Indian Railways has recorded the best-ever July monthly freight loading of 122.14 million tonne (mt). The incremental loading in the month of July has been 9.3 mt, a growth of 8.25 % over the previous best July figures achieved in 2021.
With this, Indian Railways has logged 23 straight months of best-ever monthly freight loading.
Railways achieved an incremental loading of 11.54 mt in coal, followed by 1.22 mt in balance other goods, 0.56 mt each in cement & clinker and containers.
An increase in automobile loading has been another highlight of freight business in FY 2022- 23. In all, 1698 rakes were loaded during April-July as compared to 994 rakes during the same period of last year, a growth of 71%.
The freight net tonne kilometers (NTKMs) have increased from 63.3 billion in July 2021 to 75 billion in July 2022, registering a growth of 18.38%. The cumulative NTKMs in the first four months have also grown by 19.46%.
The sustained efforts of Indian Railways to increase supply of coal to power houses, in close coordination with the Ministry of Power and Coal, have been one of the key features of the freight performance in July, a ministry of railways statement said.
The loading of coal (both domestic and imported) to powerhouses increased to 47.98 mt in July, up 38% on year.
Commodity-wise growth numbers show that railways has achieved impressive growth in almost all segments.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 04 Aug 2022 06:54
by Rupesh
Haven't seen vsunderji's posts for a long time. Hope he is fine.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 06 Aug 2022 08:33
by Suraj
Writing from the Tohoku Shinkansen ( E5 Hayabusa series ) headed from Tokyo to Aomori . Same train set for the Mumbai Ahmedabad HSR. First time I’m riding this one long distance, typically always taking the Tokaido Shinkansen to Osaka. Pretty outstanding ride at 320km/h, not surprisingly.
Report says the Indian Railways is planning to connect Bengaluru and Hyderabad through a semi-high-speed track cutting the travelling duration to 2.5 hours
India InfraHub in its report has stated that the railway track is compatible for running trains at a speed of 200 km per hour and the travelling time between two cities can soon be reduced to two-and-a-half hours that is 150 minutes. The project is to be built as part of the PM Gati Shakti initiative and would reportedly cost around ₹30,000 crore. The track will be built between Yelahanka Station in Bengaluru to Secunderabad Station in Hyderabad covering a distance of 503km.
The proposed route for the track has been mapped out avoiding detours between the two major cities. A fencing wall of 1.5m height will also be built on both sides of this semi-high speed railway track which will help the train to operate at the proposed speed without any hurdles, said the report. It takes around 10 to 11 hours for passengers to commute between Hyderabad and Bengaluru by train with the current infrastructure.
The Indian Railways ran the Super Vasuki, billed as the heaviest and longest freight train with 295 loaded wagons, on the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence. South East Central Railway operated the train on August 15 as part of the Centre’s Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. South Western Railway said in a statement: “To mark the beginning of Amrit Kaal, SECR formed and ran Super Vasuki, five loaded train long haul on 15th Aug 2022 as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Celebration.”
The 3.5-km-long train, powered by five locos and loaded with 295 loaded wagons, carried a total trailing load of 27,000 tonnes of coal — the heaviest fuel transportation carried by the Indian Railway in a single arrangement. The train takes nearly four minutes to cross a station.
The train left Korba in Chhattisgarh at 1.50 PM on Monday, taking around 11.20 hours to cover the 267-km distance to Rajnandgao in Nagpur. Australia’s BHP Iron Ore, in comparison, at 7.352 km long, is the longest freight train in the world and also the longest overall.
The train was set up by amalgamating five goods trains rakes as a single unit. The Railways plans to make a regular arrangement, especially to transport coal during peak demand season following fuel shortages at power stations, Railways officials said.
Earlier this year, a shortage of coal had pushed the country into a power crisis.
The total coal carried by the train is enough to fire a 3,000 MW power plant for an entire day, accounting for over thrice the capacity of existing trains that carry around 9,000 tonnes (90 cars with 100 tonnes of coal in each) in a single journey.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 10 Sep 2022 10:39
by Mollick.R
Railways floats tender to make 80,000 'Make in India' wheels every year: Ashwini Vaishnaw
PTI Last Updated: Sep 09, 2022, 03:00 PM IST
The Railways has drawn up a blueprint to become an exporter of wheels and on Friday a tender was floated to build a wheel plant which would manufacture at least 80,000 wheels every year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday. This is for the first time that the Railways has floated a tender to invite private players to build a wheel plant and make wheels for high speed trains in India, he said.
Indian Railways needs two lakh wheels per year. According to the plan, while Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) will provide one lakh wheels, the rest will be provided by a new 'Make in India' plant.
Addressing a press briefing, Vaishnaw said the tender will be awarded on the condition that the plant will be exporter of wheels too and the export market will be Europe. The tender mandates that the plant has to be set up within 18 months, Vaishnaw said.
The wheels of the Vande Bharat train were stuck in war-torn Ukraine and had to be airlifted to meet the timelines set for their production.
With all trials successful, Vande Bharat trains' manufacture to begin from October: Ashwini Vaishnaw
ET Online Last Updated: Sep 09, 2022, 08:34 PM IST
The Vande Bharat trains are all set to be regularly produced from October, according to the Railways data. The target is to manufacture two to three trains per month, and five to eight trains in the coming months said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday. The target set by the railways is the manufacture of 75 trains by August 2023.
The newest train has currently completed all its trials and is ready to run commercially. It is likely to run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad and will officially be launched later this month.
While addressing a press conference, Vaishnaw said that the new train comes with much advanced features.
The third Vande Bharat train, which has completed its trials and is fit to be operated commercially, has the capacity to go from 0-100kmph in 52 seconds and is compared to the earlier version which attained the same speed in 54.6 seconds.
The new train's weight has also been reduced by 38 tonnes, which will contribute to its faster acceleration. This will allow the new train to reach a speed of 160kmph in 130 seconds, while the older version reached the same speed in 146 seconds.
"We will now start its serial production... testing is complete... the target will be that going into October we can start regular production... 2-3 trains every month, then taking it up to 5 and 8," Vaishnaw said, adding that most of these trains will be manufactured in Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.
The new train will have more passenger comfort amenities. It will have a battery backup of three hours, with weight reduced from 430 tonne to 290 tonne. The ride index, an indication of riding comfort, has been increased to 3.2.
The minister also said that the train will be fully wifi-enabled with content on demand. Each coach will also come equipped with a 32-inch LCD TVs. Fifteen per cent more energy efficient ACs with dust-free clean air cooling of the traction motor will make the travel more comfortable in the newer version, it has been said.
Side recliner seat facility which is being provided to Executive Class passengers, will now be made available for all classes.
In the new design of the train, a photo-catalytic ultraviolet air purification system is installed in the Roof Mounted Package Unit (RMPU) for air purification.
As recommended by the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), Chandigarh, this system is designed and installed on both ends of RMPU to filter and clear the air of germs, bacteria, virus, etc.
I had no idea Japan had started offering passenger trials on its Maglev train. Some lottery winners could try it. Even for a trial the distance is 40km and top speed of 500 kmph
Initial opening scheduled in 2027 between Tokyo and Nagoya with an extension to Osaka by 2045. May be we should explore this option in a decade
Vande Bharat takes around 5 hours in Ahmedabad-Mumbai trial run, breaks bullet train record
September 11, 2022.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 18 Sep 2022 04:10
by sanjaykumar
I should hope so. Given that the bullet train does not exist in India.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 18 Sep 2022 11:56
by Sachin
CalvinH wrote:It will amazing improvement if <500 Km connections can be all converted to Vande Bharat trains. Vande Bharat should replace Shatabdi trains.
+1. It would also be a good idea to check how Vande Bharat trains are able to consistently run at high speeds. Section controllers would have to do lots of planning ahead to make sure that these trains get a continous 'Line clears' (and slow trains getting pulled into sidings). On many trunk routes which are already saturated running such high speed trains will be a real challenge.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 18 Sep 2022 16:03
by Mukhi
sanjaykumar wrote:I should hope so. Given that the bullet train does not exist in India.
Bullet train work is in full swing, at least in GJ. I just was at the 1st station site (after Ahmedabad) and took some pictures. Tried uploading / copy pasting it on this thread using cell phone but could not do so. The first run, from Ahmedabad to Surat is expected to start by 2026. All construction in overdrive.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 18 Sep 2022 21:31
by JTull
S_Madhukar wrote:I had no idea Japan had started offering passenger trials on its Maglev train. Some lottery winners could try it. Even for a trial the distance is 40km and top speed of 500 kmph
Initial opening scheduled in 2027 between Tokyo and Nagoya with an extension to Osaka by 2045. May be we should explore this option in a decade
They were running trials even in late-90s when I was living there. I don't expect commercial viability for widespread use in our lifetime. One or two installations to showcase the tech are possible.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 19 Sep 2022 02:02
by yensoy
Maglev showcases exist but commercially unviable. They use tons of copper for the electromagnets, not worth the cost except in some very niche cases; besides they are not interoperable and cause EM radiation concerns among the nearby population (whether justified or not is isn't the point here). All installations I am familiar with are pancake flat - how maglevs can ascend slopes is a question. Going from 300kmph to 400kmph (average speed) - let's say Mumbai Ahmedabad stretch will reduce journey time from 1:36 to 1:12, is it justified?
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 29 Sep 2022 11:24
by ramana
Prasar Bharati
Cabinet approves Indian Railways’ proposal for redevelopment of 3 major railway stations
Towards the redevelopment of Indian Railways, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a proposal for the redevelopment of 3 major railway stations. With an approximate total investment of nearly ₹10,000 Crores, the stations will be equipped with modern infrastructure and better facilities to tackle heavy foot traffic of passengers.
Following three railway stations to undergo redevelopment are;
These stations will be redeveloped using Green Building Techniques with solar energy, water conservation/recycling and improved tree cover. They will be integrated with other modes of transportation like metro, bus, etc.
For the Ease of Passengers
Every station will have a spacious roof plaza (36/72/108 m) with all passenger amenities at one place along with spaces for retail, cafeterias, and recreational facilities. Moreover, facilities like food court, waiting lounge, playing area for children, place for local products, etc will be made available.
The stations will be built with particular designs to provide Divyang-friendly facilities and will be developed on the concept of intelligent building.
Railway Stations are an important and central place for any city that sees the largest foot traffic of passengers for domestic travels. The sanction of investment for railway stations gives a new direction to station development.
Currently, work on the redevelopment of 199 Stations is going on wherein tenders have been issued for 47 stations. The Ministry of Railways has informed that master planning and design for the remaining stations is underway while work is progressing fast for the other 32 stations.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 29 Sep 2022 13:03
by rajkumar
ramana wrote:Following three railway stations to undergo redevelopment are;
Proposed re-development for New Delhi Railway Station -
Proposed re-development for Ahmedabad -
Proposed re-development for Mumbai CST -
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 29 Sep 2022 14:21
by Cyrano
Hmm... Delhi project looks like just put a mall on top of the railway station, which will attract more traffic on the same arterial roads... Architecturally seems to imitate China. Glass roof in Delhi summers will make it a giant tandoor, needing huge amount of a/c - expensive and unsustainable.
Ahmedabad looks similar to Delhi, with some aspects of multimodal. Toilets for disabled are of course needed but is that some great achievement? Again, energy hungry design that is architecurally soulless.
Making railways look like airports is the not the best approach IMO. We will continue to have a large % of poor passengers for another 2 decades at least. The redeveloped railway stations are surely depending on rental revenue to finance the project, which means every shop and chai stall will have to pay huge rents + maintenance (a/c, security, cleaning etc) and therefore become unaffordable to the poor. May be some of the high speed Bullet/Vande Bharat users who would otherwise take flights can afford Starbucks, but 90% of rail passengers will prefer IRCTC canteen's price chart.
Mumbai CST plan looks a bit more sensible in space usage and splitting various types of users. But whatever you do, it will be a challenge given the city's narrow geography. Drab soulless buildings again.
Don't know how much Rail Mantralay discussed with city planners, actual users and businesses based there and make multimodal integration and energy efficient choices.
While we can definitely be glad something is at last being done to improve these archaic stations bursting from their seams, I'm worried that the speed at which the govt wants to move may be leading to sub-optimal choices we will regret within a few years.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 29 Sep 2022 19:52
by shravanp
Not sure on what's the need to make railway stations as airports. As previous poster, I do also concur that its gonna take a toll on environment, especially with highways/expressways being built all over the country at rapid pace, increasing bus-based transportation for below-poverty line people, and increasing air-travel.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 29 Sep 2022 22:23
by Prasad
When was the last time you guys did train travel? There is huge demand for food courts and waiting areas within stations. As well as shops of all kinds. These are major stations where thousands go through every day.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 30 Sep 2022 05:42
by CalvinH
We need multi level train stations that with malls, local metro and bus connectivity, internal parking and hotels. Without these there is an ugly spread around the station which basically makes all large stations shady places. Basically create a large closed area with multi level station building at center with no place for the people to walk out of the building/outside area. People arrive at a parking lot inside the building through car/bus/taxi/metro, get dropped off and go to right terminal/platform.
Unlike what many believe here Trains will continue to be the main mode of long distance transport by Indians. With clean stations, local metro connectivity and Vande bharat like trains the use will actually increase. It needs to be promoted.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 30 Sep 2022 14:17
by rajkumar
CalvinH wrote:Unlike what many believe here Trains will continue to be the main mode of long distance transport by Indians. With clean stations, local metro connectivity and Vande bharat like trains the use will actually increase. It needs to be promoted.
Absolutely CalvinH, Trains including High speed trains are the only viable modes of transport for a population dense country like India. India cannot afford to build the expressway on the US model & scale. India's population density is too high and India simply doesn't have access to the hydrocarbon reserves to be able to build a society based on the US or even European model
AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off Vande Bharat Express train between Gandhinagar and Mumbai.
PM Modi flagged off the train from Gandhinagar Capital railway station around 10.30am. Vande Bharat Express, which will run between Mumbai Central and Gandhinagar from September 30 onwards, will take only 6 hours and 20 minutes to go between the two state capitals, and only 5 hours and 35 minutes from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.
The train will provide passengers aircraft-like travelling experience and advanced safety features including Kavach technology, an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System. In the schedule released by railways, it will depart Mumbai Central at 6.10am and reach Ahmedabad at 11.35am, taking only only 5 hours and 25 minutes while it will take 6 hours and 20 minutes to go between the two capitals. It will depart Gandhinagar at 2.05pm. Vande Bharat Express, which will run between Mumbai Central and Gandhinagar from September 30 onwards, will take only 6 hours and 20 minutes to go between the two state capitals, and only 5 hours and 35 minutes from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 30 Sep 2022 16:29
by Cyrano
Just adding food courts is ok, multilevel shopping malls is for rental income to fund the renovation. Which is also OK but will attract more people and traffic which will make the area even more congested. I see this in all European cities, but our density is at a different scale altogether which will pose additional challenges. The most important thing is integrating with multi modal city transportation which most European train stations do quite well.
Navi Mumbai tried this decades ago, some city metros have also factored shopping complexes to generate more income. The argument for is rising middle class will consume these services. Lets see how it works out.
My comments on design and architecture stand. I'd love to see more indic designs, not mundane office buildings.
No other country in the world does special service for foreigners in trains. This old habit of pleasing goras has to go away. Heck,people from Armenia,Albania try to show attitude in India while they do not have clean drinking water at home.Most of backpackers are jobless peoples who live on social security. Enough.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 13 Oct 2022 18:16
by sumsumne
Railways to launch freight version of Vande Bharat Express; to run as 'superfast' parcel service
Suraj wrote:Writing from the Tohoku Shinkansen ( E5 Hayabusa series ) headed from Tokyo to Aomori . Same train set for the Mumbai Ahmedabad HSR. First time I’m riding this one long distance, typically always taking the Tokaido Shinkansen to Osaka. Pretty outstanding ride at 320km/h, not surprisingly.
saar, what are the ticket prices like
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 14 Oct 2022 18:03
by Zynda
So apparently #5 trainset of VB 2.0 is for MAS-SBC-MYS line...probably only JTJ-AJJ line might be OK for 130 kph speeds...rest are limited to 110 onlee (SBC-MYS was set max @ 100 a while ago...might be OKed for 110 now)...not sure why IR is introducing VB set here when the infra is not even capable of 130...forget 160 or 180...of course with introduction of VB, there are benefits of slightly improved acceleration leading to reduction in time required to get to track speed over conventional Shatabdi and improved ride quality for passengers...I know vsunder saar had mentioned that SWR wants Whitefield-AJJ 130 kph capable...hopefully introduction of VB 2.0 will kick-start the project in to high gear!
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 14 Oct 2022 18:18
by chetak
Zynda wrote:So apparently #5 trainset of VB 2.0 is for MAS-SBC-MYS line...probably only JTJ-AJJ line might be OK for 130 kph speeds...rest are limited to 110 onlee (SBC-MYS was set max @ 100 a while ago...might be OKed for 110 now)...not sure why IR is introducing VB set here when the infra is not even capable of 130...forget 160 or 180...of course with introduction of VB, there are benefits of slightly improved acceleration leading to reduction in time required to get to track speed over conventional Shatabdi and improved ride quality for passengers...I know vsunder saar had mentioned that SWR wants Whitefield-AJJ 130 kph capable...hopefully introduction of VB 2.0 will kick-start the project in to high gear!
elections
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 14 Oct 2022 18:24
by Zynda
chetak wrote:elections
Ah...got it...thanks & welcome back Chetakji
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 14 Oct 2022 18:54
by chetak
Zynda wrote:
chetak wrote:elections
Ah...got it...thanks & welcome back Chetakji
Thanks Zynda ji
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 14 Oct 2022 20:02
by hgupta
chetak wrote:
Zynda wrote:So apparently #5 trainset of VB 2.0 is for MAS-SBC-MYS line...probably only JTJ-AJJ line might be OK for 130 kph speeds...rest are limited to 110 onlee (SBC-MYS was set max @ 100 a while ago...might be OKed for 110 now)...not sure why IR is introducing VB set here when the infra is not even capable of 130...forget 160 or 180...of course with introduction of VB, there are benefits of slightly improved acceleration leading to reduction in time required to get to track speed over conventional Shatabdi and improved ride quality for passengers...I know vsunder saar had mentioned that SWR wants Whitefield-AJJ 130 kph capable...hopefully introduction of VB 2.0 will kick-start the project in to high gear!
elections
Not only that but to avoid the chicken & egg situation. Sometimes to get things moving, you just bite the bullet and pick one and thereafter, the other will soon to follow.
Re: Indian Railways Thread (Dec 2015)
Posted: 16 Oct 2022 20:09
by sumsumne
First indigenously manufactured aluminium freight train rake inducted in Railways
