi came to power. I will list them down.

1. Mhow-Khandwa 118 km is the major challenge. All these curves, spirals etc have to be straightened out in BG and involves tunnels through the Vindhyas and new alignment in parts. Thus the project has been divided into 2 parts.

2. The first part is Khandwa-Sanawad of 54km. NTPC has handed over 400 crores to the Railways for this
conversion as NTPC is setting up a super thermal plant at Sanawad. Work started on this 54km section last October,
but on Jan 1, 2017 a mega block was instituted and the last MG train left Khandwa for Mhow for good. Usual stuff, loco pilot, guard garlanded, train stopped at various places and people did mangal arati etc. Now there is a truncated service, Mhow to Sanawad of the MG line. Once a mega block is instituted on this 64 km section, that will end and the last MG train will chug off into the sunset.

3. The second part is Sanawad-Mhow of 64km. This will involve the curve straightening, tunnels and bridge over the Narmada at Omkareshwar Rd( station for the pilgrim town and jyotirlinga at Omkareshwar). The engineering for this is more involved.

4. Akola-Khandwa the new line is to go over a new alignment that runs through the Melghat Tiger preserve and I am not sure what is the status there about environmental clearance. In addition in this section there is the Hindi figure 4 section. Tracks cut itself by one set of tracks going over the other in a deep viaduct. This happens at Dhulghat. See documentary below.

The Narmada bridge I mentioned in my previous post, is the third railway bridge over the Narmada at Hoshangabad and not the one at Omkareshwar which is a GC project. Since we were on the subject of Punalur-Sengottai gauge conversion and now this Mhow-Khandwa, both lines have a similar pedigree. Indore-Mhow-Khandwa was built by the Holkar raja for connectivity to Mumbai from his state. There were serious engineering challenges of laying a line through the Vindhyas and MG was selected for obvious reasons. Similarly the Kollam-Sengottai line was built by the Travancore Raja through the western ghats and there difficult engineering challenges were encountered in 1903 thereabouts and again MG was used to make it a little easier to meet the challenges.

Indore-Mhow is already gauge converted and operational since last year, it did not meet the Simhasta deadline I think. Indore-Tihi new line has also been laid into tribal areas of Western MP towards Dhar and CRS inspection done two weeks ago. So the focus is very much on Mhow-Khandwa and Khandwa-Sanawad is a priority for coal rakes to supply the power plant at Sanawad so the Railway is on that part first. I think Modi is very eager for this project as he had asked the former Chief secretary MP, Shri Anthony J.C. De Sa for a powerpoint presentation on LA problems and issues with this project, early last year. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, perhaps this nice documentary Train to Patalpani( Train to the waters of Hell) which is the Ghat section near Mhow between Mhow and Khandwa will probably be useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt-VqYX3rSM

One general tip I have is to read the so-called "vernacular" newspapers. For example the Hindi papers of the region will be choc-a-bloc with information periodically. The beat reporter will do the dirty work and tell you the latest. This is true in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam or Kannada. The English papers have reporters who will never stray into regions were creature comforts are not there, there is the slush of the construction site and you are far from the fleshpots of Delhi or Mumbai and no gin and tonic after a "hard days reporting". The vernacular chap is happy if he gets a cuppa and some pakoras. So the english papers are usually about IR news that involves, only food, and defecation systems on Indian trains, spectacular derailments and the usual internecine battles about HSR which periodically erupts on this thread, how very boring.

Avik · Post by **Avik** » 06 Mar 2017 22:47

Vsunder- Thank you sir for your response. Also, big thank you for the excellent link regarding electric locos. The eloco site is a treasure trove of information

Is there a similar site for IR diesel locos as well?

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 08 Mar 2017 07:58

One other small historical note. The village of Sanawad that I mentioned on the Khandwa-Mhow metre gauge line, that will soon be the terminus of the gauge converted Broad gauge line from Khandwa, has a small but important historical feature that briefly arose in the national consciousness recently, twitter battles were fought and now has relapsed into history and perhaps in a short while will be erased from memory and reclaimed by a watery grave. 10 kms from this very same Sanawad, lies a village, Raverkhedi on the Narmada. It is here that Baji Rao 1, of Mastani fame( or should I say Mastani of Baji Rao 1 fame) died on April 26, 1740 after a brief bout with some unknown fever while visiting his jagirs. He was cremated there and his ashes preserved in a chattri of handsome disposition, simple and austere but elegant. The cost for constructing this chattri was borne by the Scindia raja in homage to the might of this Peshwa. Nobody comes here, too far and too remote perhaps, the shining entrepots of Mumbai and Delhi beckon. Soon the Maheshwar dam will be built to its full height and the waters that are already lapping the chattri will take the memory of this gallant Peshwa to a watery grave. The UPA government and the current dispensation has done nothing to even try to build a simple retaining wall to arrest the rising waters. There was enough time to plan for this eventuality, but sadly either due to lack of funds, callousness or ignorance nothing happened. A nation that forgets its history is doomed to repeat it.

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 09 Mar 2017 06:22

Drone View of shifting of Tipu's Armoury at Srirangapatna to facilitate Mysore-Bangalore doubling and electrification.
It currently obstructs approach to the bridge over the Kaveri. Today the armoury was moved 98metres. Now it will be moved at right angles by another 40 metres.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5xeLi7 ... e=youtu.be

You can see the hydraulically operated pistons in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDlup0sJ_I0

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 13 Mar 2017 11:43

vsunder wrote: DFCC I think more show, I don't believe a word that they will complete by 2020. All gas, too much razmatazz and less work. Their newsletters always have very tiny sections on work completed and more on Hindi prashikshan diwas at headquarters and Swacch Bharat at headquarters so on or visit of this fellow from World Bank and that goon from Sweden.

the bane of all Central Govt office newsletters

vina · Post by **vina** » 13 Mar 2017 12:23

vsunder wrote: Video is in Tamil, but since I speak, Tulu, Kannada, Kanpuriya Hindi( this one like a villager Dehati from Kanpur Dehaat), Tamil and Bengali no problem for me.

WOW! I am surprised. My kids for instance wont be able to make out a word of the Tamil ("formal" / "officalese") spoken in that news reel. If you can, maybe you may have lived/schooled in TN at some point in your life. We try speaking Tamil with them at home, but they can barely make conversation with a native speaker and tend to speak Kannada at the rest stops when we cross into TN by road , kids are smart, when see a south indian face that they see doesnt speak English, they default to Kannada.

vina · Post by **vina** » 13 Mar 2017 12:51

vsunder wrote:. Here is a video of TN express ripping and crossing other trains on third line on Bina-Bhopal:( from a few days ago) one section is Sumer-Sorai immediate block section to Vidisha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zinEhNtA5gc

WOW! This reminds me so much of NYC Metro , 1 & 9 lines which I used to frequent and use on a daily basis when I used to live in the Upper West Side. You take the "correct" express trains, it runs in the 3rd track in the middle and passes the "passenger" trains that stop at all stations. You shave off a good 10 to 15 min ride from downtown to Columbus Circle!

A Nandy · Post by **A Nandy** » 15 Mar 2017 22:23

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... ntent=10PM

NEW DELHI: Converting the entire network of rail tracks into broad gauge and installing bio-toilets in all trains are among the ambitious projects being implemented to make the railways a major engine of the country's growth.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who stated this in the Lok Sabha today, also informed about a proposal to lay separate rail lines for freight trains and a move to lay at least 10 km track per day.

Zynda · Post by **Zynda** » 16 Mar 2017 19:48

GE Rail releases the rendering of their upcoming diesel locos for Indian Railways.

Bright colours chosen for Indian locos

Apparently, the livery scheme is chosen to reflect Holi's spirit. I think it looks hideous. Even the design is boxy & lacks any aerodynamic features. Eventually, these locomotives will be adapted to haul long & heavy 24 coach passenger trains and some aerodynamic shaping will help in high-speed ops.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 16 Mar 2017 21:54

Zynda wrote:Eventually, these locomotives will be adapted to haul long & heavy 24 coach passenger trains and some aerodynamic shaping will help in high-speed ops.

Notice the loco classification # on the image. The WDG series locos are generally made to haul freight traffic (W=Broad guage, D = Diesel, G=Goods). So this may not be the actual design which they may roll out for locos meant for passenger trains. Passenger train locos generally have 'P' designation (WDP, WAP etc.).

Zynda · Post by **Zynda** » 16 Mar 2017 21:58

^^Yes saar. I am aware of the G/P classification. Thats why I used the word *eventually*. Just like how WDG4 (original GT46MAC) was "converted" to WDP4 (GT46PAC)...I think 6000 HP version of the GE loco will be adapted for Pax ops. May be DLW (I hope it will be GE Rail team in India) will redesign the body to have slight aerodynamic shaping without compromising on crash rating.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 16 Mar 2017 22:43

It looks like the DLW designed WDG-5 called Bheem. The latter class was a failure though, and they have standardized on the the dual cab WDP-4D. I don't know if a WDG-4D was released through.

jayasimha · Post by **jayasimha** » 20 Mar 2017 14:54

for info and records..

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease. ... lid=156044
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Railways
31-December-2016 16:54 IST
Year End Review 2016

PASSENGER AMENITIES, SERVICES

● Personalised take away bedrolls service launched.

● Main Concourse at Hazrat Nizamuddin Station commissioned Along with Enhanced Passenger Amenities and Executive Lounge at Agra Cantt

● Catering made optional in identified Trains (some Shatabdis & Rajdhanis)

● Initiation of “Janani Sewa” announced – i.e. Hot Milk, Hot Water and Baby Food items at stations and children’s menu items on Trains.

● Released Brochure on “Passenger Business Initiatives”.

● Hourly Booking of Retiring Rooms-enhancing stay capacity by use of IT for convenience of passengers launched.

● Optional Travel insurance for e-ticket passengers launched.

● Policy decision taken to provide sub quota of 33 % to women within reserved categories for the allotment in catering units.

● Policy decision taken to give preference to local domicile holders for commercial licenses at stations.

● New system of allocating vacant berths after final charting to wayside stations. 10% rebate also offered on these vacant berths.

● RAC berths increased to allow more passengers to travel on board Trains.

● Self Help Groups have been roped in to make local Cuisines available through E-Catering Services of Its PSU IRCTC.

● Handing over of all catering units to IRCTC is being finalised. Sharing of license fee between Indian Railways and IRCTC will be in the ratio of 40:60

● Policy guidelines for handing over of Retiring rooms and Dormitories to IRCTC have been launched.

● Policy of Multi purpose stall is being finalised.

● Automated refund, without filing of TDR in case of cancellation of trains introduced.

● Provision of booking full berth/seat for children between 5 and 12 years of age introduced. However full adult fare would be charged for the same.

● The Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS) also known as VIKALP now available on sectors viz., Delhi- Howrah, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Secunderabad is now being extended to other sectors and instructions have been given to Zonal Railways to this effect.

● Facility of Online Change of Boarding Point Introduced for e-tickets.

● Online concessional ticket booking facility launched for accredited journalists.

● Compensation Rate Payable to Railway Accident Victims has been Doubled.

● Flexi fare system for Rajdhani/Duronto and Shatabdi trains introduced.

● Flexi fare system in Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto trains reviewed and Rebate introduced in flexi fare system in select trains and select sectors.

● Flexi fare system introduced in Humsafar trains.

● So far, 316 no. of escalators at 129 stations & 178 no. of lifts at 79 stations have been provided across Indian Railways.

NEW TRAINS

● Mahamana Express from Varanasi Cantt. to New Delhi with Model Rake flagged off. Coaches have been Refurbished for Enhanced Passenger Comfort and Facility in the Model Rake. Mahamana Express is the First Train to have a Seamless Run on Electric Traction from Varanasi to New Delhi via Recently Completed Ghaziabad-Moradabad Route.

● Lokmanya Tilak (T)-Kazipet Anandwan Express (Weekly) flagged off.

● Bilaspur-Bhagat Ki Kothi Express & Bilaspur-Bikaner Express (Bi-weekly) between Delhi & Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) and Delhi & Dalli Rajhara flagged off.

● India’s First Semi-High Speed Train Christened as Gatimaan Express Capable of Running at a Maximum Speed of 160 Kmph between H.Nizamuddin and Agra Cantt Flagged off. Train Hostesses to Provide Hospitality Services On-Board.

● Tiger Express train launched on the World Environment Day.
● Newly Developed Deen Dayalu Coach dedicated to the Nation
● Air Conditioned Coach developed for DEMU Train
● Launch of new service providing direct connectivity from Jhansi to Indore and Jhansi to Etawah

● Hansdiha - Dumka Passenger Flagged off.

● Train No. 22427/22428 (Balia – Anand Vihar Terminus – Balia) weekly flagged off.
● Train No. 14117/14118 MANWAR- SANGAM EXPRESS (Allahabad- Basti- Allahabad) (5 days a week) flagged off.

● Train No. 15069/15070 Gorakhpur-Badshahnagar Express (daily) flagged off.

● Train No 12595/12596 Gorakhpur-Anand Vihar(T) HUMSAFAR EXPRESS(Bi- Weekly)(Via Basti) and Train No. 12571/12572 Gorakhpur-Anand Vihar(T) HUMSAFAR EXPRESS(Weekly)(Via Barhni) Flagged off.

● Train No. 55382 Pilibhit-Bhojipura-Bareilly City Passenger flagged off on newly Gauge converted Rail Track of Bhojipura-Pilibhit.

● Extension of Koderma-Hazaribagh town passenger upto Barkakana flagged off.

● Two additional coaches augmented for Cancer & Family Health Services to THE LIFELINE EXPRESS – the world’s first State-of-the-art Hospital Train .

● Extension of existing Agra Cantt-Etawah DEMU Train upto Mainpuri via newly constructed Etawah-Karhal-Mainpuri Broad Gauge section

NEW LINES

● Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved construction of the below additional Railway lines

1. Doubling of Hubli-Chikjajur railway line

2. Third line between Wardha (Sewagram) – Balharshah at an estimated completion cost of Rs.1443.32

3. Doubling of Ramna-Singrauli railway line

4. Third line between Anuppur-Katni

5. Doubling of Katni-Singrauli railway line

6. Construction of additional Bridge and doubling project of Rampur Dumra-Tal-Rajendra Pul

7. Third line between Itarsi and Nagpur

8. Third line between Balharshah-Kazipet
9. Third line between Jhansi and Bina
10. Third line between Vijayawada Jn and Gudur Jn
11. Third line between Mathura and Jhansi
12. Fourth line between Jharsuguda and Bilaspur
13. Third line between Rajnandgaon-Nagpur (Kalumna)
14. Third line between Kharagpur (Nimpura) and Adityapur
15. Doubling of New Bongaigaon and Kamakhya of Northeast Frontier Railway in Assam
16. Doubling of Rajpura-Bhatinda railway line at an estimated cost of Rs.1,251.25 crore and expected completion cost of Rs.1,465.59 crore

● Mumbai Urban Transport Project Phase-III approved by Cabinet.

● Newly laid section of Hansdiha - Barapalasi in Jharkhand dedicated to the Nation,

● Hazaribagh-Barkakana section of Koderma Ranchi New Railway Line Project dedicated to the Nation.

● Foundation stone laid for elevated rail line of Indian Railways to eliminate 5 level crossings on Rohtak-Gohana stretch in Haryana under Delhi Division of Northern Railways.

● Digha and Monghyr Railway Bridge across River Ganga opened.

MAKE IN INDIA INITIATIVES

● Contract Awarded for setting up of Electric Loco Manufacturing Factory at Madhepura in Bihar and Diesel Loco Manufacturing Factory at Marhowrah in Bihar.

● Rail Coach Factory set up at Kanchrapara/West Bengal.

● Electric Loco Assembly & Ancillary Unit of CLW set up at Dankuni in West Bengal.

● LHB Bogie Manufacturing Factory set up at Budge Budge, West Bengal.

● Foundation stone laid for Rolling Stock Component Factory at Ratnagiri, Maharashtra.

● Contract awarded for setting up of Forged Wheel Factory at Raebareli.

DIGITAL INDIA INITIATIVES

● New checks on booking of e-ticket/i-ticket through IRCTC website introduced with a view to further prevent possible misuse. Under the new provisions a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked online by an individual user in a month on IRCTC website.

● Cancellation of PRS counter tickets through IRCTC website and 139 introduced

● Printing of Bar Code on Unreserved tickets introduced to Prevent Fraud.

● International Debit and Credit Cards accepted for payment for e-ticketing through IRCTC website

● India’s first High Speed Public Wi - Fi Service at Mumbai Central station inaugurated.

● As on 27 December 2016, 98 Railway Stations are provided with High Speed Wi-Fi service..

● Implementation of E-enabled Track Management System (TMS) & Mobile Application of TMS on Indian Railway and Track Inventory Management System inaugurated on Northern Railway.

● A New Micro - Site for Railway Budget 2016-17 Update and Budget Watch http://www.railbudget2016.indianrailways.gov.in or www.indianrailways.gov.in/rb2016 launched.

● Hand Held Terminals given for TTEs

● Paperless Unreserved Ticketing Mobile Application launched

● E-booking of Disposable Linen on Trains launched

● Works Module of Indian Railways E-Procurement System (IREPS) and Implementation of ‘e-Tendering in Works Contracts’ launched.

● Integrated (Facebook & Twitter) Social Media Platforms for grievance redressal launched.On an average 12000 tweets and 400 posts per day are received from Railway Ministry’s Twitter & Facebook accounts. Social Customer Relationship Management System has been launched to handle such large number of tweets/posts.

● Railway Ministry’s Twitter handle has reached 2 million followers.

● Go India Smart Card introduced on pilot basis in select sectors (New Delhi - Mumbai, New Delhi - Howrah) to facilitate Cashless transactions and to reduce the time taken at Booking Counters.

● Hand Held Terminals for Booking of Unreserved tickets at Point of Sale launched at Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station

● Website of National Rail Plan, 2030 launched.

● Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendras (YTSKs) to install POS machines and accept payments through all banks debit/credit cards for issuing both reserved and unreserved tickets.

● Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendras (YTSKs) & Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Seva (JTBs)are encouraged to accept payments through other modes also like UPI, USSD, e-wallet, Aadhar enabled payments system.

● 5% Discount for booking of Retiring Room through digital means like using debit/credit cards introduced

● 0.5% discount in the base fare of season tickets (Monthly, quarterly, Half yearly, yearly) over suburban section has been granted in case the payment is made through digital means through debit card, credit card etc.

FREIGHT

● Seminar on “Evolving Strategic Partnership for Select Freight Segments” organized by CTRAM held.

● Port Congestion Surcharge & Busy Season Charges withdrawn.

● Arrangements made to transport drinking water to the drought-affected areas of Latur district in Maharashtra.

● First time-tabled container train service from Domestic Container Terminal, Okhla (Delhi) to Whitefield (Bengaluru) flagged off.

● Liberalized comprehensive parcel leasing policy & liberalized policy for parcel cargo express trains launched.

● Interactive seminar with major industries and stakeholders of Indian Railways freight business organized.

● Rationalized siding policy-a major freight segment reform easing the setting up additional private terminals launched.

● Commodity basket for container traffic – 43 additional commodities in Freight of Any Kind expanded.

● Station to station special freight rates policy has been liberalized.

● Solar Powered Guard Van of Goods (Freight) Train flagged off.
● Mini Rake Loading – Distance restriction has been eased from 400 km to 600 km. Due to this policy loading has witnessed 356% increase and earning has also shown 442% increase during April-Nov 2016 as compared to corresponding period of previous year.
● Dual Freight Policy for Export Iron Ore has been eliminated
● Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme in Empty flow Directions has been extended.
● Container Train Operators have been allowed to operate Parcel Special Trains on indent basis.
● Proposal to allow Private investment in General Purpose Wagons is being considered.

FINANCE
● Cabinet approved merger of rail budget with general budget; advancement of budget presentation and merger of plan and non-plan classification in budget and accounts.

● Cabinet approved Productivity Linked Bonus to railway employees.

● National Conference on “Accounting Reforms in Indian Railways - A Strategic Mission for Sustainable Growth” held

● Railway PSU RITES Achieved Highest Ever Total Income of Rs. 1294 Crore, Higher by 11% Over The Previous Year.

SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT AND INNOVATION
● Campaign for “Innovation Challenges for Indian Railways” launched.

● Concept Paper on Rail Development Authority of India prepared.

● Indian Railways appointed Ernst Young (EY) as consultant to tap advertising potential of stations and trains. EY to identify assets and pricing strategy across 7000 stations for the purpose of advertising.

● A 3 day Rail Vikas Shivir (Rail Development Camp) held with a view to generate numerous innovative yet practical ideas across most critical areas of Railway operations for substantial progress of this sector.

● Ministry of Railways in collaboration with Center for Transportation Research and Management (CTRAM) organised 17th National Rail Transport Conclave.

SAFETY

● Fortnight long massive safety drive launched to focus on measures to prevent derailments.
● Indian Railways working on an action plan on eliminating unmanned level crossings from the railway network. The exercise is a sub-mission of the Railways “Mission Zero Accident”. Regular awareness campaigns are underway to sensitize public about taking precautions while crossing unmanned level crossing

● TRI-NETRA - Terrain imaging for diesel dRivers Infrared, Enhanced Optical & Radar Assisted system trial launched.
● An action plan has also been chalked out for retro-fitting of the existing 45,000 ICF designed coaches with better safety features over the next 3 to 4 years.
● was decided that Indian Railways would completely switch over to the production of LHB coaches which are designed with better safety features like anti-climbing and anti-telescoping.
● Japan and Korea are roped in to improve the safety performance of Indian Railways
● Former CAG, Shri Vinod Rai and Renowned Nuclear Scientist Dr. Anil Kakodkar to be involved in improving the safety parameters of Indian Railways

SECURITY

● Dynamic measures undertaken by Railway Protection Force to come upto the expectations of the travelling public for a safer travel during year 2015-16

● Rescue of Children by RPF under “Operation Muskaan – II
● Fitment of CCTV In Amritsar- New Delhi Shan-E-Punjab Express inaugurated. Shan-E-Punjab Express becomes the First India Train fitted with CCTV surveillance Cameras. Surveillance Systems while monitoring security shall not compromise on privacy of Rail Passengers four to six cameras per Coaches installed with Digital Video Recorder Facial Recognition in Unambiguous Light and in Low Light Conditions Especially in Aisle Areas

ELECTRIFICATION AND SIGNALLING

● Indian Railways Khurja Yard gets Ultra Modern Computer based Signalling System

● International Conference on Decarbonisation of Indian Railways - Mission Electrification inaugurated.

● Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL)-PTC (formerly known as Power Trading Corporation of India Ltd) Control Center Inaugurated

● Record electrification of 1775 rkm in a year in Indian Railways, has been achieved upto 15th Dec.’16, This is 20% higher than the previous record electrification of 1479 rkm achieved during the same period for calendar year 2015.

● To increase the pace of electrification; it was proposed to assign works to other Railway PSUs like IRCON & RITES including PGCIL (PSU of Ministry of Power).

● One of the most challenging railway project for conversion of 1500 V DC to 25000 V AC traction system has been successfully completed over the entire Mumbai division of Central Railway.

● 38 WAP7 locomotives have been fitted with Hotel Load Converters (HOG). 3000 liters of diesel is saved in one round trip between New Delhi-Mumbai by Rajdhani Express with HOG and reduce noise pollution.

GREEN INITIATIVES

● Substantial paper saving effort by budget wing of Railway Ministry in preparation and communication of Rail Budget 2016-17. This effort has resulted in saving of 12 lakh sheets of A-4 size paper and printing of 26 lakh pages.

● Indian Railways bagged highest ever 27 National Energy Conservation Awards for the Year 2015-16.

● ‘First Green Train Corridor namely Rameswaram - Manamadurai’ free from human waste discharge inaugurated.
● “Okha-Kanalus and Porbandar-Wansjaliya Sections in Gujarat of Western Railways inaugurated as Green Corridor Sections (Free from human waste discharge from trains).
● Till date about 400 MW (160 MW rooftop and 240 MW on land based system) has already been tied up/tendered out of the target of 500 MW rooftop and 500 MW land based solar power system to be set

● Model Tender Document for 100 MW Solar Rooftop project of IR finalized

● 339 nos. of Railway stations have already been fitted with 100% LED luminaries.

● First WDG4D HHP diesel locomotive no. WDG4D-70486 fitted with vacuum based toilet and bio-digester system inaugurated.

INITIATIVES FOR THE SENIOR CITIZENS & PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

● Senior Citizens Concession Rules modified.
● Announcement of implementation of policy allowing differently abled persons to avail concession while travelling without escort.

● Railway Streamlined procedure for issue of concession certificate to physically challenged persons (Divyang)
● With a view to provide support to old and differently abled passengers requiring assistance at the stations, introduced Yatri Mitras Sewa for enabling passengers to book wheelchair services cum porter services.

HUMAN RESOURCE

● Policy decision taken to post Station Directors at all A1 Category Stations.

● Single person accountability for all facilities on trains-along with single nodal officer for monitoring launched.

CLEANLINESS (SWACHH RAIL MISSION)

● Nine-Day Long “Swachhta Saptah” held.

● In order to carry out efficient disposal of waste, Indian Railways has decided to provide separate dustbins for collections of biodegradable (wet waste) and non-biodegradable (dry waste) on the platforms and all passenger interface areas in A1 & A category stations apart from vending stalls.

● “Clean My Coach” Service launched to ensure cleanliness in Trains.

● Padma Bhushan Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak founder of Sulabh International appointed as a Brand Ambassador for “Swachh Rail Mission” of Indian Railway.

HIGH SPEED RAILWAY

● High Speed Train between Mumbai - Ahmedabad Corridor already sanctioned and under implementation with financial & technical assistance from Japan.

● Other high speed corridors along the diamond quadrilaterals are under exploration.

● Semi-High Speed Train between Delhi – Agra called Gatimaan Express started.

● 8 More semi-high speed corridors are under study.

● Indian Railways working on a proposal to acquire modern EMU Train Sets for improved average speed.

● Field Trials for Spanish Talgo Train held for saving substantial travel time.

● Mission Raftaar launched to work towards increasing speed of existing trains in Indian Railways

● Process is on for introducing faster trains Tejas as announced in the Railway Budget

● International conference on Technology for Ultra High Speed rolling stock jointly organised by Institute of Rolling Stock Engineers (IRSE) and Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers Association (IRSMEA) with active support of Indian Railways held.
● Protocol for Undertaking Feasibility Study of Speed Raising of Nagpur-Secunderabad Railway Corridor Signed Between Indian Railways and Russian Railways
● ‘Mission Raftaar’ of Indian Railway Starts To Yield Results
SPORTS

● Indian Railways won National Chess Team Championship for the First Time

● 35 Sportspersons from Indian Railways participated in Rio Olympics
● Indian Railways among all sports organization in the country becomes the highest contributor for the Indian Olympic Contingent.
● Almost Entire Indian Women Hockey Team & Weightlifting Team Comprises of Railways Players.
● Sakshi Malik, a Railway Employee won the first Olympic Bronze Medal in 58 kg category in wrestling.

● Indian Railways Team Won Senior National Powerlifting Championship.

● Indian Railways Men Hockey Team Won MCC Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey Tournament For The First Time.

MOUs

● Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) signed between Ministry of Railways and Governments of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh,Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Odisha for “Formation of Joint Venture Companies for Development of Railway Infrastructure in these States.

● MoU signed between India and Sweden on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector

● A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Signed Between Ministry of Railways and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for developing applications in the field of Remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) for remote sensing at unmanned railway crossing including, all geospatial solutions and customized software solutions for providing reliable, efficient & optimal solutions to Railways in it various areas of operation thereby benefiting the rail user.

● Railway Ministry takes major step towards Scientific and Technical collaboration among major Government Technical and Scientific Agencies for development of special material and technologies for improving Railway Rolling Stock.

● Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Ministry of Railways and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Green Industrial Units.
● Agreement Signed Between Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited(IRSDC) And Bansal Group For The Redevelopment And Modernization Of Habibganj Railway Station
● Indian Railways Ties Up with Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara for award of MBA Degree To Railway Probationary Officers In Specific Railway Fields
● Indian Railway Minister held discussions with the visiting German Transport Minister
● Ministry of Railways Promoting Railway Related Education in The Country in Collaboration With Premier Educational Institutions
MISCELLANEOUS

● Renovated National Rail Museum inaugurated.

● Conference on Heritage Rail Tourism organized jointly with Asia Pacific Heritage & Rail Tourism Organisation
● “Rail Geet” dedicated To The Nation
● India to supply Diesel Locomotive to Myanmar Railways.

● Indian Railways PSU RITES signed Locomotives Export Contract with Myanmar Railways.

AKS/MKV/AK

Zynda · Post by **Zynda** » 23 Mar 2017 21:37

I was reading about contract negotiations done by IR on Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. The Japanese have offered some kind of a sweet deal (I think Japanese were financing WDFC to a large extent) where in we would buy their 9000 HP freight locos in turn for them financing the construction of the corridor.

Further, IR has ordered 12000HP Prima locomotives for usage in other corridors/pan India (?) from Alstom. As it turns out that the cost of Japanese locomotives is nearly 2x the price of one Alstom loco. Obviously IR does not want to pay higher and is demanding a renegotiation of the contract with Japan. IR is willing to pay as much as Prima loco for the Japanese ones. I hope more informed person on IR like vsunder perhaps can throw in more light about the above but I can't help but notice many parallels between our defence contract negotiation & the above. The whole approach is archaic and it seems like IR did not do proper due diligence wrt the Japanese deal. I really think India/GoI should start promoting private sector to set up legals teams who will be in charge of scrutinizing & writing up contracts with GoI ministries and organizations.

Avik · Post by **Avik** » 24 Mar 2017 01:38

Zynda - more than 'lousy contracting' it could just be a scale and pricing issue. The number of Japanese locos contracted is less than half the Alstom ones contracted.

BTW, the Alston locos for India is not the Prima. Its this one..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_KZ8A

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 24 Mar 2017 04:08

Avik wrote:Zynda - more than 'lousy contracting' it could just be a scale and pricing issue. The number of Japanese locos contracted is less than half the Alstom ones contracted.

BTW, the Alston locos for India is not the Prima. Its this one..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_KZ8A

from wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prima_(locomotive)

In November 2015 Alstom received a Letter of Award from the Ministry of Indian Railways to supply Indian Railways with 800 double section freight electric locomotives with associated long-term maintenance. The total contract is worth above €3 billion. The Prima locomotive for Indian Railways will be 9,000 kW at the wheel rim and will run at a speed up to 120 km/h. [8]

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 24 Mar 2017 23:20

Railways suffered over Rs 33,000 crore loss on passenger service: CAG

During 2010-11 to 2014-15, 560 cases of misclassifications and mistakes in accounts worth Rs 3,548.95 crore were pointed out by audit
http://www.governancenow.com/news/regul ... dpuf[quote]

The Railways was unable to meet its operational cost of passenger and other coaching services. During 2014-15, there was a loss of Rs 33,821.70 crore on passenger and other coaching services. The freight services earned a profit of Rs 38,312.59 crore which indicated that 88.28 percent of the profit from freight traffic was utilized to compensate the loss on operation of passenger and other coaching services, said a CAG report.

The Comptroller and Auditor General report - Union Government (Railways) Railways Finances – said that during 2014-15, total revenue receipts, increased by 12.43 percent which was below the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.99 percent during the period 2010-14. The growth of freight earnings and passenger earnings were 12.66 percent and 15.49 percent respectively against the CAGR of 14.32 per cent and 12.30 percent achieved during 2010-14. Net surplus after meeting dividend liability was Rs 7,664.94 crore in 2014-15. The Operating Ratio improved to 91.25 percent in 2014-15 from 93.60 percent in 2013-14.

During 2015-16, total revenue receipts increased by 4.57 percent which was significantly below CAGR of 14.86 percent during the period 2011-15. The growth of freight earnings was 3.23 percent in 2015-16 which was below the CAGR of 15.01 per cent registered during 2011-15. The growth of passenger earnings was 4.96 percent in 2015-16 which was also below the CAGR of 14.31 percent registered during 2011-15.

The report said that Railway funds closed at Rs 10,806.68 crore at the end of 2015-16 against the fund balance of Rs 6,872.73 crore in 2014-15. The improvement in fund balances was mainly due to not making payment of capital component of lease charges to Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) amounting to Rs 12,629.49 crore during the period 2011-12 to 2013-14 from Capital Fund. However, the railways started payment of capital component of lease charges to IRFC from Capital Fund from 2014-15 and made a payment of Rs 5,449.24 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 6,324.74 crore in 2015-16.

The Public Accounts Committee in its various reports has expressed serious concern over large number of misclassification occurring in the Accounts of Railways and despite repeated assurances given by the Ministry of Railways in their Action Taken Notes that necessary remedial measures have been taken to ensure that misclassification is curbed, numerous instances of misclassification are still being noticed by audit.
During 2010-11 to 2014-15, 560 cases of misclassifications and mistakes in accounts worth Rs 3,548.95 crore pointed out by Audit were accepted. Out of these 560 cases, 426 cases amounting to Rs 3,031.36 crore pertained to six Zonal Railways.

In 11 Zonal Railways, 66 cases of irregular adjustments involving money value of Rs 1,431.05 crore were pointed out by audit and accepted by railways.

It is observed that errors which could have been detected by the Accounts Department through internal check and rectified before closure of Final Accounts for the financial year remained un-noticed, the report said.[/quote]

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 25 Mar 2017 00:52

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... 814715.cms

Modi government set to end SAIL's 'steel' monopoly in rail tracks, eyes private suppliers

The vast state rail operator is undergoing a $130 billion, five-year overhaul
$15 billion fund to improve rail safety.

---

running short of steel!

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 26 Mar 2017 20:59

http://www.news18.com/news/india/wi-fi- ... 64350.html

A very good move indeed, not sure what stops them using the bogies of local trains as ad space for all the government schemes in vernacular.

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 27 Mar 2017 20:27

Zynda wrote:I was reading about contract negotiations done by IR on Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. The Japanese have offered some kind of a sweet deal (I think Japanese were financing WDFC to a large extent) where in we would buy their 9000 HP freight locos in turn for them financing the construction of the corridor.

Further, IR has ordered 12000HP Prima locomotives for usage in other corridors/pan India (?) from Alstom. As it turns out that the cost of Japanese locomotives is nearly 2x the price of one Alstom loco. Obviously IR does not want to pay higher and is demanding a renegotiation of the contract with Japan. IR is willing to pay as much as Prima loco for the Japanese ones. I hope more informed person on IR like vsunder perhaps can throw in more light about the above but I can't help but notice many parallels between our defence contract negotiation & the above. The whole approach is archaic and it seems like IR did not do proper due diligence wrt the Japanese deal. I really think India/GoI should start promoting private sector to set up legals teams who will be in charge of scrutinizing & writing up contracts with GoI ministries and organizations.

I think IR contracted for 200 Japanese locos at 50 crores each from Japan for WDFC. Alstom locos are 25crores each, I have seen numbers like 800 Alstom Prima locos. The Japanese then were willing to go for a lower price provided the JICA interest rates were upped from 0.1%. Some negotiations followed and the Japanese lowered the price to 36 crores a loco. I am not sure where it is at now. But DMRC managed to get out of a contract with Japan for rolling stock and got Bombardier and Rotem coaches instead. So perhaps it is possible to re-negotiate or get out of the deal. Almost all the steel rails for WDFC is coming from Japan. Several shipments of rails from Japan have already come via Chennai port as reported in the news and in links I have given in this thread a while back.

The deal with Japan was 40 locos shipped from Japan in totally completed form. The next 50 in kit form to be assembled in India, like Meccano sets. The last 110 to be Made in India.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 27 Mar 2017 22:10

Zynda wrote: Even the design is boxy & lacks any aerodynamic features.

Here is something that I really don't know. How much aerodynamic drag is significant for a 500,000 kg mass moving at 120 kmph showing only a relatively small surface area to the wind - I mean here you have something that is 4 meters broad and high and 500 (?) meters long and weighs say 500 tons.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 27 Mar 2017 22:12

Suresh Prabhu's focus on infra is paying off. The short but crucial 4th track in the north of Chennai was inspected and is expected to be thrown open soon. This will now complete the quad track sections radiating in 3 cardinal directions from Central/Chennai port - Attipattu 22 km to the north, Arakkonam 70km to the west, and Tambaram 30km south. This last line has an additional 3rd track coming between Tambaram and Chengalpattu, which is another 30km south. Once they finish the planned double line from Beach, which is next to the Chennai port, goods movement will gain a further fillip. There is also a plan to connect the Ennore port directly to the Mumbai line near Puttur, which is a few km short of Renigunta after the line turns north from Arakkonam.

Good news for the 3 ports in the city, and to suburban train travellers.

sohamn · Post by **sohamn** » 27 Mar 2017 22:27

shiv wrote:
Zynda wrote: Even the design is boxy & lacks any aerodynamic features.
Here is something that I really don't know. How much aerodynamic drag is significant for a 500,000 kg mass moving at 120 kmph showing only a relatively small surface area to the wind - I mean here you have something that is 4 meters broad and high and 500 (?) meters long and weighs say 500 tons.

The aerodynamic drag at 100-120 kmph is minimal compared to the tractive effort. For goods locomotive , it really doesn't matter - all they care is how much of traction they can provide per axle without wheel slip. The challenge is the low friction/resistance in the rail, not higher resistance from the wind.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 27 Mar 2017 22:30

^^thx
Crisp and to the point informative