IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 8021 - 8040
From: raymond/Polaris <>
Subject: Re: Odd names
Date: 30 Aug 1999 06:15:30 -0500
Dear Suresh,
The Andaman Express - this is really odd, unless of course IR's plans
for
the next millenium include extending that train to Port Blair.
Gondwana Express - again odd, because Gondwanaland is the name given by
anthropologists (or is it geologists) to mean the conglomeration of
South
Asia, Australia and Africa. So maybe, the Express is meant to be
extended
to Johannesburg, with a change of gauge at Cape Town !!!. But seriously,
the Deccan plateau is supposed to be the oldest part of the Indian
sub-continent, and it is the thrust of this plateau against the Central
Asian Landmass that is leading to the continuous rise in the Himalayas.
And
the Deccan means Nagpur, so therefore Gondwana. It sounds far-fetched
even
to me, though you will agree that "Gondwana Express" has an agreeable
roll
to it.
Mahamaya Express - I do not know its terminii, but I'm betting that both
are in UP. Mahamaya was Buddha's mother. More recently, Mayawati tried
to
rename part of Aligarth district as Mahamaya. So there.
I agree, pre-independence names still stick - who calls it the Golden
Temple Express - Frontier is still the name. Ditto for roads and
airports
and cities and ports and what have you.
Regards
Raymond
From: Anand Krishnan <>
Subject: Train names, Queens and Godesses.
Date: 30 Aug 1999 06:29:46 -0500
Hi all,
An off the track topic when discssing with odd train names.
The day train from Chennai to Madurai is termed "Kudal Express". Kudal
in
tamil means overflowing love. I only know that there are stories in
tamil
history where romance between King and Queen had foremost importance but
how
does one link that to a train. This is just to add to the list of
unusual
names for trains.
Then there is a "Flying Rani" from Surat.
Then the "Indrayani" and the "Deccan Queen".
Then the Rameswaram Express between Chennai and Rameswaram on the MG was
called "Boat Mail" in its earlier days.
Then the "Rani Chennamma" between B'lore and Hubli.
I wont be surprise if another train touching some part of Karnataka is
named
"Durga Malleswari Devi" express or touching some part of Tamil Nadu
named as
"Angaala Parameswari Amman" express or even a "Jai Santoshi Maa"
Superfast.
People from down south would very well know these names given to
Godesses.
Kind regards,
Anand
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From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Odd names
Date: 30 Aug 1999 07:07:24 -0500
> It sounds far-fetched even
> to me, though you will agree that "Gondwana Express" has an agreeable
roll
> to it.
The Jabalpur shed had a WP named as 'Gondwana Queen'. I still get goose
pimples
thinking about the name. The JBP shed had a 1/15 scale compressed air
powered model of
this power, it moved on a short stretch of tracks with sound effects !
Apurva
From: Vijay Balasubramanian <>
Subject: Re: CLAT - PNBE superfast
Date: 30 Aug 1999 08:57:35 -0500
Hyper-efficient only in the halt pattern. But definitely not in
run-times
:-(
A decent Mumbai-Patna superfast should not take more than 28 hrs.
I have given up on expecting genuine superfasts from Mumbai - the
last one was probably the Jaipur superfast exp. (early 90s?)
Vijay
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Apurva Bahadur [SMTP:iti@vsnl.email
> Sent: Monday, August 30, 1999 5:21 AM
> To: IRFCA
> Subject: CLAT - PNBE superfast
>
> Gang !
>
> An Eastern Rail advert in the TOI today announces the new
> 2141/2142 Kurla Terminus to Patna superfast biweekly express.
> The inaugural run would be on the 31st Aug 99 at CLAT ( I
> think even the station code has been changed to LTT) while the
> first run from PNBE would be on the 2nd Sept 99. The rake has
> Sleeper class, 2 AC and 3 AC.
> Timings:
> Of 2141 Dn.
> CLAT (Sun&Tue): 2330 dep
> Jabalpur: 1545/1555
> Mughalsarai: 0125/0145
> Patna: 0600 arr.
>
> Timings of 2142 Up
> PNBE: (Tue and Thurs) 1300 dep
> MGS: 1625/1645
> JBP: 0130/0140
> CLAT: 1930 arr
>
> As per the CR tt this train has NO stops from CLAT to JBP !
> This is a 991 Kms run, of course this is not possible, but
> even a stop at Itarsi (to change traction to Diesel) is not
> shown...
> Who needs such hyper efficient trains ? To Patna ?
>
> Such is the regard for this train that although this is a CR
> train, it is ER who has released the ad in the Mumbai edition.
>
> Apurva
>
From: S.Shankar <>
Subject: Re: An engine in hand !!!
Date: 30 Aug 1999 10:05:46 -0500
Hello.
Well, well, well!
First Royston Ellis of 'India by Rail' fame.
Now Dr. Aurora of History of the Bombay Suburban Railways fame!
The irfca is lucky to have halo-ed souls joining it!
Welcome aboard Dr. Aurora. I do have a copy of your book, plus a short
clipping of you in the National Geographic video 'The Great Indian
Railway'.
I'm sure we all can learn a lot from you, with your extensive research
works.
Thank you for joining us.
Cheers.
Shankar
Dr. A. K. Arora wrote:
>
> Dear Apurva,
>
> Thank you for the warm welcome..
>
> I was motorman on the Western Railway, now i have taken retirement (
> voluntary ) at the age of 50 years..
>
> Now i am devoting time on Railway studies...
>
> Dr. A. K. Arora
>
> >From: Apurva Bahadur <iti@vsnl.email
> >To: "Dr. A. K. Arora" <doctorarora@hotmail.email
> >CC: irfca@cs.email
> >Subject: Re: An engine in hand !!!
> >Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 12:07:54 +0530
> >
> >A warm welcome to Dr. Arora, we Indian Railway enthusiast know
> >who you are !
> >If I remember correctly you work in the operational department
> >of WR ?
> >
> >Apurva
> >
> >"Dr. A. K. Arora" wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> >
From: Vadi Elumalai <>
Subject: Re: Total Number of Stations on Indian Railways? WHOLE BRADSHAW SCANNED.
Date: 30 Aug 1999 10:22:29 -0500
The official Indian Railway website:
www.indianrailway.com (or) www.indianrailways.gov.in
says there are 6984 stations in IR network.
At 06:37 AM 8/30/99 -0400, lwebber@planetmail.email wrote:
>I have scanned in the whole Bradshaw, supplemented by regional TTs and
maps. I am missing suburban stations for all metropolises other than
Mumbai (can anyone help?)
>
>I am now "cleaning up" and removing spurious duplicates,
multiple-choice
type spellings (an IR speciality!) and scan-errors.
>
>Currently, the total station count is 7,950....
>
>Does this sound high? Low?
>
>I will have more stats later.
>
>
>Regards to all
>
>L Webber
>
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
From: Mike Brooker <>
Subject: Re: Odd names and humour to add!
Date: 30 Aug 1999 11:41:18 -0500
> Capital Express = Das Kapital = Le Capitole = Rajdhani Express?
>
>Viraf.
>
Actually in German, das Kapital means 'capital' only in the financial
sense.
Capital city is "die Hauptstadt".
"Capitol" is the building in Washington, DC that houses the United
States
Congress. There was also a Capitol building in ancient Rome.
********************************************************************
Mike Brooker
99 Wychcrest Ave.,
Toronto, ON M6G 3X8
CANADA
(416) 536-7406
********************************************************************
From: Samit Roychoudhury <>
Subject: Re: Odd names
Date: 30 Aug 1999 11:52:29 -0500
i agree you all
OLD NAMES RULE
i hate these new ones with a passion.
the howrah kurla superfast superdeluxe has been renamed the jnaneshwari
exp.
who is he or she?
the lesser said about the changes to mumbai, chennai and kolikata the
better.
when will people see sense?
samit
From: S.Shankar <>
Subject: Re: Image Displays
Date: 30 Aug 1999 12:56:51 -0500
Hello,
Terrific pic, pity the clarity got screwed up.
I too was struggling at how to post a single pic onto the web.
Its very simple really. You anyway have to sign up to a web space
provider to host your page.(Tripod, Geocities?)
After you have scanned and sized the image, enter the file manager of
the webspace provider and hit upload.
A single pic should upload in less than a couple of minutes.
That done, select 'view'.
The url of the pic will appear in the box on top of the screen.
Just copy the url (Cntrl C), then paste it in a blank message (Cntrl V)
and bingo! You are ready to send. IT is a question of a couple of
minutes only.
There is no noticeable loss of quality, you needn't send the url to a
third source and suffer transmission loss (of quality),and you ain't
blocked no webspace either.
By the way, your earlier pics were out of this world!
Cheers.
Shankar
Tim & Anita Wakeman wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> There was a discussion earlier on the posting of photos on the list
> being "tabu". There is a way for people to post single photos if you
do
> not have a web sight but have scanning capabilities. If you go to
> <A HREF="http://www.railroad.net">http://www.railroad.net</A> you can go to a photography forum where you
can
> upload an image to your message post. You have to keep the file below
> 60k. Once you post the message you preview it and go to the "upload"
> option. Open the file and submit the message and your done. It will
> remain there until it "bumped" off by following messages which could
> take a long time to do. The machine holds 300. Although I am not happy
> with the results of this scan, here is a sample.YDM4 #6331 on the
> Villaperum Passenger #645??? at Polur, Tamil Nadu in March of 1998.
> <A HREF="http://www.railroad.net/forums/photo/msg0812581629804.jpg">http://www.railroad.net/forums/photo/msg0812581629804.jpg</A>
From: S.Shankar <>
Subject: Re: Odd names
Date: 30 Aug 1999 13:00:07 -0500
Hello,
Although the Maharashtrian (and more religious minded!) might correct
me, Jnyaneshwari is neither a he nor a she.
The Jnyaneshwari (also spelt Dnyaneshwari) is, to the best of my
knowledge, a collection of the teachings of Saint Dnyaneshwar. He is
supposed to have written it in a suburb of Poona: a place called
Devachhi Alandi.
Cheers.
Shankar
Samit Roychoudhury wrote:
>
> i agree you all
> OLD NAMES RULE
> i hate these new ones with a passion.
> the howrah kurla superfast superdeluxe has been renamed the
jnaneshwari exp.
> who is he or she?
> the lesser said about the changes to mumbai, chennai and kolikata the
> better.
> when will people see sense?
>
> samit
From: S.Shankar <>
Subject: [Fwd: Re: Odd names
Date: 30 Aug 1999 13:01:01 -0500
From: Vijay Balasubramanian <>
Subject: Re: railway junction with maximum fan-out - FURTHER CLARIFICATION S
Date: 30 Aug 1999 13:04:45 -0500
> > >AS FAR I KNOW MATHURA ALSO HAS SIX FAN OUTS. SAME AS
> > >BHATINDA. BUT DO THEY ALL MERGE AT MATHURA JUNCTION
> > >ITSELF ? IF VRINDAVAN LINE CARRIES PASSANGER TRAINS
> > >AND IF THIS LINE ALSO BRANCHES OFF MATHURA JUNCTION,
> > >THEN YES MATHURA WILL BE THE CLEAR WINNER. SRINIVAS.
> >
> > Vrindavan - Masani - Krishna Janmasthan - Mathura Jn.
> > are all the stations on the Mathura-Vrindavan line
> >(and it carries passengers, trains listed in
> >Bradshaws). As Krishna Janmasthan does not lie on any
> >other line (per 3 Bradshaws), any branching must occur
> >between Mathura Jn. and Krishna Janmasthan - so (per
> >my definition) it counts as a fan-out from Mathura....
>
> I must "amend myself".. ;)
>
> While all the above re the Vrindavan line is correct, when I
> double-checked the line from Mathura Jn. to Kaman / Alwar Jn., I found
> that it only branches off from the main line to Delhi --after--
> Bhuteshwar (the next station). So, it cannot be counted, and Mathura
is
> duly reduced to six!
>
We have had innumerable discussions on junction classification.
Please see <A HREF="http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716">http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716</A> (Trivia section)
for details. Bhuteswar is not listed as a junction and so the line to
Alwar
has been accounted for Mathura itself, taking the total to 7. Do you
need
to
revisit this topic?
> Current standings (all except Mathura & Bathinda subject to
revision):-
>
> Bathinda Jn. 6
> Mathura Jn. 6
> Naihati Jn. 6
> Allahabad Jn. 5
>
Allahabad has 4 lines - to Naini Jn. - Mirzapur/Manikpur
to Fatehpur - Kanpur Central
to Allahabad City - Madhosingh -
Varanasi
to Prayag - Phaphamau Jn. -
Pratapgarh/Janghai/Unchchahar
Vijay
From: Tim & Anita Wakeman <>
Subject: Image Displays
Date: 30 Aug 1999 13:23:11 -0500
Hello all,
There was a discussion earlier on the posting of photos on the list
being "tabu". There is a way for people to post single photos if you do
not have a web sight but have scanning capabilities. If you go to
<A HREF="http://www.railroad.net">http://www.railroad.net</A> you can go to a photography forum where you can
upload an image to your message post. You have to keep the file below
60k. Once you post the message you preview it and go to the "upload"
option. Open the file and submit the message and your done. It will
remain there until it "bumped" off by following messages which could
take a long time to do. The machine holds 300. Although I am not happy
with the results of this scan, here is a sample.YDM4 #6331 on the
Villaperum Passenger #645??? at Polur, Tamil Nadu in March of 1998.
<A HREF="http://www.railroad.net/forums/photo/msg0812581629804.jpg">http://www.railroad.net/forums/photo/msg0812581629804.jpg</A>
From: Klaus Hollinetz <>
Subject: Re: Odd names and humour to add!
Date: 30 Aug 1999 13:56:42 -0500
At 14:41 30.08.99 -0400, you wrote:
>> Capital Express = Das Kapital = Le Capitole = Rajdhani Express?
>>
>>Viraf.
>>
>Actually in German, das Kapital means 'capital' only in the financial
sense.
>Capital city is "die Hauptstadt".
>
>"Capitol" is the building in Washington, DC that houses the United
States
>Congress. There was also a Capitol building in ancient Rome.
>
Quite right.
Let me add a few more things (after laughing about the Hitler / Marx
mixup
- there is no bigger difference thinkable!):
Obviously the word "Capitolium" was first, the "Capitol", which
accomodated
the Senate in ancient Rome, when it was once the capital of the roman
empire. The word comes from the latin word "caput", head, because the
capitolium was situated on a hill, overlooking the "forum", the actual
center of the empire.
"Caput" lateron meant capital, in the geopolitical as well as in the
financial sense.
And now comes the clue: The latin word has its origin from the old
indian
words "kapalam", meaning scull and/or "kapuchalam", which means "hairs
on
the back of the head", the occiput (as far as my old latin dictionary is
right in that point).
So many things cycle through time and space...
best wishes
Klaus
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Klaus Hollinetz
Steinhumergutstraße 1
A-4050 Traun
tel/fax +43 7229 62900
klaus.hollinetz@servus.email
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: T.H.Sanyal. <>
Subject: Re: railway junction with maximum fan-out - FURTHER CLARIFICATIONS
Date: 30 Aug 1999 14:21:00 -0500
Larry Webber wrote:
>Current standings (all except Mathura & Bathinda subject to revision):-
>Naihati Jn. 6
If this is the Naihati Jn on Sealdah - Ranaghat line, then the figure
should be just 3. Towards Bandel, Sealdah, and Ranaghat. I used to
be a commuter on that line, and have visited that area in 1998.
No new construction is going on there.
ths
From: lwebber <>
Subject: Re: railway junction with maximum fan-out - FURTHER CLARIFICATIONS
Date: 30 Aug 1999 14:53:18 -0500
T.H.Sanyal said:
Mr Sanyal, could you please help me with these questions specific to
ER/SER region?
(1) Are these correct (direct-ish) lines, and what are the missing
stations:-
(a) Seoraphuli Jn. Kamarkundu Jn. Terkeshwar
(b) Dum Dum Jn. Hridaypur Barasat Jn. Habra Gobardanga
Bangaon Jn. Patripol
(c) Kalinarayanpur Shantipur
(d) Barasat Jn. Hasnabad
(e) Bangaon Jn. Ranaghat Jn. Bagula Gede
(f) Baliganja Jn. Santoshpur Baj Baj
(g) Santragachi Jn. Sheakhala
(h) Sealdah Baliganja Jn. Sonarpur Jn. Canning
(i) Sonarpur Jn. Baruipur Jn. Magra Hat Diamond Harbour
(j) Baruipur Jn. Gocharan Jaynagar Majilpur
Lakshmikantapur Namkhana
(k) Panskura Jn. Tamluk Jn. Digha (West Bengal)
(l) Tamluk Jn. Dugra Chak Haldia
(m) Bhojudih Jn. Anara Jn.
(n) What are the lines emanating from Pathardih?
(o) Dangoaposi Jn. Padapar Banspani
(p) Andul Jn. Amta
(q) Andul Jn. Chanpadanga
(r) Ikra Jn. Damodar Jn.
(s) Patna Jn. Digha (Bihar)
(t) Mokama Jn. Mokama Ghat
(u) Asansol Jn. Gaurangdih
(v) Karaila Road Jayant
(w) Balani Khadan Barajamda Jn.
MANY MANY THANKS....
IT WOULD BE OF REALLY *IMMENSE* HELP IF YOU COULD CLARIFY...
> >Current standings (all except Mathura & Bathinda subject to
revision):-
>
> >Naihati Jn. 6
>
> If this is the Naihati Jn on Sealdah - Ranaghat line, then the figure
> should be just 3. Towards Bandel, Sealdah, and Ranaghat. I used to
> be a commuter on that line, and have visited that area in 1998.
> No new construction is going on there.
You are totally correct, of course.
The scanner picked up three "L"s as "I"s, and my validity check of all
junctions/terminii (against a more proven source, as used in my program)
still showed valid station names, so I did not spot it - correct was:-
Naihati Jn. 3
Nalhati Jn. 3
;)
Vijay Balasubramanian said:
> We have had innumerable discussions on junction classification.
> Please see <A HREF="http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716">http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716</A> (Trivia
section)
> for details. Bhuteswar is not listed as a junction and so the line to
Alwar
> has been accounted for Mathura itself, taking the total to 7.
Which was what I originally wrote. But for the program, a lot of extra
complexity would be involved associating "junction-property" other than
per my definition...
> > Allahabad Jn. 5
> Allahabad has 4 lines
Yup. All these are manifestations of Bradshaw-scanning problems. The
">4" list now reads:-
6+1 Mathura Jn.
6 Bathinda Jn.
5 Bangarapet Jn.
5 Bareilly Jn.
5 Chandrapura Jn.
5 Dabhoi Jn.
5 Diva Jn.
5 Guntakal Jn.
5 Jalandhar City Jn.
5 Katihar Jn.
5 Katni Jn.
5 Lucknow Jn.
5 Mahesana Jn.
5 Moradabad Jn.
5 Panvel Jn.
5 Rewari Jn.
5 Sadar Bazar Jn.
5 Varanasi Jn.
5 Villupuram Jn.
But someone may have some more info on Sadar Bazar.
[I've got the gauge info now, thanks]
Regards to all, and TIA
Larry
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From: Sundar Krishnamurthy <>
Subject: TOI: The woes of city commuters
Date: 30 Aug 1999 15:01:44 -0500
<A HREF="http://www.timesofindia.com/today/31mbom19.htm">http://www.timesofindia.com/today/31mbom19.htm</A>
The woes of city commuters
D M Somaya
Western Railway not heeding desperate demands and extending suburban
services beyond Virar speak volumes. Of the two suburban rail services
in
Mumbai, the WR section is certainly better operated, probably because of
the single linear route it operates. It also transports more commuters
than
Central Railways.
From the paltry few lakh passengers it carried a few decades ago, with
only
a marginal increase in the number of rakes, WR today makes around a
thousand trips everyday and transports over 30 lakh passengers. It
speaks
volumes about its efficiency.
Each train on an average carries more than double its earmarked capacity
per rake with standees. During peak hours, that rises to three times the
capacity per train. One has to experience the discomfort to believe it.
WR certainly deserves to be praised for its service, yet its operations
does have many shortfalls.
Every time the two sister concerns- WR and CR, discuss betterment of
services between CST and Andheri, it is not understood why the other
alternate addendum - a service from Churchgate to Kurla, Ghatkopar or
Thane
on CR never gets discussed. The Western suburbs should not remain a
priority. A large number of commuters also travel from the Central
suburbs
to Churchgate, every day. It is probably due to the imbibed philosophy
of
the past, that those who live in the Central suburbs worked in downtown
markets or industrial units.
Each of the Central suburbs initially had a distinct identity because of
their resident's occupation, but a lot has changed in the past decades.
At
present, a number of executives of multinational corporations also
reside
in the Central suburbs or its surroundings.
The real reason why the railways do not operate their suburban rakes
beyond
Virar is because of their technical incompatibility. The EMU on trunk
routes has the capacity to operate on both forms of power supply - AC as
well as DC, with a switchover arrangement in those locomotives, while
the
suburban EMU operates only on supply of one type.
Such a shortfall can be attributed to bad planning and improper
technical
decisions taken without any foresight. The experts should have imbibed
flexibility in operation of such importance, in their horizon planning
and
not heeded the advice of bureaucrats or accountants.
Electronic signal system would have provided dynamic control to regulate
even the cross traffic. Hence in the present era of computers, erecting
a
massive overhead bridge at Bandra, for CR's Andheri-bound rakes was
nothing
short of folly.
In Goa, passengers and vehicles are transported in barges across its
rivers. Vessels also sailed down Thane Creek centuries ago. We could
reutilize the same channel and add an additional service route in
Mumbai.
During monsoon the service can be temporarily halted. Such decisions
should
not remain shelved for decades, without giving a justifiable try. A boat
service from the main land to the Statue of Liberty, continues to ply in
New York - come rains or shines. A similar service is available between
England and France. With provision of undersea subway for vehicles, it
since provides an alternate route between the two countries in the
continent. It is hence difficult to understand why the bureaucracy does
not
think of such basic conveniences for the people.
To end people's misery further, escalators should be provided at all
major
stations - from platforms to overhead bridges and vice versa.
Once as a tourist got off from a train in Japan, he was stopped by his
Japanese fellow travellers, who glanced at his ticket, and then guided
him
to the ticket counter. They explained to the staff that the tourist had
traveled in the lower class than what was mentioned on the ticket. The
railway staff instantly refunded the difference in the ticket price to
the
tourist. Now that was efficiency without the red tape that is associated
with every service that we get here. One wonders when we will develop
such
high level of service and total trust.
From: C. Zeni <>
Subject: Re: TOI: The woes of city commuters
Date: 30 Aug 1999 15:43:24 -0500
Sundar Krishnamurthy wrote:
>
> <A HREF="http://www.timesofindia.com/today/31mbom19.htm">http://www.timesofindia.com/today/31mbom19.htm</A>
>
> The woes of city commuters
> D M Somaya
>
> Western Railway not heeding desperate demands and extending suburban
> services beyond Virar speak volumes. Of the two suburban rail services
in
> Mumbai, the WR section is certainly better operated, probably because
of
> the single linear route it operates. It also transports more commuters
than
> Central Railways.
>
> >From the paltry few lakh passengers it carried a few decades ago,
with only
> a marginal increase in the number of rakes, WR today makes around a
> thousand trips everyday and transports over 30 lakh passengers. It
speaks
> volumes about its efficiency.
>
> Each train on an average carries more than double its earmarked
capacity
> per rake with standees. During peak hours, that rises to three times
the
> capacity per train. One has to experience the discomfort to believe
it.
My dear friend in Mumbai, Mr. Samraj Peter, lives in Bhandap (might be
misspelled...) and used to commute down to Nariman Point...he tells me
stories of the amazing crowds in the trains. He's recently changed jobs
and now has an office over near the university, which he says is a 15
minute drive. He does not miss the train rides :)
snip
> Electronic signal system would have provided dynamic control to
regulate
> even the cross traffic. Hence in the present era of computers,
erecting a
> massive overhead bridge at Bandra, for CR's Andheri-bound rakes was
nothing
> short of folly.
Actually the fly-over is the best way to keep dense traffic moving as
computers have no effect on the acceleration rates of the trains.
Whether computer driven or manually signalled, it takes a train the same
amount of time to clear a set of points.
> In Goa, passengers and vehicles are transported in barges across its
> rivers. Vessels also sailed down Thane Creek centuries ago. We could
> reutilize the same channel and add an additional service route in
Mumbai.
> During monsoon the service can be temporarily halted. Such decisions
should
> not remain shelved for decades, without giving a justifiable try. A
boat
> service from the main land to the Statue of Liberty, continues to ply
in
> New York - come rains or shines.
In fact, New York has in the recent past returned to ferry boat service
across the Hudson River as an alternate to the traffic-choked 14 lane
George Washington Bridge, six lane (in three tubes) Lincoln Tunnel and
four lane two tube Holland Tunnel. There are railway tubes as well, but
the trains do not serve all areas and frankly many Americans are too
stubborn to give up their autos.
snip
--
Craig Zeni - REPLY TO -->> clzeni at mindspring dot com
<A HREF="http://www.mindspring.com/~clzeni/index.html">http://www.mindspring.com/~clzeni/index.html</A>
Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem
smarter when they come at you rapidly.
From: Dr. K.J. Walker <>
Subject: Re: Odd names and humour to add!
Date: 30 Aug 1999 15:52:29 -0500
Dear Sarosh,
The thing is that Marx WAS an enthusiast for technology, if not
specifically for railways. His whole materialist theory of history
revolved
about the idea that the material conditions under which humans got their
living determined the way they saw the world. His descriptions of
techno-economic processes are at times quite lyrical. He was the first
thinker to have a glimmering of the significance of technological change
--
in particular the Industrial Revolution -- and that was his real
greatness -- not what he was twisted into by Lenin and Stalin. He also
pointed out very properly that the process of "primitive accumulation"
by
which (financial) capital was aggregated, was often little short of
piracy.
Re capital/capitol, I think it got into this list simply by a
spelling
error, but in US English (if that's not a contradiction in terms) a
capitol
(with the "o") is a building housing a legislature; thus the building in
Washington housing the Congress is called the Capitol. Rajdhani does
mean
"capitals" express, of course, in the capital city sense, not loot!
There is
a UK precedent, for there was a London-Edinburgh train in the 1950s
called
(I think) the "Capitals Limited". This may not have affected Railway
Board's
choice of a name, though!
Cheers
Ken Walker
-----Original Message-----
From: S.B.Mehta <sarosh@godrej.email
To: Muhammed Khan <ashiane@erols.email Iain A Fraser
<iain@aerolite.email
Cc: Nitin Joshi <npjoshi@attcanada.email IRFCA <irfca@cs.email
Date: 30 August 1999 8:23
Subject: Re: Odd names and humour to add!
> Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 23:55:40 +0100
> From: Iain A Fraser <iain@aerolite.email
> Organization: AEROLITE BOOKTRADERS (UK)
> To: Muhammed Khan <ashiane@erols.email
> Cc: Nitin Joshi <npjoshi@attcanada.email IRFCA
<irfca@cs.email
> Subject: Re: Odd names
> Hi
>
> Wasn't "Das Kapital" written by Karl Marx ??
>
> Iain
>
> Aerolite Booktraders (UK)
>
That's right. And to make a potpourri of things, did the name
"Capital Express" originate after reading the works of Marx? How does
"Capital Express" mix-up with "Das Kapital"? And to add more humour
into this issue lets safely surmise that Herr Karl Marx was a railway
fan! (With all due respect and no harm intended to the memory of Karl
Marx.)
Sarosh.
From: Anil Balchandani <>
Subject: [ANB
Date: 30 Aug 1999 16:42:08 -0500
I want to take this opportunity to thank the members at IRFCA for the
help
rendered for my trip to India recently, especially:
Prakash Tendulkar
Dr. K.J. Walker & Mrs. M.E. Heath
Vijay Balasubramanian
Shrinivas V. Joshi
Vivek Prakash
Viraf P.. Mulla
Porus Sakatawalla
My journey started from Delhi to Chandighar on the Himalayan Queen. Then
from
Kalka to Shimla on the Narrow Gauge line. Back to Chandighar by bus and
then
onto Delhi on the Shatabdi.
The next day, from Delhi I took the Rajdhani to Banglore, a 36 hour
journey
where I enjoyed every minute in AC 3 tier.
2 days after arriving in Banglore, I took the Shatabdi to Madas and
made my way
around the southern tip buy bus. I ended up in Cochin a week and half
later.
Then took a train back to Banglore. I made a day trip to Mysore after
recovering for a day.
Made my way up to Hubli by bus, then to Poona by bus and ended up in
Vadodra. I
tried to get a train to Indore and eventually to Mhow, but the train
schedule at
Baroda was a mess. I spent the entire night waiting for this train and
eventually decided to cancel after an 8 hour delay. I decided to head
back to
Bombay on the first train available but that was also axed. Eventually,
another
scheduled one arrived and the station master packed 2 train loads of
people onto
one. It was STANDING Room only for 5 hours. I'm glad it happened on
the last
leg.
Rested in Bombay for 5 days and threw in the towel after that.
I would definitely do this again... maybe in the North East this time.
You can view my travels on a map at
<A HREF="http://anilbalchandani.virtualave.net/railway.htm">http://anilbalchandani.virtualave.net/railway.htm</A>
I'll have more picture soon and more stories if permitted.
Thanks for all the help.
Anil Balchandani