Rail service and travel by rail in India and Bangladesh

[jis]

In the past we have discussed the use of expansion joints in rail tracks. In India it is a standard to have expansion joints at each end of long welded segments. Typically these are seen adjacent to interlocking plants I found this very clear view in a video which I thought would be worth sharing to illustrate these so called double switch expansion joints.



The location is Masagram East interlocking on the Howrah - Barddhaman Chord (HBC) section of the Kolkata - Delhi route. This track is technically cleared for 160kph (100mph) operation but is speed restricted to 130kph (81mph) for commercial operation because the complete fencing that is required to produce a sealed corridor is not completed yet. You can see the fencing that is in place in the background. At this specific point the speed limit on this track is 75kph due to construction work involving this track which includes installing a switch and removing an existing switch (see below for the reason).

Masagram East is undergoing major modification as a connection is being built to a new branch suburban line to Bankura. When completed Masagram will become an inter-zone station with HBC in Eastern Railway and the new branch in South Eastern Railway zone.

You can look it up in Google Map. Currently HBC is triple track through Masagram, but is soon going to be quadruple track as the fourth track is extended west from Chandanpur. You can see the groundwork for the fourth track on the left side of the frame. Eventually, after the Dedicated Freight Corridor is built through here in all it will become a six track railroad two suburban tracks, two express tracks and two freight tracks..

 

[cirdan]

Could it be that the reason for these joints is to provide some sort of electrical isolation between segments for signal and detection purposes?

They have generally followed streets or other ground that do not have significant buildings on them in order to minimize disturbance to the building foundations. It is difficult to know what will happen if foundations built in mud are disturbed. Multiple rerouting leading to trying to tunnel under buildings possibly led to the collapse between Esplanade and Sealdah several years back. An underground spring completed the fiasco. Currently apparently the Westbound Tunnel which was affected has finally been completed, and work is in progress to plug the hole in the ground through which the TBMs were recovered at that point.

I don't know about India, but in the legal systems of some countries land ownersip also means you technically own the subsoil going a long way down. Property owners can thus block tunneling projects even if these have no noticeable impact. This is the reason that in London for example, most of the underground bits of the Underground run below streets and public land (and there are some pretty tight corners).

It doesn't really help much against subsidence IMHO as soil adjacent to the construction activity is often just as prone to subsidence as soil directly above.

 

[jis]

Could it be that the reason for these joints is to provide some sort of electrical isolation between segments for signal and detection purposes?

Standard insulated joints are used for that purpose. These are for expansion and there is no specific insulating function.

I don't know about India, but in the legal systems of some countries land ownersip also means you technically own the subsoil going a long way down. Property owners can thus block tunneling projects even if these have no noticeable impact. This is the reason that in London for example, most of the underground bits of the Underground run below streets and public land (and has some pretty tight corners).

It doesn't really help much against subsidence as soil adjacent to the construction is just as prone to subsidence as soil directly above.

India generally follows British practices. The government has to buy/lease easements from property owners, and usually such contracts include clauses protecting the property owner from damage caused by the use of such easements. That is why all the people displaced by this fiasco are being housed in apartments temporarily until the equivalent of their original accommodation can be built after the situation is stabilized in the original property locations. KMRC is paying for their housing and displacement. They will also build new houses/apartment buildings in the original locations replacing everything that has been damaged by subsidence..

In Kolkata the existence of an aquifer so near the surface that had not already been drained by tube wells surprised everyone. There are plenty of subsidence problems due to simply aquifer depletion due to pumping of water through tube wells around there., and those are typically from much shallower layers, which have more or less been bled dry. The big tube wells used now are much deeper than the depth of the rail tubes under the Bow Bazar area.

When they are able to get access to road alignments, first choice is to go elevated. If they must go underground, which they try to avoid as much as possible since that costs much more, unless there is reason to go deep, they tend to use diaphragm walls to protect against land displacement and use cut and cover, since it works out to have more predictable outcomes even though it inconveniences the users of the road that is dug up. There are significant hazards to building underground structures in a delta that is barely stable. The big bridges are all built on stabilized "floating: caissons (floating in mud essentially) since there is no rock layer to go down to for miles.

 

[jis]

The East West Green Line of the Kolkata Metro System, mentioned in the post above is eventually designed to operate on 2.5 min headway using CBTC. At present it is operating under absolute block control on 15-20 minute headway pending the completion of the segment discussed in the post above. Naturally operating in two parts - in the order of inauguration Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah and Howrah Maidan to Esplanade.

In this temporary relatively infrequent operation which runs only 6 days a week, in the last two months it carried 4.5 Million riders which is pretty impressive. The trains naturally are running rather full. This is not surprising since this line serves the largest and second largest suburban terminals in India. Howrah alone accounted for 1.8 Million. When completed and running at full capacity it is expected to carry over 1 Million riders a day over its 22km (14 miles) length.

The North South Blue Line in the same period carried 30 Million riders.

 

[jis]

We have a tendency to look at only premium service. While there are many videos of travel on branch lines available, the commentary in almost all of them is in local languages. However, because all signage on IR is in two or three languages, English always being one of them, if one is armed with Google Map one can follow where it is traveling. So with that caveat I thought I would share a journey video with you as an experiment to give you a view of what rural off the beaten path. service is like in far outer suburban areas connected to Kolkata in this case via Howrah Station.

This video shows two connecting train rides, one on an old branch line between Bishnupur and Bankura Jn on a loco hauled regional semi fast train. and the other on a rural far outer zone Kolkata Suburban Line between Bankura Jn. and a little village of Patrasayer on the Bankura - Masagram (see post above about Masagram Jn.) MEMU. All service is electric as all railways in the state of West Bengal is electric now.

The Bankura - Masagram line is in the valley of the Damodar River which was known as the sorrow of Bengal. It was tamed by the Damodar Valley Corporation that was set up following the example of TVA in the US, to build multiple dams that store water for use in the lean seasons and generate hydro-power and prevent floods. This line was originally built privately by Martin Burn and Co as a Narrow Gauge so called Light Railway. It was nationalized after independence and converted to Broad Gauge and electrified in this century.

The Bishnupur - Bankura train crosses a few long distance trains. One that is mentioned to be Rajdhani Express is not Rajdhani Express. But the following train with a Yellow/Orange livery is the New Delhi - Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) Tejas Rajdhani Express (OBS service provided by contractor). The only major river crossed is Dhaleshwari which flows into the Damodar which in turn flows in Hooghly, the branch of the Ganges that passes through Kolkata.

OK with all the commentary out of the way, here is the video. The commentary incidentally, is in Bengali but many English words interspersed. We tend to be natively bi or tri lingual and that shows in the videos. At least one station board is actually qudri lingual - Bengali, English, Hindi/Devnagari and Odishi.

 

[jis]

Here is another off the beaten path railways post from the Indian subcontinent...

I came across this vlog about the recently restored border crossing between India and Bangladesh between Chilahati in Bangladesh and Haldibari in West Bengal, India. Originally built in Meter Gauge by North Bengal Railway, later converted to Broad Gauge by East Bengal Railway, this used to be the route of the Kolkata - Siliguri Darjeeling Mail. Now the Indian portion falls under Indian Railways Northeast Frontier Railway zone, and the Bangladesh Railway portion falls in the West Zone of Bangladesh Railway.

Currently there is a single through passenger service - Mitali Express between New Jalpaiguri in India and Dhaka in Bangladesh operating across this border. Unfortunately the entire vlog is in Bengali so it would probably be incomprehensible to anyone who is not fluent in Bengali. But let me share on snapshot from the vlog by Shoma Afroze of Bangladesh who owns the Copyright and is shared via the Youtube IP rules.

This snapshot shows the newly reconnected line that had been totally severed, near the border, with a several km segment in the then East Pakistan, where tracks had been removed completely by the then Pakistan Eastern Railways:



The gate that you can see behind the Auto Rickshaw crossing the track is the border checkpost. The white marker board you see on the right of the track is the marker of the actual border. Indian Railways and Bangladesh Railways connect at the Expansion Switch Joint near the people walking down the track. Indian Railways is towards the checkpost gate heading away from the camera, Bangladesh Railways towards the camera.

While there is a continuous barbed wire fence along the border with a set back into India from the actual border, there are pedestrian gates at the border fence that are open for crossing during the daylight hours. Farmers of the fields that are in India but on the Bangladesh side of the fence use those to work in their fields, and general population cross back and forth to visit friends and relatives. Between 1965 and 1990 this border was closed tightly shut with no crossing of any sort allowed. The opening happened after the new treaty rationalizing the border between India and Bangladesh went into effect removing the myriads of enclaves and enclaves within enclaves with significant population transfer connected with the enclaves.

Anyway, for those that wish to brave it through a Bengali Vlog here is a link to the full video which talks quite a bit about the Bangladesh border station at Chilahati which is being rebuilt as a border checkpost station which will facilitate the operation of local trains across the border. At present the through train to Dhaka has its Bangladesh border processing done in Dhaka.

 

[jis]

Significant increase in cross border rail service appears to be in the offing as indicated by the reports from the recent 36th Inter-Government Railway Meeting held in September 2023 in Dhaka. Here is a newspaper report on it.

https://www.daily-sun.com/post/725145

A second overnight Kolkata - Dhaka train has been mooted, as well as Indian request for transit service through Bangladesh between Kolkata and New Japaiguri via Chilahati/Haldibari (see post above) , and Kolkata and Agartala (Tripura) via the new Padma Bridge and the new Akhaura-Agartala connection which has just been completed. Also four additional border crossing points are being considered which includes restoration of pre-1965 connections at two (Mongolhat - Gitaldaha, Burimari - Changrabndha) and new connections to be built at the other two between rail heads that are close to the border in both countries but never connected together before (Birampur - Hilli, Feni - Belonia).

The official list of Final Location Surveys that are in progress is much more impressive....

Northeast Frontier Railway list of Final Location Survey sanctioned by the Railway Board of India in collaboration with Bangladesh Railway and Nepal Railway Authority.

 

[caravanman]

Interesting that you mentioned the New Delhi - Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani, that is a train that I travelled on myself, to visit the temple at Konark. The scenes are all familiar to me, the open doors of the trains, the folk walking on the tracks. Even the young lady filming the latter video is happily strolling along the rails.
Sadly, I doubt that I will get back to India again, I will miss my visits very much.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

This is sort of off top, but sort of on topic (and I do enjoy these India interludes). I was watching a video of the Rome Metro (or one of the electric suburban services, part of which runs through a tunnel) and was reminded of what I think of as being an Indian trait of the barred operable windows. That is all.

 

[jis]

This is sort of off top, but sort of on topic (and I do enjoy these India interludes). I was watching a video of the Rome Metro (or one of the electric suburban services, part of which runs through a tunnel) and was reminded of what I think of as being an Indian trait of the barred operable windows. That is all.

Those are good for stopping entire bricks thrown at the train and saving the need to replace a wind shield. That used to be a problem that was more pervasive than now. Still happens in some areas but not too common. So for example the newer rolling stock do not have those grills.

There is some interesting news today. The Mumbai - Ahmadabad route (part of the Mumbai - Delhi Western Railway, ex-BB&CI route) is undergoing final Commissioner of Rail Safety (CRS) certification for clearing it for MAS of 160kph/100mph. It is expected to happen within the next few weeks, with time table changes to go into effect on 15 August. The following class of train types will initially run at the higher speed: Vande Bharat, Shatabdi, Rajdhani, Tejas. Duronto. Eventually all trains with LHB consists will run at the higher speed. The higher speed will reduce the running times of the trains by between 45 mins and one hour.

Work continues on the remainder of Mumbai - Delhi route and the Howrah (Kolkata) - Delhi route with CRS certification scheduled for later this year. The main things that have to be in place is the Kavach train protection system, electrification upgrade to the 2x25kV system with shorter spans and track fencing for the entire length cleared for 100mph.

 

[railiner]

This is sort of off top, but sort of on topic (and I do enjoy these India interludes). I was watching a video of the Rome Metro (or one of the electric suburban services, part of which runs through a tunnel) and was reminded of what I think of as being an Indian trait of the barred operable windows. That is all.

IIRC, the old New Haven used to have “ghetto grates” over locomotive windshields to protect crew from objects as large as refrigerators (!)
Being dropped on trains from bridges…

 

[jis]

The first full test train, a MEMU (Mainline EMU) operated across the Chenab Bridge yesterday as Northern Railway (Indian Railways) prepares to start commercial service between Sangaldan and Reasi, the penultimate piece to be completed of the Kashmir Rail link, by the beginning of July.



The remaining section between Reasi and Katra crosses one of the main Inter-plate thrust fault between the Indian Plate and the Asian Plate. The thrust fault is 350m wide with very weak broken up rocks. There is essentially an underground river flowing along the fault, and so they have had to take some extraordinary engineering steps to make it possible to build a stable tunnel across it. They essentially had to build an additional small tunnel to redirect the stream to keep it from pouring into the main tunnel. Then there is also the issue of building allowing for significant fault movement without destroying the tunnel and track. Leave room for movement and periodic de-stressing. The work that remains is benching and finishing the lining of about 50ms through the thrust zone. The tunnel has been in place for over a year but they have been working on engineering solutions for containing the underground stream, which appears to have finally been successful.

That segment also includes the Anji Khad Asymmetric Cable Stayed Bridge which is essentially completed with electrified track in place. This bridge is unique in that the bridge deck has ballasted track unlike all other bridges and tunnels and open sections, where track is ballastless. Ballasted track was found to be the most efficient way of dealing with expansion and contraction and vertical motion of the bridge deck, leaving adequate "play" between the track and the bridge deck to absorb such seamlessly.

That section should be completed within another 6 months.

 

[west point]

It is time for rail construction in the US changes. Here is a link of India installing a very large and long RR bridge in just 24 hours.
https://www.newsweek.com/high-speed-rail-bridge-complete-24-hours-india-1916609

 

[cirdan]

The remaining section between Reasi and Katra crosses one of the main Inter-plate thrust fault between the Indian Plate and the Asian Plate. The thrust fault is 350m wide with very weak broken up rocks.

Fascinating. Do you have any idea how much movement there is annually.

I was once lucky enough to go on a tour of a tunnel in Freiburg, Germany, which crosses between two tectonic sub-plates. The Rhine valley here effectively is a rift valley that is not only growing wider very slowly but also deeper, so the movement has both a horizontal and a vertical component. This railway tunnel was built in the 1930s and there is one place in the tunnel where the movement is clearly visible and regularly monitored, with past repairs clearly visible. There was also water ingress and a special drainage channel. As the tunnel is electrified there were also protective plates to keep the water off the catenary. With the water being warmer than the air much of the time, there was also a condensation problem. Our guide said the tunnel added about 1 to 2mm per year. I guess in the Himalayas the drift should be quite a bit more than that.

 

[jis]

The Main Front Thrust fault, which this is part of is said to have a motion of 1cm to 1.4cm per year. The movement is partly horizontal and partly vertical as the fault is not vertical but diagonal dipping to the north, i.e. the land to the north of it is rising relative to the land to the south as the Indian Plate subducts about 200 - 300 miles to the north of the location of the MFT at the Pir Panjal foothills in this case. Of course the actual physical movement that is visible depends on where and when and how frequently the fault breaks.

Incidentally railways built across or along thrust faults is not unusual in the Indian subcontinent. The Barack Valley Line in the east in Assam sits slightly to the west of the main subduction zone where the Indian plate is subducting under the Burmese Plate. The line, which is replete with spectacular scenery all along specially between Lumding and Badarpur through Haflong, is along a thrust fault associated with that subduction. This fault line is a continuation of the Sunda Trench and the 90 Degree East Ridge under the Bay of Bengal which broke a few years back further south to produce the massive Sumatra Earthquake with associated Tsunami and all that.