Vendors on the India Railway System

Anything is available for sale inside an Indian train and at India railway stations - from safety pin to quiz books to bananas to shoe polishing services to dried fruits. You name it, and it is yours (for the right price)! Not all the vendors are approved by the India railway system, though.

A Indian train is a big bazaar on wheels, so be sure to carry a bunch of coins and small change during your India travel. The vendors are part and parcel of the India railway system. When a train reaches a station, the vendors swarm the windows like bees on a honeycomb, with everyone shouting out their fare for sale. All the goods sold are very thoughtfully suited to be exchanged through the 4-inch or so gap of the window grille. If you are sitting at the window seat, co-passengers may request to use your window to buy stuff they need.

Generally the train stops for two minutes at each station, but at major stations this can be up to 30 minutes. Make sure you shift your huge backpack close to the exit door when the train is about to reach your destination. All sorts of frenzied activities like buying, selling, and boarding takes place two minutes before the train leaves. Departure is announced by a long whistle, after which the train slowly begins its journey again.

Improvment Program of IR

Human faeces is scattered across India’s 64,400 kilometres of rail lines.

One of the world’s largest surface transport networks, carrying 30 million people and 2.8 tonnes of goods daily, is being downed by those using it.

A government panel report this month said that human waste from open-discharge toilets used by passengers is damaging tracks and associated infrastructure.

The report recommended that toilets with nil or harmless discharge be installed within the next five years in all 43,000 carriages used by the railways.

“Apart from the issue of hygiene, this has several serious safety implications arising out of corrosion of rails and related hardware,” the report said.

Waste is dumped directly on to the tracks through small holes from western-style and squat toilets inside trains.

Only a handful of luxury tourist trains like the “Palace on Wheels”, running between New Delhi and Rajasthan, have bathrooms with well-built toilets.

In a country where millions lack access to basic sanitation, it is not unusual to see people urinating and defecating in public near train lines, particularly in suburban areas.

Many passengers ignore requests to not use toilets when trains halt. Apart from the unbearable stench it creates, the practice leads to clogging of rail lines at busy stations.

The safety review committee appointed by the railway ministry and led by top Indian scientist Anil Kakodkar estimated that 30 billion rupees ($609.5 million) would be needed to fit new toilets over the next five years.

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi will present the annual railway budget on March 14. A fare hike, vital to generate more money to invest in improving the creaking system, may be on the cards, although Trivedi’s political boss Mamata Banerjee is pushing against higher prices.

Penukonda Rail Accident

The death toll in the train accident in Andhra Pradesh has risen to 24, with over 35 people injured, sources say. The Hampi Express collided with a stationary goods train at Penukonda in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh early on Tuesday morning. The accident happened at around 3:15 am on Tuesday.

Earlier, Railway Minister Mukul Roy had said, "It is a sad incident. I have ordered for a probe. I am going to the accident site. The Indian Railway is trying to implement TPWS (Train Protection Warning System) as early as possible," Roy said.

The Hampi Express was on its way to Bangalore and reportedly overshot the signal.

Rescue operations and efforts to restore the track are underway. Four bodies were still stuck in the wreckage. Railway Board Members (Traffic), KK Srivastava, and (Mechanical) Keshav Chandra have also left for the spot. Commissioner of Railway Safety (Southern Circle), SK Mittal will conduct a statutory inquiry and has been asked to submit a report at the earliest.

The Railway Ministry has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the families of the dead, Rs 1 lakh for those with grievous injuries and Rs 50,000 for those with simple injuries. Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh to the victims' families and Rs 25,000 to those who are injured.

Three bogies of the Hampi Express got derailed. The accident caused the first two compartments of the train to catch fire. Reports say there was a short circuit in the first compartment.

Reports said the Hampi Express was over-speeding and overshot a signal due to which it collided with the goods train. However the spokesperson for the railways said that nothing could be confirmed until the probe was over.

Chennai Metro Rail

Chennai Metro Rail

New Delhi (PTI): Work on the much-awaited Chennai Metro Rail Project is expected to begin by October this year with the Japanese government giving its nod for concessional assistance to build the transport system.

The Tamil Nadu government will sign the agreement with the Japanese government which is providing Rs 852.69 crore for the prestigious project in September.

"The Japanese government has agreed to extend more than Rs 800 crore for providing a better transport system to the city. This is just the first instalment and we will be signing an agreement with them sometime next month," Syed Munir Hoda, Chairman, Chennai Metro Rail Corporation, told PTI.

The total project cost is estimated at Rs 11,124 crore, while Japan will provide Rs 8,646 crore to establish a 45-km long mass rapid transport system in the form of metro and elevated railways. The remaining cost will shared by both state government and the Centre.

"We are pursuing the project on fast-track and we intend to start work on it by this October," Chief Secretary L K Tripathi said.

"The project is in pre-Public Investment Board stage and once it is cleared by the board, then it will go for the Cabinet approval," he said.

"Once the agreement is signed between the state government and the Japanese side, we will start the work on the project," Hoda said.

Konkan Railway

The Konkan Railway was the missing link between India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, and Mangalore. The 760-kilometre line connects Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka States — a region of criss-crossing rivers, plunging valleys and mountains that soar into the clouds.

The Konkan is a coastal strip of land bounded by the Sahyadri hills on the east, and Arabian Sea on the west. It is a land where mythology breathes side by side with economic growth, a land with rich mineral resources, dense forest cover and a landscape fringed with paddy, coconut and mango trees. The formidable terrain to be conquered and the short construction period meant that the project could only be completed with the help of several technological innovations.

Apart from setting a trend for other infrastructure projects in the country, the Konkan Railway provides concrete proof of the skills of Indian engineers, their discipline, team spirit and courage. But it is also a tribute to the unconquerable human spirit. Beyond the technical jargon, it was a leap of faith that made the long cherished dream of the people of the region possible.  The Konkan Railway has also in a way changed the lives of the Engineers and other people associated with the project. For them it was the glory of overcoming all odds, and the satisfaction and pride that they have built something for posterity. The completion of the Konkan Railway was a “tryst with destiny” for many people in the Konkan region, redeemed in the 50th year of the nation’s Independence. It is hence entirely fitting that the first train on the completed track was flagged off on January 26, 1998, Republic Day.

Streatch of indian railway

The first railway on Indian sub-continent ran over a stretch of 21 miles from Bombay to Thane on 16 April 1853. The idea of a railway to connect Bombay with Thane, Kalyan and with the Thai and Bhore Ghats inclines first occurred to George Clark, the Chief Engineer of the Bombay Government, during a visit to Bhandup in 1843. During the formal inauguration ceremony, 14 railway carriages carrying about 400 guests left Bori Bunder at 3.30 pm "amidst the loud applause of a vast multitude and to the salute of 21 guns".

The first passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined for Hooghly, a distance of 24 miles, on 15 August 1854. Thus the first section of the East Indian Railway was opened to public traffic, inaugurating the beginning of railway transport on the Eastern side of the sub-continent. In South, the first line was opened on 1 July 1856 by the Madras Railway Company. It ran between Veyasarpandy and Walajah Road (Arcot), a distance of 63 miles. In the North, a length of 119 miles of line was laid from Allahabad to Kanpur on 3 March 1859.

The first section from Hathras Road to Mathura Cantonment was opened to traffic on 19 October 1875. These small beginnings in due course developed into a network of railway lines all over the country. By 1880, the Indian Railway system had a route mileage of about 9000 miles. When India became independent in 1947, there were forty-two rail systems. In 1951, the systems were nationalized as one unit, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. Thus Indian Railways (IR) was torn.

Toy Train Of Shimla

The best way to reach Shimla is to travel by Toy train from Kalka. The railway track is small in width between Kalka and Shimla and is known as meter gauge track opened by British Government in the year 1903. The distance of 96 KM between Shimla and Kalka passes through 102 tunnels and 87 bridges. There are more than 20 stations in this railway system which still uses the old Neals Token Instrument system for track interlocking. It connects Kalka at an height of 656 meter to Shimla at 2076 meter from mean sea level. There are around 900 curves and sharpest curve is of 48 degree. The five hour journey is one of the best train journeys for tourist operated by Indian railway.

Indian Railways to give way to train hostesses

HAND IT to the Indian Railways to come up with newer concepts to woo budget airline travelers. The brains of the bosses of Rail Bhavan must be working overtime – after all, the Railway Minister lectures in the IIM's.

THE LATEST in train travel is the train hostesses, which is slated to become a reality by September in the Indian Railways. The hostesses would be smartly attired damsels in blue trousers, white shirts, and blazers who will bring to the tired traveler his choicest dishes as he listens to strains of music. He can surf the internet and watch television pro grammes while munching snacks. Two additional air conditioned coaches would be added to trains on certain routes like the Kanchan Kanya Express and North Bengal Express from September 26, followed by a few other trains that include Delhi-Sealdah Samparkranti and Guwahati-Delhi Samparkranti. The arrangement will be a result of Public Private Partnership (PPP). Why the Rajdhanis have not been selected for the launch is a mystery.

It is reported that the coaches would be equipped with imported blankets, world-class toilets and three hostesses each to serve snacks and meals to passengers. Besides this, there will be additional staff to take care of the security and cleanliness. To set the ball rolling, hostesses are being hired from a reputed air hostess training institute to launch the first batch of service in Kanchan Kanya Express and North Bengal Express from September.

This will be an attractive proposition to long distance travelers who are accustomed to accepting poor levels of commitments by the authorities. The general feeling among passengers is one of despair – he is supposed to pay the fare and swallow whatever is dished out either in the form of food or services. Lack of hygiene is common as are the filth that one encounters at every step.

There have been innumerable instances of trains speeding its way through to its destination with no water in the overhead tanks!

wifi on indian railways

Currently, tech savvy train commuters have only one option to access internet while travelling on trains

in India – through their mobile handsets or by using a broadband stick that plugs into a USB drive.

However we all know that getting a strong signal throughout a train journey is just too much to ask for.

All that is set to change as exciting news of Wi-Fi on trains in India bring hopeful smiles on the face

of the modern Indian.

ET reported that the Indian Railways received preliminary clearance for using the frequency of Ku band,

which is primarily used for satellite communication. Railways had been waiting for the clearance since

the last couple of years and it is believed that Howrah Rajdhani express will have the first link-ups.

This pilot project will be the first time that moving trains will have satellite linkup to provide for

internet services and will cost about Rs. 6.30 crore to implement.

EARNINGS OF INDIAN RAILWAY

The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during April 2012 were Rs 9658.02 crore as compared to Rs 8130.27 crore

during the same period last year, registering an increase of 18.79%.

The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs 5595.69 crore during April 2011 to Rs 6916.39 crore during April 2012, showing an increase of

23.60%.

The total passenger revenue earnings in April 2012 were Rs 2384.61 crore compared to Rs 2214.54 crore during the same period last year,

registering an increase of 7.68 per cent.

The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs 247.37 crore during April 2012 compared to Rs 223.34 crore during the same period last

year, showing an increase of 10.76 per cent.

The total approximate number of passengers booked during April 2012 were 686.29 million compared to 657.59 million during the same period last

year, showing an increase of 4.36 per cent.

In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the number of passengers booked during April 2012 were 347.36 million and 338.93 million compared to

345.71 million and 278.43 million during the same period last year, an increase of 0.48 per cent and 8.67 per cent respectively.

Rajdhani Express

Rajdhani Express was introduced in 1969, for providing fast connections (up to 140 km/h/87 mph, speed varies depending upon the particular track section) from various railway stations in the capital city of New Delhi to the capital cities of various states in India (or, in certain cases, prominent cities within the state the train serves). The first Rajdhani Express left New Delhi station for Howrah station to cover a distance of 1,445 km in 16 hours 55mins.
Rajdhani



Old rake of Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express


Mumbai Central-New Delhi Rajdhani ramming just before Borivili


Mumbai Central-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.


Comfortable interiors of a First Class AC compartment in Rajdhani Express
These trains get the highest priority on the Indian railway network. They are fully air-conditioned. Passengers are served complimentary meals during the journey. Depending on the duration and timings of the journey, these could include lunch, high tea, dinner, morning tea and breakfast. Almost all Rajdhani trains offer three classes of accommodation: First Class AC with 2- or 4-berth lockable bedrooms, AC 2-tier with open berths (bays of 4 berths + 2 berths on the other side of the corridor) with curtains for privacy, and AC 3-tier (bays of 6 berths + 2 berths on the side) with curtains for privacy. Currently there are 24 pairs of Rajdhani Express trains, connecting New Delhi to Ahmedabad, Bangalore (2), Bhubaneswar, Bilaspur, Chennai, Guwahati/Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Kolkata, Jammu, Mumbai, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram. These trains have fewer stops than other express trains. They halt only in state capitals and prominent cities like Vadodara, Bhopal, Ratlam, Nagda, Kota, Jaipur, Allahabad, Jhansi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Gaya, Balasore, Cuttack, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Asansol, Bokaro, Nagpur, Panvel, Kazipet, Surat and Raipur.

INDIAN RAILWAYS A MASSIVE UNIT

Indian Railways started its operations in the year 1853 and since then, the progress in operational

quality has been tremendous. Also, Indian Rail is the largest rail network in terms of sheer length and

size. Spread across more than 6400 kilometers, it continues to grow bigger and complex to manage. But,

the unsullied service and ticketing facilities at the Indian Railways reservation center, regardless of

millions of customers visiting the center every day, is commendable. In fact, Railways reservation

website could be viewed in different languages and moreover, it features facilities like railway card

offers, travel maps, train schedules, festive season offers and more.

Being a public sector venture, it is completely run and funded by the government. Jobs are created every

year by Railways for thousands at different levels and people in India are aware about all the perks and

benefits that come with the Railways employment. Railways reservation management team has proposed to

incorporate ideas from top corporates to help them improve on the overall standards. This again would

mean huge job openings at the managerial level. The govt. organization is venturing into rigorous

marketing efforts both for spreading general awareness about rail issues and how public contribution

towards cleanliness is important.

The online ventures of advertising and pictorial presentations are designed to create awareness and

attract passengers. Indian Railways is also planning to lease out the cleaning contract to private

associations, to create better traveling environment for customers. The challenging tasks that lie ahead

are population explosion, technology enhancement, and competition from private companies offering air

travel services at very reasonable cost. Indian Railways reservation process online is hassle free; the

complete process takes only a few minutes involving entering of your personal information and online

payment. It is not only at the IRCTC official website but also at travel portals that the reservations

can be done. Do get it done several days ahead to get confirmed seats; confirmation cannot be guaranteed

with current bookings. If summed up, Indian Railways is amongst the precious assets of India.

Passenger reservation system

A route-based reservation system that facilitates the issue of journey-cum-reservation tickets, which can be issued from any station to any station.

Passenger journey to multiple laps of reservation can be handled from a single terminal window.
The reservation facility is offered round-the-clock (24 hours uninterrupted).

Changes in train profiles (train carriage addition, replacement, de-allocation), route structures, etc., can be made effective immediately with the appropriate contingency handling.

Dynamic definition of the advance reservation period is possible. This feature facilitates defining different advance reservation periods for different trains.

Any train running schedule can be accommodated. Even irregular trains, running on only pre-defined dates, can be defined - for example, a train running every alternate day.

Provides on-line aggregation of EIS figures such as revenue, seat / berth utilisation, etc, and presentation of the summarised data in the form of visual analytics from the operational system's information store. The data aggregation is done incrementally, to inflict minimal impact.

Can operate on a multi-vendor operating system. Multi-vendor hardware and communication equipment are also supported.

IMPRESS is built on open standards and can be easily integrated with similar products and applications with open standards.

Provides automatic database recovery against all kinds of hardware and software failures.

Complete audit trails for transactions and data access.

The application software is parametric, and standard railway business rules are incorporated in the form of data instead of being part of the logic.

Himalayan Railways

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, nicknamed the "Toy Train", is a 2 ft  (610 mm) narrow gauge railway from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling in West Bengal, run by the Indian Railways.

It was built between 1879 and 1881 and is about 86 kilometres (53 mi) long. The elevation level is from about 100 m (328 ft) at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 metres (7,218 ft) at Darjeeling. Four modern diesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled services: however the daily Kurseong-Darjeeling return service and the daily tourist trains from Darjeeling to Ghum (India's highest railway station) are handled by vintage British-built B Class steam locomotives.Since 1999 the train has been a World Heritage Site as listed by UNESCO. In 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the original designation. In 2008 the 96 kilometres (60 mi), 2.5 feet (760 mm) gauge Kalka–Shimla Railway, opened in 1903, was also added.

Shri Subrato Nath was appointed as first full time Director cum Site Manager of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) in 2007. The Head Quarter of DHR was also re-established at Elysia Place, Kurseong. Since then, there is a full time Director to look after this World Heritage Site.

Invention of Interceptor

TRICHY: On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Ponmalai Diesel loco shed, the Divisional Railway

Manager of the Tiruchirappalli, A V Vaidiyalingam, announced the invention of a new gadget that would

stop the shunting loco from going beyond a permissible speed of 15 kmph. The invention that was an

initiative of seven enthusiastic engineers of the shed has been reported to the Railway Board, and must

be replicated for use across the zonal railways.

Unlike the open line long haul locomotive engine, the shunting loco moves on the loop line only. Out of a

total of 120 long haul loco engines, 20 are shunting loco in Trichy division. Meanwhile, when these loco

engines travel at a speed of more than 15 kph there is a distinct possibility that they might derail, and

mishaps had taken place in the past. So, some of the engineers and technicians got together and invented

a speed-controller-gadget that would automatically cut off the power supply when the speed limit crosses

the 15 kph.

More interestingly, there is a possibility that when the engine travels over a down gradient slope, the

speed cannot to be controlled, and even after the power supply is cut off automatically, the engine could

still travel at a speed of more than 15 kph because of the accompanying impact. In such an event, the

formation brakes would be automatically activated to control the speed. For instance, should the engine

happen to travel at speed of 17 kph on a downward slope, the formation brakes would be activated, and

when the speed is brought down to below 15 kph, the application of the brake would be automatically

deactivated. In the final analysis, the new invention would see to it that the engine never travels at a

speed of more than 15 kph, and thus ensuring the safety of the engines from derailing at any point of

time.

Gloating over the new invention, on the Ruby Jubilee (40 years) day, the DRM announced a "substantial

prize " to the team, and they would be duly honoured in a future function, so that more and more

engineers wereand technicians encouraged to come out with more

inventions. There is no need for patenting the gadget, since the loco shed engines are the monopoly of

the railways and it cannot be used in any other area of operation, said the DRM. A delighted DRM also

announced a number of welfare schemes to the 720 workforce including computer literacy to all of them,

vocational guidance to the wards of the workers, and the construction of a eco park for their exclusive

use.

Amazing facts about Indian Railway

If Indian Railways is what interests you then you definitely need to go through some of the interesting facts about one of the largest rail networks in the world:

Indian Railways owns the longest railway platform in the world at Kharagpur with a length of 2,733 ft in length.

Toilets made an introduction in the trains only in 1891 in the first class and took another sixteen years to reach the low class compartments.

The railway station with the longest name is Sri Venkatanarasimharajuvariapeta in TamilNadu and the shortest station name is Ib in Orissa.

The Indian railways still has the oldest preserved locomotive in working order, the Fairy Queen which was made way back in 1855.

Its longest railway bridge stands at a length of 10044 ft on the Sone River and is named as Nehru Setu.

The first electric train ran between Bombay VT and Kurla in the year 1925.

At present the fastest train in the country is the Bhopal Shatabdi which runs at a maximum speed of 140 km/hr.

The longest distance covered by a single train in the country is Himsagar Express that covers a distance of 3,751 km between Jammu Tawi and Kanyakumari.

It is also one of the largest employer in the country having a headcount of 1.6 million employees.

The longest tunnel is Konkan Railways with a length of 6.5 km

The only rack and pinion system in the country is from Mettupalayam to Conoor.

The Howrah-Amritsar Express has maximum number of halts standing at 115

The Indian Railways has a network of 62,000 km on track

The first railway tunnel of the country is Parsik Tunnel

Indian Railways is spread across length and breadth of the entire country covering a total of 39, 233 miles and in terms of infrastructure operates more than 14,444 trains backed by 7,739 locomotives and 39,263 coaches. The longest train journey that you can experience on Indian Railways is the HimSagar Express that runs between Jammu Tawi and KanyaKumari covering a whopping distance of 4,751 km within a time period of 66 hours. To its credit it even has the longest platform in the world at Kharagpur measuring 2,733 ft in length. Also in case you are looking forward to revisit the British Raj era then you should definitely travel on the Fairy Queen that was started more than hundred years ago in 1855. Hopefully you would have a good time traveling on the Indian Railways.