IRFCA Mailing List Archive


Messages 5921 - 5940

From: Jayant S <>

Subject: Re: DMRC Website

Date: 27 Apr 1999 03:34:26 -0500



> I think they do not have any line which has some metro
> (underground) corridor, and some above-ground corridor.
> There is one line which is totally underground, and there
> are two lines which are totally above ground.
Funny that they would not want to have through
running.

> On the underground line, they plan to have 3rd rail system,
> and on the other two line, they will have overhead system.
> The engines should have both option, I guess.
I don't suppose they'd want to use locomotive hauled
stock in any case, though. EMUs are normal for this
sort of operation. Until now, the only EMU I have
heard of with overhead catenary AND 3rd-rail capacity
is: the Eurostar high-speed train !!

I imagine it would be pretty expensive to have options
for 750VDC 3rd rail and 25KVAC catenary on the same
stock, not to mention the weight penalty.

--
JS
--

From: Vijay Balasubramanian <>

Subject: Re: DMRC Website

Date: 27 Apr 1999 06:21:06 -0500


Even the Metro north commuter trains operating between Grand Central, NY
and New Haven have this feature. They switch between overhead and 3rd
rail somewhere between Mt. Vernon and 125 St. I have traveled from
Grand Central to New Rochelle - it was interesting to see how the 3rd
rails give way to overhead catenary.

Talking about electrification, it's exciting to see electrification in
progress on the Boston - New Haven line. The traction structures being
used are very similar to those on the AC section in India - I love 'em.
I cross the main line twice - on my way to work and back. The poles are
in place!

Vijay

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jayant S [SMTP:sank@idane2.email
>Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 1999 6:34 AM
>To: Dheeraj Sanghi; IR List
>Subject: Re: DMRC Website
>
>
>> I think they do not have any line which has some metro
>> (underground) corridor, and some above-ground corridor.
>> There is one line which is totally underground, and there
>> are two lines which are totally above ground.
>Funny that they would not want to have through
>running.
>
>> On the underground line, they plan to have 3rd rail system,
>> and on the other two line, they will have overhead system.
>> The engines should have both option, I guess.
>I don't suppose they'd want to use locomotive hauled
>stock in any case, though. EMUs are normal for this
>sort of operation. Until now, the only EMU I have
>heard of with overhead catenary AND 3rd-rail capacity
>is: the Eurostar high-speed train !!
>
>I imagine it would be pretty expensive to have options
>for 750VDC 3rd rail and 25KVAC catenary on the same
>stock, not to mention the weight penalty.
>
>--
>JS
>--

From: S Pai <>

Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article

Date: 27 Apr 1999 06:48:15 -0500



Oh, yes, I'm aware that most of these "great" shots are carefully
arranged and are hardly impromptu. Colin Garratt got some flak for
spending *weeks* trying to get the perfect shot of some steam locos (in
ER) with a shepherd boy "casually" sitting near the tracks... He even
had IR re-paint some of the locos to suit his photographic tastes for
this! This was back in the early '70s. As Bill Aitken wryly remarks
in "Exploring Indian Railways", it is doubtful whether an Indian
photographer touring the UK would have got permission to re-paint a
vintage British steam loco for his purposes. But then again, perhaps
it is just as well that IR sometimes bends over backwards for these
photographers and others, for some of these shots are all that is left
of these beautiful locos -- some are preserved, no doubt, but many
are scrapped or are rusting away, and IR itself seems to have precious
little film footage or photographs -- all the good photos of IR locos
are by private photographers.

--Satish

From: S Pai <>

Subject: Re: DMRC Website

Date: 27 Apr 1999 06:51:21 -0500



> > Although the fact sheet mentions 750 VDC 3rd rail top. What is
> > 'top' - contact on the top surface of the 3rd rail ?
>
> Possibly yes, thereby differentiating it from 3rd rail
> systems where contact is from the side of the rail.

Or the bottom of the rail, which is another common system. (The
third rail in this case is held by supports that curve around and hold
it from above.) The advantage is that it is less prone to have bad
contacts because of dirt, debris, or frost.

--Satish

From: Vijay Balasubramanian <>

Subject: Hindu article

Date: 27 Apr 1999 08:14:57 -0500


Check this out - all Shatabdis making a loss except one. Which one is
making profit? Mumbai - ADI? Delhi-Kalka?

<A HREF="http://webpage.com/hindu/daily/980614/02/0214000a.htm">http://webpage.com/hindu/daily/980614/02/0214000a.htm</A>

Vijay

From: Pushkar Apte <>

Subject: Rationalized Graded Services

Date: 27 Apr 1999 11:42:13 -0500


Hello everybody!

We have all lamented the hap-hazard and knee-jerk way in which IR
assigns speed and halt patterns to different trains. Apart from the
court-imposed 55 kmph limit for Superfast trains, there is no
coherency or logic to the process. Maybe there will never be, but
here are some thoughts nonetheless on rationalizing services in terms
of gradations on premium routes.

IMO there are 5 grades, best explained by examples:

Grade 5: Super-slow (Dehradun Exp, Fzpur Janata Exp, Lal Quila Exp
etc.)

Grade 4: Medium-fast ~55-60 kmph (Kalka Ml, GT Exp, Punjab Ml)

Grade 3: Fast ~60-65 kmph (Poorva Exp, Frontier Ml, Pushpak Exp, old
Paschim Exp)

Grade 2: "Real" Superfast ~65-70 kmph (Swaraj Exp, Tamil Nadu Exp, old
Gitanjali Exp)

Grade 1: Rajdhani/Superdeluxe/Shatabdi >= 75 kmph

As one can see from the examples, trains from different grades are
scattered across different routes, but the "grade portfolio" is not
complete on any single route! Delhi's connections to Mumbai, Calcutta
and Chennai probably come closest to a filled-out portfolio. Most
other important pairs of cities with multiple trains connecting them
show no clear gradations, and as a result excellent trains like
Gitanjali, Corromondel, the new Howrah-Kurla AC Exp have been
ruined! More importantly, people are denied good travel choices, and
in some cases are ripped off!

All routes obviously cannot sustain a train in each grade, but I am
sure many premium routes can. The introduction of new trains on
premium routes, then, could be guided by filling-the-portfolio
concept. Further, each grade should have a standard definition in
terms of speed, service etc., so that people get value-for-money! As
Dheeraj suggested a while back, people may be willing to pay an
additional surcharge to travel in, say, a Grade 2 train, provided it
meets pre-defined standards.

-Pushkar




_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit <A HREF="http://www.msn.com">http://www.msn.com</A>

From: Harsh Vardhan <>

Subject: Re: Hindu article

Date: 27 Apr 1999 12:44:35 -0500





>Check this out - all Shatabdis making a loss except one. Which one is
>making profit? Mumbai - ADI? Delhi-Kalka?
>


Yes, It could be Delhi - Kalka or Delhi - Chandigarh. Other than the
Bombay-Pune this is serving the shotest route. Long route Shatabdis are
out
when it comes to making money. And a daft seat booking arrangement is
reponsible for it.

You can't make any last minute booking at the platform through the TTE
even
if seats are available. I can't follow the logic behind this.

The Tatkal service is a dismal flop.
Last month I spent an hour at Gwalior station pleading them for a seat
through Tatkal and I was shocked when they told me that they don't have
any
Tatkal quota of their own and are awaiting confirmation to arrive from
Jhansi once the train left there. And they jokingly maintained that it
was
not everyday that the information actually arrived. I guess that I was
lucky
that it did finally arrive I managed to get into the train just as it
arrived on the platform, only to find that we were the only two
passengers
in the entire Tatkal coach till Delhi!
The Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi service runs nearly full till Agra/Gwalior but
is
never more than 25% occupied beyond. With yet another bagful passengers
bound for Khajuraho getting down at Jhansi, there really is no
justification
for taking the train further 200 Km to Bhopal.

But to my knowledge, all Shatabdis fare well in summers here in North
when
delicate skins can't travel w/o AC.

Harsh

From: Harsh Vardhan <>

Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article

Date: 27 Apr 1999 13:07:01 -0500



>I thought it was done with a telephoto lens from some
>distance away, which would've made afor a short
>depth of field.


Whatever the lens I think he purposely blurred the Taj in background by
choosing a wide aperture setting to give it some sort of a mystical
look.
Unfortunately my buds don't agree with this. There is another picture in
the
book with a PWI inspector sitting on a hand pushed trolley again with a
blurred Taj in the background. This was most definitely with a
normal/wide
lens.

>> ......(which had a belligerent young lady squatting on tracks in
front of
>> By the way some other pictures in the book are fabulous(night shot of
>> Chattagong station with a train moving out)
>And a perfect example of a great shot using a tele lens.


Yes, but it has a great depth of field for a night time shot. A very
fast
lens perhaps.


>Are there any further updates on the two WPs restored at
>Charbagh for the BG POW ?
>


The locos are ready barring a few cosmetic jobs but are still at
Charbagh.
This was early Feb. so perhaps Sunil can give us some updated news.
IR believes that they cannot put steam powers on POW unless they have a
trip/ maintenance shed shed ready(Rewari needs to be regauged and
modified
for BG).
A sensible decision perhaps but it effectively means that we might be
seeing
the WPs in steam only in the next millenium!
After a gap of five years for me.

Harsh

From: Harsh Vardhan <>

Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article

Date: 27 Apr 1999 13:29:10 -0500



> Colin Garratt got some flak for
>spending *weeks* trying to get the perfect shot of some steam locos (in
>ER) with a shepherd boy "casually" sitting near the tracks...

Perhaps there is appreciation and a market for these pictures back home.
It
could also have something to do with the fact why the English lensmen
are
not keen on shooting American/non British origin locos and vice-verca.

Colin Garratt went out of the way in his book and described(actually
quoted
an Indian loco foremen saying) the XC locomotive as far superior than a
WP
which is piece of rusting scrap or something. When it is a well known
fact
that the entire IRS class of `X' prefix BG locos were miserable
failures.

>But then again, perhaps
>it is just as well that IR sometimes bends over backwards for these
>photographers and others, for some of these shots are all that is left
>of these beautiful locos -- some are preserved, no doubt, but many
>are scrapped or are rusting away, and IR itself seems to have precious
>little film footage or photographs -- all the good photos of IR locos
>are by private photographers.


Ditto! I can't but agree with you more. Even if I find Colin Garratt
pictures staged and posed, I admire him for saving the last XC
locomotive
for the Commonwealth and Empire Museum. For taking thousands pictures of
pictures of locomotives which have not found a place in the museum but
were
important nevertheless.

Harsh

From: Steven Brown <>

Subject: Rlys moves mega telecom project

Date: 27 Apr 1999 16:32:00 -0500



   INDIAN Railways has kicked off plans of setting up a nation-wide
   telecom infrastructure by floating a global tender for the Rs.
   1,500-crore project. The participant will be allowed to use the
   Railways' right of way to build an optic fibre cable (OFC) network,
   which can then be leased out to telecom service providers.
  
 
Any more info on the above? (from indiaserver)
This could be huge deal, having imact on the whole of the telephone/internet scene in India!
 
Steve

From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>

Subject: Re: Hindu article

Date: 27 Apr 1999 21:57:15 -0500



> Yes, It could be Delhi - Kalka or Delhi - Chandigarh. Other than the
> Bombay-Pune this is serving the shotest route. Long route Shatabdis
> are out when it comes to making money.

You are right. The long route Shatabdis don't make much
sense. Since Shatabdis are supposed to cater to people who
don't have time, but have money, won't they rather take an
overnight train rather than spend half day to reach a place.

If we look at Lucknow Shatabdi, it is almost empty between
Kanpur and Lucknow even during summer. Between Delhi and Kanpur,
it still gives people an option to make use of almost the
full working day, if you take Shatabdi one way. (Reach Kanpur
at 11:00 AM, and leave in the night, or come by overnight
train, and leave at 05:00 PM for Delhi.) The train is always
booked between Delhi and Kanpur, including the Tatkal coach.

They should either stop Shatabdi at Kanpur, or if they have to
touch Lucknow for political reasons, they can keep Lucknow-Kanpur
fare low, and fill the train.

-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: Harsh Vardhan <>

Subject: DMRC Gauge.

Date: 28 Apr 1999 11:44:39 -0500


Enclosed is the reply of the Chief Planning Engineer, DMRC on the above subject.
 

From: Auroprem Kandaswami <>

Subject: Electric traction upto Ernakulam Jn.(ERS) by January 2000

Date: 28 Apr 1999 15:31:09 -0500



Courtesy: The Hindu
Thursday, April 29, 1999

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 28. All trains in the
Chennai-Ernakulam stretch will run by electric
traction from January next with the completion of
the
electrification of the Shoranur-Ernakulam
stretch by December.

Disclosing this at a press conference here today,
the
Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Mr. Thomas
Varghese, said the Mumbai- Jayanti Janata and the
Chennai-Alappuzha Expresses, now being run by
electric traction up to Palakkad junction, would be
extended
to Thrissur soon.

The electrification of the
Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram
stretch via Alappuzha and Kottayam, would be
taken up after the commissioning of the
Shoranur-Ernakulam
section. Talks were on with the State
Government for concession on the electricity for
operating
trains in the Ernakulam-
Thiruvananthapuram stretch, Mr. Varghese said.

The DRM said that tenders were invited for the
modern route
relay inter-locking system at Ernakulam,
Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram central as part of
improving
the signal system. The fully automated
system can be operated by the Station Master
himself. The
panel inter-locking would be introduced at
Angamali, Wadakkanchery, Thrissur, Vallathol Nagar
and Aluva
railway stations during this financial
year.

The Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Mr. M.
Satheesh,
said tenders were invited for the
construction of the station building and second
entry point
at Power House end. The building and the foot
over- bridge from Power House to Thampanoor would be
completed by March 2000.

The yard remodeling, mechanical and electric
maintenance
depots at Thiruvananthapuram, being taken
up at a cost of Rs. 2 crores, would be completed by
December. The commissioning of the new platform by
June would help avoid further delay, Mr. Varghese
said.

The Railways would commission the computerised
reservation
centre at Changanassery and Ernakulam
Town within a month. All works had been completed
and the
delay was due to the Telecom connection, he
said. The satellite reservation centre set up at
Patton in
the capital had a collection of Rs. 2 lakhs daily.

The DRM said that with the commissioning of the
double line
in the Thiruvananthapuram-Kazhakuttom
and Paravur-Kollam stretch, the Railways were able
to
maintain 85-90 per cent punctuality in the
division. However, the delay of the Chennai Mail was
a cause
of worry.

The operating staff had been asked to ensure
punctuality of
trains on the instructions of the General
Manager. ``As it was the financial year-end, we were
keen on
freight movement in March, handling as
many as 600 wagons daily. But this has come down to
550
wagons a day this month'', he said.

Doubling work completion soon

The doubling work on the Thiruvananthapuram-
Murukkumpuzha
and Kollam-Varkala stretches will be
completed by next month further improving the
punctuality of
passenger and express trains operating
through the Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram section.

Mr. Varghese said the
Varkala-Kadakkavur-Murukkumpuzha
stretch would be taken up after the
monsoon and would be completed by December as Rs. 26
crores
had been earmarked in the budget.The
Paravur-Varkala stretch would be commissioned on May
16
after the mandatory safety inspection of the
line by Commissioner of Railway Safety, Bangalore,
Mr. P. K.
Sen, on May 13 and 14. The re-grading
work between Kazhakuttom and Murukkumpuzha would
also be
completed before the onset of the
monsoon, he said.

Trains to be delayed

On account of the non-interlocked working being
undertaken
at Murukkumpuzha, Varkala and Paravur
stations, trains will be delayed for 30 to 45
minutes
between April 30 and May 16 as they have to be
piloted in these stations for matters of safety.

The 363 Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram passenger and the
364
Thiruvananthapuram-Kottayam passenger
between Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam will remain
cancelled
from April 30 to May 15.

Regulation of services

In view of the major cut-and-connection being
undertaken at
Kappil railway station for four hours from
10-30 a.m. on May 2 as part of the doubling work in
the
section, the Railways have rescheduled,
regulated and cancelled some trains. The 1081
Mumbai-
Kanyakumari Express will be regulated at
Kollam till 3 p.m. on its arrival from Mumbai.

On May 1, the 6319 Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram Mail
will
leave Chennai at 9 p.m instead of 6-55 p.m
and the 2625 Kerala Express will leave
Thiruvananthapuram at
2 p.m instead of 11 p.m.

The 5627 Thiruvananthapuram-Guwahati Express will
leave
Thiruvananthapuram at 2-30 p.m instead
of 12-45 p.m. and the 6320 Chennai Mail will depart
from
Thiruvananthapuram at 3 p.m. instead of
1-30 p.m.

***

From: Harsh Vardhan <>

Subject: Station Names & Codes.

Date: 28 Apr 1999 23:45:31 -0500


Forgive my ignorance

Palakkad I know is Palghat
and Thrissur could be Trichur
Aluva be Alwaye

Changanassery is Chaganacherri(was a lovely name I thought)

But what on earth are Alappuzha(Alleppyey?), Vallathol Nagar and
Kollam(Quilon?).

These don't appear to be typos. Have these names been changed `again'
recently(officially)?

Harsh

From: SHRINIVAS V. JOSHI <>

Subject: Re: Station Names & Codes.

Date: 29 Apr 1999 01:09:20 -0500



Hi!

On Thu, 29 Apr 1999, Harsh Vardhan wrote:

> Forgive my ignorance

This is bound to happen with many, as every now & then there comes a
official notification about the names changed!!

> But what on earth are Alappuzha(Alleppyey?), Vallathol Nagar and
> Kollam(Quilon?).
> These don't appear to be typos. Have these names been changed `again'
> recently(officially)?

Yes,These are the changed names. I referred old tourism map of Kerala &
checked against a new(very recent-picked from Tourism Fair held in
Mumbai)
So, these are not typos.

Any such info , you can very well get from Kerala Tourism mail-id. It is
as follows ktdc@giasmd01.email

Bye,

Shrinivas

From: SHRINIVAS V. JOSHI <>

Subject: No info?

Date: 29 Apr 1999 01:24:01 -0500



Hi!

Read yesterday's TOI. One short news item regarding a collision on the
level crossing in UP,near Lucknow involving Guwahati-NDLS express? May
be
I am not too sure of this train but it is originating from Guwahati.

But sadly no details thereafter in newspapers & of all the places on our
very own forum. As this short report states around 27 feared to have
died
& more than 60 injured. Have we gone so much ignorant?, that not a
mention
of this calamity anywhere. It seems all of us are more bothered about
the
ongoing political drama in the capital, than this type of accidents.

Anyone got details?From media/TV?

Prey to the almighty-May the tribe of daily passengers not suffer in
such
a way because of some responsible personnel on IR neglecting their
duties.

Shrinivas

From: Dr. S. Parthasarathy <>

Subject: What is in a name ?

Date: 29 Apr 1999 01:41:49 -0500


Many things.

> Yes,These are the changed names. I referred old tourism map of Kerala
&
> checked against a new(very recent-picked from Tourism Fair held in
Mumbai)
> So, these are not typos.

It seems that we rather need actually a list of names of cities first,
not just the codes. In fact, it becomes extremely difficult sometimes
because the same cities is know by different names. I once tried to send
an urgent telegramme to Trissur (ex Trichur) and the clerk at the
Telegraph office refused because he could not find the name in his
catalogue. They actually use a code, just like the railways, but their
codes are different from the railways codes. And, to make it worse,
there is NO single official agency from where we can get the current
official names of these places, formally. Sometimes this confusion can
have serious legal implications. The problem gets far more complicated
for people from overseas who wish to contact someone in India. Why cant
the railways, DOT etc. all sit together and prepare an official list of
names of cities and decide not to change this for at least another ten
years. Important thing. But who cares ?

Then there is the confusion caused by the same name given to more than
one city (where is Rampur ?).

And then I have this classic example of my own city: Hyderabad. This
city (in a way) has two names ! Physically, Hyderabad airport is
actually in Secunderabad, and Secunderabad Railway station is in
Hyderabad ! Confusion. Confusion.

When will we grow to become a mature country ?

...partha

From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>

Subject: Re: No info?

Date: 29 Apr 1999 04:37:21 -0500



There was a lot of coverage of this accident in the Kanpur local
newspapers. It appears that this was an unmanned railway crossing.
The marriage party consisted of a car, a jeep, and a bus. They
could hear Avadh Assam Express coming, it seems, but the car
and the jeep crossed the tracks, and the bus driver thought
he could make it too, but just at that time, the clutch had a
problem, and he found the bus stuck right on the track. Within
a few seconds the train hit the bus, killing some 28 persons
instantly. Several more died later. Latest count is close to 45.

The newspapers also had a side story praising the father of the
groom, who despite this tragedy decided to go ahead with the
marriage. Considering the level of superstition in UP villages,
a natural thing to do would have been to blame the bride for
bringing bad luck to the family, and cancel the wedding. It would
have been impossible for the girl to marry later to someone else.

-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: Suresh Mutuswami <>

Subject: Re: What is in a name ?

Date: 29 Apr 1999 04:39:03 -0500



The problem is not name-changing per se, but the way it is done.
It should be noted though that in most cases it is not name-changing as
such (Madras to Chennai, for instance) but changing the English spelling
to bring it into line with local pronounciation. In many cases, the
English spelling was/is so out of sink with the actual pronounciation
that
one can't help thinking that the name change is justified. (Does anyone

recall that Mathura, for instance, used to be rendered as the truly
horrible
"Muttra?")

One does wish that such name changes would be done in a manner which
causes least inconvenience to the public. Since the responsibility for
name changes lies (so far as I am aware) with the local state
government,
perhaps the state government can give a notice regarding the proposed
name
changes six months or so in advance. This will allow all services like
railways and so on to carry out the name changes in their systems.
Perhaps, for some "transitional" period both old and new names can be
used
interchangeably. The point is that if name changes have to be done,
then there are reasonable ways of carrying them out.

Unfortunately - and this is in line with Dr. Parthasarathy's point about
our not being a "mature" nation - more often than not, we wake up one
morning to find a small report in the newspaper about the name change.
One I remember well is the Delhi Government changing the name of the
famous Connaught Place to "Indira Chowk." It didn't seem to matter to
the government that no Delhiite (unless Mani Shankar Aiyar can be
considered a "Delhiite") wanted a name change.

Suresh

From: Dr. S. Parthasarathy <>

Subject: the bad news

Date: 29 Apr 1999 04:44:37 -0500


From India World of today:

***quote
At least 43 killed as train hits bus in UP
Bahraich, Apr 27: At least 43 people were killed and many
injured when the Awadh-Assam express train rammed into a bus carrying a
marriage party at an unmanned
level crossing in eastern Uttar Pradesh tonight, police
said.

It was not known immediatelly if all the victims were
travelling in the bus which was hit by the speeding train at a place
between Khagraghat and Jharwal road stations
in Bahraich district at 2021 hours, they said here.

At least 32 injured, many of them passengers in the bus
which was going to Rithaura village from Barabanki, have been admitted
to different hospitals at Barabanki and
Bahraich, and the condition of many of them was stated to be
serious, they said.

Earlier, official sources had said at least 50 people were
injured in the accident that occurred 80 km from Lucknow.

Police said 43 bodies had so far been recovered and relief
and rescue operations were continuing.

Operations to clear the track of the mangled bus were on and
traffic on the Gorakhpur-Lucknow section was expected to be restored
soon, the official sources said.

Pitch darkness hampered the relief and rescue operation,
police said.

Senior railway officials have rushed to the spot to
supervise relief and rescue operations.

Railway traffic was badly affected on the section with
several long-distance trains being stopped at different stations.(PTI)

**UNQUOTE