Indian Railways News

[Jagdish58]

Konkan railway

Shiradi ghat ( Bangalore- Mangalore route )

Dudhsagar ( Bangalore - Goa route)

 

[Jagdish58]

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-begins-work-on-himachal-ladakh-rail-link/1/757335.html

Good move but speed in execution is need of hour

 

[cobra commando]

Here's A Sneak Peek Into Indian Railways' New Fully AC 3-Tier Train - The Humsafar Express

 

[mayfair]

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-begins-work-on-himachal-ladakh-rail-link/1/757335.html

Good move but speed in execution is need of hour

The line shall pass through extremely harsh and unforgiving terrain. More than speed, it's surety that's important here. The amount of tunnels, bridges and culverts that will need building over the shifting Himalayan soil, valleys and crevasses will be no mean ask.

 

[Adioz]

India offers land to Elon Musk to test Hyperloop

As Elon Musk struggles in acquiring land rights for testing his audacious Hyperloop project in the United States, India has emerged out of nowhere to offer him a helping hand.

India is offering Musk's SpaceX a big chunk of land and permission to do the required testing in Pune, a city 118 kilometers away from Mumbai. The country's Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said he made the proposal to Hyperloop's parent company SpaceX during his recent visit to the United States.

“I just offered them ... they want some road for experimental purpose. I offered them the westerly bypass of Pune connected to the Express Highway. The idea is they can take an experiment between Mumbai and Pune as a pilot project," he said. '”It is up to [SpaceX] to decide whether or not to accept my offer,” he added.

If Hyperloop manages to materialize its commercial plans - and bring it to India — it would enable people in Mumbai to go to Nagpur in 35 minutes, Gadkari said. In comparison, the same 800 kilometers trip takes nearly 14 hours by train.

The Chief Minister of western Indian state of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, added that his state government has also asked SpaceX to develop the product and then test it in the state.

With Hyperloop, Musk has a vision to change the way people travel between cities. One of the biggest hurdles for his superfast train, which uses air for propulsion and runs along magnetic tracks, has been convincing local governments and dealing with politicians to acquire land rights.

Earlier this year, Hyperloop Transportaion Technologies announced that it had signed an agreement with the government of Slovak Republic to explore building a Hyperloop system that connects Bratislava with Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary.

Not sure if they'll take the offer, but would be excellent if they did.

 

[Jagdish58]

The line shall pass through extremely harsh and unforgiving terrain. More than speed, it's surety that's important here. The amount of tunnels, bridges and culverts that will need building over the shifting Himalayan soil, valleys and crevasses will be no mean ask.

Yes easily said then done , agree with you on some points

But India is coming with valuable experience of Kashmir railway and Konkan railway , sure they can achieve in time based on experience gained

State govt has very important role to play on land acquisition & Environmental ministry on clearance which might get into delays

 

[Jagdish58]

Here's A Sneak Peek Into Indian Railways' New Fully AC 3-Tier Train - The Humsafar Express

Awesome

But do we deserve such features??? .Many passengers enjoy breaking coach bulbs , tearing seat & writing on coach wall with markers which will make whole features shabby . Not to forget IR Maintenance team negligence

 

[Chinmoy]

Yes easily said than done agreed

But India is coming with valuable experience of Kashmir railway and Konkan railway , sure they can achieve in time based on experience gained

State govt has very important role to play on land acquisition & Environmental ministry on clearance which might get into delays

Leaving the red tapeism aside, even the whole project would be an engineering challenge. Kashmir Railway is upto Tawi, which is comparatively simple and easier then anything which is planned cross Himalayan range. Konkan Railway is no match to the geographically unstable and shifting Himalayan plates.

Swiss engineers had taken 20 years to built a railway line across Alps recently. So I think a time line of a decade or a decade and half would not be a bad thing to say about this project.

 

[Jagdish58]

Leaving the red tapeism aside, even the whole project would be an engineering challenge. Kashmir Railway is upto Tawi, which is comparatively simple and easier then anything which is planned cross Himalayan range. Konkan Railway is no match to the geographically unstable and shifting Himalayan plates.

Swiss engineers had taken 20 years to built a railway line across Alps recently. So I think a time line of a decade or a decade and half would not be a bad thing to say about this project.

Yup no doubt decades definitely based on terrain, Konkan railway took almost 30 years , but it depends upon how soon we start ,the start should not be after a decade

 

[Chinmoy]

Yup no doubt decades definitely based on terrain, Konkan railway took almost 30 years , but it depends upon how soon we start ,the start should not be after a decade

Going by the rate of change IR is undergoing, it could be announced/ drafted by next year I hope.

 

[mayfair]

State govt has very important role to play on land acquisition & Environmental ministry on clearance which might get into delays

It's between Himachal Govt and Ladakh autonomous council. The J&K govt. will have nothing to do with his.

 

[Jagdish58]

It's between Himachal Govt and Ladakh autonomous council. The J&K govt. will have nothing to do with his.

Mate I never took J&K govt name , I just meant in general State Govt & Environmental ministry

Because hubli -Angola rail connection ( Konkan + Miraj line ) got struck for decades due to objection from Environmental ministry which got clearance now under NDA govt

Since the border track might pass through dense jungle area in Himachal clearance might get delayed & Landscape in Ladakh posses much bigger challange

 

[mayfair]

Mate I never took J&K govt name , I just meant in general State Govt & Environmental ministry

Because hubli -Angola rail connection ( Konkan + Miraj line ) got struck for decades due to objection from Environmental ministry which got clearance now under NDA govt

Since the border track might pass through dense jungle area in Himachal clearance might get delayed & Landscape in Ladakh posses much bigger challange

I agree. It's just that of the three governments involved- Punjab, Himachal and J&k, I would expect J&K govt. to be biggest stumbling block, were it to come down to them. There will be land acquisition issues in Punjab as well, given the trouble that DFC seems to find itself in there.

Environmental ministry will not be much of a hurdle, but cannot say the same about the NGO-infested NGT.

 

[PD_Solo]

Train to kashmir - An amazing story of railway project by Indian railways

 

[Indx TechStyle]

After nearly a century, India junks its annual railway budget
Manu Balachandran
September 21, 2016

Indian Railways is today the country's largest employer. (Reuters/Vivek Prakash)

Ninety-two years after it was first presented, India’s railway budget is being scrapped.

“Rail budget and general budget will be amalgamated from now, there will only be one budget,” India’s finance minister, Arun Jaitley said on Sept. 21. “However, the functional autonomy of railways will be maintained.”

Set up in 1853, Indian Railways is today the country’s largest employer, giving jobs to 1.4 million people.

The annual rail budget, as an exercise, began in 1924 under the British at a time when the railways was one of the biggest revenue earners for the country. Over the years, it has also been a platform to announce new trains and services, passenger fares, or plans for capacity expansion.

The decision to scrap the railway budget was first proposed by a NITI Aayog committee in June, which argued that it had failed “to be of use to the sector” and had become a “mechanism to announce popular measures.”

“Except India, no other country in the world has a railways budget,” railway minister Suresh Prabhu had said in August. “We want to do away with this colonial tradition.”

Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has also decided to advance the date for presenting the union budget —traditionally done at the end of February—by a month.

The government wants to get all legislative approvals for the annual spending and tax proposals before the new financial year begins in April.

“(The) exact date of budget 2017 presentation would be decided keeping (the) calendar of state assembly elections in mind,” Jaitley said.

 

[Jagdish58]

After nearly a century, India junks its annual railway budget
Manu Balachandran
September 21, 2016

Indian Railways is today the country's largest employer. (Reuters/Vivek Prakash)

Change is inevitable good move

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Railways could be freed of populism after Budget unification

Cabinet ends 92-yr-old rule, approves merger of Railways & Union Budget

NEW DELHI: The Modi government's decision to discontinue the British-era practice of a separate Railway Budget, apart from being intended to encourage better fiscal management, is aimed at freeing the state-run transporter from the clutches of ruinous political populism.

With the railway budget often becoming a political gravy train, the state-run transporter was forced to divert resources even as unfinished projects piled up amid popular, but uneconomical announcements.

The "political glamour" of rail ministry attracted the attention of regional political players who bargained and controlled the portfolio for more than 15 years of coalition government under United Front, NDA and UPA regimes. These leaders, barring some exceptions, treated the portfolio like a milch cow for distributing political patronage. This populism pushed back long pending reforms to plug the flaws in the national transporter's structures and governance.

The decision to do away with the rail budget was welcomed by BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab who heads the railway convention committee. "There is no need for a separate budget as there are other departments in the government that also have large budgets. The railway budget was a relic of colonial times with the general budget being presented in England," he said.

Barring Nitish Kumar, who was seen to be committed to financial and safety norms, other regional bigwigs like Ram Vilas Paswan, Lalu Prasad and Mamata Banerjee often focussed more on politics. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who left the rail portfolio after winning Bengal assembly polls, went on to sack her party nominee Dinesh Trivedi who increased passenger fares left untouched for decades.

The Niti Aayog panel headed by Bibek Debroy which recommended scrapping of a separate budget had observed that the move would help to reduce railways visibility, which would actually be real reform as many critical areas would then possibly cease to be hostage to political compulsions.

Populism resulted in more than 300 projects being announced in past budgets which require around Rs 3 lakh crore to complete. Keeping passenger fares low resulted in a subsidy burden of over Rs 30,000 crore annually and over charging on freight which saw the railways lose business to roads. Announcement of a large number of trains on uneconomical routes and stoppages by successive railway ministers further stressed the transporter.

The cash-strapped railways was unable to raise the huge resources needed to make it viable through modernisation, increase in efficiency and reduction of wastage. Stressed finances have hit investment in vital operational areas.

The proposed rail development authority to determine passenger and freight tariff and to ensure fair play and level playing field for private investments will further depoliticise the functioning of railways. Even at the beginning of UPA-2, the Planning Commission tried to push railways towards institutional reforms. Doing away with a separate budget, many feel, will accelerate the reform process.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Coming soon: India’s longest railway tunnel on Rishikesh-Karnprayag route

India’s longest tunnel is the 11.2 kilometre link from Banihal to Quazikund linking the Jammu region to the Kashmir valley.(Waseem Andrabi/HT Photo)

Work on the 125-km Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail link, which will have India’s longest tunnel of 15.1 km, is set to begin in four-five months.

The cost of the railway project will be Rs 16,200 crore, up from around Rs 4,000 crore estimated when it was mooted six years ago. The rise in cost has been attributed to the forest ministry’s delay in giving environment clearance to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) for acquisition of land in high-altitude areas.

Besides inflation, the cost escalation is due to inclusion of a separate rescue tunnel that will be constructed parallel to the main rail line, RVNL officials said.

“Escape tunnels for relief or rescue was included following a guideline issued by the Indian railways in 2013,” RVNL joint general manager for the project, Sumit Jain said, adding that work is set to begin in 4-5 months.

According to sources, the forest ministry’s office in Dehradun did not give the clearance as it was not convinced that the rail track alignment plan was linear which was mandatory considering the unstable and fragile nature of Himalayas.

However, it was forced to give the clearance after Union ministry in Delhi wrote a letter to it on September 16, stating that the project is linear.

The rail link will connect pilgrimage towns Devprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Gauchar Karnprayag with five districts of Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri, Rudrapryag and Chamoli.

The line will have 105 km or 85% of the project inside tunnels. A 15.1-km tunnel, longest in the country, is set to come up between Devprayag and Lachmoli on the route. The project will also include 16 bridges with the longest of them being 460m.

India’s longest tunnel is the 11.2 kilometre link from Banihal to Quazikund linking the Jammu region to the Kashmir valley.

As per RVNL and state tourism department officials, it will reduce the time taken between Rishikesh and Karnprayag— which bifurcates road for Badrinath and Kedarnath—to a maximum of 2 hours from the present over seven. “Besides this, there will be huge cut in travel cost for pilgrims,” Jain said.

Officials said it would also speed up the transportation of defence personnel and equipment to border areas.

“This project will also support the state’s efforts in stopping migration and open the gateway for penetrating railway lines further into the hills,” former minister of state for railways, Satpal Maharaj, during whose tenure the rail link was first mooted, said.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Country's first railway university in Vadodara to cost Rs 865 crore

The Railway Staff College in Vadodara acts as the apex-level training and management development institute for the officers of the Indian Railways.

Vadodara: Country's first railway university proposed to come up in Vadodara will cost at least Rs 865 crore, excluding the land cost. The proposal regarding this is pending with the NITI Aayog.

Also, if things go as per plans, the university will come up on 31.40 hectare land (around 80 acres) that the government has allocated in Piparia village in Waghodiya taluka.

It was in December 2015 that the railway ministry had declared setting up country's first railway university. Later, union minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha during his visit to the National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) had announced that the university will come up in Vadodara.

"The Vadodara district collectorate had shown us land in Padra, Desar and Piparia. Of these, Piparia is best suited for the university campus," said Rajiv Gupta, director general of NAIR.

NAIR, formerly known as the Railway Staff College, presently acts as the apex level training and management development institute for the officers of the Indian Railways.

"The initial cost for setting up the university in two phases is estimated at Rs 865 crore that will be spent over a period of 10 years," he said. As a precursor to the proposed university, a MoU will be soon signed with M S University.

"As per the agreement, MBA for railway probationers for Indian Railways Accounts Services, Indian Railways Personnel Services and Indian Railways Stores Services will be offered at M S University. We expect that the MoU will be signed soon and the next batch will start from the forthcoming academic year," said Gupta.

Vadodara will be the headquarter of the university and the six colleges of railways located at Secunderabad, Nashik, Pune, Jamalpur in Bihar and Lucknow will become its constituent schools.

 

[AVERAGE INDIAN]

Vintage info I found