Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

[uddu]

Railway Reforms for Cement Transportation
Policy for new bulk cement terminals and rate rationalisation will reduce cost of cement and support affordable housing for middle and lower middle-income families.

This cleaner, faster and door-to-door service of bulk cement will give a boost to the construction industry and economy.

[Jay]

The way Indian Railways has transformed itself since 2014 is nothing short of a miracle. The good thing is it's looking like this is only the beginning and we are letting that foot off the accelerator pedal.

[S_Madhukar]

This is all good but seeing some vlogs from foreigner’s anything we do is less with Railways.

Maintenance of LHB AC coaches often in long distances routes is shocking with only basic cleanliness, showers not working, doors not closing etc … not sure why we still use the old White VB trains as their quality control was poor, some rakes don’t even get a wash in months it seems.

So while we buy new rakes and trains we need to figure a way of maintenance depots and standardisation. The sheer variety of our coaches EMU, DEMU, MEMU is horrifying, gaudy colours etc.

garbage disposal onto tracks from railway staff now seems to be targeted so that’s one improvement.but otherwise most of the railway network is a garbage lane.

We want to make trains in ICF - God save us. We will soon be overtaken by SEA in the quality of trains… often they purchase pre- owned trains from Japan.. it does the job for them because the aesthetics are at least good and manufactured well. I know long term we will have IR just maintains infrastructure while trains will be maintained by private companies but we need to start sooner than later.

Food served is same paneer , chicken curry , daal across all fare types. No labels nothing. Clearly proves Railway babus don’t do any inspections when it comes to service. Not to mention our railway platforms are sometimes wet because the coaches themselves piss on them.. no idea what they flush down…people waiting for long distance trains sleeping on floor.. let’s not talk toilets … and even in metros this is the situation.

I watched a Japanese guy going from Dibrugarh to Kerala…man I salute him even though he was in AC … he was sporting but finally he had the good fortune of ordering Dominos pizza and fried chicken on a station in Andhra.. small mercies , he must have thought

Staff don’t seem to have proper uniform anyone comes in starts selling so what security for women etc…
If nothing we can just implement some standards from British Raj… else this Biharification and Mandalification of railways will have its own drag on the economy . Seems to the average passenger once you are in the train hope that it goes from point A to point B without trouble and catastrophic delays… similar to how Indian govt treats its citizens… we are all orphans and all on autopilot!!

And the basics of train names and destinations… bhai that is a class apart … what is difference in quality between Duronto/Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Express etc etc while the fares change a lot

The only ray of hope so far are the standard of the metro lines. Pleasantly surprised that on Agra metro there was a lady driving the train and wearing full pants and tie with a rolling bag. That’s a start

[ritesh]

वंदे भारत स्लीपर ट्रेन का सफल ट्रायल कोटा मंडल के लिए गौरव का क्षण है

The team of RDSO Lucknow successfully conducted high speed trial of Vande Bharat Sleeper Train in fully loaded condition at West Central Railway, Kota Division. The "Long Confirmatory Run" was completed at a speed of 180 km/h on the 50 km long section between Rohalkhurd-Laban stations!

https://x.com/drmkota/status/1985726267619230051
https://x.com/drmkota/status/1985725477345247330
https://x.com/drmkota/status/1985724985747574827

Vande Bharat Sleeper will change the image of Railways in India and this is a turning moment in history of the nation. The quick deployment of such trains throughout will usher in modern train travel for many at decent speeds.

As usual, the internal sabotage is underway in full swing...
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india ... 84315.html

[uddu]

D9 Locomotive Achieves EN Certification After Trials on Nagpur Itarasi Route ‪@NewsStation

[Mollick.R]

From rare earths to Pune Metro Rail: Ashwini Vaishnaw announces cabinet approvals for major projects

Moneycontrol News November 26, 2025 / 16:30 IST

What are the other projects?

The Cabinet cleared ₹1,457 crore for the doubling of the Devbhumi Dwarka (Okha)–Kanalus railway line and ₹1,324 crore for the construction of the 3rd and 4th railway lines between Badlapur and Karjat.

These decisions aim to strengthen industrial capacity, improve connectivity, and support long-term infrastructure growth across key regions.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india ... 97610.html

[Suraj]

What's the purpose of the Siemens D9 deal ? Ir already has the WAG 12Bs that are higher power tho they have traction issues due to their BoBo config. But they also have a 12000hp WAG11 that doesn't have that problem, so why such an extensive fleet of 9000hp D9s as well ? Replacement of the WAG7s and older?

[uddu]

Indian Railways Just Hit 1 BILLION Tonnes. India’s Economy Is BOOMING
00:00 1 Billion Tonne Freight Loading Milestone
01:14 Water Transport, Tourism In Northeast
02:10 Bengaluru Metro Four-Storey Commercial Complex
02:42 Key Rail And Highway Projects Aligned
03:18 Rishikesh–Karnaprayag Rail Deadline To 2028
04:09 Noida International Airport to Launch Direct Bus Links
04:41 Ask PT


Mumbai Locals Just Got BIGGER! Central Railway’s Massive Upgrade Begins
00:00 Mumbai local train updates
01:37 NCRTC Invites Bids for DDC Contract (Advaitya)
02:05 Major Civil Airports Install Anti-Drone Systems (Advaitya)
03:06 UPI to link with Europe’s TIPS soon (Advaitya)
03:52 AAI plans to expand airspace capacity (Advaitya)
04:40 Ask PT

[vsunder]

What's the purpose of the Siemens D9 deal ? Ir already has the WAG 12Bs that are higher power tho they have traction issues due to their BoBo config. But they also have a 12000hp WAG11 that doesn't have that problem, so why such an extensive fleet of 9000hp D9s as well ? Replacement of the WAG7s and older?

The D9 will be a loco that will fill the space between the WAG9HH and the Alstom WAG12B. The original WAG12 "failed" oscillation trials and only one was built. The issues were rectified and the WAG12B was developed with better ride stability. The WAG 12 that failed the oscillation test was converted to WAG12B standards. Yes, WAG12B has problems with the Bo-Bo wheel configuration that has led to poor adhesion on steep gradients. Moreover there have also been issues with curves which the WAG12B finds difficult to negotiate on some sections of IR. However, with a design restriction of 1:200 ruled gradient on the DFCs the Alstom has been doing fine. Also gear ratios are different for D9 Siemens and WAG9 so IR may use this to optimize performance on several routes using the optimal gear ratio for different parts of the network.

Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Kharagpur and Pune have been selected to home the D9s which is clearly not near DFCs. Visakhapatnam/Waltair has already gotten 2 locos the first two. They will be used for heavy freight hauling on the DBK railway and the mineral belt in Orissa and Jharkhand. WAG12B is homed at Saharanpur astride the spur of the EDFC from Khurja to Ludhiana, which is easy access to both WDFC and EDFC.

The design of the WAG9HH the latest variant says it delivers 9000hp, but actually it is a bit less. The Siemens D9 that you are mentioning can deliver 9000hp, has a panel for the Kavach unit and also Agilent systems something like that(which is an AI system to anticipate faults and alert maintenance) so it is a significant upgrade over the WAG9 and can also run at 120kmph with heavy loads, though it will have to be double headed to handle DFC rakes at 13,000 tonnes. D9 has Co-Co wheel configuration so adhesion will be good.

One other issue with WAG12B is that with the nose suspended traction gear and the supposed 12000hp power output, it is very heavy on the tracks and must cause quite a bit of wear and tear on the rails. I am not sure what the quality of the rails are away from the DFCs.

Once the sections to Sikkim and Karnaprayag become operational and even the lines out of Mumbai via the Bhor and Thull ghats with 1:33 ruling gradient, the D9 will fill that niche for hauling freight. You want the section to be quickly cleared and time spent by slow freight clogs up the network. However, the line survey for the new 3rd and 4th lines from Kasara to Igatpuri using LIDAR and GPS is supposed to pick up routes with a lower ruling gradient than the existing one, maybe because people can tunnel through stuff for longer distances than in the old days.

In recent days the Bhusawal to Manmad triple line is finally finished and commissioned Also the Panvel to Karjat suburban corridor is making good progress. The suburban terminal at Karjat is finally seeing parts of the building coming up and I think in 2 years the whole project will be complete.
Tripling between Mathura and Jhansi on the NS main line is done for 242/274km. So also Bangalore to Pune via Hubli and Belagavi is fully doubled and electrified as of 2 weeks ago.

[VKumar]

This is all good but seeing some vlogs from foreigner’s anything we do is less with Railways.

Maintenance of LHB AC coaches often in long distances routes is shocking with only basic cleanliness, showers not working, doors not closing etc … not sure why we still use the old White VB trains as their quality control was poor, some rakes don’t even get a wash in months it seems.

So while we buy new rakes and trains we need to figure a way of maintenance depots and standardisation. The sheer variety of our coaches EMU, DEMU, MEMU is horrifying, gaudy colours etc.

garbage disposal onto tracks from railway staff now seems to be targeted so that’s one improvement.but otherwise most of the railway network is a garbage lane.

We want to make trains in ICF - God save us. We will soon be overtaken by SEA in the quality of trains… often they purchase pre- owned trains from Japan.. it does the job for them because the aesthetics are at least good and manufactured well. I know long term we will have IR just maintains infrastructure while trains will be maintained by private companies but we need to start sooner than later.

Food served is same paneer , chicken curry , daal across all fare types. No labels nothing. Clearly proves Railway babus don’t do any inspections when it comes to service. Not to mention our railway platforms are sometimes wet because the coaches themselves piss on them.. no idea what they flush down…people waiting for long distance trains sleeping on floor.. let’s not talk toilets … and even in metros this is the situation.

I watched a Japanese guy going from Dibrugarh to Kerala…man I salute him even though he was in AC … he was sporting but finally he had the good fortune of ordering Dominos pizza and fried chicken on a station in Andhra.. small mercies , he must have thought

Staff don’t seem to have proper uniform anyone comes in starts selling so what security for women etc…
If nothing we can just implement some standards from British Raj… else this Biharification and Mandalification of railways will have its own drag on the economy . Seems to the average passenger once you are in the train hope that it goes from point A to point B without trouble and catastrophic delays… similar to how Indian govt treats its citizens… we are all orphans and all on autopilot!!

And the basics of train names and destinations… bhai that is a class apart … what is difference in quality between Duronto/Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Express etc etc while the fares change a lot

The only ray of hope so far are the standard of the metro lines. Pleasantly surprised that on Agra metro there was a lady driving the train and wearing full pants and tie with a rolling bag. That’s a start

Maintenance, cleanliness, hygiene, repairs these are the hallmark of a truly developed entity.

[uddu]

Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru: The Future High Speed Triangle
Bullet trains are finally moving from PowerPoint to reality in India.
In this video, we break down the future high speed rail network in Southern India – Hyderabad–Chennai, Hyderabad–Bengaluru and Chennai–Bengaluru–Mysuru – and explain what stage each project is at, from surveys and DPRs to approvals, land acquisition and construction timelines.
You’ll also see how major North Indian high speed corridors like Mumbai–Ahmedabad, Delhi–Varanasi and Delhi–Ahmedabad fit into the larger 7,000 km national HSR vision, and how they can rebalance growth between North and South India by spreading jobs, investment and opportunities.
If you travel frequently between these cities, or you’re planning your career, business or real estate decisions around future connectivity, this video will help you understand what is realistic, what is hype, and what to watch for in the next decade.