Indian Railways Junction

Expect 34 FOBs, 85 escalators on Western Railway line in 2019
In order to cater to 36 lakh commuters, Western Railway has decided to construct 34-foot over-bridges, 85 escalators and 59 lifts that are likely to come up on Churchgate -Virar suburban railway corridor in 2019.

On Sunday, newly appointed Western Railway Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Sunil Kumar Sag announced that he will fast-track all projects related to passenger amenities, including construction of wider foot over-bridges (FOBs), escalators, lifts, and other facilities at suburban stations in 2019.

Sag said that they will also ensure faster ticket booking experience at all stations and speedy dispersal of commuters from station areas. All access routes to stations will be clear of encroachments, he further added.

Along with this, WR has announced that it has started 25 exclusive counters to issue season tickets at 22 stations and 13 special UTS windows for women, senior citizens and the disabled at 11 stations.
Expect 34 FOBs, 85 escalators on Western Railway line in 2019
 
India's Longest Rail-Road Link has Lifespan of 120 years
Bogibeel, Asia's second longest rail-cum-road bridge that will be opened to traffic by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, has a serviceable period of around 120 years, senior officials said.

The 4.9 km-long Bogibeel Bridge on the Bramhaputra river is India's only fully welded bridge for which european codes and welding standards were adhered to for the first time in the country, said Chief Engineer Mohinder Singh.

Singh said a fully welded bridge has a low maintenance cost. The bridge, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 5,900 crore, has a "serviceable period of around 120 years", he said.

The bridge reduces travel time from Assam to Arunachal Pradesh to four hours and will cut out the detour of over 170 km via Tinsukia.

It will also reduce the Delhi-Dibrugarh train-travel time by about three hours to 34 hours as compared to the present 37 hours.

Modi will open the bridge to traffic, 16 years after it was announced by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vjpayee.

The bridge has a two-line railway track on the lower deck and a three-lane road on the top deck.

For the first time in Indian Railways, the girder has steel floor system for railway tracks and concrete for road.

"Early flood in the river Brahmaputra restricted the working season to a very short period of approximately five months (from November to March) and demanded huge mobilization of construction equipment," said Singh.

Transportation of concrete across river channels of 600 metre to 900 metre width from both the north and south banks was the biggest challenge, he said.

To overcome this, concrete was pumped through pipeline laid over buoys.
"Eighty-thousand tonnes of steel plates was delivered for the project via a combination of rail and road transport, while a 1,000 tonne hydraulic jack and strand jacks linked with the substructures were used for moving steel truss over the pillars," he said.

Most 2D' automatic nesting software was used to generate efficient two-dimensional cutting plans for fabricating the steel superstructure for the bridge.

After December 25, people, especially patients from Assam Medical College located here, can travel straight from Dibrugarh from the other side of the river instead of using the ferries.

The bridge is part of infrastructure projects planned by India to improve logistics along the border in Arunachal Pradesh.

This includes the construction of a trans-Arunachal highway on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, and new road and rail links over the mighty river and its major tributaries such as the Dibang, Lohit, Subansiri and Kameng.
Bogibeel Bridge: India's Longest Rail-Road Link has Lifespan of 120 years
 
Commendable step! Solar panels to be fitted on Indian Railways trains on trial basis for all seasons
Indian Railways has taken a big step towards clean energy! Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry has decided that it will be installing solar panels on the rooftops of general coaches in the intercity trains of Northern and Southern Railways which run for two days. It will also provide rooftop solar panels for 50% of the narrow gauge coaches plying on the Pathankot-Joginder Nagar route in Kangra Valley section and Kalka-Shimla section of Northern Railways. This decision has been taken for conducting extended trials of solar panels over rooftop of trains, for one year in all weather conditions. Rajen Gohain, Minister of State of Railways recently gave this information in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Previously, Indian Railways has already provided solar panels on rooftops of 19 narrow gauge coaches for trains in Kalka – Shimla railway line and Kangra Valley in Northern Railways and for 23 broad gauge non-air conditioned coaches in railway service. Out of these 23 broad gauge coaches, 13 coaches are in two trains of Northern Railways, seven coaches in one train of Southern Railways, two coaches in one train of Konkan Railway and one coach in one train of West Central Railways. The system works during sunlight and generates battery backup of approximately 4 to 5 hours. But the panel system does not work properly during foggy weather/rainfall and during winter season. During these weather conditions, the battery backup of solar panels goes down to 2 to 3 hours.

In order to avoid this non-functionality, Indian Railways has decided that the solar panels will be provided on the rooftop of coaches in few trains of Northern and Southern Railways for conducting trials. The trials will be conducted for an extended period of one year, irrespective of any weather condition.

Indian Railways had in July 2017 launched its first DEMU (diesel electric multiple unit) train in which the lights and fans were powered with the help of roof-top solar panels. This helped in reduced consumption of high speed diesel and CO2 emission. Indian Railways has been extensively looking to use renewable energy – solar power – to meet its electricity needs for not only trains, but for stations as well. Several stations across the Indian Railways network of the country, namely, Katra, Guwahati, New Delhi are harnessing solar power in a bid to move towards more environment-friendly ways of meeting energy needs.
Commendable step! Solar panels to be fitted on Indian Railways trains on trial basis for all seasons
 
Good news for Mumbaikars! Central Railway to get six new AC locals this year
There is good news for people using local trains in Mumbai. Central Railway will be introducing six new air-conditioned (AC) local trains this year. This will be in response to passengers' complaints that the Central Railway is ignoring them. In 2019, a total of 12 AC locals are expected to be introduced in Mumbai. These will be equally distributed between the Central Railway and Western Railway.

The Railway Board, the apex body of all zonal railways, on December 2 wrote to the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) about detailed classification of AC local trains. According to the letter, six brand-new local trains will be made available to the Central Railway. Earlier, the Central Railway used to get second-hand cars from the Western Railway, but that will not be the case now.

Mumbai’s second AC local expected by January 15
According to sources, Mumbai’s second AC local train is likely to arrive in the city by January 15. ICF has already dispatched the rake. It is, however, not yet clear whether this new train will be operated by the Central Railway or the Western Railway. The local train that has been dispatched is a new and improved version of the existing AC train that runs on the Western Railway. The trials of the new trains are likely to be held on the Western Line.

Rajdhani on the Central Railway
Another important and big news is that for the first time, the Rajdhani Express will be run on the Central Railway route. Over the last several decades, two Rajdhani Express trains going towards Delhi have been running on the Western Railway network.

This was announced by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal yesterday. The Rajdhani Express will leave from the CSMT and go via Kalyan, Nashik, Jalgaon, Khandwa, Bhopal, Jhansi, Agra and Hazrat Nizamuddin. For the first time, the Rajdhani will be run via Madhya Pradesh instead of Gujarat. This announcement fulfills the long-standing demand of the people.
Good news for Mumbaikars! Central Railway to get six new AC locals this year | India News
 
Indian Railways WDG6G (6000hp) locomotive along with 10 2000hp GEU20 Locomotives of Pakistan Railways being transported in USA.
 

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Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line: All you need to know
Move over Qinghai-Tibet Railway. By 2022, India hopes to snatch the record for the world's highest railway line. At a height of 5,360 metres above the sea level, the 465-km Bilaspur-Manali-Leh broad-gauge line is one of the four crucial rail lines that the Indian Railways is building to fortify the country's border with China. Tourists, too, have a lot to look forward to since this all-weather railway line will halve the travel time between Delhi and Leh to 20 hours. Currently, the Manali-Leh road is closed for almost five months a year due to snow.

The first phase of the survey for this massive project has been completed and the final location survey, a precursor to actual construction, is scheduled to be completed by March 2019. Here are 10 other interesting facts about this proposed engineering marvel:
1. Initial estimates peg the cost of the Bilaspur-Manali-Leh line at Rs 83,360 crore. This is the most difficult project undertaken by the railways, which wants it to be declared a national project since the railway line will help the armed forces as well as lead to the socio-economic development of the region. The advantage here is that a major chunk of the project funding will be borne by the central government.

2. The project will include 74 tunnels, 124 major bridges and 396 minor bridges, according to the first phase of the survey. In fact, 52% of the 465-km length will pass through tunnels, the longest of which would be 27 km long. The line will also boast India's first railway station inside a tunnel - the Keylong railway station in Himachal Pradesh.

3. As many as four mountain passes - Rohtang La, Barlacha La, Lachung La and Taglang La, ranging between 3,976 mts and 5,360 mts - will be connected by this line. The highest railway station on this line, and globally, will be the Taglang La railway station reportedly at 5,359 mt above sea level.

4. The Railways plans to use aircraft-like pressurised coaches in its trains for this line - another first - to maintain the oxygen levels. This is to ensure that passengers do not face breathing difficulties on board given the high altitudes covered in the journey. Such coaches are currently used only in China's Qinghai-Tibet Railway Line, with its highest point at an altitude of 5,072 mts.

5. The coaches will also boast heaters since the temperatures in winter can fall to well below freezing point.

6. Last year, the railways proposed to start work on the 51-km long section between Upshi in Himachal Pradesh and Phe in Leh immediately. This stretch boasts a gentler gradient compared to the rest of the project and is expected to take two years for completion at an estimated cost of Rs 5,000 crore.

7. The line, once completed, will connect important locations between Bilaspur and Leh like Sundernagar, Mandi, Manali, Keylong, Koksar, Darcha, Karu and other important towns of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir en route.

8. The Indian Railways has reportedly sought help from the US for satellite imagery to survey the route and will also use the Lidar method for an understanding of the geology of the entire route.

9. When complete, trains on Bilaspur-Manali-Leh line will run at a speed of 75 kmph. It will reduce the distance between Delhi to Leh from the present 40 hours to 20 hours.

10. The other three strategic rail lines are Pasighat-Tezu-Parsuram Kund-Rupai that would stretch for 227 km, North Lakhimpur-Bame (Along)-Silapathar ( 249 km) and Missamari-Tenga-Tawang (378 km). The construction of all the four lines is expected to cost more than Rs 2 lakh crore.
Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line: All you need to know
 
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Indian Railways creates record: More LHB coaches made in last 2 years than in 17 years since introduction!

Indian Railways creates a production record! With coach manufacturing picking up across its factories, Indian Railways has manufactured more LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) coaches in the last two years than it did in the first 17 years since their introduction. According to Indian Railways between 2017-2018 and till December 2018, over 5500 LHB coaches were manufactured. From 2001 onwards to end of March 2016, 4020 LHB coaches were made. In 2016-2017, as many as 1470 LHB coaches were manufactured by the various coach factories. Hence, in a record, the production numbers in the last two years have exceeded that in the first 17 years!

Rajesh Agrawal, Member Rolling Stock, Railway Board is of the view that this paradigm shift happened because of a watershed moment in 2016 when the historic decision to change work scope of two Railway Board members was taken. While Member Mechanical was redesignated to Member Rolling Stock, Member Electrical was redesignated as Member Traction. The redistribution of work streamlined the process of manufacturing coaches, with both departments not required to coordinate on every other detail that goes into the making of rolling stock.

LHB coaches were first introduced on the Indian Railways network in 2000 and the first indigenous coach was put into service in 2003. LHB coaches, based on German technology, offer better riding comfort and more importantly are safer. LHB coaches boast of anti-climbing features, making them safer in case of an accident. The anti-climbing feature helps avoid a pile-up of coaches on top of each other in case of an accident, hence reducing the chances of a higher number of casualties and injuries.

In 2017, ICF Chennai manufactured the first 100% ‘Make in India’ LHB coach. LHB coaches are fast replacing the old ICF-design coaches in Indian Railways trains and the production of ICF-design coaches has been completely stopped now. Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways hopes to replace all old ICF-design coaches with LHB ones in the coming years.
 
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Indian Railways stations set for airport-like revamp! Rs 7,500 crore to be spent on 50 stations this year
Indian Railways stations redevelopment: Indian Railways all set to give a new makeover to as many as 50 railway stations this year! A whopping amount of Rs 7,500 crore is likely to be invested by the Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) for the renovation of 50 railway stations across the country in 2019. The redevelopment project of Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry will include separate arrival and departure areas at railway stations, just like airports across the country in order to improve security as well as passenger flow management, according to a recent HT report. IRSDC is government’s special purpose vehicle, designed to develop new and redevelop existing stations.

According to IRSDC Managing Director SK Lohia, who was quoted in the report, for most of the major railway stations across India, arrivals and departures will be separate. However, he further stated that at railway stations where there is not much crowd, the existing system will be in place. Currently, passengers who have to board trains wait at railway platforms. The passenger waiting areas will be now be moved to concourses, he said. The arrival and departure will be segregated, depending on the space, by different levels or through partition at the same level, Lohia added. Under the redevelopment project, initially IRSDC will focus on the renovation of 50 railway stations through public-private partnership, the report said.

The railway stations which have been identified for redevelopment include Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, Chandigarh, Shivaji Nagar, Surat, Baiyyappananhalli, Nagpur, Gwalior, Amritsar, Gandhinagar (Jaipur), Sabarmati, Kanpur, Thakurli railway stations. Currently, redevelopment work is going on Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar (Gujarat) railway stations.

As per the information provided on IRSDC website, 70% of civil work on Habibganj station and 82% of civil work on Gandhi Nagar station was completed till December 31, 2018. In November 2018, Lohia told Financial Express Online that development work on both the railway stations was progressing satisfactorily and IRSDC is hopeful that Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar railway stations will be commissioned some time in 2019. Both Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar stations will be Indian Railways’ first two world-class railway stations, equipped with state-of-the-art airport-like amenities.
Indian Railways stations set for airport-like revamp! Rs 7,500 crore to be spent on 50 stations this year
 
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Pamban To Become India’s First Railway Bridge To Use Stainless Steel Structurals
In its quest to modernize and upgrade the railway infrastructure, the Indian Railways has decided to deploy stainless steel for its visionary Pamban railway bridge project. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), Chennai, the extended engineering arm of Indian Railways, included SS 2205 duplex stainless steel grade as an integral component for the fabrication of 4 spans/girders of the new Pamban bridge. To kick start this project, RVNL has floated a tender for supply of 120 MT of stainless steel. With this, stainless steel has made its ground-breaking debut as a key material for the structural railway bridge framework. Commenting on the development Managing Director, Jindal Stainless, Mr Abhyuday Jindal said, “We welcome this progressive step by the Indian Railways and we’re keenly looking forward to partner with them for this start. We are a consistent supplier to Indian Railways in the wagon and coach segments with a market share of 70% and 60% respectively. As an Indian producer, with a veritable presence across the globe, Jindal Stainless is adept to supply an entire gamut of product range, from lean duplex to super duplex stainless steel. It’s encouraging to see Indian Railways opting for sustainable infrastructural solutions.”

The existing Pamban railway bridge, commissioned in 1914, connects the town of Rameswaram on Pamban Island to the Mandapam railway station on mainland Indian peninsula. The bridge is located in the second most corrosive region in the world, and hence in order to address the corrosion related problems and the associated high repair and maintenance costs, Indian Railways has decided to adopt duplex stainless steel for fabrication of 4 girders of the new Pamban Bridge.

Compared to carbon steel, duplex stainless steel is an optimum techno-commercial solution to avoid corrosion in this engineering marvel. SS 2205 duplex grade of stainless steel has an excellent combination of strength, toughness and corrosion resistance. Given the inherently high strength-to-weight ratio of duplex stainless steel, it provides the possibility of reducing the thickness of the components, thereby entailing a lighter structure. With lesser weight of the structure, the consumption of concrete will also see a significant reduction. Along with high resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion, even in the most corrosive environment, duplex stainless steel provides excellent impact and fire resistance.

On account of its extremely high corrosion resistance, duplex stainless steel can be used in unpainted condition, requiring minimal maintenance. This results in saving heavy recurring maintenance costs. Moreover, usage of duplex stainless steel will improve the structural life of the bridge by 3 to 4 times, as compared to the currently used carbon steel. Thus, overall, usage of duplex stainless steel provides the least life cycle cost as compared to any other alternative material.

From an environmental perspective, stainless steel, being a completely ‘green metal’, provides a sustainable and long-term solution.
Pamban To Become India’s First Railway Bridge To Use Stainless Steel Structurals
 
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