Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

[chetak]

@Sachin saar, why is Modi govt doesn't see it fit to have a dedicated Rail mantri? Infact this portfolio requires 1 cabinet and 2 Rajya mantris so as to divide the responsibilities among themselves. There is so much going on and the incumbent mantris need much needed support.

ritesh ji


Many "allies" are vying for this very highly lucrative ministry and have been doing so for the longest time.

No one from the BJP wants a scandal involving the allies and one that gets blamed on the PM by the dork media targeting the PM's reputation while the actual crooks get away scot free in the ensuing melee.

The woke leftist ecosystem is just waiting for such a scandal to surface, even if they have to manufacture one themselves

bihar elections are just round the corner and a victory for the ruling party at the center is crucial here, but there is a poisonous shapeshifting old octopus who refuses to let go and the soreass media just waiting to pounce

The ministry can certainly do better and the non Vande Bharat train sets can definitely do with much more attention, both in terms of quality and quantity, because that is what the mango people normally use

[Nikhil_Naya]

During my discussions with a friend who is with the railways in a senior role came across some interesting things.

One of the reasons why we have issues with the trains now is because they are not able to replace the rakes fast enough. The directive is that all ICF coaches have to be phased out and they are not undergoing refit/ repair and just being kept aside. The youngest of the ICF rakes are being moved to other divisions (repainted in Utkrisht livery) while NR and CR get the priority on LHB rakes.

The other divisions are getting LHB rakes only for the premier rakes. This is leading to running of older rakes on some trains for too long and the guidance is to slow their MPS for such rakes to 80-90 kmph (from the rated 110-130). This is leading to section slowdowns esp as most of these rakes are in the congested SCR/ SR and SWR systems.

Plus many sheds are undergoing upgrades to better manage the LHB rakes and as expected there are "union" issues in some places as outside vendors are doing the upgrade of the sheds.

To add to that the same is being done with the Locos with Diesels not undergoing major maintenance and instead being replaced with electrics (hence the WAG's seen leading many passenger trains).

He was saying that it is the biggest change to the railways he has seen in his career (he has been with railways for 30 years now and is a third generation railway employee). He was saying that in the past there was one change at a time - here it is literally the full change - tracks upgrade, electrification, loco changes, rake updates, new section signalling systems, automation, all happening at the same time. The older generation is not too happy as they have to relearn things and that is also why things are slower.

Training is also being updated in line.

Was saying that their only grouse is that they are not able to keep up with the expected pace. But by 2027 he said that things will smooth out and 90% rolling stocks will be LHB type (including MU's), All tracks will be 130 kmph certified across the country with automated section signalling and in loco signal repeaters.

[A_Gupta]

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2116609
Freight Revenue Rises by ₹54,805 Cr in 4 Years from ₹1.13 Lakh Cr in 2019-20 to ₹1.68 Lakh Cr in 2023-24
Passenger Revenue Increases by ₹20,024 Cr in 4 Years from ₹50,669 Cr in 2019-20 to ₹70,693 Cr in 2023-24

[Zynda]

So IR CRS issued a permanent speed certificate of 130 kph operation speeds between Bangarpete & JTJ (with many speed restrictions along the way of course) back in late Jan or early Feb. This would make the entire SBC-MAS route 130 kph fit. It is April and AFAIK, the speeds between Bangalore & Jolarpettai still are at 110 Kph. In fact a few travelers have noted that speeds between JTJ & AJJ are also capped at 110 Kph (even for Shatabdi & VB) and the time table timings for VB between Bangalore & Chennai still shows at 4:30 hours (IR/SWR was saying it would reduce to 4 hrs after obtaining 130 kph permission). I guess the reason could be why user Nikhil_Naya has given...some kind of a directive from IR to maintain status quo on trains using ICF rakes. Plus automatic signalling is taking place in this route. I was hoping to travel to Chennai around April end in VB to experience the train at 130 speeds...guess will have to post-pone it further.

[arshyam]

All WAP-7 hauled LHB rakes as well as Vande Bharat trains run at 130 between JTJ and MAS. I experienced it last as recently as last month. But the SBC-JTJ section is still capped at 110 for some reason.

If you'd really like to enjoy the speed up, book the C14 coach of the evening VB (20608) or C1 of the morning VB (20663) - you can watch the acceleration through the door partition. I like to do this when exiting JTJ toward MAS - the VB within a span of hardly a minute, zooms from 15kph to 130 straight.

[rajkumar]

WDFC GUJARAT - JNPT PORT MAHARASHTRA RAIL LINK 75km Section Commercial Run Start

[Zynda]

It seems like so far only VB & Amrit Bharath (AB) trains are allowed to do 130 Kph on the entire Bangalore-Chennai route. Checked the train timings on IRCTC site and the Chennai (MAS)-Bengaluru (SBC)-Mysore (MYS) VB between MAS-SBC takes 4hrs 5 minutes while the MAS-SBC VB takes 4 hrs 30 minutes...not sure why the latter is slowed down.

Anyways, SWR did a Route Proving Run (RPR) on April 24th with a rake consisting of all kinds of LHB coaches (AC, Chair Cars & Sleepers) between SBC-MAS or SBC-JTJ at 130 Kph. The rail commentators seem to think the RPR was successful and with this, soon all trains with LHB coaches will be allowed to run at 130 Kph between the entire SBC-MAS. Hopefully, now there will be revision in train time table and all VBs/Shatabdi can do SBC-MAS in around 4 hrs time.

We hope SWR & CR has learnt lessons which will be useful for future speed upgrades. IR has earmarked SBC-MAS route to be run at 160 Kph operations (for trains with entire AC coaches) by 2030 (which will be very challenging). Like vsunder had mentioned, 160 will require major realignment and with possible 3rd line. Not to mention massive signal upgrades & KAVACH implementation.

[bala]

A good update on Bengaluru railway line work: bengaluru east, bengaluru cantt, bengaluru whitefield, kr puram. Line expansion and straightening out of curves for higher speed.

youtube.com/watch?v=L1BN9nQjNxI

[A_Gupta]

https://www.uniindia.com/news/east/deve ... 52843.html
Train reaches near Aizawl.

[Zynda]

Some good news for Railfans from the South...SWR has finally given clearance for all eligible trains to run at 130 Kph between Bangalore & Chennai (subjected to MPS restrictions in different sections as defined by Railway Safety Commissioner). Double decker & diesel loco hauled trains are still limited to 110 Kph. Apparently, many locos need to undergo certification for 130 Kph ops and until this is completed, timetable will not be revised.

Bangalore-Dharmavaram section should receive 130 Kph clearances soon...



Further, SWR should focus on yard re-modelling & increasing turnouts speeds so that average speed increases. Anyways, next step for SWR is 160 Kph operations between SBC-MAS (target date of 2030). Possibly many changes are required including adding additional lines (apparently LiDAR surveys are on-going for MYS-SBC-JTJ track quadrupling)...I expect at least 3 years delay if not more. Anyways, now to plan a trip to Chennai to experience 130 speeds in both VB & Shatabdi

[Suraj]

xposting from the Econ thread: Does anyone know why the GDP data (Annexure B ) shows a 1.1% growth in rail freight net tonne-km in 2023-24 and a -0.01% in 2024-25 ? How much is this figure dependent on coal movement and to why extent do or don't the DFCs help here ?

[vsunder]

xposting from the Econ thread: Does anyone know why the GDP data (Annexure B ) shows a 1.1% growth in rail freight net tonne-km in 2023-24 and a -0.01% in 2024-25 ? How much is this figure dependent on coal movement and to why extent do or don't the DFCs help here ?

Non coal freight has been stagnant. Coal definitely rose in the period you write. But it could not offset stagnation in container traffic. The new Gati Shakti terminals will help to improve the figures when they come on line. There will be a marginal lift next year when WDFC reaches JNPT port. But road is giving the railways a run for their money. The container handling facilities are poor outside DFCs and need to be enlarged and improved and modern equipment put in.

[bala]

This YT is claimig that Indian's first bullet train shinkansen is undergoing trials in Japan. The loan from Japan is over 20 yrs at 0.5%. The first 2 trains are built in Japan, the rest 5 are to be built in India. Ahmedabad to Mumbai is 2 hrs 7 min at speeds upto 320 km/hr.

India’s First Bullet Train Shinkansen Trials Begin In Japan

[Suraj]

I’ve seen the original video in Japanese . What’s happening is that an E3 and E5 series trainset are being prepared for transfer.

These are NOT the production vehicles but intended to serve the purpose of track service and maintenance, which historically repurposes older trainsets as Doctor Yellow trains. Since the tracklaying is just happening now, this is normal .

The actual production trainsets will be a combination of E5, E10 and our own domestic HSR trainset being unveiled in 2026.

vsunder: Thanks for the detail around the freight traffic!

[vsunder]

Just when I thought that FINALLY Tata Projects had gotten their act together on the much delayed 102km WDFC section from Vaitarna to JNPT, disaster has again struck, with poor project management. I am not sure what ails this Tata Company. 14 pillars of a ramp connecting WDFC to IR at Kharbao where the deck slab had also been put in, have been razed. Tata Construction refers all queries to DFCCIL which remains tight lipped.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1925884009109655572

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cit ... 472851.cms


Two major elements of the WDFC were completed in recent weeks giving me hope that the last 102km section would be completed by Dec 2025 after numerous deadlines being missed including April 2025.

1. The Kundevahal tunnel near JNPT is now through, the last tunnel on the WDFC to be completed. Tunneling has to be large enough to carry double stack container freight and both the double lines are in a single tube.

2. A massive 110m, 1500 tonne steel girder bridge was launched over CR tracks at Panvel to carry twin WDFC tracks from JNPT over CR tracks and make the alignment go from left to right looking towards Vaitarna.

It is now a question of earthwork, and track laying and systems and signalling. All of this will slow down for 3 months due to monsoon.


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The last three block section are nearing completion for doubling on the Miraj Pune line, thus comleting Bangalore to Pune doubling and FEDL. The difficult one is Shindwane ghat with extremely tall viaducts which will complete first by late July and then 20+km Targaon--Rahimatpur--Koregaon which is flat but was delayed massively due to LA court cases.

Mid May(Shindwane ghat only)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihAhdeTV_UY


A more recent view 2 days old : (Sindwane ghat + Targaon to Rahimatpur)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y86P7IUzFk

Targaon---Rahimatpur in mid May

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dny6HkcVZ6E

SWR has long delayed the electrification of the Mangalore to Bangalore section. Some whip has been cracked and the last remaining 32km in the ghats where work was crawling is finally being pushed with a near traffic block till Nov 1. Part of the problem is that access to the track is impossible by truck and trains are needed. Plus work has to be done in many tunnels of installing brackets and then wiring. There is freight too and the monsoons plus the poor project management of SWR which is legendary are all impediments. A recent view of RE on the Saklespur to Subrahmanya road section. Only a 32 km section left, 23 km done. Rest all done between Bangalore and Mangalore of RE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmdL56PnNcE

[Zynda]

I read this Tweet probably a year ago...

Indian Railway Silently Launched Upgraded WAP7 Locomotive Call WAP-7HS, WAP7 Runs On Broadgauge & Work Horse Of Indian Railway, Upgrades >>

1. Up-rated To 9000 HP
2. Speeds Up-to 180 KM/H
3. Regenerative Braking
4. Toilet For Crew
5. Integrated GPS System With Display

A year later...I have not seen this particular locomotive in service. The recent fresh production of WAP-7s seem to be the earlier variant.

@vsunder saar, any idea why IR is not taking up of the above? Did it fail oscillation/vibration tests or lots of teething issues preventing mass production? Or 9,000 HP power would involve coupler updates to LHB coaches and thus not "induction" ready? Or similar to Siemens D-9 freight loco, is Siemens working on a passenger version of the same? if yes, it would make sense since for IR/GoI to prioritise Siemens product since they would want to encourage private design & fabrication of railway infra in the country.

Any case, a 9,000 HP loco would enable regular 22/24 coaches train to reach 130 MPS faster and supposedly has better amenities for crew.

In other case, IR had held a competition among different loco shops to come up with an aerodynamic shell design for WAP-7.



Not bad but definitely seems like a few more iterations could be used...I doubt this would be put to production. I reckon this is nothing more than a time pass activity...for this go in to production...RDSO will need to conduct a number of studies and tests.

[vsunder]

^^^ No idea what happened. They wanted it to haul premier trains, Shatabdi, Duronto and Rajdhani. In fact the news of this dates from 2019. Maybe implementation of VB type traction may have given pause to IR, going the train set route in the future.

[arshyam]

WAP-7HS was deemed too heavy and damaging to the tracks due to its nose-suspended traction motors. Normal WAP-7 itself has the issue, but is manageable, but the HS variant at a higher speed would make it worse. So as of now, only WAP-5 (which has fully-suspended traction motors) is cleared for speeds above 130, WAP-7 up to 130.

[Amber G.]

Why Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project is remarkable feat of engineering -

[Amber G.]

All tickets for the first Vande Bharat train to Srinagar from Katra, scheduled for tomorrow at 8:10 AM, have been sold out.

Both AC Chair Car and Executive Chair Car classes are fully booked.

[Supratik]

The next phases of the bullet train should be built in southern India and completion of Del-Ahmd, may be Delhi-Amritsar and more spurs. It will be more economically viable as these are the more developed parts of India. Rest of India can come in the phases after that when purchasing power rises considerably. Otherwise routes like Delhi-Varanasi, Mumbai-Nagpur, etc may turn out to be economically unviable and white elephants.

[chetak]

[sanjayc]

The next phases of the bullet train should be built in southern India and completion of Del-Ahmd, may be Delhi-Amritsar and more spurs. It will be more economically viable as these are the more developed parts of India. Rest of India can come in the phases after that when purchasing power rises considerably. Otherwise routes like Delhi-Varanasi, Mumbai-Nagpur, etc may turn out to be economically unviable and white elephants.

The Mumbai to Ahmedabad line can be extended to Hyderabad. Mumbai to Hyderabad sector will see lot of traffic.

[Supratik]

Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai should be linked first. And complete Del-Mum.

[chetak]

IISC Bangalore congratulates Prof Madhavi Latha, whose team worked on stability and construction design of Chenab Bridge

We are proud of Prof Madhavi Latha & her team's contribution to the #ChenabBridge inaugurated by Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi

The team worked on stability of slopes, design & construction of foundations, design of slope stabilisation systems incl. rock anchors to withstand hazards.

[Vayutuvan]

Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai should be linked first. And complete Del-Mum.

aap ke muh mein ghee shakkar. Also extend to Vijayawada later to connect to Kolkata-Chennai corridor.

[Amber G.]

IISC Bangalore congratulates Prof Madhavi Latha, whose team worked on stability and construction design of Chenab Bridge

We are proud of Prof Madhavi Latha & her team's contribution to the #ChenabBridge inaugurated by Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi

The team worked on stability of slopes, design & construction of foundations, design of slope stabilisation systems incl. rock anchors to withstand hazards.

Chetakji - Thanks. One of the renowned prof I know said "If your parents name you Madhavi Latha, become like this professor.." Awesome that she is getting that recognization. She and her team worked on this for years - ( She began looking at the issue 17 years ago) The bridge has four times the steel at the Eiffel Tower - held together in a mountainous, earth-quake prone zone!

[ritesh]

GoI can spend 40k crores on this touristy line, but has looked the other way on fully doubling Konkan route, which will positively impact on the entire western coast. Sigh!!!

[chetak]

Amber ji,

I really hope, pray, and wish that she gets the padma for her dedication, but they haven't given one to Sudhanshu Mani and he is the guy who is responsible for the vande train series, the same achievement that they are showcasing all over the world but did not bother to even say thanks to him.

In India, they act as though the vande trainset is something that the powers that be found in an abandoned flowerpot and with a wave of their magic wand, they brought it all to life

Global players in the railways industry tried their best to sabotage the project because they saw very early on how this would disrupt their business interests

[chetak]

GoI can spend 40k crores on this touristy line, but has looked the other way on fully doubling Konkan route, which will positively impact on the entire western coast. Sigh!!!

ritesh ji,


It is not a touristy line, it is an unmistakable political statement, bold in its conception, fearless in its execution, and "in your face" in its delivery.

That the congis have kept very very quiet, along with a host of other footpath parties should tell you the effect the Chenab river railway bridge has had on the national polity.

At one end is a muslim majority state ...... and one that has repeatedly genocided and/or kicked the pandits out, given the slightest opportunity and yet Modi ji went ahead and built this "touristy line"

The Chenab river railway bridge is a reality that only Modi could have fulfilled and it is a testament of India's rise.

but for some, it will always remain a touristy line

[ritesh]

GoI can spend 40k crores on this touristy line, but has looked the other way on fully doubling Konkan route, which will positively impact on the entire western coast. Sigh!!!

ritesh ji,


It is not a touristy line, it is an unmistakable political statement, bold in its conception, fearless in its execution, and "in your face" in its delivery.

That the congis have kept very very quiet, along with a host of other footpath parties should tell you the effect the Chenab river railway bridge has had on the national polity.

At one end is a muslim majority state ...... and one that has repeatedly genocided and/or kicked the pandits out, given the slightest opportunity and yet Modi ji went ahead and built this "touristy line"

The Chenab river railway bridge is a reality that only Modi could have fulfilled and it is a testament of India's rise.

but for some, it will always remain a touristy line

Chetakji, question or issue is not with 40k or 400k spend, but denying other regions their dues. For eg. Minister had stated Konkan doesn't have enough goods traffic, while people are suffering due to huge delays and low frequency of services.

[chetak]

June 7, 2025

[A_Gupta]

All weather, thousands of metric tons per day capacity into J&K is a strategic game changer.

CPEC built a road where they should have built a railway.

[Amber G.]

Sharing a Role Model -
More power to Prof. Madhavi Latha. She is rightly being seen as a role model.
The Akash air defence, and Prof. Madhavi Latha's work, are just two of many examples of Indian STEM R&D.

[Jayram]

This one is more illuminating. Prof Madhavi Latha requested and responded to this post as well.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-srini ... 3568-LVU5/
Truly a humble team of country wide professionals that is building the next generation of Indian marvels. Just like Team ISRO.
Hope soon we will climb the chain vertically as well contributing to design as well. But really not a big deal. The world is very integrated these days and contributing team members can come from any part of the world.

[Amber G.]

Meanwhile: Thanks Amul