IRFCA Mailing List Archive


Messages 581 - 600

From: vengy <vengy@garnet.email

Subject: Re: Trains in India vs. the US

Date: 17 May 1991 11:54:00 -0500


I don't believe it is right to compare amtrak with Indian railways in terms
of frequency, etc. Train travel is not the major mode of transportation in
this country (and has not been for almost three decades). Amtrak is only
a meager skeleton of the railroads that existed back in the glory days of
American railroading. I am, of course, referring only to passenger
trains. If you really want to compare passenger traffic, you should compare
with american passenger railroads in the twenties, thirties, forties and
even the fiftees. You say there is only one train between Chicago and
Buffalo(?) per day. Consider the fact that in the late forties there were
over thirty trains between los angeles and san franciso, to give an
example. Numerous other examples can be given. The standards, luxury,
efficiency of the name trains like the old super chief, empire builder,
city of san francisco, the golden state, coast daylight, etc. have yet
to be matched. Pindell`s book is very, very interesting. It means a lot
more to a south indian who has lived here for a long long time than
discussions on north indian routes between places I have never even heard
of! It has a lot of interesting historical and other details. A definitely
great read!
These are just my opinions and are not meant to hurt anyone's sensibilities
or nationalistic sentiments
Vengu

From: aravind <aravind@vax135.email

Subject: Trains here and in India

Date: 17 May 1991 18:09:00 -0500


1. There are 3-4 trains between Albany and Buffalo, acc. to the Nov. issue
of Thomas Cook's "Overseas" timetable.

2. There are LOTS of trains between New York and DC along the busy NE
Corridor - metroliners run almost every hour, and there are more.

3. Trains here keep to the right, like all road traffic, on double-track or
quadruple-track sections (Newark to Phila. is all quadruple track).
Trains in India keep to the left.

4. Being familiar with the Coast line in California, I somehow doubt
that it could have ever supported 30 trains in the heyday of American
railroading. Most of it is single line, (crossing-points are situated many
tens of miles apart) and there are quite a few hills on the way
(between SF and LA).

aravind

From: Ajai Banerji <ajai@fx.email

Subject: This and That

Date: 17 May 1991 15:23:00 -0500



A recent report in Times of India mentioned that the Mankhurd-Belapur
line to New Bombay will not be opened as scheduled on June 30, because
of difficulties in shifting hutment dwellers in the way. The 1.8 km
long bridge over the Thane creek is almost ready. This line will be
double tracked and electrified right from the start.
The scheme includes construction of a flyover and reversal facility
near Wadala to enable trains coming from Bandra side to proceed to
Belapur side.
I had earlier read that a new station at Mankhurd was built as the
existing station was not conveniently situated for the new line.
In s.c.i., someone mentioned that some private parties had offered to
run the Indian Railways at greater efficiency. This does not seem to
have any serious basis. Possibly it stems from an interview with
J.R.D. Tata some years ago when he made an offhand remark about running
the railways.
It is true that in the earlier stages of India`s railways private
companies were involved(though the government started building
railways later). However most of these companies had been nationalized
even before independence.
Anyway, if India's railways were privatized now, you would probably see
a lot of closures of uneconomical lines-in due course all passenger
services would be closed as they are uneconomic. Things were moving in
this direction in the US. Had the federal government not stepped in
with the formation of Amtrak, probably there would not be any long
distance passenger train in the US today.
Although Britain's railways were nationalized in 1948, they too
did a lot of closures in the 1960s. More than 50% of the milage was
closed down, though probably many of these lines did not have enough

From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>

Subject: Information from Sep' 1990 issue of Indian Railways

Date: 20 May 1991 10:47:00 -0500


Indian Railways: Sep '90 issue highlights.
-------------

Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd formed on Aug. 20, 1990. Will construct
837 KM of rail line from Mangalore to Roha. It will have 73 tunnels and
146 bridges. Time: 4-5 years. IR is not financing it. State governments,
Central govt. and market bonds are paying for it. The equity share is:
Union Govt 128 crore, Maharashtra 55 crore, Karnataka 37 crore, Goa and
Kerala 15 crore each. Total 250 crores. The debt equity ratio would be
1:3. Total cost of construction expected 1000 crores. The States'
contribution is in the ratio of length of tracks in the state, except
Kerala which would not have any new tracks but would benefit from the
project anyway. So its share is minimum of other states. If the cost of
the project goes up, various parties would contribute in the same ratio.
The new company would run the trains until all debt is paid off and then
the Union govt would take control (I guess the lines will then come
under IR control). Market bonds would be in the denomination of 100 Rs.
so that even a poor man can make contribution towards realizing this
dream. State Govts are responsible for providing land free of cost to
the Corporation. Construction to be started in Sep. 1990. If the project
is successful, there are proposals to set up more Railway lines in this
fashion, the most prominent being Kandla-Bhatinda line, involving MG to
BG conversion and construction of certain missing links. (I would doubt
if an agreement can be hammered between States of Gujarat, Rajasthan and
Punjab as long as there is civil strife in Punjab, but lets hope for the
best).

New cancellation rules from Sep 01, 1990. If a reserved ticket is
cancelled more than a day in advance, fixed charge. (from 10 Rs for 2nd
class to Rs 30 for AC Ist) For cancellations upto 6 hours before the
departure of the train, 25 percent subject to above minimum. For
cancellations upto 3 hours after the train leaves, 50 percent. No
charges if reservation is confirmed only for part of the journey. For
waitlisted, RAC or unreserved tickets, charges are Rs. 2 until 3 hours
after the departure of the train. Full refund if train is running more
than 3 hours late and therefore one decides not to take the train.

Free Rail travel to Indians returning from Iraq and Kuwait from the
cities where the special flights arrive to their hometown.

Laying Tracks for a Prosperous Assam: Balipara-Bhalupong MG line opened
in 1990 (34.24 KM in Assam, 1.26 in Arunachal). Silchar-Jiribam MG line
opened in 1990 (46.45 KM in Assam, 1.35 KM in Manipur). Amquir-Tuli MG
line under construction (joins Assam with Nagaland, total 15 KM, should
open in 1991 end). Lalabazar-Bharabi MG line to open in Dec 1991 (46.66
KM in Assam, 1.34 KM in Mizoram, 30 KM already open). Doubling of Malda
Town-New Jalapaiguri-Raninagar (209 KM) is in progress. Construction of
third rail-cum-road bridge over Brahamputra should finish in Dec 1991.

Delhi Train Describer Project: Split Flap Display Borads giving
information on arrivals and departures, just like the ones you see at
airports. Other parts are: Automatic Train Report by Exception,
Automatic Train Graph Recorder, Train Journey Log, Automatic recording
of "Train passing signal at danger", Automatic Route Setting, System
Fault Monitoring Desk, etc. Lots of 80186 chips being used. I don't
understand any of the keywords above. If anybody would explain??

BG train services started between newly gauge converted Varanasi-Bhatni
section of NE Rly.

There is a nice article on Railway History titled, "Raj to Rajdhani:
Rail Travel in India." It is three pages and I am not going to reproduce
it.
----------------------------------------------------

I will send information from Oct '90 and Nov '90 issues shortly.

-dheeraj

From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>

Subject: Information from Oct 1990 issue of Indian Railways

Date: 20 May 1991 11:26:00 -0500


Indian Railways: Oct '90 issue highlights.
-------------

There are two articles on Bombay suburban railway system. A Status
paper on the system was issued by IR in Sep 90 which calls for State
and City participation in building more lines. An ambitious project is
2500 crore Rs. "Seventh Corridor" which will be completely independent
of the current corridors, and will run between Colaba-Mahalaxmi-Bandra-
Kurla and Airport Point via Kalina Univ. This will be partly underground
and partly elevated. The paper suggests that local government should
charge the business establishments who benefit from suburban services to
pay for expansion of services. There are many other new and old
proposals like laying more tracks parallel to existing tracks between
various points on Bandra-Virar section, as well as Kurla and Thane. Many
new lines in New Bombay. Increasing number of rakes to reduce
inter-train time on CR from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.

The losses in Anti-reservation stir in Aug. 90 were over 7 crore Rs. It
affected 277 stations and 1549 trains were cancelled.

IR is automating most operations related to relaying of tracks. This
will speed up things when the available time for any such activity is
decreasing because of increasing congestion, and would allow work to be
done in the night time under floodlights.

Increased EMU service to Palwal from various points in Delhi. First
Inter-State EMU train service between TN and AP (Madras Central &
Sullurpeta). Why is it Delhi-Ghaziabad or Delhi-Palwal not considered
Inter-State ??

This time there are a large number of articles which are not news, but
they are good to read anyway. They are on environment, economy, tourism,
and there is a short story, poems etc.
----------------

-dheeraj

From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>

Subject: Information from Nov 1990 issue of Indian Railways

Date: 20 May 1991 12:07:00 -0500


Indian Railways: Nov '90 issue highlights.
---------------

New Railway ministers: Janeshwar Mishra of cabinet rank (from Allahabad)
and Bhakta Charan Das of State rank (from kalahandi).

Rly electrification. Delhi-Madras and Howrah-Bombay to be completely
electrified by Mar '91. Currently, 33 per cent of passenge and 40 per
cent of freight traffic is hauled on electric traction. Electrification
of tracks also includes introduction of colour light signalling, laying
of underground cables for advanced communication facilities.

RITES has given a survey report on Mass rapid Transit System for Delhi.
The network would consist of 9 lines, 6 along the existing network, 2
underground metro corridors, and one dedicated busway. Total length
184.5 KM. The first phase would include 19 KM underground, 37 KM surface
or elevated, and 17.5 KM busway. A detailed status report by Ministry of
Railways is expected soon. A techno-economic feasibility study of the
RITES report is being initiated.

Kapurthala Coach factory which started production in 1988, will produce
500 coaches in the 1990-91 financial year. It should reach its installed
capacity of 1000 by 1992-93. It makes only 2nd class coaches.

New Indo-Bangladesh rail link (for goods only) opened on Oct 1st 1990.
This is between Singhabad in India and Rohanpur in Bangladesh. There is
already goods teraffic between the two countries on Gede-Darsana rail
route.

Rebuilding of Girder Bridge across Swarnamukhi on Delhi-Madras trunk
route. They built another bridge 12 meters away from the old bridge, and
then moved all the girders, tracks, electric overhead traction etc to the
new bridge. The whole operation took only 22 hours for which the train
services remain suspended/diverted. Imagine moving of 500 tonnes heavy
13 m long girders to the new bridge, then laying of tracks and wires,
align them to the new bridge approaches. All this in 22 hours.
They saved 1 crore by reusing the old girders and tracks.

An article on changes in the frieght transport in the last few decades.
They use now bogie wagon of 55-65 tonnes instead of 22 onnes of
traditional four-wheelers. Dieselisation and Electrification has
increased capacity, in terms of number of wagons in the train. Screw
coupling between wagons has been replaced by Center buffer coupler (CBC)
which can take more strain. New wagons are fitted with roller bearings
to increase speeds.

New train between New Delhi and Patna, 2401 Up/2402 Dn Shramjeevi
Express. Up train leaves Patna at 11-45 AM and reaches ND at 5:20 AM
next day. Dn train leaves ND at 1:20 PM and reaches Patna at 6:45 AM the
next day.

A report on the fire of a coach in Kakatiya fast passenger between
Hyderabad and Warangal on Oct 09, 1990. A 2nd class coach, was put on
fire by some radicals after locking all but one doors of the coach. 47
passengers died and 15 passengers sustained injuries.

------------------

-dheeraj

From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>

Subject: Information from Dec 1990 issue of Indian Railways

Date: 20 May 1991 13:31:00 -0500


Indian Railways: Dec '90 issue highlights.
-------------

Received my Dec 1990 issue just now.

More on Konkan Railways. All major appointments in the Konkan Railway
Corporation have been made. Most of the land has been transferred by
states to the new company. Most of the surveys are over, and field work
has started. Highlights of the project:

Major Bridges 146 16.2 KM
Minor Bridges 1400 43.0 KM
Tunnels 73 48.0 KM
Longest Tunnel 6.4 KM
No. of tunnels over 2 KM long is 5.
Length of tracks (BG) 837 KM
Karnataka 285 KM
Goa 129 KM
Maharashtra 423 KM
Ruling gradient: 1 in 150
Rails: 52 kg - 90,000 tons.
Sleepers Prestressed concrete 1.5 million.
speed potential 160 KMPH.

Shouldn't rails be 60 KG per meter for 160 KMPH operation. I think that
is what they have on the high speed corridors of Delhi-Kanpur and Delhi-
Bhopal. Also, 90,000 tons would mean total rail length of 1730 KM or 865
KM of tracks. Since the total route KM is 837 KM, and one needs
additional tracks at the stations, it seems to me that it is completely
a single line.

Savings in Travel time:
Bombay-Mangalaore from 41 hours to 17 hours
Bombay-Cochin from 36 hours to 24 hours
Bombay-Goa from 20 hours to 10 hours

RITES to design Bombay - Pune Expressway which will be 4 lane highway
with limited access (entries and exits) built to international
standards. The whole highway will be completely fenced and would have no
at-grade crossing with the existing roads.

New Inter-city superfast express between Kanpur and Varanasi via
Allahabad (the only stop) has started. It is called Shramik Express and
numbered 2403/2404. Times: Kanpur dep. 4:05 PM, Varanasi arr. 10:10 PM.
Varanasi dep. 5:00 AM and Kanpur arr. 10:50 AM. It is hauled by deisel
between Allahabad and Varanasi and electric between Allahabad and
Kanpur. It has 12 coaches incl. one AC composite coach (34 ACC and 10 I AC).
4123/4124 Express between Pratapgarh and Varanasi has been discontinued.

There is an article proposing conversion from Booster Transformers (BT)
to Auto-transformers (AT) for electric traction in IR. I don't
understand too much of it, and will read it later at leisure and post.

I mentioned in the last mail that there are two BG links between India
and Bangladesh. Well, there are three MG links as well. They are:
Radhikapur-Biral, Gitaldaha-Lalmonirhat, Mahisashan-Akahura. All three
are on NF Railway. Both BG links are on Eastern Railway. I hope they set
up some passenger services as well.

Bees and monkeys are playing havoc with railway communication network on
the Dhanbad-Gaya-Mughalsarai section. Bees have swarmed the microwave
towers not allowing any maintenance.

-----------------------

-dheeraj

From: nuucp <nuucp@att.email

Subject: Re: Trains here and in India

Date: 20 May 1991 13:55:00 -0500


Hi! Regarding trains between LA and SF: I just called a very good friend of
mine who is an authentic train freak. He pulled out of his book shelf the
March 1946 Official Railroad Guide for North America. He just checked
the SP (Southern Pacific) schedules. Out of San Francisco, there are
8 trains per day along the coast route to Los Angeles (along the peninsula,
past Monterey, down to San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Oxnard); plus
2 trains a day from Oakland (which is just across the bay) using the coast
route. In addition, there are 8 trains out of Oakland to Los Angeles per day
using the San Joaqin valley route. That is a total of 18 trains per day from
the bay area to Los Angeles on ONE railroad company. This also does not
include trains from Sacremento (about an equal number) to Los Angeles, to which
there are hourly connections out of the bay area. My friend did not check
the other railroad companies such as Santa Fe and Western Pacific and the
other local railroad companies. Therefore the number 30 is of the right order of magnitude. The Hills you are referring to is the monumental El Cajon pass
just north of San Fernando valley (also called the grapevine when you drive on
interstate 5) over the tehacahpi mountains.
Vengu

From: jis <jis@attunix.email

Subject: Information from Dec 1990 issue of Indian Railways

Date: 20 May 1991 15:03:00 -0500


Dheeraj Sanghi writes about the konkan Railway:
> Ruling gradient: 1 in 150
> Rails: 52 kg - 90,000 tons.
> Sleepers Prestressed concrete 1.5 million.
> speed potential 160 KMPH.
>
> Shouldn't rails be 60 KG per meter for 160 KMPH operation. I think that
> is what they have on the high speed corridors of Delhi-Kanpur and Delhi-
> Bhopal.

Speed potential of a track depends on sleeper density and weight,
anchor density and strength of underlying structure in addition to
rail weight. It is conceivable that track laid with higher density of
heavier and deeper sleepers but with lighter rail could have the same
speed potential as another track laid with heavier rails but with
lower sleeper density or lighter sleepers. Maybe they are using a
track profile that is different from the existing high speed routes.
Of course, I have no idea what the planned track structure is on the
Konkan railway or what it is on the high speed corridors in India.

BTW has all of Delhi - Kanpur and Delhi - Jhansi been converted to
concrete sleepers? If not that in itself might explain the difference
in rail weights. Concrete sleepers tend to add stability to track
structure because they are heavier and they anchor the track better.

Ruling gradient of 1 in 150 sounds real good as far as running heavy
trains at higher speeds is concerned.

> Also, 90,000 tons would mean total rail length of 1730 KM or 865
> KM of tracks. Since the total route KM is 837 KM, and one needs
> additional tracks at the stations, it seems to me that it is completely
> a single line.

Initially laying a single track along a route and then progressively
doubling it as traffic grows on it seems to make a lot of sense. It
spreads out the capital needs and depriciation over a longer period of
time and gives time for traffic patterns to develop before capacity is
put on line.

Does the article say anything about what kind of signalling system is
going to be used? Also anything on turnout angles, i.e. what is the
angle at the frog of turnouts? The smaller this angle the higher the
speed at which a train can negotiate the turnout (point) along the
diverging arm.

Thanks.

Jishnu.
jis@attunix.email

From: Ajai Banerji <ajai@fx.email

Subject: Frequently asked questions-AMTRAK

Date: 20 May 1991 15:44:00 -0500


Sources of information:You can get their general booklets from the following
address:
Amtrak Distribution Center
P.O.Box 7717
Itasca
IL 60143

However, they do not seem to publish a timetable regularly as in India.
You can also get timings and other info from 800-USA-RAIL.
Other possible sources of information include the following books:
Eurail guide
Thomas Cook's Overseas Timetable
The former is widely available and gives a lot of details about the special
offers available on Amtrak. The best deal which I noticed was the $7 return:
If you travel by coach during off-season (Oct 1-May 24) except for 9 days
before and after Christmas, you can make the return half of a roundtrip for
only $7 if the outbound ticket is at least $65.
The latter is not so widely available, but will be of more interest as it
gives timings and other details for all non-European countries including India.
The level of detail is something like Trains at a Glance, though the details
for India seem to be out of date. This is available from Forsyth Travel Services
in Kansas (800-FORSYTH) and costs about $22.
Next on the list:Indrail Pass

From: jis <jis@attunix.email

Subject: Additional Info - Frequently asked questions-AMTRAK

Date: 21 May 1991 08:30:00 -0500


Ajai Banerji writes:
>
> Sources of information:You can get their general booklets from the following
> address:
> Amtrak Distribution Center
> P.O.Box 7717
> Itasca
> IL 60143
>
> However, they do not seem to publish a timetable regularly as in India.

Amtrak timetables are published twice a year. The timetable issue
dates coincide with the dates when daylight savings time goes into
effect and when standard time goes into effect. Starting this year it
is getting issued in two volumes viz. Northeast Timetable, and
National Timetable. In addition timetable sheets for individual trains
and specific corridors are also published. Occasionally revised
versions of timetables are published mid-season when time changes of
trains warrent it.

> You can also get timings and other info from 800-USA-RAIL.
> Other possible sources of information include the following books:
> Eurail guide
> Thomas Cook's Overseas Timetable
> The former is widely available and gives a lot of details about the special
> offers available on Amtrak. The best deal which I noticed was the $7 return:
> If you travel by coach during off-season (Oct 1-May 24) except for 9 days
> before and after Christmas, you can make the return half of a roundtrip for
> only $7 if the outbound ticket is at least $65.

Another great bargain specially off season is the All Aboard America
fare. It is really good if you are planning to do a lot of travelling.
You get three stopovers, and the fare covering travel coast to coast
is in the range of $250. Fares covering smaller regions are also
available. Recently they have announced a no refund All Aboard fare
which is even lower. Of course all special fares like these have
restricted availability, i.e. only a few seats are made
available under these fares, so they are hard to get during the high
season of Summer, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also tickets on these
fares cannot be used on Metroliners and New England Expresses.

Jishnu.
jis@attunix.email

From: C. S. Sudarshana Bhat <B536HIND@UTARLVM1.EMAIL

Subject: Rail Museums, Amtrak

Date: 21 May 1991 07:47:00 -0500


I was wondering if there has been any discussion in the recent past, over
this net, about rail museums. The only one I have ever visited was the
Rail Museum in Chanakyapuri (near the famous Safdarjung airport, if I am
correct!), New Delhi. However, I was not there for a long time, so I don't
have many details. All I can remember are the tusks of an elephant which
tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to block a train last century:-). Maybe, some
of you have been to Smithsonian, British Museums or the New Delhi museum for
a longer interval of time, and might like to share his/her experiences!

As far as Amtrak is concerned, the only All Aboard fares I was informed about
by the Amtrak agents was the one which is dependent on the zones of travel.
The US is split into three zones and travel in any single zone is $189 round-
trip, in two zones it is $269, and in three zones $339. One can make three
stopovers (specified by the traveller) and can chalk out one's route too. The
only other restrictions are that an about turn is counted as an automatic
stopover, and three lay-overs also count as one stopover. So, it is
conceivable, what with the limited number of Amtrak trains, to come up with a
plan having two overnight lay-overs plus between two stopovers - thus
being able to spend time in three different places (these have to be places
where you change trains!!) at the expense of just *one* stopover:-). A major
problem is that the tickets have to be reserved well in advance. For example,
I was planning to buy a ticket including a New Orleans-New York segment for
August last fortnight, but they were all sold out!! [I ended up changing it
to a NY-NO route:-)].

Amtrak time tables can be asked for over the phone too. All you need to do
is call the number Ajai gave, 1-800-USA-RAIL, and ask for them. Even the
Canadian time tables can be obtained [though they were out of print when I
enquired :-(].

More later. Bye.

From: vijayb <vijayb@pk705vmg.email

Subject: Train travel in USA

Date: 21 May 1991 09:51:00 -0500


Hi Folks,

Regarding the All Aboard America fares from Amtrak, the fare for a round
trip across two "regions" is close to $180. At least, this was the case
four years back, when we had planned a trip from Chicago to San Franciso and
back. The fare included three stop-overs. However, we had planned to go
from Denver to Las Vegas by car, which meant that these two cities could be
coalesced into one stop-over.

BTW, the trip never materialized, and it was only in last Nov. when I first
traveled by train in the US (apart from using the suburban system in Chicago).
This was from New Brunswick to Grand Central and back, by the Metro North (?).

Regards,
Vijay

From: Dheeraj Sanghi <dheeraj@cs.email

Subject: Konkan Railways.

Date: 21 May 1991 10:51:00 -0500


> BTW has all of Delhi - Kanpur and Delhi - Jhansi been converted to
> concrete sleepers?

They were not only changing to concrete sleepers, but also
relaying the tracks using heavier rails. I think the new policy
of relaying tracks is to use concrete sleepers on all trunk
routes whenever the track comes up for renewal. But heavier
rails are being used only for the high speed corridors. With
decreasing amount of forests, and increasing amount of environment
conciousness, the cost of wooden sleepers have gone up reducing
the cost gap between them and the concrete sleepers. The steel
sleepers are also somewhat cheaper, but we have to import steel,
adding a foreign exchange component. Also using concrete sleepers
allow one to renew tracks after a much longer time (30 years
instead of 20 years ???).

By the way, the reason we don't have as fast trains on MG tracks
as on BG tracks is primarily because the MG tracks are lighter,
40 KG per meter, and for most part use wooden or steel sleepers.


> Ruling gradient of 1 in 150 sounds real good as far as running heavy
> trains at higher speeds is concerned.

The earlier surveys had suggested that ruling gradient should be
1 in 100, but in the final report they realized that there were
only a couple of places, which had the steeper grade. They then
resurveyed those areas to see if they could change the track
positions, to allow a uniform ruling gradient from Bombay to
Mangalore.


> Initially laying a single track along a route and then progressively
> doubling it as traffic grows on it seems to make a lot of sense. It
> spreads out the capital needs and depriciation over a longer period of
> time and gives time for traffic patterns to develop before capacity is
> put on line.

I don't know what the traffic projections are for that line, but
if there is significant demand, the incremental cost of the second
line would be much lower now than later.

By the way, the Goa government does not want the line to pass
through Panji. The earlier survey had it through the city. Now
they have changed plans so that the rail line would be 10 KM
from the city.


> Does the article say anything about what kind of signalling system is
> going to be used? Also anything on turnout angles, i.e. what is the
> angle at the frog of turnouts?

Nope. No such information.


> Jishnu.
> jis@attunix.email

-dheeraj

From: Vicraj T. Thomas <vic@cs.email

Subject: What do these terms mean?

Date: 21 May 1991 07:55:00 -0500


jis@attunix.email writes:
> ...
> Ruling gradient of 1 in 150 sounds real good as far as running heavy
> trains at higher speeds is concerned.
> ...
> Does the article say anything about what kind of signalling system is
> going to be used? Also anything on turnout angles, i.e. what is the
> angle at the frog of turnouts? The smaller this angle the higher the
> speed at which a train can negotiate the turnout (point) along the
> diverging arm.
> ...


Could somebody please explain the following terms to me:

1. Ruling gradient (is it the largest gradient -- the one that rules the kind
of traffic on that line?)
2. Turnouts and frog of turnouts?

Thanks very much.

< Vicraj

--------
vic@cs.email Dept. of Computer Science
..!{uunet|noao}!arizona!vic University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

From: jis <jis@attunix.email

Subject: What do these terms mean?

Date: 21 May 1991 13:52:00 -0500


"Vicraj T. Thomas" writes:
>
> Could somebody please explain the following terms to me:
>
> 1. Ruling gradient (is it the largest gradient -- the one that rules the kind
> of traffic on that line?)

Yes, that is more or less it.

> 2. Turnouts and frog of turnouts?
>

A turnout is also known as a point. It is the place where a track
splits into two tracks. Usually one arm of a turnout is straight and
the other one is curved. The latter (the curved one) is known as the
diverging arm. The "frog" is the place at which two rails cross in a
turnout. If the diverging arm diverges to the left then the left rail
of the straight arm crosses the right rail of the diverging arm at the
frog. For a right diverging turnout the situation is a mirror image of
the left diverging turnout.

Jishnu.
jis@attunix.email

From: vijayb <vijayb@pk705vmg.email

Subject: How well are our capitals connected?

Date: 28 May 1991 13:41:00 -0500


Hi Folks,

This is a follow-up on something I had posted a few weeks back. The cities that I am considering are:-
Jammu (J), Chandigarh (C), Delhi (D), Jaipur (Ja), Lucknow (L), Patna (P),
Calcutta (Ca), Guwahati (G), Bhubaneswar (B), Bhopal (Bh), Bombay (Bo),
Ahmedabad (A), Bangalore (Ba), Hyderabad (H), Madras (M), Trivandrum (T)

Let me rank each city according to the number of cities it is directly linked
with (by train):-
1. D -> J, C, Ja, L, P, Ca, G, B, Bh, Bo, Ah, Ba, H, M, T (15)
2. Ca -> J, C, D, L, P, G, B, Bh, Bo, A, Ba, H, M, T (14)
3. M -> J, D, L, P, Ca, G, B, Bh, Bo, A, Ba, H, T (13)
4. Bo -> J, D, L, P, Ca, G, Bh, A, Ba, H, M, T (12)
4. L -> J, D, Ja, P, Ca, G, B, Bh, Bo, A, H, M (12)
6. A -> J, D, Ja, L, Ca, Bh, Bo, Ba, H, M, T (11)
5. J -> D, L, P, Ca, G, Bh, Bo, A, M, T (10)
5. G -> J, D, L, P, Ca, B, Bo, Ba, M, T (10)
5. Bh -> J, D, L, Ca, Bo, A, Ba, H, M, T (10)
5. Ba -> D, Ca, G, B, Bh, Bo, A, H, M, T (10)
5. T -> J, D, Ca, G, B, Bh, Bo, A, Ba, M (10)
10. H -> D, L, Ca, B, Bh, Bo, A, Ba, M (9)
11. B -> D, L, Ca, G, Ba, H, M, T (8)
12. P -> J, D, L, Ca, G, Bo, M (7)
13. Ja-> D, L, A, H (4)
14. C -> D, Ca (2)

Note that Bombay would have been ranked with Calcutta if I had considered
thru' coaches from Bombay Central to Chandigarh (via Frontier Mail/Kalka Mail),
and Bombay V.T. to Bhubaneswar (via Minar Exp./Konark Exp.).

This is a very crude estimate since I have not take into account, the frequency of service, thru' coaches, and quota alloted. For example, Bhopal seems to have an edge over J, G, Ba, and T since it is linked to all the other cities by daily trains. On the other hand, very few of these terminate at Bhopal which
affects the quota per train.

Jaipur and Chandigarh are placed at the bottom. As I mentioned before,
Jaipur is not even in the BG map. As far as Chandigarh is concerned, only the
Kalka-Delhi-Howrah Mail and the Kalka/Amritsar-Tatanagar/Hatia Exp. go beyond
Delhi; hence, the limited connections. However, a decent number of long-distance trains pass via Ambala, which is about 2 hrs. (?) by bus from Chandigarh.

Regards,
Vijay

From: Ajai Banerji <ajai@brazil.email

Subject: Assassination and after

Date: 28 May 1991 09:50:00 -0500


The tragic events of the past few days have no doubt overshadowed everything else.
How many of you had heard of this place Sriperumbadur upto now? It seems to be a pretty obscure
place-it cannot be found even on a large scale map. It does not have a railway station either. I suppose
the nearest major station is Chengalpattu(Chingleput).
Though it may be an obscure place, it will now be mentioned in the history books.
Although Dallas is an important business center, it is probably more well known as the place
where President Kennedy was assassinated.
In the leadership struggle which followed, it was interesting to see that NYT's Barbara
Crossette felt that former Railway Minister Madhavrao Scindia could emerge as a possible
successor. She was particularly impressed by the Shatabdi Express which was introduced
in his tin
time. In fact, he was probably the only minister whose portfolio was not changed during
RG's 5 years in power.

From: R. Anand | School of Computer and Information Science <anand@top.email

Subject: Re: Assassination and after

Date: 28 May 1991 15:08:00 -0500


There was mention of a special carriage which was used to carry RG's
ashes to Allahabad. Does anyone know more about this special train?
Apparently the carriage was painted white.

Anand

From: apte <apte@glacier.email

Subject: Ramble

Date: 28 May 1991 13:12:00 -0500


I was away for a couple of weeks and when I came back, I saw a
veritable deluge of mail! It was good to see the IRFCA come alive and
its strength increase to 52. Then, I guess the assasination has had a
numbing effect on all of us. With the elections around the corner, and
the forebodings of violence being a source of great worry, I guess
trains take a back seat...

I would like to bring up a topic sort of related to government, in the
context of these elections. And that is with re: ownership of
Railways. The question is should Railways be owned privately or by
Governments?

I am very strong believer in capitalism, and in general believe that
less government is best government. But in the case of railways, I
am not so sure. The best railways in the world (Japan, France, Britain,
Germany and yes, even India) are to the best of my knowledge,
run by governments. On the other hand in this country
we have a privately operated system: Amtrak
that, in my honest opinion sucks (with the sole exception of the
D.C.-N.Y. corridor). Also, I have heard rumors that corporations such
as G.M. actually bought and SHUT DOWN public transport systems in
cities like L.A. to promote car use.

I guess that the bottom line is that vision is needed to maintain and
research state-of-the-art on trains. Apart from a band like us who
love trains for the sake of themselves :-), I think the world has a
prime environmental stake in running efficient trains. Planes and
automobiles burn fuel ( a limited resource) and of course release all
the obnoxious CO et al. to punch holes in the ozone layer and generally
screw up the environment. Electric trains on the other hand can run
from possibly renewable energy sources (such as hydel power stations)
and just intuitively seem to me to be many order of magnitude cleaner
than any fuel-burning modes of transport. Of course trains cannot
replace airplanes for "long" (subjective) distances, but it seems to me
that trains complement rather than compete with airplanes.

In summary, I don't think that there are men/women lacking in vision in
the private industry to see the importance of trains. Its just that
government seems to be the only agency with unlimited resources (even
in the most capitalist of nations, here) that seems to be able keep
trains runnning. Almost reluctantly, I conclude that in the current
scenario, railways are best left to governments. Any of you would like
to comment on these points?

Pushkar
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