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KANGRA VALLEY RAILWAY
The Kangra Valley Railway lies in the sub-Himalayan region and covers a distance of 164 km from Pathankot, Punjab to Jogindernagar in Himachal Pradesh. It is one of two mountain railways that run in Himachal Pradesh, the other being Kalka-Shimla Railway, which has been designated as World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Both of these currently run at a 762 mm narrow gauge, although they do not connect to each other. The Kangra Valley Railway is among in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The railway line was planned in May 1926 and commissioned in 1929. The highest point on this line is at Ahju station at an elevation of 1,210 meters. The terminus at Joginder Nagar is at an elevation of 1,189 meters.
A different alignment, a different mode of taking the railway through the maze of hills and valleys would have spoilt its picture postcard perfectness. This unique line has just two tunnels, one of which is only 250 feet and the other 1,000 feet in length. The traveler must remember this is a total distance of 103 miles. Instead of boring his way through the mountains, the railway engineer has skillfully avoided running head first into the hillside. Instead of following dizzy curves, he has cleverly chosen to avoid the awkward corners and straighten his turning. For the Kangra Valley Railway presents to the traveler, a chance to gaze as long as he likes on the ever present panorama of snow-clad ranges and the gold green fields without being swung round every few minutes on a narrow arc before his eyes can greet the scenery.
Certainly the scenery through which the train passes is ample compensation for the extra distance covered as compared to getting there by road. The most picturesque parts of the valley are exposed to the view – the stretch of 18 miles from Mangwal to Kangra, for example, lies through country unsurpassed for its majestic grandeur with the majestic Ban Ganga gorge and the deep Kangra chasm as two piece de resistance. As one approaches Palampur, the ever present background of snowy chain peaks, 15,000 and 16,000 feet in height is barely ten miles away. From here onwards, the line runs parallel to the Dhauladhar range and much nearer to it than any other railways in India that ever comes so close to the eternal snows.
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INDIAN RAILWAYS
Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year.On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013 . As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
Travel alone all the time. Gives you lotta happiness and relief from the stresses of regular work life.
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and so forth. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. Along with Chennai Beach, the station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.
Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and Secunderabad were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
HISTORY
Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian Subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called John Pereira's Gardens, belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore Railway Station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore Railway Station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach-Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
EXPANSION
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
LOCATION
The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
LAYOUT
ARCHITECTURE
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
PLATFORMS
Chennai Central station is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short length trains like the Chennai Rajdhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex Building, has 3 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The Chennai Central Station, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
BRIDGE
Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore–Chennai express killing 52 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
TRAFFIC
On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the three platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of ₹6,590,214,293 (US$98 million) as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around 180,000 passengers in the station at a given point.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
SERVICES
Chennai Central is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising 50 kilograms to 70 kilograms of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
FACILITIES
The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central station became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
PARKING
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
MAINTENANCE
Chennai Central suffers from lack of enough maintenance crew, which lead to dirty and unhygienic trains. According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country everyday. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
YARDS AND SHEDS
TRAIN CARE CENTRE
A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
ELECTRIC TRIP SHED
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric loco trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five loco trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
GOODS SHED
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at Salt Cotaurs.
RENOVATION
Chennai Central Station gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai circle of Archaeological Survey of India. the work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained.The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
CONNECTIVITY
Chennai Central railway station is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.
The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of ₹ 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
INCIDENTS
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central station, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, 4 kilometres northwest of Chennai Central. 4 passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Bangalore-Guwahati express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
SECURITY
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over ₹ 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central on May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.[86]
In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
FUTURE
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million), along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of ₹1,000 million (US$15 million). The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.
An underground metro station of the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail project is under construction at the Chennai Central station. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Airport–Washermanpet) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Chennai Central–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, CMBT). The metro station, being constructed at a depth of 25 metres, will be the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over 70,000 square metres. The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million). It will be 1 kilometre long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons - ballastless tracks or tracks on a concrete bed - were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. 30 metres on platform 3, 200 metres on platform 4, and 50 metres on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a postal stamp.
WIKIPEDIA
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
The YG class meter gauge locomotive was built in 1956 by Wiener Lokomotivfabrik, Floridsdorf, Germany.
It was serving Badarpur Steam Loco Shed of NFR and was retired from service in 1997.
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Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
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Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and so forth. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. Along with Chennai Beach, the station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.
Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and Secunderabad were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
HISTORY
Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian Subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called John Pereira's Gardens, belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore Railway Station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore Railway Station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach-Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
EXPANSION
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
LOCATION
The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
LAYOUT
ARCHITECTURE
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
PLATFORMS
Chennai Central station is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short length trains like the Chennai Rajdhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex Building, has 3 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The Chennai Central Station, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
BRIDGE
Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore–Chennai express killing 52 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
TRAFFIC
On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the three platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of ₹6,590,214,293 (US$98 million) as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around 180,000 passengers in the station at a given point.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
SERVICES
Chennai Central is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising 50 kilograms to 70 kilograms of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
FACILITIES
The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central station became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
PARKING
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
MAINTENANCE
Chennai Central suffers from lack of enough maintenance crew, which lead to dirty and unhygienic trains. According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country everyday. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
YARDS AND SHEDS
TRAIN CARE CENTRE
A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
ELECTRIC TRIP SHED
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric loco trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five loco trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
GOODS SHED
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at Salt Cotaurs.
RENOVATION
Chennai Central Station gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai circle of Archaeological Survey of India. the work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained.The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
CONNECTIVITY
Chennai Central railway station is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.
The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of ₹ 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
INCIDENTS
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central station, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, 4 kilometres northwest of Chennai Central. 4 passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Bangalore-Guwahati express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
SECURITY
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over ₹ 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central on May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.[86]
In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
FUTURE
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million), along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of ₹1,000 million (US$15 million). The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.
An underground metro station of the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail project is under construction at the Chennai Central station. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Airport–Washermanpet) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Chennai Central–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, CMBT). The metro station, being constructed at a depth of 25 metres, will be the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over 70,000 square metres. The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million). It will be 1 kilometre long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons - ballastless tracks or tracks on a concrete bed - were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. 30 metres on platform 3, 200 metres on platform 4, and 50 metres on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a postal stamp.
WIKIPEDIA
It was just a co-incident, I was traveling to Hyderabad...
I boarded G9 Compartment / Seated at 39 / Arrived at PF 9 :)
Hurray! I've done my homework!
Theme: 09 or 9 (Nine Number)
Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and so forth. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. Along with Chennai Beach, the station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.
Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and Secunderabad were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
HISTORY
Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian Subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called John Pereira's Gardens, belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore Railway Station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore Railway Station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach-Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
EXPANSION
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
LOCATION
The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
LAYOUT
ARCHITECTURE
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
PLATFORMS
Chennai Central station is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short length trains like the Chennai Rajdhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex Building, has 3 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The Chennai Central Station, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
BRIDGE
Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore–Chennai express killing 52 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
TRAFFIC
On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the three platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of ₹6,590,214,293 (US$98 million) as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around 180,000 passengers in the station at a given point.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
SERVICES
Chennai Central is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising 50 kilograms to 70 kilograms of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
FACILITIES
The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central station became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
PARKING
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
MAINTENANCE
Chennai Central suffers from lack of enough maintenance crew, which lead to dirty and unhygienic trains. According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country everyday. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
YARDS AND SHEDS
TRAIN CARE CENTRE
A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
ELECTRIC TRIP SHED
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric loco trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five loco trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
GOODS SHED
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at Salt Cotaurs.
RENOVATION
Chennai Central Station gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai circle of Archaeological Survey of India. the work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained.The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
CONNECTIVITY
Chennai Central railway station is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.
The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of ₹ 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
INCIDENTS
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central station, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, 4 kilometres northwest of Chennai Central. 4 passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Bangalore-Guwahati express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
SECURITY
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over ₹ 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central on May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.[86]
In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
FUTURE
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million), along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of ₹1,000 million (US$15 million). The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.
An underground metro station of the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail project is under construction at the Chennai Central station. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Airport–Washermanpet) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Chennai Central–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, CMBT). The metro station, being constructed at a depth of 25 metres, will be the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over 70,000 square metres. The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million). It will be 1 kilometre long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons - ballastless tracks or tracks on a concrete bed - were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. 30 metres on platform 3, 200 metres on platform 4, and 50 metres on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a postal stamp.
WIKIPEDIA
Steam Loco WP 7161 was utilized for hauling of Steam Special from Delhi Cant. to Alwar. The information of the Engine is given below:
Easily recognized by the cone shaped bulging nose with (usually) a silver star painted on it, this locomotive became the standard passenger locomotive on Indian Railways post 1947. Experiencing a severe shortage of locomotive on the system in the mid 1940s coupled with unhappy past experiences with the IRS class of locomotives looming large, the order for 100 prototype WP was restricted to a mere 16 engines (on scale of two for each major broad gauge route). Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW), Philadelphia was awarded the task of building the first sixteen prototype WP class locomotives. These were numbered from 7200 to 7215 and went to GIPR, BB&CIR and EIR. The initial locos were called WP/P, the extra P indicating prototype. These engines soon earned the reputation for free steaming, fuel economy and good riding characteristics, also there was none of the ‘tail wag’ experience with these engines that was so characteristic of the XC class. On establishing their success further orders for WP locomotives went to Baldwin Canadian Locomotive Company (CLC) and Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) who shared the manufacturing the next 300 WP engines. These engines were numbered from 7216 to 7515 in order of the Railway to which they were allotted. A further 120 engines were ordered from Canadian Locomotive Company in 1955-56 and 60 more engines came from Poland and Austria between 1957-59, this loco was in production for 20 years from 1947 to 1967 from 53 locos in 1953, it reached a peak holding of 167 locos on Northern Railways in 1967. This Pacific class of broad gauge loco marked the change the coding from ‘X’ to ‘W’ for broad gauge locomotives. It was capable of doing up to 110 Km/h and remained Indian Railways crack locomotives for many years and hauled prestigious express trains. WP’s were designed specifically for low-calorie, high-ash Indian coal and its ease of handling made it a hot favourite amongst Loco drivers. Several WP’s remained in service until the late 80’s. Early prototypes from Baldwin were labelled WP/P, CLW versions after 1965 were labelled WP/1.
Rewari shed homes the WP 7200 and WP 7161, the former is from the first lot of prototypes that were handed over to Indian Railways by the United States in 1947. The locomotive was a part of Central Railway System (GIPR) but was transferred to Northern Railway later. Homed at Moradabad shed this locomotive was later shifted to Saharanpur shed, before it retired from active service. It is believed that WP 7200 was the first WP class of engine that was handed over to Indian Railways in USA on 15th August 1947, India’s Independent Day, though the engine physically arrived on the Indian shores in Oct’47. This adds to the historic importance of this locomotive, with this in mind, this locomotive previously called Shahjahan, after the great Mughal emperor who build the Taj Mahal, has been re-christened “AZAD”, meaning free in hindi.
WP 7161 is the Chittranjan Locomotive Works built engine, inducted into active service in 1965, this locomotive was also there was none of the ‘tail wag’ experience with these engines that was so characteristic of the XC class.
On establishing their success further orders for WP locomotives went to Baldwin Canadian Locomotive Company (CLC) and Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) who shared the manufacturing the next 300 WP engines. These engines were numbered from 7216 to 7515 in order of the Railway to which they were allotted. A further 120 engines were ordered from Canadian Locomotive Company in 1955-56 and 60 more engines came from Poland and Austria between 1957-59, this loco was in production for 20 years from 1947 to 1967 from 53 locos in 1953, it reached a peak holding of 167 locos on Northern Railways in 1967.
This Pacific class of broad gauge loco marked the change the coding from ‘X’ to ‘W’ for broad gauge locomotives. It was capable of doing up to 110 Km/h and remained Indian Railways crack locomotives for many years Source IRCTC
Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and so forth. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. Along with Chennai Beach, the station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.
Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and Secunderabad were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
HISTORY
Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian Subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called John Pereira's Gardens, belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore Railway Station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore Railway Station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach-Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
EXPANSION
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
LOCATION
The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
LAYOUT
ARCHITECTURE
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
PLATFORMS
Chennai Central station is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short length trains like the Chennai Rajdhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex Building, has 3 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The Chennai Central Station, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
BRIDGE
Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore–Chennai express killing 52 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
TRAFFIC
On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the three platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of ₹6,590,214,293 (US$98 million) as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around 180,000 passengers in the station at a given point.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
SERVICES
Chennai Central is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising 50 kilograms to 70 kilograms of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
FACILITIES
The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central station became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
PARKING
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
MAINTENANCE
Chennai Central suffers from lack of enough maintenance crew, which lead to dirty and unhygienic trains. According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country everyday. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
YARDS AND SHEDS
TRAIN CARE CENTRE
A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
ELECTRIC TRIP SHED
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric loco trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five loco trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
GOODS SHED
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at Salt Cotaurs.
RENOVATION
Chennai Central Station gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai circle of Archaeological Survey of India. the work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained.The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
CONNECTIVITY
Chennai Central railway station is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.
The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of ₹ 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
INCIDENTS
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central station, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, 4 kilometres northwest of Chennai Central. 4 passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Bangalore-Guwahati express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
SECURITY
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over ₹ 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central on May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.[86]
In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
FUTURE
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million), along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of ₹1,000 million (US$15 million). The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.
An underground metro station of the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail project is under construction at the Chennai Central station. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Airport–Washermanpet) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Chennai Central–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, CMBT). The metro station, being constructed at a depth of 25 metres, will be the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over 70,000 square metres. The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million). It will be 1 kilometre long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons - ballastless tracks or tracks on a concrete bed - were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. 30 metres on platform 3, 200 metres on platform 4, and 50 metres on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a postal stamp.
WIKIPEDIA
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Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year.On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013 . As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
The YG class meter gauge locomotive was built in 1956 by Wiener Lokomotivfabrik, Floridsdorf, Germany.
It was serving Badarpur Steam Loco Shed of NFR and was retired from service in 1997.
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Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and so forth. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. Along with Chennai Beach, the station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.
Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and Secunderabad were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
HISTORY
Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian Subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called John Pereira's Gardens, belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore Railway Station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore Railway Station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach-Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
EXPANSION
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
LOCATION
The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
LAYOUT
ARCHITECTURE
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
PLATFORMS
Chennai Central station is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short length trains like the Chennai Rajdhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex Building, has 3 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The Chennai Central Station, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
BRIDGE
Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore–Chennai express killing 52 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
TRAFFIC
On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the three platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of ₹6,590,214,293 (US$98 million) as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around 180,000 passengers in the station at a given point.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
SERVICES
Chennai Central is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising 50 kilograms to 70 kilograms of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
FACILITIES
The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central station became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
PARKING
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
MAINTENANCE
Chennai Central suffers from lack of enough maintenance crew, which lead to dirty and unhygienic trains. According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country everyday. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
YARDS AND SHEDS
TRAIN CARE CENTRE
A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
ELECTRIC TRIP SHED
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric loco trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five loco trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
GOODS SHED
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at Salt Cotaurs.
RENOVATION
Chennai Central Station gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai circle of Archaeological Survey of India. the work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained.The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
CONNECTIVITY
Chennai Central railway station is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.
The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of ₹ 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
INCIDENTS
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central station, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, 4 kilometres northwest of Chennai Central. 4 passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Bangalore-Guwahati express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
SECURITY
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over ₹ 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central on May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.[86]
In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
FUTURE
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million), along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of ₹1,000 million (US$15 million). The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.
An underground metro station of the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail project is under construction at the Chennai Central station. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Airport–Washermanpet) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Chennai Central–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, CMBT). The metro station, being constructed at a depth of 25 metres, will be the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over 70,000 square metres. The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million). It will be 1 kilometre long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons - ballastless tracks or tracks on a concrete bed - were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. 30 metres on platform 3, 200 metres on platform 4, and 50 metres on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a postal stamp.
WIKIPEDIA
Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
. . . this is the night-train from Chennai to Hyderabad. Duration: 15 hours - Ticket: 2 Euro!
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Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and so forth. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. Along with Chennai Beach, the station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.
Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and Secunderabad were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
HISTORY
Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian Subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called John Pereira's Gardens, belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore Railway Station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore Railway Station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach-Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
EXPANSION
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
LOCATION
The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
LAYOUT
ARCHITECTURE
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
PLATFORMS
Chennai Central station is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short length trains like the Chennai Rajdhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex Building, has 3 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The Chennai Central Station, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
BRIDGE
Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore–Chennai express killing 52 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
TRAFFIC
On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the three platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of ₹6,590,214,293 (US$98 million) as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around 180,000 passengers in the station at a given point.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
SERVICES
Chennai Central is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising 50 kilograms to 70 kilograms of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
FACILITIES
The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central station became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
PARKING
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
MAINTENANCE
Chennai Central suffers from lack of enough maintenance crew, which lead to dirty and unhygienic trains. According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country everyday. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
YARDS AND SHEDS
TRAIN CARE CENTRE
A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
ELECTRIC TRIP SHED
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric loco trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five loco trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
GOODS SHED
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at Salt Cotaurs.
RENOVATION
Chennai Central Station gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai circle of Archaeological Survey of India. the work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained.The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
CONNECTIVITY
Chennai Central railway station is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.
The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of ₹ 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
INCIDENTS
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central station, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, 4 kilometres northwest of Chennai Central. 4 passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Bangalore-Guwahati express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
SECURITY
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over ₹ 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central on May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.[86]
In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
FUTURE
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million), along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of ₹1,000 million (US$15 million). The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.
An underground metro station of the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail project is under construction at the Chennai Central station. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Airport–Washermanpet) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Chennai Central–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, CMBT). The metro station, being constructed at a depth of 25 metres, will be the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over 70,000 square metres. The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million). It will be 1 kilometre long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons - ballastless tracks or tracks on a concrete bed - were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. 30 metres on platform 3, 200 metres on platform 4, and 50 metres on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a postal stamp.
WIKIPEDIA
Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and so forth. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. Along with Chennai Beach, the station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.
Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and Secunderabad were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
HISTORY
Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian Subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called John Pereira's Gardens, belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore Railway Station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore Railway Station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach-Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
EXPANSION
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
LOCATION
The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
LAYOUT
ARCHITECTURE
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
PLATFORMS
Chennai Central station is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short length trains like the Chennai Rajdhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex Building, has 3 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The Chennai Central Station, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
BRIDGE
Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore–Chennai express killing 52 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
TRAFFIC
On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the three platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of ₹6,590,214,293 (US$98 million) as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around 180,000 passengers in the station at a given point.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
SERVICES
Chennai Central is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising 50 kilograms to 70 kilograms of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
FACILITIES
The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central station became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
PARKING
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
MAINTENANCE
Chennai Central suffers from lack of enough maintenance crew, which lead to dirty and unhygienic trains. According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country everyday. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
YARDS AND SHEDS
TRAIN CARE CENTRE
A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
ELECTRIC TRIP SHED
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric loco trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five loco trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
GOODS SHED
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at Salt Cotaurs.
RENOVATION
Chennai Central Station gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai circle of Archaeological Survey of India. the work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained.The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
CONNECTIVITY
Chennai Central railway station is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.
The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of ₹ 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
INCIDENTS
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central station, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, 4 kilometres northwest of Chennai Central. 4 passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Bangalore-Guwahati express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
SECURITY
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over ₹ 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central on May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.[86]
In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
FUTURE
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million), along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of ₹1,000 million (US$15 million). The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.
An underground metro station of the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail project is under construction at the Chennai Central station. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Airport–Washermanpet) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Chennai Central–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, CMBT). The metro station, being constructed at a depth of 25 metres, will be the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over 70,000 square metres. The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million). It will be 1 kilometre long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons - ballastless tracks or tracks on a concrete bed - were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. 30 metres on platform 3, 200 metres on platform 4, and 50 metres on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a postal stamp.
WIKIPEDIA
Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and so forth. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. Along with Chennai Beach, the station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.
Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and Secunderabad were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
HISTORY
Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian Subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called John Pereira's Gardens, belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore Railway Station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore Railway Station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach-Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
EXPANSION
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
LOCATION
The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
LAYOUT
ARCHITECTURE
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
PLATFORMS
Chennai Central station is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short length trains like the Chennai Rajdhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex Building, has 3 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The Chennai Central Station, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
BRIDGE
Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore–Chennai express killing 52 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
TRAFFIC
On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the three platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of ₹6,590,214,293 (US$98 million) as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around 180,000 passengers in the station at a given point.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
SERVICES
Chennai Central is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising 50 kilograms to 70 kilograms of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
FACILITIES
The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central station became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
PARKING
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
MAINTENANCE
Chennai Central suffers from lack of enough maintenance crew, which lead to dirty and unhygienic trains. According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country everyday. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
YARDS AND SHEDS
TRAIN CARE CENTRE
A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
ELECTRIC TRIP SHED
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric loco trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five loco trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
GOODS SHED
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at Salt Cotaurs.
RENOVATION
Chennai Central Station gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai circle of Archaeological Survey of India. the work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained.The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
CONNECTIVITY
Chennai Central railway station is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.
The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of ₹ 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
INCIDENTS
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central station, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, 4 kilometres northwest of Chennai Central. 4 passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Bangalore-Guwahati express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
SECURITY
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over ₹ 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central on May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.[86]
In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
FUTURE
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million), along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of ₹1,000 million (US$15 million). The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.
An underground metro station of the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail project is under construction at the Chennai Central station. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Airport–Washermanpet) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Chennai Central–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, CMBT). The metro station, being constructed at a depth of 25 metres, will be the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over 70,000 square metres. The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million). It will be 1 kilometre long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons - ballastless tracks or tracks on a concrete bed - were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. 30 metres on platform 3, 200 metres on platform 4, and 50 metres on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a postal stamp.
WIKIPEDIA
Chennai Central, erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and so forth. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. Along with Chennai Beach, the station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.
Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways. As per a report published in 2007 by the Indian Railways, Chennai Central and Secunderabad were awarded 183 points out of a maximum of 300 for cleanliness, the highest in the country.
HISTORY
Marking the initial days of the railways in the Indian Subcontinent, the Madras Railway Company began to network South India in 1856. The first station was built at Royapuram, which remained the main station at that time. Expansion of the Madras Railways network, particularly the completion of the Madras–Vyasarpadi line, called for a second station in Madras, resulting in Madras Central coming into being.
Madras Central was built in 1873 at Parktown as a second terminus to decongest the Royapuram harbour station, which was being utilised for port movements. The station was built on the open grounds that had once been called John Pereira's Gardens, belonging to Joao Pereira de Faria (John Pereira), a Portuguese merchant in the port town of Negapatam (present day Nagapattinam) who settled in Madras in 1660. The garden had a house used by Pereira for rest and recreation. Having fallen into disuse, the garden had become a gaming den, with cock-fighting being the favourite sport at that time, until when the Trinity Chapel was built nearby in 1831 and the Railways moved into the area in the 1870s.
In 1907, Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company's main station. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras. All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company. The station's position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (erstwhile Madras Railway and now known as the Southern Railway) adjacent to it in 1922.
Madras Central was part of South Indian Railway Company during the British rule. The company was established in 1890 and was initially headquartered in Trichinopoly. Egmore Railway Station was made its northern terminus in 1908. It was then shifted to Madurai and later to Madras Central. With the opening of the Egmore Railway Station, plans were first made of linking Madras Central and Egmore, which was later dropped. The company operated a suburban electric train service for Madras city from May 1931 onwards in the Madras Beach-Tambaram section. In 1959, additional changes were made to the station. Electrification of the lines at the station began in 1979, when the section up to Gummidipoondi was electrified on 13 April 1979. The lines up to Tiruvallur were electrified on 29 November 1979 while the tracks along Platforms 1 to 7 were electrified on 29 December 1979.
EXPANSION
In the 1980s, the Southern Railway required land for expansion of the terminus and was looking for the erstwhile Moore Market building located next to the terminus. In 1985, when the market building caught fire and was destroyed, the structure was transferred to the Railways by the government, and the Railways built a 13-storied complex to house the suburban terminus and railway reservation counter. The land in front of the building was made into a car park. Following the renaming of the city of Madras in 1996, the station became known as Chennai Central. Due to increasing passenger movement, the main building was extended in 1998 with the addition of a new building on the western side with a similar architecture to the original. After this duplication of the main building, the station had 12 platforms. Capacity at the station was further augmented when the multi-storeyed Moore Market Complex was made a dedicated terminus with three separate platforms for the Chennai Suburban Railway system. In the 1990s, when the IRCTC was formed, modular stalls came up and food plazas were set up.
In 2005, the buildings were painted a light brown colour, but concurring with the views of a campaign by the citizens of Chennai and also to retain the old nostalgic charm, they were repainted in their original brick-red color. The station is the first in India to be placed on the cyber map.
LOCATION
The terminus lies on the southern arm of the diamond junction of Chennai's railway network, where all the lines of the Chennai Suburban Railway meet. The terminus is located about 19 km from Chennai International Airport. The main entrance is located at Park Town at the intersection of the arterial Poonamallee High Road, Pallavan Salai, and Wall Tax Road between the People's Park and the Southern Railways headquarters. The station premises is located on either side of the Buckingham Canal, formerly known as Cochrane's Canal, which separates the main station and the suburban terminus. Wall Tax Road runs alongside the station on the eastern side. There are two other entrances on the eastern and western sides of the complex. The eastern entrance on Wall Tax Road leads to platform no. 1, and the western entrance lies at the entrance of the suburban terminus. The station is connected with the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital, both located across the road, by means of subways. During the building of the Chennai Metro the connection from Chennai Park to Chennai Central is by means of a steel footbridge.
LAYOUT
ARCHITECTURE
Built in the Gothic Revival style, the original station was designed by George Harding and consisted of four platforms and a capacity to accommodate 12-coach trains. It took another five years for the work to be completed, when the station was modified further by Robert Fellowes Chisholm with the addition of the central clock tower, Travancore 'caps' on the main towers, and other changes. The redesign was eventually completed in 1900. The main building, a combination of Gothic and Romanesque styles has been declared as a heritage building. The clock tower with the flagstaff, the tallest of the towers of the main building, has four faces and reaches a height of 136 ft. It is set to chime every quarter of an hour and every hour.
PLATFORMS
Chennai Central station is a terminal station with bay platforms. The average length of railway tracks in the station is 600 metres. The entire complex has 15 platforms to handle long-distance trains with 3 platforms exclusively for suburban trains. The total length of the station is about 950 m. The main building has 12 platforms and handles long distance trains. The complex for suburban trains is popularly known as the Moore Market complex. There is a platform 2A between platforms 2 and 3; it is used to handle relatively short length trains like the Chennai Rajdhani Express, Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore/Mysore Shatabdi Express and the Gudur Passenger. The 13-storied annex building, the Moore Market Complex Building, has 3 platforms and handles north- and westbound suburban trains.
Chennai Central used to have trains with special liveries until the early 1990s. The Brindavan Express used to have green livery with a yellow stripe running above and below the windows; Nilgiri Express (popularly known as the Blue Mountain Express) had blue livery. All trains now have the standard blue livery (denoting air-braked bogies). Notable exceptions include the Rajadhani, Shatabdi and the Jan Shatabdi expresses. The Saptagiri/Tirupati Express has a vivid green/cream livery combination with a matching WAM4 6PE loco from Arakkonam (AJJ) electric loco shed.
The Chennai Central Station, unlike many other major railway stations in India, is a terminus. The next station to Chennai Central, Basin Bridge Junction, is the railway junction where three different lines meet.
As of 2015, all platforms except 2A platforms, in the station were able to accommodate trains with 24 coaches. Platform 2A is the shortest of all platforms in the station and can accommodate trains with 18 coaches. Chennai Central is the only station that has a platform numbered 2A. Though it was built actually for delivering water and goods to the station staff, the Shatabdi Express now starts from here.
BRIDGE
Bridge No.7 across the Buckingham Canal connects the terminus with the railway yards and stations to the north. The bridge, measuring 33.02 m in length and carrying six tracks, acts as the gateway to the terminus. The bridge was originally resting on cast iron screw pile. Following the 2001 accident of Mangalore–Chennai express killing 52 passengers, Southern Railway started replacing all bridges resting on screw piles, and the bridge was replaced with a new RCC box bridge resting on well foundation in September 2010, with ancillary works getting completed by March 2011.
TRAFFIC
On an average, 19 trains are operated daily from the station of which 12 have 24 coaches. About 200 trains arrive and depart at the station daily, including about 46 pairs of mail/express trains, in addition to 257 suburban trains handled by the three platforms at the station's suburban terminus. About 400,000 passengers use the terminus every day, in addition to 20,000 visitors accompanying them to see-off or receive them, generating a revenue of ₹6,590,214,293 (US$98 million) as of 2012–2013, making it the top revenue-generating station of the Southern Railway. There is likely to be around 180,000 passengers in the station at a given point.
The terminus also faces traffic problems. Often, express trains and EMU services that arrive at the Basin Bridge Junction in time have to be detained for non-availability of platforms at Chennai Central. Blocking of lines is a daily challenge owing to the traffic.
SERVICES
Chennai Central is a major transit point for shipment of inland and sea fish in South India through trains. The terminus handles fish procured from Kasimedu which is sent to Kerala and sea fish from the West Coast which is brought to Chennai and ferried to West Bengal. As of 2012, on an average, the terminus handles transportation of 200 boxes of fish, each comprising 50 kilograms to 70 kilograms of consumable fish. The station also handles 5,000 postal bags daily.
FACILITIES
The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centres, and a shopping mall. The main waiting hall can hold up to 1,000 people. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. A passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The terminus, however, has only 10 toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.
As of 2008, there were 607 licensed railway porters in Chennai Central. Four-seater battery operated vehicles are available to cater to the needs of the elderly and the physically impaired.
On 26 September 2014, Chennai Central station became the first in the country to get free Wi-Fi connectivity. The facility is being provided by RailTel, a public sector telecom infrastructure provider.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE
In November 2012, a public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing the lack of a full-fledged emergency medical care centre at the terminus. Further to this, the Southern Railway invited expression of interest from several hospitals in the city to establish a medical care centre.
On 15 April 2013, a new emergency medical care centre was opened. The centre has three beds, two doctors on duty and another on standby, four nurses, a paramedic team, and a round-the-clock ambulance. The centre is equipped with oxygen cylinders, an ECG, a defibrillator and resuscitation equipment. The terminus is the first railway station in the country to have facilities of an ambulance.
PARKING
The station has parking facilities for more than 1,000 two-wheelers. About 1,000 cars are parked in the standard car park every day. Since March 2008, a premium car park facility for 80 cars in addition to its regular car park is functioning at the station. The cement-concrete-paved premium parking is located between the Moore Market reservation complex and the station's main building. However, the station still faces parking problems. About 3,000 taxis arrives at the station every day.
MAINTENANCE
Chennai Central suffers from lack of enough maintenance crew, which lead to dirty and unhygienic trains. According to the Railway sources, as of July 2012, Chennai Central was 180 short of the sanctioned 405 maintenance employees, including mechanical, electrical and general maintenance, required for cleaning the interiors and exteriors of trains and undertaking routine mechanical and electrical maintenance of trains. Contracts for cleaning the station has been awarded for a period of three years from 2010 for a value of ₹ 43.1 million. In 2007, the number of dustbins in the station was 28.50 per 10,000 passengers.
On average, about 51 train units depart and arrive at the station from different parts of the country everyday. Of the 102 trains, a 12 are sent during the day and another 7 at night to the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre for primary maintenance, which involves complete exterior and interior cleaning and total mechanical and electrical overhaul. The rest of the trains go through secondary maintenance or 'other-end attention' at the depot or 'turn back train attention' at Chennai Central itself. Secondary maintenance includes filling water, while the third is the 'other-end attention', in which the train, especially the toilets, is cleaned. The fourth category of trains, such as Sapthagiri Express and Pallavan Express, are turn-back trains, which arrive and leave in a short time from Chennai Central after toilet-cleaning and water-filling is done right at the terminus platform.
The station has been divided into two zones for mechanised cleaning contracts. As of 2008, Chennai Central had about 30 sanitary workers employed on a contractual basis in Zone I (platforms 1 to 6). Zone II (platforms 7 to 12) was cleaned by close to 40 railway employees.
YARDS AND SHEDS
TRAIN CARE CENTRE
A broad-gauge coach maintenance depot, called the Basin Bridge Train Care Centre, is located at the northern side of the terminus, where trains of 18 to 24 coaches are checked, cleaned and readied for its next trip after they return from round trips. It is the largest train care centre under the Southern Railway where 30 pairs of trains are inspected every day. The yard has 14 pit lines, each 3-ft deep, to inspect undercarriage of trains, but only two lines can accommodate 24-coach trains. The rest are designed to park 18-coach trains. Five to six people are allotted to each train. As of 2012, the centre has 3,500 employees, a shortage of about 400.
Water accumulated in pit lines are let out into the Buckingham Canal by means of drainage channels. However, as the yard is located in a basin area, water does not drain quickly enough. In addition, the centre faces pests and other hygiene issues too.
ELECTRIC TRIP SHED
The terminus has an electric locomotive trip shed, the Basin Bridge electric loco trip shed, located north of the train care centre. It is one of the five loco trip sheds of the Southern Railway. To lessen load on the shed, an additional electric trip shed has been created at Tondiarpet, which also serves as a crew change point for freights.
GOODS SHED
The terminus has a goods shed attached to it at Salt Cotaurs.
RENOVATION
Chennai Central Station gets renovation after 2010, is undertaken by the building division of the Southern Railway with the technical assistance provided by the Chennai circle of Archaeological Survey of India. the work is carried out to ensure the original character of the building is maintained.The Station building has maroon colour since its inception in 1873.
CONNECTIVITY
Chennai Central railway station is a hub for suburban trains. Suburban lines originating from Chennai Central include West North Line, North Line, and West Line. Chennai Park suburban station is in proximity to the station, thus facilitating connectivity to Tambaram/Chengalpet/Tirumalpur routes through South Line and South West Line. Chennai Central can be directly reached from all suburban stations and MRTS stations in and around Chennai (except Washermanpet and Royapuram) either through its own MMC Complex for suburban trains or through the nearby Park suburban station or the Park Town MRTS station. Currently, there is only one direct suburban train that plies from Chennai Beach Junction to Chennai Central via Washermanpet and Royapuram, and hence there is no frequent direct connectivity for these two stations to Chennai Central. The Chennai Park Town MRTS station is close to Chennai Central station.
Chennai Central is connected to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and other parts of the city by buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, by means of separate bus lanes near the main entrance, close to the concourse. There are prepaid auto and taxi stands at the station premises. However, only 30 autorickshaws are presently attached to the prepaid counter parking, as Chennai Metro Rail has acquired its parking area for station construction.
The terminus is connected to the Park railway station and the Government General Hospital by two subways on either side. The two subways, which are one of the first in the city, are used by thousands of commuters day round. Nevertheless, jaywalking prevails as a substantial number of commuters prefer crossing the road, at times resulting in accidents.
The terminus is connected with the Egmore station, the other most important terminus of the city, by a circuitous and congested route covering a distance of 11.2 km via Chennai Beach. There was initially a proposal to connect the two termini by means of an elevated section with double-line broad-gauge electrified track with two elevated platforms at Chennai Central, at the cost of ₹ 930 million, which would cut the distance to 2.5 km. The project, approved on 8 April 2003 and initially aimed to be completed by 2005, was later scrapped owing to the expected rate of return on the project being only 1 to 2 percent, poor soil conditions on the Poonamallee High Road, and other issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The portion of the Buckingham canal running near the terminus and beneath Pallavan Salai is covered for 250 m, which makes the task of maintaining the canal difficult. After being desilted in 1998, the covered stretch of the canal near the terminus was cleaned in September 2012. Garbage is dumped into the canal via the openings near the Chennai Central premises. An estimated 6,000 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 2-m-deep canal.
INCIDENTS
On 14 August 2006, a major fire broke out in Chennai Central station, completely destroying a bookshop.
On 29 April 2009, a suburban EMU train from Chennai Central Suburban terminal was hijacked by an unidentified man, who rammed it into a stationary goods train at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva railway station, 4 kilometres northwest of Chennai Central. 4 passengers were killed and 11 were injured. The train which was scheduled to depart at 5:15 am started at 4:50 am instead. The train was moving with a speed of 92 km per hour with 35 passengers on board at the time of collision.
On 6 August 2012, a man hailing from Nepal perched atop the clock tower of the station's main building, creating a commotion. He was later safely persuaded back down the tower by the City Police and Southern Railway officials.
On 1 May 2014, the station witnessed two low-intensity blasts in two coaches S4 and S5 of the stationary Bangalore-Guwahati express, killing one female passenger and injuring at least fourteen.
SECURITY
In a first of its kind for the railways, a bomb disposal squad of the railway protection force, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets imported at a cost of over ₹ 2.5 million, was inaugurated at Chennai Central on May 2002. The squad functions round the clock and its personnel were trained at the National Security Guard Training Centre at Maneswar and the Tamil Nadu Commando School. In 2009, following the train accident at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station, surveillance cameras were installed at the suburban terminus platforms. A security boundary wall 200 m long was erected along platform 14 to check unauthorised persons entering the station. Two security booths were planned, one each at the main terminus and the suburban terminus. A government railway police (GRP) station is located on the first floor at the western end, headed by a DSP and two inspectors.[86]
In 2009, 39 CCTV cameras were installed in the premises along with a control room. In 2012, about 120 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Chennai Central. In April 2012, the GRP and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) together launched a helpline known as Kaakum karangal (literally meaning 'Protecting hands'). This involved dividing the terminus into six sectors and deploying 24 police personnel for security.
On 15 November 2012, Integrated Security System (ISS) was launched at the station, which comprises sub-systems such as CCTV surveillance system with 54 IP-based cameras, under-vehicle scanning system (UVSS) for entries and exits, and personal and X-ray baggage screening system. In addition, explosive detection and disposal squad have been deployed. The sub-system will be integrated by networking and monitored at the centralised control rooms. Existing CCTV network of suburban platforms has also been integrated to this system.
FUTURE
In 2004, a second terminal was planned near the Moore Market Complex, with six platforms to be constructed in the first phase of the project and four platforms each in the second and third phases. For additional infrastructure, the goods yard at Salt Cotaurs will be closed to provide more pit line and stabling line facilities for the new terminal.
In 2007, the Railway Board declared a plan to develop the terminus into a world-class one at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million), along with two other stations (Thiruvananthapuram Central and Mangalore Central), and a high-level committee was formed in 2009 to expedite the project at a total cost of ₹1,000 million (US$15 million). The plan included creating multi-level platforms where express and suburban trains could arrive and depart from the same complex. However, the project is yet to begin.
An underground metro station of the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail project is under construction at the Chennai Central station. It is one of the two metro stations where Corridor I (Airport–Washermanpet) of the project will intersect with Corridor II (Chennai Central–St. Thomas Mount via Egmore, CMBT). The metro station, being constructed at a depth of 25 metres, will be the largest of all metro stations in the city with an area of over 70,000 square metres. The station will act as a transit point for passengers from the Central, Park Town, and Park railway stations. It is estimated that more than 100,000 commuters will utilise the station daily.
In June 2012, the first skywalk in Chennai connecting Chennai Central, Park Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was planned at a cost of ₹200 million (US$3.0 million). It will be 1 kilometre long, linking the station with nine points, including Evening Bazaar, Government Medical College and Ripon Buildings on Poonamallee High Road.
In February 2013, as part of a national initiative to eliminate ballast tracks at major stations, washable aprons - ballastless tracks or tracks on a concrete bed - were installed along the entire length of tracks of platforms 3, 4 and 5 at the terminus. Washable aprons that are already present for a few metres in some of the platforms at the terminus will be extended, viz. 30 metres on platform 3, 200 metres on platform 4, and 50 metres on platform 5, while new ones will be built on platforms with ballast tracks.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Chennai Central railway station is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region. The station has been used in numerous Indian novels and film and television productions over the years. Many films and television programs have been filmed at the station, including:
The station has been poetized by Vijay Nambisan in his 1988 award-winning poem 'Madras Central' published in 1989. The poem is regarded as a modern classic.
In 2009, the Department of Posts featured Chennai Central in a postal stamp.
WIKIPEDIA
. . . this is the night-train from Chennai to Hyderabad.
Duration: 15 hours - Ticket: 2 Euro!
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Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
KANGRA VALLEY RAILWAY
The Kangra Valley Railway lies in the sub-Himalayan region and covers a distance of 164 km from Pathankot, Punjab to Jogindernagar in Himachal Pradesh. It is one of two mountain railways that run in Himachal Pradesh, the other being Kalka-Shimla Railway, which has been designated as World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Both of these currently run at a 762 mm narrow gauge, although they do not connect to each other. The Kangra Valley Railway is among in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The railway line was planned in May 1926 and commissioned in 1929. The highest point on this line is at Ahju station at an elevation of 1,210 meters. The terminus at Joginder Nagar is at an elevation of 1,189 meters.
A different alignment, a different mode of taking the railway through the maze of hills and valleys would have spoilt its picture postcard perfectness. This unique line has just two tunnels, one of which is only 250 feet and the other 1,000 feet in length. The traveler must remember this is a total distance of 103 miles. Instead of boring his way through the mountains, the railway engineer has skillfully avoided running head first into the hillside. Instead of following dizzy curves, he has cleverly chosen to avoid the awkward corners and straighten his turning. For the Kangra Valley Railway presents to the traveler, a chance to gaze as long as he likes on the ever present panorama of snow-clad ranges and the gold green fields without being swung round every few minutes on a narrow arc before his eyes can greet the scenery.
Certainly the scenery through which the train passes is ample compensation for the extra distance covered as compared to getting there by road. The most picturesque parts of the valley are exposed to the view – the stretch of 18 miles from Mangwal to Kangra, for example, lies through country unsurpassed for its majestic grandeur with the majestic Ban Ganga gorge and the deep Kangra chasm as two piece de resistance. As one approaches Palampur, the ever present background of snowy chain peaks, 15,000 and 16,000 feet in height is barely ten miles away. From here onwards, the line runs parallel to the Dhauladhar range and much nearer to it than any other railways in India that ever comes so close to the eternal snows.
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INDIAN RAILWAYS
Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
Steam Loco WP 7161 was utilized for hauling of Steam Special from Delhi Cant. to Alwar. The information of the Engine is given below:
Easily recognized by the cone shaped bulging nose with (usually) a silver star painted on it, this locomotive became the standard passenger locomotive on Indian Railways post 1947. Experiencing a severe shortage of locomotive on the system in the mid 1940s coupled with unhappy past experiences with the IRS class of locomotives looming large, the order for 100 prototype WP was restricted to a mere 16 engines (on scale of two for each major broad gauge route). Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW), Philadelphia was awarded the task of building the first sixteen prototype WP class locomotives. These were numbered from 7200 to 7215 and went to GIPR, BB&CIR and EIR. The initial locos were called WP/P, the extra P indicating prototype. These engines soon earned the reputation for free steaming, fuel economy and good riding characteristics, also there was none of the ‘tail wag’ experience with these engines that was so characteristic of the XC class. On establishing their success further orders for WP locomotives went to Baldwin Canadian Locomotive Company (CLC) and Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) who shared the manufacturing the next 300 WP engines. These engines were numbered from 7216 to 7515 in order of the Railway to which they were allotted. A further 120 engines were ordered from Canadian Locomotive Company in 1955-56 and 60 more engines came from Poland and Austria between 1957-59, this loco was in production for 20 years from 1947 to 1967 from 53 locos in 1953, it reached a peak holding of 167 locos on Northern Railways in 1967. This Pacific class of broad gauge loco marked the change the coding from ‘X’ to ‘W’ for broad gauge locomotives. It was capable of doing up to 110 Km/h and remained Indian Railways crack locomotives for many years and hauled prestigious express trains. WP’s were designed specifically for low-calorie, high-ash Indian coal and its ease of handling made it a hot favourite amongst Loco drivers. Several WP’s remained in service until the late 80’s. Early prototypes from Baldwin were labelled WP/P, CLW versions after 1965 were labelled WP/1.
Rewari shed homes the WP 7200 and WP 7161, the former is from the first lot of prototypes that were handed over to Indian Railways by the United States in 1947. The locomotive was a part of Central Railway System (GIPR) but was transferred to Northern Railway later. Homed at Moradabad shed this locomotive was later shifted to Saharanpur shed, before it retired from active service. It is believed that WP 7200 was the first WP class of engine that was handed over to Indian Railways in USA on 15th August 1947, India’s Independent Day, though the engine physically arrived on the Indian shores in Oct’47. This adds to the historic importance of this locomotive, with this in mind, this locomotive previously called Shahjahan, after the great Mughal emperor who build the Taj Mahal, has been re-christened “AZAD”, meaning free in hindi.
WP 7161 is the Chittranjan Locomotive Works built engine, inducted into active service in 1965, this locomotive was also there was none of the ‘tail wag’ experience with these engines that was so characteristic of the XC class.
On establishing their success further orders for WP locomotives went to Baldwin Canadian Locomotive Company (CLC) and Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) who shared the manufacturing the next 300 WP engines. These engines were numbered from 7216 to 7515 in order of the Railway to which they were allotted. A further 120 engines were ordered from Canadian Locomotive Company in 1955-56 and 60 more engines came from Poland and Austria between 1957-59, this loco was in production for 20 years from 1947 to 1967 from 53 locos in 1953, it reached a peak holding of 167 locos on Northern Railways in 1967.
This Pacific class of broad gauge loco marked the change the coding from ‘X’ to ‘W’ for broad gauge locomotives. It was capable of doing up to 110 Km/h and remained Indian Railways crack locomotives for many years Source IRCTC
VAISHNAVI (MATRIKA GODDESS)
Vaishnavi, Vaishnodevi, Trikuta (sanskrit, feminine form of Vishnu) is a legendary figure in the Hindu tradition and the shakti of Lord Vishnu.
According to the legend, she was an incarnation of the Divine Mother Lakshmi. Vaishnavi is a name of Vaishno Devi.
Vaishnavi (Vaishnodevi) is also a Matrika goddess, considered as the shakti of Vishnu.
Vaishnavi (or Vyshnavi) is also a given name, in the Hindu tradition of naming children after spiritual personalities.
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VAISHNO DEVI, also known as Mata Rani, Trikuta and Vaishnavi, is a manifestation of the Hindu Mother Goddess Mahalakshmi. The words "maa" and "mata" are commonly used in India for "mother", and thus are often used in connection with Vaishno Devi. Vaishno Devi Mandir (Hindi: वैष्णोदेवी मन्दिर) is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu Goddess, located at the Trikuta Mountains within the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. More than 10 million pilgrims visit this shrine every year.
The Vaishno Mata shrine is in the Trikuta mountains is believed to be the abode of 33 crore deities.
It is believed that at some point of time each one of these 33 crore deities have worshipped Goddess Vaishno Mata, and left their symbolic marks inside. It is also believed that during the pooja and Aarti, these Gods and Goddesses arrive at the Holy cave to pay their obeisance to Mata. Hindus believe that one cannot possible have Darshan of Mata, unless she herself calls the devotees.
‘Chalo bulawa aya hai, Mata ne bulaya hai’. Meaning ‘Let us go to Vaishno Devi as Mata has beckoned us to come for darshan and blessings’.
REACHING KATRA
The town of Katra in Jammu and Kashmir is the base point of the 13 km trek to the Holy Cave, where an elaborate Bhawan exists taking care of every possible need of the devotee. Katra can be reached either by road from Jammu or by the recently started train service by Indian Railways. Katra is approx 50 km from Jammu and can be reached by road in less than two hours.
The Indian Railways have introduced Sree Shakti train that runs from Delhi. One can easily avail the two night package, ‘COMFORT’ offered by IRCTC.
The train journey from Jammu onwards to Katra is not just picturesque but a thrilling adventure that takes you through breathtaking bridges and tunnels. It is indeed an engineering marvel of Indian Railways.
The Katra railway station is a world class railway station having automatic escalators powered by Solar Energy. It also houses shops, Food courts, waiting halls, washrooms and bathrooms. In addition to this there is a hotel where one can stay overnight on prior booking.
TREK ROUTE AND MEANS OF TRANSPORT
The trek from the Banganga check post in Katra to Mata’s Bhawan is an arduous 13 km long one.
One can cover the trek by four different methods:
1. By Helicopter.
2. By foot
3. By horses
4. By Palki – human palanquin
Helicopter services are offered by Global Vectra and Himalayan.The booking for availing helicopter service needs to be booked online, 60 days in advance through the official website of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. Helicopter tickets can also be bought on the spot from Jagjivan Ghat near Katra Bus Stand. But tickets can be bought subject to availability. Also the Helicopter service takes place only in fair weather and often the trips are cancelled.
The Katra helipad is approx 3.5 km from Katra main town. One needs to report at the helipad two hours in advance of the time mentioned on the ticket. The helicopter ride from the Katra helipad to Sanjichhat takes a mere five minutes. The immensely thrilling ride gives a breathtakingly beautiful view of the Trikuta valley. On reaching Sanjichhat, the Bhawan is at a distance of about 3 km. This distance can be covered by a downward trek or by horses. It takes approx 90 minutes to reach the Bhawan by foot. Those going for Mata’s darshan via helicopter are issued VIP passes and are allowed to entry through Gate No 5 of the Bhawan.
If one is going for darshan by the other three means, by foot, by horses or by Palanquin, he/she needs to register his traveling group members at the Katra Vaishno Mata Dev Shrine Board office and get a "travel slip". The office is located near the Katra bus stand. The travel slip is extremely important as it will be checked at several points of the journey, failing which you will not be allowed to trek further.
TREK PATH
The trek of 13 km can be completed in about 5 to 8 hours depending on the fitness and whether children are accompanying parents.
The Bhawan is open for darshan 365 days and the Shrine Board, the governing body of the Bhawan has made it possible to do the trek 24 by 7. The entire trekking path is lit up for devotees, some preferring to start the trek in the late evening to avoid the morning sun. The scintillating lit up path is visible from the Katra bus stand.
Throughout the trekking path, there are restaurants, tea stalls, drinking water, medical aid,benches, toilets and police check posts. A major length of the trek is covered providing protection from rain and snow.
At the start of the trek, at Banganga check post, there is massive scanning of luggage and security check.
The trek is divided into two parts. The first part of the trek up to Adkuwari is roughly half way at a distance of 7 km from Banganga starting check post. At Adkuwari the road to the Bhawan bifurcates into two. One road goes via Adkuwari while the second one goes via Himkoti.
The horses are allowed to continue on the Adkuwari trail, but are not allowed to go via the Himkoti road. At the Himkoti road, electric rickshaws are available for senior citizens, people with disability and those with medical conditions.
It must be noted that if traveling with children by foot, as is the case with many devotees, one needs to be very vigilant of the horses plying alongside as the road is narrow.
BHAWAN
On reaching the Bhawan one can take a bath at the bathing ghats. Having done so, one needs to deposit all luggage, mobile phones, cameras and leather items in lockers provided by the Shrine Board. Also it is here that a group is provided a number for darshan on showing the "travel slip".
Normal devotees enter through Gate No 3.
The Bhawan provides accommodation for the devotees to stay overnight at the Bhawan. The booking for this needs to be done online, well in advance.
The Bhawan is buzzing with activity at any given time of the day. Devotees irrespective of their class arrive at the Bhawan to receive blessings of Vaishno Mata.
On most days, the queue leading up to the Holy cave keeps moving. Moreover, the whole Bhawan reverberates with the devotees chanting, “Jai Mata Di” and one totally becomes unaware of the fatigue of the long trek.
It is believed that he darshan of Mata is complete only if one visits the Bhairon Mandir, as Mata had given Bhairon a boon that he would be worshipped alongside her. The Bhairon Mandir is approximately 3 km form the Bhawan. It is a steep upward trek and can be done either by foot or by ponies.
The Shrine board has taken immense care to provide all amenities for a comfortable darshan of the devotees. So you will find shops, restaurants like Sagar Ratna, PCOs, Cloak rooms, Prashad shops and police posts.
PRASAD
"BHAINT" The Prasad offered by the devotees to Mata is called BHAINT. There are several shops at Bhawan selling Bhaints. These can also be bought from the office of the Shrine board packed neatly in Eco friendly jute bags, with the logo of the Shrine Board, a souvenir in itself. A typical Bhaint comprises prasad, fuliyan, chunri, mouli, coconut, pooja samagri including itra, bangles and sindoor.
Outside the exit tunnel and just beyond the Amrit Kund lies the PRASAD counter. The blessings of the Mother Goddess in the form of Prasad pouches are handed over to the devotees by the temple priests. Each Prasad pouch comprises the Mishri Prasad plus a blessed coin, carrying the image of Holy Pindies. In addition, Khazana (coins) are given to the devotees. It is believed to be a good luck coins(s) and devotees would do well to keep it in their cash boxes, temples or other important places in their homes or establishments. it is not only a belief but a fact that the Khazana Prasad wherever kept, has brought in prosperity and luck.
There are other blessed items too, especially the Chunris and Cholas which are used for Shringar of the Holy Pindies. Since the Vastras of the Pindies are changed twice a day during Aarti, the Vastras which have been used once but are subsequently changed are offered as Ashirwad (blessings) to the devotees.
These are readily available at the souvenir shops run by the shrine Board at Katra, Adkuwari, Sanjichhat and Bhawan. Gold and Silver coins of the Holy goddess are also available.
The pull of Mata is such that devotees travel from all corners of the world to receive blessing of Mata. And Mata is said to embrace and bless one and all, from the poorest and the weakest to the richest and the mightiest. Vaishno Devi is the most widely visited shrine in North India and the second most visited shrine in the country after Tirupati Balaji.
It is a pilgrimage to be taken at least once in the life of a Hindu.
DARSHAN
The Trikuta Mountain where the Shrine is located and the Holy Cave are the gateway to the dimension of Super Consciousness. And just like the Trikuta Mountain, which is one at the base but has three peaks (hence the name Trikoot), the revelation of the Mother Goddess in the Holy Cave is in a natural rock form which is one at the base but has three heads at the top. These three heads in a natural rock form are known as the Holy Pindies and are worshipped as the revelation of the Mother Goddess. The entire rock body is immersed in water, and a marble platform has now been constructed all around. The main Darshans remain to be of the three heads called the Holy Pindies. The uniqueness of the Holy Pindies is that although they emanate from one single rock form, each one is distinctly different from the other two in colour and texture.
MAHA KALI
Towards the right of the devotee is the Holy Pindi of Mata Maha Kali (the Supreme Energy of Dissolution) in the colour associated with Her i.e. black. The Supreme Energy of dissolution is Mata Maha Kali. She represents the Tam Guna- the quality associated with the darker and unknown realms of life. Tam stands for darkness. Psychology and science state that only a very small per cent of the Universe is conscious. The remaining is still subconscious or unconscious. These unknown realms contain all the mysteries of life. Creation is a phenomenon, which exists within a specific time. However the Energy that transcends the barriers of time is the Eternal Time or Maha Kali. Since man’s knowledge about life is very limited and he remains in the dark about most of it, it is represented by the colour black which is associated with Mata Maha Kali. She is the basic source of all that is mystical and unknown to man. In her attribute of Maha Kali, the Mother Goddess constantly guides her devotees to conquer the forces of darkness.
MAHA LAKSHMI
In the centre is the Holy Pindi of Mata Maha Lakshmi (the Supreme Energy of Maintenance) with a yellowish-red tinge, the colour associated with Mata Maha Lakshmi. Mata Maha Lakshmi is the Supreme Energy of Maintenance. She represents Rajas Guna- the quality of inspiration and effort, and is considered to be the basic source of wealth, prosperity, material gains, quality of life etc. Wealth and prosperity are better represented by the colour of gold, which is yellow, and hence associated with Mata Maha Lakshmi.
MAHA SARASWATI
The Pindi to the extreme left of the viewer is worshipped as the Holy Pindi of Mata Maha Saraswati (the Supreme Energy of Creation). It has a whitish tinge when looked at attentively. White has also been considered the colour associated with Mata Maha Saraswati. Being the Supreme force of Creation, Mata Maha Saraswati is considered to be the basic source of all Creation, Knowledge, Wisdom, Righteousness, Art, Spiritualism, Piousness etc. Since white is a colour that denotes piousness and purity, hence it is associated with Mata Maha Saraswati. She represents the Satva Guna- the quality of purity.
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji is considered to be an incarnation of the three Supreme Energies.
All Human beings contain attributes of the three above mentioned Guns (qualities) and their behavior is determined by the Guna which is predominant in their nature. But, in order to lead a meaningful life, a proper balance among these three is necessary. The Holy Cave is charged with such energy that it helps in creating this vital but rare balance in a person. This is what makes the Holy Shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi Ji unique in the entire world.
It is reiterated that Darshans inside the Holy Cave are in the form of natural rock formations called Pindies. There are no statues, pictures or idols inside. All along the track and at the Bhawan, there are many photographs explaining the nature of Darshans inside the Holy Cave. Yatries should observe these carefully since these are meant to guide them towards the final Darshans in the Holy Cave.
Currently Shri Narinder Nath Vohra in his capacity as Governor of Jammu & Kashmir is the Chairman of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. Members of the Board are Shri E. Sreedharan, Smt. Sudha Murty, Dr. Sudhir S.Bloeria, IAS (Retd.), Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Dr. Ashok Bhan, IPS (Retd.) and Shri H. L. Maini.
WIKIPEDIA
Golden Chariot is operated by IRCTC. There is enhanced and safe service.
Golden Chariot gives you a sight of the South of India.
KALKA-SHIMLA RAILWAY
The Kalka–Shimla railway is a 762 mm narrow-gauge railway in North India which traverses a mostly-mountainous route from Kalka to Shimla. It is known for dramatic views of the hills and surrounding villages. The railway was built under the direction of Herbert Septimus Harington between 1898 and 1903 to connect Shimla, the summer capital of India during the British Raj, with the rest of the Indian rail system.
Its early locomotives were manufactured by Sharp, Stewart and Company. Larger locomotives were introduced, which were manufactured by the Hunslet Engine Company. Diesel and diesel-hydraulic locomotives began operation in 1955 and 1970, respectively.
On 8 July 2008, UNESCO added the Kalka–Shimla railway to the mountain railways of India World Heritage Site.
HISTORY
Shimla (then spelt Simla), which was settled by the British shortly after the first Anglo-Gurkha war, is located at 2,169 m in the foothills of the Himalayas. The idea of connecting Shimla by rail was first raised by a correspondent to the Delhi gazette in November 1847.
Shimla became the summer capital of British India in 1864, and was the headquarters of the Indian army. This meant that twice a year it was necessary to transfer the entire government between Calcutta and Shimla by horse and ox drawn carts.
In 1891 the 1,676 mm broad-gauge Delhi–Kalka line opened, which made the construction of a branch line up to Shimla feasible.
The earliest survey was made in 1884 followed by another survey in 1885. Based on these two surveys, a project report was submitted in 1887 to the government of British India. Fresh surveys were made in 1892, and 1893 which lead to four alternative schemes being suggested - two adhesion lines 108.23 km and 112.25 km long and two rack lines. Fresh surveys were again made in 1895 from Kalka to Solan with a view to determine whether a 1 in 12 rack or 1 in 25 adhesion line should be chosen. After much debate an adhesion line was chosen in preference to a rack system.
Construction of the Kalka–Shimla railway on 610 mm narrow-gauge tracks was begun by the privately funded Delhi-Ambala-Kalka Railway Company following the signing of a contract between the secretary of state and the company on 29 June 1898. The contract specified that the line would be built without any financial aid or guarantee from the government. The government however provided the land free of charge to the company. The estimated cost of 8,678,500 rupees doubled by the time the line was opened. The Chief Engineer of the project was Herbert Septimus Harington.
The 95,68 km line opened for traffic on 9 November 1903 and was dedicated by Viceroy Lord Curzon. This line was further extended from Shimla to Shimla Goods (which had once housed the bullock cart office) on 27 June 1909 making it 96,60 km.
The Indian Army were sceptical about the two feet gauge chosen for the line and requested that a wider standard gauge be used for mountain and light strategic railways. Eventually the government agreed that the gauge was too narrow for was essentially a capital city and for military purposes. As a result, the contract with the railway company was revised on 15 November 1901 and the line gauge changed to 762 mm with the track built to date being regauged. Some sources however state the regauging wasn't undertaken until 1905.
In 1905 the company took delivery of a 10-ton Cowans Sheldon travelling crane to assist with lifting rolling stock back onto the tracks after accidents and for general track maintenance.
Due to the high capital and maintenance costs and difficult working conditions, the railway was allowed to charge higher fares than on other lines. Nevertheless, the company had spent 16.525.000 rupees by 1904 with no sign of the line becoming profitable, which lead to it being purchased by the government on 1 January 1906 for 17.107.748 rupees.
Once it came under the control of the government the line was originally managed as an independent unit from the North West Railway office in Lahore until 1926, when it was transferred to Delhi Division. Since July 1987, the line has been managed by the Ambala Division from Ambala Cantt.
In 2007, the Himachal Pradesh government declared the railway a heritage property. For about a week, beginning on 11 September 2007, a UNESCO team visited the railway to inspect it for possible selection as a World Heritage Site. On 8 July 2008, it became part of the mountain railways of India World Heritage Site with the Darjeeling Himalayan and Nilgiri Mountain Railways.
BABA BALKHU RAM´S CONTRIBUTION
Baba Balkhu Ram was a poor, illeterate man of a Shimla's backward village, since he gave great contriution in the construction of challenging railway. Apart of his majy contributions in Kalka- Shimla Railway, his most remembering contribution was of the construction of Barog tunnel. At that time the Captain Barog who was assigned to complete the construction work of the heritage railway, started the digging work of the Barog tunnel in the mountain, but he was constantly stopped by Baba Bakhu Ram to not to dig this side, but Captain Barog did not listen to him, he was thinking that he was mad, but eventually after some days of digging, water started coming out the digging part. Captain Barog then fined with the then (Rupee 1) by the British Government. Captain Barog took this as his insult and committed suicide in Barog area, where now his resting place is situated. Then Baba Balkhu Ram was the person who helped the another engineers assigned for the construction, being a local resident he had the ample knowledge about the place, because of his vision Barog tunnel which is the 33rd tunnel of the route from Kalka (longest of all the 103 tunnels of the track) got constructed. In his memory on 7 July 2011 Indian Railways opened the Baba Bhalku Rail Museum to document the history of the railway line and to display related artefacts below Old Bus Stand in Shimla.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
The track has 20 picturesque stations, 103 tunnels, 912 curves, 969 bridges and 3% slope (1:33 gradient). The 1.14..61 m tunnel at Barog immediately before the Barog station is longest, a 18,29 m bridge is the longest and the sharpest curve has a 38 m radius of curvature. The railway line originally used 20,8 kg/m rail, which was later replaced with 29,8 kg/m rail. The train has an average speed of 25–30 km/hr but the railcar is almost 50–60 km/hr. Both the train and railcar are equipped with vistadomes.
The temperature range and annual rainfall are 0–45 C and 200–250 cm, respectively.
OPERATORS
The KSR and its assets, including the stations, line and vehicles, belong to the government of India under the Ministry of Railways. The Northern Railway handles day-to-day maintenance and management, and several programs, divisions and departments of Indian Railways are responsible for repairs.
ROUTE
The route winds from a height of 656 metres at Kalka in the Himalayan Shivalik Hills foothills, past Dharampur, Solan, Kandaghat, Taradevi, Barog, Salogra, Totu (Jutogh) and Summerhill, to Shimla at an altitude of 2.075 metres. The difference in height between the two ends of line is 1.419 metres.
BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS
The railway has 988 bridges and viaducts and a ruling gradient of 1 in 33, or three percent. It has 917 curves and the sharpest is 48 degrees (a radius of 37,47 m.
The most architecturally complex bridge is No. 226 which spans a deep valley which required that it had to be constructed in five stages with each level having its own stone arched tier.
TUNNELS
One hundred seven tunnels were originally built, but as a result of landslides only 102 remain in use.
ROLLING STOCK
The first locomotives were two class-B 0-4-0STs from the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. These were built as 610 mm-gauge engines, but were converted to 762 mm-gauge in 1901. They were not large enough (they were sold in 1908), and were followed in 1902 by 10 slightly-larger engines with a 0-4-2T wheel arrangement. The locomotives weighed 21.8 t each, and had 762 mm driving wheels and 304.8 mm × 406.4 mm cylinders. Later classified as B-class by the North Western State Railway, they were manufactured by the British Sharp, Stewart and Company.
Thirty larger 2-6-2T locomotives, with slight variations, were introduced between 1904 and 1910. Built by the Hunslet Engine and North British Locomotive Companies, they weighed about 36 t; and had 762 mm drivers and 355,6 mm × 406,4 mm cylinders. Later classed K and K2 by the North Western State Railway, they handled most of the rail traffic during the steam era. A pair of Kitson-Meyer 2-6-2+2-6-2 articulated locomotives, classed TD, were supplied in 1928. However, they quickly fell into disfavour because it often took all day for enough freight to be assembled to justify operating a goods train hauled by one of these locomotives. Shippers looking for faster service began turning to road transport. These 69.09 t locomotives were soon transferred to the Kangra Valley Railway, and were converted to 1,000 mm metre gauge in Pakistan. Regular steam-locomotive operation ended in 1971.
The railway's first diesel locomotives, class ZDM-1 manufactured by Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik (articulated with two prime movers), began operating in 1955; they were regauged, reclassified as NDM-1 and used on the Matheran Hill Railway during the 1970s. In the 1960s, class ZDM-2 locomotives from Maschinenbau Kiel (MaK) was introduced; they were later transferred to other lines.
The KSR currently operates with class ZDM-3 diesel-hydraulic locomotives (522 kW or 700 hp, 50 km/h), built between 1970 and 1982 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works with a single-cab road-switcher body. Six locomotives of that class were built in 2008 and 2009 by the Central Railway Loco Workshop in Parel, with updated components and a dual-cab body providing better track vision.
The railway opened with conventional four-wheel and bogie coaches. Their tare weight meant that only four bogie coaches could be hauled by the 2-6-2T locomotives. In a 1908 effort to increase capacity, the coach stock was rebuilt as 10,1 by 2,1 m bogie coaches with steel frames and bodies. To further save weight, the roofs were made of aluminium. The weight savings meant that the locomotives could now haul six of the larger coaches. This was an early example of the use of aluminium in coach construction to reduce tare weight.
Goods rolling stock was constructed on a common 9,1 by 2,1 m pressed-steel underframe. Open and covered wagons were provided, with the open wagons having a capacity of 19,30 t and the covered wagons 17,8 t.
During the winter months snow cutters are attached to the engine to clear the snow from the track.
TRAINS
Shivalik Deluxe Express: Ten coaches, with chair cars and meal service
Kalka Shimla Express: First and second class and unreserved seating
Himalayan Queen: Connects at Kalka with the express mail of the same name and the Kalka Shatabdi Express to Delhi.
Kalka Shimla Passenger: First and second class and unreserved seating
Rail Motor: First-class railbus with a glass roof and a front view
Shivalik Queen: Ten-carriage luxury fleet. Each carriage accommodates up to eight people and has two toilets, wall-to-wall carpeting and large windows. Available through IRCTC's Chandigarh office.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
BBC Four televised Indian Hill Railways, a series of three programmes which featured the KSR in its third episode, in February 2010; the first two episodes covered the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Nilgiri Mountain Railway. The episodes, directed by Tarun Bhartiya, Hugo Smith and Nick Mattingly respectively, were produced by Gerry Troyna. Indian Hill Railways won a Royal Television Society award in June 2010. The KSR also featured in the Punjab episode of CNN's Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.
In 2018, the KSR was featured in an episode of the BBC Two programme Great Indian Railway Journeys.
WIKIPEDIA
KTE WDM3A#16422 in Turquoise Livery with Mahaparinirvan Express in tow.
Rake Compostion
EOG-H1-H2-H3-PC-A1-A2-A3-A4-B1-B2-B3-EOG
Mahaparinirvan Express
The train departs from Delhi usually once or twice in a month and here is how this pilgrimage will go-
Delhi - Gaya - Rajgir - Nalanda - Gaya - Varanasi - Sarnath - Varanasi - Gorakhpur - Khusinagar - Lumbini - Gorakhpur - Gonda - Sravasti - Gonda - Agra - FatehpurSikri - Agra – Delhi.
Catering to the needs of Buddhist tourists from both India and abroad on their way to enlightenment, IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd) a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, has started a special train for Buddhist Pilgrimage. The train connects allimperative places of Buddhist pilgrimages in India and also one in Nepal. This special train is named as "Mahaparinirvan Express". The train homes all basic amenities and services.