IRFCA Mailing List Archive


Messages 3581 - 3600

From: Shankar <>

Subject: Re: Extinct liveries

Date: 15 Sep 1998 12:43:56 -0500


Hello all,

Here are some liveries I could think of:

Gitanjali Express: (Bombay-Howrah): vermillion/scarlet red
(red with a vermillion strip at the windows, I think)

Miraj-Bombay Koyna Express,Mahalakshmi Express,Sahyadri Express,
Madras-Trivandrum Mail (mg) all were green with a yellow ribbon just
above the windows

Pink City Express: Pink with yellow band at the windows

In addition, I have seen some individual cars with strange liveries.
God knows which trains they came from. Some of these were:
Navy blue with scarlet red at the windows,
Standard maroon with emerald green at the windows,
Chocolate with yellow above the windows
Light/sky blue with white above the windows, one light blue ribbon just
above the windows (very popular on the NR).

SR's favorite seems to be yellow/green spinach and egg livery.
Kerala Mangala,Madras Tirupati and some other expresses are in this
livery.

Some of the recent dmus bear the navy/red livery.

Bombay-Bngalore Udyan Express and Poona-Jammu Jhelum Express used to be
standard maroon with cream above the windows, wiht a maroon ribbon just
above the windows.

Other liveries are standard maroon with yellow at the windows, and
standard maroon with a yellow ribbon just BELOW the windows. I do not
know which trains these came from.

mg emus in the Madras region were initialy blue/cream, then green/cream,
then FULL SILVER to now maroon cream. CR emus in Bombay had a very
pleasant maroon with cream above the waist, i.e. the cream used to start
from below the window itself.

Hyderabad-Bombay Express used to be navy with cream above the windows.
(1970s). This was changed to full royal blue with a red ribbon just
below the windows, the the now drab maroon.

Even the Deccan Queen had been 'marooned' for a while in the 1980s.

Best regards.

shankar.


Jishnu Mukerji wrote:
>
> Vijay Balasubramanian wrote:
>
> > 9. Brown Cream Brown - Frontier Mail
> >
> > 10. Brown Cream Brown 1 White Howrah-Kalka Mail
> > (above windows)
> >
>
> Before 81Up/82Down New Delhi - Howarh Air Conditioned Express got its
> spanking new rake of integral coaches, it used to have rakes of
> non-integral coaches, and the color scheme those days (early 60s) was
the
> same as descreibed for 9 and 10 above. Between Howrah and Mughal Sarai
on
> ER (via Grand Chord) it used to be a nine or ten car train pulled by a
WP,
> with its tender colored the same as the rake. In the Eastward
direction it
> used to get a banking locomotive (a WG) attached to the rear at Gurpa
and
> detached variously at Gajhandi or Koderma.
>
> > 16. Orange Cream Orange 1 Cream Asansol Exp.??
> > (saw this at Howrah with a WAM2 of the same color)
> >
>
> Yes.
>
> Jishnu.

From: Vijay Balasubramanian <>

Subject: Re: Extinct liveries

Date: 15 Sep 1998 13:23:01 -0500


Thanks for the update, Shankar. I was not aware of the liveries of some

of the trains you have mentioned such as the Madras-Trivandrum Mail.

>In addition, I have seen some individual cars with strange liveries.
>God knows which trains they came from. Some of these were:
>Navy blue with scarlet red at the windows,

Grand Trunk Exp.


>Standard maroon with emerald green at the windows,

I recall having seen these on the Howrah-Delhi Exp. (now Lal Quila Exp.)

>
>Other liveries are standard maroon with yellow at the windows, and
>standard maroon with a yellow ribbon just BELOW the windows. I do not
>know which trains these came from.

I have seen the former livery on the Muzaffarpur Jayanti Janata Exp.
(now Vaishali Exp.)

>
>Even the Deccan Queen had been 'marooned' for a while in the 1980s.

The last time I saw it three years ago, it had 1-2 maroon coaches. Has
this changed?


An interesting spin-off would be to list the trains that are hauled by
matched-livery loco(s):

- All Rajdhanis and Shatabdis
Any of the above that are not hauled by such locos? I can think of
the Mumbai Raj and the Calcutta Raj via Gaya (since WCAM2/WAP6 used),
the AK Raj between Mumbai Central and Vadodara (WCAM2), both the Mumbai
Shatabdis (WCAM2/3). Since a few of the above change between elec. and
diesel (the Guwahati Raj at Mughalsarai, the Patna Raj. at Kanpur
Central, etc) has IR made the effort to provide a matched loco for both
elec and diesel?

- Madras-Tirupati Sapthagiri Exp.
- Deccan Queen and Pragati. Has this changed after the deployment of
WCAM3s?
- Any other trains? How about superfast day trains such as the
Dhauli Exp.?

Trains that used to have a matched loco.
- Asansol Exp., Vaigai and Pallavan Exp., Pink City Exp(?),
Surya Nagri Exp., Panchavati Exp., Sinhagad Exp., Indrayani Exp.
Any others?

Vijay


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From: Pushkar Apte <>

Subject: Livery web page?

Date: 15 Sep 1998 13:30:49 -0500


Hi Folks,

Thanks to all who added their knowledge of liveries - I for one simply
did not know so many colors exist(ed) on IR!

I have a suggestion: how about creating a web page of liveries? First we
can assemble all existing pictures that we have. Next, if anyone sees a
coach/rake with any livery, and has a camera handy - please take a
picture, and set it aside! After a few months, maybe one of us can
compile a comprehensive web page of livery pictures...

-Pushkar
-------

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Function of a Banker

Date: 16 Sep 1998 02:27:05 -0500


Hi Gang,

With reference to the thread of the need for a banker - apparently many
of the trains that climb the Bhor & Thull ghats away from Mumbai could
do so without bankers. Where the banker is indispensable is to arrest a
vehicle in the event of a coupling failure. Even a small train
consisting of a few coaches like a 'GM special' needs a loco in the
front as well as a banker. This is purely to take care of the safety
angle. Some freight trains use the bankers in the front of the trains
during the descent (the UP journey !) to use their surplus braking
power. Otherwise the bankers return to Karjat / Kasara 'light' to push
the next load up the gradient which is 1 in 33 in sections. The Ghat
drivers get 5 times the normal mileage and do as much as 3 trips in a
shift. More on the ghat operation later.

Apurva Bahadur

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: ATTN: TIME TABLE seekers

Date: 16 Sep 1998 11:10:42 -0500


Hello Gang !

More courier quotes in today. The average expense seems to be around $35
- $ 40 including the timetables, a courier delivery at your doorstep
and handling charges. Ordinary airmail is around Rs. 18 per gram, which
works out to nearly the same amount and is prone to pilferage and non
delivery. Each packet is around a Kg in weight Hence some courier it
will be.
I have almost narrowed the choice between Desk to Desk Cargo which has
its own office in US of A / Dubai and our govt. owned Speedpost. I am
re-sending the updated list of the addresses and telephone numbers. I
thought of sending one huge packet to Peter Mosse who had agreed to
distribute the TTs to everyone in the USA but that could attract a lot
of attention of the busybodies - do I have a license to export ? are
you sending classified documents ? seems to contain a map of the country
(all TTs have a map) - more suspicion. The map of India is a very
sensitive issue in here. So sending individual packets is the best
choice. I am also sending and email to my 'contact' in New Jersey (I
think) if she will consent to collect the cash on my behalf. It will all
materialize well in the next few days - hang on. Telephone numbers
required from the Junta : Craig Zeni, Pushkar Apte, and Vijay
Balasubramaniun. What about Shankar in Dubai - whether you could pay in
US $ to USA easily ? The last set of time tables has been taken by
Kartik but thanks for all the generous offers from many of you.

Apurva

From: Siddhartha Joshi <>

Subject: Re: New name for the IRFCA

Date: 16 Sep 1998 12:11:21 -0500



The IRFCA is fine. Who cares if the Financial corp has the same
letters.

Siddhartha.

On Mon, 14 Sep 1998, Apurva Bahadur wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> I would be very interested to learn about the statistics of our club.
> How many members, how many countries, how many messages in the year
etc.
>
> If IRFC on its own stands for Indian Railways Finance Corporation and
> hence not desirable, one name that I have thought about often is
Indian
> Railway Enthusiasts Group or IREG. Let me have your reactions.
>
> Apurva
>

From: Siddhartha Joshi <>

Subject: Re: Livery web page?

Date: 16 Sep 1998 12:21:49 -0500




excellent idea. If someone cann keep track of the info and the pictures,

I will add the info to the FAQ page, which should be ready by the end of

this month.

Siddhartha.

On Tue, 15 Sep 1998, Pushkar Apte wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> Thanks to all who added their knowledge of liveries - I for one simply
> did not know so many colors exist(ed) on IR!
>
> I have a suggestion: how about creating a web page of liveries? First
we
> can assemble all existing pictures that we have. Next, if anyone sees
a
> coach/rake with any livery, and has a camera handy - please take a
> picture, and set it aside! After a few months, maybe one of us can
> compile a comprehensive web page of livery pictures...
>
> -Pushkar
> -------
>
>
>

From: Raghavendra K <>

Subject: IR and Y2K ??

Date: 16 Sep 1998 20:23:27 -0500


Hi all,

i was watching a pgm on TV y'day which was talking abt. Y2K wrt Indian
Stock exchanges, which prompted me to think abt. the impact Y2K wud
have on IR's online Resv as well other comp. controlled systems. (due to
the fact that IR's resv system is one of the oldest large scale online
system v have in India)

can any one throw some light on this ???

bye,
Raghavendra





*****************************************************************
Raghavendra K
Office: Home:
Engineer-Software #484,1st 'i' Cross,
Technology Solutions, 6th Block, 2nd Phase,
Wipro Infotech, #88, 5th Floor, BSK 3rd Stage,
M G Road, Bangalore 560 001, Bangalore 560 085
Karnataka, INDIA Karnataka, INDIA
Tel:91-80-5588422 (Ex:553) Tel:91-80-6722580
mailto:kragha@wipinfo.email (Office)
mailto:kragha@hotmail.email (Home)
*****************************************************************

From: Raghavendra K <>

Subject: KR track laying tech.

Date: 16 Sep 1998 20:33:51 -0500


Hi,

some month bak, i made a track treck along the KR b/w udupi and
kundapur... one thing i noticed there was; tracks being welded instead
of using the conventional fish plates... and to compensate for the
thermal expansion, they have provisioned for, tracks to slide into one
another at a distance of every 1 km. (this was called LMR ???)

my concern is... i saw few cracks in these welded joints at many places
(i trecked it for some 15 kms)... so what r the pros and cons of this
welding tech. also what abt it's long time reliability ?

another silly qn. abt the same thing.. inspite of these welded joints,
i didnt miss the characteristic music of "ta tak ta tak.... ta tak ta
tak... " :) i cudnt reason out this. i am under the perception that
this sound produced is by the wheels striking against the fish
plates... is it so ?

bye,
Raghavendra




*****************************************************************
Raghavendra K
Office: Home:
Engineer-Software #484,1st 'i' Cross,
Technology Solutions, 6th Block, 2nd Phase,
Wipro Infotech, #88, 5th Floor, BSK 3rd Stage,
M G Road, Bangalore 560 001, Bangalore 560 085
Karnataka, INDIA Karnataka, INDIA
Tel:91-80-5588422 (Ex:553) Tel:91-80-6722580
mailto:kragha@wipinfo.email (Office)
mailto:kragha@hotmail.email (Home)
*****************************************************************

From: BSR SHARMA <>

Subject: Re: KR track laying tech.

Date: 17 Sep 1998 09:33:33 -0500


---Raghavendra K <kragha@wipinfo.email wrote:
pros and cons of this
> welding tech. also what abt it's long time
reliability ?

AFAIK Continuous track welding has been a standard
technology all over (including IR) for a long time.
I think almost all IR "trunk" lines are trackwelded?

> this sound produced is by the wheels striking
against the fish
> plates... is it so ?

I would be worried if wheels strike fishplates in the
normal course. The profile of rail head and wheel
flange cannot allow this.

BSR Sharma
San Diego, Calif.

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From: Dr. K.J. Walker & Mrs. M.E, Heath <>

Subject: Re: IR and Y2K ??

Date: 17 Sep 1998 15:28:07 -0500


Raghavendra,
Maybe IR aren't as stupid as IBM and Microsloth? I heard Indian
programmers were pretty good, AND that is certainly an excellent system.
Perhaps someone already thought of that one? It only comes up if
the
date is truncated to two figures AND the handling routine thinks 00 =
1900.
Cheers
Ken Walker

-----Original Message-----
From: Raghavendra K <kragha@wipinfo.email
To: Indian Railways Fan Club <irfca@cs.email
Date: Thursday, 17 September 1998 1:37
Subject: IR and Y2K ??


>Hi all,
>
>i was watching a pgm on TV y'day which was talking abt. Y2K wrt Indian
>Stock exchanges, which prompted me to think abt. the impact Y2K wud
>have on IR's online Resv as well other comp. controlled systems. (due
to
>the fact that IR's resv system is one of the oldest large scale online
>system v have in India)
>
>can any one throw some light on this ???
>
>bye,
>Raghavendra
>
>
>
>
>
>*****************************************************************
> Raghavendra K
> Office: Home:
> Engineer-Software #484,1st 'i' Cross,
> Technology Solutions, 6th Block, 2nd Phase,
> Wipro Infotech, #88, 5th Floor, BSK 3rd Stage,
> M G Road, Bangalore 560 001, Bangalore 560 085
> Karnataka, INDIA Karnataka, INDIA
> Tel:91-80-5588422 (Ex:553) Tel:91-80-6722580
> mailto:kragha@wipinfo.email (Office)
> mailto:kragha@hotmail.email (Home)
>*****************************************************************
>

From: David Bloyed <>

Subject: Re: KR track laying tech.

Date: 17 Sep 1998 16:25:11 -0500


I believe the sound that sound like fish plates at rail joints on welded
rail is either wheels with flat spots, or loose tie plates. With
pandrel
clips holding the tie plates down there should be no sounds from the tie
plates in most of India, so my guess is a flat spoted wheel from an
emegency brake application that locked up an axle and caused the small
flat
spot on the wheels. Every US railroad has multiple freight cars in
every
train make up that have flat spotted wheels. What alse could it be?
David


At 09:33 AM 9/17/98 -0700, you wrote:
>---Raghavendra K <kragha@wipinfo.email wrote:
>pros and cons of this
>> welding tech. also what abt it's long time
>reliability ?
>
>AFAIK Continuous track welding has been a standard
>technology all over (including IR) for a long time.
>I think almost all IR "trunk" lines are trackwelded?
>
>> this sound produced is by the wheels striking
>against the fish
>> plates... is it so ?
>
>I would be worried if wheels strike fishplates in the
>normal course. The profile of rail head and wheel
>flange cannot allow this.
>
>BSR Sharma
>San Diego, Calif.
>
>_________________________________________________________
>DO YOU YAHOO!?
>Get your free @yahoo.com address at <A HREF="http://mail.yahoo.com">http://mail.yahoo.com</A>
>
>
>

From: Jayant S <>

Subject: Re: KR track laying tech.

Date: 17 Sep 1998 20:13:48 -0500


> I believe the sound that sound like fish plates at rail joints on
welded
> rail is either wheels with flat spots, or loose tie plates. With
pandrel
> clips holding the tie plates down there should be no sounds from the
tie
> plates in most of India, so my guess is a flat spoted wheel from an
> emegency brake application that locked up an axle and caused the small
flat
> spot on the wheels. Every US railroad has multiple freight cars in
every
> train make up that have flat spotted wheels. What alse could it be?
David
When looking at passing trains carefully, I observed
that a clicking noise is produced when each wheelset
passes over a WELDED joint, something quite inexplicable.
I do not think it is due to flat spots as this would
cause a continuous thundering noise; not a periodic
clicking.
--
Jayant S
--

From: Dr. K.J. Walker & Mrs. M.E, Heath <>

Subject: Re: KR track laying tech.

Date: 17 Sep 1998 22:47:04 -0500


Dear Jayant,
It's simpler than you think. The noise you hear IS caused by the
joints.
There are basically two technologies for welding rail: flash-butt
welding,
which has to be done at the plant, and thermit welding, which is done on
site. Often rails are welded at the depot into long lengths, loaded onto
a
train, and then laid at site. Once installed, the long lengths are
thermit
welded on site to make continuous welded rail (CWR). Both welding
processes
create a slightly hard area around the weld proper -- harder than the
rail
itself -- and a softer area immediately adjacent. Once the rail is
welded,
normal practice is to grind down the joints so that the surface is level
throughout. BUT, it is very easy to grind the softer bits a little too
much,
and the hard bit not quite enough. That leads to a hump surrounded by
two
troughs, and voila! a source of noise. You can actually see this by
examining the head of the rail, in a good light, and sighting along it.
When
I was lad, the Melbourne tramways did a lot of in-situ thermit welding,
and
they went to immense lengths to avoid this problem (not always
successfully,
despite their high standards).
By the way, the ordinary d-dum,d-dum, of non-welded track is not
caused
by the wheel flanges striking the fishplates. There'd be a hell of a lot
of
broken fishplates and damaged flanges if that were occurring regularly.
The
noise is caused by the wheel dropping into the small gap between the
rail-ends: remember it is steel wheel on steel rail, so even a tiny drop
will be noisy. "Battering" of the ends of the rails is a serious problem
for
engineers, hence their liking for CWR.
You can always tell the difference between rail joint noise and
flats
on wheels, too, since flats will make a noise with each revolution of
the
wheel, whereas rail joint noise occurs at the rail join and nowhere
else!
Keep your eyes open while inspecting those welds.
Happy track-walking
Ken Walker

-----Original Message-----
From: Jayant S <sank@telco.email
To: IR List <irfca@cs.email
Date: Friday, 18 September 1998 1:36
Subject: Re: KR track laying tech.


>> I believe the sound that sound like fish plates at rail joints on
welded
>> rail is either wheels with flat spots, or loose tie plates. With
pandrel
>> clips holding the tie plates down there should be no sounds from the
tie
>> plates in most of India, so my guess is a flat spoted wheel from an
>> emegency brake application that locked up an axle and caused the
small
flat
>> spot on the wheels. Every US railroad has multiple freight cars in
every
>> train make up that have flat spotted wheels. What alse could it be?
David
>When looking at passing trains carefully, I observed
>that a clicking noise is produced when each wheelset
>passes over a WELDED joint, something quite inexplicable.
>I do not think it is due to flat spots as this would
>cause a continuous thundering noise; not a periodic
>clicking.
>--
>Jayant S
>--
>

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: KR track laying tech.

Date: 18 Sep 1998 01:59:51 -0500





> of using the conventional fish plates... and to compensate for the
> thermal expansion, they have provisioned for, tracks to slide into one
> another at a distance of every 1 km. (this was called LMR ???)

I think it is called 'Switch expansion joint'

>
>
> my concern is... i saw few cracks in these welded joints at many
places
> (i trecked it for some 15 kms)... so what r the pros and cons of
this
> welding tech. also what abt it's long time reliability ?

They could be the cracks in the flux that coats the weld, as a cracked
weld
itself will be easily detected and will fail within no time.

> i didnt miss the characteristic music of "ta tak ta tak.... ta tak ta
> tak... " :)

Yes I have observed that also. There is a muted wheel sound when the
wheel
rolls over the weld. You can observe this between Pune and Daund which
is a
welded track but make a wheel sound. However I also remember traveling
on a
newly welded section between Vangni and Karjat and I remember that for a
lot of time there was no sound at all, then all of a sudden rapid tak -
tak
- tak - tak (four sets of wheels passing the expansion joint) and then
silence once again. The I suppose the wheel sound is related to state of
the track - new vs worn out.
The worst track I have traveled on was between Katni and Singrauli in
the
coal belt which caters to extraordinarily heavy loads. I could hear thud
thud thud thud for Kms and feel the jerk over every thud in the coach.
Must
be flat wheel in some other rake which had damaged the rail surface. At
Singrauli I saw a BCN (open hopper) being shunted with a locked (frozen)
wheel at quite a speed. Acts like these must be damaging the tracks. In
the
olden days it was possible to drive 'unbalanced' steam locos (with
broken /
disconnected side rods), but all the manuals warn drivers as to avoid
damaging the tracks due to spirited driving of an unbalanced loco.

Apurva

>
>
> bye,
> Raghavendra
>
> *****************************************************************
> Raghavendra K
> Office: Home:
> Engineer-Software #484,1st 'i' Cross,
> Technology Solutions, 6th Block, 2nd Phase,
> Wipro Infotech, #88, 5th Floor, BSK 3rd Stage,
> M G Road, Bangalore 560 001, Bangalore 560 085
> Karnataka, INDIA Karnataka, INDIA
> Tel:91-80-5588422 (Ex:553) Tel:91-80-6722580
> mailto:kragha@wipinfo.email (Office)
> mailto:kragha@hotmail.email (Home)
> *****************************************************************

From: Sachin P Keshavan <>

Subject: For Apoorva

Date: 18 Sep 1998 04:02:40 -0500


Hi Apoorva,
I do not know your personal e-mail id, so I had to use the mailing
list.
Mr. John Hinson, told me that you had sent him some information
regarding the Token Block Instruments used in the IR. I am a person
interested in the Railway Signalling (rather than driving Locos), so can

you please send them to me too.
I would like you to let me know of this by Monday. Please don't send
any attachments in my hotmail account (if you are sending it that way),
since it is difficult to download them.
Hope it is not difficult for you.

Thanks in advance
Sachin.
*******************************************
Sachin P Keshavan,
Software Engineer
Intelligent Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Malleswaram, Bangalore.

E mail: sachin_pk@hotmail.email
Pager: 9624 - 285433
Phone: +91 - 80- 3314500
Home page: <A HREF="http://209.67.19.99/~sachin_pk">http://209.67.19.99/~sachin_pk</A>
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-------------------------------------------
Three cheers to ....
the Indian Armed Forces,
the Indian Railways &
INDIA
*******************************************



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From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Lines washed out

Date: 18 Sep 1998 06:32:37 -0500


Hi Gang !

Lots of rain in Mumbai has washed out section of the main line track
(around 200 meters according to rumours I heard at the station) on the
Central railway between Kharadi & Kasara between Igatpuri and Kalyan.
Hence long distance trains coming from the North East part of the
country via Bhusawal - Manmad are using the Manmad - Daund - Pune -
Kalyan road. I saw the 1016 Up Gorakhpur - Kurla Kushinagar Exp at
around 1800 Hrs near the Pune station heading towards Mumbai. I also
hear that 3003 Up (Calcutta mail via Alahabad), 3201 Up (Patna - Kurla
Exp), 1096 Up (Varanasi - Mumbai Mahanagari Exp) are all being diverted
via Pune.

Similar washouts have also occurred on the Western Rail , I wonder if
the Mumbai gang have more info on this.

While at the station I saw one more dual brake inspection car being
attached to the head of the 7308 Up Kolhapur - Mumbai Koyna Express.
This is a vacuum braked rake.

Apurva Bahadur

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Sounds on different rails

Date: 18 Sep 1998 08:19:45 -0500


Hi Gang !

Just been discussing the 'sounds over rails' thread with Dr. Shirish
Yande and he has the following explanation:

Vangni - Karjat has a flash butt welded continuos rail - one that is
made in a plant elsewhere and transported in Km long sections. This is
the best type of welded rails. The whole section is one continuos rail -
hence there is no wheel sound except at the switch expansion joint.
In some sections like Pune Daund the welding is 'Thermit' type. It is a
done by fusing two rails in situ using a very hot ignited source of
heat. The joint will get softer than the flash butt welded rail and
develop some concavity -hence the wheel sound.
Konkan Rail has gas pressure welding which is also done 'in situ' and
the wheel will make a sound when passing over the weld.

Any leads as to the benefits and applications of each type ?

Please contribute.

Apurva Bahadur

From: Vijay Balasubramanian <>

Subject: CATrain software!

Date: 18 Sep 1998 09:46:33 -0500


Hi Folks,

I have been playing around with this stuff. It's fantastic and you
can do all kinds of neat things with it. For example, I recently
designed a layout centered around a 5-platform station that caters to a
couple of single-line and double-line sections. I have a total of five
trains running on it with their own itineraries (point/signal setting,
waiting times at various sections, etc.). Highly recommended but very
addictive :-)

Vijay

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From: Shanku Niyogi <>

Subject: Re: IR and Y2K ??

Date: 18 Sep 1998 10:22:31 -0500


Hey, hey, no need to get personal! I am an Indian programmer, and
working
for Microsoft does not automatically make me stupid! ;-)

Seriously though, I believe the reservation system runs on VAX machines
running VMS, and the code is written in VAX Fortran. Since VMS itself
has
Y2K problems, I'm sure the code does too.

The ticketing system is much newer and custom written - I would guess
that
they've taken Y2K into account when writing it.

When it comes to large-scale code maintenance problems such as Y2K, it
is
often not finding the problem, but having the resources to fix it, that
is
the big issue. The problem in many developing countries is that such
resources (think salaries and time, not brainpower) are simply better
spent
elsewhere, or at least that is the common perception, i.e. why would
anyone
support spending millions fixing a problem they don't know anything
about,
when it could be spent on something more tangible to them?

BTW, CMC is on the web, at <A HREF="http://www.cmc.stph.net">http://www.cmc.stph.net</A>. Maybe you can ask
them
directly.

Shanku

-----Original Message-----
From: Dr. K.J. Walker & Mrs. M.E, Heath [mailto:kjw_meh@powerup.email
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 1998 3:28 PM
To: Raghavendra K
Cc: IRFCA - mailing list
Subject: Re: IR and Y2K ??


Raghavendra,
Maybe IR aren't as stupid as IBM and Microsloth? I heard Indian
programmers were pretty good, AND that is certainly an excellent system.
Perhaps someone already thought of that one? It only comes up if
the
date is truncated to two figures AND the handling routine thinks 00 =
1900.
Cheers
Ken Walker

-----Original Message-----
From: Raghavendra K <kragha@wipinfo.email
To: Indian Railways Fan Club <irfca@cs.email
Date: Thursday, 17 September 1998 1:37
Subject: IR and Y2K ??


>Hi all,
>
>i was watching a pgm on TV y'day which was talking abt. Y2K wrt Indian
>Stock exchanges, which prompted me to think abt. the impact Y2K wud
>have on IR's online Resv as well other comp. controlled systems. (due
to
>the fact that IR's resv system is one of the oldest large scale online
>system v have in India)
>
>can any one throw some light on this ???
>
>bye,
>Raghavendra
>
>
>
>
>
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