Indian Railways Junction

  • Like
Reactions: Bali78
_Anonymous_ said:
One thing I've discovered about this government is fast implementation with lots of hype with a sketchy plan & not much thought into the long term perspective.

For eg Sudanshu Mani pointed out that the tracks aren't upgraded meaning for trainsets built to run at 180kmph but which've achieved 200 kmph in testing & are advised to average around 150 kmph by IR nos throughout the journey would be running at < 100 kmph. In due course when the novelty wears off & people discover they're paying a 30% + premium for cutting down journey time by half an hour they'd stop patronizing these trains.

Secondly China ensured tech transfer of all foreign firms with local partners in order to sell their trainsets, locomotives, metro trains etc there which has ensured the latter absorbed the tech & within slightly less than 2 decades began churning out their own indigenous models right upto bullet trains / high speed trains.

We've no such plan till date which can be seen from the metro coaches we stil import & the RRTS trainsets which are older designs now rehashed & sold as IDDM by Alsthom. To make matters worse the clause for participation in the tender mandated prior experience which disqualified Train 18 .

Now we've reached a stage where foreign OEMs would be mfg in India utilizing Indian government factories & labor under a special scheme to churn out various versions of the VB trainsets. No idea how they'd take care of the patents issue here but instead of promoting home grown brands like Medha we're giving a boost to the Turnover of foreign giants like Alsthom Siemens etc

Plenty of other issues for want of a proper roadmap too.
Click to expand...
I watched Sudhansu Mani’s pod cast and he mentioned the same points I highlighted earlier. It’s just basic common sense and somehow government has failed to understand that. There is a limited market for AC chair car type( day time trains) and yet they are rushing for 100s of trainsets. Most people would prefer to travel in the night, in order to utilize working (daytime) hrs. Similarly for tourists it directly translates to saving of hotel charges. Plus in the night you don’t give a damn whether train is running at 100 or 160. I would rather prefer not to reach early. The preference is about the comfort of the train which Bande Bharat provides. So people won’t mind paying higher charges for a sleeper train. After initial 40-50 trains, government should have moved to sleeper trains and replaced Rajdhani trains as well as add capacity to crowded routes. I used to pay Rs 1200 in 2011 for AC sleeper buses between Bangalore and Hyderabad and most buses used to run at full capacity even during weekdays. It was extremely uncomfortable and yet I had to pay due to lack of better alternatives. There is a big market and people can pay. I’m surprised a smart minister like Mr Vaisnav is overlooking these facts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: _Anonymous_
Bali78 said:
I watched Sudhansu Mani’s pod cast and he mentioned the same points I highlighted earlier. It’s just basic common sense and somehow government has failed to understand that. There is a limited market for AC chair car type( day time trains) and yet they are rushing for 100s of trainsets. Most people would prefer to travel in the night, in order to utilize working (daytime) hrs. Similarly for tourists it directly translates to saving of hotel charges. Plus in the night you don’t give a damn whether train is running at 100 or 160. I would rather prefer not to reach early. The preference is about the comfort of the train which Bande Bharat provides. So people won’t mind paying higher charges for a sleeper train. After initial 40-50 trains, government should have moved to sleeper trains and replaced Rajdhani trains as well as add capacity to crowded routes. I used to pay Rs 1200 in 2011 for AC sleeper buses between Bangalore and Hyderabad and most buses used to run at full capacity even during weekdays. It was extremely uncomfortable and yet I had to pay due to lack of better alternatives. There is a big market and people can pay. I’m surprised a smart minister like Mr Vaisnav is overlooking these facts.
Click to expand...
I think the AC chair cars ordered are 100 nos. The rest would be sleepers , then with Alu profile & finally with tilting technology . Why exactly aren't they going in for tilting technology for the rest of the 300 or more numbers is beyond me . It's a minor quibble but tilting technology enables the same speed instead of reducing speed at a bend .

There's a demand for AC chair cars for shorter distances say 100-400 kms provided the speed is 150 kms + at the very minimum. They're running Volvo AC buses at 10 min interval practically throughout the day between Mumbai to Pune which at given point of the day run with at least 50% occupancy . All these are Maharashtra State Transport owned & run .

In fact the early morning buses beginning at 5:30 am run practically full . Each of these tickets sell for INR 450 or more & this was as of 4 yrs ago , the last time I travelled in such buses . Of course the route & termination points as they get closer to Pune is different . That's the advantage of bus services . So you can well imagine the demand . There are plenty of such routes across the country where these chair cars can be accommodated.

I agree with the rest of your statement which is why in an earlier post I argued for staggered introduction of such services & speeds with tariffs charged accordingly based on demand . Basically they're going about it in a rush which isn't ideal .

This also applies to the 100% electrification where S Mani pointed out that this decision was taken after we placed an order for thousands of diesel locomotives . No clue if the dedicated freight corridors are electrified or not but assuming they are & given we're replacing locomotive driven cars on passenger routes with train sets , where are we going to accomodate these diesel locomotives.

Add to that the fact that full electrification isn't desired all over the country given freight & passenger traffic doesn't justify that kind of investment for full electrification. Now they're experimenting with hydrogen based locomotives converting diesel locomotives to hydrogen run locomotives. The amount charged for the conversion reeks of a scam if I didn't know better .
 
_Anonymous_ said:
I think the AC chair cars ordered are 100 nos. The rest would be sleepers , then with Alu profile & finally with tilting technology . Why exactly aren't they going in for tilting technology for the rest of the 300 or more numbers is beyond me . It's a minor quibble but tilting technology enables the same speed instead of reducing speed at a bend .

There's a demand for AC chair cars for shorter distances say 100-400 kms provided the speed is 150 kms + at the very minimum. They're running Volvo AC buses at 10 min interval practically throughout the day between Mumbai to Pune which at given point of the day run with at least 50% occupancy . All these are Maharashtra State Transport owned & run .

In fact the early morning buses beginning at 5:30 am run practically full . Each of these tickets sell for INR 450 or more & this was as of 4 yrs ago , the last time I travelled in such buses . Of course the route & termination points as they get closer to Pune is different . That's the advantage of bus services . So you can well imagine the demand . There are plenty of such routes across the country where these chair cars can be accommodated.

I agree with the rest of your statement which is why in an earlier post I argued for staggered introduction of such services & speeds with tariffs charged accordingly based on demand . Basically they're going about it in a rush which isn't ideal .

This also applies to the 100% electrification where S Mani pointed out that this decision was taken after we placed an order for thousands of diesel locomotives . No clue if the dedicated freight corridors are electrified or not but assuming they are & given we're replacing locomotive driven cars on passenger routes with train sets , where are we going to accomodate these diesel locomotives.

Add to that the fact that full electrification isn't desired all over the country given freight & passenger traffic doesn't justify that kind of investment for full electrification. Now they're experimenting with hydrogen based locomotives converting diesel locomotives to hydrogen run locomotives. The amount charged for the conversion reeks of a scam if I didn't know better .
Click to expand...
That order for diesel locomotives just didn’t make sense. Similarly electric conversion for all routes is not economically viable. The railway board should be dismantled for wasting billions of dollars.
As you mentioned, the morning buses are always full. Because people would like to reach their destination before office hrs. In case of Mumbai - Pune, they should run multiple Bande Bharat trains during peak hrs in order to capture as much market as possible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: _Anonymous_
Bali78 said:
That order for diesel locomotives just didn’t make sense. Similarly electric conversion for all routes is not economically viable. The railway board should be dismantled for wasting billions of dollars.
Click to expand...


Bali78 said:
As you mentioned, the morning buses are always full. Because people would like to reach their destination before office hrs. In case of Mumbai - Pune, they should run multiple Bande Bharat trains during peak hrs in order to capture as much market as possible.
Click to expand...

Mum - Pune , Pune - Nashik , Mum- Ahm , Mum- Surat , Ahm - Baroda , Ahm - Surat , Chennai - Bangalore , Chn - Coimbatore (?) , Delhi -Agra , Del - Cgrh , B'lore - Hyd routes etc would make sense only if the track speeds are > 150 kms .

There are enough passengers on these routes only to cater to all those 100 VB trains built with chair cars . You could even start the tariff at INR 500 initially for economy class & increase it by 10% every yr once the occupancy rates are ascertained during respective hours & days of the week throughout the yr .

You could also trim the number of carriages from 16 or 18 it is today to 8 or 9 .

You do that & you'd seriously dent air & road transport in these sectors. In Italy , thanks to the introduction of HST , the airlines are running into losses .
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Bali78
amkrishna Forgings and Titagarh Wagons (RKFL-TWL Consortium) has emerged as the Lowest Bidder (L1) For manufacturing and supply of 15.40 lakh forged wheels over 20 year period . The total quantity of Forged Wheels to be supplied will be around 15,40,000 wheels over a period of 20 (twenty) years.

www.business-standard.com

Ramkrishna Forgings and Titagarh Wagons consortium win Indian Railways tender

For manufacturing and supply of 15.40 lakh forged wheels over 20 year period
www.business-standard.com www.business-standard.com

​

 
  • Like
Reactions: _Anonymous_
zinswinsin said:
archive.fo

India is getting an eye-wateringly big transport upgrade | The Econom…

archived 13 Mar 2023 23:10:55 UTC
archive.fo archive.fo

www.economist.com

India is getting an eye-wateringly big transport upgrade

Overhauling the country’s roads and railways will make it richer and much better-connected
www.economist.com www.economist.com
Click to expand...
Good progress under BJP and Modi. I wasn't aware of the numbers. They speak for themselves. Hopefully this will pave the way for double digit growth and attract more MNCs to move to India. Unlike Vietnam, we do not have the geographic advantage of being close to China, meaning it's not viable to "piggyback" off of their established supply chain infrastructure. We have to build one of our own. We may need more reforms around labour laws at a state level but the difficult part of that is ensuring that workers are not exploited.

Glad to see the government grabbing this opportunity by the scruff of the neck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bali78 and zinswinsin
D68 said:
Good progress under BJP and Modi. I wasn't aware of the numbers. They speak for themselves. Hopefully this will pave the way for double digit growth and attract more MNCs to move to India. Unlike Vietnam, we do not have the geographic advantage of being close to China, meaning it's not viable to "piggyback" off of their established supply chain infrastructure. We have to build one of our own. We may need more reforms around labour laws at a state level but the difficult part of that is ensuring that workers are not exploited.

Glad to see the government grabbing this opportunity by the scruff of the neck.
Click to expand...

Infrastructure investment is great, but the shrinking private sector is not.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: RASALGHUL
Bali78 said:
Can you explain how private sector is shrinking? Most of these infrastructure is actually built by private companies.
Click to expand...
Yeah this line
Indeed, the rapid build-out of infrastructure has not spurred the increase in private investment in the economy-at-large that many hoped for. It soared in the decade before Mr Modi came to power, but has since remained subdued in the face of policy missteps such as the demonetisation of large-denomination bank notes in 2016 and the messy roll out of a national goods and service tax. The covid-19 pandemic did further damage to confidence. Private investment in 2020 was only 22% of gdp, down from 31% in 2011. On March 7th Mr Modi, not for the first time, invited Indian Inc to step up, with a “call upon the private sector of the country to increase their investment just like the government”.

What is dissuading it? Beyond the perennial disincentives listed above, the rising cost of capital and uncertainty over demand are making investors wary. Businesspeople also whisper additional reasons for caution. Mr Modi’s government can be capricious. Its use of tax authorities to go after political foes has weakened faith in their impartiality. The independence of regulators cannot be taken for granted, mutters an influential figure at a major investor.
Click to expand...

The IRA bill in the US spends 400 bil, but is designed to total 2.5 trillion with 2 trillion from the private sector.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom