Vijay, can you please elaborate what is special about this diamond crossing developed by CR? At first glance it looks similar to diamond crossings used all over the world, for example, this- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Diamondcrossing.jpg

Posted by Karan Desai on 2011 Feb 09 17:33:10 +0000

Karan - CR had been facing lots of issues when these diamond crossing at BSL and the one at Nagpur were on wooden sleepers, and each rails used to cut at same level, and both the corridor, i.e. the main and the freight lines were all rated at 10kmph, due to this.This was same as provided by you in the link. Moreover standard concrete sleepers were not available for these layouts. Its then that CR came up with its own design and specially manufactured concrete sleepers, that could accomodate such layouts. And the innovation that CR came up is of the freight line, at slighter elevation over the main lines, as you see in this pic, so this increased the speed for main lines whic are at same level, at 75kmph here while retaining 10kmph for the freight line. Now I am not bothered about how common these layouts are in the rest of the world, but in IR, I would definitely say, AFAIK, a diamond crossing layout where one track cuts another n angle of around 60-65 or 85-90 degres, is not common anywhere on IR. You may...

Karan - CR had been facing lots of issues when these diamond crossing at BSL and the one at Nagpur were on wooden sleepers, and each rails used to cut at same level, and both the corridor, i.e. the main and the freight lines were all rated at 10kmph, due to this.This was same as provided by you in the link. Moreover standard concrete sleepers were not available for these layouts. Its then that CR came up with its own design and specially manufactured concrete sleepers, that could accomodate such layouts. And the innovation that CR came up is of the freight line, at slighter elevation over the main lines, as you see in this pic, so this increased the speed for main lines whic are at same level, at 75kmph here while retaining 10kmph for the freight line. Now I am not bothered about how common these layouts are in the rest of the world, but in IR, I would definitely say, AFAIK, a diamond crossing layout where one track cuts another n angle of around 60-65 or 85-90 degres, is not common anywhere on IR. You may point out pls, if you know of any other such location. I also have read one official document on CR explaining about this diamond crossing issue and how CR dealt with it, and how RDSO did trials and certified it. Will try posting the link for your reference. And once more, I request you to go through the link that you provided and the photo, and compare both. Both are entirely different. The old layout was exactly as in the link you provided. And the one here on our server, is the innovation done by CR to eliminate the speed restriction on main line.

Posted by Vijay Aravamudhan on 2011 Feb 10 04:06:16 +0000

Hi Karan, Further to what I have mentioned, answering your query, Here is the link of the official document from IRICEN. This is a PDF file which is explaining the entire innovation and existing defects of diamond layouts at BSL and NGP prior to designing the special layouts.
http://www.wiki.iricen.gov.in/doku/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=613:7design_development.pdf

If you cannot download PDF, please mail me at avijay1610@yahoo.com and I shall mail you the same.

Also, refer to this official discussion forum of IRICEN where Shri. Vivek Kumar Gupta currently the General Manager / Rites had posted on this forum, about the new design of diamond laid down by Central Railway, and also Central Railway won the Prestigious Award of "Best Innovation of Indian Railways" for the year 2006-07. Shri Gupta was at that time, Sr DEN (Co) / Nagpur / Central Railway

http://iricen.gov.in/IRICEN1/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=766&sid=3d3fa302b7343e0d2f9a4af6b0b97a9c

Hi Karan, Further to what I have mentioned, answering your query, Here is the link of the official document from IRICEN. This is a PDF file which is explaining the entire innovation and existing defects of diamond layouts at BSL and NGP prior to designing the special layouts.
http://www.wiki.iricen.gov.in/doku/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=613:7design_development.pdf

If you cannot download PDF, please mail me at avijay1610@yahoo.com and I shall mail you the same.

Also, refer to this official discussion forum of IRICEN where Shri. Vivek Kumar Gupta currently the General Manager / Rites had posted on this forum, about the new design of diamond laid down by Central Railway, and also Central Railway won the Prestigious Award of "Best Innovation of Indian Railways" for the year 2006-07. Shri Gupta was at that time, Sr DEN (Co) / Nagpur / Central Railway

http://iricen.gov.in/IRICEN1/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=766&sid=3d3fa302b7343e0d2f9a4af6b0b97a9c

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Posted by Vijay Aravamudhan on 2011 Feb 10 06:41:13 +0000

Diamond crossings world over are of two types.
Level Crossings & Flying crossings.
Level ones have both rails at same level, with a medium speed restriction on both lines.
Flying ones have rails at different levels with no SR on one line and a very slow SR on other.

Posted by Rahul Rao on 2011 Feb 10 09:09:28 +0000

@Vijay: Thanks for the link and information.
@Rahul: You are mistaken regarding the term "flying crossing". What is shown here is not a flying crossing, a flying crossing is a term used for a junction where one track goes over the other using a bridge/tunnel thereby allowing simultaneous movement on both crossing tracks. Here is more information about it- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_junction

Posted by Karan Desai on 2011 Feb 10 15:17:18 +0000

Sorry for the mistake Karan.
There is another word for diamond crossings which are at same level and those which are marginally above the other I mistook flying for that.

Posted by Rahul Rao on 2011 Feb 11 06:42:36 +0000