Nilgiri
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and those were supposed to last 35+ years !
They will probably "last" that long....babus will just change the definition of what "lasting" is
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and those were supposed to last 35+ years !
BOMBARDIERS ARE RAIN READY, BUT COMMUTERS FAR FROM CONVINCED
By Kamal Mishra, Mumbai Mirror | Jun 13, 2016, 09.19 AM IST
A day after the season's first spell of showers brought eight Bombardier rakes to a grinding halt, crippling services on the Western Railway, authorities on Sunday claimed to have fixed the problem. Minor fluctuations in power supply shut down the state-of-the-art rakes on Saturday, leading to cancellation of 80 services between Churchgate and Borivali, once again triggering fears of nightmarish commute in the coming months.
Commuters said they won't feel assured until the claims are proved. WR currently has a fleet of 39 Bombardier rakes and will acquire an additional 33 trains, each costing about Rs 40 crore, from Germany. Nearly 34 lakh people use WR's network daily.
WR officials said the hi-tech trains respond to minor variations in current and resistance by tripping the power supply. Once it happens thrice on the trot, there is no way the motorman can switch on the power system. It has to be hauled to the car shed.
Shailesh Gupta, additional divisional railway manager of WR's Mumbai Central unit, said a team of 25 engineers worked round-theclock to fix the glitch. "We have upgraded the software the Bombardier rakes are ready to run during rains."
The railways included the 12-car Bombardier rakes in 2015, claiming that they were fast, more spacious, reliable and had better suspension and that the features would improve commuting experience for commuters. According to Ajay Singh, general secretary of WR Mazdoor Sangh, several senior officials visited Germany under the pretext of understanding the features of the new-age rakes. "They should be asked as to what they did there. What took them so long to realise that Indian conditions are different from Germany and certain customisations are essentials for the Bombardiers to run in Mumbai."
Singh said such problem do not develop in the trusted Siemen trains as WR has modified their power supply system to weather city conditions. Rajiv Singhal, member of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC), said the "tall" claims of officials will be put to test once rains hit the city in full force. "Railway officials say many things, but it is the same experience every year. Only time will tell if they have really fixed the problem."
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/...s-far-from-convinced/articleshow/52722221.cms
Mumbai: Your AC local ride could take 4 months to a year
BINOO NAIR | Wed, 18 May 2016-06:50am , Mumbai , dna
Just when will Mumbaikars get to ride on an air-conditioned local train? If railway officials from an assortment of agencies that dna spoke to is anything to go by, it could take as early as four months and as late as one year. The fact, all these officials pointed out, was that the AC local was uncharted territory for Indian Railways and secondly deploying it in one of the world's most demanding networks – Mumbai, with its crowds and humidity – was a tough call.
The third reason that is putting pressure on these agencies is that the failure of the AC local in Mumbai can actually dent the Make in India initiative that the Railways so dearly wants to embrace. The railway board has made it clear that the nine AC rake orders with the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai would be constructed only once the trial, testing, commissioning and running feedback from this AC local is obtained.
"A failure could actually mean we are back to a situation where our local trains are either from multinationals like Siemens and Bombardier or we continue to build things ourselves and waste precious time," said a top official.
While messages sent to Central Railway's top authorities did not elicit any response, officials from Research Design Standards Organisation, ICF-Chennai and Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd refused to put out a date on the commissioning of the train.
"It is a new product and it might take time. We cannot rush the testing of the rake. A delay is better than a half-tested product," was the common refrain of these officials.
Mumbai has had a history of its train trials taking ages. The first Bombardier rake arrived in Mumbai on October 2013 but got commissioned in March 2015, almost 18 months later. The indigenous Medha local which is supposed to run on Western Railway arrived in Mumbai in October 2015 and is yet to be commissioned, almost seven months later.
What needs to be tested?
1. 15-tonne roof-mounted packaging units – railway lingo for AC – in each coach. It will be much more effective than the 10 tonne RMPUs installed in the newly-built double-decker rakes. Most of the trains including Rajdhani, have RMPUs of 7 tonnes
2. First-ever fully automatic sliding door mechanism on a local train
3. Vestibules that connect six coaches of the rake
4. Train control and management system (TCMS) and twin power systems (for running and for ACs, built by BHEL and Netherlands-based Strukton Rail
5. The working of all these equipment at a test speed of 70kmph and maximum speed of 110 kmph.
Mumbai: Your AC local ride could take 4 months to a year | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis
After seeing those ICF manufactured Bomardier rakes, I am very concerned about the future of those A/C rakes
@Nilgiri @anant_s @PARIKRAMA
If this was the case then why we are having new GE factory?
We still need something to haul the unelectrified routes....plus they are not so diesel guzzling as the ones before
but a whole new facility to make those doesn't make sense if they really want to go away with diesel
They are investing for next 40 years or so
or they are talking about passenger trains only
Yes I think the article is directed to passenger traffic mostly:
"Action Plan for improving mobility and increasing average speed of trains incude replacement of conventional loco hauled commuter trains by Main Line Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) and Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains," said a railway ministry official.
India can then sell any surplus Diesel locos it has and also export new GE ones possibly over a longer timeframe if massive electrification takes place and if road provides a better alternative for certain sectors.
It is part of hedging, it is good to strive for as much electric infra/traction as possible.....but there will be routes that are doggedly diesel so we still need locos for that in the future.
"Those double stacked container trains that were recently started seem difficult with overhead electrification. Same with Roll on Roll off trains."
quoting above from some other forum and it makes sense
Mission Raftar: Indian Railways replacing all diesel-run trains with high-speed electric trains
A new initiative under Mission Raftar will do away with diesel engines and replace them with electricity-run engines. The railways have already started replacing passenger trains on short routes with electric-hauled MEMU trains.
BRIEFCASE
1
Indian Railways to do away with diesel engines.
2
Engines to be replaced with the ones running on electricity.
3
Passenger trains started being replaced by electric-hauled MEMU trains.
Diesel-guzzling engines of Indian Railways will soon give way to the fast-moving trains running on electricity.
In a first step towards phasing out diesel engines, the railways has begun replacing passenger trains on short routes with electric-hauled MEMU trains. This aims at increasing the speed of trains by up to 25 kmph and reducing air pollution by minimizing the use of diesel. Railway officials said the use of electric engines will also save on fuel cost as it is cheaper that diesel.
MISSION RAFTAR
The initiative is a part of 'Mission Raftar' announced by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the Rail Budget this year. The mission envisages a target of doubling of average speed of freight trains and increasing the average speed of all non-suburban passenger trains by 25 kmph in next 5 years. At present the average speeds for non-suburban passenger trains is 46.3 kmph and for freight trains the average speeds is 24.2 kmph.
To implement the plan, a cross-functional mission directorate has been created in the Railway Board. "Action Plan for improving mobility and increasing average speed of trains incude replacement of conventional loco hauled commuter trains by Main Line Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) and Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains," said a railway ministry official.
REPLACEMENT ALREADY BEGUN
To begin with, railways have already begun replacing diesel engines on Kanpur-Allahabad section and Asansol-Dhanbad section.
A senior Railway Board officer said cash crunch is mainly responsible for slow pace of producing electric engines. Railways are also expediting the work on electrification of railway network so as to remove diesel engines from service.
On an average 1350 km of rail line is electrified every year. However, the Union Power Ministry has proposed to fund railway's electrification and recover the cost from the ministry at later stage. With electrification of the entire rail network, the railways may gradually stop the production of diesel locomotives and also reduce the use of diesel as a fuel.
With this, railways may be able to cut down its expenses on fuel by up to `18,000 crore annually.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...s-high-speed-trains-electricity/1/737653.html
@anant_s @Nilgiri @Ankit Kumar 002
your thoughts
If this was the case then why we are having new GE factory?
I really laugh at the sentence " diesels cause pollution " ,does this mean electrics are god gifted ? From the present contracts of Railways , they buy most of their power from thermal power stations .
Further the production of MEMU/DEMU, the less said the better.
Incorrect!"Those double stacked container trains that were recently started seem difficult with overhead electrification. Same with Roll on Roll off trains."