IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 361 - 380
From: Vinod Nagarajan <vinod@ummagumma.email
Subject: Halt Policy.
Date: 21 Nov 1990 08:23:00 -0500
I have been following the discussion on halts (number & other interesting
details) of various trains. I was wondering if there was a policy regarding
the planning of halts for a given train. I am specifically interested
in non-technical halts.
I hope I am not (re)asking an already asked question.
Vinod.
From: aravind <aravind@vax135.email
Subject: push-pull on NJ Transit
Date: 21 Nov 1990 17:05:00 -0500
This is a follow-up to some earlier comments on push-pull operation.
On the local NJ Transit commuter trains to New York City, I've seen
push-pull only on the diesel-powered trains (which terminate at
Newark). The trains going all the way into NYC are either EMUs or
hauled by an electric loco. In the latter case, I've NEVER seen
the engine pushing the train. Do the engines switch ends during
the day at NYC?
aravind
From: Ajai Banerji <A.AJAI@Macbeth.Email
Subject: Expresses with least stops.
Date: 23 Nov 1990 18:04:00 -0500
Probably the Lucknow Shatabdi is the only express with only one stop.
Earlier, some other expresses shared this distinction. Initially the
Kalka Shatabdi ran upto Chandigarh and had one stop at Ambala Cantt.
I seem to remember when the Prayag Raj Express started between NDLS
and Allahabad, it had only one stop at Kanpur.
Earlier, there was a superfast train between Madras and Tiruchi
which had a single stop at Villupuram. Now it has a few more.
-------
From: Vijay Balasubramanian <vbs@plumpy.email
Subject: Igatpuri, etc.
Date: 27 Nov 1990 10:31:00 -0500
Hi Folks,
This is what happens at Igatpuri for a DC-AC change (as I found out during
my India trip, last Dec.). The conducting wire of the overhead catenary is
partitioned into neutral sections by isolators as shown below:
------------||-------||-----------------------||-------||-------------
DC Current Neutral Neutral AC Current
Section Section
Neutral sections do not carry any current. Hence, the portion between the
two neutral sections is completely isolated from either the DC current or the AC
current sections. Before the arrival of the DC loco., this section is supplied
with DC current. Once the loco. gets detached and goes off the main line,
a switch connects this section to the AC traction, so that the AC loco. can
now come in. Before entering neutral sections, electric locos. switch off
power to the traction motors so as to prevent any transient disturbances.
Ajai writes:
> Earlier, there was a superfast train between Madras and Tiruchi
> which had a single stop at Villupuram. Now it has a few more.
This is no doubt, the Pallavan Exp. It now stops at Vriddhachalam and
Srirangam. Another train with a lone halt is the Dn. Pink City Exp., the halt
being at Alwar. Note that the Up. train has an additional halt at Delhi Cantt.
The Dn. Vadodara Exp., initially, used to have a single halt at Borivali.
It now stops at Surat and Bharuch. Before the BG conversion of the
Lucknow-Katihar line, there used to be a non-stop Samastipur-Muzaffarpur Exp.
The top ten list for the most no. of intermediate halts by an exp. looks
like:
Howrah -Amritsar Exp. 112
Howrah -Delhi Janata Exp. 107
Jammu Tawi -Sealdah Exp. 103
Bombay Central -Dehra Dun Exp. 91
Dadar -Amritsar Exp. 88
Howrah -Tirupati Exp. 87
Bombay Central -Firozpur Janata Exp. 82
Howrah -Bombay Exp. 82
Sabarmati Exp. (Varanasi-Ahmedabad) 77
Bombay -Bhagalpur Janata Exp. 77
I wonder if there is any other exp./mail which should be given a berth
in the above list. Incidently, the Vadodara-Mathura Passanger that Manish
mentioned has 96 intermediate halts.
Regards,
Vijay
From: J Mukerji <jis@mtgzy.email
Subject: Re: push-pull on NJ Transit
Date: 27 Nov 1990 12:33:00 -0500
Excerpts from personal.IRFCA: 21-Nov-90 push-pull on NJ Transit
aravind@vax135.email (425)
> This is a follow-up to some earlier comments on push-pull operation.
> On the local NJ Transit commuter trains to New York City, I've seen
> push-pull only on the diesel-powered trains (which terminate at
> Newark). The trains going all the way into NYC are either EMUs or
> hauled by an electric loco. In the latter case, I've NEVER seen
> the engine pushing the train. Do the engines switch ends during
> the day at NYC?
> aravind
No they go around a turning loop at Sunnyside in Queens. Trains that
arrive in New York go through the East River tunnels for storage at
Amtrak's Sunnyside yard.
With the introduction of ALP-44s electrics on NJ Transit, they are
actually starting to run push-pull electrics on a regular basis into
Penn Station from Long Branch, specially for midday trains. I see them
going by my office almost everyday now in the push mode with an ALP-44
pushing a bunch of Bombardier Comet II coaches, and a converted Arrow I
cab control car at the front.
Jishnu Mukerji
jis@mtgzy.email
From: Ajai Banerji <A.AJAI@Macbeth.Email
Subject: This and That
Date: 29 Nov 1990 20:02:00 -0500
This and That
The new railway minister is Janeshwar Misra(presumably from UP or Bihar). As
most political analysts agree that this ministry wont last more than a few
months, it will be interesting to see how many new trains he introduces to
his constituency.
Wonder what will happen to the Konkan Railway now, with its main promoters
Fernandes and Dandavate out of the way.
Vijay has done a wonderful job in tabulating the expresses with maximum
stoppages. I suspect that the record might be broken by one of the long-
distance passenger trains. Another research project!
Does anyone have any info about new services introduced in the winter
timetable? Nothing seems to have come out in the Times of India(as so many
interesting things were going on at that time)
The November issue of Railway Gazette didnt have anything of interest about
India.
Regarding the Pallavan Express which runs from Madras to Trichy: a few years
ago it used to run upto Madurai without a stop at Trichy.No doubt the citizens
of Trichy complained and finally got it to terminate there.
Perhaps someone can give an exact tabulation of electrified routes and
planned electrification as of today.
-------
From: Vijay Balasubramanian <vbs@plumpy.email
Subject: Electrification, etc.
Date: 30 Nov 1990 15:26:00 -0500
Hi Folks,
Nearly 8900 route kms. of track have been electrified, according to the
April issue of IR. IMHO, the major electrified stretches are:
Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Bombay Central, Delhi-Itarsi, Bombay V.T.-Bhusaval,
Kalyan-Pune, Vadodara-Sabarmati (one stn. away from Ahmedabad towards Viramgam),
Howrah-Durg, Madras Central -Nagpur, Madras Central -Renigunta,
Arakkonam-Jolarpettai, and Madras Egmore -Villupuram.
Other stretches include: Visakhapatnam-Kottavalasa-Kirandul, Asansol-Adra
-Tatanagar, Rajkharsawan-Gua, and Vasai Rd. -Diva.
Of course, the ones in and around the four metropolitan cities of Bombay,
Calcutta, Delhi and Madras are also electrified. Examples: Bombay V.T. -Vadala
Harbour Branch, Vadala-Bandra-Andheri, Vadala-Kurla-Mankhurd, the Delhi
Parikrama Rail Seva, Sealdah-Naihati, Sealdah-Ballygunge, Naihati-Dankuni.
I have a feeling that Naihati-Ranaghat, Ballygunge-Budge Bridge, and
Ballygunge-Diamond Harbour are also electrified. Could somebody confirm this?
The April issue also states the Itarsi-Nagpur, Durg-Bhusaval, and
Bhusaval-Itarsi should be completely electrified by the end of this year.
The May issue goes a step ahead and reports that Nagpur-Itarsi is
in an advanced stage of completion and will be
commissioned as soon as the new technology optic fibre communication system gets
stabilised.
Ajai writes:
> Regarding the Pallavan Express which runs from Madras to Trichy: a few years
> ago it used to run upto Madurai without a stop at Trichy.No doubt the citizens
If I remember correctly, the Pallavan Exp. was introduced between Madras
and Madurai with the same halts as the Vaigai Exp. (Villupuram, Trichy and
Dindigul). In fact, both of them had a 12 mt. halt at Trichy. Maybe three
fast express trains between Madurai and Madras were one too many, and the
Pallavan Exp. started terminating at Trichy itself. This was followed by
the removal of Trichy altogether from the halt list of the Vaigai Exp.;
probably the authorities felt that the Pallavan Exp. sufficed. This must
have evoked protests from the residents of Trichy since about six months
later the Vaigai Exp. resmued its halt at Trichy but for a mere 2 mts.
Regards,
Vijay
From: Ajai Banerji <A.AJAI@Macbeth.Email
Subject: Electrification
Date: 30 Nov 1990 20:11:00 -0500
ELECTRIFIED ROUTES
Here are a few more routes:
Godhra-Anand is already electrified. This serves as a bypass for Vadodara,
though no long-distance train uses it. I guess it has a lot of goods traffic.
A few more routes which are being electrified:
Kazipet-Sanatnagar with Hyderabad
Bayana-Agra-Tundla (presumably to facilitate goods traffic between trunk lines)
Salem- Mettur Dam(because of a big thermal plant at Mettur)
Champa-Gerva Road( to serve NTPC and other projects at Korba)
Bina-Katni-Bilaspur(basically for moving coal to Western India. Another
interesting point is that it will use a new system of 2*25 KV as a trial.
Can any technical experts comment?)
I think there was also a long-term plan to electrify Asansol-Patna-Mughalsarai,
Delhi- Ambala and Lucknow- Mughalsarai(not sure if it was via Faizabad or
Sultanpur or Partapgarh). I suppose the Madras- Bombay and Madras-Calcutta
routes will remain neglected.
-------
From: Swaminathan Srinivasan PHY <swami@hydra.email
Subject: maglev!
Date: 01 Dec 1990 23:41:00 -0500
Guys,
It was a big surprise to me to find fundas about magnetic levitation
etc. in the Proceedings of the IEEE; in May 1973, there was a special issue
titled "Ground Transportation for the Eighties". There are about ten papers
on Magnetic suspension and levitation. I'll go through them and summarize
them (if i can). At that time, they were basically discussing basic fundas
and comparing proposed systems. Maybe I can find some recent stuff, too, if
I try hard enough. This particular find may be attributed to serendipity..
swami
From: Vijay Balasubramanian <vbs@plumpy.email
Subject: More railway puzzles!
Date: 03 Dec 1990 12:39:00 -0500
Hi,
This one is on railway junctions. How many railway junctions can you name
which have five lines converging at the same station? I have come
across eight such stations so far. I am yet to spot a junction with six or
more convergent lines.
Vijay
From: aravind <aravind@vax135.email
Subject: (true) junctions with 5 lines
Date: 03 Dec 1990 17:51:00 -0500
In the South, these are Villupuram, Guntakal, Salem ...
I'm not counting Trichy Jn. or Bangalore City because the
junctions in these cases where some of the 5 lines actually
meet (Golden Rock, Yesvanthpur) are independent stations themselves.
(does Salem count despite the meeting at Omalur of the Mettur-Salem BG
and the Bangalore-Salem MG lines?)
aravind
From: Ajai Banerji <A.AJAI@Macbeth.Email
Subject: News on timetables
Date: 03 Dec 1990 15:57:00 -0500
(From Times of India): The Railway Board has decided to revise timetables
only once a year, on July 1. The timetables of May 1,90 will continue to
be valid upto June 30,91.
(An economy measure to save paper?)
-------
From: Ajai Banerji <A.AJAI@Macbeth.Email
Subject: Junction with 6 lines
Date: 03 Dec 1990 16:23:00 -0500
The only junction with 6 lines is Bhatinda. The lines are:
BG from Delhi
BG from Sri Ganganagar
BG from Ambala
MG from Rewari
BG from Ferozepur
MG from Kot Kapura
Actually, the BG line from Ferozepur is parallel to the MG line upto Kot
Kapura, so purists might call them a single line.
As I was typing this it occurred that Guntakal also has 6 lines:
BG from Bombay
BG from Madras
MG from Hubli
BG from Hospet
MG from Dharmavaram
MG from Guntur
Here, the MG line from Hubli is parallel to the BG line upto Hospet. Also,
the MG line from Dharmavaram is distinct from the BG line, as the latter
branches off from the main line at Gooty.
Depending on whether you consider the parallel MG and BG lines to be one or
two lines, the above junctions have 5 or 6 lines. I believe Bhatinda also
has a bypass line.
Other 5-line junctions include Villupuram,Dabhoi,Nagpur(?) in fact Nagpur's
case is more complicated because of parallel BG and NG lines.
Come to think of it, Mathura is probably the only undisputed 6-line junction:
BG from Delhi
BG from Kota
BG from Agra
MG from Achnera
MG from Kanpur
MG from Vrindaban.
-------
From: Vijay Balasubramanian <vbs@plumpy.email
Subject: Railway Junctions
Date: 03 Dec 1990 20:14:00 -0500
Hi,
Thanks for the prompt response. I did consider parallel BG and MG lines as
one when posing this puzzle, and so restricted the max. no. of lines to five.
The stations on my list are:
Guntakal, Villupuram, Katni, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur Central, Bhatinda,
Dabhoi and Jullundhar City.
Katni - lines from Jabalpur, Satna, Bina, Singrauli and Bilaspur
Varanasi - lines from Janghai, Allahabad (MG line), Zafarabad, Mughal Sarai,
and Aunrihar (parallel BG and MG line)
Kanpur Central - lines from Jhansi/Banda, Etawah, Lucknow (parallel BG and MG
line), Allahabad and Farrukhabad
Lucknow - lines from Kanpur Central (parallel BG and MG line), Hardoi,
Sitapur, Bara Banki and Pratapgarh/Sultanpur (these two meet at
Utrahtia just outside Lucknow)
So, if one considers parallel BG and MG lines as different, then Kanpur
Central, Lucknow and Varanasi too have six convergent lines.
As far as I know Mathura has only five lines since the one from Kota
passes thru' Bayana-Achhnera.
Incidently, Dabhoi is the largest NG junciton in India. All the five lines
are NG.
Regards,
Vijay
From: Vijay Balasubramanian <vbs@plumpy.email
Subject:
Date: 04 Dec 1990 09:24:00 -0500
Subject : Railway Junctions
Hi Folks,
Just out of curiousity, here's something I'd like to know from everyone
of you:
..............................................................................
Do you have a favorite train? If so, what is it, and is there any
particular reason for your choice?
..............................................................................
Moving onto railway junctions, Mathura is indeed a true 6-line junction
as pointed out by Ajai. I somehow confused it with Agra when I pointed out
that the line from Kota goes via Achchnera. On top of it, a new line from
Mathura to Alwar is being constructed. If this directly branches away from
Mathura Jn. itself, then we may very well have a true 7-line Jn!
The lines from Banda and Jhansi to Kanpur meet at Bhimsen Jn.,
one station before Kanpur.
Regards,
Vijay
From: aravind <aravind@vax135.email
Subject: train to Bangladesh
Date: 06 Dec 1990 17:17:00 -0500
The following item appeared in the latest issue of India Abroad:
A new railway route between India and Bangladesh has become functional.
The old BG link between two border stations - Singhabad near Malda in
West Bengal on the Indian side, and Rohanpur near Rajshahi on
the Bangaldesh side - has been reopened. The first train carrying
2000 tons of track ballast being exported by India was received last
week by senior Bangladesh officials.
With the opening of this additional rail route between the two
countries, the movement of freight traffic will recieve a spurt and
act as a fillip to the cooperation between the two countries and
increase bilateral trade, officials said.
From: Ajai Banerji <A.AJAI@Macbeth.Email
Subject: Yet another puzzle
Date: 06 Dec 1990 15:20:00 -0500
How many junctions have BG, MG and NG?
(Hint: now only 2 stations have this distinction. A few years ago
2 other stations also qualified, but now they have lost their NG lines)
-------
From: aravind <aravind@vax135.email
Subject: BG/MG/NG junction
Date: 07 Dec 1990 08:40:00 -0500
I believe Yelahanka (outside Bangalore) qualifies as such a junction.
The BG Bangalore-Gooty line passes through it. It is also the
terminus for the NG Yelahanka-Bangarapet and the MG
Yelahanka-Yesvanthpur- Bangalore lines (the latter was part
of the original Guntakal-Bangalore MG line).
The last I heard, diesel NG railcars were still plying the
Yelahanka-Bangarapet line, which incidentally goes through the
Kolar "goldfields". It's the sole NG line in SR.
The Yelahanka-Bangalore MG line is more direct than its BG
counterpart, and some commuter trains used it a few years ago.
There is also a wheel-and-axle plant at Yelahanka, which may be one
reason why all the gauges at the station are still in service?
aravind
From: aravind <aravind@vax135.email
Subject: coaches
Date: 07 Dec 1990 08:47:00 -0500
How many facilities are there in IR where coaches are manufactured?
(besides the one at Perambur in Madras) Where are they? Just
curious ....
aravind
From: Vijay Balasubramanian <vbs@plumpy.email
Subject:
Date: 07 Dec 1990 11:08:00 -0500
Subject : BG/MG/NG, etc.
Hi Folks,
Aravind correctly identified one of them. If I remember correctly,
the Bangalore-Kolar-Yelahanka NG line existed till Bangalore City. Hence,
Bangalore City also has this distinction: BG line from Jollarpetai, MG lines
from Dhramavaram, Arsikere (meeting at Yeshvantpur Jn.) and Mysore,
and NG line from Bangarapet.
The other station is Miraj:
- BG line from Pune
- MG line from Belgaum
- NG line from Kurduwadi-Pandharpur
Besides Perumbur, the other major IR coach facory is at Kapurthala, Punjab.
A wheel-and-axle plant also exists at Jagadhari (between Ambala and Saharanpur).
This plant upgraded the old Rajdhani coaches so that they could be used for the
Kalka Shatabdi.
Here are some other interesting questions about Rly. junctions:
1. How many junctions can you think of, which have all the convergent lines
electrified? (Exclude the ones around the four Metropolitan cities for the
moment, since there are plenty of them). An example is Vadodara.
2. How many junctions can you think of where at least one train exists for
every pair of lines? Consider Vadodara, again. Most of the trains
use the Bombay-Vadodara, Vadodara-Ratlam and the Bombay-Vadodara, Vadodara
-Ahmedabad pairs of lines. But there are a few which also employ the Ahmeda bad-Vadodara-Ratlam route such as Ahmedabad-Gorakhpur Exp., Sabarmati Exp., etc.
Regards,
Vijay