Argentina & Chile rail, and a bit of Indian Subcontinent

[user 6862]

Sure did.

Now that looks fabulous, thank you.

 

[jis]

v v, if you are thinking of going to the Indian Subcontinent, I would recommend that you do so in 2026 or later. There will be two mega projects in the subcontinent that should be up and running by 2026, which are spectacular.

1. Kashmir Rail link - by 2026 you should be able to take the Srinagar Rajdhani Express from Delhi all the way to Srinagar, the Capital of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory. This will pass over the spectacular steel arch Chenab Bridge (the highest in the world), and the Anji Khad asymmetric cable stayed box girder bridge, and pass through numerous long tunnels including the Pir Panjal Tunnel which carries the line under the foothills (equivalent of the Front Range collectively known as the Shivaliks) of Himalayas consisting of the Pir Panjal Range there, and into the Kashmir Valley.

2. The Padma Bridge Rail Link - should be up and running by then, dramatically reducing the run time of the Maitree Express from Kolkata (India) to Dhaka (Bangladesh) from 11 hours to 4 to 5 hours or so. It will cross the 6.15km long new Padma Bridge across the main channel of the Padma that carries the waters of both the Ganga and the Bramhaputra (Yarlung Tsanggpo in Tibet). The volume of water is only slightly less than that carried by the Amazon to the sea, but that happens through multiple channels. Maitree Express is a fully air-conditioned service and Customs and Immigration takes place only at the origin and destination stations (Kolkata International Terminal in Kolkata and Dhaka Cantonment in Dhaka), with no fiddling around at the border involving passengers. At the border only the train staff and the locomotive changes.

 

[user 6862]

v v, if you are thinking of going to the Indian Subcontinent, I would recommend that you do so in 2026 or later. There will be two mega projects in the subcontinent that should be up and running by 2026, which are spectacular.

1. Kashmir Rail link - by 2026 you should be able to take the Srinagar Rajdhani Express from Delhi all the way to Srinagar, the Capital of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory. This will pass over the spectacular steel arch Chenab Bridge (the highest in the world), and the Anji Khad asymmetric cable stayed box girder bridge, and pass through numerous long tunnels including the Pir Panjal Tunnel which carries the line under the foothills (equivalent of the Front Range collectively known as the Shivaliks) of Himalayas consisting of the Pir Panjal Range there, and into the Kashmir Valley.

2. The Padma Bridge Rail Link - should be up and running by then, dramatically reducing the run time of the Maitree Express from Kolkata (India) to Dhaka (Bangladesh) from 11 hours to 4 to 5 hours or so. It will cross the 6.15km long new Padma Bridge across the main channel of the Padma that carries the waters of both the Ganga and the Bramhaputra (Yarlung Tsanggpo in Tibet). The volume of water is only slightly less than that carried by the Amazon to the sea, but that happens through multiple channels. Maitree Express is a fully air-conditioned service and Customs and Immigration takes place only at the origin and destination stations (Kolkata International Terminal in Kolkata and Dhaka Cantonment in Dhaka), with no fiddling around at the border involving passengers. At the border only the train staff and the locomotive changes.

Thank you jis, sounds very impressive indeed, and as you write worth waiting for. It may be a question of visiting the southern part of the Subcontinent one year, and the central and northern part the next.

Thanks for taking the time, I appreciate that.

 

[Ziv]

Simple…I use a “people filter”
Actually, it was a 2 day national holiday in Sri Lanka
Next port: Port Blair, India 0700 on 9 May
This is on Andaman Island.
Would really be surprised if they had a railway there…

I use "people filters", too! Mine are the old fashioned kind. Time of day and patience. LOL!
I try to get to sites early (the light is better then, too) and when I see a vista I like I wait until the tides of tourists temporarily wash away and then take the photo. It does not work every time and sometimes I wait quite a while but it usually works to some degree.

 

[user 6862]

Small but interesting update on using rail in Argentina, found this which came up with a number of lines, both public and private running in for us interesting areas of the country.

https://www.argentina.travel/en/news/traintrips-los-mejores-recorridos-en-tren-por-argentina

The national rail operator has fairly extensive rail operations but the big hurdle is it's almost impossible to buy tickets in advance. We have 3 major deadlines around this vast journey so need to be fairly sure we can get tickets. Still working on it...

As an aside we are getting help re travel in Chile from an American couple who live there 6 months of each year. Surprise, surprise, we met them on an Amtrak train a few years ago.

 

[user 6862]

Here’s one that I enjoyed riding recently…
https://www.trendelfindelmundo.com.ar/en/

Hello railiner, may I ask how did you get to the station from the port/city centre as I see it's 8km.

Thanks

 

[railiner]

Hello railiner, may I ask how did you get to the station from the port/city centre as I see it's 8km.
Thanks

Sure thing. Aboard this…

Sorry, weak internet in the Sea of Okhotsk…
Couldn’t upload photo of my transport…
a Volvo Metalsur coach, on my ship’s shore excursion to the station.

 

[user 6862]

Sure thing. Aboard this…

Sorry, weak internet in the Sea of Okhotsk…
Couldn’t upload photo of my transport…
a Volvo Metalsur coach, on my ship’s shore excursion to the station.

Thanks. Is that an endless cruise you are on?

 

[railiner]

Thanks. Is that an endless cruise you are on?

198 days …ends 11 Jul, for me...

 

[user 6862]

198 days …ends 11 Jul, for me...

Have you found your sea legs yet?

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

One of my oldest friends was just in Argentina for a bit 'escaping his problems here' and taking a Spanish course. He said that that despite the economy there are new suburbs building up gangbusters on new suburban services (taking statement with a grain of salt, but interesting none the less).

 

[user 6862]

One of my oldest friends was just in Argentina for a bit 'escaping his problems here' and taking a Spanish course. He said that that despite the economy there are new suburbs building up gangbusters on new suburban services (taking statement with a grain of salt, but interesting none the less).

That's interesting, where in Argentina did he stay? Being involvled in local life is always an aim, but I suppose there are limits.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

That's interesting, where in Argentina did he stay? Being involvled in local life is always an aim, but I suppose there are limits.

BA - they went to the area where this development was occurring - somewhere suburban. He said that it was a massive area of newly built identical luxury houses, essentially mcmansions as I gathered it. He was surprised that there was construction on that scale.

He was staying with a friend of his who is Argentinian so definitely gets local color.

 

[user 6862]

That's really interesting, we'll have a total of 5-6 days in BA and have read there are great differences in city neighbourhoods.
Was hoping to leave BA by train but getting tickets is difficult more than a week or so ahead. May get lucky in getting a train back to BA but at the moment having better luck with buying long distance bus tickets in advance.

On a recent trip to SE Asia we were very surprised at some of the infrastructure projects (in particular connected to transportation) in major cities, bigger and often more ambitious than anything we have seen recently in Europe or the US.

 

[cirdan]

Talking about Chile and particularly the Santiago to Valparaiso line (which currently does not have passenger trains, as discussed upthread), here is a recent video of an inspection train