Indian Railways Junction

Indian Railways prepares new zero-based timetable for trains! Over 6,000 ‘unremunerative’ stoppages to go
Indian Railways prepares new timetable! Once Indian Railways implements its “zero-based timetable”, more than 6,000 unnecessary stoppages of regular train services will be shed! A scientific manner of running train services, the zero-based timetable allows creating more elbow room for goods and passenger carriers, resulting in better speed and efficiency. During the lockdown period, the national transporter completed the work of making the timetable with help from IIT-Mumbai, according to an IE report. The introduction of every train, as well as every stoppage into the zero-based timetable, is justified by operational need on a clean slate, hence zero-based. According to the report, such moves are on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For keeping a stoppage, the criterion is that it should result in a minimum of 50 people embarking and disembarking in a day. According to the sources quoted in the report, on the basis of that, more than 6,000 “unremunerative” stoppages may be removed, in order to make way for efficient running of trains.

According to the Chairman of Railway Board, VK Yadav, the timetable will result in separate paths for passenger trains and goods trains. The system will ensure separate dedicated time slots for maintenance of trains and railway tracks, which is known as “corridor blocks”, where no traffic is allowed on a particular section for a certain amount of time. The national transporter used to observe corridor blocks many years ago. The introduction of a large number of trains into the system, over a period of time, rendered the practice unviable. Yadav also said that the new timetable will be implemented when normal train services are resumed. Even if some stoppages are removed, the national transporter will ensure that there are other train services that serve those stops, he said.

Meanwhile, a number of initiatives of Indian Railways are awaiting the normal resumption of train services. One of the initiatives of Indian Railways is the “Content on Demand” service. Approximately 5,000 long-distance train services are likely to get this service. With this service, railway passengers can stream content on their devices during a train journey. However, this initiative could not be launched because of the COVID-19 pandemic, even though Indian Railways shortlisted an operator on a revenue-share basis.
 
Railways spent ₹2,142 cr on Shramik Specials, generated ₹429 cr revenue
The Railways spent ₹2,142 crore on running Shramik Special trains for ferrying stranded migrant workers home during the coronavirus lockdown, but earned a revenue of just ₹429 crore, official data shows.

According to data available with PTI, the highest amount of money -- ₹102 crore - was paid by the Gujarat government as fares for ferrying more than 15 lakh migrant workers back to their native states in 1,027 trains.

It was followed by Maharashtra, which paid ₹85 crore to ferry 12 lakh workers back in 844 trains. Tamil Nadu paid ₹34 crore to the Railways for transporting around four lakh migrant workers to their home states in 271 trains.

States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, which are generally considered source states for migrant workers, paid ₹21 crore, ₹8 crore, and ₹64 lakh respectively to ferry migrants out, the data shows.

The data, received through an RTI application filed by activist Ajay Bose, shows that the Railways earned ₹428 crore till June 29, by when most of the 4,615 trains had been run.

Additionally, it earned around ₹1 crore by running 13 trains in July.

Another set of data, received from the Railways on its expenditure, shows that it spent ₹3,400 per passenger the Shramik Special trains, which amounts to ₹2,142 crore for around 63 lakh migrant workers ferried in total.

A senior railway official said the national transporter only managed to recover 15 percent of the cost of operations from states and the rest 85 per cent was borne by the ministry.

“The average fare per person on Shramik Special trains is ₹600. However, we have spent ₹3,400 per passenger, amounting to a total of ₹2,142 crore. And by carrying 63 lakh migrant workers home since May 1, we generated a revenue of ₹429 crore," the official confirmed.

However, this effort of the Railways should not be seen from the prism of profit and loss, he said.

¨What the Railways did during the pandemic was part of a united effort to contribute in the fight against the pandemic. It should not be seen in terms of profit and loss," said the official.

On Thursday, the Railways said it had met all the demand of states by then for Shramik Special trains, with the last service being operated on July 9.

The Railways started Shramik Specials on May 1 to transport stranded migrant workers to their native states after thousands tried to reach home on foot due to the lockdown transport restrictions.

On July 9, the last two trains departed from the Chennai Central station -- one to Jodhpur with 1,449 passengers, and the other to Howrah with 1,620 passengers, officials said.

The Railways said it operated 4,109 Shramik trains in May, which came down to 493 in June, and 13 in July.

Most of these trains originated from Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra and were destined to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, officials said.
 
Shunting in railways is done by a large fleet of Diesel Locomotives. But procuring new built electric locomotives for this role is economically and technically not possible. Therefore Railway Workshops around the country are now working to converting retired WAG5 electric locomotives and retired EMU/MEMU power cars , to dual mode locomotive. Meaning capability to run under AC traction as well as capacity to run on battery power where electric traction is absent, like in maintenance sheds or parking spaces.

Atleast 3 known prototypes have been rolled out till date, with a few more under conversion process. If the results are successful, large number of retiring older Electric locomotives will find a 2nd life.

As shunting is done at around 10kmph , therefore locomotives with defects like cracks in chassis, etc also are able to do this duty.
 
Can't say whether this is a genuine development or a load of BS. Back in the day, a train journey between Khar & Bandra took 3 min or less. Since the past decade, this alternates between 4-5 min or more. Then there's the stoppage time at Khar stn proceeding in the direction of Churchgate & at Bandra stn when proceeding to Borivali to add To the misery.

To add to it came a grand announcement some 6-7 years ago that the electrification system was changed to AC from DC & the commute would be faster.

If anything I used to reach Churchgate in 32-33 min in 2005 than the 40-45 min it now takes. I wonder whom are the IR / WR trying to convince.
 
Can't say whether this is a genuine development or a load of BS. Back in the day, a train journey between Khar & Bandra took 3 min or less. Since the past decade, this alternates between 4-5 min or more. To add to it came a grand announcement some 6-7 years ago that the electrification system was changed to AC from DC & the commute would be faster.

If anything I used to reach Churchgate in 32-33 min in 2005 than the 40-45 min it now takes. I wonder whom are the IR / WR trying to convince.
You would definetly note that local slows down at the S curve, maybe they have strengthened the track there, especially on harbor line.
 
You would definetly note that local slows down at the S curve, maybe they have strengthened the track there, especially on harbor line.
But that's what I'm trying to point out . It never had stoppages there some 10 years ago. How come it suddenly became a Permanent Speed Restriction Zone.
 
But that's what I'm trying to point out . It never had stoppages there some 10 years ago. How come it suddenly became a Permanent Speed Restriction Zone.
Locals do get slower at S curve just near the Cinema house, though they don't stop there except when signal isn't green. As Churchgate bound locals track tracks merge after Khar Road, track clearance becomes issue. On speed restriction I am not sure it was permanent or temporary.
 
Locals do get slower at S curve just near the Cinema house, though they don't stop there except when signal isn't green. As Churchgate bound locals track tracks merge after Khar Road, track clearance becomes issue. On speed restriction I am not sure it was permanent or temporary.
They don't just get slower, they also halt there for some duration. It's the same for up country local trains though not as frequent which is ridiculous considering the tracks bifurcate after Bandra towards Khar. The speed restrictions appear permanent. They've been on since nearly a decade.

Also I don't see how 57 workers achieving the task in 60 days is worth tom tomming about. Are we expected to be grateful to the WR? Put another way, had there been no lockdown, the situation would have persisted with no clear end in sight.

There have been times when the slow local to CHG has taken exactly an hour to reach CHG station from Khar with the train limping all the way till Dadar in daytime during peak hours screwing up one's entire schedule & these weren't isolated incidents but happened at the frequency of at least once a week .It makes my blood boil.
 
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They don't just get slower, they also halt there for some duration. It's the same for up country local trains though not as frequent which is ridiculous considering the tracks bifurcate after Bandra towards Khar. The speed restrictions appear permanent. They've been on since nearly a decade.

Also I don't see how 57 workers achieving the task in 60 days is worth tom tomming about. Are we expected to be grateful to the WR? Put another way, had there been no lockdown, the situation would have persisted with no clear end in sight.

There have been times when the slow local to CHG has taken exactly an hour to reach CHG station from Khar with the train limping all the way till Dadar in daytime during peak hours screwing up one's entire schedule & these weren't isolated incidents but happened at the frequency of at least once a week .It makes my blood boil.

Speed is a Function of Track Condition

That is why these Gatiman and Vande Bharat are put on the Best Tracks in the country

In the pics above they are also.replacing the sleepers

During Normal times they get only Sundays for Mega Block.

Also Western Railways has One local.every 3 minutes

So Track Congestion is natural

The Best solution is that All trains ,slow or fast
Should be 15 coaches
 
Speed is a Function of Track Condition

That is why these Gatiman and Vande Bharat are put on the Best Tracks in the country

In the pics above they are also.replacing the sleepers

During Normal times they get only Sundays for Mega Block.

Also Western Railways has One local.every 3 minutes

So Track Congestion is natural

The Best solution is that All trains ,slow or fast
Should be 15 coaches
We're discussing local train tracks for slow trains.Vande Bharat & Gatiman don't run on these tracks. Besides even if we were to consider trains running currently at 100 kph, we already have the Rajdhani Tejas Express & Duronto doing so in the city on trains meant for local fast trains.

Sundays are indeed meant for repairing wear & tear & regular maintenance activities. However the very fact that 57 workers took 60 days to re lay tracks on a stretch of not more than 2-3 kms begs the question, was the nature of the work such that it required 60 days? In which case under normal circumstances, given the heavy traffic on these routes we would in all probability never have seen such work carried out on it. Which in turn means all the problems listed above would've continued.

The best part is we're still not sure if all these activities carried out will result in faster journeys on those tracks. The term faster journeys is a misnomer for as I pointed out we used to reach CHG from Khar on those old tracks running on DC in 32-33 min in 2005 . I'd really appreciate it if we can revert to the schedule maintained in those old days.
 
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