Indian Railways Thread

[Theo_Fidel]

Yes there was a report, in 2009 or before that, which said that our trains cannot sustain speeds in excess of 100 kmph for long stretches. They have to speed up, slow down, speed up, stop at stations and so on. This is due to speed restrictions in place. These speed restrictions are due to antiquated bridges and worn out tracks. Again our lack of maintenance plays out. That is why the average speed of our trains in so low at 60-70 kmph for super fast expresses.

I wouldn't lay all the blame on maintenance. Yes some of the bridges are old but with the new track maintenance equipment and rail/sleepers the standards increase every year. And yes the lowly khalasi still does most of the maintenance with very rudimentary tools.

What all reports have said is that you can not run a high speed mixed mode rail system, esp. with bulk freight. This is true even in the US where the Acela struggles to get to 150 mph on tracks that are meant for freight. The weight and power needed for Freight damages/degrades rails and other infrastructure, as simple as that. One reason why our ride quality is so low. Note that even in China the average freight speed remains at ~ 35-40 kmph. All the new high speed lines are dedicated passenger lines.

The single best thing to speed up trains would be to create the Dedicated Freight Corridors. This should move 80% of our freight out of the passenger lines allowing them to be upgraded and speeded up. Unfortunately no one appears to be paying much interest on the progress of this project. Much easier to complain about corruption and babu's.

And the cost of High speed lines is much much more. Even in China with heavy subsidies the Wuhan line of 900 km charges about $80 per ticket. Even this does not cover maintenance and running costs, let alone capital interest and depreciation. Prices in Europe are similar and it works because airline are expensive. Also cities are much closer.

[Pranav]

The single best thing to speed up trains would be to create the Dedicated Freight Corridors. This should move 80% of our freight out of the passenger lines allowing them to be upgraded and speeded up. Unfortunately no one appears to be paying much interest on the progress of this project.

That would mean 4 tracks per line - 2 freight and 2 passenger. Maybe 6 tracks while passing through stations.

The Mumbai-Bangalore route is a single measly track!

Actually 40 kmph average is not too bad for bulk freight or shipping containers. Better than trucks, which have to halt for breaks. Then why do we have so many trucks on the road?

Perhaps it is more to do with ease of use. If one wants to send some bulky parcels from say Cochin to Lucknow, it would probably be a pain in the ass to get it done by rail, in a reasonable time-frame. Railway staff don't have much incentive to be customer-friendly.

[Theo_Fidel]

That would mean 4 tracks per line - 2 freight and 2 passenger. Maybe 6 tracks while passing through stations.

Freight would not run through stations or even towns. Completely separate. At least in concept. Not all lines would need a freight line.

[Sachin]

The Mumbai-Bangalore route is a single measly track!

If I am not mistaken track doubling is progressing at a steady pace in this sector. I guess the survey and land acquisition is already completed. Another thing I like to add here is that atleast in densely populated areas land acquisition is becoming a major challenge. Nobody is in a mood to give up land, what ever the remuneration they get. For example there is a proposal to connect the track which is currently ending at Guruvayur with another station Kuttipuram on the Shornur->Mangalore line. It is now stuck up because of land acquisition problems. And in this area every single person have his "expert opinion" on what is to be done, provided his/her land is not taken away.

[Christopher Sidor]

The Mumbai-Bangalore route is a single measly track!

If I am not mistaken track doubling is progressing at a steady pace in this sector. I guess the survey and land acquisition is already completed. Another thing I like to add here is that atleast in densely populated areas land acquisition is becoming a major challenge. Nobody is in a mood to give up land, what ever the remuneration they get. For example there is a proposal to connect the track which is currently ending at Guruvayur with another station Kuttipuram on the Shornur->Mangalore line. It is now stuck up because of land acquisition problems. And in this area every single person have his "expert opinion" on what is to be done, provided his/her land is not taken away.

In fact in the next 3 years this entire stretch, i.e. Banglore-Bombay will be double track and probably electrified. With this the dream of Southern railways/South Western Railways of running double stacked container/freight trains would be given a quite burial.

[merlin]

The Mumbai-Bangalore route is a single measly track!

Nitpick, not all of it. Mumbai - Pune is definitely double track. And electrified. Possibly double track until Daund as well, but not sure of that.

[Rahul M]

what happened to the numerous pvt-public partnership announcements momota showered on us in her rail budget ?

[Sachin]

Nitpick, not all of it. Mumbai - Pune is definitely double track. And electrified. Possibly double track until Daund as well, but not sure of that.

You are correct about that.

* Line doubling is complete till a station Bhigwan, which is after Daund Jn. (when coming towards Bangalore). Electrification is progressing, but not complete.
* The single line all the way to Mohol 3 stations before Solapur Jn.
* From Solapur Jn. all the way upto Akalkot Rd. it is double line.
* From there again till Gulbarga it is single line.
* From Gulbarga till Wadi Jn. it is double line.
* From Wadi Jn. to Krishna it is double line and electrified as well.
* Krishna->Raichur Jn->Kupgal is all double line. Between Kupgal and Nagarur it is single line again.
* From Nagarur double line all the way to Guntakkal Jn and onwards too Gooty Jn.
* From Gooty Jn. its single line non-electrified section all the way to Yelahanka Jn. in the suburbs of Bangalore.

I had noticed this frequent jumping between single line and double line sections. The Railway Atlas helped me in identifying the exact stations.

[Rodrigo Rojas]

Then why do we have so many trucks on the road?

Perhaps it is more to do with ease of use. If one wants to send some bulky parcels from say Cochin to Lucknow, it would probably be a pain in the ass to get it done by rail, in a reasonable time-frame.

IR only does large shipments of freight. If you want to move 3 truckload of goods from Mumbai to Bangalore, you'd have to use road transport; railway won't do it for you.
Long ago, IR was in the business of moving small loads but currently it only does massive freight since it is is more profitable.

[Pranav]

Then why do we have so many trucks on the road?

Perhaps it is more to do with ease of use. If one wants to send some bulky parcels from say Cochin to Lucknow, it would probably be a pain in the ass to get it done by rail, in a reasonable time-frame.

IR only does large shipments of freight. If you want to move 3 truckload of goods from Mumbai to Bangalore, you'd have to use road transport; railway won't do it for you.
Long ago, IR was in the business of moving small loads but currently it only does massive freight since it is is more profitable.

There should be intermediaries who will accept consignments from customers, fill up containers, and send them by rail. It ought to be cheaper and faster than by road. Besides the advantages of getting trucks off the highways, and saving on fuel imports.

[rahulm]

Mumbai - Pune has 3 lines of electrified track. The 3rd being used mainly for freight.

In this day and age its paramount that IR stop open toilet discharge onto tracks. While faster and more frequent services, improved safety are required, this open discharge business should have stopped a long time ago. Visiting a railway station is worse than visiting public toilet.

Then you have vendors selling food exposed food while flies make merry ferry trips from the tracks to the food. This is a serious health hazard.

Technology for this is not rocket science and exists in the country. Its only a matter of focus. LHB rakes are an exception but they are too few to make a material impact. We cannot wait for decades until LHB coaches replace the ICF Schlieren coaches.

There is a pressing to need to focus on retrofitting all existing ICF coaches with chemical discharge toilets on a war footing (soft services) as there is for all the "Bullet Trains" and "High Speed Corridors".

[manish]

IR only does large shipments of freight. If you want to move 3 truckload of goods from Mumbai to Bangalore, you'd have to use road transport; railway won't do it for you.
Long ago, IR was in the business of moving small loads but currently it only does massive freight since it is is more profitable.

There should be intermediaries who will accept consignments from customers, fill up containers, and send them by rail. It ought to be cheaper and faster than by road. Besides the advantages of getting trucks off the highways, and saving on fuel imports.

If you are looking specifically at Containers, those guys that you described are called LCL (Less than Container Load) people who consolidate cargo from multiple senders into Full Container Loads (FCLs) and move them around.

There are many such players around - AllCargo from India is one of the biggest (second largest in the world IIRC). In rail specific biz, Gateway Rail comes to mind.

[Singha]

even the long haul truck movers like gati, trans world and aggarwal movers tend to use enclosed container type trucks these days, in some cases the 20/40ft ship worthy containers on flatbeds.

[merlin]

Nitpick, not all of it. Mumbai - Pune is definitely double track. And electrified. Possibly double track until Daund as well, but not sure of that.

You are correct about that.

* Line doubling is complete till a station Bhigwan, which is after Daund Jn. (when coming towards Bangalore). Electrification is progressing, but not complete.
* The single line all the way to Mohol 3 stations before Solapur Jn.
* From Solapur Jn. all the way upto Akalkot Rd. it is double line.
* From there again till Gulbarga it is single line.
* From Gulbarga till Wadi Jn. it is double line.
* From Wadi Jn. to Krishna it is double line and electrified as well.
* Krishna->Raichur Jn->Kupgal is all double line. Between Kupgal and Nagarur it is single line again.
* From Nagarur double line all the way to Guntakkal Jn and onwards too Gooty Jn.
* From Gooty Jn. its single line non-electrified section all the way to Yelahanka Jn. in the suburbs of Bangalore.

I had noticed this frequent jumping between single line and double line sections. The Railway Atlas helped me in identifying the exact stations.

Thanks, that was comprehensive!

[Theo_Fidel]

There is a pressing to need to focus on retrofitting all existing ICF coaches with chemical discharge toilets on a war footing (soft services) as there is for all the "Bullet Trains" and "High Speed Corridors".

+1.

Mass produced LHB coaches cost ~ 2 Crore a piece. Conventional coach cost ~ 0.65 crore apiece. A/C coaches 1 crore.

To convert all existing 36,000 coaches to LHB or similar will cost Rs 70,000 crore. Not a huge sum IMO. Less than a single high speed line.
Spread over 5 years this will be less than Rs 10,000 per annum.

Unfortunately capacity only exists for 300 coaches a year. Need to increase by 20 times.

[SSridhar]

Second set of trials for Anti-Collision Devices

The Indian Railways will conduct a second set of trials for the improved version of the anti-collision device (ACD) on the electrified, multiple-line, automatic signalling section in the Southern Railways from November 10. The trials would be conducted on the Chennai-Arrakonam section, an official release said.

The first set of trials on the section was done in September-October 2010.

The trials are aimed at giving indigenous technology a fair chance to succeed, it added.

The evaluation of the first set of trials had led to modifications and corrections in respect of several software and hardware parameters.

The devices with modifications will now be tried out in the second set of trials.

ACD is an indigenous concept evolved by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd (KRCL) and is based on GPS.

Earlier, this device was deployed on in-service trials in 2006 as a pilot project on the North-East Frontier Railway which is predominantly a non-electrified, single-line territory.

Based on the experience gained, the specifications of the ACD were revised to improve efficacy, reliability and availability.

Once the trials are completed and the Railways are assured that the device is capable of providing a dependable anti-collision mechanism, the ACD will be implemented in three Railway Zones — Southern, South Central and South Western Railways.

[Christopher Sidor]

Second set of trials for Anti-Collision Devices

The Indian Railways will conduct a second set of trials for the improved version of the anti-collision device (ACD) on the electrified, multiple-line, automatic signalling section in the Southern Railways from November 10. The trials would be conducted on the Chennai-Arrakonam section, an official release said.

The first set of trials on the section was done in September-October 2010.

The trials are aimed at giving indigenous technology a fair chance to succeed, it added.

The evaluation of the first set of trials had led to modifications and corrections in respect of several software and hardware parameters.

The devices with modifications will now be tried out in the second set of trials.

ACD is an indigenous concept evolved by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd (KRCL) and is based on GPS.

Earlier, this device was deployed on in-service trials in 2006 as a pilot project on the North-East Frontier Railway which is predominantly a non-electrified, single-line territory.

Based on the experience gained, the specifications of the ACD were revised to improve efficacy, reliability and availability.

Once the trials are completed and the Railways are assured that the device is capable of providing a dependable anti-collision mechanism, the ACD will be implemented in three Railway Zones — Southern, South Central and South Western Railways.

Good development. What I cannot understand is why IR is not using GPS or its poor cousin MPS (Mobile Positioning Systems) to track its trains? With practically the entire Indian Landmass saturated with mobile signals, it would be easy for a MPS to be implemented. It would help us to accurately track trains and prevent possible collisions. It is even theoretically possible to increase the train density using modern, i.e. electronic, signaling in conjunction with MPS/GPS.

[Theo_Fidel]

IIRC the huge problem with the ACD was false alarms.
At one time it was running at 100's to 1. It was not unusual per my relative for there to be 4-5 false alarms on every trip!

They don't say anything about having fixed this issue. Just generalities. Not a good sign IMHO.

[Dileep]

How would GPS reliably resolve a train on the next track?

[Prasad]

Wouldn't we need mil-grade GPS to accurately track trains in our congested stations and places of high traffic?

[nandakumar]

IIRC the huge problem with the ACD was false alarms.
At one time it was running at 100's to 1. It was not unusual per my relative for there to be 4-5 false alarms on every trip!

They don't say anything about having fixed this issue. Just generalities. Not a good sign IMHO.

Exactly. The problem with the ACD developed by the Konkan Railway is that what might have worked for them on its network (if one may call a single line running through two specific points as a network, at all) is simply not good enough for the rest of the Indian Railways. The Konkan Railway is a single track line. If the ACD senses any train in the opposite direction it is obviously on the same track as the train whose device sets off an alarm. I am not saying that this disqualifies the KR engineers from coming up with a device that can discriminate between trains on opposing tracks that are separated by a mere couple of metres on either side from one that is running on the same track. It is just that in the instant case the nature of one's prior experience being what it is, it is more likely than not, to have worked against getting it right.

[Theo_Fidel]

IIRC correctly the way it was explained to me the GPS devices come in pairs. One in the Engine and one in the guard shack. The units travel together and apparently keep track of other similar pairs anywhere in the system. Not sure how they do this. The question of course becomes what if there is a train with a mal-functioning or missing device. The answer is that the device would be useless.

Again IIRC the reason for the false alarm rate was not to do with detecting adjacent trains. As they are paired the system picks them out relatively easily. Station yards are another matter. The main reason for the false alarms was the the system would often pickup one device up and not the other. Esp. in electrical traction where the locomotive electronics and the traction wires seemed to affect proper signal function. At these times because the ACD is directly wired into the loco's electronics the whole shebang would come to a screeching halt. One can imagine the passenger complaints. A couple of loco pilots were nearly lynched.

The other problem was in tracking the two signals through curves esp. with the extra long 24-26 carriage trains and goods trains. I didn't fully understand the technical details being discussed here but it appeared to be a false alarm problem as well. There was mention of looking to put 'repeaters' in the middle.

IR is deeply concerned by the cost of all these extra devices. Number one reason for non adoption.

Others can jump in.

In my opinion it would be much cheaper to move straight to Track Signaling technology. Were every train is centrally tracked and controlled in cab through signals sent through the rails. The great advantage of this is that interference is reduced and it is velocity independent. No need to squint through bad weather for lights or aspect signals. If you violate any protocols or approach an occupied block you will come to a screeching halt. Similar to ACD without all the agro.

[Sachin]

In my opinion it would be much cheaper to move straight to Track Signaling technology.

This may be a rumour. Long time back IR had thought of placing some sensors on the track and its counterpart device on the loco. This was similar to what was in vogue in British Railways at that time. It was put on trial on some routes. Sadly, people started flicking parts of these devices which were kept on the tracks. And the whole plan was abandoned.

[Theo_Fidel]

It was put on trial on some routes. Sadly, people started flicking parts of these devices which were kept on the tracks. And the whole plan was abandoned.

This would be a problem with VHF in-cab signaling from side transmitters.

I'm talking about signaling through the tracks itself or even a cable buried under/by it. The quality of the rails is now high enough to do this (no more fracture prone fish plates). All the equipment could be kept at the stations and in the locomotive. Minimal exposed stuff. The great thing about this is that if the central backbone should fail, the station masters could revert back to local block signaling. Slower and much more work but still functional. It is also future proof / scalable and even encryptable.

[Theo_Fidel]

Finally some movement.
Now how about the western one, you know, the financially viable one..

http://www.thehindu.com/news/article890302.ece

Mamata opens work on eastern freight corridor

Once completed, the eastern dedicated freight corridor will bring about an “industrial revolution” in West Bengal, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed here on Tuesday at the inauguration of the work on the project here.

The 1,806-km eastern corridor will extend from Dankuni to Ludhiana and pass through several mining and industrial towns such as Asansol, Dhanbad, Sonnagar, Khurja and Saharanpur. It is being designed for a maximum train speed of 100 kmph.

Addressing the function that was attended by representatives from various apex industrial bodies and chambers of commerce in the State, Ms. Banerjee said: “In future, an industrial revolution will gain momentum in places through which the corridor will pass and Dankuni will serve as a key point.”

She added that a new freight terminal will be set up here and expressed the hope that the region will turn into an automobile and ancillary hub within two years and provide employment to local youth.

Incidentally, Dankuni is located within 50 km of Singur — where Ms. Banerjee's party Trinamool Congress started a movement against alleged forcible land acquisition by the State government for setting up the Tata Motors' small car factory.

The project was finally withdrawn from the State in 2008 in the face of the agitation led by the Trinamool.

Ms. Banerjee appealed to industrialists to set up industries in the region as well as in other railway projects which had been put in the cold storage due to lack of funds.

[starek]

Rahul Kumar Goel was particularly impressed by two aspects of Chinese Railways which he suggested can be applied to India. "One is that you have to develop a long term and creditable plan, and convince others that you will stick to it. The second would be the high level of design quality of all engineering aspects of high speed railway projects so that project implementation is carried out without any technical changes."

Jagmohan Gupta was much impressed by the efficient process of project planning, formulation and implementation on Chinese railways. He said the speed with which Chinese Railways implemented their project is amazing and Indian Railway can learn a lot from them. Regarding funding, he said that "despite these projects being capital intensive, the Chinese railways were able to mobilize the funding from various sources other than the central government."

Mr. Gupta cited flexible pricing as another lesson which Indian railway can borrow from the Chinese railways. "We visited the high speed line from Beijing to Tianjin, and we found that during the peak hours, the rates are different and when we were returning, the price of the ticket was lower. Similarly when we were taking a journey to Xi'an, I found the lower berth was priced higher than the upper berth."

Vinay Kumar Singh urged that interactions such as this one be conducted more often. "We are also looking to develop some high speed tracks in India and we could gain a lot by technical discussions with our counterparts in China" he said.

http://www.namnewsnetwork.org/v2/read.php?id=139627

[Theo_Fidel]

Freight continues to be 2/3 of earnings.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/railw ... -7/712113/

Railways earnings jump 7%

The Railways have generated Rs 34,341.27 crores revenue earnings from freight traffic during April-October this year as compared to Rs 32,220.10 crores during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 6.58 per cent.

Railways carried 516.91 million tonnes of freight during April-October against 501.62 million tonnes during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 3.05 per cent, an official release said.

Of the total earnings of Rs 5,204.60 crores from freight traffic during October 2010, Rs 2,010.27 crores came from transportation of 35.63 million tonnes of coal, followed by Rs 700.80 crores from 10.11 million tonnes of iron ore for exports, steel plants and for other domestic users.

Railways earned Rs 504.21 crores from 8.94 million tonnes of cement, Rs 352.87 crores from 3.43 million tonnes of foodgrains, Rs 369.01 crore from 4.83 million tonnes of petroleum oil and lubricant, Rs 303.82 crores from 2.81 million tonnes of pig iron and finished steel from steel plants and other points, Rs 369.01 crores from 4.83 million tonnes of fertilisers, Rs 85.33 crores from 1.16 million tonnes of raw material for steel plants except iron ore.

The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs 32,453.64 crore during the same period last year to Rs 34,629.13 crore this year, showing an increase of 6.70 per cent.

The total passenger earnings during the first seven months of the financial year 2010-11 were Rs 14,870.29 crore compared to Rs 13,626.67 crore during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 9.13 per cent.

[wig]

The government is sitting on the Leh railway line at its own risk. It lacks the will to execute the project. I have gone to every length to push it as the most strategically important project for India given China’s consistent build-up around our borders specially Ladakh and PoK. It is said that the government is not acting despite having been repeatedly warned of,”

On delays in the Leh Rail link, however, the Himachal CM flagged serious concerns referring to the fact that top defence experts have also been voicing these fears. “One twentieth of what has been lost in the 2G Spectrum scam would have sufficed the construction of this rail line. The Railway Ministry even got a feasibility study done. The results were positive. Still there is no action,” Dhumal said.

The rail project was suggested by Dhumal as an extension of the original railway line from Bhanupalli near Anandpur Sahib in Punjab to Barmana near Bilaspur in Himachal. “The line could be easily taken along Bhanupalli, Bilaspur and Mandi through the Rohtang Tunnel, Lahaul Valley, Keylong and up to Leh. The project is critical to our defence preparedness as China is encircling us from every side. It has built rail lines from Lhasa to Beijing, six more rail lines are coming up, air strips and helipads are under construction.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20101122/nation.htm#7

[Sachin]

On the idea of having a railway line to Leh, Ladakh mainly keeping mind the defence needs. IMHO this may not be a best solution possible. Of course we can have quick and large troop movements on this railway, but all it requires for the enemy is to blast away the tracks at certain key locations. If I am not mistaken the Chinese too had thought of building railway lines in Tibet etc. keeping in mind the defence related requirements. And they changed their plans because of the same reason (sabotage).

[Prasad]

Actually this is the new India. We think economics Not many hillstations aroudn the country where the trains drop you right at the hillstation. For ex Kodai and Ooty. The trains drop you off at the foothills and you have to take road transportation (well you have the toy train in Ooty but not really express!) to get to the actual hillstation. Here you have a great chance of going all the way on trains itself. Tourism could see a big boost if the entire trip one way can be done overnight. Or even a day train, with wonderful views en route. Win win I suppose

[Theo_Fidel]

Having traveled on the road from Manali to Ladakh I can't imagine what people are thinking proposing a railway line in such terrain.

True the high desert is tree less and generally gravel covered but to get to the high desert one has to climb to 14,000 feet at least. Until you get there you go through some of the most sheer, unstable and hostile terrain on the planet. Rock slides are every day occurrences. True you could tunnel all the way but a what cost. The roads there 15 years years ago were mostly just suggestions. Looking up some pictures on google nothing has improved. The road to Keylong over Rohtang terrified me and we were the only vehicle on the road. Even truckers avoided it IIRC. Only military vehicle could be seen back then. The land is mostly worthless. No water, no crops and no people. Who would the line serve. Even back packers are intimidated. At least the line to Kashmir has a captive population center at the end.

This is a $20-30 Billion project. Lets get into it with our eyes open. We fooling ourselves with any other number.

[Sachin]

Who would the line serve.

In Kerala there was a grand plan to have a railway line extending from the already existing Nilambur Road station, via Gudallur to join the existing line at Nanjangud, Karnataka. This route would be going through hilly terrain, through densely wooded areas. Politicians and the people are all going ga..ga over the feasibility of this line. It is as if, when this line is opened up the entire population would become train lovers and use this route to travel. And off course the state expects the Indian Railways to generate the money and lay the route. The Railway authorities looks like have seen through all this, and have already realised that this route is not feasible.

There is another plan which was for extending the route from existing Guruvayur town to Kuttipuram town, a station in the SRR-CLT route. Surveys have been going on for ages, but the politicians and people are not interested to have this line. Nobody wants to give up the land for the same . The Nanjangud route was okay for every one, because it would have to be laid through a forest .

[Theo_Fidel]

IIRC correctly the Nilambur line is a consequence of the growth of Bangalore. Right now the line through Salem is very congested and long. There are two options, the Sathyamagalm to Mettupalayam line would run mostly in TN and Karnataka. The Nilambur line would atleast run partway thru Kerala. One of these lines is feasible for the Bangalore traffic. The other will never be built. Hence the push for Nilambur.

I'm surprised the greens havn't stepped up to oppose this project. Maybe once its approved they will show up.

[Sachin]

IIRC correctly the Nilambur line is a consequence of the growth of Bangalore. Right now the line through Salem is very congested and long.

If you ask for a honest opinion from my side, I will say that this Nilambur-Nanjangud line will not yeild any profits at least in the near future. Many of the proposals, ideas of the Kerala Govt., (and various intellectuals) are not based on any realestic estimate.

People in the erst-while Malabar region (read: Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasaragod districts) had a genuine concern that train journeys are not feasible for them. The trains from Bangalore take a long route. But recently the Yeshwanthpur-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Mangalore guage conversion is complete and there is a broad guage single line route. A new train (earlier terminated at Mangalore, now extended to Kannur) is also now running. This has a very good effect, as the train takes pretty much the same time to reach Kannur which the private buses used to take. The line has some problems like land slides etc., but if the railway can focus more on preventing these risks, more trains can be introduced. For folks from the central parts of Kerala (read: Palakkad, SRR areas) a train coming from Thiruvananthapuram, or from Calicut side is any way comfortable. They board the train late in the evening, and reach Bangalore in the morning.

There is another fundoo idea from the Kerala Govt. to have a railway line to Sabarimala. Dont know how feasibile that is. Sabari Mala pilgrimage is not a daily affair. All said and done I feel if Railways plan to add any new lines in the state, it is better to make the state govt. the main stake holder.

[krishnan]

They screwed up SR website

[Aditya_V]

IIRC correctly the Nilambur line is a consequence of the growth of Bangalore. Right now the line through Salem is very congested and long. There are two options, the Sathyamagalm to Mettupalayam line would run mostly in TN and Karnataka. The Nilambur line would atleast run partway thru Kerala. One of these lines is feasible for the Bangalore traffic. The other will never be built. Hence the push for Nilambur.

I'm surprised the greens havn't stepped up to oppose this project. Maybe once its approved they will show up.

I think ecology it is a very bad idea to run a train track with one of India's largest contigous Tiger Habitats with the largest Tiger population as per the last census. This is as bad as he Satyamangalam- Chamrajnagar link.

I am all for development, but laying railway tracks through Wayanad-Mudumalai- Bandipur- Satyamangalam santuries- Definately a Bad Idea and should rightly be shot down.

[Sachin]

I am all for development, but laying railway tracks through Wayanad-Mudumalai- Bandipur- Satyamangalam santuries- Definately a Bad Idea and should rightly be shot down.

This is obvious, but may be I should put it on record. People in Kerala (the politicians, the journalist gang, the intellectual gang and finally the common folks who believe them) are all happy about the new line through a forest area not because of their love for trains or for public transportation. It is precisely because the route is going through a forest area, for which they have no concern any ways. The route is through a forest, and the cost is incurred by the Indian Railways. In Kerala the politicians, the journalist gang, the intellectual gang and finally the common folks who believe the other two (politicians and media) are not losing a single paisa on all these adventures. Hence my earlier comment that let Kerala Govt. be a major stake holder in laying new railway lines in the state .

[Theo_Fidel]

Since we were discussing this, thought I'd post this update. Sigh! I guess we can sit around and watch some elephants now.

Guess its Nilambur or bust.

http://hindu.com/2010/11/25/stories/201 ... 450300.htm

Red signal for two rail projects?

MYSORE: The impending cancellation of Bangalore-Sathyamangalam railway line project owing to environmental concerns means that Chamarajanagar-Mettupalayam project will also be dropped, according to railway officials.

[Sachin]

Guess its Nilambur or bust.

Nilambur would also get shot down using the same reason. Nilambur to Nanjangud have to traverse through the Reserve forests at Bandipur/Mudumalai sector. And this is a place where even vehicular movement on roads are banned through the night (9PM to 6AM). And I am sure Railways would also consider cost v/s returns also.

[Sachin]

Chennai Guruvayur Express jumps over a concrete railway sleeper (Mathrubhumi:Malayalam)
The news report is that the Guruvayur bound express train coming from Chennai ran on top of a concrete sleeper kept on the railway track. The concrete sleeper was smashed to smithereens, but the train jolted violently. The incident was at Ullundurpettai near Vizhuppuram Jn. If I am not mistaken such incidents were reported previously also from this area?