Indian Railways Thread

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 28 Dec 2013 11:16

SaiK wrote:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 035975.cms
before we talk about high speed rails, we need to first improve safety and security of existing trains, plus improve hygiene setup. this is more vital than high speed rails.

if people can't escape from one coach to another, then we have failed in the very basic requirements.

We have to order the coach connectivity and escape and more advanced security system to automatically stop train on fire alarm, automatically open up windows and doors, emergency exits etc.

i am so sad that none of the billion think like me.

I have noticed that connecting vestibules are locked for the night and many times remain locked for the day as well. This is to prevent unauthorised entry, which happens even otherwise. Railways have miserably failed to ensure safety. Nothing of the sort exists as you describe , saik.Generally AC control system of older bogies need thorough check and replacement.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 28 Dec 2013 18:59

Any death like that of anyone, of any class, is horrible. Just think, some of those people might have been avid watchers of India's Mars journey, eagerly awaiting the entry into Mars. And they have been snuffed out, so needlessly.

Just sayin..

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 28 Dec 2013 22:57

chaanakya, design principles can correct these errors ahead. show me the design, we can correct it. even if it is electrical short circuit, i can design such that nothing catches fire to kill even a single person.

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 29 Dec 2013 02:20

The railway carriage door design hasn't changed since turn of the century. The way those heavy doors have metal locks (2 small metal plates) that are pain to lock and worse enough to unlock. Why cant they have locks that with some settings become lock from outside but from inside can open with little effort?

Some other simple solutions like not letting people obstruct passage way. Emergency floor lights that guides people and automated sprinklers that can be activated remotely (engine or guard) or manually with a switch inside compartment can help too.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 30 Dec 2013 19:18

In its last-ditch effort to get over the ‘policy paralysis’ image, the UPA government is going to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in railways.

saip · Post by **saip** » 30 Dec 2013 23:40

In Indian trains the ac unit is in a cage like thing. You never see such units in US. So where do they put them? Fires seem to be common place in Indian trains. Why not put smoke detectors in the bogies which will sound alarm in the Engine/Guard compartment who can easily bring the train to stop. Bogies do have chain which can be pulled to stop the train but by the time passengers realize what is happening it is too late .specially when they are sleeping.
It is very difficult to open Indian railway doors which are very heavy.
Recently I noticed some of the 1st A/C compartments have an indicator for toilets whether they are vacant or not. So retrofitting the compartments with smoke detectors should not be too difficult or expensive.

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 31 Dec 2013 00:06

They have 200k wagons and 50k passenger cars on the rail network but they don't have mechanism to recall like in auto sector and fix safety issues or retrofit improvements

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 31 Dec 2013 03:09

the unfortunate thing is sachin saar aand i had discused this very problem of a/c coachs being closed off a month or so ago. ime most a/c coach are closed off. sachin saar did not agree with me. smoke detector is no use without somewhere to escape. everytime some one lights up a cig the detector will go. will have to trust my life to the ir ac coache. bhagwan karee...

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 31 Dec 2013 05:26

Question is of maintenance. Even with all the high fundoo safety gear, if you don't have regular maint, two years down the line, the damn thing wont work.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 31 Dec 2013 11:32

chaanakya wrote:I have noticed that connecting vestibules are locked for the night and many times remain locked for the day as well. This is to prevent unauthorised entry, which happens even otherwise. Railways have miserably failed to ensure safety.

I do occassionaly post in IRFCA forums as well. Indian Railways at least for me is not the safest (or reasonably safe) mode of travel any more. The only attraction would be the abysmally low fares. If you ask me IR as an organisation is slowly crumbling down. The whole system is now pretty much an uncontrollable entity. At IRFCA forum people were complaining that non-bonafide passengers even now board Rajadhani express with impunity. No TTE, RPF or GRP is going to chuck them out of the coach. And this has been always a problem in other Express & Mail trains as well. A confirmed ticket does not offer any additional safety or comfort.

The vestibules between coaches (especially AC to non-AC) has been closed out to avoid unauthorised passengers from gaining entry.

Brad Goodman wrote:The way those heavy doors have metal locks (2 small metal plates) that are pain to lock and worse enough to unlock. Why cant they have locks that with some settings become lock from outside but from inside can open with little effort?

No one seem to be interested in all this, sir! The railway officials and politicians any way have their own saloons etc. and still live the old British Raj style life. Having a simple mechanism to open all doors at the press of a button, and not allowing doors on the non-platform side to open etc., I dont think is real rocket science. But no one in IR is really bothered with this. Around 10 years back, at the TN-Kerala border a girl who was washing her face (at the wash basin, near the door) was hit by this door and thrown out of the coach. She lost both her legs

. A driver of a light engine coming on other track saw her, and took her to the nearest medical facility. And she survived.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 31 Dec 2013 13:41

its out of control. the reason given is lakhs of wagons in the field some tied up in permanent up/down trainsets and no money to track and retrofit all these "luxury safety features" without 100000000000 cr of capex from GOI which isnt gonna happen.

raising of goods train rates is a macro level no-no due to huge downstream effect on prices of products.

raising of pax fares is a political no-no.

add to that 1000s of bridges, culverts, signaling systems that need wholesale replacement to permit higher speed - atleast there is some hope on that front due to foreign funded industrial corridor projects, but no hope on pax rolling stock quality and safety front. the bideshis also wouldnt care how bad the platforms and ground infra is.

maybe if had cheen style high growth for a couple decades...money could be raised through internal accruals and railway bonds with high AAA rating but that aint gonna happen with the congis and AAP in charge.

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 31 Dec 2013 16:01

X posted from Int.Security thread.Any comments from gurus

vasu raya wrote:There are sleeper cells in and around Bangalore?

Sabotage Angle Seen in Andhra Train Blaze

A day after 26 people perished in the fire that broke out in an AC coach of the Bangalore-Nanded Express, forensic experts, who on Sunday inspected the compartment to probe the cause of the blaze, said they have reason to suspect sabotage behind the incident. According to official sources, a team of forensic experts inspected the burnt compartment, which has been towed to Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh to collect samples for chemical analysis.

The investigators noticed a four inch-wide hole near Seat No. 7, which could have been caused by some explosive or other combustible material. The fire seems to have erupted from the floor of the train as it was completely burnt in the area where the fire started, the investigators said.

Moreover, 22 of the 26 bodies in the bogie were found on the berths in which they were sleeping.

Therefore, the experts have reason to believe that the fire spread very quickly, giving little time for the unfortunate passengers to escape, which, they said, would not have been the case if the blaze had occurred due to a short circuit as presumed earlier.

“If the fire was caused due to a short circuit, the blaze should have erupted from the top of the coach as all the electrical wiring of the train are fixed to the roof, but that is not the case. It is very early to come to any conclusion. We are drawing inferences after examining the burnt bogie. We can clearly determine the cause of the fire only after the chemical analysis report reaches us”, an official said.

The forensic experts took photographs of the different spots in the bogie and have collected around 50 samples of different materials.

The samples will be sent for chemical analysis to a laboratory in Hyderabad, which is expected to submit its report after seven days.

Meanwhile, as many as 19 of the 26 bodies have been identified so far.

Sachin wrote:I had the misfortune of reading ToI today (no other news papers available). There was a report which stated that the TTE of the coach is missing. This hole, they are talking about is right under the seat/berth of the TTE (Berth #7). He has not been identified among the dead, and is presumed to be alive. But he has not reported for the official IR enquiry, and his mobile phone is now switched off.

vasu raya wrote:unfortunately this is wiki but a similar incident happened near Nellore

Nellore train fire

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 31 Dec 2013 22:19

The fares are absurdly low. They do not make sense. They are almost 1/4th the price of equivalent bus trip. Especially second class. Everyone I meet in my journey agrees that fares can go up. Seems like Mamta Laloos and their cohorts have made it impossible for any one in government to raise fares. If you are so pro poor then create seperate system for economically backward travellers so that they can furnish documentation to avail subsidized travel. Rest of people can buy tickets at market price (determined like airfares) this will also cut the attitude where people book and cancel tickets without worrying too much. Least cancellations must be made stiff with like losing 50% of fare. Also reserve 50% of tickets for tatkal system and charge 40% - 60% more than regular price for tatkal (take away tout business which is running on same principle).

On side note saw how RPFguys behave on night duty. They enter at their assigned station into train come to the TTE berth goto sleep. Wake up at their assigned station and go away and next one who replaces him does the same. No sense of duty or danger. Overall total waste and no sense of duty.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 01 Jan 2014 22:30

The door design issues are a function of the material and technology being used, in this case mild steel. higher grade alloys can be used to produce better designs with lighter weight and tight tolerance. you can see this effect in the car industry. the rail coaches are still being built with plain old amby level technology while the rest of industry has moved on to hyundai/suzuki/honda level technology. there is still the minor matter that india imports all these higher end alloys. even the lhb rake had to be down engineered to suit railway level materials. the lhb coach does have an improved door operator but on the inside bang there is the same primitive lock mechanism right next to the frp panels/ss /aluminium.

it is useful to remember that the lhb coach was designed and implemented way back in 1995. an entire genration ago. this is what passes of modernising in IR. imho there should be a new rake design every 2-3 years. this allows for steady incremental improvements that slowly turn IR world class. BTW it should also be noted each lhb coach costs ~ rs 2 crore vs rs 75 lakh for old school coach.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 02 Jan 2014 11:25

all these needs money, which will in turn raise the ticket prices , is public willing to pay that ???

But once people get used to quality, they will be willing to pay the extra, but govt has to take the chance, but with most govt only trying to stay in power by appeasing the public, that is never going to happen

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 03 Jan 2014 04:38

svenkat wrote:
vasu raya wrote:unfortunately this is wiki but a similar incident happened near Nellore
Nellore train fire

Venkat sir, the TN express fire was attributed to fireworks, though I don't know if the final report was released.

Crackers found in burnt coach of TN Express: report

Railway report confirms forensic findings

The Commissioner of Railway Safety here has confirmed the forensic findings that the fire in Chennai-bound Tamil Nadu Express, which resulted in the death of 30 passengers on July 30, was on account of bursting of fireworks in the S11 bogie.

Commissioner of Railway Safety Dinesh Kumar Singh, who conducted a statutory inquiry into the fire, said the accident was caused by “accidental igniting of fireworks.”

The Andhra Pradesh State Forensic Science Laboratory gave a similar report a few days ago, but failed to identify the initiation of fire.

Its report said materials that went into the making of fireworks were found from among the remnants of the burnt bogie.

The railway police, however, refused to consider the report as final for going ahead with the investigation. Its senior officials said the forensic findings were only an input for further investigation. They added that circumstantial evidence would also be analysed before arriving at a conclusion.

I don't know what the final word on this was, but they didn't mention sabotage.

Sravan · Post by **Sravan** » 04 Jan 2014 03:20

Building technology to make Indian Railways safer: Solfice

Fabien Chraim, Anuj Gupta and Sravan Puttagunta met in 2008 at the International House in Berkeley. They went on to continue with their studies before Sravan and Fabien came together in 2010 to start up Solfice with a mission statement that reads- ‘sensing in the interest of society’. They were building stuff combining wireless sensor networks and video/image processing. During their conversations, the duo decided to work towards building a remote sensing solution for railways to improve safety.

lidarIn February 2012, the Indian Railways gave them a development order to develop and install prototypes of a human machine interface. “We developed the prototype and are in the advanced stages of deploying the hardware on 3-Phase Electric Locomotives,” says Sravan. Realizing that the driver display unit was a component of a bigger solution, Solfice pivoted towards working on developing intelligent remote sensing algorithms to enable safer operations. Solfice Research developed some preliminary algorithms and is pursing grants from NSF’s SBIR program. It is also speaking with RDSO to determine the scope of train vision.

More on the problem and the technology

Solfice is primarily a remote sensing company that is building ‘train vision’. If one examines the safety records of the rail industry worldwide, many accidents are due to either human error or derailment.

Train wrecks are incredibly destructive, from casualties on commuter trains to environmental catastrophes on hazardous freight trains. If one analyzes the accident records in the last decade and categorizes them into various case profiles such as derailments, collisions and crossing accidents, it is possible to identify gaps in rail safety.

To address these issues, Indian Railways is seeking new technology to augment its current infrastructure for more autonomous decision making in the trains. The effort is to reduce the risk of human error or derailments due to speed violations. To augment these efforts to increase safety, Solfice Research is proposing to develop a safety enhanced system to reduce the likelihood of derailments and collisions.

During the Bay Area NSF I-Corps program 2013, Solfice Research conducted 124 interviews with regulators, potential customers and investors, including the Railway Board in India. The firm collected data points regarding customer needs, regulatory processes, potential integration partners and investor interest in the technology to validate our research efforts.

By validating pain points, “nice-to-have” features and “want-to-have” features throughout each interview process, Solfice Research came to a realization that there is a huge market need and opportunity for solving the vehicular positioning problem in the railway industry. Operators are paying premium prices to implement PTC systems on their networks in order to provide additional safety features. However, system integrators are paid a set margin on the hardware they supply to the railway operators. In India, this cost is roughly $30,000 per kilometer to become PTC compliant.

Based on feedback from industry partners, it is estimated that the current wayside interface unit costs $25,000/unit excluding costs of deploying concrete foundations and maintenance. The underlying bottleneck for deploying PTC systems worldwide is the hardware cost constraint for deploying millions of wayside interface units throughout the railway track network. Solfice Research has decided to focus on removing the need for wayside signalling equipment to determine location information using train vision.

The technology is being tested and the company is still away from integrating it with the Indian Railways but the IP generated has a lot of use cases. Know more about them here

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 08 Jan 2014 08:42

Reports of yet another train tragedy with people dying in their sleep because of a fire. On the Mumbai-Dehra Dun route.

What the hell....

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 08 Jan 2014 10:40

^^^
Nine killed in Mumbai-Dehradun Express blaze
This is at Dahanu Road near Thane. An alert gate keeper saw the burning coach moving by and alerted the other officials and got the train stopped. Again the usual excuse of "short circuit" has been given out after preliminary checks. I don't know if these burnings are part of concentrated efforts by the usual suspects (Jihadis, Naxals or any similar gang).

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 08 Jan 2014 11:06

Seriously, I think that there should be a baggage check before boarding any train in India to filter out the carriage of inflammable material.

To hell with privacy issues.

Edited to add

Sorry, I meant physical / visual check. Scanning of baggage and interpretation of results requires highly trained personnel and is not in the normal repertoire of the every day pandu.

Javee · Post by **Javee** » 08 Jan 2014 11:37

In Chennai Central, it is mandatory to scan the baggage like in the airport, not sure what they are checking for and how effective it is. Railways will also need to monitor the freight sections on passenger trains. I've seen plenty of them freight compartments not shut, so it wouldn't take a long time to sabotage a train.

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 09 Jan 2014 08:12

The timing seems suspect while not ruling out other causes, between 2-4AM when the temperature drops real low and this being a cold season, when a conductor in the circuit boxes gets cold, seems like more current is drawn which probably causes worn out low quality insulation to catch fire and spread it.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 09 Jan 2014 15:40

Javee wrote:In Chennai Central, it is mandatory to scan the baggage like in the airport, not sure what they are checking for and how effective it is. Railways will also need to monitor the freight sections on passenger trains. I've seen plenty of them freight compartments not shut, so it wouldn't take a long time to sabotage a train.

they do it when something like this happens, or else they are very casual about it

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 22 Jan 2014 04:26

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/che ... epage=true

Chennai Metro Rail line running close to the flight approach path of the secondary runway of the airport

fantastic! and none could think about it during planning stage? pathetic!!!!

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 22 Jan 2014 05:01

SaiK wrote:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/che ... epage=true

Chennai Metro Rail line running close to the flight approach path of the secondary runway of the airport
fantastic! and none could think about it during planning stage? pathetic!!!!

They did, wonder what's AAI's beef now is. They seem to be idiots of the highest order. From the article:

According to Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), they had made the change in the route after holding discussions with AAI officials who suggested the possibility of there being an interference of signals. Also, the entire stretch of this rail line would be completely covered as an additional measure towards ensuring safety, an official of CMRL said.

However, a ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) has been issued to CMRL by AAI; a safety assessment has been done and a committee in the civil aviation sector in New Delhi has also cleared this project.

What more is one supposed to do? These (AAI) guys have done it before - they extended the secondary runway, over a river, and then realized that they cannot land at night as they didn't acquire land to install the guidance lights! Now that runway is just languishing. Not only did they not finish their project (expanding the airport), now they are throwing a spanner in an unrelated project that would have helped their expansion project. Absolute morons!

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 22 Jan 2014 05:06

Railways decide to play it safe - K. Balchand, The Hindu

30-point programme thrashed out to improve safety of trains, people

Rudely shocked by the sudden spate in the number incidents of fire in moving trains that have claimed more than 35 lives so far this year, the Railways have drawn up a blueprint to prevent a recurrence of such tragedies.

At the directive of Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, Railway Board chairman Arunendra Kumar convened a high-level meeting here which thrashed out a 30-point programme to improve the safety of trains and passengers.

The thrust is as much on the design of the coaches as on the materials used to not only prevent the occurrence of fire but also its spread.

Emergency path

As in aircrafts, the emergency path will be lit with glow stickers and attendants will demonstrate safety precautions to the passengers.

It was decided to switch over to LED lights for the coaches and develop a system that will let smoke out of the coaches to prevent deaths due to asphyxiation. It was also decided to complete the trial of the smoke and fire detection system on the Jammu Rajdhani by January end. Hooters will be first provided in the locos, pantry cars and brake vans before being installed in the coaches.

Hammers will be provided to break open the glass near the emergency window and the charging points for mobiles and laptops will now come with a one-ampere fuse, so that they blow off in case any heating appliance is plugged in.

Wooden berths meant for attendants will be done away with as they blocked the escape route.

Similarly, the compartment doors in AC coaches will now swing both ways.

The rubber in the outer doors will now melt in case of fire to prevent jamming of doors in an emergency situation.

The Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) has been directed to study international norms for inflammability and toxicity of material used for seats and furnishings, and to decide the use of fire retardant material available internationally.

It has also been instructed to develop and use fire-retardant paints for coach interiors.

Gadgets will be developed to check consignments and a system for stubbing beedis and cigarette in second-class general coaches.

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 22 Jan 2014 07:01

They got 37 profitable routes,

Railways' plan to mint money: AC tickets at Rs 12,000-Rs 17,000!

it would make sense for them to introduce double decker trains as a priority in these routes, then the issue of safety comes up, since these are new coaches maybe the risk is less, still they should have a plan.

Haven't seen sliding doors so far, nor window pane breakers, neither a plan for loading/unloading wheel chairs, these are all new LHB coaches to be in service for a long time

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 23 Jan 2014 06:26

A railway policeman stands guard as a train runs on its tracks amid heavy snowfall in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday. Most places in J&K recorded sub-zero temperatures. PTI Photo

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 23 Jan 2014 16:59

arshyam wrote:Railways decide to play it safe - K. Balchand, The Hindu

Guess nothing on ensuring only bonafide passengers enter the reserved coaches

. These sort of practices also leads to problems. You never know who is coming and going.

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 26 Jan 2014 08:25

Showing the Spine of a Jelly!

Motormen's tactics make Western Railway edgy

Railway authorities are once again on the edge due to renewed aggression among motormen on Western Railway after a considerably long lull. The Western Railway Motormen Association (WRMA)- an unrecognised union of 470-odd motormen on WR on Thursday managed to get one of their dismissed colleagues reinstated as the administration buckled under the threat of a strike on a day when railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge was in town.

Motorman JK Sahu, a member of the WRMA, was dismissed from service on December 30, 2013 for crossing a red signal at Borivli on June 19, 2013. After an inquiry found him guilty, he was dismissed under the new railway ministry guidelines to remove such offenders from service. The offence in railway lingo is called Signal Passing At Danger (SPAD) and is considered among the most dangerous of safety offences.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 29 Jan 2014 15:19

Can the trains have compulsory brakes Like Euross if some one crosses a red light?

Christopher Sidor · Post by **Christopher Sidor** » 29 Jan 2014 19:13

That would require networking of the trains along with GPS. A costly undertaking. It would be better if we were to concentrate on the following
1) Increase the railways ability to carry double stacked or triple stacked container trains all over its rail network.
2) Increase the length of a goods train to 100 wagons.

This will decrease the cost per unit of transportation and also obviate the need of laying new tracks. The salvation of our railways lie in augmenting its freight carrying capacity. Passenger service is a lost cause thanks to our short sighted politicians.

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 30 Jan 2014 10:28

They tried "Python" trains on trial basis, not sure what happened after
for the double stacked container trains the safe clearance of overhead lines was a block
and for triple stacked on non electrified lines the block is probably the axle load

dedicated freight corridors are being setup with higher line clearance which calls for significant investment before returns

Christopher Sidor · Post by **Christopher Sidor** » 30 Jan 2014 14:03

The beauty of double and triple stacked container trains is that we need not lay new lines. We increase the capacity of existing lines. The land acquisition cost will be nil. For triple stacked container trains, we will have to increase the height of our electric cables. And wherever there are road bridges or foot bridges over railway lines these will have to be replaced by under passes.
Also our freight depots where freight is unloaded will have to be upgraded.

The only place where we will need to have land acquisition will be if we increase the length of a normal goods train to 100 flat-bed wagons. But here also the land acquisition will be very less and disruption will be less.

If we start running triple stacked trains then increase the capacity of IR by over 300%. If we increase the average length of a flat wagon train from 50 to 100 and couple that will triple stacked container trains then the increase per train is even more, it is by 6 times. So currently if there are some 25 pairs of flat wagon trains running between Bombay and Chandigarh via Vadodara, Ratlam, Mathura, we need to run only some 4-5 trains if we have triple stacked 100 wagon freight trains. And if this is done all over India then the effect would be even more dramatic.

SRoy · Post by **SRoy** » 30 Jan 2014 15:20

Christopher Sidor wrote:The beauty of double and triple stacked container trains is that we need not lay new lines. We increase the capacity of existing lines. The land acquisition cost will be nil. For triple stacked container trains, we will have to increase the height of our electric cables. And wherever there are road bridges or foot bridges over railway lines these will have to be replaced by under passes.
Also our freight depots where freight is unloaded will have to be upgraded.

So, a whole lot of infra needs to be struck down and rebuilt.

Its wrong to say that land acquisition is necessary for new tracks. Please do take a look at the amount of railway land on either side of the existing tracks.
These strips of land are encroached upon in urban tracts, but once you leave the urban areas, it is well demarcated and unoccupied. The width on either side is enough to accommodate two pairs of new tracks.

The only problem I see is getting land back from encroachment in some areas. But even that can be handled as it done currently. Lay extra tracks as near to the stations in urban as possible. A goods train can be put in sliding or made to wait until there is enough time gap to let it pass through the nearest station by old tracks, after which it can again get off the old (probably be left to passenger trains) tracks to continue on the new tracks (which can be made exclusive for goods trains).

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 31 Jan 2014 05:12

Mumbai monorail going live on Feb 1st

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-sh ... 140130.htm

saip · Post by **saip** » 31 Jan 2014 05:24

Why are there two colors for the cars? Any difference like one an express and the other stopping at all stations?

saip · Post by **saip** » 31 Jan 2014 05:33

Christopher Sidor wrote:That would require networking of the trains along with GPS. A costly undertaking. It would be better if we were to concentrate on the following
1) Increase the railways ability to carry double stacked or triple stacked container trains all over its rail network.
2) Increase the length of a goods train to 100 wagons.

This will decrease the cost per unit of transportation and also obviate the need of laying new tracks. The salvation of our railways lie in augmenting its freight carrying capacity. Passenger service is a lost cause thanks to our short sighted politicians.

Why cant they have a mechanical system like the NY subway?

The earliest systems were train stops, as still used by the New York City Subway, the Toronto Subway, the London Underground, the Moscow Subway (only on the older lines) and the Berlin S-Bahn. Beside every signal is a moveable clamp, which touches a valve on a passing train if the signal is red and opens the brake line, applying the emergency brake. If the signal shows green, the clamp is turned away.[1]

Wiki

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » 13 Feb 2014 03:45

Railway Budget 2014-15 : 12th February, 2014

Cheers

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 13 Feb 2014 20:03

I learnt recently about AC only trains like a up-dn train between New Delhi-Dehradun everyday. the railway budget introduces 7 such new trains incl guwahati to delhi and chennai. nice idea imo as it solves the whole security/unreserved gatecrashers issue to some extent. others are delhi-goa, howrah-jodhpur,howrah-pune,mumbai-patna...

the delhi-dehradun ac exp is actually 5 mins faster than the two shatabdis that ply that route with chair cars. I am planning to book in 1AC and get a place to sleep in style...albeit for 6 hrs only.