Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

[pandyan]

looks like Medha Servo is the company that provided innovative propulsion system for Train 18. I wonder what kind of message Railways and petty turf wars is sending to private industries and risk takers. Either privatize ICF or come down hard on turf-war-mongers.

[Suraj]

Mani sir had written in his blog that they went with the hyd company which had a stellar track record and no competitor had equivalent capability. The project is being hobbled due to petty turf wars but in the name of transparency. The babus are taking the govt for a ride.
Mark my words train18 will be die a slow death and train20 is still born.
Shame ! This is where you need someone like Parikkar who understood tech and could cut through the red tape.

It’s worth pushing this on Twitter with PMOIndia, the PM, the Rail Min and ICF all copied , pushing a SM revolt of the matter .

[Rishi_Tri]

Mani sir had written in his blog that they went with the hyd company which had a stellar track record and no competitor had equivalent capability. The project is being hobbled due to petty turf wars but in the name of transparency. The babus are taking the govt for a ride.
Mark my words train18 will be die a slow death and train20 is still born.
Shame ! This is where you need someone like Parikkar who understood tech and could cut through the red tape.

It’s worth pushing this on Twitter with PMOIndia, the PM, the Rail Min and ICF all copied , pushing a SM revolt of the matter .

This is where you need to identify the 20% who shall push the initiative forward and there are those 20% people everywhere. The Electrical vs Mechanical turf war is par for the course everywhere. The subversive babus shall always be there. NDA 2 and 3 have proven themselves uniquely efficient at finding people who shall disrupt. RBI being case in point. Put the right person at helm and all these vigilance inquiries, investigations become victims of their own devices.

[Rishi_Tri]

https://www.business-standard.com/artic ... 469_1.html

After Train 18, ICF to develop Train 19, sleeper version of Train 18
Rajesh Agrawal said that ICF would roll out 40 Vande Bharat Express train sets in the future
T E Narasimhan | Chennai

Last Updated at May 21, 2019 20:26 IST
After successfully developing Train 18, now named Vande Bharat Express, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, has now decided to take up the design, development and production of Train 19, a sleeper version of Train 18.

Speaking to reporters, Rajesh Agrawal, Member (Rolling Stock), said that this year ICF would take up the design, development and production of Train 19 train sets, which are similar to Rajadhani Express.

He also said that ICF would roll out 40 Vande Bharat Express train sets in the future after replacing the the driver cabin crash guard with one made of aluminium.

He noted that in the last fiscal, ICF became the world’s largest railway coach manufacturer, rolling out 3,262 coaches. He expects ICF to produce 4,000 coaches this fiscal.

He added that some South East Asian and South American nations had evinced interest in importing Train 18. However, that would be considered after fulfilling the needs of Indian Railways, he said.

According to Agrawal, about Rs 2,500 crore infrastructure improvement projects are being planned for coach production units of Indian Railways, of which Rs 500 crore planned to be spent for ICF.

Agrawal said the Rail Coach Factory at Lattur in Maharashtra was likely to be commissioned this year.
---------

Above may be read in conjunction with the following:

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@PiyushGoyal
Mission Raftaar: Soon, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah train journey in 12 hours at 160 kmph!

This mega plan of Railways will ensure passengers have best-in-class safety, speed and service.



(link: https://www.financialexpress.com/infras ... s/1669200/)

11:47 AM · Aug 7, 2019·

[Vips]

Indian Railways manufactures high-speed locomotive touching top-speed of 180 kmph.

The Indian Railways has indigenously designed and manufactured a highspeed locomotive achieving a top speed of 180 kmph, which will help in improving the efficiency of high-speed trains like Rajdhani in the country, the government said on Tuesday.

The locomotive has been developed by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) in West Bengal.

“The new type of locomotive is expected to facilitate the operation of premium trains such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto at a higher speed,” the railways ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Railways minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet on Monday evening, “this new locomotive produced under the ‘Make in India’ initiative will speed up trains like never before.” CLW produced thislocomotive in March 2019, six months after it was assigned the task.

This comes in line with the government’s target to improve the speed of high –speed trains in the country on important routes.As part of Mission Raftaar, the national transporter is looking to increase the average speed of trains across its entire network, resulting in faster movement of passenger and freight traffic.

The government, earlier this month, approved the Railway’s plan to increase the speed of Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah route to 160 kmph that would double the average speed of freight traffic, along with 60% increase in average speed of passenger trains.

As part of the mission, the government is also working to cover the complete Golden Quadrilateral and Diagonals, which consists of 16% of the total Indian Railways network and accounts for 52% and 58% of total passenger and freight traffic respectively.

[Rishi_Tri]

Video of the 180 kmph trials. Was also put out by Railways Minister.

[pandyan]

Interesting that it was tested at 180 KMPH (engine + one car). While the effort needs to be applauded, it sounds more of a message that it can also cross 180 just like Train 18 (and it was a big news when train 18 crossed that number with all passenger cars). Now, this option is pitched as semi-high speed replacement. One more confirmation that there are indeed two lobbies and one sticking to incremental improvements and another operating in startup mode that completely changed the game.

[Zynda]

The CLW team has been hell bent on competing with ICF (Train-18/20) on semi-high speed prospects of IR.

So far they have the following developmental projects going on or in commission stage:

1. Aerodynamic improvements to WAP-5 to make it suitable for 200 Kph operations
2. WAP-7HS (High Speed): To upgrade current WAP-7 (130 Kph) to 160 Kph (yesterdin's trails demonstrated loco's operating capability up to 180 Kph)
3. Uprating of traction motors power to give 9000 HP on WAP-7 (against the current 6350 HP)

I am sure the traction motors uprating will be expanded to WAP-5 as well. Also, I do think that 9,000 HP WAP-7s will eventually get HS's trucks/bogies.

High horse power is needed to pull 24 coaches load at higher speeds. Plus they are also trying out twin WAP-5s (one at the front & the other at rear of the train) for faster pickups and ability to maintain higher speeds.

All of the above to project that current conventional locomotive solutions can also be used for semi-high speed operations. Probably, these solutions can be used on increasing the operating speeds of other express trains while Shatabdi & Rajdhani trains are replaced by T-18/20 respectively.

But most importantly, upgrading the signalling system to handle high-speed ops (in-cab signalling, auto block management which will enable operating more trains in a single block) along with track changes may be more important for semi-high speeds ops as currently they seem to be stumbling block.

[Supratik]

There will be many routes where you won't need a Train-18. This engine is a good solution for those routes.

[Rahul M]

IR still has a humungous number of rolling stock that require external engine to pull them. One cannot throw them away overnight, some have been just produced and have years of life left. Nor can train18 be manufactured in the quantity required to replace all of these in a couple of years. So both solutions are needed. Train 18, 19 & 20 for hi end, and this for low-end.

[Ashokk]

CORAS: Indian Railways Gets Its First Commando Unit, To Secure Routes In J&K, Naxal-Affected Areas And North-East

CORAS: Indian Railways Gets Its First Commando Unit, To Secure Routes In J&K, Naxal-Affected Areas And North-East
A commando drill. (via Jacobmathewlive/Twitter)

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal inducted the first batch of Indian Railways’ Commando For Railway Security (CORAS) unit in New Delhi today (14 August), Economic Times has reported.

“These CORAS commandos will be posted in Left extremist wing affected areas, northeastern region and Jammu and Kashmir where providing security to the passengers and the railway network is of utmost priority,” Goyal said at the indiction.

"A new state-of-the-art commando training centre for RPF will be started in Jagadhri (in Haryana) which will have access to latest technology and equipment,” Goyal added.

Speaking at the function, Goyal highlighted the RPF’s role in ensuring security of the passengers who use Indian Railways as well as in securing the railways infrastructure in the country.

Goyal also spoke of a recent operation conducted by the officials through which thousands of touts were weeded out from the Railways system.

[arshyam]

Interesting that it was tested at 180 KMPH (engine + one car). While the effort needs to be applauded, it sounds more of a message that it can also cross 180 just like Train 18 (and it was a big news when train 18 crossed that number with all passenger cars). Now, this option is pitched as semi-high speed replacement. One more confirmation that there are indeed two lobbies and one sticking to incremental improvements and another operating in startup mode that completely changed the game.

The WAP-5 was tested at 184kph ages ago, and is the only one cleared to run at 160 kph. That's why the Gatimaan or the Bhopal Shatabdi is always hauled by a WAP-5. The WAP-7 was traditionally restricted to 130kph as its a much heavier loco, and its traction motors weren't fully suspended (which is the case with the WAP-5), but nose-suspended. This is due to the fact that the WAP-7 was derived from the WAG-9 good locomotive, which has a similar design. Nose-suspended TMs result in more wear on the tracks, so the 130kph restriction.

It would be interesting to see if they have redesigned this aspect in the WAP-7HS. Per reports in the media, they have reduced some weight.

[Karthik S]

Interesting that it was tested at 180 KMPH (engine + one car). While the effort needs to be applauded, it sounds more of a message that it can also cross 180 just like Train 18 (and it was a big news when train 18 crossed that number with all passenger cars). Now, this option is pitched as semi-high speed replacement. One more confirmation that there are indeed two lobbies and one sticking to incremental improvements and another operating in startup mode that completely changed the game.

The WAP-5 was tested at 184kph ages ago, and is the only one cleared to run at 160 kph. That's why the Gatimaan or the Bhopal Shatabdi is always hauled by a WAP-5. The WAP-7 was traditionally restricted to 130kph as its a much heavier loco, and its traction motors weren't fully suspended (which is the case with the WAP-5), but nose-suspended. This is due to the fact that the WAP-7 was derived from the WAG-9 good locomotive, which has a similar design. Nose-suspended TMs result in more wear on the tracks, so the 130kph restriction.

It would be interesting to see if they have redesigned this aspect in the WAP-7HS. Per reports in the media, they have reduced some weight.

I thought WAP 7 is good for 200.

Pandyan sir, even T18 is incremental. I hope next increment will be 200 kmph rated with tilting tech like pendolinos.

[Zynda]

Nope. WAP7 was originally limited to 130 due to reasons mentioned by arshyam. Actually, I believe WAP5 (just the loco) can do 225 with suitable modifications. Don't think IR has ever tested it beyond 184 though...

[arshyam]

CLW did some software modification and used a different gear ratio recently to increase the speed to 200kph. There are a few such "HS" WAP-5 locos now.

[pandyan]

CLW did some software modification and used a different gear ratio recently to increase the speed to 200kph. There are a few such "HS" WAP-5 locos now.

Saar - how common [and safe] are these single engine or dual engine higher speed trains? Most higher speed passenger trains appear to be EMUs with distributed traction motors and regenerative braking.

The train's [Train 18] regenerative brakes are also expected to allow a 30% savings in electricity costs as compared to its predecessor

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vande_Bharat_Express
http://www.uniindia.com/news/india/t-18 ... 04772.html

[Karthik S]

CLW did some software modification and used a different gear ratio recently to increase the speed to 200kph. There are a few such "HS" WAP-5 locos now.

Saar - how common [and safe] are these single engine or dual engine higher speed trains? Most higher speed passenger trains appear to be EMUs with distributed traction motors and regenerative braking.

The train's [Train 18] regenerative brakes are also expected to allow a 30% savings in electricity costs as compared to its predecessor

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vande_Bharat_Express
http://www.uniindia.com/news/india/t-18 ... 04772.html

TGV is loco hauled push pull trains.

[arshyam]

CLW did some software modification and used a different gear ratio recently to increase the speed to 200kph. There are a few such "HS" WAP-5 locos now.

Saar - how common [and safe] are these single engine or dual engine higher speed trains? Most higher speed passenger trains appear to be EMUs with distributed traction motors and regenerative braking.

Loco hauled trains up to 200 kph is not that uncommon. Amtrak follows the same model in the US NE Corridor, and I clocked it at 200 kph during a trip from New York Penn to Philadelphia. 250+ seems to be the exclusive preserve of EMUs, or at least sets with 2 power cars.

Safety wise, not sure why that's a concern?

[Sachin]

But most importantly, upgrading the signalling system to handle high-speed ops (in-cab signalling, auto block management which will enable operating more trains in a single block) along with track changes may be more important for semi-high speeds ops as currently they seem to be stumbling block.

IMHO, more than the speed & power of the trains it is the signalling system (and the general operating procedures) which needs to be over-hauled. And ideally, these should be done BEFORE the actual high speed trains start running. Even in many trunk routes IR still uses the traditional "double line token less block system". Station masters are still required to be present at every station who operate (or instruct) signal movements in the station limits, and also get instructions from "Section Controllers" who sit at the Div. H.Q. There is a lot of human coordination work still required to get every train moving, but this also introduces relays.

Rather than "section controllers" instructing SMs to receive & send out trains, today's technology allows the entire work to be done by the section controllers themselves. Infact this has been done in countries like UK, where tracks within 100-200kms are controlled from a single "control station" (Doncaster for example). Off course, IR also have to consider the "job loss" angle here as such modernisation also would make lots of jobs redundant .

PS: An anecdote which I have heard many times. Coramandal Express which ran between Howarh and Chennai was considered as the fastest train in 1960s-1970s. It maintained a steady high speed, but for that 7 stations ahead of that train had the "Line clear" readied for the train. Which means, every slow train ahead was pulled to the sidings, every single railway level crossing was closed, and all station masters had worked on the block instrument to ensure "Line clear" for this train. Whether such a feat can be accomplished today is a big question.

[pandyan]

@Karthik S saar - thank you. I did not know TGV was one such example.

@arshyam saar - safety. I was thinking more in terms of synchronizing two or more engines, technology and connectivity needed for it.

[Zynda]

^^The technology to connect multiple engines, its called Multiple Units (MU) is quite developed & safe to say. In fact, in NA, it is not uncommon to have up to 5-6 locomotives connected and all operated by the driver (or loco pilots/engineers) in the lead locomotive. The controls set in the lead loco are duplicate (if not physically) in other locomotives and they tend to operate in sync. The locomotive are connected to each other by MU cables & other cables for brakes etc.



Here is one image of a couple of IR's WDP-4Ds MUed together:

[Sachin]

^^The technology to connect multiple engines, its called Multiple Units (MU) is quite developed & safe to say.

IR is also making steady progress in MU-ing locomotives using radio frequency based devices. A disadvantage of the cable based MU-ing is that the locos have to be put one behind the other. Where as IR frequently have a loco getting added to the rear of the train. So in such cases radio based MU-ing would be of help. AFAIK, IR has even piloted such devices on some routes (on the "Python" rakes).

[vsunder]

^^^^ On the DFC there will be only two OCC's (Operational Control Centres) one on the Eastern arm and one on the western arm. No section controllers etc etc. Stations are 40km apart. The OCC for the eastern arm is up and running since June 30 and based at Prayagraj, while the western one has not been built. Here is a picture of the EDFC Control centre. It controls all movement along the EDFC:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-EP6--UIAARz1n.png

Tracks on IR are also not fit to run trains at sustained high speeds, Sleeper density has to increase from 1750/km to higher and so too rail density and also manual ways of laying track have to go. There are a number of permanent cautions that have to be removed and through lines should not be platform lines.

In June I rode Israel rail a lot. One of the main stations in Tel Aviv is called Modi'in. So everybody knows Modi.
I was lecturing at IIT(Israel Institute of Technology or Technion in Haifa) (home of the tandoori cooks who make all the spicey stuff that India buys the cooks and chefs are all in the Aerospace deptt )and so took the train to Tel Aviv a lot along the coast. Jerusalem where I spent some time is also connected by a train to Tel Aviv but the train is not favored and irregular and locals warn you about it so one takes a bus or cab to travel 70km, 220 shekels by cab, David Ben-Gurion airport the only international airport is between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
In July I rode Trenitalia a whole lot, all types of trains, Frecciarosa and the regionals. Frecciarosa regularly hits 220 kmph and the ride is smooth.
There was nothing very special about the tracks and IR can certainly upgrade to this level at least on the Class A lines. There were curves but signalling is key and one saw plenty of balises and TCS devices all over. Israel rail trains run late often, and no trains run on the Sabbath. It is a small system and the Haifa---> Tel Aviv line the busiest. I found Trenitalia much better and on time and service has steadily improved over the 8 times I have been there. I was at the Scuola Normale in Pisa for a month:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuola_No ... re_di_Pisa

and so I went to Florence a lot to just walk around there (nothing clears my head than walking, the old Latin motto: Solvitur ambulando ) using the regional train (Pisa-Florence an hours train ride) through the little town of Ponte Vedra(home of Piaggio the scooter guys). The regionals are comparable to IR MEMU's and do get very crowded in the evenings like a Mumbai local. Of course one has automatic doors and windows cannot be opened.

On Aug 16th, automatic signalling has become operational between Bangalore and Bangalore Cantt. Bangalore Cantt to Whitefield automatic signalling was made operational last year. So now several trains can be pushed on the block sections between Bangalore to Whitefield and this will help some in punctuality at SBC, though by how much I am not sure. Also the third bridge on Narmada and third line between Itarsi-----> Hoshangabad------> Budni 25km has been commissioned on the Delhi---->Itarsi---->Mumbai/Chennai/Hyderabad/Bangalore route. Work has started to triple Agra Cantt-----> Jhansi----> Bina. Earthworks happening all over. Bina-----> Bhopal 139 km third line is now operational. The new triple lines are being laid to higher standards and to higher operational speeds. It will lead to downtime for maintenance on the older lines and perhaps upgrade via TSR(track and sleeper replacement) of the older tracks.

Electrification is progressing very fast on the East west Mormugoa to Chennai port line coast to coast. Doubling is also moving very fast and essentially 91km of doubling is left between Madgaon (Goa) to Castle Rock/Dudhsagar falls/Braganza ghat in the western ghat. Once done FEDL between Chennai port and Mormugoa port. Once Guntakal--- Guntur is electrified and doubled which is also moving rapidly, all ports on the east coast and west coast will be connected by doubled and electrified doubled lines. Mangalore -Bangalore via Hassan is also getting electrified. Bypass lines have been constructed to bypass Hubli and freight from Goa ports bypasses Hubli and moves directly towards Hospet and Guntakal. Pune-Miraj-Londa is also seeing rapid electrification and doubling. Too many videos. In about 5 years line capacity of IR will improve dramatically. Notice we hear less and less of derailments etc.

India may become a trans-shipment center and give Colombo a run for their money. Ship delivers cargo to Mormugoa. Then by train via BD, Myanmar all the way via Thighland to Singapore. BD and India 15km link line in Akhaura, Tripura is to be done soon by India even on the BD side. Unfortunately it is MG as BD Rail is MG. The locals on the Indian side are happy as they got a lot of money for the land and maybe future employment.


https://www.financialexpress.com/infras ... r/1309426/

Also rail line in Tripura goes upto Sabroom which is about 70km from Chittagong port or Chattagrama etc etc so all bodes well with another port other than Kolkata acting as a gateway to Northeastern India. IW-2 has begun to function that is Inland waterway -2 on the Brahmaputra.

[Sachin]

On Aug 16th, automatic signalling has become operational between Bangalore and Bangalore Cantt. Bangalore Cantt to Whitefield automatic signalling was made operational last year

Yep. Read that in today's news paper. So looks like ABS (Automatic Block Signaling) is now fully operational in the Bengaluru suburbs. And I also see that IR is also planning to electrify the Bayyappanahalli (BYPL)-Hosur (HSRA) single line broad gauge track. Looks like a Bengaluru suburban rail network is now actively getting developed. Electrifying this section would only help to have a EMU based suburban train link. One constant request from the IT-Vity crowd was to have suburban trains operate from Whitefield to Hosur. This was a challenge, mainly because that while WFD-BYPL lines were electrified, BYPL-HSRA was not.

[vsunder]

^^^ Not planning it has long started and poles fixing started between Kelamangalam and Hosur. Stores have been stocked at Royakottai for the electrification of the line at least upto Dharmapuri. If the work progresses at the current speed, we can expect the electrification of the Omalur-Dharmapuri-Hosur-Baiyappanahalli section to be completed by March,2020. There are pics of the poles and foundations for the poles on the net.
Most of the pictures have been taken of foundation work done and pole fixing at Heelalige between Belandur and Hosur, so ITvity peepul must be happy no?? There are also pics of large rollers with OHE wire in them all this some time back.

[vsunder]

Third Line work between Gwalior and Jhansi(100 km) and Jhansi to Bina(153 km)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy6MYfw7hao

At the other end in AP, third line work Gudur---Vijayawada(294 km) on Delhi-----> Chennai mainline

Part 1: Vijayawada to Ongole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxagl3NJ8Fw


Part 2: Ongole to Gudur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8bs8SgmvnE

Even in the ghat section of the Satpuras, Itarsi-Nagpore line tripling is taking place like here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRotRPl7ciQ

However Central Railway is the worst railway zone in India having done only 68km of new lines, doubling and gauge conversion last fiscal. With the spill over into this fiscal of last year's projects they have to do 668 km which is impossible. On the route above ^^^ Delhi--->Itarsi---> Nagpore---> Vijayawada---> Chennai
or Hyderabad etc CR was supposed to 4th line Nagpore-Wardha over the last 20 years, now they have not even managed to triple line Nagpore Wardha over a 10km section. This is a huge bottleneck as both Delhi---Chennai, Delhi--Hyderabad and Mumbai---Howrah freight and trains share Nagpore---Wardha tracks. On the DFC front that no good Devendra Fadnavis has not done his share of Land acquisition and large sections of Vaitarna ---JNPT about 12 km is still left to acquire, this is the information officially by central Government upto June 2019. That bugger is a useless rascal. You wait and see how impotent he will be with HSR land acquisition. Because of this moron DFC on JNPT to Vaitarna section has been pushed to Dec 2021 tentative.
Nitish Kumar is another no good whose non-cooperation with LA is holding up Mughalsarai to Sonnagar section.

[vsunder]

As far as station infra goes, Habibganj(Bhopal) and Gandhinagar(Gujarat) and Surat were to be transformed to what was called a world class station. Gandhinagar will have a 300 room hotel atop the station.

Here is the Gandhinagar station:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqkY7FwIj70


Habibganj station:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Wsv7nqVpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qol2tGg8dtY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViiWG4LKqOQ
Chandigarh station:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bahN_i4fArU

[vsunder]

The big loop around Ahmedabad of the western DFC can be clearly seen now on Google Earth. One can now see the huge Trishul at Sanand, west Ahmedabad where the DFC splits into three tracks. One goes over the Ahmedabad---Viramgam line(to Kandla ports etc) and the other parts of the trishul connect with the Viramgam line towards and away from Ahmedabad. Earthworks are going on now between Makarpura(Vadodara) and Palanpur. But the completion dates that were revised still seem very optimistic to me. Here is the Trishul which you can follow back and forward. The Earthworks are very clear now.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ahmed ... 72.5713621

[vsunder]

Since I called Nitish Kumar a moron. Here is a prime example. About 15 years ago a new line was sanctioned between Hajipur(across the Ganga from Patna) to Vaishali to Sugauli ( near the border with Nepal). As with UPA projects, line was sanctioned but funds were not. This is a very backward part of Bihar, on the north bank of the Ganga. Vaishali is at the moment unconnected with the IR network. A little historical lesson sorry. Vaishali was a republic in ancient India, Janapradha. It was here that Buddha spent chaturmas during the monsoon season on several occasions and at the house of the famous courtesan Amrapali, who later became a Buddhist nun.
It is at Vaishali that Buddha is supposed to have performed a famous miracle that is the subject of frescoes at Ajanta (and yes carved on the right hand pillar of one of the toranas at Sanchi)and also a central element in Buddhist iconography. If you have not seen Ajanta see it three times. Soon they may not allow people in there and rightly so. They only allow 100 people a day to see Giotto's masterpiece the Scrovegni chapel in Padova and that is 1303 and Ajanta is a good 500 years older. Scrovegni is sealed and air-conditioned and we have all types of morons who write "Rajiv loves Mala" inside Ajanta on the walls so I think they should only have people take a hard test in Buddhist epistemology and Buddhist logic and the works of Dignaga who lived at Ajanta and those who get more than 80% (all liberal arts people will fail the logic exam. Dignaga used contrapositive in his arguments because of religious reasons, hahahahaha) have to pay a ticket price of 1000 rupees and they get to see Ajanta frescoes.

Back to Vaishali: Bhagavan Mahavira the Jain tirthankar was also born here. When Modi came to power he pushed hard for Vaishali to be on the Buddha circuit so that tourism could lift the people who were essentially subsistence farmers and lift a backward part of India out of its misery by at least providing rail connectivity. Lines were laid in stretches and even Vaishali station was built. But due to non-cooperation by Nitishwa for land acquisition, the line even upto Vaishali leave alone Sugauli on the Nepal border trains is not functional. Goats eat grass that grows on the new and now unused platforms and the fresh paint is already peeling from the Vaishali station buildings. The tracks have not been filled with ballast and stop at Vaishali and lead to nowhere. This moron Nitish should go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld1zLX_GfPY



The historical part:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishali_(ancient_city)

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


PS: Sachin: Here is the video at Heelalige, between Belandur and Hosur, you can see stores for OHE and pole foundations done. They should have popped the poles into the holes by now(sic). Doubling also has been sanctioned and so yes life might become a bit easier for ITvity commuters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6TDQtgjQLQ

[Picklu]

IR still has a humungous number of rolling stock that require external engine to pull them. One cannot throw them away overnight, some have been just produced and have years of life left. Nor can train18 be manufactured in the quantity required to replace all of these in a couple of years. So both solutions are needed. Train 18, 19 & 20 for hi end, and this for low-end.

Actually the effort of CLW will be the life saver for Train18 and other semi high speeds. Given the humongous cost of improving the tracks and signalling for semi high speed, it would not be financially viable for just a few high speed Train18s and there will be operational challenge too like clearing the route ahead of all semi high speeds from the regular slow speed rolling stocks. Given the huge sunk cost on the existing rolling stocks, none would even dream of replacing them enmass any time soon. Then the up-gradation of track lose the ROI and Train18 dies a slow death on financial return.

Only by upgrading the existing rolling stock for semi high speed, the financial burden of improving the tracks and signals for semi high speed gets appropriate return and gets implemented. Then more and more Train18 and improved versions can be added over the period.

[vasu raya]

what are the priorities for the new freight lines,

1) Dual container stacked python trains between ports, fetches more revenue to railways
2) High speed passenger trains reducing the travel time between adjacent nodes of the freight corridor quadrilateral to under 12 hrs - overnighters
3) Ro-Ro long distance trains reducing the oil import bill

[arshyam]

They should have popped the poles into the holes by now(sic).

As of last weekend, it's done at Bellandur Road and Carmelaram, the stations before Heelalige. Work is surely going on.

[vsunder]

They should have popped the poles into the holes by now(sic).

As of last weekend, it's done at Bellandur Road and Carmelaram, the stations before Heelalige. Work is surely going on.

Thanks for the fresh update. Here is a short video that IR wonks on this forum may like for the statistics, cost of running a diesel vs cost of running a eloco(almost double), It costs Rs 16 to haul 1 metric ton of goods 1km by eloco, and it costs Rs 32 to haul 1 metric ton of stuff 1 km by diesel,
savings to the exchequer, RKMs under electrification etc etc; IR freight rakes are usually 5000 metric tons, so now you can figure the cost of hauling a full rake from Peepulganj to Chamchamnagar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pubTXdCUFE

Arshyam: On the Northern side of Bangalore here are two videos Makalidurga-Dodballapur(poor progress) and Dodballapur--Yellahanka doubling. Apparently Hindupur-Devarapalli is almost done so we should see limited progress on Devarapalli----Penukonda----Gooty on the Bangalore----Mumbai and Bangalore ---Delhi route doubling.

Makalidurga----Dodaballapur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk3ghrl ... dex=3&t=0s


Dodballapur-----Yellahanka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXBk_dn ... dex=2&t=0s

[Sachin]

PS: Sachin: Here is the video at Heelalige, between Belandur and Hosur, you can see stores for OHE and pole foundations done. They should have popped the poles into the holes by now(sic). Doubling also has been sanctioned and so yes life might become a bit easier for ITvity commuter.

I know, as this is a beat which I walk every day . As of today the poles have been firmly fixed. And at every level crossing they are on the process of fixing the high ceiling bar. Interlocking of railway gates was some thing which they did nearly 8-10 months back. Gates are interlocked and there are also signals controlled by them now. On the doubling front, I am not seeing any major push yet - like clearing the vegetation etc.

[Kashi]

Arshyam: On the Northern side of Bangalore here are two videos Makalidurga-Dodballapur(poor progress) and Dodballapur--Yellahanka doubling.

vsunderji thanks very much for the updates.

Doubling of this route is indeed very important and it was baffling that for so long a key route connecting Bangalore with Secunderabad was an unelectrified single line.

However, it's not clear what's the status of doubling between Yelahanka and Yehswantpur or even Majestic (via Allasandra, GKVK and Kodigehalli). Any information on this?

[arshyam]

Yelahanka-Yeswantpur-City (SBC) is fully doubled. Has been that was for at least 2 years now. So is the YNK-Channasandra (before KR Puram), though the connecting track toward Byappanahalli is still a single track.

SBC-MYS is also fully doubled and electrified.

vsunder sir, thanks for the updates about the DMM-GY line. Will check progress when I go that side next time.

[Kashi]

Thanks for the update ashyamji. Good to see progress being made on this section. A most important railway corridor this is. I wonder of they can build a spur towards Devanahalli and run some trains to and from the airport. Would be difficult with the traffic through.

[arshyam]

There is actually a spur branching off from YNK towards Devanahalli - it's a single diesel track that winds through Chikkaballapur, Chintamani and Kolar, before eventually connecting to the Madras line at Bangarapet. In fact, this track goes very close to the end of the BLR airport runway, but the worthies that run this city never considered using this as a fast option to the airport (a 3-km spur should have done the trick). Now they are insisting on a long metro line from Silk board to the airport at the cost of a few thousand crores. Sure, the metro is most welcome and would be useful going forward, but a rail connection in the early years of BLR would have saved a lot of people the misery of navigating the construction site that was NH-7, not to mention lots of money.

Anyway, some late bulbs have gone off, let's see: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/b ... 019-107275

[vasu raya]

vsunder, The new freight line is passing through many stations, and may have to switch to middle line to avoid the platform line, is that the plan? switching at 100kmph is even possible? never liked the idea of trains zipping at above 100kmph on the platform lines

[vsunder]

On 15th August, the first e-loco ran on any section of the DFC between New Khurja to New Bhadan 194km of the EDFC on the Kanpur----Khurja section of the EDFC.

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

Signals were also activated on the 15th on this section. Diesel locos were run on this section with incomplete loop lines etc in Dec 2018 as a trial. The target is now Nov 2019 to finish the rest New Bhadan to New Bhaupur(Kanpur) with or without OHE. Most likely Nov 2019 will be without OHE and OHE etc will happen after 6 months as happened with Khurja----Bhadan. When Khurja ----Bhaupur is completed 343km of EDFC will be completed and pressure on the busy Kanpur---Delhi section will ease.

Here are the revised dates

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

Bhadan----Bhaupur(Kanpur), Nov 2019

Bhaupur-----Mughalsarai(Deen Dayal Upadhyay) (402 km) Dec 2020. On this section DFC will connect to the new already commissioned Inland water terminal at Jeonathpur(Varanasi). Land has been acquired for this spur line and the design for the spur line approved.

Mughalsarai---Sonnagar (Bihar) (126 km) Dec 2020, LA issues here, 10 km of land to be still acquired.
This section is the first to be constructed since 2013 in UPA days and shows the problem in Bihar. However
part of this Durgawati(Bihar)---Sasaram(Bihar) 57km is commissioned. There will be a rail over rail flyover at Ganj Khwaja outside of Mughalsarai on this section. DFC will pass over from the south side to the north side of the Howrah Grand Chord line.

Dadri---Khurja(46km) Dec 2020 (LA issues here in NOIDA and Gulistanpur in NCR) 5 km of land to be still acquired

Sahnewal(Ludhiana)----Pilkhani (single line electrified) Dec 2021 179km

Pilkhani-----Khurja(single line electrified) Dec 2021 (LA issues here in UP) 222 km


Western DFC

Rewari-----Palanpur(which links to Mundhra and Kandla ports) 641 km, March 2020(most likely OHE will follow after 6 months, videos show lots and lots of civil work left between Marwar Jn and Palanpur)
Land acquisition complete. 306 km between Rewari and Madar(Ajmer) had a trial run with diesel loco in Dec 2018. OHE work and systems work/signals is going on the diesel trialled section. Entire WDFC and the IR Delhi--Ahmedabad tracks that parallel it are arranged to accommodate double stacked container freight.
IR doubling Delhi---Ahmedabad and simultaneous electrification is also going on at a very fast rate between Ajmer and Mahesana and gauge conversion for doubling between Mahesana and Ahmedabad.


Palanpur-----Makarpura(Vadodara) 308 km, Land acquisition: 1 km of land to be still acquired, September 2021

Makarpura---JNPT 430 km, Dec 2021, plenty LA issues in Maharshtra between Vaitarna and JNPT, still 10% of land to be acquired between Vaitarna and JNPT, 12 km of land to be acquired between Vaitarna and JNPT.
4 km of land to be still acquired between Sachin(Surat) and Vaitarna.

Linking line connecting EDFC and WDFC and tunnel under Aravvalli hill near Gurugram, line loops around Delhi

Rewari-----Dadri 127 km, March 2021. 1 km of land to be still acquired.