Monsoon Railway... Super BBC programmes online.

[caravanman]

I am afraid you folk will be fed up with me banging on about Indian trains, but these BBC programmes are rather good.

You can even see the longest railway platform in the world!

[SIZE=medium]Monsoon Railway[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]About 10 years ago the BBC did a couple of programmes about Indian railways and how they cope with the monsoon rains. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-s9OTtpQ3s[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTvm1EuYwlY[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Many Indian railway video's available on you tube.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Ed [/SIZE]

 

[the_traveler]

I finally learned where Assam was. The best tea is Assam Tea! Thanks Ed!

 

[Texan Eagle]

Wait, you're saying there is more than one of these? Wow! I saw one and I thought that was the end of it. Now have to see the others.

 

[caravanman]

[SIZE=medium]Hi,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The two programmes are as above, part 1 and 2. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The BBC made several programmes about Indian Railways a few years back, but I have not been able to find them all on youtube.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]I remember one was about Shimla station and another was Bombay Railway. I think the Bombay Railway item was a two part also.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The first female loco and suburban train driver was featured .[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium](Edit [/SIZE][SIZE=medium] I have included the new Bombay clips lower on this post)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Timsvideochannel1 has excellent train video from all corners of the world, including the drivers eye views:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyWTvzBGW_4&list=TLPTod7LWrv_GT6U9Im-foImQ4W2C60nw3[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Ed [/SIZE]

 

[The Davy Crockett]

ED,

Fed up? No Way! I watched Part One last night and really enjoyed it. I'll find time today to watch Part Two and the other two shorter clips you posted today.

THANKS for posting these! :hi:

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Thanks for posting these Ed. I have some moral and ethical dilemmas with visiting India in person but I'm still curious about their passenger rail network. Interesting stuff.

 

[jis]

Love that series from BBC.

For those planning to do some Indian Railways riding this year, beware that IR is heading quite rapidly towards a general strike. The exact time, extent and duration is uncertain. But there is overwhelming support for such at All India Railwaymen's Federation. I lived and traveled through one of the previous general strikes, and trust me, it was no fun at all. See this article for some info: http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/railway-employees-mulling-general-strike-before-lok-sabha-polls_899144.html

What is different this time is that IR has very little elbow room to negotiate since it is in very dire financial straights. It has an enormous revenue shortfall resulting from irresponsible political decisions made by several recent Railway Ministers. Hopefully they will be able to work their way out of the hole that they are in. Something that was previously unthinkable, 100% FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) is now being seriously considered, and an outfit called the Indian Railway Finance Corporation is now about to issue bonds to raise cash to alleviate cashflow problems in the short term.

Before my recent trip to India I was not aware of much of this. It turns out a cousin of mine is a senior officer in Indian Railways on the finance side of the operations and he had been moaning about the sorry state of affairs for the last several years. So I had him sit down and explain to me what has been going on and where they are today. The situation is pretty bad, to say the least, though as is usual with political operations as much as possible is swept under the rug for as long as possible, specially with elections coming up.

Here is an example news article which mentions the little that is made visible in spite of the attempt to keep things quiet:

http://zeenews.india.com/business/news/economy/bumpy-rides-for-railways-in-2013_91287.html

 

[caravanman]

[SIZE=medium]Thanks for the encouragement. I have found those BBC Bombay Railway clips on youtube. Please bear in mind that they are about 8/9 years old, so some things will have changed, but much is very familiar to me from my last trip, 2011.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The long programmes have been divided up into smaller segments by the uploader. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fIuMzQwGJ8[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObU24Lj5jP4[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhmLQUfnCwI[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqxeI_RggYg[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpicPQVl91c[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz8C_RektAA[/SIZE]

The above 6 are all programme 1. The second programme is in the following clips. Just click on the link. Mumtaz the female driver is in this portion.

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnTdTDsES6A[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik08pUE-Vs8[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Y76cQPw_Q[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19zKRDlrFyg[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3j_-HbUuAM[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMUoiA8RWqs[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Sorry to hear about the potential for strikes this year, Jis, if you hear anything more concrete as to dates, please advise me! [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Is there an earliest possible date for disruptions in the union agreements?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Ed [/SIZE]

 

[jis]

Ed, the scuttlebutt is that it is likely to happen before the General Elections which must be completed by 31st May. So that gives a ballpark. No more detail beyond that at this moment that I am aware of. Texan Sunset may have some more info since he spent considerable time riding around on trains in India recently.