Walking the Line - a night in the life of a trackman

[jis]

Thought some of you railroad folks might find this interesting - a night in the life of track walkers in India.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/walking-line-night-life-trackmen-000300747.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

 

[Bob Dylan]

Very interesting jis. I knew Government jobs were prized in India but to spend your life walking the tracks for peanuts seems like a bad deal!

Had to laugh @ the Superfast Express Train ( how fast do they run?) that was "chugging" out of the Station.

 

[jis]

Super fasts would be somewhere between 110kph and 140kph depending on the specific train. It really has more to do with fare surcharges than spectacular speeds. Designated super fast trains cost more.

Ghaziabad is a huge junction station where routes from four or five directions from the east, come together to get funneled into the Delhi complex. So nothing runs fast through there, not even the trains like the Rajdhanis and Shatabdis that do not stop there.

Think of Harold Interlocking for a vague comparison from the New York area.

BTW, my Grandfather was one level above these guys. He used to go on permanent way inspection on embargoed tracks using those trolley things way back when, on BNR (Bengal Nagpur Railway) now SER (South Eastern Railway).

 

[Bob Dylan]

Thanks jis! My grandfather started out as a Section Foreman for SP in tbe 1920s, worked his way up to Signals Inspector before retiring after 40 years.

I used to ride with him on his Motorcar when I was a boy, still remember the old semaphore signals that now only exist on the SWC Route around Raton IINM?.