Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

The Lockdown provided an opportunity for IR to do maintenance on the second Godavari River bridge at Rajamundhry AP after 43 years. Maintenance in part has never been done since the bridge was commissioned in 1977, 43 years ago. A curious story was brought to my mind when I read this. In 1971 during the BD war, the Hardinge bridge over River Padma in BD was damaged and one of the fallen spans was even blocking river traffic. More seriously the location of the fallen span was encouraging scouring of the piers of the bridge. This is a major bridge in BD. IR was instrumental in repairing this bridge rapidly by taking one of the spans of this Godavari bridge then being built and placing it on the Padma bridge in BD. Well some old timers remember. See page 11 of this very nice report of the IR role in repair of the Padma bridge in BD:

https://www.rendel-ltd.com/pdfs/Bangladesh-100-year.pdf

A blog and video of the 36 hours that it took to do the preventive maintenance after 43 years on the Godavari bridge during the lockdown:(the bridge carries traffic between Howrah to Chennai/Hyderabad and has a lot of freight movement from collieries and ore too)

https://vijayawadarlyscr.blogspot.com/2 ... cross.html

https://twitter.com/i/status/1263493606565797888
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Mollick.R »

60% Covid rail coaches to be reconverted for passenger service
Neha Shukla & Dipak K Dash | TNN | Updated: May 22, 2020, 15:02 IST

LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: With virtually no takers for its Covid coaches, the Railway Board has decided to reconvert nearly 3,100 of these remodelled coaches which can be deployed for running Shramik Special trains. The railways had converted around 5,321 sleeper coaches and general coaches as isolation coaches for Covid patients.

The Railway Board has issued a communication to all zones saying, “permitted the 'utilisation of 60% isolation coaches meant for intervention of Covid-19 cases, as Shramik Special”.

Sources said the railways had spent around Rs 2 lakh per coach to covert them. “We just need to add the middle berth which was taken out in the case of sleeper coaches and there is no need to carry out any modification in general coaches which were made into Covid coaches,” said an official.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 886886.cms
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Indranil »

Thank you all for the updates on the WAG-10s and WAG11s. That conversion and adoption sounds like a no brainer to me.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by RajeevK »

A week back there used to be lot of news about trains losing their way. The public relations officer of Western Railway has has answered such questions in his interview to MidDay . Sadly people would have now moved to next set of false news
https://m.mid-day.com/amp/articles/why- ... y/22815213
----------

Practically, the trains never lose their way. The driver or loco pilot cannot divert a train or take it to the course of his liking. For a layman, a train doesn’t have steering. The controller at junction station sets the further course of a train after getting clearance from divisional control which in turn takes instructions from zonal control. Train operations are synchronized between various divisions and zones and are run smoothly in close coordination.
------------
Q: During normal times, many more trains from these routes. How could a handful of trains lead to the collapse of the system? Was advance planning not done at all?

A: Indian Railways is running shramik special trains on point to point basis during these unprecedented times. Railways don’t have the liberty of advance planning about the source and destination of trains, neither there is advance timetabling. The demand for trains is received from state govt after receiving acceptance from the destination state. This normally happens at a very short notice leaving very little margin for railways to plan rake availability and other modalities such as crew, engine, route, coordination with other railways to allot path etc. The train is, however, immediately approved, the route is decided, a schedule is prepared and state govt is asked to bring the passengers to the station. Two to three hours’ advance placement of rake is done at the station to allow state authorities to manage the boarding, following social distancing norms. The waiting period between train demand and placement at the platform is kept minimum to reduce inconvenience to migrants.
-‐------
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

Over the lockdown several projects involving maintenance that could not possibly have been carried out and long pending have been completed.

1. Successful completion of overhauling on all level crossing on the entire Mumbai suburban network of CR. 24 level crossings that had to have both stoppage of trains and road traffic. Road surface at the LC had to be dug up and rails and sleepers inspected and replaced and then road surface relaid.

2. FOBs installed on various stations between Miraj-Pune where RE and doubling is going on modulo some interference by Pawar kaka for some land acquisition.

3. RE going on full swing on Gadag-Hotgi route, esp. near Bijapur. Even CRS inspection took place on this route with CRS for new bridge over River Bhima the longest rail bridge in Karnataka. Train went over it at 100kmph at inspection. I posted a video above.
With commissioning the entire route between Hotgi/Solapur to Wandal will be doubled and RE is also proceeding really fast. Soon Gadag/Solapur will also be doubled and electrified.

4. Launching of girders are taking place at a rate of 2 every 3 days at Yamuna bridge in NOIDA which is the EDFC and WDFC connector. Do not know what is happening with the DFC bridge over Hindon river??

5. Permananent caution (45 kmph) removed between Mulanur and Patchur on the ghat section between Bangarapet(Bowringpet) and Jolarpettai, tracks date from 1986 and were in poor condition. Does this mean Shatabdi can increase speed between Chennai and Bangalore? There used to be another permanent caution at Kamasamudram due to a derelict bridge, last I went over it seems gone.

6. Lastly a freight did Bhopal to Khandwa(Delhi-Mumbai CR line) in 4 hrs 20 mins, that is at superfast speed. So freight can be driven at speed on regular track.

7. A 100 year old FOB was removed at Ludhiana that was causing severe impediment to expansion.


There are 3 tunnels on WDFC. Sohna tunnel in Aravalli hill in Mewat in Haryana 1km was supposed to be done by September if Covid had not intevened, two tunnels 350m and 400m at Vasai(the old Portuguese Bassein) between Vaitarna and JNPT. JICA had insisted on these tunnels at Vasai so as not to displace too many people. They the Japanese are very strict about this and will also insist on such things for HSR.
Last edited by vsunder on 08 Jun 2020 06:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

The Railways is thinking of cancelling trains with low occupancy and curtailing stops post Covid. But will it fly in the face of political pressures?

https://www.newsclick.in/Railways-Drop- ... Post-COVID
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

Distributed Power, Locotrol, the why, how and its Future

Distributed power is the method of attaching several locos to freight/goods trains. The locos are attached not only heading the train but in the center and most certainly at the end for reasons I shall explain. This practice gained a major fillip during the major recession of 2008, when railroad companies in the US and Canada(esp. Canadian Pacific) resorted to longer and heavier trains to carry freight in a cost cutting move to remain competitive with freight carriers using roadways. There were several advantages and out of many I list three:

1. The locos except the leading one are not manned and so there is a saving of manpower and so the attendant cost of paying salaries, pension and so on goes down.

2. There is a lot of force on the drawbars and knuckles in the coupling system of heavy loaded freight. For example a DFC type of train on a 1:70 incline like between Maramjhiri-Ghoradongiri between Itarsi and Nagpur on the busy Chennai-Delhi mainline would experience a force of 200 tonnes on the lead coupling, something which would exceed the design of the couplers, leading to a break and a runaway train. This is the reason that a design requirement of the DFC is that the ruling gradient is capped at 1:200 whereby the lead coupler experiences a force of 70 tonnes. Having an engine at the rear enables that the force on the couplers is lower and within permissible limits.

3. Charging of the brake system: Imagine a long DFC freight with 160 BOXN freightcars brought to a halt at Chamchamnagar outer by the loco pilot Kirori Mal Thirugnanasambandar. After bringing the rake to a halt, he now has to charge the brake system to between 5-6 kg/cm^2 that is 5-6 bar or 500-600 kilo pascal KPA, that is the same pressure as 70-90 psi on American railroads(passenger trains on American railroads work with brake pressures at 110 psi!). The charging of such a long rake will take forever for the pressure to build up all the way to the last freight car. Typically on IR, the duty of the guard is to monitor this pressure by means of a gauge in his last van and alert the loco pilot that the pressure has reached a permissible limit. But with the long rakes the time taken to charge will be forever and this means unnecessary occupation of the mainline. Having an engine in the rear will make the charging process go faster and several compressors can be used to make short shrift of the job. EOTT devices can then alert via telemetry the WILMA device in the engine heading this freight.

How is Distributive power achieved ?

In the US distributed power is achieved usually by Locotrol devices. This is the proprietary system developed by GE for distributive power which sounds like some sort of laxative. However, it has become synonymous with distributive power just like Xerox just means copying and not the company anymore. In the US locotrol connections between locos involve 23 pin plugs to feed control signals between locos and also a system of pneumatic pipes between locos which ensure proper and synchronous braking, charging of brake lines and of course simultaneous acceleration. This is what a Locotrol device looks like

https://www.ge.com/digital/sites/defaul ... 160824.pdf

Yes you can read the PDF but here are some highlights which may not be or maybe in the document above. After all I am the original Illuminati and the info is indeed funneled through me hahahahha :rotfl:

1. Control messages are sent by the lead loco in a specific message format and protocol.

2. Communications occur in less than 1 second.

3. Messages are transmitted by the lead loco at the minimum of once every 20 seconds.

4. Locotrol does communication checks every 10 seconds between the lead loco and the remotes. When the check is unsuccessful, the backup radios intervene. If this fails, a communication interruption is declared. If continuous communication is not restored, a penalty brake application is automatically propagated throughout the train.


5. The possibility of wayside interference frequencies, operation in tunnels, or momentary malfunction of radios means there could be occasional instances where communication between the lead and the remotes is lost. If communication is lost for more than 45 seconds, a communication interruption condition is signaled, whereby the head end unit displays show the last status of the remotes. During this time the lead cannot communicate commands to the remotes, which continue to operate the last function commanded prior to the communication loss.

When there is a loss of radio communication, a significant propagation of the brakes is one method of isolating the remotes. When this occurs, the remotes cut out their feed valve and begin what is known in Locotrol as the Communication Loss Idle Down (CLID) procedure. This means that when the remotes sense a brake pipe reduction while in a state of communication loss, they automatically step down traction and cut out the brake valve. If in Dynamic Braking (DB), the DB force will be maintained.

When communication is re-established, the operator in the lead unit follows a special sequence of key functions to cut the feed valves back in and recharge the train from the head end. Each remote needs to sense a rise of 4 psi per minute in its brake pipe to automatically cut in the feed valve.

Studies have shown that Locotrol enabled trains have many advantages apart from the ones listed at the beginning:

(a) Brake application and release commands are transmitted by the same radio communication protocol, significantly shortening all brake command propagation times.

(b) Stopping distances are reduced through faster brake application, and more rapid acceleration and deceleration is possible.

Did IR try Locotrol ?

Yes IR tried Locotrol in the late 1980s. In 1989 on the Metre Gauge section in Assam, Lumding-Guwahati-Badarpur YDM4 locos were fitted with Locotrol with inclines of 1:50 and 1:37 and tonnage of 1500 tonnes. These trials were not successful. The remote loco had to be placed 2/3rds of the way down the train and this required unnecessary shunting and other issues.

Locotrol was also tried on Broad gauge on rakes with 113 wagons on the Hatia-Kiruburu line on part of the DBK railway. If you do not know what DBK railway is look up my post on the Deterrence thread, you will know. These trials were conducted in August-November 1989 when this was part of SER, the old BNR(Bengal Nagpore Railway). 49 trials were conducted and the trials were not encouraging. WDM2 diesels were used and there was frequent breakdown of equipment. The lessons learned by IR for the future were:

(a) Seamless control of pneumatic brakes is essential.


(b) Interchangeability of Lead and Remote units i.e. any locomotive can be configured as lead or remote is vital for operational flexibility.

(c) Indigenous service and spares support base for equipment is must for equipment upkeep.


(d) Training of maintenance and operations staff a must for sustainable operations.

(e) Distributed power can be successfully used for long trains on difficult grades and technology overcomes many conventional restrictions of rail operations.

Having said this it was not the end of Locotrol in India. AJNI shed in Ajni, Nagpur which is an electric loco shed and where part of the fleet of the new Alstoms will be homed and has a large holding of WAG-9s is experimenting with Locotrol with several locos. With so many types of locos both diesel and electric there is always the issue of compatibility between different models for the Locotrol system to work. This is reminiscent of the issues that the IAF faces in integrating radar between different models of aircraft.

Locotrol is successfully employed on the Sishen-Saldanha line in South Africa with very heavy freight running on surprisingly 3ft 6inch gauge but with rail having density 68 kg/m. This is far smaller than the gauge used in India 5ft 6 inches on BG. Another feature of the Sishen-Saldanha line is the use of 50KV for traction that allows TSS, traction sub-stations to be placed further apart. Distributed power is used in Australia a lot on ore carrying lines.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Suraj »

Saldanha Bay is a Capesize deepwater port that's among the few ports to accommodate that category of ore carrier ships - for a long time the biggest ships, until recently superceded by the Valemax category. Capesize ships cannot use either Suez or Panama canals.

Ore transport seems to be the basis of some of the most powerful high end locomotives - the world's most powerful locomotives until some years ago were the Swedish/Norwegian IORE ore hauling locos.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

Suraj wrote:Saldanha Bay is a Capesize deepwater port that's among the few ports to accommodate that category of ore carrier ships - for a long time the biggest ships, until recently superceded by the Valemax category. Capesize ships cannot use either Suez or Panama canals.

Ore transport seems to be the basis of some of the most powerful high end locomotives - the world's most powerful locomotives until some years ago were the Swedish/Norwegian IORE ore hauling locos.
That is correct. Even the DBK Railway which was conceived in 1962 and became operational in 1966 as I have pointed out in the Deterrence thread and a magnificent engineering challenge that IR and the contracted companies overcame was built to extract iron ore from the Bailadila mines and take them to Vizag port for Japan. Japan financed part of the cost of the Railway. The wagons ran empty in one direction. It was the highest BG railway anywhere till the Kashmir railway broke the record. DBK railway as the old timers will tell you, (there are not many left of that band of supermen) is that it is the only project of IR that came in under budget and before time. I see much of the hoo haa on twitter on infra and I wonder how these self-deprecating cowboys who climbed the Eastern ghats and went to god forsaken places in the 1960s like Dantewada, Jagdalpur which are today known for Naxal activities and built these lines would react. Back at base in Mumbai home office, they were fun-loving and hard charging people with a determination for excellence. The Kottavalasa-Kirandul line for example had 58 tunnels and 85 bridges. Most of the tunnels were 500m+. Finished in 7 years after conception in 1962. Opened in 1966-1969. The two other lines were opened earlier.
And they also had a high degree of culture and aesthetics too. Like finding caves like Borra here:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Vi ... 001751.ece

A book was brought out on the 50 th anniversary:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Vi ... 481679.ece

Today the lines (there were a set of 3 that collectively came to be called as DBK Railway with Vizag/Waltair as headquarters) are electrified and the Araku valley as beautiful. They have started introducing the indigenous people to coffee cultivation. Araku coffee is excellent but the nearest I can get it is unfortunately Paris in a shop and cafe in the 3rd arrondissement.
(14 Rue de La Bretagne)
https://www.arakucoffee.com/en/blog

https://www.arakucoffee.in/

https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style ... 110355.ece
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

As far as I found out, 12 WAG-7s from Kazipet shed are fitted with Locotrol and ply on the Kothagudem thermal station Bhadrachalam route. 2 WAG9s from Tatanagar shed and a few from Ajni and Lallagudda sheds have Locotrol. Locovision and Locotrol and other enhancements was offered by GE on their new Evolution diesel locos, but the way the stupid articles are written by dumb journalists with no precision, it is unclear if GE offered them and IR refused or indeed the Evolution locos came fitted with Locotrol and the other accessories. What do you make of this? Is this a sales pitch to IR for Locotrol or it is really fitted to the loco, Here is how GE envisions this (this is ambiguously worded in the article) GE envisions this, but does IR envision this also? the poor reader dies in apprehension and anticipation I suppose.

https://yourstory.com/2017/08/ge-transp ... 000-trains

The problem with IR is that the loop lines are too short to make efficient use of Locotrol with really long rakes, but it should help in the ghat sections esp. on the Nagpur-Itarsi section where triple lining is going on. You can see how stupid and dumb the journalist is from the title, plans to launch 1000 trains by 2025, dumb idiot that is locos, if you do not know the difference between a loco and a train then you have no business talking about it. IR launches what 30,000 trains everyday pre Covid 19.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

The final survey of the Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3pWDpMIbVo
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Mollick.R »

vsunder wrote:The final survey of the Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3pWDpMIbVo
Searched for the presentation shown by the journo quite a bit using google , but no luck.

Is the full presentation/ report available in public domain ?
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

^^^ GMR group acquired GeoKno (an IIT Kanpur spin off). GeoKno/GMR won the contract to do the heliborne LIDAR survey for Manali-Leh. The report in the hands of the journalist is dated sometime late 2019. My impression is that the LIDAR survey is a more precise survey than the one in the hands of the journalist. This line will boast the highest railway station in the world, higher than the Qinghai line. There is provision for oxygen for passengers or some sort of pressurized coaches. I do not know what the ruling gradient is. The Himalayas are not a piece of cake to tunnel. The mountains are sedimentary layers and break off/ frequent avalanches and mud slides commonplace. Terrain is moving and shifting so stabilization is needed and over time that will also not be enough.

There are three other railway lines that were being discussed by MoD to the LAC

1. Pasighat--Tezu--Rupai(227 km, Arunachal Pradesh)

2. Missimara--Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

3. Lakhimpur ---Silpathar.

Work had also started on the Se La pass tunnel to Tawang with a completion in 2022. Possibly also w

ork has restarted on the trans-Arunachal highway after a major scam hit it. The other railway line Rishikesh to Karnaprayag was progressing well prior to lockdown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7NvQx49rrM

The Alakananda is a very fast flowing river and sinking wells etc for bridges tough. You only see snow covered peaks from Joshimath and towards Gangotri from Harsil(same place where Ajai Shukla claims Chinese troops have come. I am sure he has never been to Harsil). The first snow covered peak one sees at Harsil is Sudershan.

https://www.adventurepeaks.com/wp-conte ... dition.pdf

Sudershan stays with you along the trail to Gaumukh and Tapovan. Regarding Harsil there is a curious story. A British deserter from the 1st Afghan war of 1842, made his way to Harsil. Here he married a bevy of local women and set up a mini-kingdom and became a self-styled Raja of Harsil. Later he started to supply timber to the British for construction and esp. to build the Railways. Kipling heard about this man and developed the story The Man Who would be King on this theme(made into a movie with Sean Connery and Michael Caine). Today you can eat apples in Harsil, visit the ruins of the palace of Raja Wilson and yes there is also a story of a woman who he chased and she fell over a precipice and her ghost haunts the valley. Sudershan looms and it is to Harsil that the murti of Ganga is brought from Gangotri during the winter months when Gangotri is closed due to snowfall. Yamnotri and Gangotri will not be serviced by the railway, Kedarnath and Badrinath will. The Legend of the Raja of Harsil, Frederick Pahadi Wilson

https://www.amazon.com/Raja-Harsil-Lege ... 8174367969
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Suraj »

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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Ashokk »

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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Vips »

Indian Railways' most powerful 12000 HP 'Made in India' locomotive makes first commercial run.

The Indian Railways operationalised its most powerful 'Made in India locomotive - a 12000 HP engine - on Monday, becoming only the sixth country in the world to join the elite club of producing high horsepower locomotive indigenously, the Ministry of Railways said.

The first 12000 HP made in India Locomotive, manufactured by Madhepura Electric Loco Factory situated in Bihar, was put into operation by Indian Railways from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn Station Monday, it said.

The loco is named WAG12 with Number 60027. The train departed from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Station at 14:08 hrs in long haul formation for Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway, consisting of 118 wagons which travelled to Barwadih via Dehri-on-Sone, Garhwa Road, it added. It is the first time, high horsepower locomotive has been operationalised on broad gauge track in the world, the Railways claimed.

The locomotive has been produced under 'Make in India' programme. The Madhepura factory is the largest integrated Green Field facility built to the highest standards of quality and safety with a production capacity of 120 locomotives and spread across a massive 250 acres, it added.

According to the specifications provided by the Railways, these locomotives are state of art IGBT based, 3 phase drive, 9000 KW (12000 horsepower) electric locomotive. It is capable of the maximum tractive effort of 706 kN, which is capable of starting and running a 6000 T train in the gradient of 1 in 150. The locomotive with twin Bo-Bo design having 22.5 T (Tonnes) axle load is upgradable to 25 Tonnes with a design speed of 120 kmph.

The locomotives can be tracked through GPS for its strategic use through embedded software and Antennae being lifted through the servers on the ground through a microwave link.

This locomotive will be a game-changer for further movement of coal trains for Dedicated Freight Corridor, the ministry said.

The locomotive is capable of working on railway tracks with conventional OHE lines as well as on Dedicated Freight corridors with high rise OHE lines. It has air-conditioned driver cabs on either side and is equipped with a regenerative braking system which provides substantial energy savings during operations. These high horsepower locomotives will help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving the average speed of freight trains, the Railways said.

Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL) will manufacture 800 State of the Art 12000 HP Electric Freight Locomotives in 11 years. As part of the project, factory along with township has been set up in Madhepura, Bihar with the capacity to manufacture 120 locomotives per year. The project will create more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country. More than Rs 2000 crore has already been invested in the project by the company.

The new locomotive will as the most power full-electric locomotive in the world increase the speed of freight trains and will allow faster, safer and heavier freight trains to move across the country, thus reducing congestion in traffic.

It will also lead to considerable savings in energy consumption through regenerative braking.

The Indian Railways entered into Procurement cum Maintenance Agreement with Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL), as part of the largest Foreign Direct Investment project of Indian Railways to transform the heavy freight transportation landscape of the country.

The project started in 2018 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the project on April 10, 2018 while the prototype locomotive was delivered in March 2018.

The locomotive made its maiden commercial run between Deen Dayal Upadhaya Station to Shivpur on May 18, 2020.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

An 1862 bridge in Sealdah yard is dismantled and removed in late May early June right after Amphan. The video shows the process of how various challenges were met within the constraints of a road and canal to do the job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFiHu94luGY
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by chetak »

SC okays infrastructure, building plans on 407 acres in Aarey

The SC bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Abdul Nazeer observed that Mumbai was “a congested city” and Metro was important, and dismissed Stalin Dayanand's NGO Vanashakti’s appeal
In blow to greens, SC OKs infra, bldg plans on 407 acres in Aarey |

Mumbai News - Times of India
Mumbai: A total of 407 acres in the green Aarey Colony in suburban Mumbai, roughly the size of 18 Oval Maidans, can now be used for infrastructure and.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

Freight loading on IR this month is at 91% of the similar period last year. Freight ran at an average speed of 42kmph this month and 25kmph last year at the same period.

Hospet yard re-modelling is over and commissioned on June 22 and electronic route relay has been installed with the ability to set 415 routes the highest on SWR. Simultaneous arrivals and departures can be done on this busy east-west route with ore and traffic from Mormugoa port towards East coast ports.

https://www.railpost.in/remodelling-of- ... ion-ready/

Doubling CRS done for 10 km between Bangalore and Gooty on the Bangalore-Delhi and Bangalore-Hyderabad route done yesterday. Slowly the entire route from Bangalore to Guntakal will be doubled. Maybe in 2 years. Gauge conversion, electrification and now doubling, lot of progress. 140 km left to finish the project(total over both SWR and SCR)

Girder/span launching has started simultaneously on the WDFC bridge across Narmada at Bharuch and Mumbai-Delhi expressway bridge which is cable stayed. Both bridges are coming up near each other and let us see which finishes first.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by darshan »

Railways Nearly Doubles Average Speed Of Freight Trains Over Past Year, Up From 22.98 Kmph To 41.74 Kmph
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/railways- ... -4174-kmph
In a major achievement, Indian Railways has nearly doubled the average speed of freight trains from 22.98 kilometres per hour (kmph) on 21 June last year to 41.74 kmph on the bygone 21 June, reports Economic Times.

The positive development was made public by Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal who also shared that the Indian Railways was further leveraging the course of lockdown to complete long-awaited maintenance works and to re-write the time tables of the railways to further aid the freight operations.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by nachiket »

How much of this is attributable to passenger train traffic being substantially reduced due to the lockdown? This drastic increase in a single year sounds too good to be true.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

^^^ A large part of the increase in speed is because freight does not have to contend with Passenger trains which force freight to be looped at crossings. A few posts above I mentioned that a freight did Bhopal to Khandwa in 4hours and 20 mins which a super fast does in 4 hours and 10 mins. This is not possible and sustainable in a regular schedule. However IR has diligently worked over this period in rehabilitating crumbling bridges, replacing old sleepers and rails and completing projects that were overdue for more than a decade and in some cases 3 decades. By pushing concrete boxes many LCs were eliminated and yards like Bangalore city, Hospet, Vadodara and a host of smaller places were upgraded to electronic signalling RRI and remodeling so this will contribute to increase in speed and through running speed of freight and passenger going forward. RE has been going on during the lockdown and so has DFC work though not with the same tempo as migrant workers returned home. However some are returning and IR and companies it contracted have begun addressing themselves to finish projects. To ramp up to pre COVID levels will take time, not just because of lack of labour but also because construction material is not available. For example at the fancy third terminal of Bangalore at Bypannahalli which was to be completed soon July 2020, and has an airport facade with lots of glass and concrete, there is a shortage of flooring tiles, granite and other material which has to come from the Madurai area and Rajasthan and elsewhere. Quarries are under lockdown and this impinges on ballast and also cement is in short supply to operate batching plants. It will ease but will take time.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

After 90 years a bridge rises again.

The Kosi river Mahasetu bridge in North Bihar is now undergoing trials. The original bridge was destroyed by the massive Bihar earthquake in 1943, Richter scale 8.0. It carried a MG line. In 2003 ABV installed the foundation stone for the new bridge, but succeeding governments did bugger all. The Kosi as you know meanders and changes its course and discharges a huge amount of water during monsoons and floods easily in Nepal and India as happened in 2019. The bridge is 1.9 kms long and has 39 spans for this reason. Kosi here is called Saptkosi as it appears in spate as if 7 rivers have joined together. It will provide connectivity with the Northeast of India to Bihar and UP and Delhi. Towns of North Bihar like Saharsa, Nirmali, Katihar, Purnea, Darbhanga, Saraygarh etc will all be connected by Broad gauge to the rest of India and neighboring areas are being converted to BG. This is a great achievement by the Modi Govt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DD8gq3ByEU

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhnBfi1ewkM

Purnea has bases for IA, IAF, ITBP, SSB and BSF, so connectivity is very important with it, esp. during the current crisis.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Datab ... /14%20FBSU
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

Story of a Line and how Modi is changing India

Nothing symbolizes the changes occurring in rural India in remote places than the changes being wrought by connectivity of areas that a succession of Governments had left to wallow in misery and backwardness than the tribal areas that lie between Ahmedabad and Udaipur. About 30 years ago a Frenchman shot a movie about the last days of steam on this Metre Gauge line. This line climbed via steep gradients and tight turns through the Arravalli range rising from about 30m at Ahmedabad to 1100 m and one tunnel before making it to Udaipur. The movie shows how tough it was to maintain and run a steam loco and the affection those old pilots had for their steam loco. In the quest for more efficient steam locos, the subject of Thermodynamics was born and this then lead to the greatest intellectual and scientific revolution of mankind ---Quantum Mechanics. For it was thermodynamics that lead to the anomaly of blackbody radiation which Planck sought to explain in terms of quanta. The movie Veiled in Vapor is a narrative that records the views of the pilot, as he explains that the train runs for the tribal people who pay no fare in most cases and in a not too distant past the tribal women went about bare chested, clad in leaves. It is also a historical record of the MG era stations to compare. So here is Veiled in Vapor, the last run of a steam loco on the Ahmedabad--Udaipur line in 1996.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIpekofg6ug

In the Modi era this line is scheduled for re-gauging and as has happened with other lines eventual electrification. Re-gauging does not mean simply putting down a new set of tracks. All the old MG era stations are demolished and re-built and platform heights raised. This has happened at all places where re-gauging has occurred recently. Bridges are re-built for heavier loads. The gradient has to be gentler to accommodate heavier rakes and freight entailing a modified alignment, and in the case of this particular line a new 849m tunnel is being built to obtain a gentler gradient at Zawar near Udaipur. There is a Zinc, Lead and Phosphate mine run by Hindustan Zinc Inc at Zawar. Once the line is fully re-gauged, the minerals can be evacuated from the mine far more efficiently and then easily transported to the Gujarat ports via Ahmedabad if need be or to other industrial centers in India.

Current Status of the Line (Compare stations and rolling stock with Veiled in Vapor^^^ above)

Ahmedabad------Himmatnagar operational with DEMU.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZKX6V8gwqQ


Himmatnagar--------Dungarpur close to CRS ( see how the new stations look)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUA0ak-T714

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mEdmvk77aE


At the opposite end Udaipur-----Kharwachanda (operational)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z65VHadHh9M

Between Kharwa and Dungarpur is the Zawar tunnel. 400m drilled at last update of a 849m tunnel. This is the part under construction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTC4w3tOD4k


75 km left to gauge convert out of 300km between Udaipur and Ahmedabad.


The standard process is gauge conversion, with re-built stations and then quickly electrify and provide MEMU/DEMU services for people to reach major cities like above from areas that have had less development. This is exemplified along the Pilgrim route Villupuram---Tiruvannamalai----Katpadi-----Tirupati. Till about 10 years ago predominantly MG. Gauge converted, electrified and here we are--- the last run of the Katpadi---Villupuram passenger with diesel under wires. Enjoy Arunachala at Tiruvannamalai, the beautifully maintained station at Tandarai in Thanjavur division, Tirukoivilur which has many exquisite temples and is associated with Ramana Maharshi. This is the story being replicated all over India quietly. Notice in the video the new station buildings after re-gauging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC0YWTBG5jg

And now the survey is out for doubling on this very route Villupuram-Katpadi.

PS: Just outside the Tirukovilur railway station is a huge rock on which sits a temple. From this temple one perhaps sees Arunachala hill for the first time. There is a small stone column on which are some stone footprints. It is from here that Sambandar saw Arunachala for the first time. Sambandar as many know is one of the 4 foremost saints in the Saiva canon of TN whose story can be found in the Periapuranam and his compositions in the Tevaram. It is in this temple in late August 1896 a boy running away from home stumbled in having walked along the tracks from Mamballapattu having no money and hungry. On meditating he perceived a brilliant light permeating the entire temple whose source he could not quite fathom. This is that boy:

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

You can follow the path the boy took in the train video above from Villupuram to Mamballapattu, money for train fare runs out, walks to Tirukoivillur, pawns his ruby earrings and gets fare to go to Tiruvannamalai. Never touches money again and never redeems his ruby earrings.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

With CRS yesterday between Satna and Katni for electrification, 90 rkms, the Mumbai-Howrah line via Prayagraj is fully doubled and electrified. This electrifcation had been beset by scandals soon after Modi took over in 2014. The other major project on this line was the second bridge over the Bagra Tawa river. All has been completed and there will be no loco changes anymore over the route of the old Imperial mail that connected the east and west of the sub-continent--- this is the route described in Jules Verne's Around the world in 80 Days. In fact eloco can haul trains from CSTM, Mumbai all the way to New Jalpaiguri in North Bengal abutting the Sikkim border from now on. Once New Jalpaiguri--Gauhati electrifcation is done elocos can enter Assam and beyond and doubling is also taking place between Gauhati and New Jalpaiguri.

23 km is also left to re-gauge and electrify between Lamta and Samnapur on the old Jabalpur-Gondia Narrow gauge Satpura railway another Modi era project to completely re-gauge to BG the entire Satpura narrow gauge network. Almost done now. Once this 23 km is done( all earthworks and bridges done, track linking is left for about 8km and OHE installation) this route will connect to the one above ^^^ at Jabalpur and provide a 6-7 hours saving between Chennai and Varanasi and Chennai and Gorakhpur, Prayagraj etc and concomitant savings in moving freight. Coal movement from Bihar and Jharkhand coalfields will also be simplified and movement of ores also.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Suraj »

Thank you for these great news tidbits, vsunder! These are the kind of new stories that MSM should be talking about, but instead are too busy with Pg 3 updates on 'celebrities' to care about.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

^^^Thanks. In fact in a bit of foresightedness, IR is doubling and electrifying tracks beyond Guwahati all the way to Lumding. Lumding is important as the track from Agartala joins here and also the tracks from Dibrugarh, Dimapaur and the new tracks to all the state capitals in the NE. So the load will be tremendous and capacity augmentation if not done now will be a constraint later. On the other side of the Brahmaputra from Guwahati is the important junction of Rangiya where tracks go out to Arunachal Pradesh which will see eventually trains to the border town of Tawang. All these are funneled through the narrow neck at the top of Bangladesh with Rangiya at one end and New Jalpaiguri at the other end. Doubling and electrification is going on apace in this chicken neck area. The bridge over the River Teesta in the chicken neck, a major and very big bridge to carry the second line of the doubling is ready except for 2 -3 spans have to be launched. OHE erection activity is not seen in Guwahati yard yet but is seen between Guwahati and Lumding to the east of Guwahati and west between Cooch Behar and New Jalpaiguri with large sections complete on this section and also many sections doubled. Here are two videos which are the most extreme east where IR has just completed doubled tracks between Hojai and Lumding on the Guwahati--Lumding sector and erection of OHE between Guwahati and Lumding the most extreme east that railway electrification has reached India in preparation to eventually electrify all the states of the Northeast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c75gUZqNg8U

RE work between Lumding and Guwahati the easternmost where RE work is going on past Guwahati in Kamrup( you know why it is called so, because in ancient India the women from this part were considered to have powers that bewitched people :rotfl: Kama rupa) captured on May 6, so work is going on during the lockdown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaBGDO1eR34


^^^ They can in principle now do Lumding---Agartala RE and Tripura can be put on the RE map of India.

In another DFC news, Ganj Khwaja the first station out of DDU/Mughalsarai on the Grand Chord had its yard re-modeled and new electronic switching installed a few days. This is significant. EDFC leaves running parallel to Delhi --Howrah line at Jeonathpur west of Mughalsarai about 10km from Mughalsarai. Jeonathpur is an intermodal hub with a spur siding running to the new Varanasi inland port on NW-1(National waterways 1), major highways like NH-7 and the DFC and an IR jn in the sense DFC is connected to IR here. Then DFC does not enter Mughalsarai yard, swings around south of Mughalsarai and then jumps over the Howrah tracks via RoR bridge at this Ganj Khwaja and has an IR connection here and again starts running parallel to IR tracks to the North of it all the way to Sonnagar and beyond to Dankuni. So both Jeonathpur and Ganj Khwaja are important interchanges between DFC and IR. Due to the proximity with a very busy Mughalsarai yard, capacity augmentation had to be done here.

https://twitter.com/dfccil_india/status ... 73/photo/1

Span launching on the WDFC on the Narmada river bridge at Bharuch, this is a very major DFC bridge:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1276366769553199104
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by SRajesh »

https://www.news18.com/news/india/railw ... 96719.html
Will this be a game changer for Indian Railways at least for passenger travel.
Private players being invited to run the services on certain routes.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by arshyam »

vsunder wrote:All these are funneled through the narrow neck at the top of Bangladesh with Rangiya at one end and New Jalpaiguri at the other end.
What are your thoughts about developing the northern route that runs from NJP via Siliguri Jn - Hasimara and rejoins the mainline at Alipurduar? While closer to the tri-junction and the Bhutan border, it is still an alternative route that could be used in a crunch. It's a single diesel line currently, and I don't think it is being doubled.

It might be at greater risk in case of a conflict with China, but if the Air Force is comfortable having a major base at Hasimara, it's good enough for IR to develop it. Plus, it would be very beneficial during peacetime - having two double electrified lines through the chicken's neck could handle the increasing load coming from/to the NE states now that the railway n/w has grown by leaps and bounds in the region (and still growing). I am thinking the southern route could handle trains primarily toward Malda (bound for Kolkata and points south and west) and the northern route could handle trains toward Katihar (bound for Patna/Delhi, etc.).
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

arshyam wrote:
vsunder wrote:All these are funneled through the narrow neck at the top of Bangladesh with Rangiya at one end and New Jalpaiguri at the other end.
What are your thoughts about developing the northern route that runs from NJP via Siliguri Jn - Hasimara and rejoins the mainline at Alipurduar? While closer to the tri-junction and the Bhutan border, it is still an alternative route that could be used in a crunch. It's a single diesel line currently, and I don't think it is being doubled.

It might be at greater risk in case of a conflict with China, but if the Air Force is comfortable having a major base at Hasimara, it's good enough for IR to develop it. Plus, it would be very beneficial during peacetime - having two double electrified lines through the chicken's neck could handle the increasing load coming from/to the NE states now that the railway n/w has grown by leaps and bounds in the region (and still growing). I am thinking the southern route could handle trains primarily toward Malda (bound for Kolkata and points south and west) and the northern route could handle trains toward Katihar (bound for Patna/Delhi, etc.).
My impression is and I could be wrong that the route you suggest and the Alipuduar---New Jalpaiguri route have the same relation as the Grand Chord and the old Sahibganj loop. Yes indeed Hasimara is an important IAF station. I think IR wants to develop the shorter route first as parts of it were doubled already and then maybe electrify the other route, doubling will be much later. That other route anyhow will a jump off point towards Gangtok in the future. The route you point out joins the New Jalpaiguri ---Katihar section in the middle at Aluabari. So I am sure that will develop once traffic is seen to pickup. Who knows if there is traffic from Singapore---Thailand---Myanmar and to India then the Jalpaiguri--Rangiya line will even see quadrupling. Right now with various resources crunch I think let them focus on finishing what they are doing, RE has certainly reached Cooch Behar from New Jalpaiguri and they seem to be working between Guwahati and Lumding which will explode since all the lines from Dibrugarh, Imphal, Aizawl, Kohima and Tripura meet at Lumding, which is certainly the most important junction in the Northeast. If they electrify south from Lumding they can go all the way to Agartala and then to Sabroom( all recently re-gauged) which is 40km from Chittagong port and also the lines to Imphal, Kohima and Aizawl branch from this Agartala line too. I am sure that is the next step and in that maybe RE of your route will find a place, though I would not expect they will double your route soon just due to distance considerations. BD is not a military threat so the southerly line and shorter route through the chicken neck is not jeopardized. RE on the northern line will be needed as it will be islanded if not done eventually. Priority will be the railway to Tawang, new line, completion of new lines to the state capitals left, Imphal, Kohima, Aizawl and Shillong and RE and doubling of the spinal core, Lumding to New Jalpaiguri and RE of all lines on northern banks of Brahmaputra to Itanagar and southern bank to Dibrugarh, Ledo and state capitals Agartala, Imphal, Aizawl, Kohima. Then RE of all branch lines which are not many in that part ^^^ is one such branch line.

Guwahati ----- Digaru doubled and operational, DEMU services also run currently.

Digaru-----Jagi Road in process and doubling work going on at reasonable speed (23 km)

Jagi rd-----Hojai work of doubling going on but slowly (79 km)

Hojai-----Lumding Jn doubled and operational, see video posted above

RE work in process on the whole section Guwahati---- Chaparmukh Jn---- Lumding Jn (180 km)

Regarding Tawang the scene of fierce battles in 1962, tunneling through Se La has started with approach roads to the tunnel done. 2022 completion. With that all weather road connectivity with Tawang will be assured. The approach to the North portal is about 500m and from this end tunneling can be carried out pretty much through winter. The south end of the tunnel has a longer approach.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Mollick.R »

New private trains will beat Rajdhani Express, Indian Railways invites bids
3 min read . Updated: 01 Jul 2020, 10:53 PM IST

Indian Railways today said it has invited proposals from private companies to run 151 modern passenger trains. The railways will shortlist bidders to run train operations on 109 pairs of routes across the country. The project would entail private sector investment of about ₹30,000 crore, the Indian Railways said in a statement. This will be the first initiative of private investment for running passenger trains over Indian Railways network, the railway ministry said.

"The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world class travel experience to passengers, and also reduce demand supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector," the railways said.

All you need to know about Indian Railways' new plan to run private trains

1) Indian Railways has prepared a list of around 100 routes for the introduction of 150 private trains across India. The 100 routes have been split into 10-12 clusters.

2) Mumbai-New Delhi, Chennai to New Delhi, New Delhi to Howrah, Shalimar to Pune, New Delhi to Patna are some of the routes where the private trains will operate. Once the dedicated freight corridors will be completed in 2021, additional paths will be available for operation of passenger trains on some routes.

3) Each new train shall have a minimum of 16 coaches. The maximum number of coaches shall not exceed the longest passenger train operating on the respective route. Passengers trains are allowed to run on a maximum speed of 160 kmph.

4) Niti Aayog draft said the time taken by a private train to complete a path shall be comparable to the fastest train of Indian Railways operating on that path with a variation of plus or minus 10%.

5) Private trains running on a particular route will have a head start of 15 minutes on other trains running on the same route. "No similar scheduled regular train will depart in the same origin destination route within 15 minutes of the scheduled operation of the concessionaires (private players) train," the document said.

6) Private entities are encouraged to use the latest technologies and top quality features in the trains. From passenger safety to modern GPS enabled announcement system, Indian Railways has made a list of the new technologies that private trains may include in them:

a) Private trains should have modern design bogies, stainless steel exteriors or aluminum exteriors and brake system. Improved safety features with fire retardant interiors, modern couplers with anti-climbing features must be there.

b) Trains must have folding steps for easy access of physically challenged passengers.

c) GPS-enabled passenger announcement system for on-board announcements for station arrivals, time to next station or destination, safety announcements should be included as well.

d) Private trains must ensure optimum passenger comfort through use of bogies with superior ride index, efficient air conditioning with automatic temperature and humidity control, superior interiors and toilets.

7) The private entity will have the last say on deciding the fare on a particular route. They shall be responsible for financing, procuring, operation and maintenance of the trains.

8 ) The safety certification of the rakes before each commercial service shall be done by Indian Railways based on the safety parameters indicated by Indian Railways.

9) Indian Railways will choose private entities through a two-stage competitive bidding process — Request for Qualification (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP). RFQ process will be for pre-qualification and shortlisting of bidders based on their technical and financial capacity who will be required to offer a fixed price bid at RFP stage for undertaking the project.

10) Last year, Indian Railways commissioned IRCTC to run private trains on its routes. India's first private train IRCTC Tejas Express was introduced on Delhi Lucknow route. To improve punctuality and passenger experience, IRCTC has introduced a host of new features with the Tejas Express.


Livemint Link......

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/fas ... 41126.html
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Avtar Singh »

Ultimately IR needs to partner with JR and build shinkansen (preferably maglev) running across North India, North East India, Burma, onto Bangkok, Phnom Phenh, and Ho Chi Minh.
To re-establish its ancient connections and ensure so-called Indo-cheen remains Indo.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Vips »

SAIL's BSP begins production of vanadium rails for IndianRailways.

Steel Authority of India's Limited (SAIL) Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) flagged off the first rake containing vanadium alloyed special grade rails, R 260 grade, for the Indian Railways. The R 260 grade of Rails is targeted to meet the requirements of Indian Railways for higher speed and higher axle load.
The rake was flagged off on June 30, 2020 by Anirban Dasgupta, Director (P&BP) with additional charge of CEO, BSP.

Commenting on it, Anil Kumar Chaudhary, Chairman, SAIL said: “It has been a constant endeavor of SAIL-BSP to develop new valueadded products for its esteemed customer, Indian Railways by making required changes in processes to meet stringent technical specifications of the Indian Railways and cater to their changing needs. This Vanadium micro-alloyed steel would provide higher yield strength to rails. The new grade will not only ensure cleaner steel but will also provide better mechanical properties."

SAIL-BSP has been producing the exact specification based rails for the Indian Railways throughout its decades old association, he added. BSP has started producing the R 260 rails from its new and modern Universal Rail Mill.

Indian Railways is moving towards higher speed and axle load rails for which it required SAIL to produce R 260 grade and SAIL has started successfully producing the same. The high strength of more than 550 MPa (Mega Pascal) will enable Indian Railways to withstand more rigorous Rail traffic and also achieve better life. The Rails shall be supplied in the form of 260 meter long welded panels.

The new grade of rails rolled by SAIL-BSP is based on R 260 grade specifications issued by Indian Railways Research & Development wing (RDSO). R 260 grade specification issued by RDSO is more stringent than the European specifications on many parameters, including the hydrogen content of 1.6 ppm (max.) in steel as compared to 2.5 ppm (max.) specified in the European specification.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

^^^ It is very important that specialized steel of the type above have low Hydrogen diffused in the steel, less parts per million of hydrogen. Hydrogen will diffuse through steel in the manufacturing process and through cathodic protection which is a process to prevent corrosion. The hydrogen will combine with carbon in the steel and form tiny methane pockets at grain boundaries and/or through the formation of metal hydrides and this eventually leads to a phenomenon called hydrogen embrittlement which can be catastrophic in steel rails and cause cracks.

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

Hydrogen embrittlement caused steel rails to crack near Khanna in Punjab in 1998. 6 coaches of the Amritsar bound Frontier Mail or Golden temple Mail as it is now called, used to be 3 UP but now 12903 jumped the tracks due to ruptured rails. Soon after the Sealdah bound Jammu Tawi Sealdah 13152 Express, 52 Down Pathankot Sealdah express in the old days, running on the parallel double line ploughed into the derailed bogies. 212 people died in this deadly accident. Accident investigators found that hydrogen embrittlement had caused the initial rupture of the rails supplied by the very same SAIL-BSP.

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

There was pandemonium and confusion as the accident took place at 3.15 am.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Vips »

Indian Railways reaches another milestone, operates 'SheshNaag' - the longest train ever.

The Indian Railways on Thursday (July 2, 2020) broke another record by operating 'SheshNaag', a 2.8 km-long train amalgamating four empty BOXN rakes, powered by four sets of electric locomotives. It may be noted that 'SheshNaag' is the longest train ever to be operated by the Indian Railways. The formation was made by joining four empty BOXN rakes and is powered by four sets of electric locomotives. It has nine engines and four guards van.

The 251-wagon long-haul goods train named ‘SheshNaag’ was operated by the South East Central Railway (SECR), Nagpur Division of the Indian Railways. The Ministry of Railways took to Twitter on July 2 to share a video clip of the "longest train ever to run on Indian Railways".

Two days ago, on June 30, the Railway Ministry had run a 177-coach freight train named ‘Super Anaconda’.

Importantly, the Indian Railways reached this feat on a day when it achieved 100 percent punctuality for the first time ever. The Indian Railways said in a release that on Thursday (July 2, 2020), it achieved 100 percent punctuality of trains for the first time in history as 201 trains that that run on this day reached the destination on time. Prior to this India Railways has achieved 99.54 percent punctuality of trains on June 23 with the delay of only one train making it the second-best rate after today. The Indian Railway Ministry said, ''First time ever in the history of Indian Railways, 100% punctuality of trains achieved with all trains on time. Previous best was 99.54% on 23.06.2020 with one train getting delayed.''

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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by Cyrano »

Thanks for your posts vsundar. A bit sad to see the steam era of IR come to an end, they have a charm that cannot be replaced.
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

Third coaching terminal at Byapanahalli is "partially" commissioned. The tentative code is TCTB. It will be the third station for Bangalore along with current ones Yeshwantpur and Bangalore City. Trains to Chennai and Mumbai will originate at TCTB and also the 12 pairs of trains which are slated to be operated by private companies from Bangalore will also use this terminal as a point of origin. Yard and stabling lines etc and all signalling has been commissioned two days ago. The station is a modern glass and concrete structure and has not been commissioned due to the shortage of labour and also the shortage of finishing tiles and granite. It features centralized climate control systems and other aspects. October 31st has been given as the target date to commission the concourse and the new station building. Railways will monetize the land around the station in the next two years to allow developers to build malls and also a few upscale shops. Station will have 7 platforms and greatly de-congest Bangalore city station.

https://www.railpost.in/third-coaching- ... es-in-swr/

A somewhat old picture of the new Bangalore station at Bypannahalli

https://twitter.com/abhish656/status/12 ... 92/photo/1

Bypannahalli is also the terminus and car depot of the Pink line(east-west) of Bangalore-Namma Metro. I hope they have made provision for good connectivity between the new station and the Metro station.


Gandhinagar station was also supposed to be commissioned Dec 2020 but most likely will be postponed. Leela Palace hotels will take over the runnng of the hotel built on top of the station which will have access control and an airport feel. Similarly Habibganj/Bhopal has been delayed too due to the pandemic and will also see a Nov opening. Both at Gandhinagar and Habibganj substantial construction has taken place.

Other railway stations are being demolished and re-built. Belgaum or Belagavi is one such and Hospet which saw a major yard re-modeling and electronic interlocking and now electrification is seeing a new station building coming up. This new building incorporates architectural features from Hampi which is nearby. There are some pics of the building partially constructed. The old one was dreary and pretty bad. The washable apron at Hospet platform 1 was demolished during the lockdown and replaced by a ballasted track making possible for trains to run at max speed 110 kmph if need be through the Hospet station. Ditto at Bhubaneswar, Vadodara and Cuttack where the station speed was pegged at 15kmph due to a washable apron that had outlived its usefulness and was breaking apart. The lockdown allowed replacement allowing trains to run at MPS through the station. Washable aprons are a legacy of the era when defecation was possible onto the station when a train was standing at a station. A one year old video of Gandhinagar station re-development

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLrkFHAw7cA
vsunder
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

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Last edited by vsunder on 04 Jul 2020 08:28, edited 1 time in total.
vsunder
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Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

Post by vsunder »

Latest videos from Habibganj shows that work has resumed after the lockdown. They have started putting a roof onto the facade. The skeleton of the facade was in place in Jan this year when I went past the station. Here is the state of the station a few days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Qbo3rdiDQ

Subway connecting the platforms Habibganj: 10 months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqvaRuUczr4

Manduadih Railway station, one of the major stations in Varanasi, Modi's own constituency

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIm2PgLnJ4I
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