Indian Railways - Projects | News | Discussions [Archive]

MxC

June 9th, 2008, 07:05 PM

Here is another news item from HT about the new Agartala line, and has more information than the one from newspostindia:

Agartala to be on Indian railway map soon (http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=c1da3323-bf2b-49c6-ad54-e9363330b511)

Later this month, the capital of Tripura will become the second state capital in the northeast after Guwahati to find a place on the country's railway map.

"The first ever train service to Agartala is all set to begin June 30 as the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) is working on war-footing to meet the deadline," NFR chief engineer FS Meena told IANS.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh had earlier declared the railway project in Tripura a national project.

"It took more than four decades to connect the capital city after northern Tripura's business hub Dharmanagar, 200 km from here, came under the railway map in 1964," said Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey.

"The NFR has so far spent Rs.8 billion to connect Agartala by rail by making three big tunnels through the Longtharai valley, Baramura and Atharamura hills in Dhalai and west Tripura districts," said Meena.

The 1,962-metre Longtharai tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in eastern India.

According to B. Chowdhury, a railway engineer, the NFR would also start work to lay a new track in the 110 km Agartala-Sabroom line by January next year after completing the final location survey.

Approximately 1,200 acres of land would be required for the Rs.8.13 billion project to connect Tripura's southernmost border town Sabroom by rail.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said: "After the Indian Railways extends its line up to Sabroom, it would be very easy to connect with the Chittagong international port in southeast Bangladesh, which is just 75 km from there."

A small bridge over river Feni can connect Sabroom and Khagrachari, across the border in Bangladesh, to open a second railway link between the two neighbours after the Kolkata-Dhaka rail service, which resumed April 14 this year after a gap of 43 years.

"After extending the railway line to Sabroom, Tripura and the entire northeast would be linked with Southeast Asia very easily," the chief minister told IANS.

"The Left parties led by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had spearheaded a series of movements since the early 1960s to extend the railway line up to the state capital. In 1985, we have organised a march to Delhi demanding extension of railway line in this northeastern state," he added.

India's railway budget for 2008-09 announced plans to extend the railway line to Tripura's southernmost sub-divisional town Sabroom.

"The Bangladesh government is actively considering New Delhi's proposal to allow India to use Chittagong international port for easy communication between rest of India and northeastern states and Southeast Asian countries," Sudhakar Dalela, councillor (trade and commerce) of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, said here recently.

Meanwhile, the NFR has already conducted a survey to connect Agartala with Akhaurah railway station in Bangladesh.

The distance between the newly constructed Agartala railway station and Akhaurah railway station, an important rail junction in Bangladesh, is just five kilometres.

SarafIndian

June 10th, 2008, 05:58 AM

bhopalus

June 10th, 2008, 08:02 AM

MAP OF UPCOMING ANAND VIHAR TERMINUS IN DELHI (http://wikimapia.org/#lat=28.6450256&lon=77.3120356&z=16&l=0&m=a&v=2&show=/8418552/upcoming_railway_station_anand_vihar)

PlaneMad

June 10th, 2008, 10:41 AM

^^ its apparently a metre gauge line, and the train consists of a single coach. it took them 18 years for this achievement, wtf?
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080609/jsp/northeast/story_9383531.jsp

SarafIndian

June 10th, 2008, 03:47 PM

MxC

June 10th, 2008, 04:15 PM

^^ its apparently a metre gauge line, and the train consists of a single coach. it took them 18 years for this achievement, wtf?
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080609/jsp/northeast/story_9383531.jsp

As for the single coach, though it's not mentioned likewise, I'm assuming they must have meant to say that it's kind of an inspection train. I can't imagine it being a regular commercial service with just one coach!

As for the gauge, I read the telegraph link and it's even more confusing and gives the appearence that it's actually not even meter, but a narrow gauge :bash:. Look at this part:

“This track can be easily converted into metre gauge once the gauge conversion work between Lumding and Badarpur is complete.”

If it's alread broad gauge or meter gauge, then this part is meaning less; makes sense only if existing gauge is narrow. Now is someone aware about what is happening on this Lumdig-Badarpur section?? That should help make deductions on what actually is on ground.

MxC

June 10th, 2008, 04:20 PM

Thanks MxC for posting the news. :)

Actually, I didn't quote the whole news from newspostindia. I just posted the Agartala news.

Well, the "Chittagong international port" related news I didn't post. I doubt if it is going to happen in near future. Their constant disagreement forced India to invest on Kaladan project in Myanmar.

Oops! I had just read the news on HT when I saw it here, and I thought (without clicking your link ofcourse) that this wasn't the full news, and therefore posted the HT version.

SarafIndian

June 10th, 2008, 04:23 PM

As for the single coach, though it's not mentioned likewise, I'm assuming they must have meant to say that it's kind of an inspection train. I can't imagine it being a regular commercial service with just one coach!

As for the guage, I read the telegraph link and it's even more confusing and gives the appearence that it's actually not even meter, but a narrow guage :bash:. Look at this part:

If it's alread broad guage or meter guage, then this part is meaning less; makes sense only if existing guage is narrow. Now is someone aware about what is happening on this Lumdig-Badarpur section?? That should help make deductions on what actually is on ground.

Well, it is quite sure that it is not a broad gauge. It is metre or narrow doesn't matter. Both are no use in Indian system. Bloody IR. :ancient:

MxC

June 10th, 2008, 04:29 PM

SarafIndian

June 10th, 2008, 04:37 PM

We all know about the 'high standards' the Indian news agencies have while reporting. Therefore we do not know for sure that it's not a broad gauge. So if someone knows about the gauge of the mentioned section, it will help us make proper deduction on the gauge.

I just posted some pictures on new Agartala Station on Railway photo section. The track doesn't seem to be a broad gauge. :ohno:

SarafIndian

June 10th, 2008, 04:40 PM

^^ Ok look at the picture.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnath/2534163379/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnath/2534967836/

SarafIndian

June 10th, 2008, 04:45 PM

And the final thing

WIKI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agartala)

Agartala is being connected to Lumding, Assam by a meter gauge railway line to be fully operational by 2009. The nearest railhead is presently in Ambassa a town of the Dhalai district, a distance of about 108 km.

PlaneMad

June 10th, 2008, 06:53 PM

^^ from the pics, i see meter gauge lines on broad gauge sleepers, but whytf are the tracks right in the middle, wont there be a huge gap between the coach and platform? it would be hilarious if the one coach comes chugging in with all fanfare, and they suddenly realised they forgot to check the platform clearance :lol:

Silicon_Valley

June 10th, 2008, 07:10 PM

Indian Railways' growth at 19.85% (http://business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=39694)

Continuing with its growth trend, the Indian Railway had registered an earnings growth of 19.85 per cent during the first two months of the current financial year 2008-09 compared to last year.

The total approximate earnings on an originating basis during the period stood at Rs 13,334.72 crore compared to Rs 11,125.95 crore during the previous year.

The total goods earnings have gone up by 23.54 per cent to Rs 9121.74 crore from Rs 7383.35 crore recorded during the same period last year.

On the other hand, the railways total passenger revenue during the period stood at Rs 3727.58 crore, registering a growth of 12.28 per cent compared to the last year.

MxC

June 11th, 2008, 12:09 AM

^^ Ok look at the picture.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnath/2534163379/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnath/2534967836/

These two pics finally hit the nail on its head.
And its meter guage :bash::bash::bash:

Oh, why couldn't have IR made it as BG :weird:

SarafIndian

June 11th, 2008, 02:00 AM

Statesman News Service (http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=10&theme=&usrsess=1&id=207722)

Railway safety device invented

At a time when the number of accidents is growing at unmanned level crossings, Mr Mithu Sen, an engineer of the carriage and wagon department at Bokaro under South Eastern Railways has invented a device that can prevent several accidents at unmanned railway crossing.
Mr Sen who recently came to the Contai along with his senior railway officials to conduct an experimental test at an unmanned level crossing said, “This new electronic device named Early Alarming System (EAS), will warn in advance about the occupation of the track and will act through Radio Frequency Waves.
The device will have to be fixed at the unmanned level crossing.
When a train approaches towards the crossing from two kilometres ahead, then the receptor part of the device will get a signal through RFW that will instantly send a signal to a beeper and a red light will flash to alert vehicles.
These audio-visual equipments will start beeping and blinking red lights alerting the road users when they are at the crossing.”
Mr Sen who also works as a professor of the rail’s Training Institute in Kharagpur said, “Accidents at level crossings are caused mostly due to the negligence of the road users in the non - observance of road traffic rules, while negotiating level crossings.
A number of special safety drives are conducted to educate both the road users and railway staff but nothing has been improved yet.
My device is very simple and the production of the device is very economical and suitable for a country like ours.
It uses the technology of short-range radio wave transmission of signals to activate or deactivate the alarm systems attached to existing poles at unmanned level crossings. Though, the whole matter is under experimental stage and our senior railway officials are conducting tests at different level crossings to understand how this new device works under various circumstances. If my device is accepted by the railway authorities, I will apply for the required patent.”
This equipment could be mass produced at a very reasonable cost and installed quickly, he said and added that he had sent a proposal to the Research and Development Standards Organisation in Railways.
While remembering the tragic incident that occurred this January where ten people were killed and three injured when the Santragachi-Digha Express rammed into a motorised cycle-rickshaw van at an unmanned level-crossing between Contai and Balisai on the Kharagpur-Digha section of the South Eastern Railway, the railway officials who came for conducting this experimental test of the new device said: “accidents at the unmanned level crossing would be minimized if this type of automated electronic device is set up at each crossing.
We are trying to our best by modernising the railway safety measurement through using automatic devices like Anti-Collision Device (ACD), Acoustic Bearing Detectors, Digital Ultrasonic Flaw Detecting Machine and ultrasonic rail testing car. .

MxC

June 11th, 2008, 02:09 AM

^^
Welcome development. Railway authorities should speed up their testing, etc. and implement it asap if found suitable.

phaedrus

June 11th, 2008, 06:05 PM

Long wait for train in Kashmir valley to end soon

The long wait for a train to ply in militancy-hit Kashmir may end soon as Railways is all set to start its service linking the northern and southern part in the valley.

Though connecting the valley with rest of the country was still a distant dream, Northern Railways on Monday said "We will soon approach Prime Minister to get a date, hopefully in this month itself, for inaugurating the train services on Anantnag-Budgam section."

The official said a trial run would be conducted on the route to check whether all safety measures are in place.

The Commissioner Railway Safety will carry out a four-day statutory inspection of the 30-km-long Anantnag-Kakpora section from tomorrow.

"We are waiting for the clearance from Commissioner Railway Safety. The CRS will supervise the trial run to check safety aspects on the Anantnag-Kakpora track in the Qazigund-Baramulla section," the official said.

The official hoped that rail services would be operational on the 55-km long Anantnag-Kakapora-Budgam track from this month-end.

The train to be introduced on the route will have air-conditioned coaches with heating system and push-back seats. This is for the first time in the history of Indian Railways that a train with all these facilities will cover short distances, the official added.

The tedious task of connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, however, still remains distant as tunnels on the 300-km Kashmir-Jammu route are yet to be bored.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Long_wait_for_train_in_Kashmir_valley_to_end_soon/articleshow/3115490.cms)

phaedrus

June 11th, 2008, 06:09 PM

Railways makes proposal for 2.51 lakh crore

The Railways has made a proposal for Rs 2.51 lakh crore to the 11th Five-Year Plan for carrying out various projects in the country, Minister of State for Railways R Velu said.

"Of this, Rs 65,000 crore for projects have been allotted to Tamil Nadu," Velu said after inaugurating a Road-Over- Bridge (ROB) at Morappur here.

"Projects worth Rs 5,500 crore have been undertaken in the state even since UPA government came to power in 2004, he said.

Railways has been a profit-making venture for the past four years, with its profits for 2008-09 is expected to clock Rs 1 lakh crore, he said.

Despite being the largest employer with 14 lakh employees, Railways is still a relatively industrial dispute-free department, Velu said.

Velu further said that increasing the stops for express trains is not an easy affair as Rs 5,000 would be spent on halting the train for five minutes in a station.

"Therefore, requests for halting trains in specific stations would be considered based on the expenses also," he added.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Railways_makes_proposal_for_251_lakh_crore/articleshow/3109853.cms)

satsk3

June 12th, 2008, 08:44 AM

^^ Ok look at the picture.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnath/2534163379/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnath/2534967836/

I can't see the pics supported by "Flickr". :ohno::bash:
seems it is banned/blocked in "U.A.E". Could you opt for another Image hoster.

@SarafIndian, Plz see your PM

sidney_jec

June 12th, 2008, 10:39 AM

These two pics finally hit the nail on its head.
And its meter guage :bash::bash::bash:

Oh, why couldn't have IR made it as BG :weird:

but the station building looks pretty neat..:)

phaedrus

June 12th, 2008, 01:44 PM

Railways seek to run more good trains to Pakistan

Amid their keen interest to raise two-way trade, India and Pakistan will discuss next week proposals for increasing the frequency of freight trains besides extending the Amritsar-Lahore service.

At the three-day talks here from June 17, senior railways officials of the two countries will also examine various other issues related to Indo-Pak train operation.

The two sides will deliberate on a proposal for introduction of freight service on the Jodhpur-Munnabao-Kokrajhar section. At present, the freight service is operated only through Wagah border.

There is a proposal for extension of the freight train operation beyond Lahore and Amritsar, the official told media ahead of talks here. They will also explore the possibility of increasing capacity in passenger trains and hiking the luggage rates.

"We want to increase the frequency of freight trains so that more goods can be exported or imported," the official said.

At present, only two freight trains operate between the two countries per day and we propose to increase it to four, the official said.

Both the countries are keen to raise the bilateral trade and are discussing ways to do so. India imported 45,000 tons of cement in April and 60,000 tons of cement in May from Pakistan by rail.

The two sides will also discuss proposals for increasing the capacity of passenger trains that are running on Delhi-Attari-Wagah and Jodhpur-Munnabao-Khokrapar sections.

However, large baggages carried by the passengers is being viewed as a problem and the officials will discuss ways, including hiking the luggage rates, to discourage such a practice.

"It has been found that passengers are carrying maximum luggages in these trains causing security problem and also inconvenience to others. We want to dissuade the passengers from carrying maximum luggages by proposing to increase the rates substantially from the scheduled rate," the official said.

The talks are held every year as part of the inter-government railway meeting. Last Indo-Pak meeting on train operation was held in Pakistan in 2007.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Railways_seek_to_run_more_good_trains_to_Pakistan/articleshow/3123318.cms)

phaedrus

June 12th, 2008, 01:46 PM

Railways likely to take over Bharat Wagons

The ministry of Railways may take over operations of Bharat Wagons and Engineering (BWEL) from the department of heavy industry (DHI) as a part of its strategy to manufacture 1,50,000 wagons in the 11th Five Year Plan. The ministry has, however, asked DHI to execute financial restructuring of BWEL besides writing off loans of Rs 150 crore to facilitate the takeover.

“The railway ministry has agreed to take over the ailing company provided it would not have to serve the liabilities,” a DHI official said. Railways is the major consumer of BWEL and it would be able to take the revival exercise properly, he added. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is expected to take a final call on the issue soon.

Railways need a huge rolling stock capacity to meet its 11th Plan targets. In fact, there is a plan to manufacture wagons with higher load-bearing capacity by making a switch towards using 22.9-tonne axle load wagons from the present axle load of 21.3 tonnes.

The Railways, however, wants to start on a clean slate and has requested the government to wipe off BWEL loans of about Rs 100 crore and interest liabilities of about Rs 50 crore, a source said. The Patna-based company — which makes railway wagons, LPG cylinders, steel fabrications and screw pile bridges — has been incurring losses continuously for over three years. The company’s accumulated loss is Rs 24.14 crore in fiscal 2006-07. BWEL recorded a negative net worth of Rs 143 crore for the 2007 fiscal against Rs 123 crore a year ago.

The total production of the company is expected to be Rs 53.64 crore during the 2008 fiscal.

The department of heavy industries provides financial support to the central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) in consultation with the finance ministry and the planning commission for meeting their investment needs and implementation of loss-making CPSEs sanctioned by the government. For 2008-09, a sum amount of Rs 21 crore has been sanctioned to meet expenditure on revival cases

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Railways_likely_to_take_over_Bharat_Wagons/articleshow/3121333.cms)

SarafIndian

June 12th, 2008, 02:01 PM

I can't see the pics supported by "Flickr". :ohno::bash:
seems it is banned/blocked in "U.A.E". Could you opt for another Image hoster.

@SarafIndian, Plz see your PM

I understand your problem satsk3. Actually, I generally post a group of links from flickr. And, it is not right to download those pics into local machine, upload to other websites and repost them. There might be some copyright issue. Another thing is flickr is widely used and we able to get extensive range of photos.

But, I am looking forward for other sources as well so that guys like you can also able to see the photos. :)

Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

Madras_Fan

June 13th, 2008, 09:32 PM

These two pics finally hit the nail on its head.
And its meter guage :bash::bash::bash:

Oh, why couldn't have IR made it as BG :weird:

The concrete sleepers placed gives a clue that converting it to BG is very easy task.

All new bridges constructed is being designed to accomodate BG rolling stock too. The main issue is connectivity first as this project had kicked off much before unigauge is revived. The tunnels dig in the middle for MG needs to be altered to enable BG trains. All new bridges/sleepers dont need to be changed and hence conversion will be relatively faster if the conversion approves and wont consumes huge money

MxC

June 16th, 2008, 07:02 PM

Heritage trains to be equipped with high-tech coaches (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Heritage_trains_to_be_equipped_with_high-tech_coaches/articleshow/3130588.cms)
A ride on a narrow gauge train will never be the same again, with Indian Railways planning an overhaul of its existing structure.

While ultra modern coaches equipped with improved facilities would replace the old and worn-out ones, the Railway Ministry is also planning take steps to increase the speed of these trains.

As part of the upgradation plan of the narrow gauge rolling stock, the Ministry would induct high-tech coaches to provide better comfort to passengers of the "heritage trains".

The global tendering for the state-of-the-art coaches would be issued soon, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

"It is for the first time the ministry has decided to induct high-tech coaches for these trains as till date we were using indigenous coaches based on century old technology," he said.

Technology has changed drastically in the last 100 years and existing coaches are in dire need of replacement.

However, while going for modern coaches their basic character will not be changed. "There will be better panoramic view and sitting arrangement, more luggage and leg space provided in the new coaches, while not changing the heritage ambience," he said.

Narrow gauge trains are running at many places across the country including in Nagpur, Kalka, Shimla, Baroda, Gwalior, Matheran, Kangra and Matheran.

The new coaches for narrow gauge will be equipped with airbrakes and improved safety features.

Besides acquiring new coaches, railways have also decided to increase the speed of these trains.

Currently these trains are running at speed ranging from 15 km per hour to 25 km per hour. "Steps are being taken to strengthen the track so that speed can be increased upto 45 km," the official said.

There are about 800 coaches which need to be replaced in phases.

Replacement of existing coaches, providing better facilities to railway passengers and increasing the speed of these trains are necessary in order to promote tourism as well, he said.

Nelaturi

June 17th, 2008, 01:51 PM

Yesterday I had to drop my nephew at Bangalore City railway station to catch the Kaveri express to Chennai. The train leaves from platform 5. One cannot help but notice that it is an absolute disgrace the way Bangalore City station is maintained. The garbage bins are overflowing, the area around the tracks are so full of garbage that one wonders if one is in the city dump yard. I also saw one RPF constable peeing at a corner. :bash:We call ourselves civilised but any foreigner (I am sure many of them do) going through this station would go back with a horrible impression of Bangalore, if he has not already formed one by seeing the roads. Forget about the firangis, I wonder why the railways cannot have 24 hour cleaning of the platforms and tracks? See the photos of the Delhi metro stations. One can find guys cleaning the platforms and environs at all hours. I wonder if the station master and any of his senior staff even take a walk on these platforms. Laloo talks about increasing profits but of what use is it, if we cannot use the money to be put to fulfilling basic needs? I came away absolutely disgusted. On top of it, the stupid train was more than 40 minutes late.:ohno:

Bombay Boy

June 17th, 2008, 05:44 PM

Laloo talks about increasing profits but of what use is it, if we cannot use the money to be put to fulfilling basic needs?

thats what i say when people talk about the great railway turnaround. a public sector monopoly is not there to create huge profits. its supposed to make money for upgrapdation and maintenance of public property and utilities. after all those profits the railways are still unsafe, dirty and outdated

MxC

June 19th, 2008, 06:18 PM

Rlys does its bit to protect the ozone layer - Designs green AC coaches (http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=19_06_2008_007_004&kword=&mode=1)
THE RAILWAYS are redesigning the air-conditioned coaches in a way that apart from giving you the required cool comfort, they also help to protect the ozone layer. All along, refrigerators in the AC coaches were pumped with a refrigerant gas called R12. This gas is banned in most countries, including the US, because once released, it creates holes in the ozone layer. The layer protects the earth from harmful radiations of the sun, including the cancer-causing UV rays. It is also responsible for controlling the earth’s temperature .

Now, the Railways have started the cumbersome task of replacing the lethal gas with two benign gases — R134A and MO-49 — that will give the AC coaches a touch of “green”. Research and development by the Railways has found that the harmful gas get leaked in varied degrees in cases of breakdowns or accidents or due to old age.

“Any amount of leakage of R12 into atmosphere adds to the thinning of the ozone layer. That’s why we decided to replace it altogether,” said V.K. Dutt, chief electrical engineer, Northern Railways.

As a start, Northern Railways have converted 11 coaches with R134A and MO-49. There are a total of 1,169 AC coaches attached to all mail/express trains, including the Rajdhanis and the Shatabdis. Out of these, 302 coaches will need immediate replacement of the harmful gas. “R12 is a very old refrigerant, which used to be used worldwide. That’s why all the old refrigerating units of the Railways are loaded with it,” Dutt said.

The Railways have set a target of December 2008 for the complete removal of this gas from all its refrigerating units.

Good to see that railways are finally doing their part in saving the Ozone layer!

SarafIndian

June 20th, 2008, 04:42 AM

Eastern Railway Add on Times of India

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getimage.dll?path=TOIKM/2008/06/20/9/Img/Ad0090426.png

SarafIndian

June 20th, 2008, 04:50 AM

Source: Times of India

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getimage.dll?path=TOIKM/2008/06/20/9/Img/Pc0091200.jpg

N.K. Goel, general manager, Eastern Railway elaborates the plans and thrust areas for the zone

>> What are your focus areas?

Our focus areas are passenger amenities with special emphasis on cleanliness. In fact to build awareness on cleanliness we have also made a short film, which has been much appreciated.
For a comprehensive upgradation of passenger amenities, numerous modernisation schemes have also been taken up at some of the important stations.

>> What is unique to Eastern Railway compared to other zones of the Indian Railways?

This is a passenger-oriented railway. Hence, the requirement of passenger amenities is much more. Eastern Railway extends to the Bangladesh border in the East, up to Lalgola, Benapole, Gede, Malda and Kiul in the North, Namkhana near Ganga Sagar to the South and Asansol and Jhajha in the West. However, the percentage of suburban passengers is very high compared to long distance passengers. The ratio is 87:13. This calls for not only clean platforms but also less congestion in the compartments.

>> What initiative have been taken to augment passenger amenities?

The carrying capacity has been augmented to as high as 30 per cent. That is from nine coaches to 12 coaches with the existing manpower and infrastructure. Mechanised cleaning system has been introduced for better cleaning facilities. In fact in some sections it has already been implemented.

>> What are the major projects in
Eastern Railway?

We are targetting to complete the new line between Deoghar-Dumka (67.2 kms) at an estimated cost of Rs 108.73 crore and four doubling line projects by the end of this year. The project are on and there is no dearth of funds. However, some stumbling blocks are massive encroachments, delay in clearances of forestland and disputes pertaining to rates of the land to be acquired. Efforts are on to surmount these issues and we are fairly hopeful to resolve them soon.

>> Safety is an important area. What has been your major thrust in this segment?

Track circulation has indeed been a major attribute to avert collisions. Electronic interlocking and computer controlled signalling is another initiative, which has amply contributed to minimise accidents. The accidents in the yards have also considerably come down. In 2006-07, the number of accidents in the yards was 12. It was only two during 2007-08.

>> What are the steps taken towards beautification of some stations. Could you please elaborate?

A slew of initiatives have been taken for the beautification of the stations. We are also ensuring that the costs of maintenance in the stations are minimised to the extent possible.
The work we have undertaken will last long. Seating arrangements in stations have been taken care of with sleek stainless steel chairs. Lightings have been reorganised. Water fountains in some specific stations have been installed and green patches have been earmarked in the circulation areas to delight our passengers at the stations.

>> How would you rate IR in the Eastern Railway?

It is very good. We have always maintained cordial relations with our employees. This year, as compared to previous years, the awards presented during the railway week have been more in number. The very objective of these awards is to boost their morale and encourage them.
Plans are underway to modernise and renovate our colonies so that our railway employees can work in good environment. Massive tree plantation programme is also being taken where our employees will be fully involved. Both stations and colonies will wear a green look.

>> Even though Eastern Railway is basically a passenger-oriented railway, have you laid any special stress towards increase in freight traffic?

Freight loading has significantly improved over the years. In fact, goods earnings during 2007-08 was Rs 2,252.55 crore compared with Rs 1,802 crore during the previous the year.
A number of initiatives have been taken to increase freight traffic during this fiscal. Stress is also being laid on further improvement in wagon utilisation.

>> How has Eastern Railway fared during the last fiscal?
This year the earnings have been quite encouraging. The total earnings from passengers have been to the tune of Rs 3,615.69 crore, the growth over last year being 20.51 per cent. The current trend also indicates we are on the fast track.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getimage.dll?path=TOIKM/2008/06/20/9/Img/Pc0091100.jpg
Mechanised cleaning in progress

MxC

June 20th, 2008, 06:40 PM

Here's an interesting article "Who says travelling by train is passe now?" in ET about the author's recent positive experience traveling by train from Kolkota to Delhi.

I'm not copying the article here as it's rather long. Instead visit here (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3143044,flstry-1.cms) for the story.

GJ10

June 22nd, 2008, 11:04 AM

Railways to invite global bids for high speed route (http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200806221040.htm)

New Delhi (PTI): Decks have been cleared for inviting global tenders for conducting a pre-feasibility study of a high-speed train on the Pune-Ahmedabad-Mumbai route, which could cut travel time between the cities by nearly half.

Currently the 660 km long distance between Pune and Ahmedabad is covered by an overnight journey. The proposed high speed train or bullet train, is expected to run at 300 km per hour on a dedicated fast track.

A consultant will be appointed to carry out the study on the proposed high speed corridor connecting Pune with Ahemadabad, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

The study will focus on technicalities, financial and operational viability of the project.

There are many countries including Japan, China, France and Germany which have shown interest in being part of the high speed corridor project.

The cost of the pre-feasibility study would be shared by the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Railways Ministry.

The pre-feasibility study will be followed by a more detailed study focusing on traffic pattern, funding plan, stakeholders' view, fare structure and other related issues before beginning the work, the official said.

Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad section is the second proposed route for which railways would invite tenders for the study. Three months ago, tenders were invited for the Delhi-Amritsar route in which many global players participated.

Seven global players including consultants from France, Belgium and Germany have been shortlisted for the Delhi-Amritsar route and a final decision on selection of the consultant would be taken shortly, the official added.

^^

Ok, most of us are probably sick of all these Indian "bullet train" proposals, having heard all of this many times before over the years, but just thought I'd post it anyway.

Marathaman

June 22nd, 2008, 05:32 PM

Arasu

June 22nd, 2008, 07:18 PM

The Bangalore Station would be far cleaner if we were concerned about how to improve the lives of our countrymen rather than what foreigners think of us.

I am not sure what is with our mental make-up that reveres a foreigner and treats with disdain our own country men.

I wish there were more foreigners amongst us if only it could propel us to be conscious of our acts and help us clean up our acts as well as surroundings!

Arasu

June 23rd, 2008, 12:05 AM

MxC

June 23rd, 2008, 07:35 AM

Source: HT ePaper (http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=23_06_2008_006_024&mode=1)

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/3830/betterreadinglightsintrea4.jpg

Good to see Railways paying attention to such areas as well which are low on the improvement radar, but high on the inconveniences list.

phaedrus

June 23rd, 2008, 06:06 PM

Kalka-Shimla railway may be included in World Heritage List

The Kalka-Shimla Railway and River Island of Majuli in midstream of Brahmaputra river in Assam are among 47 sites worldwide which the United Nations will consider for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

The Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will hold a 9-day meeting in Quebec in Canada from July 2 to consider the nominations which include 13 natural sites and 34 cultural sites, including two that cross national boundaries.

The nominating countries include five states that have no sites inscribed on the World Heritage List: Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Saudi Arabia and Vanuatu.

UNESCO said the committee would also scrutinize the state of conservation of 30 sites that have been placed on the List of World Heritage in danger because of problems such as pollution, pillaging, the impact of natural disasters or poorly managed mass tourism.

Those sites include the cultural landscape of the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany, which may be deleted from the World Heritage List if the 21-member committee determines that the building of a bridge in the heart of the landscape warrants the move.

Currently there are 851 sites of "outstanding universal value" in 141 countries that have been inscribed on the World Heritage List, and each year sites are added after applications are first reviewed by either the International Council on Monuments and Sites or the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Kalka-Shimla_railway_may_be_included_in_World_Heritage_List/articleshow/3150985.cms)

MxC

June 23rd, 2008, 06:45 PM

Railways to have VSAT communication hub soon (http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/21/stories/2008062155371500.htm)
Indian Railways will soon have its own state-of-the-art communication network as it has signed a contract with global provider of satellite broadband services and managed network services – Hughes – to set up its first dedicated VSAT communication hub.The VSAT hub (very small aperture terminal, a two-way communication network between a satellite and earth station) would allow the Indian Railways to not only offer a host of mission critical applications but also provide Internet access on running trains.

“Through our own VSAT hub, we will be able to offer applications and services like disaster communication system, accident relief train (ART), unreserved ticketing system (UTS) and freight operating information system (FOIS) in remote locations. The VSAT network would also help railways internet access on running trains, trial for which is already on in one of the trains between Mumbai and Ahmedabad,” said a senior Railway Board official.

Dedicated hub

The commissioning of the dedicated VSAT hub will allow Indian Railways to connect 1,000 locations across 19 States and give voice and data connectivity for their services at remotely located stations where fixed and mobile network of telecom operators have not reached so far.

According to Hughes India assistant vice-president (marketing) K. Krishna: “We have been working with the Indian Railways on various communication projects for the last two years. Their decision to partner with us as they embark to set up a dedicated VSAT hub for Indian Railways validates their confidence in our services and the efficacy of satellite as a medium of choice to run mission critical and consumer facing applications across the length and breadth of the country.”

Disaster communication system and UTS terminals were very critical applications for railways. Once successful, this would help railways in proliferating UTS terminals to remote areas and city centres as well as quick establishment of communication system at disaster management site, he said.

For disaster management, railways had already planned trackable Hughes VSAT terminals that would allow quick tracking and establishment of communication at accident sites in less than 15-20 minutes.

barrykul

June 24th, 2008, 10:01 PM

One cannot help but notice that it is an absolute disgrace the way Bangalore City station is maintained. The garbage bins are overflowing, the area around the tracks are so full of garbage that one wonders if one is in the city dump yard. I also saw one RPF constable peeing at a corner. I wonder why the railways cannot have 24 hour cleaning of the platforms and tracks? See the photos of the Delhi metro stations. One can find guys cleaning the platforms and environs at all hours. I wonder if the station master and any of his senior staff even take a walk on these platforms. Laloo talks about increasing profits but of what use is it, if we cannot use the money to be put to fulfilling basic needs? I came away absolutely disgusted.

Have to agree with you and also for this.

Several years ago, I had a similar encounter at one of the suburban stations of Chennai. A rowdy citizen ( atleast not a cop) was relieving himself on a railway platform in full view of so many travelling denizens including many women and children. I took him to task and cautioned him not to repeat the act in the future.

The bottom line is for IR to shape up radically. Most trains are unclean and unwashed rust buckets. They are at least 20-30 yrs old which is a shame. IR has been sleeping on the upgrades. If IR spends some of its profits on upgrading trains to modern coaches/engines with stations maintained immaculately, then the people will follow. Look at the Delhi Metro and its clean environment. The same people taking Metro behave responsibly and keep the place litter free.

India has a long way to go in cleanliness in public. Another thing, I see is the excessive harassment of foreigners by beggars and others. Need to treat visitors as welcome to the nation, to increase tourism money flow. Major railway stations especially in Tier 1, 2, 3 cities requires an immediate revamp. They are still British relics, hardly upgraded but merely painted over. It takes money and vision to keep a gleaming station spic and span, with regular maintenance crews. Also please, please wash the damn train from head to toe. Seeing IR trains with dirt and poor paint jobs is reflecting in all the photos taken by train enthusiasts. How pathetic, how sad. Oh I forgot about the loo on the train and its open sewage system, when will this abomination be fixed with chemically treated toilet stored disposals that are periodically cleaned out at railway stations.

MxC

June 24th, 2008, 11:21 PM

Railway babus to get MBA-type training (http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=24_06_2008_009_003&kword=&mode=1)
THE RAILWAYS are borrowing generously from the top-notch MBA courses around the world to device a training programme for their babus, who work in various supervisory roles in the ground level, so that there is some "corporate culture" in the ranks. Therefore, supervisors who have been working as inspectors and in such profiles commanding small teams of staff for years, will now go through a regular, five-day course called Management Development Programme.

Just like students in all reputed management schools across the country, these babus, working as store supervisors, traffic inspectors, etc., will now go through 'Theories of Management', 'Objectives of Management', the 'Four 'Ps' of Marketing', 'Human Behavior', 'Ethics of Management', 'Personnel Management', and many such modules usually found in the MBA curriculum.

"Apart from outside professionals, we have also asked officers who have done their MBA to pitch in as instructors," said a senior railway officer. Sources said top Northern Railway officials, who are MBAs, have already enrolled to turn up as teachers.

To make sure that the course is akin to MBA programmes, the 'students' will be taken on field visits to various industrial units. "We have prepared audiovisual aids and interactive sessions to make it a complete package," he said.

The railways have been conducting skill-development programmes for the staff on a regular basis, but this is the first time the curriculum will be based on management mantras akin to MBA courses. Northern Railway has 8,000 employees who are entitled to the course.

Along with nuggets on management, the course also topics like 'Courtesy and Customer Care' and 'Time Management', to highlight "the railways' latest priority areas". Not to lose out on anything, topics on Health, Family Welfare, and AIDS have also been inserted in the curriculum.

All this is good to know. But how can such a curriculum be covered in just 5 days :nuts:

SarafIndian

June 26th, 2008, 02:18 PM

Source: Times of India

Cleaner trains on anvil

Kolkata: Long-distance train passengers can heave a sigh of relief. Eastern Railway has introduced On Board Housekeeping Services (OBHS) on long-distance trains that travel for more than 16 hours and are on the move in the early morning — when passengers need to use the toilets the most.
Interestingly, the contractors can’t get away by leaving the job half done. They will be paid only after ER receives a positive feedback from passengers. Officials think this will help solve one of the major problems faced by rail passengers — that of unclean compartments and stinking toilets.
Under OBHS, toilets, doorways and vestibules will be cleaned at regular intervals and on passengers’ demand. The work will be carried out by trained staff between 5-9 am and 4-8 pm in all reserved coaches. Apart from dry and wet cleaning, the staff will also spray air freshener, replenish soap and deodorise toilets.
“ER has become the first zone in the eastern sector and the second one in the country to introduce OBHS. There is also a system of getting passenger feedback on the quality of work done,” said N K Goel, general manager, ER.

MxC

June 27th, 2008, 02:40 PM

Chinese team to inspect stations in Bangalore, Bhubaneswar (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Chinese_team_to_inspect_stations_in_Bangalore_Bhubaneswar/articleshow/3170701.cms)
In the first step towards co-operation in rail sector, China will help re-design two Indian railway stations to upgrade them into world class level.

A 12-member Chinese team will arrive here on July 12 on a week-long visit to inspect the railway stations at Bhubaneswar and Byppanahalli in Bangalore.

The countries had signed a Memorandum-of-Understanding (MoU) in this regard on January 14 during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Beijing. The agreement, valid for three years, envisages development of rail-related programmes of mutual interest.

The high-level delegation headed by Wu Wei, Director of Sino-India Railway Cooperation Working Group, will be assisted by RITES, which will provide details required for the work.

However, a senior official of the Railways Ministry said a preliminary assessment has revealed that the land available at Bhubaneswar railway station is inadequate for the project.

In that case, a nearby station at Baranga may be chosen for development into a world class station, he said, adding a final decision will be taken only after consultations with the Chinese team.

The Byappanahalli railway station on the outskirts of Bangalore does not face any land constraint problem, the official said.

The delegation will also visit Agra, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai and Bangalore during their visit.

Besides development of railway stations, the Chinese team will explore possibilities of cooperation on the proposed high speed corridor and heavy haul operation, the Railways Ministry official said.

The team will study the suburban rail service and the possibility of introducing high speed trains in the Western region during their Mumbai visit.

"The delegation will hold discussions with senior Railway Ministry officials on the matter," he said.

The Chinese Railways' experience in signalling and telecommunication, traction supply, high axle load operations, design and maintenance practices, track machines, development and operations and multi-modal transport in railway sector will benefit Indian Railways, the official said.

"After visiting these places, the team will share their views with us about the way to go ahead with the project."

The other areas in which India seeks cooperation of the Chinese Railways include development of multi-modal logistics parks and research and development.

The modalities of mutual cooperation is going to be firmed up during the visit, the official added.

This is good that railway stations are being upgrade to world class standards. However what I do not understand is what exactly are the Chinese bringing to the table that India can not get domestically? Surely India would be having domestic talent in transportation theory, exterior and interior design, architecture, etc. Or don't we have it? I'm foxed as it's not like China is well known for its world-class stations unlike many of the European countries.

MxC

June 27th, 2008, 02:45 PM

Meanwhile some new projects related news ...

Rs 1,300-cr rail projects to spur Gujarat tribal belt (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Rs_1300-cr_rail_projects_to_spur_Gujarat_tribal_belt/articleshow/3172221.cms)
The proposed Rs 1,300-crore rail projects in Central and South Gujarat would ensure speedy development of the state's tribal belt, Minister of State for Railways Naranbhai Rathwa said on Friday.

These plans, once fully executed, can also help in providing alternative route to Mumbai, he told reporters.

The projects include Rs 400-crore conversion of narrow gauge line between Jhagadiya-Netrang and its extention up to Nandurbar in Maharashtra and Rs 300-crore extension of Ankleshwar-Rajpipla line up to Kavadiya.

Rathwa said several agencies from Vadodara, Bharuch, Rajpipla, Jhagadiya, Surat, Bilimora-Vapi and Ankleshwar have made presentations before him to undertake conversion and extension work on these routes.

During the erstwhile rule of Sayajirao Gaekwad of princely state of Baroda, these narrow gauge lines were constructed for linking towns and cities.

People from the tribal-dominated belt now want to figure on the development map and these projects would go a long way in realising their dream, the Minister said.

Rathwa himself is a tribal leader who has been elected from the reserved constituency of Chhotaudepur in Vadodara district.

He said work on extending Vadodara-Chhotaudepur line up to Dhar in Madhya Pradesh is going on, while conversion of narrow gauge line between Dabhoi and Pratapnagar into broad guage is nearing completion.

BTW, the mentioned projects only add upto 700 crores. The news conveniently fails to provide info regarding what projects are being covered by the remaining 600 crores.

rkramesh

June 27th, 2008, 02:47 PM

Understandable since the Chinese really came into their own only recently - say past 5 years or so.
Just take a look (in the SSC threads for railways/ airports, highways) at their latest trains, stations, airports and even the new Highways n buildings to get an idea of how far they have progressed in just the past 5 years. They now rival the European infrastructure machienery and are less expensive to boot. Dunno about the higher end, but they are going out of their way to get the best technology - so even if it wasnt their own, they are learning pretty quick. Quality wise I thnk their focus is more on the lower end as of now but that again is dependant on the industry. Like Airport building tech is as good as the best. Trains and stations I am not too sure but they cerrtainly are getting there going by the look fo it.

SarafIndian

June 27th, 2008, 03:13 PM

rkramesh

June 29th, 2008, 05:18 PM

Suncity

June 29th, 2008, 09:51 PM

Agartala comes up on Indian railway map

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Agartala_comes_up_on_Indian_railway_map/articleshow/3177910.cms

Agartala, the capital city of Tripura, on Sunday came up as the newest point on the map of the Indian Railways.

A locomotive of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) chugged into the Agartala railway station, 5 km from the heart of the capital city, on Sunday afternoon with thousands of people cheering and blowing conch shells.

The foundation stone for the 119-km Kumarghat-Agartala railway project was laid in 1996 by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

Routine rail services to Agartala would start by mid-August after clearance from the railway safety commissioner, said P Shivkumar, general manager (construction) of NFR.

The NFR has so far spent Rs 800 crore ($190 million) to connect Agartala by rail by making three big tunnels through the Longtharai Valley, Baramura and Atharamura Hills in Dhalai and West Tripura districts.

The 1,962-metre Longtharai tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in eastern India.

SarafIndian

June 30th, 2008, 10:22 AM

Agartala comes up on Indian railway map

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Agartala_comes_up_on_Indian_railway_map/articleshow/3177910.cms

From Times of India

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/triptrain01.jpg

Ya, I think those guys have never seen a train before. They badly need a train man. :hilarious

That bloody IR has made this line a meter gauge. :bash:

Nelaturi

June 30th, 2008, 12:07 PM

I am not sure what is with our mental make-up that reveres a foreigner and treats with disdain our own country men.

I wish there were more foreigners amongst us if only it could propel us to be conscious of our acts and help us clean up our acts as well as surroundings!

Thanks Arasu and Marathaman for picking up the least significant aspect of my message and harping on it. Its reactions like this that amaze me when we can turn a blind eye to the absolute filth that surrounds us, for the sake of misplaced pride. The firangi happened to be a passing traveller, but that doesn't take away the fact that IR has to spruce up its act and not just talk of record booming profits, leaving its stations and yards as absolute garbage dumps. Wake up and smell the coffee, guys.

phaedrus

June 30th, 2008, 07:11 PM

Railways impose special levy on freight

In a move that could escalate inflation further, railways has decided to levy special supplementary freight charges on transportation of commodities like coal, ore, petroleum products, fertilisers, machinery, machine tools and foodgrains.

The hike ranging from five to seven per cent will be effective from July 1. "The special levy will be applicable for only three months upto September 30," said a senior railways ministry official.

Coke and coal, accounting for about 40 per cent share of railways goods traffic, would attract five per cent levy while for other items, it would be seven per cent. The special supplementary charge will be applicable on base freight rate.

The move is part of the dynamic pricing policy of railways to overcome the effect of recent hike in diesel price. Diesel comprises 17 per cent of the railways total operating cost.

Incidentally three weeks ago, following the Rs3 a litre diesel price hike, Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had stated that Indian Railways will not pass its additional financial burden to its users and that his ministry was in fact examining further reduction in freight rates to leverage its competitiveness over road transportation.

According to the dynamic pricing policy, all ore except iron ore would be charged five per cent and other products, except cement and steel would be charged seven per cent.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Railways_impose_new_levy_on_freight/articleshow/3182009.cms)

MxC

June 30th, 2008, 09:11 PM

Dedicated Freight Corridors are close to launch (http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2008/06/8571/dedicated_freight_corridors_are_close_to_launch.html)

INDIA: Following the approval of a funding agreement with Japanese banks, the first contracts for construction of the country’s two high-capacity dedicated freight corridors are due to be awarded by October, reports Raghu Dayal

There is no doubt about the urgency of substantial capacity enhancement on the Indian Railways network, as the rapid growth in both freight and passenger traffic over recent years is forecast to continue. So the announcement on April 8 that tenders are being invited for construction work on one of the country's two Dedicated Freight Corridors is a welcome development.

In his budget speech on February 26 (RG 4.08 p245), Railways Minister Lalu Prasad promised that work on the Eastern and Western DFCs would get underway during the 2008-09 financial year. The special purpose vehicle established to lead the projects - Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India Ltd - has now invited expressions of interest for the 300 km segment of the Eastern DFC between Bhaupur (near Kanpur) and Mandrak (near Aligarh). A design-and-build contract valued at around Rs30bn is expected to be awarded in September or October. This section of line is needed to relieve a major bottleneck on the existing network, and will be funded directly by IR from its own resources.

Two years ago the government approved in principle the construction of the first two corridors totalling almost 2800 km (RG 10.06 p686). Dfccil was officially incorporated in October 2006, and the 2007-08 railway budget provided Rs13·3bn towards the estimated Rs282bn cost, but not much tangible work has materialised so far.

However, a lot has been happening behind the scenes. A preliminary engineering and traffic study by Rail India Technical & Economic Services has now been followed up by a more detailed feasibility study by the Japan International Co-operation Agency, determining the full technical specifications, agreeing the route alignments and cost projections, and looking at sources of funding.

Boosting rail's competitiveness

Although the volume of rail traffic is continuing to increase, driven by India's strong economic growth, IR's market share of both passenger and freight is actually falling. According to figures issued by the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, total freight movement in the country amounted to more than 1100 billion tonne-km in 2006-07 Of this, the roads handled around 60%, the railways 33%, coastal shipping 6·85% and inland waterways just 0·15%. Back in 1950-51, IR had no less than 89% of the freight market. Citing the overall socio-economic interest, including energy consumption and environmental conservation, the government recognises that rail capacity needs to be enhanced and more customer-focused services introduced to counter competition from other modes.

The 1483 km Western DFC will link JN Port near Mumbai with Dadri in the Delhi area, and the Eastern corridor will run for 1279 km from Ludhiana to Sonnagar. These are intended to relieve two of IR's busiest main lines. The Golden Quadrilateral routes linking the four important metropolitan areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata represent just 16% of IR's network but carry more than 50% of the total freight and passenger traffic. Much of the country's economic growth is also concentrated in this region.

Described as IR's 'most ambitious project ever', the dedicated freight corridors are expected to trigger a much-needed improvement of technical standards across the network and lead to more cost-effective operation. This will see axleloads raised from between 20 and 22 tonnes to 30 tonnes on the main routes, and at least 25 tonnes on feeder lines connecting with the new corridors. Taller and wider wagons will improve payloads. IR is looking for much higher productivity of its assets, leading in turn to a reduced unit cost of transport.

The DFCs are also expected to act as a catalyst for economic growth and encourage value-added services such as the creation of logistics parks and industrial hubs along their routes. These logistics parks will enable rail to compete more effectively with road for break-bulk domestic container business, provide storage and distribution for trainload commodities, and expand its carriage of automobile movements. There may also be scope to develop piggyback business.

Containers in the west

Traffic on the western corridor is forecast at 38 million tonnes in 2013, rising to 106 million in 2023 and 157 million by 2033 (Table II). Corresponding figures for the eastern corridor are 69 million tonnes in 2013, 145 million in 2023 and 155 million by 2033. To a considerable extent, traffic growth on the western corridor will be driven by rising international container traffic through the ports; this is expected to increase by an average 8·6% year on year to 43 million TEUs by 2031. If rail takes a 35% share, the western DFC could be handling 10 million TEUs a year.

The best way to handle container traffic is a source of disagreement between Rites and JICA. At an average of 90 TEUs per train, annual traffic of 10 million TEUs would require 300 trains each way per day. The consultants agree that the answer is to adopt double-stack. Rites favours conventional flat wagons and diesel locos, whereas JICA cites experience in China and elsewhere of using well-wagons to accommodate double-stack on electrified lines. This would require a catenary height of 6870 mm above rail, compared to 4800 mm for single-stack and 7470 mm for double-stack on flat wagons.

Flat wagons could double the capacity per train, whereas well wagons would limit the increase to around 50%. Nevertheless, JICA estimates the electric option would generate a better internal rate of return, at 20·4% compared to 13·5% using diesel haulage. Transport costs per TEU would be around Rs1·5 per TEU-km for either option, against Rs1·8 for single-stacked boxes. The JICA report cites economic, environmental and energy issues in support of electrifying both the eastern and western corridors, pointing out that environmental clearance will be one of the essential requirements in any project appraisal by international lending agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan Bank for International Co-operation.

Signifying its tacit acceptance of an electric option, IR has asked the Research, Development & Standards Organisation to carry out trials with double-stack container trains under the wires. Trials are currently underway on the Jakhapura - Daitari section of the East Coast Railway, where trains carrying two containers on flat wagons are being tested on this heavy haul mineral line.

Specifications agreed

Technical specifications for the new lines have largely been firmed up. Both routes are being designed for a maximum speed of 100 km/h and a 30 tonne axleload. They will be laid with UIC 60 kg/m rail and 90 kg/m UTS head-hardened rail on the curves. Minimum main line radius will be 700 m. The rails will be carried on precast concrete sleepers, laid at 1660 per km on the main line and 1540 per km on loop lines and sidings. Turnouts will have cast manganese crossings and concrete bearers. Main line and junction turnouts will have a 1 in 12 angle to permit diverging speeds of 60 km/h, but the loop turnouts will be 1 in 8·5 with a diverging speed of 45 km/h. DFC tracks would be laid at 5·5 m spacing, and at least 6 m from the nearest conventional track.

Whereas Rites favours building the lines for 1500 m long trains, JICA believes that 750 m loops at intervals of 30 to 40 km would provide sufficient capacity for the foreseeable future. Shorter loops would also reduce the land take, and increase line capacity, it says. Going against current trends towards full grade separation, JICA rejects Rites' call for the construction of road overbridges throughout, arguing that level crossings with automatic detection systems, would suffice in urban areas where bridge construction could be difficult and would cause hardship for non-motorised road traffic. With 745 road crossings planned for the western corridor and 580 for the eastern, this is a potentially significant issue.

JICA recommends that freight trains should run to a firm timetable to ensure a high quality of service, particularly for intermodal business. Removing the requirement for an assistant driver in favour of single-manning of locomotives will cut costs, as will the elimination of brake vans through the use of end-of-train detectors. JICA also favours an advanced train control system including CTC and balises for train detection. A fleet of six-axle electric locos rated at 9000 hp is envisaged for the container trains and eight-axle locos of 12000 hp for the bulk freight trains.

Looking at operational and managerial aspects of the project, JICA recommends that the DFCs should have a lean management organisation segregated from IR's existing structure; this would contribute to reduced operations and maintenance costs. Proposed staffing levels are in fact higher than those applying in Japan, but still less than half the number of people that IR currently employs for the same tasks (Table IV).

The Japanese study team also looked at the socio-economic impact in each of the 37 districts along the two routes, calculating that 112 households and 237 squatters would have to be resettled for every 100 route-km. This raises questions about compensation, resettlement costs and job opportunities.

The issue of squatter encroachments is particularly severe on the western corridor between Vadodara and the Mumbai area, with 1200 houses to be cleared in the 80 km between Dadri and Rewari alone. The 92 km route through the Mumbai suburbs from Vasai Road to J N Port has a further 560 dwellings. Nearer to Vadodara, up to 660 ha of farmland must be acquired to create the corridor through the fertile coastal belt. Squatters are also a big issue in the area around Delhi's main container terminal at Tughlakabad. This is less of a problem on the eastern corridor except where bypass lines are planned around Tundla and Aligarh.

Costs and financing

Compensation for land acquisition is one of several elements that are driving up the cost of the project. In its preliminary study, Rites estimated the cost of building the western corridor at Rs166bn and the eastern at Rs116bn. However, JICA now puts the total for both routes at Rs559bn. This includes Rs269bn for construction, Rs100bn for electric locomotives and Rs61bn for land acquisition, as well as financing and management costs, inflation and contingencies.

JICA has recommended implementing the project in three phases, and financing it from a number of sources: internal generation by IR (at 6·5% interest), a low-interest loan from JBIC (0·4%), other international financial institutions (6%) and commercial borrowing (12%). For the proposed funding split, the debt service coverage ratio would be around 1·9, enabling Dfccil to earn a return on equity of around 11%.

In its review of likely funding sources, JICA compared the DFCs with recent railway construction projects in China. CR built up a Railway Development Fund by levying a toll of 0·028 yuan/tonne-km on all traffic, and also issued government bonds, although the lion's share of domestic debt has been raised through the National Development Bank. Local and municipal railways in China have been able to attract private and local government equity. Funding of 26·2bn yuan for the railway to Tibet included a 75% contribution from central government and 25% from the Railway Development Fund. Conversely, the Beijing - Shanghai high speed line will only have a 4bn yuan equity contribution from the government. Similar sums are to be raised by issuing stock in overseas markets and the sale of foreign bonds. The National Development Bank is contributing 15bn yuan, another 12bn will come from as donor loans, and 3·5bn yuan as international loan from commercial banks.

IR currently favours funding the DFCs from its own equity, supplemented by borrowings as necessary. It has already committed its one-third equity contribution to enable work to start on the eastern corridor. There is a strong likelihood of World Bank providing funds for the this route, as well. By contrast, JBIC has shown particular interest in the Western corridor, and will probably provide funding for the initial section of this line between Rewari and Vadodara.

MxC

June 30th, 2008, 10:52 PM

Agartala comes up on Indian railway map

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Agartala_comes_up_on_Indian_railway_map/articleshow/3177910.cms

Here's another news article (http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=30_06_2008_010_020&mode=1) from HT that provides a little more details, and a different photo.

That bloody IR has made this line a meter gauge. :bash:

Looks like it's actually a narrow gauge! Here's a quote from the HT article

The lines were laid on narrow gauge in broad gauge format and can easily be converted into broad gauge.

What is not clear here is why they made it a narrow gauge in the first place ??

IndiansUnite

June 30th, 2008, 11:03 PM

Here's another news article (http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=30_06_2008_010_020&mode=1) from HT that provides a little more details, and a different photo.

MxC, only registered users on HT can view that article. Can you post the relevant excerpts and the image?

MxC

June 30th, 2008, 11:06 PM

Some more news (http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=30_06_2008_014_008&mode=1) on the plans for modernization of various railway stations ...

(I tried to get a text version from the site, but couldn't locate it, so here's an image version.)

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3150/rlyprojectsnotpoisedforcd0.jpg

MxC

June 30th, 2008, 11:12 PM

MxC, only registered users on HT can view that article. Can you post the relevant excerpts and the image?

Here you go...

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/1647/trialrunturnsintomegapard3.jpg

MxC

June 30th, 2008, 11:16 PM

A grand vision of our foreign minister. Thought of posting it in Railways section as it concerns our humble railways as well.

BTW I'm all for it!

Pranab’s vision: rail track to Hanoi (http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=8c8d0f83-91bd-4d04-9ab9-7a282b0a111b&&Headline=Pranab%E2%80%99s+vision%3a+rail+track+to+Hanoi)

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee revealed his grand plans for a unified Asia and greater connectivity between nations in the Indian subcontinent. If his ideas are turned into reality, a rail track could soon connect Kolkata to Hanoi.

While his vision extended from Afghanistan in the North West to Vietnam in South East Asia, Mukherjee expressed his government’s keenness to restore old road, rail and river routes between India and Bangladesh.

“We are planning to send proposals to international finance agencies likes the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank with details of the rail route between Kolkata and Hanoi in Vietnam. We made a good start with the Kolkata-Dhaka train service,” he said.

The foreign minister told a gathering of Indian and Bangladeshi journalists here that he was also eager to restart old rail routes from Kolkata to Agartala and the river link to Guwahati — both via Bangladesh.

“There is an old road linking India and Myanmar through Chittagong (in Bangladesh). What is stopping us from restoring this? There was also a river route between Kolkata and Guwahati via Bangladesh, which should be restored,” he pointed out.

An introspective Mukherjee further said that the government was also planning to carve a route to the North-Eastern states via Myanmar and Bangladesh.

“This is possible if Bangladesh opens up its road and river routes to facilitate better links,” he said.

He added that India also had plans to build a 160-km road link with Myanmar and develop a port in that country for better ties and easier passage of goods to states like Nagaland and Mizoram.

Mukherjee red-faced

An unfulfilled promise caused Mukherjee to go red in the face when some Bangladesh journalists confronted him an uncomfortable question.

During a visit to the neighbouring nation, which was recently hit by the devastating Cyclone Sidr, Mukherjee had promised that India would send Bangladesh 5 lakh tonnes of rice. In reality, only 1 lakh tonnes reached Bangladesh.

bhopalus

June 30th, 2008, 11:46 PM

too bad about the railways failing to carry out it's promises in a timely fashion...

Illusionist

July 1st, 2008, 01:45 AM

From Times of India

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/triptrain01.jpg

Ya, I think those guys have never seen a train before. They badly need a train man. :hilarious

That bloody IR has made this line a meter gauge. :bash:

:cheers: oh my...

on the brighter side, thank god they didnt do a test landing for some new airport in this city..

zhiemi

July 1st, 2008, 09:43 AM

23 new trains to be flagged off in 2008.

New Delhi: With the aviation industry in a crisis, Northern Railways is all set to give railway passengers from the Capital, reasons to smile.

If the railway officials are to be believed, 23 new trains will be introduced by Northern Railways this year, including Garib Raths on routes to Varanasi, Motihari and Ranchi and special AC trains designed on the lines of the Rajdhanis. Northern Railways has pledged to start services from the new terminal at Anand Vihar in east Delhi, to be inaugurated this November, by the end of this year. Four new trains, including three Garib Raths are slotted to begin their journey from this terminal. However, as times city has highlighted, the terminal has missed two previous deadlines.

Announcing these decisions at the release of its new time-table, Northern Railway officials added that once the new platforms are ready at the Anand Vihar and New Delhi stations, a section of the New Delhi station will be closed down. ‘‘We will shut down platforms 1 to 5 in order to start the modernisation programme of New Delhi station,’’ said Geetanjali, PRO, Delhi division.

Northern Railways has announced that journey time of at least 48 trains will be reduced by 10 minutes to three-and-a-half hours. These will include the Sealdah Rajdhani, Guwahati Rajdhani, Himalayan Queen, Kalka Shatabdi, Paschim Express, Dadar Express, Swaraj Express, Himgiri Express, Golden Temple Mail, Sachkhand Express and Janshadharan Express.

Some of the 12 Express trains whose frequency has been increased are - Jammu Rajdhani (daily), Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani (thrice a week), Bhubaneswar Rajdhani (twice a week) and the New Delhi-Dehradun Jan Shatabdi Express (daily).

In a bid to increase the capacity quotient of the major railway stations of Delhi, the railways has decided to rationalise the movement of some of the long distance trains inside Delhi. ‘‘Often, a particular train halts at two important stations at Delhi, leading to a loss of travelling time, and reducing the handling capacity of important stations. Hence, we will allow one train to stop only at one particular terminal. The process has begun and all routes will be rationalised in the coming months,’’ said Rajeev Saxena, cheif PRO, Northern Railways.

Consequently, routes of at least nine trains have been diverted. Most of these changes will come into effect from this month. These changes will see the Sri Ganganagar-New Delhi Express, Bhatinda-New Delhi Express, Nimach-New Delhi Express, Muri Express and Unchahar Express all halting only at the Delhi junction instead of New Delhi station.

Northern Railways officials added the New Delhi-Baramulla rail link project in Jammu and Kashmir is set for a further boost with the opening of the 118 kilometre long section between Qazigund and Badgam.

Source: TOI

zhiemi

July 1st, 2008, 09:54 AM

New timetable to put 242 trains on ‘fast track’

New Delhi: As many as 242 mail and express trains will be speeded up from Tuesday when the new railway time-table comes into effect. These include nine Rajdhanis, four Shatabdis and one Garib Rath Express trains. While most of the trains will reach their destination between five and 25 minutes ahead of their present time, the Garib Rath train from Lokmanya Tilak Terminal (Mumbai) to Kochuveli near Kottayam in Kerala will reach 3 hours before the present schedule time, a railway official said on Monday.

The other major which will have a major reduction is the Rajdhani Express from New Delhi to Mumbai which will now reach its destination 45 minutes ahead of its present schedule.

Similarly, a few Rajdhani trains between New Delhi and Kolkata too will make it 25 minutes ahead of their current schedule. Thus, the Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani and Kolkata-New Delhi Rajdhani will reach 25 minutes and 20 minutes earlier.

This year, at least 3 pairs of trains have been converted into superfast services. These are the 6511/6512 Yesvantpur-Korba Express (new number 2251/2252) with running time reduced to 2 hours; 1033/1034 Pune-Darbhanga Express (new number 2133/2134); and 4601/4602 Sonepur-Jammu Tawi Mourdhwaj Express (new number 2491/2492).

Source: TOI

zhiemi

July 1st, 2008, 09:58 AM

From Times of India

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/triptrain01.jpg

Ya, I think those guys have never seen a train before. They badly need a train man. :hilarious

That bloody IR has made this line a meter gauge. :bash:

The station doesn't look too bad :D

By G0SUB
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3003/2609531185_94fb5c6ac1_o.jpg

phaedrus

July 1st, 2008, 01:10 PM

^^yup, looks pretty nice!

kronik

July 2nd, 2008, 04:08 AM

wow, my happiness that there is a train to Agartala seems to have been slimmed down by the fact that it is meter gauge. Why did they do that? Was there not enough space to build a broad gauge, or this is the plan they have for the NE - all meter gauge trains, given the hilly conditions.

anyways.......

Bombardier, Alstom in fray for Rlys` unit (http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?tab=r&autono=327325&subLeft=1&leftnm=1)

Global electric locomotive manufacturers - Bombardier Transportation, Alstom and Siemens from Europe and Kawasaki, Toshiba, Mitsubhishi and Mitsui from Japan - have shown interest in participating in the Indian Railways' ambitious Rs 2,000 crore project to set up an electric locomotive factory at Madhepura, Bihar.

The project will be implemented on a private-public partnership basis. The Railways will pick up a maximum of 26 per cent equity stake in a special purpose vehicle to be floated for the purpose. The remaining equity will come from the foreign partner.

The initial capital cost of the factory, as estimated by the Indian Railways, is Rs 1,000 crore. But industry experts say that the actual cost could go up in the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 crore factoring in to account the increase in the prices of critical components like steel, iron, cement, fuel among others.

The top international companies were all present in a pre-application conference, which was held at Rail Bhawan on Friday.

The Indian railways will be subscribing to its equity for up to a maximum of 26 per cent of the issued and paid up equity capital of the company,subject to a maximum of Rs 100 crore.

A Rail Bhawan official said that the project is receiving a good response from global locomotive manufacturers and they are expecting a minimum of 5-6 major players in the final bidding process.

The due date for the application of request for qualification (RFQ) is on July 18, 2008 and the shortlisting of applicants will be done within 15 days from the application due date.

With the commissioning of the project, railway officials say that the Indian railway will be upgrading its technology to the next generation, where the new locomotive which will have 12,000 horsepower will have the capacity to pull a higher pay load at a much higher speed of 100 km per hour. This will enable the Indian Railways to cut down their operational and maintenance cost.

thereby increasing productivity. Currently, Railways operate electric locomotives with 6000 horsepower capacity having a speed of 80 km per hour.

SarafIndian

July 2nd, 2008, 07:32 AM

Arul Murugan

July 2nd, 2008, 07:45 AM

Karaikudi-Manamadurai BG track to be thrown open today

Staff Reporter

Chennai-Rameswaram train to run via Karaikudi, Sivaganga

MADURAI: Karaikudi-Manamadurai broad gauge section will be thrown open for passenger traffic from Wednesday, July 2.

A press release says that Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will flag off the inaugural special train from Sivaganga to Manamadurai at 17.30 hrs in the presence of R.Velu, Union Minister of State for Railways; R. Regupathy, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests; K.N. Nehru, Minister for Transport; and K.R. Periakaruppan, Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments. Train timings for the special train are as follows: It leaves Sivaganga at 17.30 hrs, Melakonnankulam at 17.48 hrs and reaches Manamadurai at 18.00 hrs.

New train route

6713 Chennai Egmore-Rameswaram Express and 6714 Rameswaram-Chennai Egmore Express running via Dindigul and Madurai, as a result of opening of Karaikudi-Manamadurai section on July 2, have been diverted to run via Pudukottai, Karaikudi and Sivaganga from July 2.

Timings on the diverted route from July 2: 6713 Chennai Egmore-Rameswaram Express will leave Chennai Egmore at 17 hrs, Tiruchi at 22.35 hrs, Pudukottai at 23.42 hrs, Karaikudi at 00.45 hrs, Sivaganga at 01.45 hrs, Manamadurai at 02.25 hrs to reach Rameswaram at 05.15 hrs.

6714 Rameswaram-Chennai Egmore Express will leave Rameswaram at 20.15 hrs, Manamadurai at 22.40 hrs, Sivaganga at 23.16 hrs, Karaikudi at 00.10 hrs, Pudukottai at 01.07 hrs, Tiruchi at 02.20 hrs to reach Chennai Egmore at 08.35 hrs.

Timings for 702 Madurai- Villupuram passenger have been revised. The train will leave Madurai at 01.15 hrs from July 2.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/02/stories/2008070261500200.htm

skganji

July 2nd, 2008, 08:01 AM

MxC

July 2nd, 2008, 08:25 PM

Railways to set up anti-drug cells (http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=02_07_2008_015_009&kword=&mode=1)
ALARMED AT the rise in cases of drugging of rail passengers, the Railway Ministry is planning to launch a drive to curb such incidents.

The drive involves the setting up of an anti-drug cell at each zonal headquarter, identifying the vulnerable states, routes and even creating awareness among passengers. The anti-drug cells will be under the command of a gazetted officer, who will examine cases and take necessary actions. According to ministry sources, 725 cases of drugging were reported in 2007 as against 714 in 2006.

"The ministry has also prepared a short film, which will be shown at different cantonments and army camps as there have been several instances of army and paramilitary personnel, particularly those travelling in east-bound trains, falling victims to drugging gangs. We have launched a campaign to make passengers aware of such gangs," said a senior ministry official.

The need for a drug cell was also acknowledged by the Director-General of Railway Health Services, Dr V.K. Ramteke, who advised the East Central Railway (ECR) to put in place a system for attending to drugged passengers before taking them to hospitals. Maximum cases of drugging are reported from the ECR, with more than a dozen passengers admitted to different railway hospitals of the zone every week.

Ministry sources said some vulnerable stations and trains have been identified and attention is being paid at identified sections to avert the occurrence of such cases. "Regular surprise checks are conducted. Instructions have been issued to videograph those standing in queues to board general coaches," the official said.

725 CASES of drugging were reported in trains last year

zhiemi

July 2nd, 2008, 08:29 PM

^^ Good to know. It's high time.

barrykul

July 2nd, 2008, 08:43 PM

Four BG lines awaiting green signal (http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/02/stories/2008070260240900.htm)

VELLORE: Conversion work on four new broad gauge lines in Tamil Nadu — Katpadi-Vellore Cantonment, Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur, Tiruvarur-Nagoor and Ennoor-Korukkupettai — has been completed and they are ready for inspection by the Commissioner for Railway Safety (CRS), according to the Union Minister of State for Railways R. Velu.

He was talking to reporters after inaugurating an Automated Teller Machine with e-ticketing facility, installed by Indian Bank at the Katpadi railway station on Tuesday. Mr. Velu said the trains could be operated on the newly laid lines once the CRS inspected them and gave his clearance. Trains would be introduced based on the need. A broad gauge line from Karaikudi to Manamadurai will be inaugurated by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram at a function on Wednesday, Mr. Velu said.

a_niranjan

July 3rd, 2008, 12:32 AM

zhiemi

July 4th, 2008, 08:18 PM

Rediff launches service to find train fares (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Rediff-launches-service-to-find-train-fares/330892/)

Online portal Rediff.com on Thursday announced the launch of a search service to find seat availability and fares for trains in India.

The 'Rediff Trains Fare Search' service allows users to check availability of seats with fares, check PNR status, get detailed schedule of trains including real-time arrival and departure status by using a simple search engine query, the company said in a statement.

The service would also offer users a comparative view of the lowest airfare for the chosen rail route within the same search query. For example, for a rail journey from Mumbai-to-Delhi, the search engine will give results for available trains for that particular day and also show the lowest air fare ticket available for the same date.

This feature has been introduced to help users choose their mode of travel depending on their budget and plan their journey more efficiently and conveniently, the statement said.

The fare search takes away the pain of compulsory registration process and remembering difficult station codes by providing users with a predictive text support for all stations across India. Once the user has confirmed the destination and date of travel, Rediff Train fare search shows all possible options and journey details in just one click.

The search data is consistent with the records maintained by Indian Railway authorities. Once the user has finalised the appropriate train and wants to book the tickets, the service gives users options to book the tickets, either through IRCTC site or through travel agents whose details are also available on the system.

kronik

July 5th, 2008, 11:35 AM

One of the reasons could be that the existing link between Lumbding Jn. in Assam and Kumarghat Stn. in Tripura is a Meter Guage track. The only way you can connect Agartala to this link is to extend the Meter Gauge track till Agartala. It looks like the existing Meter gauge can be easily converted to Broad Guage because they used Broad Gauge format for laying tracks. Once the link from Lumbding to Kumarghat is converted to BG, the link from Kumarghat to Agartala can be easily converted to BG. So,just celebrate the news .

thanks. Looking forward to more IR spread in the NE.

sidney_jec

July 5th, 2008, 08:24 PM

^^ Good to know. It's high time.

oh yes it is HIGH time ;)

Suncity

July 5th, 2008, 08:39 PM

my first post, so pardon any errors ...

skganji is absolutely correct ... the meter gauge layout is temporary so Agartala can have train services before the remainder of the sections have gauge conversion finished ... see map below ... the green lines with red dots are MG under conversion to BG ... if it was BG, how would the rolling stock get to Agartala?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28227846@N04/2632482602/

ok, the image did not show ... will try again ... please click on the link above to view.

How to load images

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=600498

Suncity

July 5th, 2008, 11:52 PM

Siemens to make metro, train coaches in India

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/07/04/stories/2008070452930100.htm

Engineering and electrical goods major Siemens may soon set up a facility to manufacture coaches for trains and metros in India, thereby launching a completely new business segment in the country.

According to highly reliable sources, the Indian arm of the German company has nearly completed the acquisition of land at Aurangabad in Maharashtra to put up a greenfield plant for the manufacture of “engineering goods including (what has broadly been defined as) rolling stock.”

The sources, however, say that the company intends to begin with the manufacture of metro coaches, adding that work on developing the land, which is adjoining the Skoda plant in the Shendra industrial estate in Aurangabad, is expected to begin in a few weeks. The facility will go on stream by the middle of 2009. Interestingly, the first assemblies of Skoda cars began at one of Siemens’ existing facilities at Aurangabad.

Canadian firm Bombardier Transportation is already setting up the country’s first metro coach factory at Vadodara.

Euromast

July 6th, 2008, 12:25 PM

World Bank team to assess Eastern Corridor project (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/World_Bank_team_to_assess_Eastern_Corridor_project/articleshow/3202628.cms)

NEW DELHI: A six-member World Bank team will be here this month to hold discussions with Indian Railways about the funds for the ambitious dedicated Eastern Freight Corridor project.

Indian Railways, which has approached the World Bank for funding the Rs 12,000 crore Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project, will present a detailed report of the plan to the visiting team.

While the World Bank team will be here on July 14, another delegation from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will also visit India on July 8 to assess the engineering and environment aspect of the Western Corridor of the DFC.

The JBIC is expected to fund the 1,483 km long Western Freight Corridor project estimated to cost about Rs 16,000 crore.

The DFC to be commissioned as part of the long term railway strategy aims at separating freight and passenger corridor, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

The corridor will be used exclusively for operating freight trains at a maximum permissible speed of 100 kmph.

MxC

July 6th, 2008, 03:59 PM

my first post, so pardon any errors ...

skganji is absolutely correct ... the meter gauge layout is temporary so Agartala can have train services before the remainder of the sections have gauge conversion finished ... see map below ... the green lines with red dots are MG under conversion to BG ... if it was BG, how would the rolling stock get to Agartala?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28227846@N04/2632482602/

ok, the image did not show ... will try again ... please click on the link above to view.

Good point here! I guess we can now stop complaining about IR making it a meter guage.

GJ10

July 6th, 2008, 07:49 PM

Rs 1,300-Cr Rail Project to spur Gujarat Tribal-Belt (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Rs_1300-cr_rail_projects_to_spur_Gujarat_tribal_belt/articleshow/3172221.cms)

VADODARA: The proposed Rs 1,300-crore rail projects in Central and South Gujarat would ensure speedy development of the state's tribal belt, Minister of State for Railways Naranbhai Rathwa said on Friday.

These plans, once fully executed, can also help in providing alternative route to Mumbai, he told reporters.

The projects include Rs 400-crore conversion of narrow gauge line between Jhagadiya-Netrang and its extention up to Nandurbar in Maharashtra and Rs 300-crore extension of Ankleshwar-Rajpipla line up to Kavadiya.

Rathwa said several agencies from Vadodara, Bharuch, Rajpipla, Jhagadiya, Surat, Bilimora-Vapi and Ankleshwar have made presentations before him to undertake conversion and extension work on these routes.

During the erstwhile rule of Sayajirao Gaekwad of princely state of Baroda, these narrow gauge lines were constructed for linking towns and cities.

People from the tribal-dominated belt now want to figure on the development map and these projects would go a long way in realising their dream, the Minister said.

Rathwa himself is a tribal leader who has been elected from the reserved constituency of Chhotaudepur in Vadodara district.

He said work on extending Vadodara-Chhotaudepur line up to Dhar in Madhya Pradesh is going on, while conversion of narrow gauge line between Dabhoi and Pratapnagar into broad guage is nearing completion.

phaedrus

July 6th, 2008, 09:32 PM

Bombardier to begin India ops by end 2008

Bombardier Transportation, a global major in railway transport, will start its manufacturing activity in India at Savli, Gujarat by the end of this year, reports Peerzada Abrar. The manufacturing plant will start with bogies by the fourth quarter of 2008, and metro cars by early next year for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Bombardier has bagged a $700 million contract from DMRC to supply 424 Bombardier MOVIA metro cars. Bombardier India managing director, Rajeev Jyoti, said that around 600 people would be hired, along with 40 engineers, at the 160 thousand square meters facility. The work on the facility started in December 2007.

As per the contract, delivery of the MOVIA cars is scheduled to begin in the last quarter of 2008. The aim is to complete the project in 2010 to provide effective public transport during the Commonwealth Games that will be held in New Delhi in October 2010.

The MOVIA metro vehicles, that will be supplied to DMRC, are configured in 4 car sets with capacity to transport 4 million passengers every day, reducing their journey time and alleviating the heavy traffic congestion and pollution prevalent in the city, said Mr Jyoti. “Bombardier will introduce Europe centric trains in India, which the Indian tracks have never experienced before.”

Bombardier is exploring opportunities to work closely with the government and bring in the advanced global rail technology to India through public private partnership (PPP) initiatives.

“Traditionally, railway projects in India have been the domain of the public sector. Private sector participation (PSP) is an efficient way to mobilise capital, and improve operational and management skills. Though PPP in railway projects is limited, it is becoming an increasingly popular model,” said Mr Jyoti.

Bombardier Transportation is open to forging relations with the government for PPP scheme and is aggressively evaluating options for its locomotive TRAXX, an electric freight locomotive.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Bombardier_to_begin_India_ops_by_end_2008/articleshow/3203815.cms)

phaedrus

July 7th, 2008, 06:51 PM

German firm to study speed train corridor project

Project of speed train corridor from Mumbai to Nagpur is one step ahead with a German consultancy Vossing have been selected by state government for its pre-feasibility report.

"The responsibility of pre-feasibility study to the consultant was given last month and it has already started the work, " Additional Chief Secretary of Planning Department A M Aggrawal told.

The consultancy was selected for the pre-feasibility work in mid-June after considering its past experience as well as technical and financial records.

The route of the most ambitious project from Mumbai to Nagpur is of 1,000 km and currently takes around 14 hours to cover. The train is expected to run at the speed of 300 km per hour, Aggrawal said.

The first proposed route would go through Pune and Marathwada region while in the second route, some part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region would be included, he added. The project is aimed at connecting the underdevloped part of Marathwada region to Mumbai for further development.

The consultant is expected to find out ideal route, technology and financing pattern. It has given time period of six months to submit the report, Aggrawal said.

The State Government has suggested them maglev (Magnetic Leviation) as one of the options for speed train.

For the financing pattern, the Government would prefer public-private partneship model, he said.

Consulting majors bidding for the pre-feasibility contract included Louis Berger Group in association with Reliance Industries-promoted Urban Infrastructure Development Co, KPMG, Vossing (Germany), TUV.SUD South Asia, and others.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/German_firm_to_study_speed_train_corridor_project/articleshow/3205661.cms)

phaedrus

July 7th, 2008, 06:54 PM

World Bank team to assess Eastern Corridor project

A six-member World Bank team will be here this month to hold discussions with Indian Railways about the funds for the ambitious dedicated Eastern Freight Corridor project.

Indian Railways, which has approached the World Bank for funding the Rs 12,000 crore Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project, will present a detailed report of the plan to the visiting team.

While the World Bank team will be here on July 14, another delegation from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will also visit India on July 8 to assess the engineering and environment aspect of the Western Corridor of the DFC.

The JBIC is expected to fund the 1,483 km long Western Freight Corridor project estimated to cost about Rs 16,000 crore.

The DFC to be commissioned as part of the long term railway strategy aims at separating freight and passenger corridor, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

The corridor will be used exclusively for operating freight trains at a maximum permissible speed of 100 kmph.

There are certain World Bank guidelines which need to be adhered for receiving any fund, said the official.

All the procedures including land acquisition, compensation, tendering process, procurement involved in the Eastern Freight Corridor are expected to be discussed with the World Bank officials during their visit, said the official.

Railways plans to increase its market share in both bulk and non-bulk freight traffic by improving the quality of service with reduction in transit time and better reliability and availability.

The Eastern Corridor as approved by the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs will start from Ludhiana and terminate at Kolkata via Ambala, Sharanpur, Khurja, and Allahabad.

The route length of 1,279 km is expected to be built in two phases. The alignment of the rail infrastructure will pass through Ambala and Yamunanagar in Haryana.

The project will immensely benefit the coal units, steel plants and thermal power stations along the route. The rail infrastructure will also generate employment during the construction phase.

The entire corridor will have a computerised train control system and the project is expected to be completed during the 11th Plan to meet higher traffic demand

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/World_Bank_team_to_assess_Eastern_Corridor_project/articleshow/3202628.cms)

a_niranjan

July 7th, 2008, 08:08 PM

This project seems even more ambitious than the Jammu-Srinagar link.

Manali-Leh railway link soon (http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?autono=327925&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=)

Baldev S Chauhan& Bijith R / Shimla/New Delhi July 06, 2008, 0:03 IST

In a major move to push tourism in the hill states and counter Chinese expansion in the Tibetan region, the Railways ministry has prepared a blueprint to set up an ambitious 480 kilometre Manali - Leh railway line link criss-crossing the treacherous mountains in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

The project according to experts will cost over Rs 16,000 crore and the ministry is already preparing a detail survey plan for the project.

A top level government meeting took place in Delhi recently to discuss the survey and other modalities of the project. The distance, according to the plan, will be traversed in around ten hours.

A senior Railway Ministry official said, "A detailed survey plan for the proposed Manali-Leh railway line has been prepared and is under the active consideration of the Railway Board. The expenditure for the survey will be shared jointly by the Himachal Pradesh government and the centre."

The plan is to lay a broad gauge railway track between Jogindernagar and Manali via Mandi and extend it 480 kilometre further to Leh via the Rohtang pass and beyond.

The security concerns are a key reason for building the train line.

"With China building the Beijing-Lhasa railway track, it is critical for India to respond and build the Manali-Leh route both from the security and tourism point of view of India," said Prem Kumar Dhumal, chief minister, Himachal Pradesh.

The proposed railway project is strategically important for India as experts opine that a railway line will be a viable transport alternative in extreme weather conditions.

At present, the main source of connectivity to the border areas is either through the road or air, which frequently gets affected during adverse weather conditions.

Manali - Leh highway which connects tribal areas of Lahaul, Udaipur, Pangi and Ladakh with the rest of the country and goes through the highest mountain passes in the world, remains closed down during the entire winter season.

A rail link will definitely serve India's defence purpose at a time the Chinese are flexing their muscles at our backyard, said an industry expert.

Apart from serving the India's defence interest, the proposed project will provide a fillip to the tourism industry that is one of the major source of revenue generation for the state of Himachal Pradesh.

"I have just returned from Leh and the response I received from the people of Ladakh has been tremendous. The private sector is already showing a keen interest in building this railway track," Dhumal said.

A senior executive of an infrastructure company undertaking railway projects said that the cost of laying a railway track at such a high altitude will be more than double the cost of laying a normal railway track.

Because of the difficult terrain, the movement of vehicles carrying raw materials and other equipment for the project will become costlier.

Moreover, a large amount of tunneling work will have to be undertaken along the proposed route.

PlaneMad

July 7th, 2008, 09:00 PM

^^ ohahahaha. when even a narrow piece of road cant last 4 months on this stretch, our heroes want to build a heavy duty railway line. manali-leh my ass.
They might as well get started on the chennai-port blair-howrah rail link.

MxC

July 7th, 2008, 09:29 PM

MxC

July 7th, 2008, 09:43 PM

Bombardier to begin India ops by end 2008

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Bombardier_to_begin_India_ops_by_end_2008/articleshow/3203815.cms)

Good to see the PPP model becoming popular, now into the rolling stock area as well. Here's another news, related to Bombardier again (sorry no link available, but this news is apparently from Jun 29 issue of Business Standard):

Global electric locomotive manufacturers - Bombardier Transportation, Alstom and Siemens from Europe and Kawasaki, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and Mitsui from Japan - have shown interest in participating in the Indian Railways' ambitious Rs 2,000 crore project to set up an electric locomotive factory at Madhepura, Bihar. The project will be implemented on a private-public partnership basis. The Railways will pick up a maximum of 26 per cent equity stake in a special purpose vehicle to be floated for the purpose. The remaining equity will come from the foreign partner.

MxC

July 7th, 2008, 09:54 PM

Stone India develops pantograph for double stack container trains (http://thehindubusinessline.com/2008/06/27/stories/2008062752450700.htm)
Stone India Ltd’s in-house R&D setup has designed and developed a pantograph (a power collecting trolley) to be used in locomotives deployed for experimental run of double stack container trains being planned for the proposed dedicated freight corridor, according to company sources.

The experimental run is to take place shortly in certain sections under the East Coast Railway.

The new series of pantograph, called Omniversal Intelipanto TM, has been tested and cleared by the Research Design & Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Indian Railways, say the sources, adding that the experts from Japan, the funding country for the proposed freight corridor, too, have approved the equipment.

Big challenge

The major constraint in running high speed locomotives with double stack container trains is the increase in what is called centenary height from six metres to 7.5 metres. To balance such a high reach pantograph in double stack containers moving at a high speed in adverse wind condition has been a big challenge for all global suppliers.

The Kolkata-based Stone India Ltd, which has been catering to the requirement of the Indian Railways for more than 76 years and has introduced many critical systems for the Railways in partnerships with foreign companies, hopes to export the new series of indigenously-developed pantographs to countries planning to use electric traction for running double stack container trains, add the sources.

SarafIndian

July 8th, 2008, 07:12 AM

Hmm you do have a point there Saraf with the recent news reports of China's intrusions on our country's border.:) But otherwise they are certainly well qualified to help modernise our largely out-dated railway stations and rolling stock.

Personally, I am not against any economic/infrastructural cooperation with them. And India has quite good economic relation with them (Ex-IT).

But, we should concern about their quality of work. They make things fast, fancy-good looking and cheap also. But are they good quality? I think Indian companies are enough for doing this job. If necessary we can take help from European /Japs/Canadian companies. Ya, it would cost more. :)

PlaneMad

July 8th, 2008, 10:10 AM

^^
I don't see why this very important development should be viewed skeptically. Agreed that so far things have not been like they should have been. But there is no denying that the Chinese are doing what we all know they are doing. So in order to counter that, and as also mentioned in the article, to help in tourism, it is a big need of the hour and will be a huge strategic move for the country.

Of course there is no denying the fact that the engineering challenges would be huge, to put it mildly. But then wasn't the Chinese tibet line also considered practically impossible once?

So friends, instead of treating this news skeptically, let's put our collective wisdom to work and think of challenges of this project and suggest remedies.

Im not saying its impossible, mind you. Its just that if this were approved, the construction and maintainance costs will be so huge, that the returns may never justify the investment. Something like this will easily cost upward of 20,000 crores and at least 10 years to make.

What we should be doing is settling our differences with the chinese, instead of building a military line under the guise of improving the local economy. Let them first make a two lane all weather highway if they have so much cash to blow.

Euromast

July 8th, 2008, 07:46 PM

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8404/08072008503014gh8.jpg

Euromast

July 8th, 2008, 07:53 PM

Kalka Shimla Railway added to Indian World Heritage site

WASHINGTON: Unesco Monday gave the go ahead for India to add another rail line to its Mountain Railways of India World Heritage site - a stretch that served Shimla, the one-time British summer capital in India's northwest.

The Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge railway was approved Monday in addition to new sites in nine other countries that received the nod from the panel meeting in Canada.

Before the meetings began last week, Unesco's World Heritage list included 851 properties, and another 41 are being considered during the eight-day session.

The Kalka-Shimla Railway, built in the 19th century, is a working link that transits 96 km to the mountain town of Shimla.

Other railways in the Indian Mountain Railway heritage site include the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and the Nilgiri Mountain Railway in Tamil Nadu State

zhiemi

July 9th, 2008, 01:26 PM

L&T bags Rs 1,048 cr order from Railways (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/L&T-bags-Rs-1-048-cr-order-from-Railways/332875/)

Engineering and construction firm Larsen and Toubro on Tuesday said it has bagged Rs 1,047.60 crore contract from Indian Railways for setting up a steel wheel manufacturing plant in Bihar.

The company would set up a cast steel manufacturing plant at Saran in Bihar, L&T said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, adding that the plant when commissioned will have the capacity to manufacture one lakh cast steel railroad wheels per annum.

The scope of the work for this turnkey project involves engineering, procurement and construction of the plant, including civil works, electrical installation and commissioning of machinery and plant.

The project is scheduled to be completed within two years.

The new plant will help the Indian railways meet the huge shortage of wheels for rolling stocks due to rapid growth in the passenger and freight traffic and would reduce dependence on imports, L&T added.

Going forward, the company plans to participate in various upcoming projects in rail sector such as rolling stock manufacturing, station redevelopment, urban mass transit systems among others.

MxC

July 9th, 2008, 06:23 PM

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8404/08072008503014gh8.jpg

A related news...

Five platforms at New Delhi station to be shut (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Delhi/Five_platforms_at_New_Delhi_station_to_be_shut/articleshow/3208856.cms)
In a major decision, the Delhi division of Northern Railway has decided to close down platforms 1 to 5 located at the New Delhi Railway station. According to officials, the process may begin immediately after the inauguration of the Anand Vihar terminal by the end of this year. The closure, senior Railway officials explained, became necessary in order to carry out major construction work. The construction work is part of the modernisation plan envisaged by the Railways to develop the New Delhi railway station into a world-class facility, similar to those in south-east Asia.

"We will need to pull down a few existing structures and build new ones. However, with huge pressure on these platforms, it is impossible to carry out such constructions. Hence, we will close the station partially in different phases to facilitate construction work over the next few years," said a senior Railway officer.

As part of this reconstruction process, the final destination of a number of trains will also be changed. "Although we are expecting to inaugurate the four new platforms in the next couple of months, there would not be enough carrying capacity that can help us in continuing with the normal schedule. So, a few trains will be re-routed to Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi Junction and Anand Vihar terminals. In all likelihood, most east-bound trains will henceforth depart from the Anand Vihar terminal," added the Railway official.

Passengers at New Delhi station had mixed feelings on the issue. "We must cooperate. In the end, it will help us. I am shocked at the apathy shown by officials towards cleanliness. Hopefully, the new complexes coming up here and at Anand Vihar will be free from problems," said N Subramaniam, a passenger of the GT Express.

However, Swapan Talukdar, a passenger, said reaching Anand Vihar terminal could be a problem. "Passengers not from the trans-Yamuna region may face problems as it is not centrally located. Perhaps the railways could have waited for Metro to begin operations from Anand Vihar," he said.

So there is some progress on the modernization plan of New Delhi railway station. I know there was a news on this in HT sometimes back. But there was hardly any plan in it to give an idea about what to expect. Does someone have any plans related information that they can share here?

MxC

July 9th, 2008, 06:30 PM

Some more news (http://news.webindia123.com/news/ar_showdetails.asp?id=806290591&cat=&n_date=20080629) related to gauge conversions...

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today announced free railway passes to all girl students up to graduation.

The minister announced this while laying the foundation stone for gauge conversion of 62 km Bharuch-Dahej and 62.89 km Ankleshwar- Rajpipla sections at Samni, about 20 km from here.

The two gauge conversion projects are estimated to cost Rs 230 crore and Rs 197 crore, respectively.

The Railway Ministry, he said, was formulating an ambitious plan to help link major rivers in the country by laying pipelines on either side of its 64,000-km long tracks spread across the country.

''The idea behind linking the rivers is to provide water for irrigation and drinking water to people living in water-starved areas. Railways have enough land on either side of the tracks, which can be used to resolve the water crisis in the country,'' he said.

Mr Prasad said the railway's turnaround during the last four years had received worldwide attention for having created a surplus fund of Rs 69,000 crore without any hike in fares. ''I will take this surplus fund to the Rs 1,00,000-crore mark before the end of the UPA government's term next year,'' he asserted.

Describing Railways as the lifeline of India, he said his Ministry had decided to do away with all the narrow and meter gauge tracks by undertaking conversion projects in a phased manner.

The Minister denied allegations that Gujarat was being discriminated with regard to sanction of railway projects. During the last four years of the UPA rule at the Centre, projects worth Rs 14,448 crore had been completed in Gujarat and 38 new projects worth Rs 6,600 crore were under construction, he claimed.

The Bharuch-Dahej gauge conversion would connect the upcoming Dahej port on south Gujarat coast to the Indian railway network under the National Rail Vikash Yojana (NRVJ), while Ankleshwar-Rajpipla gauge conversion project, when completed, would act as a catalyst to boost the socio-economic growth of this tribal region, he said.

MxC

July 9th, 2008, 06:36 PM

This is in response to the various posts related to the new trains and their timings:

The official press release: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=39916
The new time table on web: http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/Tag0809/index.htm
A private, but excellent and must visit alternative to the Railways own enquiry website (http://www.indianrail.gov.in/): http://erail.in/

Hope this helps.

MxC

July 9th, 2008, 06:45 PM

Cartels, corruption plague Railway procurement (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=41314)
Cartels, bid rigging and corruption plague Indian Railway's procurement, which runs into thousands of crores every year, says a Competition Commission-sponsored study.

In 2006, as many as nine firms participated in a tender for procuring high speed cast steel bogies, of which seven quoted the same price of Rs 99,638 per bogies for less than 50 per cent of the requirement, the draft report prepared by The Energy Research Institute(Teri), which has been commissioned by CCI revealed.

The tender did not include the clause against cartel formation. The report concluded that there are "cartels operating in railway procurement".
When contacted CCI Director General Amitabh Kumar said, "Yes, there are cartels in the railway procurement. Railways officials have been complaining to us about the prevailing cartelisation in the bidding process. Suppliers allegedly are quoting same price for the bids which is an anti-competitive practice."

But, the Commission can not take any action till the Commission is operationalised, Kumar added.

The audit report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India, 2006, examined 19 items and highlighted that there was "cartel formation in nine out of 31 tender cases examined for pre-decentralisation period".

Also, there was a cartel formation in 47 tender cases issued by zonal railways for the same item after decentralisation, the CAG report said.

A cause for concern, especially at all the delay in taking action against this practice.

MxC

July 9th, 2008, 07:04 PM

An interesting article in Hindu about the romance of train travel...

Ticket to ride (http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/07/06/stories/2008070650300800.htm)
SHEILA KUMAR

Even as low- cost airlines are reverting to becoming high-cost airlines again, a paean to the rail gaadi.

Photo: Bijoy Ghosh
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/07/06/images/2008070650300801.jpg
Addictive: Savouring the landscape at an enjoyable pace.

A recent news item said that all the short-haul trains, the Shatabdis, Deccan Queen, Brindaban, were running almost always full while flights were going near empty. Oil prices apart, this didn’t surprise me one bit.

The thing is, I still remember the days when train travel was plush. Really, no other word will suffice. There were attached bathrooms, attenders, the food was actually good. If it was all a tad expensive, well, it was worth the money spent. This was First Class, of course. I recall the slump, too. That was a long period during which I have travelled with mosquitoes, mice, roaches and nasty co-travellers, though the Railways can’t be held to blame for the last. Trains would never ever arrive or depart in time. Stations were dirty as hell. As for the stinking toilets on the trains, no words can possibly do justice to their squalor. All this in air-conditioned coaches.

And now, I find the pendulum has swung again. Someone — could it be Lalu? — has put the romance back in train travel. Oh alright, you do need the time for a rail journey. However, that is the only prerequisite.

I travel quite a bit and being first an army brat, then an army wife, much of that travel has been, and is being, done by rail. Flights were always the last option when it came to domestic travel. At first, it was because of the prohibitive costs of airline tickets, then it became pure habit. And willy-nilly, I became a convert and began to enjoy my train journeys. I became an avid fan of travel writers who were also railway buffs, Stephen Alter, Paul Theroux and their ilk. While I don’t seek out branch lines, I still miss those steam engines.

Leisurely affair

Train travel is a leisurely affair and the enforced inactivity forces you into a pleasant limbo. For most people, the rocking movement of the carriages is a sleeping aid. You get freeze frames of the Taj Mahal, the Doodhsagar Falls, the dense forests of Karwar, and these sights stay with you long after you have sped past them. You get to sample chikki at Lonavla station, oranges at Nagpur, peta at Agra Cantonment station, banana fritters at Alapuzha.

A few months ago, I did Rajasthan by rail. No, not aboard one of those fancy royal saloons on wheels. I took ordinary trains but in the First Class air-conditioned coaches. And once I settled in, I’d gaze about me. The cabins usually had light wood panelling, a wash basin, a panel with lights to show whether the loos were vacant or occupied. There was a slim cupboard to hang my stuff in, if I wanted to. The curtain rod was faux brass, the curtains themselves were thick and of a pleasing shade of maroon. They matched the deep red upholstery, which was clean. What’s more, there was a carpet underfoot too and that too, passed my keen scrutiny.

The attendant would come by and spray room freshener and instead of it inducing instant asthma, it gave the small cabin a nice pine-y ambience. There was a pink plastic dustbin in one corner, a steel shoe rack in the other. I was able to use my laptop and charge it, too. At mealtimes, we were served on real china, with linen napkins, the personal steward pulling out a folding table from underneath the seat and laying it. And last but certainly not the least, the toilet had tissue rolls!

Somehow, even the harrowing train journeys of the past now take on a mellow hue, given the perspective of time and distance. I recall being stranded, many moons ago, on a bridge atop the river Krishna in Andhra Pradesh; floods had hit the area and all trains were halted. That was almost three days, and food and drinking water ran out by the second day. Bad scene, but one of my co-travellers was a delightful Irish priest, Father Kennedy, and some of his pragmatism rubbed off on me.

Elsewhere, I have run, in a scene straight out of a Hindi film, after a slow train chugging out of Bhopal station. It picked up speed just as I was within handrail-grabbing distance. Well, I got to see the very interesting city of Bhopal in the time it took to catch the next train out, so something was salvaged after all.

Something, I have realised, is always salvaged from the worst journeys.

Old-world charm

So much for the bad trips. There have been great trips, delightful way stations with pots of flowers and names like Runnymede, Victorian buildings with monkey tops. Disused tracks with wildflowers growing amok all around. Level crossings manned by cheerful men. There have been convivial companions aboard trains, and much shared laughter and networking, too. A powder room in a Shatabdi, complete with full length mirror. The odd ones...squabbling families, aggressive men, insufferable bores, demonic children… well, they have all fallen grist to my article mill, so I mustn’t complain! The toy trains in the Nilgiris and Shimla are charming rides about which much newsprint has been expended, so I won’t go down that track.

And the landscape. Oh, the landscape. There really is nothing like seeing India from a train window. The sands of Jaisalmer or the Rann of Kutch, the neat and orderly wadis of Maharashtra. The sparse vegetation of the Deccan giving way to the verdancy and backwaters of Kerala. The emerald-hued gigantic ferns of north Bengal. The gigantic sal trees of Madhya Pradesh turning gold in the gloaming. The deep canals of Punjab holding celadon-coloured waters. The sharp air when you get out at Pathankot. The unforgettable coastline journeys with waterfalls, needle- thin in some places, and gushing torrents in others; deep ravines, green valleys, the sun playing hide and seek on the softly contoured hills. The shimmer of the sea beyond. Tunnels so narrow you can touch the sides; tunnels so long, you unwittingly hold your breath waiting for the glimmer of light. Bridges of all sizes and spans, rivers swollen and sparse. Impromptu cricket matches in dusty grounds by the tracks.

And then, there is the destination. For all one hears of the journey being more meaningful than the destination, truth to tell, it is always good to arrive someplace, anyplace. As a certain Jhumpa L said, wherever you go, you meet yourself at the end of the journey.

phaedrus

July 9th, 2008, 07:49 PM

Kalka Shimla Railway added to Indian World Heritage site

Railways plans special tour package on Kalka-Shimla line

The railways is planning to introduce a special tour package on the Kalka-Shimla railway line, which has been recently been declared a heritage site by the UNESCO.

"We plan to introduce special tour packages to different destinations on the 96.6 km Kalka-Shimla railway line in partnership with the Himachal Pradesh government," Divisional Railway Manager (Ambala), H K Jaggi told reporters.

The DRM said he held talks in this regard with HP Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop and Secretary Tourism Manisha Nanda.

"The response of the state government is very encouraging," Jaggi said.

The DRM said in course of time special trains on the line of "Palace-on-Wheels" will be planned to attract more tourists.

A plan to set up a museum where signals, benches, weighing machines used over the years on the 104-year-old narrow gauge has also been discussed. These pristine items are preserved at various stations along the Kalka-Shimla railway.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Railways_plans_special_tour_package_on_Kalka-Shimla_line/articleshow/3215717.cms)

zhiemi

July 10th, 2008, 09:27 AM

Microsoft to improve efficiency of Indian Railways.

Painful delays in reaching your destination, waiting for hours on end at the railway stations in the country for trains to arrive, with the announcement system blaring old information repeatedly, may soon become a thing of the past.

Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), the umbrella organization for all computer activities on Indian Railways, along with Microsoft, has come out with a unique system for effectively monitoring the movement of trains operated by the Indian Railways.

Built on Windows Vista, the Control Office application (COA) will ensure that the 17 million passengers who travel by the Indian Railways every day and users of its freight services will get real time information on the exact location and arrival and departure times of all trains on their phones. “We have completed the integration of COA with our interactive voice response system and our website in the 26 control rooms it has been deployed so far,” said the spokesperson of CRIS.

The application, developed with an investment of Rs 83 crore, is expected to be rolled-out across all the 68 control rooms of the Indian Railways by end of this fiscal, according to him. This is how it will work: The control office is like a call centre for each division of the railways, into which information pours in from every station in that division about arrival and departure of every train passing them by. Currently, the rail traffic controllers at each control office plot that information on a manual chart, then make decisions about movement of trains and make forecasts about arrivals and departures.

Once COA is deployed, the computer will take care of plotting and drawing the train path, leaving the controller more time to make faster decisions about the best possible route for a train, thereby reducing delays, improving forecasts (less than a second from 20 seconds earlier) and revenues, from the same assets.

And as this will get fed into passenger information systems like the IVRS and railways’ website, railway users will get more accurate and up-to-date information on running of trains. It will allow passengers to plan their travel better, while companies will be able to improve their logistics management. It will also enable the controller to better manage the conflicts, like, if two trains are on the same track, which one should be allowed to move first. Improvement in decisions and the in-built monitoring alert will help avoid accidents, enhancing safety as well.

A system like COA gains significance considering that Indian Railways operates 8,984 passenger trains and 9387 goods trains running on 104,000 km track in three different gauges, which carry 17 million passengers and 2 million tonne freight per day, which sometimes require split-second decisions.

Source: TOI

MxC

July 10th, 2008, 06:43 PM

ajithv

July 11th, 2008, 03:31 AM

Indian Railways has signed an MoU with Kerala government's department of industries and commerce to form a joint venture to manufacture bogie frames for passenger coaches. The JV will use land and other assets belonging to state government-owned Steel Industrials Kerala Ltd.
The joint venture will be formed in a phased manner over the next six months with Railways holding 51 per cent. The remainder, initially to be held by the Kerala government, will be transferred to SILK. The entities involved will be Autokast Ltd, a subsidiary of SILK and Steel Fabrication Unit, a division of SILK - both situated at S.N. Puram in Allapuzha district.

Source : Projects Monitor

MxC

July 11th, 2008, 10:48 PM

KANGRA VALLEY RAILWAY TRACK
CAUGHT IN A NARROW RANGE

Ravinder Sood

A number of plans have been drawn up to convert this narrow gauge line into a broad gauge line, but all remained confined to the files
Train of Problems

No effort has ever been made to convert this 120-km long rail track into a broad gauge line
Century-old engines and coaches are still plying on this track
The authorities even could not introduce the regular first-class compartment
The condition of the rail track between Pathankot and Jogindernagar is the worst
The retaining walls on the tracks have developed major cracks and wooden logs of the railway line have outlived its life
Residential quarters and railway station buildings are also crying for repair

Palampur, July 8
Kangra valley railway narrow gauge line, which plays a significant role in the economy of this region, is in a bad shape. Thanks to the apathy of the Indian Railways, which made no efforts in the past 70 years to convert this 120-km long rail track into a broad gauge line.

The British had laid down this railway line in 1932, linking all important and religious towns of Kangra and parts of Mandi district.

It is stated that the main objective to lay this track was to carry heavy equipments for the installation of Shanan Power House in Joginder Nagar.

Unfortunately, the Indian Railways have not added even a single brick to this track in the past 73 years.

A number of plans were drawn up to convert this narrow gauge line into a broad gauge line, but all remained confined to files. With a manifold increase in the population and the tourist traffic in the Kangra valley, the Railways has failed to come up to the expectations of the local people.

Century-old engines and coaches are still plying on this track. Even the authorities could not introduce the regular first-class compartment here.

At present, seven trains ply on this route daily covering 33 stations and passing through important places like Nurpur, Jawali, Jwalamukhi Road, Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan, Chamunda, Palampur, Baijnath and Jogindernagar, which are also major tourists attraction centres of the state.

The condition of the rail track between Pathankot and Jogindernagar has gone from bad to worse in the past 10 years, as the Railways authorities have no funds to repair the same. Several small and big bridges are in bad shape. The retaining walls on the tracks have developed major cracks. Wooden logs of the railway line have already lived its life but no efforts were ever made to replace the same, which could result in a tragedy anytime. The residential quarters and railway station buildings are also crying for repair.

Besides, almost all 33 railway stations of the Kangra valley railway line lack basic facilities like drinking water, cleanliness and waiting rooms for passengers.

Patti, Chauntra, Paror and Chamunda railway stations have no room for the passengers to sit. These stations also do not even have a temporary shed to save the passengers from unpredictable weather.

Family quarters of railway employees are on the verge of collapse. No senior officer of the Railways bothers to visit the track.

The Kangra valley attracts lakhs of tourists every year. If the rail services are improved and better amenities are provided to the passengers, tourist inflow would rise, which in turn would help in improving the economic condition of the state. It would not only make it convenient for the residents and tourists but also add to the revenue of the Railways.

Source: Tribune (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080709/himplus1.htm#1)

barrykul

July 13th, 2008, 04:07 AM

Indian Railways - bio-diesel (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/07/13/stories/2008071351340100.htm)

Indian Railways is likely to procure bio-diesel at Rs 31.34 a litre, which is about Rs 3-3.50 lower than the price it currently pays for high-speed diesel. Railways had floated a tender in the second half of 2007 to procure 50,000 kilo litres of bio-diesel.

Initially, Railways plans to use bio-diesel at ten per cent blending levels in all its 38 mainline locomotive sheds on a pilot basis. “If the project is successful, the blending levels can be moved further up,” said sources.

The Railways’ move to blend 10 per cent of bio-diesel is being viewed as an energy management strategy. With an annual consumption of 2.27 million kilo litres of high-speed diesel (HSD), Railways is the single-largest high-speed diesel user in the country.

Railways, which uses a mix of diesel and electric traction, moves about half of its passenger traffic and 38 per cent of freight traffic using diesel. In 2008-09, while on one hand Railways has been hit by the fuel price hike by about Rs 560 crore, it has also seen a significant reduction in the extent of discount it received from oil marketing firms.

In the current calendar year, it receives a discount of Rs 150 a kilolitre of HSD from oil marketing firms, over and above the rate at which the oil companies dispatch HSD to their retail outlets.

This is much lower than the Rs 1,125.27 a kilolitre discount that Railways enjoyed in 2007 and 2006.

For HSD procurement, the Railways enters into rate contracts with various oil marketing companies for the year.

The rate is generally the same for all companies and when finalised, the Ministry informs all zonal railways about the agreed rate.

Euromast

July 13th, 2008, 09:59 AM

So there is some progress on the modernization plan of New Delhi railway station. I know there was a news on this in HT sometimes back. But there was hardly any plan in it to give an idea about what to expect. Does someone have any plans related information that they can share here?

New Delhi station to be equipped with hi-tech lighting system (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/New_Delhi_station_to_be_equipped_with_hi-tech_lighting_system/articleshow/3228132.cms)

NEW DELHI: Aiming to convert New Delhi Railway Station as an urban icon, the Rail Ministry is planning to equip the station with world class lighting system.

"The lighting is an integral part of the station architecture and it has to be coordinated with other elements of the proposed world class New Delhi railway station," a senior official said.

The intelligent lighting system will be introduced for automatic switching of light fixtures to achieve maximum energy saving," said the official.

There will be retail outlets, restaurants, currency exchange counters, cyber cafes, banking with ATM facilities, car rentals at the New Delhi railways station.

Major players, including GMR, DLF, L&T, Reliance and ADAG, have shown keen interest in the Rs 6,000 crore redevelopment of New Delhi railway station project. We have to short list six bidders by the first week of August for the next stage of bidding," the official said.

MxC

July 13th, 2008, 04:55 PM

Heritage on Wheels to fold up (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Heritage_on_Wheels_to_fold_up/articleshow/3227519.cms)
If you were planning a ride on Heritage on Wheels, better make it before December 31. For, that is when this luxury train, which runs between Bikaner and the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, will chug for the last time.

Buoyed by the runaway success of Palace on Wheels, Indian Railways and Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) signed a memorandum of understanding to run Heritage on Wheels on the meter gauge in early 2006. The idea was that this would open up for both domestic and foreign tourists regions that were not being covered by the Palace on Wheels.

It was planned as a three-night-four-day trip with the train leaving Jaipur twice a week. It first goes to the Shekhawati region, famous for its colourful havelis and frescoes, which makes the place a sort of open-air art gallery. And from there, it travels to Bikaner. The whole experience sets you back by Rs 12,500.

But this did not find many takers: it's occupancy hovered around 30%. The 72-berth train, with its heritage feel, two restaurants - Maharaja and Maharani - and a well-stocked bar cost the railways Rs 9 crore. However, it never came anywhere near making profits.

To make matters worse, the railways is now converting the tracks after Shekhawati to broad gauge, which means the train's journey will have to be terminated there. And this would mean even fewer customers.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has now been given the task of finding a solution to Heritage on Wheels. Pradeep Dhiman, deputy general manager (tourism) of IRCTC, said, "We are looking at various options that would make maintenance of the cabins self-sustaining. Talks are on with several hotels, including some at Jaipur like the Taj, Rajputana Sheraton and Clarks Amer, to use the coaches of this train as a bar or restaurant or even to put up guests during peak season for an out-of-the-ordinary experience."

IRCTC may lease out the heritage train to one of these hotels or a tour operator for Rs 1 lakh a month per coach. If this doesn't work, it could park the train at some prominent station and run it as a food plaza or a restaurant.

Hey, I wasn't even aware of such a train!

phaedrus

July 13th, 2008, 08:19 PM

^^me neither!

Euromast

July 14th, 2008, 10:20 PM

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/2677/14072008001006kn9.jpg

MxC

July 14th, 2008, 10:46 PM

^^ With the platform being Vista, I'm seriously doubting how much stable this new system will be :lol::nuts:

On a more serious note, if the system will be able to deliver as promised, it would be great improvement to the existing inquiry system!

BTW, the news says "... leaving the controller more time to make faster decisions about the best possible route for a train, thereby reducing delays ...". Except in case of an accident, a train always follows a fixed route. What then is the meaning of this part :dunno:

zhiemi, would you mind providing the link of your source as well.

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/2677/14072008001006kn9.jpg

Both these news item concern providing information about exact location of train, but they seem to be using different methods of doing it. Which then is the actual system here ?? And why do we have two different systems being developed for the same. Anybody with some insider information here?

Or are they basically talking about the same system here, but in totally different terms?

sidney_jec

July 15th, 2008, 08:09 AM

Both these news item concern providing information about exact location of train, but they seem to be using different methods of doing it. Which then is the actual system here ?? And why do we have two different systems being developed for the same. Anybody with some insider information here?

Or are they basically talking about the same system here, but in totally different terms?

i think both would never reach a stage where they would be implemented..
IR has the habit of flaunting its achievements but not implementing them..
for eg the anti collision devices which still are in a testing phase (as IR puts it) after a much fanfare release..
the fate holds the same for skybus (it was an IR project right???)..

MxC

July 15th, 2008, 05:28 PM

Freight corridor work soon (http://www.siasat.com/english/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=281427&Itemid=79&cattitle=Hyderabad)
Hyderabad, July 12: Work relating to the much awaited Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) proposed by the railways will start in the current year, Member Engineering of the Railway Board, Satish K Vij said on Friday.

Speaking at a media conference at Rail Nilayam in Secunderabad on Friday, he said “A core team has already been formed with its headquarters in New Delhi and is doing its home work in association with the consulting firms.”

Major bridges will be required in the Surat-Mumbai sector and the aim would be to build bridges which have sound design and low cost maintenance, he added.

Replying to a question on the major challenges faced by them with regard to the DFC, he said finance was a major challenge besides shortage in terms of capacity building and skilled labour in India.

The Dedicated Freight Corridor project costs over Rs 30,000 crore. It envisages construction of 5,600 km of railway line which also includes 3,000 km of double lines of railway tracks.

Satish Vij said that a Special Purpose Vehicle has been created and has been formalised also.

“We are tying up with Japan and the World Bank to fulfill the financial commitments towards the project. The Japanese are interested in the Western Corridor (Delhi to Mumbai) while the World Bank is interested in the Eastern Corridor (Delhi to Kolkata),” he said.

SEMINAR: Earlier speaking at a seminar on “Recent Advances and Future Trends in Design and Construction of Bridges” orgainsed by the National Bridge R & D Centre (NBRDC) of the Indian Institute of Bridge Engineers (IIBE), Hyderabad, Satish Vij said that a decision has been taken to see to it that all the rail bridges in the country are capable of handling an axle load of 25 tonnes.

He also released a souvenir of technical papers on the art and science of bridges on the occasion. He said that while there was a need to build 1200 Road Over Bridges (ROBs) in the country, the railways was building only 30 ROBs because of the various problems encountered by local municipal bodies.

Speaking on the occasion, General Manager of the South Central Railway, H K Padhee said that bridges should be aesthetically designed besides being technically sound. The bridge across Hoogly took almost 25 years to get completed and asked the engineers to see to it that such delays do not happen now.

Managing Director of Hyderabad Metro Rail limited NVS Reddy announced a token amount of Rs 5 Lakh to IIBE on behalf of the State Government and appealed to the people at IIBE to help the Metro Rail in its future endeavours.

“A bridge across river Chenab in Akhnoor, J&K was was a tough challenge but was built in a record time of just 22 months,” Director General of the Border Roads Organisation AK Nanda said.

He said that the BRO had built 46 bridges in the last year alone and work on another 158 bridges is on.

skganji

July 15th, 2008, 10:11 PM

Freight corridor work soon (http://www.siasat.com/english/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=281427&Itemid=79&cattitle=Hyderabad)

“A bridge across river Chenab in Akhnoor, J&K was was a tough challenge but was built in a record time of just 22 months,” Director General of the Border Roads Organisation AK Nanda said. When was this completed. They were saying that bridge over Chenab will not be completed until 2009. How many bridges need to be completed on River Chenab. I thought that there is only one bridge which will be the world's tallest Railway bridge across River Chenab.

MxC

July 15th, 2008, 11:50 PM

“A bridge across river Chenab in Akhnoor, J&K was was a tough challenge but was built in a record time of just 22 months,” Director General of the Border Roads Organisation AK Nanda said. When was this completed. They were saying that bridge over Chenab will not be completed until 2009. How many bridges need to be completed on River Chenab. I thought that there is only one bridge which will be the world's tallest Railway bridge across River Chenab.

The bridge in question is not the one which is part of JUSBRL project. It's actually a road bridge on Chenab at another small town Akhnoor. You can find more info in the J&K projects thread at http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=488675&page=3. Look there for post #48.

MxC

July 17th, 2008, 07:36 AM

Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor to be ready by 2013 (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Delhi-Mumbai_industrial_corridor_to_be_ready_by_2013/articleshow/3242648.cms)

An ambitious $90 bn industrial project along side the Delhi-Mumbai dedicated rail freight route will be ready with manufacturing and trading hubs by 2013, a senior official said on Wednesday.

However, the project faces a daunting task in terms of meeting requirements of water and electricity.

"The electricity capacity that exists and the capacity being planned are not adequate. The availability of water is also an issue," advisor of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Ajay Dua said at a CII and Japan External Trade Organisation function in New Delhi.

Mr Dua, who was instrumental in finalising the project as DIPP secretary, said Japan is committed to making big investments in DMIC. He has since retired from that post and advises the DIPP on the project.

The 1,483-km corridor would cover Delhi and NCR, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The corridor, for which a company has been incorporated, will have a 4,000 mw power plant, three greenfield ports and six airports. It will also link 10 cities with over 10 lakh population, including Faridabad, Surat, Delhi, Greater Mumbai, Meerut, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune and Nashik.

Industrial units will come up along major transport arteries such as highways and railways connecting ports to facilitate internal and external trade.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indian Industry and Japan External Trade Organisation have launched a portal for investors.

I don't think I've properly understood what is this project. Is it meaning that there will be various industrial projects spread throughout the Mumbai-Delhi DFC route? If so, how come Meerut comes into picture here? Can someone help me understand it.

PS: This may not be the best thread for this post, but is the closest one I could think of.

a_niranjan

July 17th, 2008, 04:04 PM

MxC,

The corridor extends past Delhi and has a small spur in UP. There is a thread dedicated to the DMIC which has a nice map of this.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=627885

MxC

July 17th, 2008, 05:42 PM

MxC,

The corridor extends past Delhi and has a small spur in UP. There is a thread dedicated to the DMIC which has a nice map of this.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=627885

Thanks a_niranjan for the pointer. It did came as a surprise to me. I generally try to follow atleast a majority of the top infra projects in India. I guess I missed this one somehow. I've now added that thread to my subscription as well.

BTW, do you or someone else knows if there is a way to get some sort of auto notification when new threads are added (something like a weekly announcement of all new threads added during the week) espcially those related to India.

Euromast

July 17th, 2008, 09:54 PM

Invensys Rail Gr to set up business dev office in the country

UK-based Invensys Rail Group has announced setting up of a business development and engineering design office here to exclusively service their railway business in the country.
"Opening a dedicated office in Bangalore is fundamental to achieving our business goals in India. We already have an ongoing dialogue with Indian Railways and I hope that this office opening underlines the commitment to Indian Railways as a customer and state authorities responsible for mass transit as an important market," IRG President and CEO James Drummond said.
The office would accommodate 25 people and initially host IRG's business development and engineering design teams, the statement added.
It plans to focus on business opportunities within the mainline and mass transit markets in India, it added.
IRG, which has a R&D centre in Hyderabad, specialises in signalling and train control systems world wide.

a_niranjan

July 18th, 2008, 06:00 AM

BTW, do you or someone else knows if there is a way to get some sort of auto notification when new threads are added (something like a weekly announcement of all new threads added during the week) espcially those related to India.

I have no idea but would be interested in the answer as well.

MxC

July 18th, 2008, 02:10 PM

Some developments related to the Leh railway line ...

Rly asks pvt company to conduct feasibility survey of HP project (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Rly_asks_pvt_company_to_conduct_feasibility_survey_of_HP_project/articleshow/3250047.cms)
Railways have asked a private company to carry out a feasibility survey of broad gauging Pathankot-Jogindernagar line upto Leh, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said on Friday.

The development comes in the wake of Himachal Pradesh government's demand of broadgauging the route.

"A private company has been entrusted by the Railways to survey the project," Dhumal told PTI after laying foundation of a road bridge here in Kangra district.

Estimated at the cost of about Rs 65,000 crore, the project would be of great importance considering its implications on country's security and tourism, he said.

With the centre reluctant to continue on the project earlier on the grounds that it was economically inviable, Dhumal had argued that it was strategically significant for India in view of China expanding its Railway line up to the borders.

Dhumal said the state Finance Commissioner Arvind Mehta had met Railway authorities in Delhi on June 23 in which it was decided to assign the survey work to a private company.

He recently pitched for the project with President Pratibha Patil during her Shimla tour and also to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

MxC

July 18th, 2008, 02:41 PM

Invensys Rail Gr to set up business dev office in the country

.

Here's the link (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Invensys_Rail_Gr_to_set_up_business_dev_office_in_the_country/articleshow/3246536.cms).

MxC

July 18th, 2008, 07:08 PM

Railway revenue earnings up by 21.49 per cent during the period 1st – 10th July 2008 (http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=40472)
The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during the period 1st July – 10th July 2008 were Rs. 2014.18 crore compared to Rs. 1657.92 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 21.49 per cent.

The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 1107.61 crore during 1st July – 10th July 2007 to Rs. 1354.86 crore during 1st July – 10th July 2008, showing an increase of 22.32 per cent. The total passenger revenue earnings during the period 1st to 10th July 2008 were Rs. 594.27 crore compared to Rs. 480.58 crore during the same period last year, reflecting an increase of 23.66 per cent. The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs. 47.29 crore during this period compared to Rs. 44.31 crore during the same period last year, showing an increase of 6.73 per cent.

The total approximate number of passengers booked during the period 1st to 10th July 2008 were 203.13 million compared to 185.76 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 9.35 per cent. In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the number of passengers booked during 1–10 July 2008 were 112.62 million and 90.51 million compared to 104.82 million and 80.94 million during the same period last year, registering an increase of 7.44 per cent and 11.82 per cent respectively.

Railways is now reporting their earning nos for a 10 days period :weird:

slashcruise

July 19th, 2008, 01:07 AM

Indian railways needs to catch up fast with the quality of services being provided to match the world standards....I hope then new stations and lines they are going to add in new cities will have at least LCD screens in them....

MxC

July 20th, 2008, 04:43 PM

Australian firm to invest Rs 1,350 cr in railway safety devices (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Australian_firm_to_invest_Rs_1350_cr_in_railway_safety_devices/articleshow/3253861.cms)
The Kota Division Railway Authority has written to an Australian company on installation of some safety equipment in its sections, railway sources said on Saturday.

The company had sent a proposal to the Authority to install equipment at an investment of just over 200 million euro (Rs 1,350 crore).

In a letter, the Authority has asked the firm to send its representatives to exhibit its products before July-end.

The company will install four types of equipment. The first is an anti-collision device meant for use on railway engines which has already been drafted in North Frontier Railway.

The second is an integrated crossing protection system proposed to be installed at railway road crossings. It alerts personnel in case the railway gate of the crossing is not closed.

The third is a device to be fixed on the engine for alerting the driver of an obstruction in its path. The fourth is a hot box detection system also to be installed in the engine to make the driver and station control room alert if the wheels are heated or some other flaw has appeared in the running of the train.

The divisional railway will close down 88 unmanned level crossings of 119, sources said.

Good to hear. However I didn't knew that individual division have had the ability to get technology imports :uh:. I always thought it was handled by the railways centrally :?

MxC

July 20th, 2008, 04:48 PM

Railways to increase cloak room charges from Aug (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Railways_to_increase_cloak_room_charges_from_Aug/articleshow/3255190.cms)

You will now have to shell out more money for keeping your luggage in cloak rooms and lockers at stations as the Railways has decided to increase the charges.

"The Ministry has decided to revise the charges for cloak rooms and lockers from August one and a circular has been issued accordingly," a senior official said. According to the circular, the cloak room charges for 24 hours have been revised from Rs 10 to Rs 15 per luggage while for the locker the charges have been increased to Rs 20 from Rs 15.

For the next 24 hours, the Ministry will charge Rs 20 per luggage for the cloak room instead of Rs 12 and Rs 30 for the locker against Rs 20, the circular said adding that for each subsequent 24 hour, Rs 25 will be charged for cloak rooms and Rs 40 for lockers.

The charges were revised after seven years. The last revision of cloak room and locker was effected in October 2001. Most of the major stations have cloak room and lockers where one can keep luggage on payment of prescribed fees. The railways provide cloak room and locker facilities for bonafide passengers to keep their valuables as an amenity at major stations on payment of prescribed charges.

However, as per the rules, articles which could be explosive, offensive or perishable are not permitted inside the locker or cloak room. "Efforts are on to provide better amenities to passengers at all stations and trains. Medical aid, wheel chair and stretchers are also provided at station, if required," the official said.

I had forgotten that these cloak rooms still exists. Are these facilitites still in popular use? BTW how does railway ensures that the luggage kept in there doesn't contains explosives, etc.

MxC

July 20th, 2008, 04:53 PM

Thane-Panvel railway line to be operated by this year end (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Thane-Panvel_railway_line_to_be_operated_by_this_year_end/articleshow/3255586.cms)
Thane-Panvel railway line will become operational by the end of this year, Thane MP Anand Paranjpe said.

Paranjpe, who met the Railway Dvisional Ralway Manager J N Lal on Saturday, said here that the work on the long-pending Thane-Panvel rail link was going on a fast pace.

A visibly joyed Paranjpe told presspersons, after meeting the DRM, that the railway line could be considered to be a new year's gift by the Railways to lakhs of people in Thane and Raidagh districts.

The rail line will prove to be a boon to developing cities in and around Thane and Mumbai. With the new international airport coming up in Raigadh/Navi Mumbai this will go a long way in improving the communication network, the MP said.

Paranjpe was accompanied by Shiv Sena Thane district unit chief and MLA Eknath Shinde.

According to the MP the other issues discussed at the meeting included several problems being faced by lakhs of railway commuters of Thane and Karjat and Kasara.

It was decided that a team of Central Railway officials along with the elected representatives will visit these railway stations in Thane, Karjat and Kasara areas to have on the spot study.

It was also decided at the meeting that the long-pending work on the East and West railway link of Thane city will resume with immediate effect.

The other issues discussed at the meeting were maintenance of cleanliness at railway stations, halting of all long distance trains at Thane, mending of faulty ticket vending machines and other problems being faced by commuters by Smart Card validating machines.

Good to know things are moving.

Suncity

July 20th, 2008, 06:04 PM

Railways to buy 660 electric engines for €3.5 billion

http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/08214519/Railways-to-buy-660-electric-e.html?h=B

In one of the largest deals of its kind, India will buy 660 electric railway engines worth an estimated €3.5 billion (about Rs23,835 crore).
The railway ministry—in its biggest ever global tender, floated on 12 June—invited bids from firms that would not only supply these high-speed engines but also build a locomotive factory in Madhepura, Bihar, at an estimated cost of more than Rs1,000 crore. The factory will have an installed capacity to produce 1,000 electric engines a year.

The last date for submitting requests for qualification is 18 July, and the price bidding is expected to start from 25 July.

Details of the order for locomotives came to light after the railway ministry issued a request for proposal, or RFP, to appoint consultants to prepare bid documents for the tender. In the RFP document, the railways said the purchase contract will be for 1,000 engines to be bought over eight years.
“Considering the scale and nature of the project, Indian Railways has dropped the idea of just forming a private-public partnership for acquiring these locomotives,” the person said. “The authorities have introduced a concept of long-term procurement-cum-maintenan-ce of electric locomotives.”
Under this regime, the winning company or consortium would have to supply 12,000hp electric locomotives over eight years, and maintain them for 20 years.
“The new concept is a welcome step,” said Rajeev Joti, president and managing director (India, transportation), Bombardier Transportation India Ltd. “This will enable companies to look beyond just supplying the locomotives and open up new avenues of business without compromising profitability.”
The engines would be deployed on the dedicated rail freight corrridors India is building, besides hauling cargo on the common rail network. India’s 2,700km-long dedicated freight corridor project was conceived in 2005 as a way to ease traffic on some of the country’s busiest freight routes running through 12 states. The corridor will connect New Delhi in the north to Mumbai in the west and Kolkata in the east. These routes account for 60% of the freight transported by the railways, which had initially estimated the project to cost around Rs28,000 crore.
The railways may pick up a 26% stake in the joint venture company that will build the locomotive factory.
The government is likely to offer land to the joint venture on a 35-year lease.

phaedrus

July 20th, 2008, 07:38 PM

Thane-Panvel railway line to be operated by this year end

Thane-Panvel railway line will become operational by the end of this year, Thane MP Anand Paranjpe said.

Paranjpe, who met the Railway Dvisional Ralway Manager J N Lal on Saturday, said here that the work on the long-pending Thane-Panvel rail link was going on a fast pace.

A visibly joyed Paranjpe told presspersons, after meeting the DRM, that the railway line could be considered to be a new year's gift by the Railways to lakhs of people in Thane and Raidagh districts.

The rail line will prove to be a boon to developing cities in and around Thane and Mumbai. With the new international airport coming up in Raigadh/Navi Mumbai this will go a long way in improving the communication net work, the MP said.

Paranjpe was accompanied by Shiv Sena Thane district unit chief and MLA Eknath Shinde.

According to the MP the other issues discussed at the meeting included several problems being faced by lakhs of railway commuters of Thane and Karjat and Kasara.

It was decided that a team of Central Railway officials along with the elected representatives will visit these railway stations in Thane, Karjat and Kasara areas to have on the spot study.

It was also decided at the meeting that the long-pending work on the East and West railway link of Thane city will resume with immediate effect.

The other issues discussed at the meeting were maintenance of cleanliness at railway stations, halting of all long distance trains at Thane, mending of faulty ticket vending machines and other problems being faced by commuters by Smart Card validating machines.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Thane-Panvel_railway_line_to_be_operated_by_this_year_end/articleshow/3255586.cms)

MxC

July 23rd, 2008, 04:22 AM

Railway revenues witness a jump in first quarter (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Railway_revenues_witness_a_jump_in_first_quarter/articleshow/3260916.cms)
The Railways has registered an increase of 18.04 per cent in its total approximate earnings in the first quarter this financial year compared to last year.

"The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during April 1 to June 30 this year was Rs 19,549.29 crore compared to 16,561.44 crore during the same period last year," a ministry spokesman said here on Monday.

The total goods earnings have also gone up from Rs 11.036.23 crore during the period last year to Rs 13,470.11 crore, an increase of 22 per cent, the spokesman said.

The total passenger revenue earnings during this period were Rs 5,342.17 crore compared to Rs 4,858.07 crore during the same period last year, registering a growth of 9.96 per cent.

From other coaching, the revenue earnings amounted to Rs 509.30 crore compared to Rs 472.24 crore, an increase of 7.85 per cent. The total sundry earnings have gone up from Rs 194.9 crore to Rs 227.71 crore, an increase of 16.83 per cent.

The Railways also witnessed an increase in the total approximate number of passengers preferring trains than other modes of transport. The number of passengers jumped to 1739.33 mn this quarter compared to 1,649.04 mn last year, showing an increase of 5.48 per cent.

In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the number of passengers booked was 916.22 mn and 823.11 mn respectively compared to 883.45 mn and 765.59 mn last year, an increase of 3.71 per cent and 7.51 per cent respectively

Well, good signs that railway kitty is growing. Hope to see this extra amt getting invested in more and more projects.

MxC

July 23rd, 2008, 08:42 PM

Online reservation facility for Golden Chariot launched (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Online_reservation_facility_for_Golden_Chariot_launched/articleshow/3271177.cms)
BANGALORE: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Wednesday launched the online reservation facility for Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation's (KSTDC) luxury train, the Golden Chariot.

The first of its kind facility in the luxury train segment, the online reservation provides for value-added services like streamlining bookings, allocation of cabins, food preferences and additional services such as wheel chair.

KSTDC has signed an agreement with Leela Group of Hotels to facilitate and market The Golden Chariot in India and abroad.

Speaking at the launch, Yedyurapp said the online faciltiy has not only put Karnataka Tourism on international map but has become one of the more prestigious products of the country. These marketing initiatives were essential to make the Golden Chariot one of the most coveted train journeys in the world. 'This will also turn the attention to Karnataka's tourism industry', he said.

Karnataka has great potential for tourism and if marketed properly, the state would benefit immensely, he said.

The KSTDC has empanelled six general sales agents for the marketing of this product in the international markets. BTW, I wonder many times if our reporters/news agencies ever bother to spell/grammar check their stories before publishing them :gaah:

MxC

July 23rd, 2008, 08:47 PM

Railways launch stainless steel body open wagons (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Railways_launch_stainless_steel_body_open_wagons/articleshow/3271331.cms)
To improve the reliability and productivity of its freight wagons, Railways have taken up upgradation of existing open wagons into stainless steel body wagons.

A stainless steel body wagon upgraded from an open wagon was flagged off on Tuesday from the Carriage and Wagon Works at Perambur here, according to a press release.

The upgradaed wagons have the potential to carry additional freight of 11.6 tonnes for each wagon, the release said.

Railway Board Member-Mechanical Raj Kamal Rao formally flagged off the first wagon at a function.

For a rake of 58 wagons, it worked out to additional freight of 673 tonnes, about 16.6 per cent higher than the existing pay load of a rake, the release added.

Does someone knows about their cost comparison, both manufacturing and operating, vs the existing wagons??

phaedrus

July 23rd, 2008, 11:39 PM

i wonder many times if our reporters/news agencies ever bother to spell/grammar check their stories before publishing them :gaah:
there are so many mistakes that nowadays i have stopped bothering about correcting them.

MxC

July 23rd, 2008, 11:54 PM

Contact Wire at 7.45 m. for double-stack containers
(Source is not known)East coast Railway has taken Indian Railways to new heights literally by making the country the first in the world in having electrified tracks that stand a height of 7.45 metre.

The feat was achieved in the Daitari-Jakhapura section of ECoR to facilitate running of double stack container goods train.

The trial was conducted by electric locomotive fitted with special type of pantograph which can work in the normal electrified territory and also in DSC. The trial was conducted within Jakhapura-Tomka from 6th to 9th July '08.

DSC movement by rail is presently in vogue mainly in China and U.S.A. While the contact wire height for electrification for DSC in China is 6.6 m, the same is 7.1 m. in USA. It is for the first time in the world that Overhead Equipment (OHE) has been erected at a height of 7.45 m in India for running of DSC goods train under electric traction.

This work was completed within a period of two months time and the trial was conducted during 1st week of July '08. Consultancy for the trail was given by International Corporation agencies like JICA, Japan.

MxC

July 24th, 2008, 12:27 AM

^^ I was not aware that there was a East Coast Railway as well :) But apparently there is, and looks like the piece above originated from http://eastcoastrailway.gov.in/custom/press_release/index.php

Arul Murugan

July 24th, 2008, 07:22 AM

23 coaches and 2 engines are exported to Tanzania from Trichy golden workshop through Chennai port.

http://dkn.dinakaran.co.in/2472008/DN_24-07-08_E1_04-01%20CNI.jpg

I think these coaches are used to run in southern railways MG section, now POH/retrofitted and exported to African countries!

Euromast

July 24th, 2008, 08:56 PM

Railways invites global tenders for JVs
Tiruchirapalli, July 24: Indian Railways, as part of embarking joint ventures with private players to manufacture locomotives and passenger coaches, have invited global tenders to identify suitable partners for its ventures.

Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, Raj Kamal Rao, member (mechanical) Railway Board, said the joint ventures (JVs) were for passenger coach manufacturing facility at Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, a diesel locomotive manufacturing unit at Madora in Bihar and for production of electric locomotives at Modepura in Bihar.

These units were expected to come up within the next three years, with the actual investments being nearly Rs 2,200 crore, he said.

The railway was in the process of producing stainless steel goods wagons instead of the mild steel ones, he said

MxC

July 24th, 2008, 10:14 PM

^^ Source please.

MxC

July 24th, 2008, 10:15 PM

Actual reduction in fares in real money value terms: Railways (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Actual_reduction_in_fares_in_real_money_value_terms_Railways/articleshow/3276321.cms)
In a review of its measures which have resulted in benefit to the passengers and other users, the Railway Ministry on Thursday said that there has been an actual reduction in fares in real money value terms.

"Despite annual escalation in Wholesale Price Index and steadily increasing cost of inputs by way of rising fuel prices and increasing cost of men and material, the cost of transportation for passengers and also freight for majority of commodities have been pegged at almost the same levels," an official release from the Railway Ministry said.

ImBoredNow

July 25th, 2008, 06:12 PM

Euromast

July 25th, 2008, 10:03 PM

^^ Source please.

It was in zeenews coolest one

arijeetb

July 29th, 2008, 08:11 AM

N Railways introduces ozone-friendly AC system (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/N_Railways_introduces_ozone-friendly_AC_system/articleshow/3295512.cms)

NEW DELHI: After using harmful gases for years as refrigerant in AC coaches, Railway is now replacing it with ozone-friendly Air Conditioning system in the trains.

The 150-year-old organisation was using refrigerant based on dichlorodiflouro methane gas, which is harmful to the ozone layer causing its depletion.

"The dichlorodiflouro methane (R-12) is not environment friendly. If it leaks out during break downs or accidents, it will deplete the ozone layer around the stratosphere," a Northern Railway official said.

"The new refrigerants called R-134A and MO-49 are more eco-friendly. We have converted 11 coaches equipped with conventional under-slung AC plants with eco-friendly refrigerants," the official said.

Northern Railway has a fleet of 1,169 AC coaches. Out of 1,169, 302 coaches (116 Self Generating, 122 End-On Generation and 64 generators cars) are equipped with conventional type of under-slung AC plants.

The conventional under slung AC plants use dichlorodiflouro methane-based refrigerant.

The self generating air-conditioned coaches are attached to long distance trains and are 485 in number whereas, the end -on generation coaches are 560 in number and are used in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Garib Rath trains, the official said.

zhiemi

July 29th, 2008, 08:19 AM

Railways chug on ‘139’, call centre a huge hit (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Railways-chug-on-139-call-centre-a-huge-hit/341547/)

The move by Indian Railways to outsource the integrated train enquiry services to a BPO for all calls related to its rail services has proved to be a major success in the very first year since its launch. The ‘139’ Indian Railways tele-helpline, which has been outsourced to Bharat BPO (part of Omnia BPO Services Ltd), has already earned the company revenues of over Rs 1 crore since its launch on July 17 last year.

Bharat BPO CEO Pravin Kumar told FE that the Rail Sampark project was initiated as a part of the rail reforms advocated by railway minister Lalu Prasad. The service was aimed at bringing high quality information services within the reach of rail passengers across the nation.

Kumar said that the call centre executing the Rail Sampark project receives around 5 lakh calls every day from all over the country to enquire about various rail related services. The call centre handles enquiries pertaining to arrival and departure timings of trains, schedules of trains plying between two stations, PNR and reservation of berth status, fare enquiry, availability of Tatkal reservations, concessions, ticket cancellation and refund rules, among other things, informed Kumar.

Kumar said that at present the company operates from four centres in the metros and proposes to set up regional call centres for the railways at places like Noida, Ahmedabad and Mysore. Kumar said that the call centre received around 25-40% of the revenue earned by the telecom service provider on each incoming call. “Our revenue is based on per-call-per-connect-minute,” said Kumar.

Kumar says that initially, the rail enquiry services were offered only to subscribers of state-owned MTNL and BSNL. Later on, the services were extended to all telecom subscribers, including those of Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance, BPL and Tata Indicom.

Meanwhile, Nalin Singhal, managing director, Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd said that the service would bring about a revolution in Indian Railways.

phaedrus

July 31st, 2008, 02:11 PM

Arshiya to invest Rs 1,600-crore in rail business

Global logistics and supply chain services company, Arshiya International, on Wednesday said it plans to invest Rs 1,600-crore into its rail business--Arshiya Rail Infrastructure.

This capex would be deployed towards acquiring 3,375 wagons (75 rakes plus break vans), a press release issued stated. The capex would also be deployed for the building of rail sidings and other necessary infrastructure across the country.

The 75 rakes would be delivered over 18-months, making Arshiya Rail Infrastructure the largest private rail operator in the country by end-2009, the release said. The first rake is expected to be deployed on November 15 this year.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Shipping__Transport/Arshiya_to_invest_Rs_1600-crore_in_rail_business_/articleshow/3307561.cms)

phaedrus

July 31st, 2008, 02:12 PM

Railways launches new wagons

Indian Railways have taken up upgradation of existing open wagons into stainless steel body wagons to improve the reliability and productivity of its freight wagons.

The Railways has flagged off such a wagon, a stainless steel body wagon upgraded from an open wagon, early last week from the Carriage and Wagon Works at Perambur.

The new wagons have the potential to carry additional freight of 11.6 tonnes for each wagon. Accordingly, for a rake of 58 wagons, it worked out to additional freight of 673 tonnes, about 16.6% higher than the existing pay load of a rake.

Mean while it has invited global tenders to identify suitable partners for its ventures to manufacture locomotives and passenger coaches.

According to official circles, it is looking at partners for joint ventures for passenger coach manufacturing facility at Raebarelli in Uttar Pradesh, a diesel locomotive manufacturing unit at Madora in Bihar and production of electric locomotives at Modepura also in Bihar.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Railways_launches_new_wagons/articleshow/3292384.cms)

phaedrus

July 31st, 2008, 02:13 PM

Railways profit to cross Rs one lakh crore next fiscal

The profits earned by the railways would cross the Rs one lakh crore mark in the next financial year.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announced this after laying the foundation stone of the Rs 1417.23 crore train wheel factory at Bela near here, marking the beginning of the construction work on the project.

Prasad, billed as the person who pulled the railways out of the red, also virtually kicked off his election campaign seeking the blessings of the people of his Chapra constituency who have returned him to the Lok Sabha thrice.

"From Chapra to Rae Bareli to Kerala, I have sanctioned railway projects without any bias," he said.
On the proposed rail wheel factory, third in the country, Prasad said it would annually produce one lakh wheels.
The comprehensive contract for setting up the factory and allied structures has been awarded to Larsen & Toubro. The company bagged the order while competing with two other bidders--Tata Projects and Gammon India.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Railways_profit_to_cross_Rs_one_lakh_crore_next_fiscal/articleshow/3302711.cms)

Bombay Boy

August 1st, 2008, 05:30 AM

what are they doing with such a large profit. its a government monopoly, it should be spending all its money in improving its services and infrastucture

barrykul

August 1st, 2008, 07:08 AM

Railways profit to cross Rs one lakh crore next fiscal

This is great. But what is IR going to do with this profit. I was just watching a travel channel which had some footage of China. Amazing is the word I can use for their transformation. China has transformed itself into what can possibly be described as a first rate infrastructure country. The traveler who is American, boarded a train from a station which looks more like a modern Airport. Electronic signage abounded everywhere, the place was crowded but everything moved in synch, was clean and logical. Passengers behaved like they were in an airport rather than a railway station. The train was sleek and modern with comfortable passenger rooms. The whole train was absolutely clean, bathrooms impeccably clean, a dining car served Chinese food in cutlery and table cloth. The traveler was at ease traveling as they would in America. Even intermediate railway stations on the way looked clean and modern. After exit from the train, there were orderly taxis all painted green to whisk away the passengers or they could choose comfortable A/C Volvo low floor type buses.

Now compare and contrast this with what IR is today. It has miles to go in the transformation. The Indian Railway train is a laughable piece of bygone crap, never updated in looks nor cleanliness nor comfort. Our Railway stations are relics of British built age old structures crumbling and decaying. Major surgery is required, i.e. bulldoze and start from scratch.

Lalu may have done a great job turning around the Railways financial picture but the main task at hand is the transformation of Indian Railways to the modern age. The task is monumental in scope and requires vision and tenacity.

There were other things from that travel piece I wish the Tourism Department of India learns from China. China has transformed the tourist city route into a fine art of commerce in places like Xian, Beijing, Chengdu etc. All the cities were clean and tidy, amazingly the place must have undergone some severe retraining of the people in civic cleanliness. Of course they all have gleaming new freeways, tall skyscrapers, neon lights blazoning the nights. They have shows a la Las Vegas style to keep the tourist riveted into Chinese cultural past, like the old vaudeville dance, comedy, song routine that Emperors were privy to see, or the Terra Cotta Soldiers of Xian, or a city water fountain show a la Bellagio in Las Vegas. China is playing the game like a fine Stradivarius violin in the hands of a maestro. Their foreign tourist traffic is orders of magnitude away than India. It is well know that for every tourist dollar spent five dollars of economic activity accrue. The Chinese know this fact full well.

bhopalus

August 1st, 2008, 07:15 AM

This is great. But what is IR going to do with this profit. I was just watching a travel channel which had some footage of China. Amazing is the word I can use for their transformation. China has transformed itself into what can possibly be described as a first rate infrastructure country. The traveler who is American, boarded a train from a station which looks more like a modern Airport. Electronic signage abounded everyone, the place was crowded but everything moved in synch was clean and logical. Passengers behaved like they were in an airport rather than a railway station. The train was sleek and modern with comfortable passenger rooms. The whole train was absolutely clean, bathrooms impeccably clean, a dining car served Chinese food in cutlery and table cloth. The traveler was at ease traveling as they would in America. Even intermediate railway stations on the way looked clean and modern. After exit from the train, there were orderly taxis all painted green to whisk away the passengers or they could choose comfortable A/C Volvo low floor type buses.

Now compare and contrast this with what IR is today. It has miles to go in the transformation. The Indian Railway train is a laughable piece of bygone crap, never updated in looks nor cleanliness nor comfort. Our Railway stations are relics of British built age old structures crumbling and decaying. Major surgery is required, i.e. bulldoze and start from scratch.

Lalu may have done a great job turning around the Railways financial picture but the main task at hand is the transformation of Indian Railways to the modern age. The task is monumental in scope and requires vision and tenacity.

There were other things from that travel piece I wish the Tourism Department of India learns from China. China has transformed the tourist city route into a fine art of commerce in places like Xian, Beijing, Chengdu etc. They have shows a la Las Vegas style to keep the tourist riveted into Chinese cultural past, like the old vaudeville dance, comedy, song routine that Emperors were privy to see, or the Terra Cotta Soldiers of Xian, or a city water fountain show a la Bellagio in Las Vegas. China is playing the game like a fine Stradivarius violin in the hands of a maestro. Their foreign tourist traffic is orders of magnitude away than India. It is well know that for every tourist dollar spent five dollars of economic activity accrue. The Chinese know this fact full well.

this stuff will come in the next decade when IR starts buddying up with the private sector

SarafIndian

August 1st, 2008, 03:45 PM

An interesting adv by South Eastern railway on Times of India :lol:

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/7236/ad0040404wl7.png

Euromast

August 2nd, 2008, 09:15 AM

CHUG DE INDI A - Indiah first bullet (proof) train engine

TRAIN SERVICES, suspended in May, have resumed along Assam's Lumding-Badarpur track. But with a difference. In a first for the country, all eight engines that have been inducted are bullet-proof. Trains stopped running in this 185km-long section after a militant outfit called Black Widow - which seeks separate statehood for the Dimasa tribe in Assam- gtmned down engine driver N. N. Bora on May 15, as he was hauling a special patrol train between Mupa and Kalachand stations. It was only the last of several attacks on railway employees and workers of the North East Frontier Railway in this region. "Services were resumed on Thursday with the flagging off of two trains with security provided by the army police and the railway protection force," NF Railway spokesperson Sameer Goswami told HT Nupur Malakar, who drove the train that set off from Badarput: remembers Bora well. "The presence of security is al1very well. But knowing that the en- gine is bullet-proof bolsters one's confidence further," he said. The engines were modified with bulletproof glass replacing ordinary glass in the windows and bullet- resistant metal being pasted on to the skies. The Lumding-Badarpur section, which passes through the hill districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills in Assam, is vital for the transportation of essential goods to Assam's Barak valley, as well as Tripura and Mizoram.

SarafIndian

August 2nd, 2008, 10:04 AM

CHUG DE INDI A - Indiah first bullet (proof) train engine

Technically good news. But its quite shameful that we had to make bulletproof trains. :ohno:

zenith_suv

August 2nd, 2008, 11:54 AM

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/1959/railwaystationzh6.jpg

Source - HT

About time actualy , now it's the turn of Nizamuddin station , trust me when I say that it's a shit hole

Euromast

August 3rd, 2008, 11:21 AM

Five firms shortlisted for Mumbai suburban rail project

The multi-crore project, that involves the suburban rail service from Churchgate to Virar in Mumbai, will be the first fully air-conditioned suburban rail service in the country

New Delhi:Five leading companies from across the globe including one from India have been shortlisted to undertake a feasibility study of the proposed elevated AC suburban rail corridor project in Mumbai.
“Two companies from Germany and one each from Spain, England and India have been shortlisted for the final selection of the consultant for the project,” a senior Railways Ministry official said. The decision on the consultant will be taken by end of this month.
The multi-crore project, that involves the suburban rail service from Churchgate to Virar in Mumbai, will be the first fully air-conditioned suburban rail service in the country, the official added.
The consultant will be required to do the initial planning, designing and finding possible places for the proposed 60-km long elevated suburban rail corridor project.
Besides the Virar-Churchgate route, the consultant will also examine the possibility of extending the elevated corridor further to Mantralaya and Nariman Point to CST.
“Initially the proposal was for the 60-km long Virar-Churchgate only. But the Maharashtra government suggested to extend it further. So the feasibility study will also examine the possibility of construction of elevated rail corridor on all the three routes,” said the official.
All the five players shortlisted for the job have experiences in projects related to high speed trains and urban transport, said the official. The project is likely to be executed on the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

LiveMint

bhopalus

August 3rd, 2008, 05:34 PM

so does this mean indian railways is competing with Mumbai Metro? Air Conditioned, brand new, foreign companies, so doesn't that mean a world class train?

irutavias

August 3rd, 2008, 07:50 PM

If this goes through, it will most likely mean better quality trains (closer to metro), but we shall see when renders are released. Somehow I have the feeling this will end up like a cross between light and heavy rail, due to the fact that its elevated, must be built quickly on top of a busy suburban line and must handle massive crowds.

Bombay Boy

August 3rd, 2008, 08:35 PM

more than just being built above existing rail lines how are they going to handle all the road and foot over-bridges above the western railway lines? there must be dozens of minor and major bridges on the way. sounds like a pipe dream to me, and will only delay the metro line from colaba to bandra

irutavias

August 4th, 2008, 05:19 PM

That's true. Either they can be torn down and taken underground (very expensive) or the elevation of the new lines need to be increased significantly (also very expensive). It does sound more unrealistic, but the project is achievable if it has sufficient backing. We need multiple solutions, and one metro line isn't going to be enough. At least 2 - 3 on the north south corridor. And wasn't plan 3 shelved? the one that actually went north-south?

cncity

August 7th, 2008, 01:26 AM

Pune, August 06 The ambitious metro rail project for the city is all set to begin its zero day soon with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) planning to set up a separate company by September.
The next month will also see the detailed project report (DPR) being submitted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (DMRC) for the Pune metro project.

“The DMRC is working on the DPR for the metro rail in the city and is likely to submit it by next month,” said municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi after the meeting of DMRC officials and the PMC standing committee.

The entire standing committee team had been to Delhi on a day’s visit and took trip across the city in the metro before coming back to the city to hold discussions with DMRC officials on the execution of the project.

Pardeshi the DMRC suggested the various possible models for execution of the mega project.

“Since the first phase of around 50 km is likely to cost Rs 5,000 crore and the civic body incapable of providing that amount of funds, the DMRC suggested a public private partnership model for the Pune Metro,” he said.

Thus, the project specific SPV for the metro, under the already proposed SPV for providing the infrastructure for the city would be set up for managing the metro rail, Pardeshi said.

The idea of allowing the proposed company to generate revenue through commercial ventures at the proposed railway stations is on the cards so as to recover the huge investment to be made for the project.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Pune-Metro-project-report-next-month/345645/

phaedrus

August 8th, 2008, 03:09 PM

Indian Railways eyes African market to export locomotives

Riding on the wheels of achievement, Indian Railways is now eyeing the African market to generate revenue by exporting advanced diesel locomotives to the third world countries and has planned to invest Rs 150 crore for the purpose.

"We are investing Rs 150 crores for the expansion of our unit and we are eyeing at producing about 250 locomotives annually to cater to the need of both domestic and international market," an official at the Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) here said.

The official said the unit has recently received orders from Sri Lanka for three locomotives. African countries have also shown interest in India's indigenous locomotives.

"We have manufactured a diesel locomotive with a capacity of 3,000 horse power (hp) especially designed for the cape gauge line in Mozambique in Africa," the official said.
This is the first time that an advance locomotive with a capacity of 3000 hp is being exported. Until now locomotives with 2300 hp were being exported which are suitable for the African railway tracks.

"We will provide the locomotive to Mozambique on lease and it would become operational before the end of this year," the official said.

"The Mozambique engine is air-conditioned with facilities of refrigerator, hot-plates inside it. This will open more markets for us," the official said, adding "we expect orders for another 30-40 locomotives from African nations".

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Indian_Railways_eyes_African_market_to_export_locomotives/articleshow/3338628.cms)

Euromast

August 8th, 2008, 11:57 PM

FOREIGN EXPERTISE - Lanco sets the stage for railway station bids

I nfrastructure developer Lanco Infratech Ltd has inked agreements with four global firms that specialize in operating railway stations so that it can bid for projects to modernize railway terminals in India.
The Indian Railways has announced plans to upgrade 22 railway stations in the country in partnership with the private sector.

“We have entered into memoranda of understanding with four global railway operators from the UK, China, Malaysia and Singapore,” said Sanjay Divakar Joshi, director of infrastructure at Lanco Infratech, which reported revenues of Rs3,337 crore in the fiscal year to March.

Joshi declined to name the firms “due to competition.” He, however, said the company plans to involve different partners for different projects based upon the criteria that the railways would prescribe.

Although the company was keen to work on the modernization of the New Delhi railway station, estimated to involve investment over Rs6,000 crore, it could not submit bids because of frequent changes in qualification norms by the railways, Joshi said.

The railways has invited bids to modernize the New Delhi railway station ahead of the Commonwealth Games the Capital will be hosting in 2010, on the lines of China’s Beijing railway station and US’ New York central railway station.

As many as 35 companies including Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, earlier known as Reliance Energy Ltd, Videocon Industries Ltd, GMR Infrastructure Ltd, GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd and DLF Ltd have expressed interest in modernizing the New Delhi station.

While GMR is upgrading the Delhi airport, GVK is modernizing the Mumbai airport and Reliance Infrastructure has taken up the Mumbai metro rail project.

“Initially we had tied up with a UK-based operator but had to go in search of another partner with the railways changing certain qualification criteria, which was changed again, Joshi said. “We could not tie up with another partner that met the qualification criteria within the stipulated time for submitting the bids for New Delhi railway station project.” Lanco is now preparing to bid for the other key railway passenger terminal projects.

“We are waiting for the qualification criteria to be announced by the railways for these projects so that we can go ahead with one of the partners that we have arrangements with that meets the criteria,” Joshi said.

The company is keen on Secunderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Jaipur and Patna projects in the first phase and Pune and Ahmedabad in the subse quent phases. “Depending upon the qualification criteria, we may either go ahead with one partner for all the railway terminal projects or different partners for different projects,” the executive said.

While the railways is yet to invite bids for 21 terminal projects and to indicate the capital cost for each of these, Joshi said the company assumes the cost of the other projects in first phase to be in the range of Rs2,500 crore to Rs4,000 crore per station.

Railway minister Lalu Prasad has said his ministry plans to award projects for the New Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and Secunderabad railway stations through global competitive bidding during this fiscal and expects to attract an investment of nearly Rs15,000 crore for these stations.

“Never before in its history had Indian Railways come out with such large infrastructure development projects inviting private partnership. This offers a major opportunity to Indian infrastructure companies after national highway projects in the surface transportation sector,” said Shailesh Kanani, analyst with Mumbai-based brokerage Angel Broking Ltd. “The scope is so large that each and every company can have its piece of the cake.” Lanco Infratech scrip gained 1.46% to close at Rs332.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday, a day that saw the exchange’s benchmark Sensex index gaining 0.29% at 15,117.25 points.

The stock traded at a year’s highest price of Rs887.95 and lowest of Rs225.

E paper Livemint

SarafIndian

August 10th, 2008, 10:38 AM

South-Eastern Railway inaugurated a state-of-the-art reservation facility at Old Koilaghat on Friday. There are 21 counters, including two for credit card holders
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/4605/pc0031700qi6.jpg

Source: Times of India

phaedrus

August 10th, 2008, 03:47 PM

Over 50% of Rly’s sleeper class booking is now online

E-TICKETINGin India is on track, literally. For every five passengers purchasing railway tickets in India, there is one person booking it online. What’s more, if the Indian railways’ e-ticketing figures for the month of July is any indication, over 50% of the total online booking takes place for sleeper class.
For Indian Railways (IR), the turnover from e-ticketing jumped to a whopping Rs 1,744 crore in FY08 from a mere Rs 27 cr in 2002, according to data available with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The earnings have already crossed Rs 978 cr for the first four months of FY09, and is likely to be around Rs 3,500 cr by the year-end.
Upgradation of existing technical infrastructure by IRCTC including server upgradation, increasing the bandwidth and addition of software were the main drivers of this e-ticketing growth. ”Sudden spurt of e-bookings is the result of technical advancement techniques introduced by Indian Railways which include servers and connectivity enhancement” former Railway Board chairman V K Agarwal said. The importance of e-ticketing can be gauged from the fact that most e-bookings are taking place in sleeper classes, which are non-ACs. In fact, 55% of the total e-ticketing in July was for sleeper class. While credit card is still the most preferred mode of payment, accounting for 41% of the total electronic booking in July, as high as 31% customers adopted the net banking route.
In fact, e-ticketing has made a long journey since 2002-03 when it was first introduced in India. During that year, only 4.17 lakh passengers booked e-tickets. In 2007-08, it touched 3.52 crore. During the first four months of the current fiscal, 1.95 crore passengers booked their tickets electronically.
Said an IRCTC official: “We are aiming to achieve a better growth in the coming years as we have been trying to reach out to aam aadmi in all possible ways. For the Indian Railways, e-ticketing is also a cost cutting instrument.”

source economictimes epaper

slashcruise

August 10th, 2008, 07:18 PM

Excellent news....Booking tickets online saves time to go to station and money as well...But it does require internet which aam admi in villages dont have yet....

phaedrus

August 10th, 2008, 07:46 PM

well its good for people in most of the cities and towns. and with more people booking online, the lines at the reservation counters would go down as well.

a_niranjan

August 11th, 2008, 08:43 AM

Even if mango man does not have internet, the system allows for cost/time saving for him as well. He just has to go to the nearest internet kiosk and book a ticket. I believe that for most folks an internet kiosk is closer than a railway booking office.

skdubai

August 11th, 2008, 09:29 AM

cool news....

man the number of infra projects going out to private bidders is enormous... a good time to be in the business...

zhiemi

August 11th, 2008, 10:24 AM

Indian Railways eyes African market to export locomotives

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Railways/Indian_Railways_eyes_African_market_to_export_locomotives/articleshow/3338628.cms)

India-made diesel engines a hit on African tracks

Varanasi: The “Cape of Good Hope” has again opened the gates of mutual growth and prosperity for Indian Railways as well as African countries which have placed huge orders for supply of diesel engines from India.

Apart from fulfiling the requirements for locomotives by the rapidly expanding railways here, Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) at Varanasi, which began manufacturing locomotives in 1961 with the help of some American companies and is presently making five different types of diesel engines, is committed to supply these to a number of African and other countries. From making just four locomotives in the first year of its production, it produced 222 locomotives in 2007-08. Railways’ current annual demand for diesel locomotives is about 400.

DLW has already supplied locomotives to Mozambique, Angola, Male, Senegal and Sudan, apart from countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Malaysia. “We only make the locomotives. Export of these is carried out through RITES and IRCON,” chief mechanical engineer Neeraj Kumar told TOI on Wednesday. To meet the growing demand from world over as well as the need by India’s own Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project, railways has set up another locomotive manufacturing unit at Marora in railway minister Lalu Prasad’s constituency in Chapra (Bihar). Here, powerful diesel engines for heavy haulage of 6,000 horse power will be manufactured. A separate unit was necessitated by the fact that newer machines will be installed for making more powerful engines which would move at faster speed as well.

Contrary to the popular view that diesel engines are not cost effective due to oil price hike, experts pointed out that barring European countries, diesel locomotives were the mainstay of (bigger) railways in the US, Australia, Africa, China and the Arab world. “Besides, our diesel locomotives are powerhouses on wheels. One diesel engine has the capacity to generate 2 mw electricity annually. And we have 5,000 diesel locomotives.

Thus, they have the installed capacity of 10,000 mw and this power is used for running passenger and freight trains, their fans, ACs etc. This spares the national grid of 10,000 mw of electricity which goes to electrify villages, towns and industries, instead of running trains,” said Kumar.

Source: TOI

skdubai

August 11th, 2008, 09:18 PM

phaedrus

August 11th, 2008, 11:42 PM

Railway track plans held up on price hitch

INDIAN Railways is incurring a loss of around Rs 1,800 crore per month on its track expansion projects due to non-availability of sleepers (the concrete bar used in laying rail tracks). The production of sleepers has declined from 5.36 lakh in April to just 49,000 in July 2008. The decline has been due to a tussle between the Railways and sleeper manufacturers over pricing.
While the railways is offering Rs 1,400 for a sleeper, the manufacturers are demanding Rs 1,500 to compensate for the rising input costs. Around 78 companies which manufacture sleepers for the railways have stopped production to protest against low prices.
“The railways offer all manufactures a uniform rate. In the last one year the steel prices have shot up considerably. Steel cost in manufacturing sleeper is around 60%. In December, the railways offered us Rs 1,130 per sleeper, which was revised to Rs 1,400 per sleeper in July. However, the prices since then have substantially increased. We have been suffering a loss of more than 50% since January this year,” said a sleeper manufacturer.
Sleepers are concrete slabs that are fitted like the rung of a ladder between the tracks. They are an essential component while laying down a track as they absorb a substantial portion of the weight of the trains. The government had earlier turned down the request of these companies stating that the manufactures have formed a cartel and there was no need of revising the prices.
With most manufactures, which used to produce 40,000 sleepers on an average per month, either closing their operations or planning to do so, the government has now decided to look at the issue afresh. According to sources in the rail bhawan, a meeting will be held next week to resolve this issue and a decision will be taken within this month. Currently, railways is unable to lay fresh 600 km track per month or repair the existing tracks. The average cost of laying a track is Rs 3 crore per kilometre and around 1,700 sleepers are fitted in a stretch of one kilometre.
It’s not only the private players but the two government factories in Khalispur and Subedaergaon (Uttar Pradesh) which have also seen a decline in their production. “Since most of these factories are captive units located on leased land form railways, we’re forced to continue the production. However, since the loss has been overburdening, most of the manufactures are closing their units,” a factory owner said.

source economictimes epaper

bhopalus

August 12th, 2008, 12:12 AM

btw here is an artists impression of how the new train stations will look once they are upgraded (or more like rebuilt)

http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Stations/future+ndls.jpg.html

I think this is for Delhi...

this is a damn good post skdubai, nicely done

Renders by M/S Terry Farrell & Partners - New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7005/futurendlsnf2.jpg

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2850/ndlspv7.jpg[/QUOTE]

phaedrus

August 12th, 2008, 12:54 PM

Railways to set up centralised traffic control at Tundla

In a first of its kind on Indian Railways, a centralised traffic control (CTC) with electronic interlocking and automatic signalling system is being set up on the Ghaziabad-Kanpur section enhancing the line capacity and safety in train operation.

Ghaziabad-Kanpur is one of the busiest sections of Indian Railways with over 200 trains using this 410 km long electrified route in a day.

All signalling and telecom gears in the section have outlived their utility and are now obsolete.

"It has been decided to replace signalling and telecommunication assets and provide automatic signalling on the busy route which has 47 stations and nine big yards including Etawah, Aligarh, Tundla and Dadri," said a senior Railways Ministry official involved with the project.

The CTC centre is coming up at Tundla, said the official.

The CTC will have a large panorama projection for display of the entire section. It will be equipped with remote control of station signalling gears, time table management, conflict solving in planned train connections, computation of current plan deviation and the entire statistics of the Ghaziabad-Kanpur section.

The railways is also introducing the mobile train radio communication (MTRC) system in the section as a pilot project.

The MTRC will enable an uninterrupted communication between the driver and the control room and station master in a running train, which is currently not possible.

source business-standard (http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?tp=on&autono=44541)

skdubai

August 12th, 2008, 01:39 PM

thanks bhopalus..

looks friggin awesome doesn't it!!! cant wait for a day i will be drawing into a station like that in India...

phaedrus

August 12th, 2008, 01:59 PM

^^:yes:

numb.soul

August 12th, 2008, 03:05 PM

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 10:

In what is seen as India’s response to China’s Tibet Rail, the Prime Minister’s Office has given its in-principle approval to Himachal Pradesh’s proposal for a railway line to Leh via the Rohtang Pass. The high-powered China Study Group (CSG) has been asked to provide its assessment by the month-end
Simultaneously, the PMO has already instructed the Railway Ministry to carry out a proper feasibility survey of the Bilaspur-Leh route and submit its report latest by November. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sources said, is keen that there should be no delay in taking the proposal forward.

The CSG that comprises the Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary, Home Secretary besides heads of the Intelligence Bureau and RAW will now look into the project from a strategic perspective and give its comments by August-end. A favourable opinion from the CSG will elevate the strategic significance of the project and remove several funding barriers.

The plan on paper is to build a railway line from Bilaspur to Leh covering approximately 400 km which, by a broad estimate, could end up costing around Rs 5,000 crore. Already, the Centre has agreed to provide Rs 1,000 crore for building the railway line from Bhanupalli to Bilaspur which can be then extended further.
Similarly, Rs 1,300 crore has been sanctioned for gauge conversion of the Pathankot-Jogindernagar railway line. The larger plan is that this line would intersect with the Bilaspur line that would carry on to Leh via the Rohtang Pass.

In all, the Centre is backing the Himachal government to build about 650 km of railway lines in the state which will have major strategic and economic significance. Currently, the broad estimate is that about Rs 8,000-10,000 crore will have to budgeted for this purpose.

Now that the PMO has given its nod, sources said, the various proposals would move faster with considerable pressure being brought on the Railways to carry out the requisite technical work.

China began its work on the Qinghai-Tibet railway more than two decades ago. Unlike this case, the Chinese had to build 1,956 km and the first stretch rom Qinghai to Golmund was built by 1984 while the all-important and challenging 1,142 km Golmund-Lhasa line was inaugurated only two years ago.

India is already working on an ambitious railway line into the Kashmir Valley. Top officials say the projects in Himachal Pradesh must also be taken up without delay so that connectivity can be provided to the strategically important Ladakh region.

The push has come from the state government that has been lobbying hard with the Centre on these projects. In fact, Himachal CM Prem Kumar Dhumal made a strong plea in writing to President Pratibha Patil during her visit to the state two months ago.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/347260.html

RameshPrakash

August 12th, 2008, 05:39 PM

Hi !

When is the New Delhi Railway station expected to be reconstructed? Has the work already started? My guess is it would be ready by the Commonwealth Games of 2011.

Jai Hind
Ramesh Prakash

Indian Sun

August 12th, 2008, 07:38 PM

renders are fine...but do u guys seriously think IR will have such good coaches by then....thats doubtful

ImBoredNow

August 12th, 2008, 08:01 PM

^^Yea, I was about to say with a nice railway station like that there is no point in having the coaches we have today.
It's like pouring water on your effort.

barrykul

August 12th, 2008, 08:33 PM

There was some news about the Delhi Railway station building new platforms. If the render were to become true shortly then that would be a red letter day for the IR. A well built clean modern railway station would be adored by the public, similar to the Delhi Metro. Every city would want such a new railway station and the momentum would swing.

As long as the nation is straddled with geriatric politicians who cannot think beyond their gandhian ideals, garibi hatao slogans, India will reel under inaction for awhile. Only the new generation Indian can salvage the situation. I hope these old bandicoots die and fade away quickly. We need new blood new energy not the sloth.

skdubai

August 12th, 2008, 09:08 PM

i think this is in the pipeline, if i remember right, they were going to start work soon and after that 22 other stations have been identified for modernization. It is unlikely it would be as swanky as this, but the idea was that they would be comparable to airports in style and appearance. Of course the trains are going take a lot of time to change, i mean it is impossible to do it so quickly, but give them some time... from what i remember this was supposed to be ready by 2012-2013..... all this from the previous railway news and updates thread....

skdubai

August 12th, 2008, 09:21 PM

btw here is a report on this project. the company which has done the feasibility study for this station was the one who designed the above render...

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/...And-this-is-the-first-impression-of-the-new-New-Delhi-Railway-station/314216/

dakshinapraja

August 12th, 2008, 10:26 PM

^^ :banana:

I sincerely pray that all that planning and rendering sees the light of day very soon... Unbelievable!

Madras_Fan

August 12th, 2008, 10:50 PM

The plan on paper is to build a railway line from Bilaspur to Leh covering approximately 400 km which, by a broad estimate, could end up costing around Rs 5,000 crore. Already, the Centre has agreed to provide Rs 1,000 crore for building the railway line from Bhanupalli to Bilaspur which can be then extended further.
Similarly, Rs 1,300 crore has been sanctioned for gauge conversion of the Pathankot-Jogindernagar railway line. The larger plan is that this line would intersect with the Bilaspur line that would carry on to Leh via the Rohtang Pass.

Link to Leh is a MUST and should be taken as NATIONAL PROJECT and should be completed within a decade. But the initial proposal of Gauge conversion of Pathankot - Joginder nagar and extension to LEH via Manali was pretty good. I dont know why they changed that to extend from bhanupalli - bilaspur now.

If Kangra valley NG line is not converted that may be a target in next decade for UNESCO(Heritage will flourish at the cost of development)

dakshinapraja

August 13th, 2008, 04:05 AM

Article (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/08/11/stories/2008081150130100.htm)

....McML, a Bangalore-headquartered company, which was set up in 1999 with a staff of two, has now expanded to employ 747 people.
“We started as a railway signalling contract company focusing on domestic orders. Now we have acquired expertise in railway signalling designs for the systems used in Australia, the UK and Malaysia,” said the McML’s Group Managing Director, Mr G. Sreenivasa Rao, a former signalling engineer of Indian Railways....

IndiansUnite

August 13th, 2008, 04:52 AM

^The construction bids will be finalized by the end of this year so we should expect work to be completed by around 2014.

Now that the modernization of major railway stations is about to take off, its high time that Lalu also considers phasing out the WDMs & WAPs and bringing in TGVesque trains. It's time that the IR puts their newly found profits to completely overhaul the system.

bhopalus

August 13th, 2008, 06:19 AM

hmmmm such a transition to TGVs would drastically alter India forever and (maybe) make transportation too expensive for most. we may have to wait until the next person after Lalu, cuz frankly he hasn't delivered on any of his promises from a few months ago.

barrykul

August 13th, 2008, 08:22 AM

I am just curious why in India things take this long after a decision is made to implement the damn thing. So many committees, so many depts so many signatures, so many cabinet nods, this is frightening to say the least. Lots of people with plenty of time, oodles of chai/biskoot/beedis to while away their time only to nod their stupid heads once in a while. This is mind boggling and downright costly. The IR has the money, people and resources to move things quickly. The design work is complete I presume after seeing the concept drawings, so start the jack hammers and concrete trucks rightaway. These old traditional water fall models for work flow simply don't cut it in the modern world. We have computers, concurrent processes, fast communications, remote video conference etc. Are none of these used to close the deal and get things moving pronto. Gosh I wish I could light a bonfire under the comfy tushes of these procrastinators.

skdubai

August 13th, 2008, 08:50 AM

self deleted...

ImBoredNow

August 13th, 2008, 04:14 PM

Even after bringing in awesome trains we have to maintain it.
Just go to the Indian railways pictures thread and see how the shalimar express and the rajdhani express are maintained.
It disgusts me to see such nice coaches being engulfued by dirt.
DO they have wash stations for those trains?
BTW who designed those shatabdi and rajdhani coaches: Seimens, Bombardier, or L&T?
Anyways we do need better looking, more comfy, and faster coaches, and we have to build our tracks accordingly.
Just an opinion question: should we demolish our old Victorian looking centrals, and build more modern ones with some incorporation of Indian culture?

ab041937

August 13th, 2008, 08:23 PM

this is a damn good post skdubai, nicely done

Renders by M/S Terry Farrell & Partners - New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7005/futurendlsnf2.jpg

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2850/ndlspv7.jpg

This looks great.. too good to believe.

ramkan

August 14th, 2008, 12:58 AM

It would have been great, if they could have replicated a similar glass structure on the other side instead of those buildings.. Modern train stations are not complicated...Here are some great stations I like from Europe. Europeans are great at building train networks and I love travelling in these trains...

Amsterdam
http://www.2747.com/2747/world/station/amsterdam.jpg

Germany
http://www.erichall.eu/images/Germany/07001.jpg

France
http://nicefrance.ca/images/nicetrainstation.jpg

skdubai

August 14th, 2008, 11:51 AM

the Amsterdam station was awesome, mixture of old and new!! something like that in some of the old stations in India would be very nice....

skdubai

August 14th, 2008, 12:27 PM

Just an opinion question: should we demolish our old Victorian looking centrals, and build more modern ones with some incorporation of Indian culture?

no matter who built it, or when, they are a part of the history of the city. I think demolishing them is a very bad idea. I think they can modernize them and provide better facilities for passengers, but as monuments to Indian History they should be preserved!!

zhiemi

August 15th, 2008, 09:32 AM

Railways show 50 percent jump in AC booking due to airfare hike (http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20080815/836/tbs-railways-show-50-percent-jump-in-ac.html)

The steep rise in airfares has given a major boost to Indian Railways, which has seen bookings in air-conditioned (AC) coaches rise more than 50 percent.

The railways carried 5.97 million passengers in AC coaches in July this year, compared to four million bookings in July 2007, an increase of almost 50 percent.

Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains alone have witnessed about 52 percent jump in bookings this July, as compared to tickets sold in July last year.

In the western zone, which had lost the maximum number of passengers to low cost airlines, passengers are now returning to train travel.

Western Railway saw bookings in July rise by about 53 percent.

'Travellers who had earlier shifted from second AC and third AC to low-cost airlines are now coming back to the railways, owing to the rise in airfares in the past few months,' a railway official said.

Rahul Taneja, an official with online travel agency yatra.com, felt the same way.

'When low-cost flights were introduced, many people who travelled by AC-II and AC-III went for air travel, as they were inexpensive. Now with the increase in airfare, they have reverted to train travel.'

July, which is otherwise considered a lean month, has seen a 50 percent rise in AC bookings.

Of this, third AC bookings were the maximum, having gone up from two million to almost 3.3 million.

However, the increase in the bookings for non-AC sleeper class is just 24 percent, the official said.

The rush for AC bookings has boosted the revenues of Indian Railways. Earning from Rajdhani alone has shot up from Rs.64 million in July 2007 to Rs.98 million this July.

'The increase in airfares is not the only reason why people are choosing our premier trains. We have also taken measures to increase passenger comfort and cater to the increased demand by adding extra coaches,' said Northern Railway spokesperson S. Negi.

Facilities such as electronic ticketing, automatic upgrade of reserved tickets and improved passenger amenities in Rajdhani and Shatabdi have also attracted passengers.

Private players have been roped in to provide services such as cleaning of train floors, stocking of soaps and towels in toilets, and looking after passenger needs.

barrykul

August 15th, 2008, 08:56 PM

Railways witnessing new dynamism (http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/002200808151109.htm)
The turnaround of Indian Railways today came in for praise from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said it was witnessing a "new dynamism".

Highlighting in his Independence Day address the various initiatives launched by the government for inclusive economic growth, Singh said "the second important area of development has been infrastructure development."

Mentioning the role of the largest PSU in infrastructure development, he said "there is a new dynamism in our Railways."

The Railways have generated a cash surplus of Rs 69,000 crore in the past four years.

That is $17B. All the major metro cities can be revamped and if the IR undertakes a project for new look train then IR would really be transformed.

S Railway records impressive growth in passenger earning (http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/002200808151821.htm)

Chennai (PTI): Southern Railway on Friday said it has registered a passenger earning of Rs 750 crore in the first four months of this fiscal, a 20 per cent growth from that in the corresponding period last financial year.

During the period, Southern Railway carried 224 million passengers, 13 per cent more than that in the same period last year, its General Manager Rakesh Chopra said in a release.

"In the same period, we have loaded 11 million tons, nine per cent more than last year and earned Rs 445 crore from goods traffic, an increase of 24 per cent over last year," he said.

As part of serving more number of passengers, Southern Railway has planned to develop 'coaching terminals' at Tambaram and Kochuveli and will also be strengthening their facilities at Tirunelveli and Rameswaram, he said.

Chopra said that the gauge conversion of the main line between Villupuram and Mayiladuthurai will be completed by the year-end and would reopen the rail link to towns of Cuddalore, Chidambaram and Sirkhazhi.

He said that they will be introducing mechanised cleaning of major stations for improving the standard of cleanliness.

goodman

August 15th, 2008, 09:56 PM

Railways witnessing new dynamism (http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/002200808151109.htm)

That is $17B. All the major metro cities can be revamped and if the IR undertakes a project for new look train then IR would really be transformed.

S Railway records impressive growth in passenger earning (http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/002200808151821.htm)

First of all IR must change how the train toilets function. It is a disgrace to our society.
Then they can change the look of the stations. What is the point in having a futuristic looking station but the crap still smears the track?

There must be a multi-pronged strategy to improve the safety, comfort and aesthetics .etc. This can be easily acheived with the kind of money they boast. $17B is not small money. They can do wonders with this money.
The IR has been claiming this for couple of years now. I don't see any big ideas being implemented.

barrykul

August 19th, 2008, 12:21 AM

xPost.

I remember there was a project showcased by IR, sometime ago, about toilets a la Airlines. Even the IITs were involved in the design. This is an abomination that requires a fix immediately and in today's day and age looks pre-historic cavemen like living. I don't know when the IR going to rapidly convert to modern times and make India part of the modern times.

Someone (Chairman/Secretary) in IR must come up with a complete plan for a makeover. A showpiece railway station (and I am not talking about large metros, but smaller ones) and a showpiece railway train with modern TGV like coaches and engine. The aesthetics should be a design(s) by some Industrial design house or college competition and have say 5 top great designs for railway stations. Then it is a matter of estimating costs and phasing them over a period of time. Each railway station makeover should be handed over to a private company to tender on the bid and execute. If this is properly planned and executed we can have a makeover in say 4 yrs. The money for this makeover should not be a problem. The IR is seeing vast improvements in revenue, ridership and with clean modern trains and stations the revenue picture is going to improve further. The investments would repay itself several times.

Time for a revolution in IR.

kshatriya

August 19th, 2008, 04:17 PM

First of all, improving the aerodynamics of our current rolling for a better image is quite pointless. It will only look cheap and tacky rather than contemporary.

Besides, there is no need for sharp aerodynamics in anything but high speed trains. For example - well, you wo'nt find a real world example anywhere.

@barrykul:

Let us list what all needs an overhaul -

1. Engines and coaches
a - Modern coaches with better comfort, safety and hygeine
b - Entirely electric traction? Or modern deisels
2. Railway stations
a - Passenger flow
b - Ticket facilities - modern counters, ticket machines etc.
c - Other facilities - food courts, toilets, seating and waiting, information displays, security, parking, entry and exit, helpdesks, telephones and internet, luggage storage and moving, escalators and lifts, lighting, cleaning, capacity
3. High speed rail lines in select short distance corridors
4. Frieght corridors
5. Possibly - revamp of electric traction from overhead to third rail technology - this will intensify the need for better safeguards against people crossing tracks
6. Rail over bridges, signalling, tracking, fencing, underpasses etc.

That is a huge amount of work to be done, and each of those points has a very large scope. Now the railways turnaround is bringing in a lot of improvements without increasing fares, some of those overhauls are getting underway for example. But a complete overhaul will take some time, and shortcut methods will be wasteful and ineffective.

I am still skeptical of what exactly IR and Lalu are planning to do with the cash surplus, their purpose should not be profit, but passenger service. They sure have started talking big, lets see how it goes.

SSC has some members, like Sridhar, who are very knowledgeable on IR especially. I wonder if they are still posting?

bhargavsura

August 19th, 2008, 10:28 PM

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7005/futurendlsnf2.jpg

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2850/ndlspv7.jpg

Need a lot of determination, ethics, workers to make something like this possible...

Euromast

August 19th, 2008, 10:42 PM

and a lot more to keep it clean

skdubai

August 19th, 2008, 11:15 PM

True, but look at Delhi metro..

slowly but surely, people will learn! in the mean time, the government will have to work really hard to maintain it..

Fusionist

August 20th, 2008, 01:59 AM

I wish the station gets built as per render. It will be truly iconic and different from the rest of the stations around the world.

bhargavsura

August 20th, 2008, 02:02 AM

Definitely agree.

How can we make the babus push for this project. It is inspiring, beautiful and looks cool.

a_niranjan

August 20th, 2008, 02:40 AM

For folks curious about the "green" toilet makeover of IR:

http://got2begreen.com/indian-railways-get-an-eco-friendly-toilet-makeover/

zenith_suv

August 20th, 2008, 07:45 AM

Games in sight, New Delhi station gets ready
Dwaipayan Ghosh | TNN

New Delhi: To enhance the capacity of New Delhi railway station before the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Northern Railway has decided to remodel and restructure the station and the yard. The work, including installation of the new route relay interlocking panel (NRRI) that will facilitate 1278 routes with automatic signalling system, will start next month. For the purpose, the station will remain noninterlocked from September 6 to September 14 and all trains movement during this period will be handled manually.

Rajiv Saxena, chief spokesperson of Northern Railway, said once operational, the new interlocking system will the largest in India. It will replace the existing British system of route relay interlocking that handles 690 routes. There will be additions and alterations on 125 routes at the Old Delhi Junction, he said.

According to railway officials, after the remodelling work the station will be able to handle 33% more load. ‘‘The bottleneck in Sadar area would be removed and there will be six lines in place of the existing three at Sadar Bazar end of New Delhi station making an independent corridor for reception and dispatch of trains to and from Old Delhi junction, Kishanganj, Subzi Mandi and Sarai Rohilla stations,’’ said Saxena. He said this will allow certain trains to pass through New Delhi station without waiting for clearance from platforms.

Also, after the work there will be six lines between New Delhi and Tilak Bridge in place of four. Officials also said four more platforms will added to the existing 12 platforms at the station.

In view the work, 62 trains will be cancelled, 126 trains will be terminated short of their final destination and 50 trains will be diverted to run on alternative routes and will use railways stations at Old Delhi, Sarai Rohilla and Hazrat Nizamuddin from September 5 to September 15.

Among the major trains that will be affected are Jammu Tawi Rajdhani, Ajmer Shatabdi, Bhubaneswar Rajdhani, Jan Shatabdi Express, Ranchi Rajdhani, Navyug Express, Patna Garib Rath, Howrah Express, Grand Trunk Express, Puri Express and Tamil Nadu Express.

Source - TOI

bhopalus

August 20th, 2008, 06:04 PM

i dont get it, does this refer to that last article posted by zenith or to the good renders by terry farrel?

Rly expansion may cost Minto Bridge

NEW DELHI: The historic Minto Railway Bridge in central Delhi may soon be a thing of the past. A listed heritage structure, this British-period bridge may soon be pulled down by Northern Railway for its elaborate redevelopment plans for New Delhi railway station. According to sources, NR has got verbal approval from the ministry of urban development to demolish the old bridge and make way for a new one. This despite the demolition plea of the bridge being rejected by the heritage conservation committee last year.

When contacted, NR officials would not clearly state whether they were going to demolish the bridge and simply said it would be ‘remodelled'. According to a senior official, there is little scope for further expansion of the station if the bridge was not ‘remodelled' immediately.

"We have four lines entering New Delhi railway station from the bridge which results in a lot of time being wasted even for trains which arrive on time. Hence, we want to add two more lines to the existing ones," said an official. However, he added that the railway ministry was yet to take a final decision on the station modernisation plans. "There is every possibility that we may have to pull down a portion of the bridge as part of future expansion plans. We are aware of the historical significance of the bridge and will not do anything to destroy the essence of it," said an official.

Last year, the sub-committee of the heritage conservation committee appointed by the Supreme Court to safeguard the city's heritage rejected the NR proposal to demolish the bridge. The committee observed that Minto Bridge "was the only bridge existing from the period of the building of New Delhi and therefore constitutes an important part of the composition of Connaught Place and Lutyen's Delhi". The sub committee firmly declared that the bridge must be retained in the Heritage List under category B.

Prof AGK Menon, a member of the heritage conservation committee, told Times City that the bridge should be retained at all cost and called for negotiations with NR to find a way to avoid demolishing the bridge. "There has to be more dialogue with the railways. They want to pull down the bridge for their expansion plans but there can be some middle ground solution to this problem," he said.

INTACH advisor O P Jain, also a member of the committee, added: "The bridge is architecturally and historically important. It is one of the few old bridges still surviving in the city. We asked the railways to preserve the bridge and make another as per their requirements but you simply can't pull it down. It's a part of the whole heritage complex of Connaught Place and Paharganj."

The bridge, built in the 1930s, is considered an "architecture merit" of the British rule. While the bridge is not protected, heritage conservationists have long been opposing NR's plea to demolish it by claiming it was "historically important" along with the nearby Paharganj bridge.