Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)

[vsunder]

Forged wheels factory construction has started in TN. These wheels will be for VB and the factory has a target of 50 % export. It’s JV between Titaghar and Ram Krishna Forging

This is very good news. India was importing forged wheels from Ukraine and other Central European countries specifically for VB. The war severely impacted the supply of forged wheels and would have impacted the production of VB in numbers. The Rail Wheel factories say at Yellahanka only produces cast wheels and there is a small production unit in the Railway coach factory at Rae Bareli for forged wheels which is not adequate.

It is imperative to have forged wheels for all semi-HSR and HSR trains due to their superior strength as opposed to wheels that are cast. Cast wheels tend to crack under sustained high speed operations. In forged wheels, grain boundaries in the metal are manipulated so that the metal acquires a lot more strength.

Here is a simple experiment you can perform at home to show how grain boundaries can be manipulated so that the metal becomes stronger. Take a good sized paper clip and pull the tongue out. Gently rock the tongue back and forth. This causes the metal at the point where the tongue joins the rest of the clip to contract and narrow. This narrowing at the constriction will cause the grains in the metal to point in a preferred direction rather than randomly. You will notice that the tongue will stiffen and offer resistance to the rocking you are performing as the metal gains strength. Eventually if you rock further, the constriction will narrow further and then eventually break, ending the experiment. Forging is the process of manipulating grain boundaries so that they are not randomly aligned, but have some preferred direction giving strength.

[vera_k]

Pune is a civilian enclave inside IAF station Lohegaon, just like Prayagraj is a civilian enclave inside IAF station Bamrauli, another dump that I flew through in 2015 and is being refurbished in preparation for Kumbh Mela in January 2025. Bamrauli is HQ of Central Command which will play an important role as 18 Corps is being raised. For Pune there is talk of a greenfield airport.

Are there proposals to relocate the IAF stations away from these cities? Would think its one of the learnings seeing how Lviv was bombed during the current Russia-Ukraine war.

[vsunder]

Pune is a civilian enclave inside IAF station Lohegaon, just like Prayagraj is a civilian enclave inside IAF station Bamrauli, another dump that I flew through in 2015 and is being refurbished in preparation for Kumbh Mela in January 2025. Bamrauli is HQ of Central Command which will play an important role as 18 Corps is being raised. For Pune there is talk of a greenfield airport.

Are there proposals to relocate the IAF stations away from these cities? Would think its one of the learnings seeing how Lviv was bombed during the current Russia-Ukraine war.

In fact there are a large number of airfields which are operated by the IAF which have civilian enclaves inside. Most of you are "batchas" who know very little of IAF history and have not seen the wars of 1961(Goa), 1962, 1965, 1971 etc and in all these I was next to major airbases and some of these airfields with civilian enclaves got bombed. Let me give you a partial list right here from the top of my head:

1. Delhi, Palam, 1st Sikhs airlift to save the Kashmir valley in 1948 was from Palam.

2. Kanpur, first an operational airbase, then went to 1 BRD(Base Repair Depot) and now HAL, two runways and only one used for civilian operations. Just got a spanking new and very big terminal building. Was a hut in the old days. 1 BRD moved to Nagpur after the panga between RM YB Chavan and AVM Harjinder Singh of Maintenance command.

3. Leh, civilian flights from Delhi etc go there in the early morning as the air is denser esp. important for lift off in the thin air at that altitude.

4. Bamrauli, IAF Central command airport for Prayagraj. Getting a new terminal soon big and bada one.

5. Adampur, Jalandhar, famous IAF station, just got a new terminal.

6. Srinagar, of NJS Sekhon fame. Civilian airport serving Srinagar.

7. Jodhpur a very big base under western command. Always fun to land there. See lots of camouflage and dummy planes strewn around.

8. Gwalior, IAF Maharajpur, home of TACDE, brand new terminal just inaugurated Rajmata Scindia airport.

9. Pathankot, a very famous base of Western command.

10. Amritsar, Raj Sansi airport, now functions as a FBSU of the IAF, was hit several times in 1965 and 1971 when it was a an important IAF station.

11. Jamnagar, another very famous IAF station, scene of BB Soni shooting down a F-104 with a Mig 21 in 1971, the first time of a supersonic vs supersonic combat over the subcontinent. Station commander was the late great Peter M. Wilson of Badin fame in 1965.

12. IAF station Lohegaon, Pune was home of 22 squadron the Lightnings for many years, brand new terminal just inaugurated.

13. IAF station Bhuj, civilian enclave.

14. IAF station Bagdogra, civilian enclave. Very important airfield in Eastern command and very important to go to Siliguri and Darjeeling by air.

15. The baap of Eastern command, Shillong, HQ Eastern command of IAF.

16. IAF station Vadodara, customs and civilian airport. Home to IAF 33 wing.

17. IAF Jorhat, and Jorhat airport.

18. And let us not forget, IAF station Jaisalmer, of Longewala fame, and the civilian enclave Jaisalmer airport. Lots of tourists fly out to Jaisalmer

19. IAF station Dum Dum, Kolkata.

20. IAF station Gorakhpur, civilian enclave.

Can go on and on like this. NO there will not be an attempt to move the civilian enclave out from the IAF controlled airfields.

[Atmavik]

Only Pune needs a new airport as its a tier 1 city now. Goa has been solved

[nachiket]

Only Pune needs a new airport as its a tier 1 city now. Goa has been solved

Pune has been promised a new airport for so long now that it has become a running joke. The latest Purandar airport plan has also predictably run into land acquisition issues.

[rahulm]

Only Pune needs a new airport as its a tier 1 city now. Goa has been solved

Pune has been promised a new airport for so long now that it has become a running joke. The latest Purandar airport plan has also predictably run into land acquisition issues.

Pune airport has always been a joke getting funnier. I am from Pune. It's a constant rearranging of deck chairs in what is a small space shared with Lohegaon AFB.

1, Getting into and out of the airport is a safari adventure not for the faint hearted.Departure drop offs are at the terminal but arrivals transport is from the AEROMALL mall. Thats a ~ 800 - 900 metre walk from the terminal through departure chaos (space is cramped with departure queues overflow getting their id's checked by CRPF. cars dropping off passengers and the usual motley collection of people slouching aimlessly. At the end of the terminal walk an escalator is available to enter the mall and 1 lift. There is a queue for the solitary lift with all the queue jumpers, baggage trolleys and people in wheel chairs yelling at each other trying to get ahead. My mum cant climb escalators and waiting for the 1 lift is in the hordes is stressful. Sometimes the lift is "under maintenance" and all hell breaks loose. I have on a few occasions carried my mum on my back up the escalator (she is very light - hasn't had much naan with extra butter and chola batura in her life )

2. Once you manage your way up to the first floor of AEROMALL, a long walk (~ 400m) to the parking lot with taxis, Uber and Ola pickup. Another chaos and confusion hotspot with yelling and people shoving past each other in a small space. I think some babu in their generosity and "modernisation drive" approved ~ 7 to 8 chairs for people to sit and wait. Seniors and people with disabilities suffer.

3. Security has some PWD issue issue tables of slightly different heights joined together. Prolly scavenged from the nearby Kendriya VIdhalaya. Due to the cramped space another zoo space with people shoving and jostling.

4. Once past security, the gate "lounges" are too small for the # of passengers. People standing around coz they cant find space to sit. I think there are a grand total of 4-5 shops - one sells some clothes, another stale samosas and sandwiches, another some maganlal chikki etc.

5. Boarding queues invariably end up in the lounge area. If you are sitting in an aisle seat in the "lounge", perfect height and position to have your face and nose in the crotch of the person standing in the boarding queue.

6. The only saving grace for me is seeing and hearing Rambha.

7. Pune is stuck. With K K Travels providing excellent service and doing a roaring Pune - Mumbai - Pune airport drop offs and picks every 15 minutes, Pune is too close to Mumbai for politicians to bother. With the MTHL commissioned the SIon/Dharavi bottleneck is history so even less incentive for a "proper" airport in Pune.

8. There is no plan AFAIK to connect the airport to the Pune Metro. So this AEROMALL pain is going to continue. It is very common for me to take ~2.5 hours to travel from the airport home. with the MTHL Mumbai airport takes about the same time. With the Navi Mumbai airport imminent Pune will almost be a stones throw on the YCEW. Even less incentive for babus to bother.

I dont see any plan - master or another to majorly redesign Pune airport. Thats understandable coz it's hobbled by the AFB and the space available so we hobble along - with the stale samosas, linked kendriya vidhalaya type tables and the horror walk to the AEROMALL parking lot.And beware that lounge aisle seat and crotch,

Jai Ho.

[vsunder]

A Train Finally Reaches Sindhanur, Karnataka

The railway was promised to Sindhanur in British times. PM Modi has finally fulfilled the desires of the population here. Look at the sheer happiness and acclamation for PM Modi. The line will eventually connect Gadag to Raichur, new railway line. Parts of the line were already inaugurated earlier between 2014-2024. Gangavathi which is already on the line with the new line to it commissioned in 2019, is the rice bowl of Karnataka.

https://youtu.be/Q14szUOXupM

Similarly the train was promised to Beed in rain deficit Marathwada with its bad roads since Independence. The Ahmednagar(Ahilyanagari) to Beed and on to Parli Vaijnath new line is coming close to completion. Already about 133km of the 240km new line is complete and operational. All this happened after 2014. This is Gopinath Munde territory. Beed will be part of the Indian Railway map by this year end as the line is about 35km from Beed finally. The line not only offers communication to Pune and Mumbai but also allows foodgrains to be transported and also other goods.

[rajkumar]

Mumbai-Ahmedabad rail route is now fenced



Must say this is an impressive achievement

[vsunder]

Fantastic News At Last---Western DFC---Trial took place a few hours ago on Ahmedabad(Sanand) to Makarpura(Vadodara) section 138km

The Western DFC had a missing greenfield section of 138km between Sanand North (western outskirts of Ahmedabad) and Makarapura(Vadodara suburb). This section was absolutely crucial. From Dadri near Delhi the WDFC was already operational to New Sanand and through here to all the major Gujarat ports like Mundhra Adani, Pipavav(Maersk) and many others reducing freight time from these ports to Delhi NCR to 18 hours.

From Makarpura the WDFC was ready past the outskirts of Surat till Gholvad MH and beyond past Palghar and upto Saphale MH. But these two sections were not connected. L&T and Sojitz (JICA rules of borrowing state that every Indian firm has to tie with a Japanese firm) were constructing this missing link Sanand to Makarpura so that the WDFC can be really effective and allow the WDFC to connect to the JNPT port Mumbai and other ports like Hazira near Surat, Dahej and so on.

With the announcement that a diesel trial has taken place the missing link is now nearing completion and operationalizing in a few weeks allowing freight to flow easily from Delhi NCR to the doorstep of JNPT.

It is the last 109km from Saphale to JNPT that is lagging. Tata Construction+IRCON+Mitsui is really dragging their feet on this 109km and a project that was targetted for completion Dec 2024 will again see a setback as lots of work left on this 109km section. This was compounded by Uddhav Thackeray who gave no assistance for land acquisition and various environmental agencies who threw a number of roadblocks on this 109km section. The announced target keeps moving back every 6 months and I anticipate that close to Dec 2024, the current target for this 109 km section, we will see an announcement that the target has been moved back to Dec 2025 when hopefully the last 109km section Vaitarna to JNPT is complete and thereby finally finishing the WDFC. Nevertheless, the announcement that track linking is complete linking the two "island sections" via the Sanand to Makarpura section, completion of this big loop around Ahmedabad of the WDFC is an extremely important milestone and with this 94% of the WDFC is now complete. The EDFC is fully operational from Ludhiana to Son Nagar, with only work left from Son Nagar to Andal which never got off the ground due to Jharkhand govt under Hemant Soren and Mamata Bannerjee's WB govt not helping at all. Thus today the EDFC is only 1337km and about 363km in Jharkhand +WB remains to be completed. DFCCIL has shortened the planned project to Dankuni WB of about 500km beyond Son Nagar and the EDFC will end at Andal just inside the WB border. This additional 363km will take a long time to complete and may very well be not a true DFC, but simply quad tracking the existing IR track for about 363km along the Grand Chord.

https://twitter.com/dfccil_india/status ... 6157789690

The miserable progress by Tata Construction on the end run of the WDFC, 109km Vaitarna to JNPT Mumbai.

JNPT to Bhiwandi, recent progress on the 109km section between Saphale and JNPT.

https://youtu.be/FBOhH424akQ

[vsunder]

Horticultural Products(Sapotas/Chikus) flow along the WDFC from South Gujarat(Navsari) towards Delhi NCR

With the completion of the Makarpura to Sanand link, travel time for the produce will reduce further, reducing spoilage further.


https://indiashippingnews.com/south-guj ... from-dfcs/


Maersk is already running reefer rakes on the WDFC from Pipavav port to NCR and vice versa.

[vsunder]

I had posted graphics aeons ago about logistics cost in India compared to the rest of the economic powerhouses in the world. In India logistics cost is currently 14% of GDP and needs to be brought down to 8-9% if India wants to vault to the 5 trillion regime. Here is an article by Gordon Feller which is thoughtful but mainly focuses on the EDFC. I wish he had also commented on the WDFC too. A very positive article:


https://intpolicydigest.org/the-platfor ... eadership/

[vsunder]

Already Milk is taking 37% less time since last year to reach Delhi NCR from Gujarat via WDFC. This is going to decrease since Anand area is on the Makarpura to Sanand section, so operationalizing of this in 2 months (once trials are over^^^)will help even more in milk delivery.

https://www.fortuneindia.com/macro/dfc- ... -37/113743

[Sachin]

I was in two minds about posting this news here. Because pages and pages it was all about good news on railways. Finally decided to post it here, as such aspects also needs to be highlighted.
TTE dies after being pushed off moving train in Kerala’s Thrissur; one arrested
As for the criminal case, it is an open & shut case. Accused has been arrested, and would soon be put up for trial. But this brings up another important aspect. The absolute law less ness, in Sleeper & Un Reserved coaches in trains now. I had felt this at least 10 years back, when I started only reserving 3 AC coaches for train travel. Vagabonds, ticket less travellers, drunkards - all now have bigger say in Sleeper coaches than the genuine reserved ticket holders. Indian Railways have abysmally failed to protect the rights of the reserved ticket holders in Sleeper coaches. At least three agencies are meant to give adequate protection IR's commercial department (TTE), Railway Protection Force (RPF), and Govt. Railway Police (State police unit). All three practically does nothing.

At least in Southern states, the road infrastructure is vastly improved. Overnight journeys by road is not a very hard thing. There are good toilet & restaurant complexes every where. And there are real good state as well as private bus operators who operate sleeper coaches. IR would be loosing revenue, as any one who can pay and wants to have a safe travel will opt for buses.

[AkshaySG]

Sachin ji to add on to that on really busy days especially near a holiday weekend even AC 3 tier and AC 2 tier are sometimes overrun with vagabonds and people with no tickets and they seem to have hit on a great strategy of quantity

If there was 1-2 guys the passengers or TT could object but if there's 40-50 of them occupying all seats and common areas nobody can do much and any protest is laughed away.

If we truly want to improve the quality of our railway services then this issue needs to be sorted.

I can sympathize a little with IR that unlike flights the railways are more trust based and no one checks your ticket till the journey is well underway however we may need to do something about that

[rahulm]

When a passenger buys an IR reserved ticket, for any class of travel (inc. sleeper), its a contract between the passenger and IR. It is supposed to guarantee a seat/berth.

The IR rules clearly state that passengers without a reservation are not to travel in reserved coaches of any class (inc sleeper). IIRC it is the responsibility of the TTC to ensure the reserved coaches are free or unreserved travellers (BTW- this would include the vendors and itinerant musicians if applied fully). IIRC the TTC has the various alphabet soup bolis e.g. RPF etc to call upon.

We all know what happens in practice. The passenger fulfils his his part of the contract by paying the fare asked by the IR. The IR then simply fails to fulfil its part of the contract and life goes on.

The problem of takeover of reserved coaches by unreserved passengers is becoming worse as the years go by not better. Entropy ensures that lack of enforcement will make the problem bigger.

The TTC's inc sleeper cash TTC's usually hide in the highest AC coach in the train (1AC/ 2AC) coach, with deluxe quality tea and snacks from the pantry car. It's nearly impossible to get hold of one when one needs one. IIRC the AC and non-AC section of the coach have the vestibule disconnected so it's possible for the harassed passenger looking for a TTC to move from non AC to AC coach to find.a TTC only when the train is stationary. For long distance super fast trains with 2 minute halts its not even an option.

Further, where the last AC coach of the train connects with the first non AC coach of the train is a real issue with respect to toilets. When the train is stationary, people from the non AC coach merrily use the toilets in the AC coach.

The fact that in most trains (ex. VB) the doors of all coaches are left open contributes to the above issues.


The TTC being thrown of the moving train, passengers falling off, shoving other passengers falling off a moving train etc is only possible coz doors remain open. Such a simple problem to solve but no, life goes on. Hopefully as VB trains replace our "charming" ICF and open door LHB coaches, this issue will solve itself leaving us train tragic to revel in the open door era and "Khuli hawa" "charm" that once was with essays and poetry.

With a oodles of manpower we have at our disposal in gobarmint, much of which does exactly what no one knows, it shouldn't be too hard to repurpose resources to deliver on IR's part of the contract with the passenger. The trust based system has completely failed.

1. We can have a TTC or similar in every reserved coach. In phoren countries, entry to reserved sleeper coacher is controlled. Tickets are checked by a purser before entry. Only the door manned by the purser is open - the rest of the coach doors are closed to prevent "izzat se ghoos-maro type khans".. Try entering a sleeper coach in Australia, Poland , Austria, UK, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, even Vietnam does it well on the Reunification express (all places where I have personal experience of sleeper class travel) - you cant even ghoos maro i.e. sneak in and then try "adjust - madi" negotiation/stalling tactics to stay in. You will be unceremoniously booted off the coach by the scruff of your neck in a manner of speaking.
2. Have a TTC or similar with authority in every reserved coach at all times with walkie talkie access to whatever alphabet bolis is on the train.
2. Implement auto closing doors for all reserved coaches.

In addition to all the wonderful big ticket items Vaishnav is getting right, he also needs to get the basics right. but I dont think the railways care at all about these basic issues. Or, the IR modifies its rules I.e. social contract with reserved passengers to say they cant and wont guarantee a seat - it's all Bhagwan bharose - take it or leave it. Right now it's a bait and switch strategy.

I stopped travelling by over night train in any class unless I have no other option. IR's trust based system is simultaneously laudatory and terribly misplaced. I think it will work only in Japan and nowhere else.

[JTull]

Govt may shelve Rs 2-trn freight corridor plan


Reports low capacity utilisation of DFCs.

[A_Gupta]

Govt may shelve Rs 2-trn freight corridor plan


Reports low capacity utilisation of DFCs.

From the link:

For instance, the fully-completed EDFC has a capacity to run 120 trains each way per day but due to low demand, just about 75-80 trains are being operated at the moment.

a. EDFC is not completed as planned, but is shorter.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/natio ... 535448#top

b. Running at 75/120 = 63% of peak capacity within 6 months of becoming operational (Oct 13, 2023) in an investment that is supposed to serve the needs, say, for twenty years before the next capacity augmentation is done is pretty good, I would think. If freight grows at a measly 2% per annum, then in 20 years EDFC will be running at 103% of capacity.

c. The effect of EDFC on the capacity of passenger traffic is not mentioned.

WDFC, which still has a 109-km stretch under construction, is running just 40-45 trains per day (each way) against the capacity of 120 trains.

But this 109 kilometer stretch is what connects to the very important JNPT port.

If the Railways has found that additional Dedicated Freight Corridors are not economically viable, that is perfectly OK by me; but I am suspicious of the above article. It smells more of psy-ops than of objective economic analysis.

----
Added:
https://www.business-standard.com/econo ... 978_1.html

At an economic growth of around 8 per cent, railways should be registering a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10 per cent. However, it is at 5 per cent this financial year and 6 per cent on a CAGR basis over the past few years,” said Trivedi, adding that the railways need to do better.

At a CAGR of 5%, and with EDFC running at 63% of capacity right now, then it runs out of capacity in less than 10 years. At which point, what does the Railways do?

[Atmavik]

^^^ my thoughts as well. this looks like the usual click bait rona dhona. the current 2 dfcs end to end will take care of 80 % freight traffic. for peninsular india i wish we focused on costal shipping. not much has been done here

[ManuJ]

Govt may shelve Rs 2-trn freight corridor plan


Reports low capacity utilisation of DFCs.

The 3 proposed corridors may be shelved; no impact on existing ones.
Might be more feasible to build spurs connecting major industrial hubs to existing DFCs.

The government is likely to abandon the plan to set up three more dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) – East Coast, East-West and North-South – at an estimated combined cost of Rs 2 trillion. The Centre may instead opt for a few commodity-specific rail networks, a senior railway official told FE on condition of anonymity.

[rajkumar]

Mission Raftaar 1st 160kmph Trials Begin On Delhi Mumbai Route

[rajkumar]

यूरोपियन रेलवे फैक्ट्री भारत के हाथों में | Indian Companies Acquires European Rail Wheel Manufacturer