IRFCA Mailing List Archive


Messages 5181 - 5200

From: Shakoor_Uppal <>

Subject: Indian Railway Bridge Design Code

Date: 25 Jan 1999 09:32:21 -0500




I would like to obtain a copy of the Indian Railways Bridge Design Code
>
and would gratly appreciate if you could help me in this regard. Thanks!
Shakoor

From: Tony Bailey <>

Subject: Advert: Daboo Book and Cooks timetable for Australian irfca subscribers

Date: 25 Jan 1999 14:15:23 -0500


Australian subbscribers to the IRFCA list can now obtain copies of J E
Daboo's "Diesel and Electric Locomotives of Indian Railways"

Copies are AUD 31.00 each, including postage.

Also available are bothe of the Thomas Cook timetables at AUD 40.00 for
single copies and also by tyearly subscription dend for details

I do not trus my e-mail security and I would suggest that any credit
card
orders be faxed to -

02 9344 8098.


Tony
mercuryworldtvl@one.email
Reply to this address, not "to author"

From: D.G.Goswami <>

Subject: Ghat Section

Date: 25 Jan 1999 17:50:13 -0500


Hello friends,
Frankly speaking I have never travelled on the
Ghat
section(Both Bhor & Thull) of CR.So I am eager to know how things work
on CR
mainline on the ghat section.

1. Is the Pune Shatabdi, banked on the ghats.Bcoz according to the CR
TT
the train dosen't stops at Karjat & Lonavala?

2. The pay-scale of ghat section drivers is more than normal
drivers.What
is the main difference between incline driving and normal driving? What
extra precaution is taken on the ghats?

3. What is the booking speed of Up trains like DQ and Pragati on the
ghat
section ?

4. The track inspection team goes around on the tracks in the same
manually pushed trolley or on something different on the ghats section ?



Chinmay Goswami,
Surat.

From: Balasubramanian, Vijay <>

Subject: Re: Ghat Section

Date: 26 Jan 1999 06:49:58 -0500


>
> Hello friends,
> Frankly speaking I have never
> travelled on the Ghat
> section(Both Bhor & Thull) of CR.So I am eager to know how
> things work on CR
> mainline on the ghat section.
>
> 1. Is the Pune Shatabdi, banked on the ghats.Bcoz
> according to the CR TT
> the train dosen't stops at Karjat & Lonavala?
>
The Pune Shatabdi now has a passenger halt at Lonavala. The Up train
also
has a technical halt at Karjat for attachment of banker locos.
(technical
halts are indicated only in the Working TTs and not in regular passenger
TTs)

> 3. What is the booking speed of Up trains like DQ and
> Pragati on the ghat
> section ?

All trains, including DQ, Pragati and Shatabdi, have a maximum
permissible
speed of 50 kmph. between Karjat and Lonavala.

Vijay

From: Shankar <>

Subject: Re: Important news

Date: 26 Jan 1999 11:54:44 -0500


Hello,

One possible way to eliminate casual browsing is to do what some other
sites do:
have a sampler cover page, showing some of the features that one will
see in the site.

Normally links (htmls) or thumbnails can be incorporated. ONE or TWO
examples only.OF course, the archives html will not appear at all.

On that cover page, you can show two options:

-Member access: name and password

-Find out more: if youclick there, then the page on objectives etc.
will come on. At the bottom of that page: join irfca or sign guestbook
or exit (three options).

That way, people who aren't interested will not go beyond page two, and
our privacy will still be protected, as you can actually ENTER the site
only using a password.

Even if anyone signs up after teh second page, there should be a basic
questionnaire: name, location, e-mail, where he heard of the
irfca,railway interests, etc. We will send you an e-mail after a couple
of days giving your password etc. of some such arrangement.

All this will virtually eliminate casual surfers entering our site,
taking a look-see and possible jeopardising the privacy and sanctity of
the site.
Best regards.
Shankar



Anurag Acharya wrote:
>
> >I would caution against having a direct button to automatically join
the
> >list. While I don't want to make it hard for anyone to join, I fear
that
> >having a simple button to click would lead to hundreds (or more) of
casual
> >"surfers" signing up when they really don't have much of an interest
in it
> >("it's free, hey, all I have to do is click..."). Much better,
display an
> >email address (but not as a mailto hyperlink) and ask them to send
mail
> >there, much like the way new members subscribe today. That minimal
hurdle
> >of actually composing a separate e-mail message will probably filter
out a
> >large number of people who are really not too interested but are
> >trigger-happy (mouse-happy?) in clicking away. We don't want (well,
maybe
> >I should say Anurag won't want) people signing up by the dozen every
day,
> >but then filling the list with "Please unsubscribe" messages a couple
of
> >days later, or leaving around lots of unreachable addresses on the
list.
> >If someone is genuinely interested in IR, hey, a minute to compose a
> >one-liner message to subscribe is hardly any price to pay.
>
> I would like to thank Satish for this suggestion. List turnover has
> been growing steadily....
>
> >I'm also a bit leery about making the mail archives directly
accessible to
> >everyone on the net. Either they should be restricted to existing
members
> >somehow, or else (my preference) the archives should be "massaged" so
that
> >members' e-mail addresses, etc. do not show up. I say this because
most
> >messages in the past were written in the context of a small and cozy
group;
> >some folks may not be comfortable with having their messages be
available
> >to all and sundry, and very few of us would like a junk mailer to
harvest
> >the mail addresses from the archives only to deluge us with spam
mail.
>
> I second this. Every now and then I get a barrage of mail from someone
> or the other who has acquired *all* the addresses that I have ever
> posted Usenet messages from.... If people are really interested, one
> way around this would be to use an automailer that checks if the
> request from someone on the mailing list. Not really secure but would
> eliminate casual browsing.....
>
> anurag

From: Shankar <>

Subject: Re: Important news

Date: 26 Jan 1999 11:55:01 -0500


S Pai wrote:
>
> I would caution against having a direct button to automatically join
the
> list. While I don't want to make it hard for anyone to join, I fear
that
> having a simple button to click would lead to hundreds (or more) of
casual
> "surfers" signing up when they really don't have much of an interest
in it
> ("it's free, hey, all I have to do is click..."). Much better,
display an
> email address (but not as a mailto hyperlink) and ask them to send
mail
> there, much like the way new members subscribe today. That minimal
hurdle
> of actually composing a separate e-mail message will probably filter
out a
> large number of people who are really not too interested but are
> trigger-happy (mouse-happy?) in clicking away. We don't want (well,
maybe
> I should say Anurag won't want) people signing up by the dozen every
day,
> but then filling the list with "Please unsubscribe" messages a couple
of
> days later, or leaving around lots of unreachable addresses on the
list.


A VERY VERY VALID POINT. SUCH MESSAGES HAVE COME IN THE PAST ALREADY: I
REMEMBER AT LEAST THREE WITH MESSAGES LIKE "why am i receiving mail like
this" AND "i"m sorry this is not quite what i had in mind' ETC/ WE DO
NOT WANT THOUSHANDS OF DISINTERESTED OF 'JUST CURIOUS' CASUAL SURFERS
WHO JOIN TODAY AND WANT OUT THREE WEEKS LATER. THE SANCTITY OF OUR CLUB
HAS TO BE MAINTAINED.

> If someone is genuinely interested in IR, hey, a minute to compose a
> one-liner message to subscribe is hardly any price to pay.
>
> Another suggestion: include "Indian Railways", etc. in a META keywords
tag;
> that will help the search engines that do pay attention to this tag to
> index the pages better; later when there are separate pages with more
> focused content, the keywords can be tuned appropriately for each
page.
>

> I'm also a bit leery about making the mail archives directly
accessible to
> everyone on the net. Either they should be restricted to existing
members
> somehow, or else (my preference) the archives should be "massaged" so
that
> members' e-mail addresses, etc. do not show up. I say this because
most
> messages in the past were written in the context of a small and cozy
group;
> some folks may not be comfortable with having their messages be
available
> to all and sundry, and very few of us would like a junk mailer to
harvest
> the mail addresses from the archives only to deluge us with spam mail.


I DON;T THINK THERE IS ANYTHING IN LETTING SURFERS INTO THE ARCHIVES PER
SE. MOST OF THE CAUSAL SURFERS WILL LOG OUT IF WHAT THEY READ DOESN'T
CATCH THEIR FANCY ANYWAY. BUT I DO AGREE THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE TOO
EASILY ACCESSIBLE.MAYBE A PASSWORD, AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS ONLY (ISSUED TO
MEMBERS AUTOMATICALLY) OR THE LINK SHOULD ONLY BE ON PAGE TWO OR THREE,
NOT ON THE OPENING PAGE.HENCE, ONLY PEOPLE WHO ARE REALLY INTERESTED AND
WANT TO GO BEYOND PAGE ONE WILL HAVE ACCESS TO IT.


CAN MEMBERS GET A HARD COPY (PRINTOUT) OF THE ARCHIVES IF THEY DESIRE? I
THINK THE FACILITY COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE.

ALSO, IF A MEMBER@IRFCA.EMAIL MAILBOX FACILITY COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE,
MEMBERS WILLNOT HAVE TO UNSUBSCRIBE AND RESUBSCRIBE WHEN THEY ARE GOING
ON A LONG HOLIDAY.IRFCA MESSAGES WILL SIT IN THEIR IRFCA MAILBOX, THEY
CONTINUE TO BE MEMBERS, AND THEIR REGULAR E-MAIL ACCOUNT IS NOT
CLUTTERED.

I'M NOT A SOFTWARE OR FOR THAT MATTER A COMPUTER MAN, SO THE MECHANISM
WILL NEED TO BE WORKED OUT.

OF COURSE, ANOTHER VIEWPOINT IS, LET US WORK ON THE WEBSITE FIRST,AND
GET IT OFF THE GROUND, AND THEN FINE TUNE IT LATER.

I STAND CORRECTED IF SO.

BEST REGARDS.

Shankar
>
> Regards,
>
> --Satish

From: Shankar <>

Subject: Re: Important news

Date: 26 Jan 1999 11:55:23 -0500


Hello,
I don't know if anyone has pointed out already, but I think
Dr.K.J.Walker definitely should me in among the list of regular
contributors. (his e-mails start with Dr. & Mrs--).

I shall go over (and respond to) specific points in your mail over the
week end (our Dubai weekend Thu half+ Friday full holiday), but I feel a
compilation of some of the most interesting links together itself will
make quite an exhaustive website.

Do you think you could also include snail mail addresses of the members
responsible for putting the site together (the editorial board, so to
speak)? Having spent a major portion of my childhood dealing with wood
pulp and ink rather that gigs and rams, the flow of thought somehow
seems to come really smoothly when pen is committed to paper, rather
that when typing it out in word.
Maybe I could write something out, then type it out in word and the mail
it to you, so that you can simply scan the document rather that re-type
the whole thing all over again.
The snail mail address could also come in handy if someone who does not
have access to a scanner wants to contribute photographs etc.
I have typed out and printed an exhaustive (but by no means exhaustive)
list of IR station and shed codes. I could mail it to you, you can then
simply scan it and upload it onto the irfca website.
I know Harsh would be frightfully busy professionally, but he could
render invaluable assistance thanks to his connections,and his
experience with the fnrm newsletter.
While on the subject Harsh, why not an on-line version of the fnrm
newsletter as well? Both irfca and fnrm links could be incorporated in
each other's sites: that will really widen the scope of the fnrm as well
as teh irfca: irfca members will have a link to preservation, steam
updates etc, and fnrm members will have a link to modern railway
operation.
Harsh, you know best on the fnrm viewpoint.
Best regards/
Shankar



Apurva Bahadur wrote:
>
> Gang !
>
> I have addressed this news only to the 'elders' of the list and
regular contributors
> rather than the entire mailing list.
> If I have left out any person worthy of being in this 'inner circle'
of the IRFCA,
> then it is only due to my oversight. So if you find that I have left
someone
> 'deserving' out, please let me know and I would forward a copy of this
mail.
>
> Shanku has already created a domain for us: go
> to <A HREF="http://www.irfca.org">http://www.irfca.org</A>, YES our own domain !
>
> Now we need matter to fill it up with matter.
>
> Shanku's suggestions and my remarks for your reaction:
>
> About IRFCA
> - What is IRFCA? (someone can write this up)- historical perspective -
Satish/
> Dheeraj/ Pushkar/ Anand/ Vijay have to do this - or send me (Apurva)
the points and I
> would write the formal document
> - Read the FAQ (we need to put this together)- Let us put it up even
if it is not
> complete, it is quite easy for all of us to fill in the blanks
> - Join IRFCA (this will be a form I will do, that will send mail to
join the
> list) - Will reduce Anurag's chore of sorting through regular mail for
such requests
>
> Interactive
> - Guestbook (this will be a form I put together)
> - Send a message (this will send a message to the list
> from the web, I'll do
> this page)
> - Member pages (anyone on our list who has/wants a page
> can notify me, I'll
> put a directory page together here - Links to all the IRFCA member's
webpages - Vijay
> and Steve have a list ready. Links to interesting railway sites,
specially Indian Rail
> related.
> Archives
> - Back issues (previous issues of monthly content)
> - Mail archives (I'm working on putting together a
> browsable archive, and
> may even have search - this will take me a little while
> though)
>
> Library
> - Image Gallery (anyone who wants to contribute images
> can, they'll be
> catalogued here with credits to people who took them)
> - IR Guide (we need to write this, maybe putting
> together content from
> several people - things like lists of locomotives,
> trains, stations, etc.)
> - Resources - lists of books, other media, web sites,
> about IR.
>
> Then comes the registration with the search engines and the railway
link sites.
>
> PLEASE let us all have a plan of action on this, with division of
responsibilities. I
> realise that all of us are extremely busy professionally, but then
this is the
> greatest chance we have had so far.
> One problem is that Shanku is off to India in the month of Feb, so
things would roll
> only after he comes back.
>
> Waiting for your reactions
>
> Apurva

From: Shankar <>

Subject: Re: Delhi or Doom?

Date: 26 Jan 1999 11:55:35 -0500


Hello,
I tend to agree with Harsh.
I think we are making much ado about nothing.
Of course, I'm from the South myself, and the neglect of the South by
the railways cannot by any means be condoned.
But I think Delhi's seemingly disproportionate share of railway
facilities has more to do with the Govt's policy of having all parts of
the country connected to the capital city by fast trains.
With the seat of Govt being situated there, there is no dearth of higher
ups from all walks of life traveling to and from Delhi.
The same seems to hold good even with State Transport buses: Bombay
(state capital of Maharashtra) for instance is connected by ST bus to
even some of the most obscure of villages. some routes carry luxury
buses too.
Of course, the vast number of freeloaders: MPs, MLAs and other assorted
underlings traveling on free passes must be responsible for the
disproportionately large number ac and other luxurious accommodation of
Delhi trains. Not to mention civil servants and their families traveling
home annually availing of the annual Leave TRravel Allowance. Plus
foreign tourists.
Plus company executives.And so on and so forth.
Harm per se was done by erstwhile railway ministers by other means, most
of them laughably absurd: an Olympic style sports stadium in the
godforsaken Malda Town plus making Malda Town a terminus for the Gour
Express from Howrah (Ghani Khan Choudhury), a Bangalore-Hubli Shatabdi
(Ha!)(now discontinued) (Jaffer Sherief) etc.
I don't think any of the railway ministers really cared for Delhi
itself: look at the pitiable state of its ring railway, the
overstretched facilities of New Delhi station, the much touted metro
hanging fire for so many years now, etc.etc.etc.
Best regards.
Shankar.

(PS: My profound apologies on the length of this mail!)(Is that adding
insult to injury?)
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Harsh Vardhan [mailto:champa@del3.email
> Sent: Friday, January 22, 1999 6:20 AM
> To: Indian Railway Fan Club Association
> Subject: Delhi or Doom?
>
> PLEASE ! Can we put a stop to all those cribbings about Delhi.
>
> Delhi is not the capital of Pakistan or is it !?
>
> Delhites never insisted that it should be the capital.
>
> As far as the memory could be stretched, railways never had a Delhite
> minister so their decisions cannot be attributed to their love for
Delhi.
>
> Almost all these ministers did non-renumerative development work in
their
> constituencies at the cost of railways and over the last fifty years
and
> that has covered the entire country more or less(except the north-east
> perhaps). Nobody seems to ask any questions about the Banglore-Hubli
> Shatabdi, the facelift of Pune station or why all trains stop at
Gwalior or
> about the sudden emergence of Hajipur on the railway map.
>
> PERIOD.
>
>
>

From: Shankar <>

Subject: Re: Backrests in a WDM 2 !!

Date: 26 Jan 1999 11:55:45 -0500


Hello,
Is sleeping on the move really such a serious problem?
I mean, I understand that there is a 'dead man's pedal' or some such
device in every diesel or electric engine. If the pedal is not used for
say a few minutes, the engine automatically starts declerating. Its like
keeping the accelerator continuously depressed while driving long
distance in your car.
At any rate, most of the electrics and diesels carry a crew of two, so
its a one in a million chance that both the blokes will doze off at the
same time.(How cynical or sceptical can one get?:-)
I think in most civilized nations all over the world,drivers cabs are
airconditioned.
I think it is the Indian habit of making things as difficult and
complicated as possible. Look at the drivers cab of our trucks.There is
barely an inch of extra space, and the back is absolutely upright with
a solid wall to lean on.
Best regards.
Shankar



Harsh Vardhan wrote:
>
> >I have noticed that WAM 4 drivers habitually drive standing up, EMU
> >drivers too drive standing. Can anyone else confirm my observation ?
>
> It is true and same is the case with WAM1/2 and WAG 1/2/4. Not so sure
about
> WAM3 and WAG3.
>
> >The IR is undergoing a gradual change of cab layout thinking with
> >the introduction of ABB, Hitachi and the WDG 4 locos, which must be
> >having really comfortable seats. A friend of mine who sat in the
> >driver's seat of a ABB WAP 5 (?) at BRC for a few minutes did not
> >want to get off that seat (an airliner's seat - I was told). The ABB
> >cab has air conditioning ! All these improvements in ergonomics
> >will eventually filter down to the rest of the common locos, one
hopes.
> >
>
> The instrumentation used in these hi-tech locos requires the ambient
> temperature to be maintained and environment dust-free.
> Finally the IR bosses are begining to realise that it is not the
matter of
> comfort or uncomfort which make the drivers fall asleep on a run. I've
seen
> firemen of steam locomotives dozing off for a brief nap standing in
between
> their turns! Perhaps if the duty hours schedules are strictly
maintained,
> we'll have less of sleeping beauties on the trains and the eventual
crashes
> could be minimised.
>
> Harsh

From: Anne Ogborn <>

Subject: Re: Important news

Date: 26 Jan 1999 21:10:50 -0500


I'm confused - while it's important to discourage totally casual
subscribers to the IRFCA list, why would we care who browses
our web pages?
That's the whole point of the web, to have simple access to
information.

I assure you, no matter how inviting we make it, we're NOT
going to have so many people visiting that we have problems
handling the volume.

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: CR's website at last

Date: 26 Jan 1999 23:41:39 -0500


Gang !

Check this out, as of yesterday the CR at Mumbai has its own
website. I have not seen it yet but looks quite promising. Please
note the email address of the chief PRO listed at the bottom. Why
does the CR use an antiquated and non cost effective email service
such as gems while neglecting the TCP/IP GIAS service is very very
good - the possible answer - to prevent the employees browsing in
duty (or non duty hours).

Apurva

From just a phone call away to just a click away.

WWW.CR-MUMBAI.COM

We're available on the Internet 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for
detailed information on :
Time Tables
Actual Arrival/Departure
Berth Availability
Route Maps
Tourist Attractions
Our Glorious Past
Rules and Regulations
Official Announcements
List of RTSA
Special Facilities

Your suggestions to make this site more informative and user
friendly are welcome at this E-mail : crly.cpro@gems.email

CENTRAL RAILWAY

Ready for the next millenium

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: Backrests in a WDM 2 !!

Date: 27 Jan 1999 00:28:56 -0500




Shankar wrote:

> Hello,
> Is sleeping on the move really such a serious problem?

Yes it is. I find it difficult to keep my eyes open while playing a one
dimensional game like Trainmaster (<A HREF="http://www.rails.com/tmaster.html)">http://www.rails.com/tmaster.html)</A>,
the
diesel's drone gets my alertness quite regularly. I have heard that in
some
sections the driver and the assistant driver take turns in nodding off,
the
assistant is quite competent to work the train while the driver dozes
for a few
minutes at a stretch. Staying awake in the night while driving a train
at night is
an unnatural activity. In the steam days, there was a lot of activity
and that
helped to stay awake. Which is why the drivers work while standing up.
The dead
man's device is present only in the single operator trains like EMUs and
DMUs, The
EMU control lever has to be kept pressed all the time with the palm of
the hand,
if it is release while the EMU's direction lever is in forward or
reverse, the
emergency brakes come on. No main line loco that I have seen has a
working
vigilance control, although many seem to have had them in the past.
The WDM 2 actually has a relay known as DMR (dead man's relay), which
monitors all
the critical safeties. In the event of the driver collapsing during a
run, the
assistant is supposed to open the 'fireman's emergency valve' which
opens the
train brake pipe to the atmosphere and applying the train brakes. The
PCS
(pneumatic control switch) detects the fall in the brake pipe pressure
and brings
the prime mover to idle even if the throttle is open.

Apurva

> At any rate, most of the electrics and diesels carry a crew of two, so
> its a one in a million chance that both the blokes will doze off at
the
> same time.(How cynical or sceptical can one get?:-)

It happens quite regularly, on closer probing many drivers all over the
system
admit that all of a sudden they just blanked out, (I have heard of a
phenomena
where the operator has his eyes open, but is actually sleeping) and when
they woke
up, they assistant was also similarly dozing off. I know one incident
where a
driver (even today I have the high regards for his skills, alertness and
self
discipline ) actually over ran the distant signal, the assistant also
was dozing
and the guard stopped the train just short of a waiting rake. His
promotions were
stopped for 2 years as a punishment. I also know a now retired senior
driver who
stopped accepting night trains towards the last year of his retirement
as he was
worried that he would doze off in the cab. But there are other drivers
who take a
lot of delight in driving in the night. There are drivers in many
division (like
Solapur) whose majority of the runs are in the night. Some other drivers
quote
that their sense of duty prevents any sleepiness during the night run.
The worst
period of the night seems to be between 0300 to 0430 hrs during an
overnight run.

> I think in most civilized nations all over the world,drivers cabs are
> airconditioned.

Like Harsh said in an earlier mail, the ABB locos cabs are air
conditioned to keep
the dust out of the electronics more than keeping the drivers
comfortable.

> I think it is the Indian habit of making things as difficult and
> complicated as possible. Look at the drivers cab of our trucks.There
is
> barely an inch of extra space, and the back is absolutely upright with
> a solid wall to lean on.

A person feeling sleepy will sleep in any condition, comfort is
secondary.

Apurva

From: Harsh Vardhan <>

Subject: Re: Delhi or Doom?

Date: 27 Jan 1999 02:02:34 -0500


Hi!

>I guess we're on the same page, Harsh. When I was referring to "IR" in
my
>discussion, I was implyingthe Railway Minister and not the IR
officials. I
>believe the IR office bearers are extremely decent folks and geniunely
care
>about the public. Not surprisingly, I have heard of incidents where
they
>have been harressed by the politicians.


Well, as long as it is the politicians who your ire is directed at, Iam
all
with you. Why, I even don't think that the railway bureaucrats are all
that
clean for they should learn to stand against the bullshits of railway
ministers more often.
Being born and brought up in, Delhi is my first city and for the good or
bad, I love it more than any other place in the world. Iam sure you
would
appretiate that and would have a similar regard for your native place.
But I love the Coromandals the Himgiris and the Geetanjalis as any other
trains and feel as bad as you when they are butchered. Why, even Delhi
bound
once great trains like the Tamilnadu, G.T., Kalka, Gomti, Neelanchal
etc.
are not spared when it comes the whims of the politicians(as they have
Shatabdis and Rajdhanis on these routes for themselves).

>How about the times before large-scale gauge conversion was started?!
If
>not for the politicians, IR funds could have been used wisely and a
>substantial portion of the Mumbai-Chennai could have been doubled. In
any
>case, Mr. Ram Naik should rectify this situation - that's our only
hope,
>right now.
>


>
>Gauge conversion is definitely important. But I have heard from
reliable
>sources that the mammoth gauge conversion programme undertaken during
Jaffer
>Sharrief's regime was more of an excuse for our ex-RM to channel funds
to
>his personal account(s) rather than removing transhipment bottlenecks.


You have got the point here. And so was the case with the decision to
scrap
steam locomotives before they came of age or even with the purchase of
ABB
locomotives.
The gauge conversion programme has now taken a backseat because it was
unrenumerative for most of the places where it was taken up on priority.
There is no doubt in my mind that this very important south-west link
should
have been taken up long time back but then Jaffer Shareif was is from
that
area and could have taken interest in doubling of the line also as you
have
said.
Maybe the stakes were not as high as those in the above jobs.

Harsh

From: Jayant S <>

Subject: IRFCA website

Date: 27 Jan 1999 02:37:19 -0500


Harsh Vardhan wrote:

> >While on the subject Harsh, why not an on-line version of the fnrm
> >newsletter as well? Both irfca and fnrm links could be incorporated
in
> >each other's sites: that will really widen the scope of the fnrm as
well
> >as teh irfca: irfca members will have a link to preservation, steam
> >updates etc, and fnrm members will have a link to modern railway
> >operation.
>
> Sounds great! Iam open to it. But let us hear some other viewpoints on

> the subject as well.

Just wondering: could we get the NRM website to link to IRFCA ?
We are, after all, serving similiar interests in the railfan
community, and it would be a form of recognition too.

--
Jayant S : ID Studio : Tata Technologies India Limited
Telco Premises : Pimpri : PUNE : 411 018 : INDIA
TEL 91(20)702534 : FAX 91(20)773191
--

From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>

Subject: Re: CR's website at last

Date: 27 Jan 1999 04:54:36 -0500


I checked out the site. It is very good. This is basically
Mumbai division's site, rather than CR Zone's site.
Lot of information that can be reached with just a few
clicks. I would really like if they can connect their
IVRS computer with this web server so that the arrival
departure information is latest. Updating arrival-departure
information 3 times a day is quite useless in my opinion.
It should be updated at least every 30 minutes, if not
every 5 minutes.

Also, the reservation availability page shows old information
from 3rd December. Again, if this can be hooked on to the
actual PRS to give instantaneous information. I should be
able to check if reservation is available on a particular
train on a particular date before going to the reservation
counter. Of course, in future, I will also like to see
reservations being done on the web, but I guess I am dreaming.

-dheeraj
--------------
Dr. Dheeraj Sanghi (0512) 59-7077/7638
(Off)
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering (0512) 59-8627 (Res)
Indian Institute of Technology (0512) 59-0725/0413
(Fax)
Kanpur - 208 016 (UP), INDIA. dheeraj@iitk.email
Home Page: <A HREF="http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/dheeraj">http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/dheeraj</A>

From: ranand <>

Subject: Re: CR's website at last

Date: 27 Jan 1999 07:07:24 -0500


The CR web site has one excellent feature, the graphical depiction of a
train's
route along with the abstract timetable for the train. I managed to
waste
an hour looking at the routes for some of the more obscure trains. This
was
particularly
instructive for me since I am not familiar with the lines in the north
east
much.

Anand

Internet: anand@watson.email
External tel: (914) 784 7054
Notes: Rangachari Anand/Watson/IBM@IBMUS
Tie-line: 863 7054

From: Madhav Acharya <>

Subject: Re: CR's website at last

Date: 27 Jan 1999 07:23:17 -0500


Hi

The pic on the first CR webpage is really great. However, the
subsequent page with all links fashioned like station signs isn't
very appealing. Which leads me to a question - when did IR adopt
the red and blue sign for stations ? I know the same color scheme is
on the London underground - was that the design it was based on ?

Madhav

From: Madhav Acharya <>

Subject: Re: Delhi or Doom?

Date: 27 Jan 1999 07:26:28 -0500


Hi

My 2c worth on the ring railway system in Delhi - I don't think it has
ever been
used by the residents of Delhi to get around. I read an article in
Times
of India
a few days ago proposing that the Delhi buses should serve as shuttles
to
ring railway stations
so that the roads are less crowded. But the rail network is so poor
that
it would take
much longer to get onto a train and travel to your destination. This
works
well in Bombay
and New York because of their similar shape (long and narrow). In other
"circular" cities
like London and Washington, the lines were built quite a while back or
there was
plenty of open space available at the time they were built. An elevated
ring railway
system is really a stretch of the imagination because of the amount of
chaos it would
cause during its setup. The only users of the EMUs are people are
surrounding areas like
Faridabad, Ghaziabad etc who use it to go in and out of the city.

Madhav

From: Balasubramanian, Vijay <>

Subject: Re: CR's website at last

Date: 27 Jan 1999 09:50:31 -0500



> The CR web site has one excellent feature, the graphical
> depiction of a
> train's
> route along with the abstract timetable for the train. I
> managed to waste
> an hour looking at the routes for some of the more obscure
> trains. This was
> particularly
> instructive for me since I am not familiar with the lines in
> the north east
> much.
>
I, too, welcome this feature. This can be very addictive, especially
for
timetable nuts like us :-).

On the whole, I am quite impressed with the site despite a few errors
(halts
for Pushpak within Maharashtra show only Kalyan, the schedule for the
Ratnagiri has not been updated, etc.). Information on berth
availability
and train puntuality are novel features - monitoring these figures could
present interesting patterns - which trains are heavily in demand
(indicating which routes need more trains), which routes need to be
beefed
up with regard to puntuality,etc.
For example, the Gorakhpur-Dadar being late by 4 hrs. and the Ratnagiri
being late by 1 hr. doesn't speak too well about Mumbai-bound CR trains
from
the north.

What does RTSA stand for?

Vijay

From: Shanku Niyogi <>

Subject: Re: Important news

Date: 27 Jan 1999 10:04:23 -0500


I agree, Annie...I also would vote against any measure that makes it
*tougher* for people to view the site. The point of the site, as I
understand it, is not to have a hidden enclave for our group on the web,
but
to promote the appreciation of the Indian Railways. Thus, it should not
only
appeal to those already interested in IR (even on our list), but serve
to
make new people more interested in it. And good, interesting, content is
absolutely essential for that.

As to issues of member privacy, we can certainly take measures like
making
it tougher to join the mailing list for casual subscribers, hiding email
addresses, etc.

In fact, the idea of the monthly e-zine front page is specifically to
garner
more interest from newcomers - so that they don't have to wade through
mail
archives to become interested. And while the primary reason for the mail
archives is for members to read up on past messages, it also allows
casual
readers to "check in" on the list from time to time without forcing
Anurag
to have to deal with subscribe/unsubscribe requests. Also, the "Send A
Message" feature will allow someone to send a message (marked as being
from
a guest) to the list - so that someone who needs to tap the knowledge of
IR
that exists here can do so without joining the list.

What do you all think?

Thanks,
Shanku

-----Original Message-----
From: Anne Ogborn [mailto:anniepoo@netmagic.email
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 1999 9:11 PM
To: irfca@cs.email
Subject: Re: Important news


I'm confused - while it's important to discourage totally casual
subscribers to the IRFCA list, why would we care who browses
our web pages?
That's the whole point of the web, to have simple access to
information.

I assure you, no matter how inviting we make it, we're NOT
going to have so many people visiting that we have problems
handling the volume.