IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 7201 - 7220
From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>
Subject:
Date: 22 Jul 1999 10:31:35 -0500
Lucknow failed in keeping pace with railways
Times of India, July 22, 1999.
Weak transportation linkage have been a major reason for
Lucknow's slow overall development. Dr S.M. Akhtar, who has
been crusading for a better deal for Lucknow, argues the case.
(The writer is an architect/town planner.)
LUCKNOW: We all know that a decision to lay railway line in India
was taken in 1864 -- the first railway track being laid between
Bombay and Thane. But what most of us do not know that the second
sector to be taken up was Lucknow-Kanpur. While that goes on to
show the importance that this stretch enjoyed in the mind of the
then British planners for India, sadly the advantage has been lost
over the years; so much so that today, Lucknow has been relegated
to the background as far as railway priorities are concerned.
That Lucknow was given the importance due to it is also evident from
the fact that the rail link between Calcutta and Lucknow became
operational in 1893. Lucknow has since been very well connected
with north-eastern, eastern, as well northern part of the country.
It used to serve as the gateway for north-eastern states with fast
metre guage trains like A.T. Mail and G.L. Express since the fifties.
Similarly with Lucknow-Kathgodam route, it use to serve as
gateway to the Kumaon hills. But with the conversion of metre
gauge into broad gauge, the MG trains which were discontinued
during conversion time could never get reintroduced. In the
process Lucknow has lost major trains links like A.T. Mail
and G.L. Express for the northeast and Marudhar for Rajasthan.
At the same time, on the Lucknow-Kathgodam section the BG conversion
could not be done, instead a new route, Delhi-Kathgodam has been
opened, rendering the older NE Railway's Lucknow-Kathgodam route
redundant. Similarly, there has been over-emphasis on the Kanpur-
Allahabad route for Howrah, as a result of which the Lucknow-Howrah
route as well Lucknow-Jammu route has lost its sheen and pace.
At one time the Lucknow- Howrah route used to be very fast. Till three
decades ago, on the Jammu-Lucknow-Howrah route, popular trains like
Punjab Mail, Sealdah and Doon Express used to be fast trains. But
since then, Lucknow has been deprived of the facility of fast trains.
In most of the situations, you are spending about 50 per cent extra
time on travelling. For instance, Kanpur to Howrah takes 12:35 hours,
Lucknow to Howrah takes minimum 19:40 hours. Delhi - Mumbai takes
just 16:35 hours whereas Lucknow - Mumbai takes minimum 25:25 hours
in spite of distance being less by 100 km. For Lucknow - Bangalore,
you need 14 hours extra and for Lucknow - Chennai 15 hours' extra
travelling is needed. At present in a week, 12 pairs of Rajdhani
trains originating from Delhi for eastern states are passing from
Kanpur-Allahabad- Mugalsarai route. Six pairs out of these 12 can
be easily routed through Kanpur - Lucknow - Mughalsarai route.
In terms of kilometre length there will be a difference of just
43km: Kanpur- Mughalsarai via Allahabad is 345 km whereas Kanpur-
Mughalsarai via Lucknow is 388 km. But a mere distance of 43 km
is negligible to link the capital of the most populous state with
eastern and northeastern part of the country. The introduction of
Delhi-Patna Rajdhani via Lucknow in 1998 was a welcome decision.
But before it could become widely known, it was withdrawn, though
it had the potential to become very popular as its timing from
Delhi was very ideal, leaving Delhi at five in the evening and
reaching Lucknow at half past eleven. But it has been rerouted via
Allahabad, and in its place Delhi- Guwahati Rajdhani has been routed
through Lucknow, but this Rajdhani takes eight and a half hours
instead of six and a half hours to cover Lucknow-Delhi distance.
Its route further down to Guwahati is also very circuitous as
instead of the normal Mughalsarai-Patna route, it has been routed
through Ballia-Hajipur. Its timing too is not convenient. Still,
it remains an improved option for linking Lucknow-Guwahati. The
major obstruction for Lucknow in keeping pace with the dynamics of
Indian Railways has been due to much delay in making double line on
Lucknow - Kanpur section with further delay in its electrification.
Again though there are three routes for Lucknow -Varanasi, but
all the three have single track with no electrification. The
major bottleneck in the connecting South and Central India with
Lucknow is Kanpur -Jhansi section, this length of just 220 km has
kept almost whole of Uttar Pradesh remote for major parts of the
country. But now the electrification of Lucknow- Kanpur Line is
under progress and hopefully Lucknow- Varanasi via Sultanpur too
will be electrified in near future. Meanwhile, a gradual rerouting
of trains should be taken up. With the present constraints, an
hour or so extra may be lost due to engine change etc., but it
is not a very high cost to bear for linking Lucknow. On Howrah
route even this difference will be not of much significance.
The Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani is being operated through two routes:
Two days via Patna, five days via Gaya. Via Patna it takes 14:45 hours
between Kanpur-Howrah, whereas Via Gaya it takes 12:35 hours. If three
days in a week Howrah Rajdhani via Gaya is routed through Lucknow,
it will still cover Kanpur- Howrah in 14:45 hours. With this change
too, the Kanpur-Howrah distance will be covered in the same 14:45
hours on five days a week and in 12:35 hours for two days in a week.
From: Rajan Mathew <>
Subject: Fw: Trivandrum Rajdhani via KR
Date: 22 Jul 1999 11:37:15 -0500
error in html address in first mail
Hi Royston
I'm Rajan from Mumbai - Great to know that you've joined us on IRFCA. I
felt
that you should have ever since I landed up with your book ("India By
Rail")
in Jan this year.
For the Konkan railway timings you can visit my site which I relaunched
recently at a new location
Konkan Railway Resource Page
<A HREF="http://members.rediff.com/skiposeidon">http://members.rediff.com/skiposeidon</A>
Infact either way - Kankanadi to Panvel or vice versa - you complete the
entire KR stretch by day on the Rajdhani
Regards - Rajan
From: Royston Ellis <royston@pan.email
Gang,
I see from the e-mail from Poras that the Rajdhani from Trivandrum to
Delhi now goes via the KR. I've missed all this and don't have any
current
timetables. Could someone let me have details of days/itinerary. It
sounds
a great journey.
From: Shanku Niyogi <>
Subject: Re: Lucknow article
Date: 22 Jul 1999 13:48:13 -0500
Interesting (and convincing) article, although I'm not sure about the
idea
of rerouting the Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani.
Adding 2+ hours to a 12-1/2 hour trip may be an acceptable tradeoff for
accessing Lucknow in some cases, but not for Rajdhani. Other trains
(perhaps
the Poorva Express, which undergoes loco changes at Allahabad and MGS
anyway) could make the same change. But being accessible to intermediate
stops (even ones as big as Lucknow) should not be a high priority for
the
major Rajdhanis (unless they're major transfer points, like MGS or
Kanpur).
The Rajdhani via Gaya benefits from the use of a single WAP5 on a
continuous
electrified run - why screw up one of the closest things India has to a
true
long-distance superfast by losing that 2 hour advantage?
BTW, I wonder what the timings for the Rajdhani via Patna will be like
once
the main line has been electrified, and the loco change at MGS
eliminated.
From: Jishnu Mukerji <>
Subject: Re: Lucknow article
Date: 22 Jul 1999 14:50:03 -0500
Shanku Niyogi wrote:
>
> Interesting (and convincing) article, although I'm not sure about the
idea
> of rerouting the Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani.
>
> Adding 2+ hours to a 12-1/2 hour trip may be an acceptable tradeoff
for
> accessing Lucknow in some cases, but not for Rajdhani. Other trains
(perhaps
> the Poorva Express, which undergoes loco changes at Allahabad and MGS
> anyway) could make the same change. But being accessible to
intermediate
> stops (even ones as big as Lucknow) should not be a high priority for
the
> major Rajdhanis (unless they're major transfer points, like MGS or
Kanpur).
I agree. If there is significant traffic potential through Lucknow, it
would be reasonable to consider introducing a new Rajdhani via the
northern route. Alternatively, they could muck around with the current
Rajdhani, which has way too many stops already anyway, and introduce a
new Rajdhani with only the original stops of the Rajdhani when it was
introduced (or even perhaps no commercial stops) and perhaps a
considerably reduced running time.
> The Rajdhani via Gaya benefits from the use of a single WAP5 on a
continuous
> electrified run - why screw up one of the closest things India has to
a true
> long-distance superfast by losing that 2 hour advantage?
>
> BTW, I wonder what the timings for the Rajdhani via Patna will be like
once
> the main line has been electrified, and the loco change at MGS
eliminated.
What is the current status of electrification of the Main Line?
Thanks,
Jishnu.
--
Jishnu Mukerji
Systems Architect
Email: jis@fpk.email Hewlett-Packard New Jersey Labs,
Tel: +1 973 443 7528 300 Campus Drive, 2E-62,
Fax: +1 973 443 7422 Florham Park, NJ 07932, USA.
From: Sankaran Kumar <>
Subject: question about Agra
Date: 22 Jul 1999 16:18:54 -0500
Does anyone know about the distance between the three Agra stations
(Agra Chavani (Cantt.), Raja ki Mandi and Agra fort)? And the time that
Marudhar (Fort-Cantt.)and
Chennai-Jammutavi(R-k-M to Cantt.) expresses take to traverse this
distance.
Thanks
Kumar
_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit <A HREF="http://www.msn.com">http://www.msn.com</A>
From: S Pai <>
Subject: FAQ -- downloadable files available
Date: 22 Jul 1999 18:54:14 -0500
At the bottom of the main (contents) page of the IRFCA FAQ, I've added
links to allow downloading either a zip file (for Windows) or a gzipped
shar file (for Unix) of all the FAQ files, for those who are interested
in
browsing it offline. Each of the archive files is about 150KB. You
should
be all set if you unpack an archive file into a single directory and aim
your browser at "index.html". The unpacked FAQ files come to about
385KB.
--Satish
From: Samit Roychoudhury <>
Subject: Fw: Lucknow article
Date: 22 Jul 1999 19:47:23 -0500
yep i agree with that too... dont mess with the rajdhani. maybe they
could
start a new train, a superfast between delhi and howrah via lucknow.
> Interesting (and convincing) article, although I'm not sure about the
idea
> of rerouting the Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani.
>
> Adding 2+ hours to a 12-1/2 hour trip may be an acceptable tradeoff
for
> accessing Lucknow in some cases, but not for Rajdhani. Other trains
(perhaps
> the Poorva Express, which undergoes loco changes at Allahabad and MGS
> anyway) could make the same change. But being accessible to
intermediate
> stops (even ones as big as Lucknow) should not be a high priority for
the
> major Rajdhanis (unless they're major transfer points, like MGS or
Kanpur).
>
> The Rajdhani via Gaya benefits from the use of a single WAP5 on a
continuous
> electrified run - why screw up one of the closest things India has to
a
true
> long-distance superfast by losing that 2 hour advantage?
>
> BTW, I wonder what the timings for the Rajdhani via Patna will be like
once
> the main line has been electrified, and the loco change at MGS
eliminated.
>
From: Sunil Bajpai <>
Subject: Re: Diesel Consumption
Date: 22 Jul 1999 21:05:27 -0500
Some of the latest engines do achieve around 135 gms/bhp-hr but I'm not
aware of any that are used on locomotives.
You have actually made some very important points. May I add the
following
to the discussion, although most of it may not be of interest to list
members.
1. The variation of load and rpm
The load must vary with rpm if optimum part load efficiency is to be
achieved. Of course, engines designed to work for gensets can be
optimised
for operation at a single rpm and load.
The 156 gm/bhp-hr for DLW locomotives is at rated (full) power and load.
2. Engine efficiency is not the bottom line
The transmission efficiency is equally important and two locomotives
with
identical powerpacks may deliver different power at the wheels!
3. Selection of locomotive is important
Indeed matching the locomotive power and tractive effort to the load can
give very substantial benefits. Case in point is the 12-cylinder WDP1
locomotive introduced for passenger train operations in place of 16
cylinder
WDM2:
o This 12 cylinder engine is fuel efficient, achieving around 152-153
gms/bhp-hr against the original 16-cylinder Alco's performance of over
160
gms/bhp-hr.
o Delivering more hp/cylinder, this engine is rated at 2350 hp as
against
2600 hp of its larger cousin.
0 But because the engine is smaller, a 4-axle locomotive could be
designed
to accommodate it. (Remember there is always an axle load restriction?)
Result: lower frictional losses
Thus the WDP1 has almost the same effective load hauling capacity as the
WDM2 and can replace it in all branch line passenger train operation
saving
substantial fuel on two counts: higher efficiency and smaller powerpack!
Before I close this rather long mail, there are two other points that
can
cause confusion:
1. The unit of power
When I said 156 gm/bhp-hr, it is British horsepower which is some 3%
larger
than the metric horsepower (also know as CV) often mentioned by engine
manufacturers.
2. The tolerance on rated power
The ISO standard for declaration of engine power allows tolerance of
+1/-0
(?) percent in rated power .
The current level achieved on testbed trials in RDSO is around 150
gms/bhp-hr. Such engines can easily pass of as 145 gms/bhp-hr engines if
you
take the advantage of ISO tolerance and quote the specific fuel
consumption
in metric horsepower!!!
Regards,
Sunil
-----Original Message-----
From: raymond/Polaris@polaris.email <raymond/Polaris@polaris.email
To: Sunil Bajpai <sunil@lw1.email
Cc: irfca@cs.email <irfca@cs.email
Date: 22 July 1999 20:51
Subject: Diesel Consumption
>
>
>Dear Sunil,
>
>The latest series of engines (take Caterpilar or Detroit Diesel) would
give
you
>something like 175 gms per KwHr, which should be in the region of 130
gms
per
>BHP hr. But then, the ALCO's also vary rpm along with the load, whereas
other
>engines run at constant rpm irrespective of load. They also use PMG
exciters,
>2/3 pole pitch to take care of block loading, which is what happens
when
you put
>the loco onto the first notch, and then accelerate.
>
>But, then your comments on the above.
>
>Raymond Arogyaswamy
>
>
>
From: Jayant S <>
Subject: Accident Management Ideas
Date: 22 Jul 1999 22:01:51 -0500
As I see it, having a career working on automobiles
(which are usually operated under far more dangerous
conditions than trains are), accident management
needs to be a total system, divided into active and
passive safety. Cars are designed that way: active
safety components help prevent accidents (brakes,
tyres, handling, power, visibility etc), while
passive safety translates mainly into energy absorption
(crumple zones, seat belts, air bags, lack of
sharp, hard objects in train interiors etc).
Suppose we consider railway operation as an
integrated system, and broadly apply the automotive
model (which is well-defined in the industry), we get:
Active Safety (not in order of importance):
1. Rolling stock performance standards
2. Track standards
3. Crew/personnel performance standards
4. Communications: routine and emergency
Passive Safety:
1. Crash energy absorption zones (the car industry
calls them "crumple zones"), strategically distributed.
2. Coach interiors designed to prevent collision of
occupants with hard objects.
3. Couplings designed to minimise train parting
following derailment.
4. Escape routes.
If all these factors are weighted and co-ordinated
during design, they could lead to a considerably reduced
For example, automotive crumple zone thinking has been
successfully applied on the TGV trains which have space built
into the nose of the leading unit, basically to absorb energy
during grade crossing collisions. With our coach layouts,
we could probably reduce death tolls in accidents if
we made the ends of the coach absorb impact by deforming
progressively, while keeping the passenger cell as rigid
as possible. This will reduce telescoping considerably,
and will absorb a lot of the kinetic energy from the
train when it hits an obstacle. Cars are built that way,
with designated crumple zones in the boot and the engine
bay, and the passenger cell as rigid as possible.
I found this quote from Harsh interesting:
>...He said that he was saved because he was awake and could hold on to
> whatever he could.
Obviously, people are incurring injuries when they are flung
around inside a tumbling coach, and hit hard objects within it.
We urgently need major rethinking on interior design of
passenger stock if we intend to have faster, heavier trains !
Comments, anyone ?
--
JS
--
From: Jayant S <>
Subject: Re: Preventable accidents?
Date: 22 Jul 1999 22:03:43 -0500
hvc wrote:
> From my side I volunteer to submit the IRFCA reports to the CRS and
follow
> up with him. We can give our suggestions in the aftermath of an
accident as
> well as other general recommendations.
I support this too. I think we have a pretty good group
of analysts here who should be able to come up
with good ideas. We need someone who can compile,
edit and prepare presentations of these, though.
--
JS
--
From: Jayant S <>
Subject: Re: Fuel consumption
Date: 22 Jul 1999 22:16:44 -0500
Apurva Bahadur wrote:
> Even I have heard stories of frugal consumption by the YDM 4. The
driver in
> question had worked a freight from Arsikere to Ranibennur and returned
light to
> Arsikere. Then he told me that the average consumption was only 1
liter per KM
> fully loaded. Now that is better than many cars !
Not really, I can't think of a car made today which
gives you less than 5 km/l. Of course, if you mean
fuel consumption per passenger, then there is no
contest: railroads are by far the most efficient
land transport system ever devised.
--
JS
--
From: SHRINIVAS V. JOSHI <>
Subject: Re: question about Agra
Date: 22 Jul 1999 23:40:22 -0500
Hi!
On Thu, 22 Jul 1999, Sankaran Kumar wrote:
> Does anyone know about the distance between the three Agra stations
> (Agra Chavani (Cantt.), Raja ki Mandi and Agra fort)? And the time
that
> Marudhar (Fort-Cantt.)and
> Chennai-Jammutavi(R-k-M to Cantt.) expresses take to traverse this
distance.
(Ref. latest Cr. Time Table)
Agra Cantt- Raja ki Mandi 4 Kms
Raja ki Mandi- Agra city 2 Kms
4863/4864 Marudhar touches only Agra Cantt & comes in/goes out via Agra
fort.
6031/6032 JammuTawi Exp, halts only at Agra Cantt. So, no question of
time
taken from Raja-Ki-Mandi to Cantt.
And it is hardly any distance as such for these trains.
Bye,
Shrinivas
From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>
Subject: Re: Lucknow article
Date: 23 Jul 1999 02:47:11 -0500
I am also not in favour of rerouting Rajdhani, but after
reading the article, I also felt that the capital city of the
most populous state should have a few superfast trains passing
through it, and should be better connected to other major cities.
As a first step, doubling of entire Delhi-Lucknow stretch,
and doubling of Kanpur-Jhansi, Lucknow-Varanasi (any one route
at least), Lucknow-Gorakhpur, etc. should be undertaken.
-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: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: [Fwd: YDM4 vs. WDM 2
Date: 23 Jul 1999 03:14:11 -0500
You would be surprised at how many WDM 2 lovers we have
aboard. Example - Joydeep Dutta has an email address
"wdm2lover@hotmail.email or something similar. Please share
such juicy trivia with all of us. I will send the WDM 3 pic by
a separate email to you.
Apurva
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: [Fwd: YDM4 vs. WDM 2
Date: 23 Jul 1999 03:14:11 -0500
You would be surprised at how many WDM 2 lovers we have
aboard. Example - Joydeep Dutta has an email address
"wdm2lover@hotmail.email or something similar. Please share
such juicy trivia with all of us. I will send the WDM 3 pic by
a separate email to you.
Apurva
From: Dr. K.J. Walker <>
Subject: Re: Argentinian 5'6" gauge
Date: 23 Jul 1999 03:32:11 -0500
Dear Apurva and all,
I'm a little sceptical about "accidental" choice of gauge. In the
case
of 5ft 6ins, my scepticism is reinforced by the fact that many British
overseas railways had it.
The Grand Trunk Railway in Canada was originally built to broad
gauge.
The main line railways in Spain and Portugal (pre-dating
Argentina)
were also built to 5ft 6in gauge.
Brazil and Chile both have extensive 5ft 6in gauge mileage.
The other odd thing about this little legend is simply that
Crimea
was part of the Russian Empire, and the Russian main line railways have
always been 5ft gauge. Use of those engines in Crimea would have
involved
gauge modification, and their subsequent use in Argentina would have
involved re-conversion. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but it does
sound
odd.
In my view Satish is right to query the influence of available
locos
on choice of gauge.
Cheers
Ken Walker
-----Original Message-----
From: Apurva Bahadur <iti@vsnl.email
To: S Pai <s_pai@bigfoot.email
Cc: Indian Railways List <irfca@cs.email Benoit, Marcelo
<mmbenoit@adinet.email Yommi, Roberto J <royom@ciudad.email
Date: 20 July 1999 1:50
Subject: Re: Argentinian 5'6" gauge
>
>Gang !
>
>Coincidentally Roberto Yommi was just mentioning this subject ! We were
>discussing how similar the IR and the AR were. Be sure to visit his
excellent
>website on Argentinean Railways.
>
><A HREF="http://geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/8849/">http://geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/8849/</A>
><A HREF="http://members.xoom.com/atodotren/">http://members.xoom.com/atodotren/</A>
>
>
>>Apurva: Thanks for the invitacion!!
>>Don't forget that in my country the railroads were also
>>English built and
>>the first Argentinean locomotive (1854-Manning Wardle & Co)
>>was originally
>>assigned for the railroads of the India, then they sent it
>>to the war of
>>Crimea and from there he/she came to my country.
>>For that reason we have the same broad gauge, although here
>>there is also
>>standard (1435 mm) and narrow (1000 mm) gauge and similar
>>signals.
>
>>Best wishes!!
>>Roberto
>
>
>
>S Pai wrote:
>
>> Is it true that the Argentinian 5'6" gauge was a result of a mistaken
>> shipment of locomotives and rolling stock intended for India to
Argentina?
>> The story goes that the shipment was first commandeered for use in
the
>> Crimean War, and later sent to Argentina because of clerical error
after
>> the war. Sounds like an urban legend :-) but stranger things have
>> happened. The story begs for clarification -- were there no railways
>> in Argentina before the misrouting? Was it easier to lay new lines
to
>> accommodate the locos and stock rather than to regauge them to
whatever
>> had been planned earlier? Was it not worthwhile to re-ship
everything to
>> India? Is there any shred of truth to this story?
>>
>> --Satish
>
>>
>
>
>
>
From: Jayant S <>
Subject: Automobile Fuel consumption
Date: 23 Jul 1999 04:18:27 -0500
"C.L.Zeni" wrote:
> The 5.7 litre engine burns a US
> gallon of petrol every 16 miles.
That is still 6.4 kilometers to the liter,
and is on the unacceptable end of the mileage
scale by all means !
Compare it with any Honda engine......
But, of course, If you start looking
at fuel consumption per person, then
railroads RULE. Only water transport
is more efficient.
--
JS
--
From: C.L.Zeni <>
Subject: Re: Automobile Fuel consumption
Date: 23 Jul 1999 04:45:01 -0500
Jayant S wrote:
>
> "C.L.Zeni" wrote:
>
> > The 5.7 litre engine burns a US
> > gallon of petrol every 16 miles.
>
> That is still 6.4 kilometers to the liter,
> and is on the unacceptable end of the mileage
> scale by all means !
As I said, obscene. Me, I'm one of the few people here that actually
care about fuel economy, and of that group one of the fewer that drive a
diesel auto. Diesel autos are quite rare in the US...
> But, of course, If you start looking
> at fuel consumption per person, then
> railroads RULE. Only water transport
> is more efficient.
Albeit painfully slow. I'd rather ride the train :)
--
Craig Zeni - REPLY TO -->> clzeni at mindspring dot com
<A HREF="http://www.mindspring.com/~clzeni/index.html">http://www.mindspring.com/~clzeni/index.html</A>
Society for Preservation Of Southern Culture
Our motto: Y'all say hey to your mama 'n' them, hear?
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Accident..
Date: 23 Jul 1999 07:22:31 -0500
FyffesFL@aol.email wrote:
> For at least 50 - 60 years coloured flares ( red, usually ) have been
> standard practice in the USA and many Latin American lines ( where
they tend
> to have a theft problem around New Year's ).
>
> They burn for about 20 minutes. They have a simple self igniting
device, so
> they can be used without getting out of the cab or brakevan, a great
and
> sometime crucial timesaver.
I think the self igniting / long burning/ magnesium flare sitting on the
sleeper are
known as a 'fusee'. I do not know any crew in and out of Pune carrying
this. Maybe
this is too much of a branch line for this sort of equipment. Everyone
carries
detonators, including the humble gangman walking the track patrol beat.
I am not clear about the detonator operation. A train comes to an
unscheduled stop.
The guard is at one end and the driver is at another. Is the guard
actually expected
in reality to get off and start walking to figure out what the matter is
? In all
weathers, all terrains and at all times of the day ?
What if the train suddenly moves, is the guard supposed to sprint back
to his caboose
? Then the guard decides that it is time to set up the detonators and he
walks back
300 or so meters clamping detonators on the rails. Now when the loco
gives the all
clear horn, the guard is supposed to recover all the detonators and then
give the
green flag/ lamp. Can this done ? I do not think so.
> Rocket flares sound dangerous, also they don't burn for very long -
used a
> lot of these in the Army, never seen one on any railway.
The rocket flare would itself cause many deaths, if used by the Indian
Railways !
Apurva
From: S Pai <>
Subject: Re: FAQ -- downloadable files available
Date: 23 Jul 1999 07:36:20 -0500
> I am unable to find the IRFCA FAQ page. Is it in www.irfca.org ?
Sorry, I left out the URL for the FAQ:
<A HREF="http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716">http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716</A>
--Satish