IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 1061 - 1080
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@usl.email
Subject: Re: convention
Date: 30 Aug 1993 09:53:00 -0500
Excerpts from personal.IRFCA: 30-Aug-93 convention S.
Duttagupta@ee.email (514*)
> I was awaiting ajai bannerjee's arrival in rochester.Since he has
> arrived,we cango ahead with our convention.Jishnu said that weekend of
> sept11 is ok for him. So for those who can make it,Rochester is going
> to host this year's convention on september 11 1993.Shriram,if you can
> make it please let me know.If any personhas a problem with scheduling
> let me know too.
I just discovered that September 11th is the Hoboken Festival, a much
awaited for railroading event which takes place every year at the
Hoboken Terminal of NJTransit. Typically a lot of railroad equipment is
on display during this festival. This year people are expecting to see
either the X2000, or the ICE or both displayed at this festival. So now
11th looks like a bad day to be away from the New York area. However, I
can do the Hoboken festival early in the day and then catch an afternoon
train out to Rochester for evening arrival there. That way we can still
have the IRFCA starting on the evening of the 11th and going into the
afternoon of the 12th. What say?
I will be bringing a new video tape on Indian Steam that I got from
Europe. If there is interest I can also bring the TGV Atlantique tape
that contains footage from the cab of the recordsetting TGV-A 325 as it
approaches and reaches the record speed of 515.3 km/h near
Vendome-Villiers sur Loire on the Courtalain - Tours section. Any ideas
about anything else that I should bring?
Jishnu.
From: S Pai <Pai>>
Subject: Re: convention
Date: 30 Aug 1993 11:53:00 -0500
JM> I just discovered that September 11th is the Hoboken Festival, a much
JM> awaited for railroading event which takes place every year at the Hoboken
JM> Terminal of NJTransit.
Jishnu, if you have more information about this, could you e-mail it to me
or let me know where I can find out? I would like to attend this event. Perhaps
I can meet you and any other IRFCA people who might show up there. Regrettably
I won't be able to join you folks in Rochester for the convention later. But I
do hope you guys have a lot of fun. Keep the rest of us informed on it.
-Satish
From: Siddhartha Duttagupta <prakash@ee.email
Subject: convention
Date: 30 Aug 1993 12:13:00 -0500
>>>> This year people are expecting to see either the X2000, or the ICE or both displayed at this festival
Jishnu ,if you have a camcorder we would like to see for ourselves how everything went at the festival.
>>>> IRFCA starting on the evening of the 11th and going into the
afternoon of the 12th. What say?
Let me know whuch train you intend to catch and I'll pick you up.
>>> Any ideas about anything else that I should bring?
May try to bring Arvind along with you;).Haven't heard from him in a long time.
Anything remotely connected with railways is welcome.
regards,siddhartha.
PS Shriram,I got your message but you did not say whether you would be able to come or not.
From: Rangachari <anand@watson.email
Subject: Re: convention
Date: 30 Aug 1993 11:31:00 -0500
JM> I just discovered that September 11th is the Hoboken Festival, a much
JM> awaited for railroading event which takes place every year at the Hoboken
JM> Terminal of NJTransit.
Having been to the Hoboken festival last year, I can vouch for Jishnu's
description. Since I too do not have time to go to Rochester this year,
maybe Satish, Jishnu and I could have a mini get-together in Hoboken on
September 11. It is easy to get there: Get to either Newark or Penn
Station in NY city and take PATH from there to Hoboken station. In
addition, there are also special trains run by NJ transit using the new
Kearny connection. Could we set up a meeting point perhaps?
Anand
anand@watson.email
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@usl.email
Subject: Re: convention
Date: 30 Aug 1993 17:21:00 -0500
Excerpts from personal.IRFCA: 30-Aug-93 Re: convention
Rangachari@watson.email (699*)
> Having been to the Hoboken festival last year, I can vouch for Jishnu's
> description. Since I too do not have time to go to Rochester this year,
> maybe Satish, Jishnu and I could have a mini get-together in Hoboken on
> September 11. It is easy to get there: Get to either Newark or Penn
> Station in NY city and take PATH from there to Hoboken station. In
> addition, there are also special trains run by NJ transit using the new
> Kearny connection. Could we set up a meeting point perhaps?
Sure. Let us plan on meeting there early, say around 10:00 on the 11th.
How about meeting in the NJTransit waiting hall near the ticket windows.
I will hang out around there until 10:30 (unless Y'all can come up with
another agreed upon time), waiting for anyone that happens to show up.
BTW From New York City you have to take PATH from 33rd St at 6th Avenue
(not Penn Station). On weekends all trains from there run to Hoboken,
and there is a train every 20 minutes unless there is trackwork going on
somewhere, inwhich case there is no telling what might happen.
On weekends, from Penn Station Newark take PATH to Journal Square,
change train there and get onto the Hoboken - 33rd St. train (across the
platform usually). Alternatively, if you are lucky, you may arrive at
Newark Penn Station at the right time to catch one of the specials that
NJTransit will run from there to Hoboken over the Kearny Connection that
morning.
Jishnu.
From: Pushkar Apte <apte@spdc.email
Subject: Superfast Trains
Date: 09 Sep 1993 09:19:00 -0500
Hi folks,
I am re-entering the IRFCA arena after a while, my greetings to all.
In my recent trip to India I was happy to learn that at last a fine
soul has sued IR for the classification of superfast trains. It has
been my long-standing gripe (refer IRFCA archives) that IR has no
objective criteria for classifying a train as superfast: the
designation is arbitrary and in some cases the trains are so slow that
the surcharge amounts to daylight robbery! Well finally some-one sued
over this, and the result is that IR board has now come up with the
criterion that only trains faster than 55 kmph (average - over entire
journey) will be called superfast. On CR, the declassified ones
include Pushpak, Indrayani, Minar. (Its sad that they would
de-classify these trains rather than increase their avg. speed). On
WR, no announcement has yet been made, but I think that Paschim,
Vadodara, Karnavati and Avantika Exp's ought to be freed of this
surcharge.
As a footnote, the 55 kmph number also reflects how slow Indian trains
are - even in average speed what we call superfast is probably a
factor of 4 less than the best in the world. What a pity!
Regards,
Pushkar
-------
From: Siddhartha Duttagupta <prakash@ee.email
Subject: Re: superfast
Date: 09 Sep 1993 14:27:00 -0500
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Well finally some-one sued
over this, and the result is that IR board has now come up with the
criterion that only trains faster than 55 kmph (average - over entire
journey) will be called superfast.
Wow,I did not know that you can sue IR or for that matter other gorment
institutions and get results!!!
Now someone should bring litigation about what happens when superfast trains runsix-seven hours late.Barring floods and other natural reasons they should refundthe surcharge me thinks.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On CR, the declassified ones
include Pushpak, Indrayani, Minar.
I am sure of one thing ,there will be no superfasts in one zone viz. the northeast.(Does NE express have avg. speed >55?)Also Himgiri and AC express via Patna
should be de-classified.
By the way sometime ago I heard that electrification was progressing in the HWH-Mughalsarai route via Patna.Any news yet?
A new student from Cal brings heartening news.There is a good chance that Metro rail will be completed by 1994.The line construction has completed.Just in time,I should say when the trams go out of service!!!
regards,siddhartha.
-------
From: S Pai <Pai>>
Subject: train accident in Rajasthan
Date: 23 Sep 1993 12:24:00 -0500
This is from the INDIA-L list. Does anyone know which passenger train was
involved?
-Satish
------------------------------------------------------------
#6 HEAD-ON TRAIN WRECK KILLS AT LEAST 16
NEW DELHI, Sept 22 (Reuter) - At least 16 people were killed and more
than 60 injured when two trains ploughed into each other head-on, the Press
Trust of India (PTI) said on Wednesday.
Higher casualties were feared as rescue operations continued, and at
least 16 of the injured were in a critical condition, PTI said.
Confusion has surrounded the death toll from the crash, which happened
just before midnight Tuesday in the western Indian state of Rajasthan.
First reports said 50 people were killed. Local news agencies then
dropped the figure to three dead, but the toll rose as more bodies were
recovered from the wreckage.
Quoting an official statement, PTI said a goods train ignored a stop
signal near Kota, about 400 km (248 miles) south of New Delhi, and met a
passenger train head-on.
Two coaches of the passenger train were badly crushed and rescuers
were using blowtorches to cut them open, it said.
At least one of the locomotives caught fire after the crash, local
news agencies said.
From: Chandra (C.) Bharathi <bharathi@bnr.email
Subject: Re: Konkan Rail
Date: 22 Oct 1993 17:10:00 -0500
In message "Konkan Rail", 'apte@spdc.email writes:
>
>
> Hello Folks,
>
> Breaking a long silence on IRFCA due to a small news item on m.n.s.
> Said that Konkan Rail is supposed to incorporate "state-of-the-art
> technology" to run trains at "160 kmph". Firstly 160 kmph is far
> from state-of-the-art :-), but notwithstanding that, I am curious that
> this project is still alive. I remember reading a year or two ago,
> that it was dead/dying due to fiscal belt-tightening by the Indian
> government. Now it seems to be alive and kicking butt! Can anybody
> post the latest on this project? Where are the funds coming from for
> this "state-of-the-art technology" given the beleagured Indian
> economy?
>
>
> Regards,
> Pushkar
> -------
I remember reading in a news brief a couple of days ago that
the Konkan Rail Corp. has been given the go-ahead to raise
money thro' bonds (or was it shares?). Perhaps somebody can
complete this sketchy pic.
Chandra
--
Chandra Sekhara Bharathi
Bell Northern Research, NC
ps: Shriram Revankar -- pl. send me ur email address if u r still
on this list
From: Pushkar Apte <apte@spdc.email
Subject: Konkan Rail
Date: 22 Oct 1993 08:02:00 -0500
Hello Folks,
Breaking a long silence on IRFCA due to a small news item on m.n.s.
Said that Konkan Rail is supposed to incorporate "state-of-the-art
technology" to run trains at "160 kmph". Firstly 160 kmph is far
from state-of-the-art :-), but notwithstanding that, I am curious that
this project is still alive. I remember reading a year or two ago,
that it was dead/dying due to fiscal belt-tightening by the Indian
government. Now it seems to be alive and kicking butt! Can anybody
post the latest on this project? Where are the funds coming from for
this "state-of-the-art technology" given the beleagured Indian
economy?
Regards,
Pushkar
-------
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@usl.email
Subject: ICE ride
Date: 22 Oct 1993 14:12:00 -0500
Some of the folks who attended the IRFCA get together this year both in
Hoboken and in Rochester had expressed the desire to go out together for
a ride on the ICE train. Well the ICE is now in regular service between
New York and Washington DC, and I was wondering that those who expressed
interest in the past are still interested. If so please send me Email
and let us set up a "try out the ICE" trip soon.
The ICE runs Washington to New York in the morning and New York to
Washington in the afternoon. That makes it a little difficult for us New
Yorkers to make the round trip to Washington in the same day. However,
the timings are such that a round trip to Baltimore is feasible in the
same day, leaving New York at around 4pm and returning around 8:30pm.
For me that would be the most feasible thing to do since I would like to
avoid staying a night in Washington DC.
Hope to hear from a few of you.
Jishnu.
jis@usl.email
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@usl.email
Subject: Re: ICE ride
Date: 22 Oct 1993 15:00:00 -0500
Excerpts from personal.IRFCA: 22-Oct-93 Re: ICE ride
Rangachari@watson.email (198*)
> I have two questions: Does the ICE run on the weekend metroliner
> and secondly, why not do it just one way? Regular metroliner one way and
> ICE the other way.
It runs on a couple of Saturdays. I will find out about it over this
weekend and post.
As for taking it one way that was precisely my plan - take it from New
York to Baltimore and then take a Metroliner or a regular train (save
some money) on the way back. This is exactly what I did when I rode the
X2000. The good thing about riding it in the evening is that you can
also check out the really nice food that they serve on these trains
(this doen't work too well if you are a vegetarian though). I did that
on the X2000 and had the most delicious Norwegian Salmon dinner on the
way to Baltimore.
Jishnu.
From: Rangachari <anand@watson.email
Subject: Re: ICE ride
Date: 22 Oct 1993 13:40:00 -0500
Jishnu,
I have two questions: Does the ICE run on the weekend metroliner
and secondly, why not do it just one way? Regular metroliner one way and
ICE the other way.
Anand
anand@watson.email
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@usl.email
Subject: Participation of Private Sector in Electrification
Date: 01 Nov 1993 09:57:00 -0500
* Indian track electrification opened to private sector
New Delhi (Oct 25) The Indian railways have recently decided to
open track electrification to the private sector, local press
said here today. The decision allows private investors to bid
for 50% of electrification projects, which means every year $48m
can be invested by them as Indian railways invest around $96m
a year in track electrification. The decision to permit private
sector in railways is a major departure from India;s present
policy to limit private participation. (XIN)
From: S Pai <Pai>>
Subject: Fw: COUNTRY TRAINS TAKE ME HOME (??) (was Re: COUNTRY ROADS TAKE ME HOME)
Date: 04 Nov 1993 22:21:00 -0500
I found this on the net and thought it was worth re-posting to this
list.
-Satish
---------- Forwarded message follows ----------
[Forwarded with permission of the author.]
Newsgroups: alt.culture.karnataka
From: sgs1679@ucs.email (Sudhi)
Subject: COUNTRY TRAINS TAKE ME HOME (??) (was Re: COUNTRY ROADS TAKE ME HOME)
Keywords: simplicity, joy
Organization: USL
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1993 00:04:02 GMT
In article <CFxpwM.E6t@cbnewst.email nandan@cbnewst.email (krishnamurthy.raghunandan) writes:
>
>After many of us came here, for whatever reasons, we long for it all the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>more. But there is that memory of contentment which keeps us going (meluku
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>haakuvudu).
^^^^^^^^^^
This reminded me of a train journey my friend and I made from Mangalore
to Bangalore some years ago...
It was past midnight. The train stopped at a small station for
the "crossing" of another train. It had been a hot summer's day,
and it was quite uncomfortable inside the train (even with
those "Cinni" fans running full blast!). So, my friend and I
got out on to the platform. Most of the other passengers were
asleep and there was hardly any sound from inside the compartments,
(except for those "Cinni" fans, of course).
Nobody else got out from the train. There was just a hint of
a breeze but it was good enough for us. The platform was almost
deserted save for a "Kaapi, iDli, vaDe" vendor and an old man
sitting on a bench smoking a "beeDi". There was hardly any light,
and we could see the old man's face in the light given out by
the "beeDi" whenever he took a puff. To him, this was just
another train passing by. To us, however, the quiet of the night
punctuated by the cries of the only vendor on the platform, and
the sheer tranquillity of the place were fascinating.
The other train had not yet made its appearance. So we decided
to eat some of the "vaDe"s and also try the taste of the "Kaapi".
The coffee was nothing more than coloured water and, as is usual
in railway stations everywhere in India, extremely hot. I managed
to burn my tongue for the "n"th consecutive time. The "vaDe" was
not good either. It appeared to be at least a couple of days old!
We thought against eating it and decided to throw it instead to
the dog which had mysteriously appeared from nowhere...
We managed to gulp down the coffee and before we were finished,
the other train "crossed" us and our train-driver whistled
his intention to get moving.
It was time to move on. The "Kaapi" vendor quickly collected his money
and the glasses from us. We got back on to the train and closed
the door. The old man lighted up another "beeDi" and started
puffing away. The dog had mysteriously disappeared.
The train started moving. Soon the few electric bulbs on the platform
became distant points of light. And we sat back and reflected on the
wonderful intermission even as the train hurtled in the night towards
the concrete jungle called Bangalore.
>Raghunandana
Regards,
--Sudhi.
--
email : sudhi@ucs.email.
"No work is secular. All work is adoration and worship." -- Swami Vivekananda.
From: Akhtar Jameel <jameel@cs.email
Subject: Message from Vijay Balasubramanian
Date: 14 Nov 1993 13:40:00 -0500
Hi Folks,
~$
~& It feels great to resume my communication with all of you. Since I do
not have email yet, I have coerced :-) my friend, Akhtar, to become a member
of IRFCA, and pass on messages to/from my account. So, my frequency of
ramblings might not exceed 1-2 per week :-(. Here is my home address and
phone no.
3550 Grandlake Blvd., #B208
Kenner, Louisiana 70065
Phone:- (504) 468-6507
~$ ( Kenner is a suburb of New Orleans )
~& Could someone update me about ICE? Is this the same as the Swedish
X2~0 which was having trail runs from Albany to New York (top speed 160 mph?)
Or is it similar to the German ICE?
~% Regarding the Konkan railway, my Oct. 1992 Indian Railways magazine
informs me that Roha-Dasgaon and Mangalore-Udipi sections have been completed,
and that the entire 760-odd km. stretch is targeted for completion in Oct. 1994
In fact, I recently had a lengthy conversation with Kumar and learnt that
the Goa dispute is still on (as he found out during his recent India trip),
although it is likely that the Konkan Rly. Finance Corporation will persuade
the locals to have Panaji on the rly. map (instead of Madgaon or some other
place far from the capital).
~% Satish, can you add Kumar to the mailing list? His email is:
~#I~$ kumar@quandsn.email
~$ Sudarshana, got your message. You are most welcome to visit New Orleans.
And that goes for the rest of you folks. Maybe, we can have the next
convention in New Orleans.
~$ And now, some interesting info from the July 1993 Western Rly. time-table.
~% ~$ ~A-
1. New daily, superfast train between Bombay Central and Durgapura (Jaipur).
~$ Dep. B'by Central 19:05~) Dep. Durgapura~$ 13:35
~$ Arr. Durgapura~% 12:45~) Arr. B'by Central 7:55
~$ Has a decent commercial speed:- ~65 kmph.
~$ Is only ~30 mts. slower than the Bombay - Jammu Tawi Exp. between Bombay
~$ Central and Kota.
~$ Halts -> Borivali, Surat, Vadodara, Ratlam, Nagda, Kota, Sawai Madhopur
~$ Has AC First Class (thrice a week), AC Sleeper, First Class, Second
~$ Class, and Sleeper Class. Sleeper Class fares are about 25% more than
~$ those for ordinary 2nd class and would absorb the reservation charges.
~$ This class has been introduced with a view to curtail unreserved passengers
~$ from entering the 3-tier sleeper coaches.
2. Two more trains have been given the superfast stamp -> the Bombay - Indore
~$ Avantika Exp. and the Bombay - Vadodara Exp. The classification of trains
~$ as superfast or otherwise is no longer arbitrary and based purely on the
~$ commercial speed. For BG, only trains with >= 55 kmph. speed have been
~$ designated as superfast; for MG, it is 45 kmph.
3. The Avadh Exp. runs between Bandra Terminus and Gorakhpur. It has a wierd
~$ halt pattern. Between Bandra T. and Ratlam, it has just four halts ->
~$ Borivali, Surat, Vadodara and Ratlam. Beyond Ratlam, it stoops down to
~$ the level of the Janata Exp. and halts at Khachrod, Nagda, Mahidpur Rd.,
~$ Vikramgarh Alot, Chau Mahla, ~&.
4. The August Kranti Rajdhani Exp. (formerly, the AC Exp.) has AC sleeper
~$ service and runs six-days-a-week. It terminates at H. Nizamuddin.
~$ Minor changes in its schedule e.g. it takes 1 hr. 23/25 mts. between Surat
~$ and Vadodara.
5. The Bombay - Jammu Tawi superfast exp. has been renamed the Swaraj Exp.
~$ It now halts at Sawai Madhopur. (as if Godhra, Nagda, Mathura, Panipat
~$ weren't enough :-( :-( )
6. The Paschim Exp. no longer has AC Chair Car service.~ I guess the two
~$ Rajdhanis have adequately satisfied the needs of the Chair Car commuters.
7. Four express trains depart from Bandra Terminus -> Sayaji Nagri Exp. (to
~$ Vadodara), Avantika Exp., Saurashtra Janata Exp. (to Hapa), Avadh Exp.
8. The Hapa/Rajkot - Jammu Tawi Exps. and Sarvodaya Exp. halt at Sawai
~$ Madhopur.
9. The Indore - Nizamuddin Exp. halts at Ramganj Mandi, Gangapur City,
~$ and Shri Mahabirji.
10. A few northbound trains from Bombay such as the Pashcim Exp., Frontier ML,
~$ Dehra Dun Exp., Firozpur Janata Exp, Bombay - Durgapura Exp., halt at
~$ Vadodara for <= 10 mts. Maybe, the WCAM1 to WAM4 loco. changeover has been
~$ shifted from Vadodara to Valsad for these trains.~ A couple of years back,
~$ IR had plans to install a new elec. loco. shed at Valsad and shift the
~$ the changeover to this station.~ However, this is not evident from the
~$ time-table for the Paschim Exp. (2 mt. halt at Valsad) and the Frontier ML/
~$ Durgapura Exp. (no halts at Valsad).
That's all for now, folks. Will be back with info. from the July 1993
Trains-At-A-Glance
Regards,
Vijay
From: Akhtar Jameel <jameel@cs.email
Subject: Superfast trains on IR (according to the July 1993 time-table)
Date: 14 Nov 1993 13:40:00 -0500
Hi Folks,
Here is the complete list of trains classified as superfast according to
the 55 kmph. rule (45 kmph. for MG). I have arranged them in decreasing order
of their commercial speeds. I have chosen the higher of the Up. or Dn. speeds
for this ordering. Pushkar, are you sure about the declassification of the
Minar Exp., Indrayani Exp. and Pushkar Exp.? Did this happen after July?
Note:- Speeds are in kmph.
Train Name Leaving .. Speed Leaving .. Speed
---------- ---------- ----- ---------- -----
1. Shatabdi Exp. New Delhi 90.45 Bhopal 90.45
2. Rajdhani Exp. New Delhi 83.88 Bombay Central 81.41
3. Rajdhani Exp. Howrah 83.13 New Delhi 82.34
4. Aug. Kranti Rajdhani Exp. Bombay Central 79.88 H. Nizamuddin 79.88
5. Rajdhani Exp. (via Patna) New Delhi 79.35 Howrah 77.38
6. Shatabdi Exp. New Delhi 78.00 Lucknow 78.00
7. Rajdhani Exp. Madras Central 72.20 H. Nizamuddin 71.80
8. Shatabdi Exp. New Delhi 68.43 Kalka 64.32
9. Lalbagh Exp. Bangalore City 68.19 Madras Central 65.09
10. Rajdhani Exp. Bangalore City 67.94 H. Nizamuddin 67.45
11. Shan-e-Punjab Exp. New Delhi 67.05 Amritsar 60.95
12. Taj Exp. H. Nizamuddin 66.98 Gwalior 64.63
13. Tamilnadu Exp. New Delhi 65.70 Madras Central 64.89
14. Bombay - Jaipur Exp. Bombay Central 65.15 Durgapura 62.78
15. Vaigai Exp. (MG) Madurai 64.88 Madras Egmore 64.17
16. Karnavati Exp. Ahmedabad 64.88 Bombay Central 63.48
17. Prayagraj Exp. New Delhi 64.31 Allahabad 63.73
18. Poorva Exp. (via Patna) Howrah 63.65 New Delhi 63.43
19. Gomti Exp. Lucknow 63.38 New Delhi 60.84
20. Nizamuddin - Nagpur Exp. H. Nizamuddin 63.20 Nagpur 60.84
21. Pallavan Exp. (MG) Tiruchi 63.19 Madras Egmore 61.27
22. Kovai Exp. Coimbatore 63.06 Madras Central 62.40
23. Andhra Pradesh Exp. Hyderabad 62.86 New Delhi 60.40
24. Swaraj Exp. Jammu Tawi 62.47 Bombay Central 58.75
25. Satavahana Exp. Secunderabad 62.00 Vijayawada 62.00
26. Magadh Vikramshila Exp. New Delhi 62.00 Patna 60.43
27. Pinakini Exp. Madras Central 61.86 Vijayawada 61.86
28. Pushottam Exp. Puri 61.64 New Delhi 59.24
29. Coromandel Exp. Howrah 61.21 Madras Central 56.21
30. New Delhi - Amritsar Exp. New Delhi 60.95 Amritsar 59.60
31. Sarvodaya Exp. Jammu Tawi 60.76 Ahmedabad 56.17
32. Brindavan Exp. Bangalore City 60.51 Madras Central 56.53
33. Nizamuddin - Bilaspur Exp. H. Nizamuddin 60.44 Bilaspur 59.84
34. Vadodara Exp. Vadodara 60.31 Bombay Central 59.54
35. Grand Trunk Exp. New Delhi 60.28 Madras Central 58.40
36. Varuna Exp. Varanasi 60.00 Lucknow 55.16
37. Dhauli Exp. Howrah 59.59 Bhubaneswar 58.27
38. Awantika Exp. Bombay Central 59.49 Indore 57.06
39. Geetanjali Exp. Bombay V.T. 59.10 Howrah 58.95
40. Poorva Exp. (via Gaya) Howrah 59.02 New Delhi 58.82
41. Rajkot - Jammu Tawi Exp. Jammu Tawi 58.84 Rajkot 55.06
42. Nizamuddin - Jabalpur Exp. H. Nizamuddin 58.71 Jabalpur 56.86
43. Goa Exp. H. Nizamuddin 58.69 Miraj 58.63
44. Paschim Exp. Amritsar 58.41 Bombay Central 57.34
45. Hapa - Jammu Tawi Exp. Jammu Tawi 58.34 Hapa 55.13
46. Karnataka Exp. New Delhi 57.99 Bangalore City 56.49
47. Pink City Exp. (MG) Jaipur 57.75 Delhi 52.80
48. Nizamuddin - M'lore Exp. Mangalore 57.58 H. Nizamuddin 57.04
49. Kerala Exp. New Delhi 57.54 Trivandrum Cntrl 57.36
50. Frontier Mail Bombay Central 57.43 Amritsar 53.40
51. Ganga Gomti Exp. Allahabad 57.43 Lucknow 51.32
52. New Delhi - Puri Exp. Puri 57.35 New Delhi 56.61
53. Gorakhpur -Jammu Tawi Exp. Gorakhpur 57.03 Jammu Tawi 51.10
54. Shramjeevi Exp. New Delhi 56.66 Patna 55.61
55. Patna - Madras Exp. Madras Central 56.21 Patna 54.54
56. Deccan Queen Exp. Bombay V.T. 56.20 Pune 56.20
57. Konark Exp. Howrah 56.03 Secunderabad 53.21
58. New Delhi - Ludhiana Exp. New Delhi 55.70 Ludhiana 55.70
59. Punjab Mail Firozpur 55.35 Bombay V.T. 53.80
60. Pushpak Exp. Bombay V.T. 55.27 Lucknow 52.86
61. Surya Nagri Exp. (MG) Jodhpur 55.15 Ahmedabad 53.53
62. Ashram Exp. (MG) Ahmedabad 54.94 Delhi 52.62
63. Indrayani Exp. Bombay V.T. 54.86 Pune 54.86
64. Navjeevan Exp. Ahmedabad 54.78 Madras Central 54.65
65. Minar Exp. Secunderabad 54.24 Bombay V.T. 52.17
66. Howrah - Kalka Mail Kalka 52.99 Howrah 49.90
67. Mandor Exp. (MG) Delhi 52.17 Jodhpur 50.08
68. Jaipur - Agra Exp. (MG) Jaipur 46.43 Agra Fort 45.68
69. Jaipur - Agra Exp. (MG) Agra Fort 45.68 Jaipur 44.25
I hope your favorite train shows up on this list :-)
Some comments:
1. The ~7 kmph. gap between the Bhopal Shatabdi Exp. and the Bombay/Howrah
Rajdhanis is understandable, since the Shatabdi is a short distance train
and is able to maintain speeds reasonably close to its maxmimum.
2. The ~6 kmph. gap between the Lucknow Shatabdi and the Madras Rajdhani
reflects the sad state of affairs. The Madras Rajdhani is unable to
close in the gap despite the fact that it travels at a top speed of
130 kmph. on the ~430 km. stretch between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Jhansi.
3. Only the Rajdhanis/Shatabdis are able to cross the 70 kmph. mark. This was
certainly not the case about 10-15 years back when trains such as the
Tamilnadu Exp. and the Bombay - Jammu Tawi Exp. had commercial speeds in
excess of 70 kmph.
4. The short-distance trains are favorably placed on the list, as long as
they stick to the main routes. Exceptions are the Deccan Queen and the
Indrayani Exp. which suffer because of the Karjat-Khandala Ghat section.
5. The Indrayani Exp., Navjeevan Exp. and Minar Exp. have been included
probably because of their proximity to the 55 kmph. cut-off point.
6. The Howrah - Kalka Mail manages to scrape through. The only reason I can
think of is that a good portion of this train travels only between Delhi
and Howrah, and the avg. speed jumps to ~60 kmph between these two stations.
Further comments are most welcome!
Regards,
Vijay
From: Sanjiv Narayan <narayan@ics.email
Subject: FTP Site with Trains GIFs
Date: 26 Nov 1993 20:19:00 -0500
I recently came across a large trove of images of train
related stuff.
Site : wuarchive.wustl.edu
Login : anonymous
Directory : /graphics/trains
Subdirectories (don't drool) : diesel, electric,
rollingstock, steam, subway etc.
There is a lot detailed information about each picture like
manufacturer, year of manufacture, current status and some
technical info. in the README files in each directory.
Have fun,
Sanjiv Narayan
Dept. of Information & Computer Sceince
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92717.
(narayan@ics.email
From: Pushkar Apte <apte@spdc.email
Subject: Bomb Blasts in Trains
Date: 06 Dec 1993 09:42:00 -0500
REPORTED BY PTI.
PLEASE RETAIN CREDIT LINE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
reports from bombay said one person was injured when a
bomb placed under a coach of the double-decker surat-bombay
flying ranee express exploded at 0549 hours this morning.
however, a railway ministry spokesman in delhi said that
one person was killed and 18 injured, four of them grievously,
in the blasts involving five trains. he said all the trains
left for their destinations after detentions upto one hour.
according to the spokesman, a bomb exploded in the
dining car of the 2306 down howrah-bound rajdhani via patna
at kardigwan station in the northern railway between kanpur
and allhabad. the two injured waiters were hospitalised and
the train left for howrah after detention of 25 minutes.
the second blast occurred at 0520 hours this morning
in a chair car in the 2951 down delhi-bound rajdhani express
between indirgarh and amboli stations in the kota-gangapur
city section of the western railway. four persons were
injured, two of them grievously, in the incident. (more) pti
----------------------------------------------------------------------
new delhi, dec 6 (pti) two persons were killed and
several injured when bombs exploded on the delhi-bound andhra
pradesh superfast express and three luxury rajdhani express
trains today, coinciding with the first anniversary of the
razing of the disputed structure at ayodhya on the same day
last year.
two persons were killed and 12 others injured, two of
them seriously, in the blast in a sleeper coach in ap express
at moulali on the outskirts of secunderabad in the south
central railway.
four persons were injured in a blast that occurred in an
ac-two tier coach in the delhi-bound rajdhani express from
bombay between kota and gangapur railway stations.
another blast took place in the toilet of a chair car
coach of the rajdhani express from howrah to delhi. no one was
injured in this blast.
the pantry car of the rajdhani express that left delhi
for howrah caught fire late last night in which two railway
employees were injured. the cause of the fire was not known.
railway sources said that no one claimed responsibility
for the blasts so far. pti ms vsc kva akl
----------------------------------------------------------------------
hyderabad, dec 6 (pti) two persons were killed and 12
others injured, three seriously, when a blast took place in a
compartment of the hyderabad-delhi andhra pradesh express at
maula ali station near hyderabad on the south central railway
this morning.
the blast took place in an unreserved compartment third
from the engine as the train was reaching the station. the
partly damaged bogie was detatched from the train, which
resumed its onward journey at around 1000 hrs.
the injured have been admitted to the railway hospital.
top railway officials rushed to the spot and supervised
relief operation. the railways have announced ex-gratia
payment of rs 5,000 to the next kin of the dead and rs 1,000
to the injured. pti jak ari
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
and more expected......
BASTARDS!!
-vinod
From: Akhtar Jameel <jameel@cs.email
Subject: Superfast trains.
Date: 07 Dec 1993 00:03:00 -0500
Hi Folks,
Before I move on, just a clarification regarding the declassfication of
certain superfast trains. During my recent conversations with Ajai and
Pushkar, I learnt that the Minar Exp., Indrayani Exp., Pushkar Exp. and
Punjab Mail have been declassified. It's a shame that Bombay V.T. now only
has a couple of superfast trains - Geetanjali Exp. and Deccan Queen Exp.
IR has done its dirty work again and slowed down the Dn. Minar Exp. by nearly
an hour (over the past year) which has resulted in its declassification.
Similarly, the Pushkar Exp. has been slowed down by 2-3 hrs. since its
introduction in 1989(?). IMHO, the Punjab Mail deserves to be in the list
since it performs quite well between Bombay V.T. and Delhi (max. speed of
110 kmph., commercial speed of ~62 kmph.).
Looks like the revised rule for superfast trains is that the avg. of the
Up. and Dn. speeds should be = 55 kmph. In that case, the following trains
should lose their stamp as well: Howrah - Kalka Mail, Navjeevan Exp.,
Konark Exp., Gorakhpur - Jammu Tawi Exp., and Ganga Gomti Exp.
And now, some more info. from the 1993 time-table:
1. The new biweekly Howrah - N.Delhi Rajdhani Exp. via Patna takes 2 - 2.5 hrs.
more than the one via Gaya. Both have the same schedule between N.Delhi and
Mughal Sarai. Ajai had mentioned that the former has two halts between
Mughal Sarai and Howrah, namely, Patna and Jha Jha, although the time-table
confirms only the Patna halt.
2. The Nizamuddin - Bangalore/Madras Rajdhani Exps. consume about 20-30 mts.
more than the Shatabdi Exp. between Nizamuddin and Bhopal, if one considers
only the run-time (i.e. exclude the time spent on halts in between). The
Delhi-Agra Cantt stretch must account for this difference where the Shatabdi
Exp. has a booked/max. speed of 130/140 kmph., and the Rajdhanis are IMHO
restricted to 120/130 kmph.
3. The new daily Nizamuddin - Mangalore Mangala Exp. matches the Kerala Exp.
w.r.t. travel time between Delhi and Palghat. It takes about 3 hrs. less
than the Navyug Exp. between Delhi and Mangalore. So, we have another one
of those "elevated" superfasts than go at a max. speed of 110 kmph.
4. The new daily Nizamuddin - Nagpur exp. matches the above train between
Nizamuddin and Nagpur. Yet another of those upstarts :-) At Bina, a
portion of this train gets detached and is bound for Jabalpur. Thrice a
week, this goes beyond Nagpur till Bilaspur. [How many more superfasts
from Delhi?]
5. The Tamilnadu/AP Exps. halt at Itarsi. Now that we have a Delhi - Madras
Rajdhani, one can expect the TN exp. to suffer the ignominy of increased
halts.
6. The Coromandel Exp. halts at Cuttack (as if Kharagpur, Khurda Rd.,
Berhampur, Rajahmundry weren't enough).
7. A new train between Delhi and Jammu Tawi travels thrice a week and takes
about 10.5 - 11 hrs.
In short, the trend continues! More and more superfasts are being introduced
from Delhi, and the "non-Delhi" ones are being slowed down. Why this extreme
bias towards our capital?
Regards,
Vijay
P.S. Hope you received my first two messages.