IndiaRailwatch:Turnaround?

[jpatokal]

News from a neighbor that gets less press than in should: Delhi (http://www.urbanrail.net/as/delh/delhi.htm)'s fully-underground Line 2 is now complete (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q=delhi.metro&btnG=Search+News). Previous sections have been in the north of the city and have seen mildly disappointing ridership figures, but the new 7-km stretch opened on July 3rd burrows through the very heart of town and connects together three of Delhi's largest transport hubs -- Old Delhi railway station, New Delhi railway station and the ISBT bus terminal. And most unusually for an Indian project, it was completed eight months ahead of schedule! Line 3, the final bit of the Phase I network and the line forecasted to have the highest ridership of all, is also progressing well and on track to open by December 2005 as planned.

[Wisarut]

:p Well, at least BBC has capture the news about Delhi Metro as shown here:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=160749&page=4

[Yappofloyd]

A direct link to the BBC report is here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4641913.stm) . The Dehli metro construction seems to be being completed on time (well actually ly 8 mths apparentahead of schedule!), unlike many other public works projects in India. Another new line, Line 3 - 32 kms, is due to open in Dec , see urbanrail (http://www.urbanrail.net/news2.htm) site. The Dehlimetro site (http://www.delhimetrorail.com/commuters/index.html) with maps (http://www.delhimetrorail.com/commuters/route_map.html) of the proposed networ.
Seems as though the Dehli is getting this done quickly almost as quick as some Chinese city metros. Will BKK be able to emulate such feats....? :confused:

[planedrummer449]

In this day and age no....not with all the corruption and bureacracy. :p
But maybe someday if the future it will be possible. I hope.

[Ijud]

The Star: 11th. October 2005
Doxport to start MRT talks next month

BY SABRY TAHIR

DOXPORT Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd is expected to start talks by mid-November on a 22- to 25-year concession of the proposed RM1.5bil mass light transit (MRT) Skybus Metro project in Hyderabad.

Managing director Sivalingam Thechinamoorthy said negotiations with the Indian authorities would commence after the completion of a technical feasibility study on Skybus' pilot run in Hyderabad, which recently got the nod from the Andhra Pradesh Government.

He said Doxport recently signed with Indian railway operator Konkan Railway Corp, which holds the intellectual property rights, for Skybus to carry out the feasibility study.

“The study will take four months and, if all goes well, Skybus can be operational in 2008,” Sivalingam said after the launch of Doxport's railway IT solutions SMART (Skybus Metro Accentuated Rail Transport System) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The company has appointed asset development service provider Opus International (M) Bhd as project manager and consultant for managing and completing the study.

Doxport will execute the project under a Build, Operate and Transfer basis. The project will be transferred to the state government after the concession period.

The Skybus project, which consists of two linked coaches suspended from elevated rails able to carry up to 150 commuters in each coach and travels up to 100km/h, was seen as a better bargain compared with the high cost of developing other means of MRT including metro rail, mono-rail and rapid transit system.

Skybus is touted as much safer than the conventional railway and more economical than the metro rail. Sivalingam said Doxport Technologies, formerly known as Doxport Consultancy, started the MRT business after it acquired Zygox Inc, a California-based biometric solutions provider which was carving a niche for itself in the MRT business, particularly in India.

Zygox in 2002 secured the entire information and communications technology portion of the first pilot project for Skybus in Goa, worth about RM120mil.

[jpatokal]

It's not just China who is booming anymore:

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=86600
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=86646
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=86644
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=86598

Also check out the New Hyderabad Airport (http://newhyderabadairport.com/) site. Pretty, except for the somewhat pathetic Project Progress bar :D

[ncr]

Good find, Jpat!

quite amazing... are we really talking about India? ;)

Especially those Delhi Subway developments are more than impressive:

What this means for Delhi: Phase I covers 55.79 km, carries 5 lakh passengers daily, [...]Really? "5 lakh" translates as 500,000. That's a lot for a newly opened metro. But then, as they say, the first phase already covers more than 55 km. Anyway, the Indians really push it:

Not even a month after Metro completed its Phase I, with over 55 km spread across the city, work on Phase II has begun.

B B Garg, Project Manager, Persys Arvind Techno, the private firm constructing the bridge for DMRC, says that while the target date is September 2007, ‘‘we will finish work much before that, probably by year-end. We are working round the clock’’.

And Bangkok? :( :rolleyes:

I still vividly remember something --- HM The King, at the subway opening, 03 July 2004: "This system should be expanded quickly." One and a half years on, we have seen lots of meddling in mass trasit plans, but we may well doubt if we will even see the start of construction of the Blue Ring and Hualamphong - Bang Khae extension this year, which were never in danger of being axed for political reasons, and for which detailed plans should be ready since a long time ago???

[jpatokal]

The Delhi Metro's Phase I already included three lines of 'real' metro, and if anything the 500,000 ridership is somewhat below projections -- partly due to problems in setting up feeder services and eliminating duplicate buses. As usual, oodles of info available at UrbanRail (http://urbanrail.net/as/delh/delhi.htm) and the Delhi Metro (http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/delhimetro/) mailing lost (Yahoo reg. required).

But yes, the progress is truly remarkable even/especially by Indian standards; for comparison, look at Calcutta (http://urbanrail.net/as/calc/calcutta.htm), which after 32 years of construction has a grand total of 16.5 km of metro along one line, with a further 8.5 km under construction... since 1995. Many credit the managing director E. Sreedharan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Sreedharan), who has pulled off similar miracles before and seems to have an incredible way with beating hide-bound bureaucracies into shape.

[Ijud]

The Star: 15th April 2006

By LEONG SHEN-LI

KUALA LUMPUR: KL Infrastructure Group Bhd, the company which operates the monorail here, has submitted a proposal to construct four new lines in the Klang Valley with a total length of 71km.

KLIG chairman Datuk Ahmad Sa’adi said the project was estimated to cost RM4.5bil and would take six years to complete.

“We presented this proposal to the Government two months ago,” he said yesterday.

Ahmad said the four new lines were the 21km Petaling Jaya line, 18km Subang Jaya line, 19km Sungai Buloh line and 13km Cheras line. The four lines will have 47 stations.

The Sungai Buloh line will directly link up with the existing KL Monorail system at the Titiwangsa station while the Subang Jaya line will link up with the existing system at the Tun Sambanthan station in Brickfields.

All four lines will integrate with the existing light rail transit (LRT) and the KTM Komuter rail systems.

“We expect the new lines to ferry some 400,000 passengers per day,” he said.

He added that when the entire network was completed, the existing lines would also experience an increase in usage because more people would find it convenient to use public transport.

“We should see another 320,000 passengers using the entire rail system daily on top of the current 340,000 passengers,'' he said.

He said this would help the Government achieve the Ninth Malaysia Plan target of a 30:70 public to private transport ratio for the Klang Valley.

Ahmad said under the proposal, MTrans Holdings Sdn Bhd, the holding company of KLIG, would manufacture 62 new monorail trains for the new lines.

“The new trains will have four cars each and carry at least 400 people,” he said.

Proposed Monorail Extension Map (http://www.thestar.com.my/archives/2006/4/15/nation/n_10monorail.jpg)

[jpatokal]

Here I was thinking we were a pretty hardcore bunch of train geeks, but once again the Japanese have managed to bring it to an entirely new level:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JVJZTRpYxg :eek: :D

[Tettyan]

Here I was thinking we were a pretty hardcore bunch of train geeks, but once again the Japanese have managed to bring it to an entirely new level:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JVJZTRpYxg :eek: :D

This is awesome! You just made my week. Thanks for posting this.

[jpatokal]

As I type this, the final Barakhamba Road-Indraprastha section (2.81 km) of Delhi Metro Line 3 has just opened:

http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Delhi+gets+another+metro+li ne&id=96148&category=National
http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/09/stories/2006110914390100.htm

This marks the completion of Phase I of the project. Work on Phase II is already in full swing.

On a personal note, I had the chance to try out the Metro a few weeks back, and it really is an achievement: a 100% world-class system in a country where very little if any of the infrastructure deserves that label. Line 2, which burrows through the phenomenally congested heart of Old Delhi, is particularly remarkable: can you imagine building an underground metro line through this? :eek:

http://wikitravel.org/shared/Image:ChawriBazaar_JamaMasjid.JPG

My hat is off to E. Sreedharan and the rest of the DMRC team -- keep it up!

[GWR]

First India-Bangladesh train link
By John Sudworth
BBC News, Dhaka

A train carrying Indian government officials has crossed the border and arrived in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.

The 500km (310 mile) journey marked the resumption of a direct passenger rail service between the two countries.

The link was suspended following the war between India and Pakistan more than four decades ago.

The diesel engine pulling five newly-painted coaches left Calcutta early on Sunday morning but arrived in Dhaka about two hours late.

It had been due to arrive at 1630 local time (1030 GMT).

The test run was the first full journey for the Moitree (Friendship) Express, but there were no paying passengers on board the train.

The train carried an Indian government delegation to meet their counterparts in Dhaka to finalise the timetable for the new service.

Symbolism

The driver gave it a blast on the horn for history's sake, as the train, with its India Railways insignia, rolled into Dhaka draped in bunting.

The two-hour delay in arriving seemed a mere trifle when compared to the 42 years the people of Bangladesh had been waiting for a direct train service to carry them across the border.

In 1965, Bangladesh was part of Pakistan when the war with India severed the international rail link.

That has remained suspended despite Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan a few years later.

In the 1990s, direct buses began running between Dhaka and Calcutta for the first time.

But the train has symbolic importance.

With seats likely to start from around $8 (£4), it will be popular with the thousands of Bangladeshis seeking medical treatment on the other side of the border.

Others will use it for visiting friends and relatives in India, with whom they share a common language.

The full Dhaka to Calcutta passenger service will start within the next few weeks.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6281710.stm

India signs trans-Asian railways pact
merinews network
05 July 2007, Thursday
Views: 107 Comments: 1

Soon the Indian traders would be able to export their goods to Europe through a dedicated railway network which will encompass the entire Asian continent.

NOT ONLY WILL this rail network revolutionize transportation in Asia but it will also bring in an element of political consolidation in the fractured Asian region. It will also provide a unique opportunity for India to strengthen ties with South East Asia and strengthen rail linkages in North Eastern part of the country.

With India and Bangladesh signing on the dotted lines in London, the dream of the trans-Asian railway network is likely to materialize as eighteen other Asian countries are already signatory to this agreement. The agreement was signed on India’s behalf by J.P.Batra, Chairman Railway Board, Indian Railways recently at UN Headquarters, New York.

Trans-Asian Railway Network will improve transport linkages between Asia and Europe facilitating movement of goods and containers among SAARC and ASEAN countries resulting in enhanced trade. The network comprises of 80,900 kilometres passing through 28 countries out of which 22600 kilometers pass through South Asia, Iran and Turkey. The Southern Corridor of the network as decided in an expert group meeting held in Dhaka in 1999, commences from Kunming in China and Bangkok in Thailand and ends in Kapikule in Bulgaria.

The total length of this route between Bangkok and Kapikule is 11,460 Kms and it provides Trans-continental rail connectivity to the countries of China, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Iran and Turkey. The Trans-Asia rail network will enter India at Tamu, bordering Myanmar, entering Bangladesh at Mahisasan / Shabajpur and again enter India from Bangladesh at Gede. On the west side, the route is proposed to enter Pakistan at Attari. This route has a missing link of 315 Kms between India and Myanmar of which 180 Kms alone is in India between Jiribam and Tamu in Manipur state.

The missing link in India from Jiribam (in Manipur) to Tamu in Myanmar as per the feasibility study conducted by the ministry of external affairs through RITES Ltd, is estimated to cost Rs 2,941 crore. Railway ministry has already sanctioned construction of 97 km new rail link on this portion, between Jiribam and Tupul near Imphal, at a cost of Rs 727.5 crore.

The inter-governmental agreement on Trans-Asian railway, conceived by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), was opened for signature during the ministerial conference on transport, Busan, South Korea, in November 2006.

In line with the Government’s “Look East Policy” that requires strengthening of rail linkages in the region especially with our South East Asian neighbours, the Government of India has signed the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Trans-Asian Railway. Earlier, 18 countries had signed the agreement at Busan, Republic of Korea in November 2006. Now with India and Bangladesh signing the agreement, a total number of 20 countries have become signatories of this agreement.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=125550

India Bangladesh rail link resumes

Freight train services between India and Bangladesh have resumed after a gap of twenty-five years.

The Indian Railways Minister, Mamata Banerjee, flagged off the first train from Petrapole in the state of West Bengal, bound for Benapole in Bangladesh.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Mrs Banjeree said she expected passenger trains to use the route in the near future, and that could be the precursor to a passenger service between Calcutta and Dhaka.

The transport link was disrupted by two wars between India and Pakistan and political turmoil in Bangladesh itself.

In a separate development Indian and Pakistani railway officials have reached an agreement to extend the only rail link between their two countries for a further three years.

The twice-weekly Samjhauta Express is currently used by about two thousand people per week.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1129458.stm

[GWR]

Love this video! The ultimate in black smoke from a diesel loco! One wonders what it was like before they converted to biodiesel! ;):D:eek::confused: The layout of the tracks in the video, the grade and the loco being used as a pusher seem to indicate that this was taken on a switchback line. This is also rather fast for a YDM-4 I would imagine! Presumably building up a head of steam (or rather black smoke) at the outset of the switchback, before the steepest grade kicks in and reduces it to snail's pace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pND7CWx8gE&feature=related

From: arvindkrishnan
Added: August 08, 2007
Mettupalayam-Ooty Passenger, leaving Coonoor, pushed uphill by a bio-diesel powered YDM-4 loco #6225, brought to Coonoor from the main-line metre-gauge routes in the plains. Hence you will note that the locomotive is longer than the carriages!

There are no centrally laid toothed rack-bars on the 19 Km stretch between Coonoor and Ooty, and the maximum gradient is 1 in 23, i.e. one foot rise/descent for every 23 feet of travel.

[GWR]

See fascinating YouTube video of a biofuelled YDM-4 loco in the previous post

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6281710.stm
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=125550
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1129458.stm

India, Bangladesh to resolve row over train service

20/02/2008 -- 8:44 PM
Ha Noi (VNA) – India and Bangladesh have agreed to soon resolve a row over fencing of no-man's land and other issues that have delayed the launch of the Dhaka-Kolkata train service.

"The two sides agreed that some minor disputes could be solved soon to launch the regular train service," Press Trust of India reported, citing an official statement.

India and Bangladesh recently finalised an agreement to launch the direct train service between Dhaka and Kolkata during a two-day meeting in Dhaka in July.

Passenger train services between the two countries were suspended after the 1965 war between India and undivided Pakistan. Bangladesh and India signed an agreement in 2001 to resume direct train service between Dhaka and Kolkata.-Enditem

http://www.vnanet.vn/Home/EN/tabid/119/itemid/236656/Default.aspx

[GWR]

2008/03/03
Indian Railway's Lalu embodies country's dynamism
By : Mahendra Ved

IT is a testimony to the dynamic times in India that the most successful economic recovery and resurgence of its 155-year-old railway network is being driven by a hard-boiled politician with no training or experience in economics or management.

Although sniggered at for his rustic ways and despised for blunt talking for close to two decades, Lalu Prasad Yadav, despite the white cottons he dons, is the most colourful personality on the country's political scene.

His critics watch sheepishly as he attacks them and the media laps it all up. Opponents have hurt him politically in Bihar, his home state. But they have not been able to touch his rise as one of the most effective -- and successful -- ministers in Manmohan Singh's government.

He is the new "management guru" who lectures faculty and students of institutions like the National Defence College, Washington, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Yet, only last year, New Delhi's elite India International Centre denied him membership.

But Lalu, as he is generally referred to, has chugged on, like the railways he manages. Both Lalu and the railways are unique success stories. Critics, if not converted, have been forced to pull their punches.

Presenting his fifth Railway Budget last week, he showed that the turnaround of this loss-making state sector behemoth was no flash in the pan.

Across-the-board reduction in fares, better hygiene, focus on punctuality, new routes, better coaches and mobile ticketing -- the millions of train travellers across India could not have asked for more as Lalu mixed populism with pragmatism, in time for elections due next year.

Corporate-controlled media editorials, paying Lalu grudging compliments, excitedly went to town the next day saying they would buy cheaper rail tickets instead of cheap tickets of the fast-spreading budget airlines.

He has registered a cash surplus of Rs250 billion (RM20 billion) for the next fiscal, the highest ever, boasting: "This makes us better than most of the Fortune 500 companies in the world."

With a planned outlay of Rs375 billion, he also added another chapter to the dramatic turnaround story of the Indian Railways, while keeping in sight the interests of the traveller and industry.

Lalu proposed fare cuts even as he showed a 21 per cent increase in earnings from passengers. His transportation of petrol and diesel would cost five per cent less, helping curb the inflationary trend, since many of the essential commodities move on rails.

True to his socialist past and pro-poor stance, the minister also announced 10 new garib raths ("chariots for the poor") and 53 new trains. For the first time, train tickets would also have the expected time of arrival (ETA) to ensure punctuality, something missing quite often.

And in a revolutionary step, he announced that the thousands of rail porters in the country would be absorbed as regular employees. It is recognition of the role the "coolie" in coarse red shirt has been playing for decades.

Many have long suspected that, wily politician that he is, Lalu is engaged in jugglery of statistics. He has largely rested their doubts by not only enhancing resources, but also facilities and, most of all, in these inflationary times, reducing fares.

With the economy on the roll and the Indian Railways maintaining its competitive edge, Lalu has been able to sustain the growth momentum.

Of the Rs2,500 billion proposed in expanding the network over the next five years, as much as Rs1,000 billion would be through private-public partnership schemes. Global competitive bidding for world-class stations and other facilities are on the cards.

"For making this magical turnaround durable, we will prepare a railway Vision 2025 document within six months, which will present new ideas and initiatives in a novel manner," Lalu promised.

There is little doubt about the important role the railways have played in India's development. Introduced by the British in 1853, paving the way for its spread to much of Asia thereafter, the Indian Railways are the second-largest in the world under a single management. They run more than 11,000 trains every day, 7,000 of which are for passengers.

A major employer with 1.4 million people on its payroll, the network comprises 108,706km and ferries 14 million passengers daily from 6,853 stations across the length and breadth of the country.

The figures are staggering, even as they go up. The importance of this network has been such, again since the colonial era, that the railways is the only ministry that has a separate annual statement of accounts outside the national budget. This is not the case with even the ever-escalating defence budget.

Already consultants to many a Third World nation, Indian Railways is on the threshold of a global give-and-take. Lalu spelt out several "firsts". The private sector would be permitted to build terminals on land owned by the railways. Consultations would begin with foreign companies to design new wagons.

Although with many reservations and nuts and bolts on the rail yet to be tightened, a new era can be foreseen for the Indian Railways that hosted Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days, and Stewart Granger and Ava Gardner in the Hollywood classic, Bhowani Junction. Or that Mahatma travelled in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi.

Lalu has proposed a North East Rail Development Fund to connect India's northeast to Southeast Asia. The railways would provide 25 per cent of the money for the special fund, the rest coming from the national exchequer. Till that fund materialises, he has sought US$428 million (RM933 million) for various ongoing projects in the region.

It is possible to speculate that these impending changes would prepare India to be part of the trans-Asian railway network, having formally joined it last year.

The 81,000-kilometre railway network, stretching from China to Bulgaria, will no doubt open up immense trade possibilities.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/Columns/2174705/Article/index_html

[GWR]

http://www.vnanet.vn/Home/EN/tabid/119/itemid/236656/Default.aspx

[B]India, Bangladesh to resume train service

10/04/2008 -- 9:22 PM
Hanoi (VNA) – India and Bangladesh on April 10 signed a deal giving green signal to resumption of passenger train service between the two neighboring countries after 43 years, news reports said.

The train service will start on the first day of Bengali New Year on April 14, news reports said, adding that a 418-seat train from Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka will leave for India’s Kolkata City every Saturday and return from India on Sunday. Meanwhile, an Indian train will leave Kolkata every Saturday carrying 366 passengers for Dhaka and go back to Kolkata on Sunday.

The deal was signed for a three- year term and can be scrapped anytime with three months' notice.

Pasender services between the two countries were suspended after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, according to news reports. –Enditem
http://www.vnanet.vn/Home/EN/tabid/119/itemid/244649/Default.aspx

[GWR]

http://www.vnanet.vn/Home/EN/tabid/119/itemid/244649/Default.aspx

INDIA/BANGLADESH: Rail Link Revived After 43 Years
By Farid Ahmed

The 'Friendship Express' leaves Dhaka for Kolkata, reviving a rail link after a gap of 43 years

Credit:Farid Ahmed/IPS

http://ipsnews.net/fotos/dhaka3.jpg
[Photo: IPS - The 'Friendship Express' leaves Dhaka for Kolkata, reviving a rail link after a gap of 43 years. Credit:Farid Ahmed]

DHAKA, Apr 15 (IPS) - It was a trip down memory lane for old timers who travelled from Dhaka to Kolkata by train on Monday. The last time they could do this was 43 years ago.

A 70-year- old Sheikh Rasul Haque who was travelling with his two sons from the Bangladesh capital Dhaka to Kolkata on the maiden trip of the Moitree (friendship) Express on Monday recalled making the trip by train to Kolkata in 1962 as a student.

A war in 1965 between India and Pakistan (of which Bangladesh was a part until 1971) stopped the cross border passenger train service that covers a distance of 538km -- 418km of it in Bangladesh and 120km in India.

"I have so many fond memories of those days when I used to travel with my father and today I'm happy as I'm travelling with my sons,’’ Haque said.

It was yesterday once more for Momena Begum, 75, and 76-year-old K.S. Zaman who were among the older set of passengers and swept over by nostalgia as Bangladesh's foreign minister Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury whistled off the Moitree Express at 8:30am from Dhaka's cantonment station with nearly 400 passengers on board.

Chowdhury's Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, flagged off the reciprocal Moitree Express from India's Chitpur station in Kolkata with 65 passengers on board on Monday coinciding with the Bangla new year.

A Dhaka-based journalist Raheed Ejaz, who was on the ‘Moitree Express’ of the Bangladesh Railway, told IPS over phone that it was colourful all the way and that, as the train entered India through Bangladesh's Darshana border at about 5 pm (Bangladesh Time), hundreds of people thronged the tracks to wave.

Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in 1971 following a civil war in which the Indian army was embroiled. But despite the goodwill for India in the newly born country the rail link was never restored and travellers had to be satisfied with bus and air links.

"All the preparations, including security and immigration measures, have been completed before the formal launch of the passenger train service," said A.T.K.M. Ismail, a high official in Bangladesh's communications ministry.

Bangladesh and India signed an agreement in 2001 to commission the direct passenger train service between Dhaka and Kolkata. But it took until Apr. 10, this year, before the two countries could sign a supplementary agreement clearing the way for the cross-border run of trains on the Dhaka-Kolkata route.

West Bengal in India and Bangladesh, previously known as East Pakistan, are home to Bengali-speaking people. The larger Bengal was partitioned in 1947, on the basis of religion, as the subcontinent got freedom from the British colonial rule.

Before boarding the train Zaman said he was visiting relatives in Kolkata where he was born 76 years ago. Zaman and his family migrated to East Pakistan in the wake of Hindu-Muslim riots during the violent partition.

The journey took over 12 hours, including five hours for customs formalities on both sides of the border.

Passengers from both India and Bangladesh, however, alleged that the customs and immigration on both the sides were taking too much time for clearance and many said it could discourage people from using the train service.

Prof. Ataur Rahman, who teaches political science at Dhaka University, told IPS that bureaucratic short-sightedness in both the countries ought not be allowed to overtake the spirit of the people. "There are good things about India-Bangladesh relations... there are irritants as well," he said.

The revival of the rail service was welcomed by the people in both the countries and must not be given any political colour, Rahman said, adding that it should be taken as connectivity for the people of the two countries. "Connectivity is a must in the region and Bangladesh and India must be connected and it should be hassle-free because the people will look for the cost benefit," he said.

"India should be more generous and Bangladesh should be more liberal for a functioning relationship... Bangladesh should not forget India is a power in the region... at the same time India should win the hearts of the people, certainly not by its sheer strength," Rahman, a well-known analyst said.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41999

[GWR]

Indian railways to sign MoU with French counterpart

11/05/2008 -- 9:41 PM
Hanoi (VNA) – India and France will sign a Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) on May 14 to expand their cooperation in the railways sector.

Under the up-coming MoU, France, the country known for its expertise in high-speed trains, is expected to help India build a modern railway network in the country, Nam News Network reported.

Besides high speed rail corridor, French expertise may be sought on maintenance and upgrading of tracks and signaling system as per the provision of the MoU.

The MoU will be valid for three years and it can be extended for a year if both sides desire so, the network said.-Enditem
http://www.vnanet.vn/Home/EN/tabid/119/itemid/248751/Default.aspx

[GWR]

May 16, 2008 20:02 PM
India Mulls Idea Of Emulating Malaysia Monorail Project

PUTRAJAYA, May 16 (Bernama) - The Indian government is mulling the idea of emulating Malaysia's monorail project and will initiate discussions with the respective parties soon, its Railway Minister of India, Lalu Prasad, said Friday.

He said he was impressed with the monorail set-up in Malaysia, which he visited Thursday.

"We will be initiating discussion soon (on the possibilities of emulating the monorail project)," he said after witnessing the signing of agreement between Indian Railway's subsidiary, Ircon International Ltd and the Malaysian government for the Seremban-Gemas electrified double-tracking project worth RM3.45 billion, here Friday.

He has asked Ircon to do a feasibility study on the possibility of implementing a monorail project in his hometown Patna, Bihar.

Lalu invited officials from the Malaysian Transport Ministry to get a glimpse of the development of railway projects in India and identify areas for collaborations.

"There is huge demand for infrastructure projects in India, especially for public-private partnerships. Malaysian companies should come and participate there," he said.

He said India planned to build a dedicated railway track for goods between Chadigarh-Kolkata and between Delhi-Chennai.

-- BERNAMA

Unspecified link:
http://www.bernama.com.my/

[GWR]

May 15, 2008
Nepal to get China rail link
By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE - China has begun building a railway connecting the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with the market town of Khasa on the Sino-Nepal border. The rail link, the latest Chinese initiative to improve its transport infrastructure in the Himalayan region, is expected to enhance Nepal's economic engagement with China and reduce its dependence on India.

The 770-kilometer Lhasa-Khasa railway line is an extension of the world's highest railway, which runs from Golmud in China's Qinghai province to Lhasa. Inaugurated in August 2006, the Golmud-Lhasa rail integrated Tibet into China's national rail network. With its extension up to the Nepal border, Nepal will be plugged into China's rail network.

Landlocked Nepal has hitherto largely been dependent on India for imports. With trains from China soon reaching its border, Nepal will find importing from its northern neighbor easier. Sino-Nepal trade will expand exponentially, at India's expense.

Road and rail building has been a key component of the Chinese grand strategy in the Himalayan region for decades. Building motorable roads into Tibet began as early as 1950, in line with Mao Zedong's orders to the People's Liberation Army as it prepared to annex the territory: "Advance while building roads."

The construction of roads linking Tibet with Qinghai, Sichuan, Xinjiang and Yunnan was achieved against all odds and at great human cost. But it enabled Beijing to pour troops into Tibet to quell unrest, provide supplies to soldiers deployed there, consolidate its control over Tibet and integrate the area economically with China.

Now the focus is on improving Tibet's connectivity with South Asia, flattening, as it were, the Himalayan barrier to overland trade.

Besides the Lhasa-Khasa railway, China is said to be considering an extension of the Golmu-Lhasa line up to Xigaze, south of Lhasa and from there to Yatung, a trading center, barely a few kilometers from Nathu La, a mountain pass that connects Tibet with the Indian state of Sikkim. There is a proposal too to extend the line to Nyingchi, an important trading town north of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, at the tri-junction with Myanmar.

These rail lines will bring Chinese trains up to Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh - two Indian states that figure prominently on the radar of Sino-Indian disputes. China claims 90,000 square kilometers of territory in the eastern Himalayas, roughly approximating to Arunachal Pradesh, and Chinese incursions are reported here frequently. As for Sikkim, it is only since 2004 that China has implicitly recognized its integration into India. Not only does Sikkim share borders with Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan but also it is situated above the "Chicken's Neck" - the sliver of land that links India with its northeastern states.

The extension of the railway to the Sino-Indian border at Sikkim and Arunachal could pose a threat to India's security and economy if New Delhi fails to build its own network here to match the Chinese, Indian analysts say.

In July 2006, Sino-Indian border trade was resumed at Nathu La in Sikkim after a gap of 44 years. Officials in the Sikkim government told Asia Times Online that compared with China's elaborate network of roads and planned railway to Nathu La, "on this side of the border the state of infrastructure is laughable".

One said: "When trade takes off in a big way in a few years, goods by the train-load will arrive at Nathu La from China. India will be in a position then to send back mere truck-loads."

Sikkim has only one road - a 56-kilometer single-lane link - linking its capital Gangtok to Nathu La, and one landslide-prone road, just five meters wide, joining the area with the rest of India. Sikkim's road density is 28.45 kilometers per 100 square kilometer against the national average of 84 kilometers. Arunachal Pradesh is even worse off, with a road density of just 18.65 kilometers per 100 square kilometer.

India's rail network is the world's most extensive but it does not penetrate the border-states of Sikkim, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. The situation in the other northeastern states is only marginally better.

Economists and security experts have been warning that Delhi is napping while China is set to chug up to the Sino-Indian border. Government officials, for their part, point to innumerable proposed road and rail projects. "The feasibility of some road and rail links is being studied, some projects have been sanctioned and others are being executed," a senior government official in Delhi told Asia Times Online.

India does plan to expand its rail links with Nepal, proposing to extend across the Nepal border to Kathmandu the rail line at present connecting Raxaul in Bihar state with Birganj. Trucks carrying Indian goods from Birganj to Kathmandu have to travel 220 kilometers. A train from Birganj to Kathmandu that cuts through mountains will be a mere 80 kilometers, cutting travel time and costs.

The technical and financial feasibility of five other routes - Nautanwa in India to Bhairahwa in Nepal, Nepalgunj Road to Nepalgunj, Jogbani to Biratnagar, New Jalpaiguri to Kakrabitta and Jayanagar to Bardibas - is being studied.

India also plans to run rail links to Bhutan, which like Nepal is landlocked and sandwiched between India and China. There are plans to connect Hasimara in India with Phuentsholing in Bhutan, Banarhat to Samtse, Rangia to Samdrup Jongkhar, Kokrajhar to Gelephu and Pathsala to Nanglam.

In Sikkim, the Gangtok-Nathu La road is being widened and the government has sanctioned another linking Sikkim with the rest of India to be built.

In Arunachal Pradesh, airports will be built in the state capital Itanagar and another at Tawang, a district which is seen as holding the key to the Sino-Indian border dispute. India is also constructing a 1,840 kilometer trans-Arunachal highway touching India's borders with China, Bhutan and Myanmar and a rail network.

This array of road and rail-building projects looks positive on paper but completion targets may prove fickle, if the experience of the strife-torn states of Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur is any guide. Trains were supposed to be running in the Kashmir Valley by last August, but that now looks unlikely to happen for another five years at least.

In comparison, road and rail projects in China are completed quickly and often ahead of time. The Golmud-Lhasa line was ready a year ahead of schedule. "China begins implementation of projects quickly," a Sikkim government official said. A month after the inauguration of the Golmud-Lhasa railway, China promised the Nepal government that it would extend this line up to the Sino-Nepal border. "Less than two years after that promise was made, work has begun," the official said. "And it will be completed in five years."

Indian railway construction officials blame difficult, mountainous terrain for the delay in projects. About 120 kilometer of the 292 kilometer Kashmir railway line consists of tunnels; delaying matters further, several are reported to have collapsed during construction. Yet the much longer Golmud-Lhasa rail runs through far more treacherous terrain and climatic conditions and was completed on time.

India's road and rail projects in the Himalayan region often run through insurgency-wracked regions, with security concerns adding to delays. The Kashmir rail line has come under repeated attacks and at least two Indian railway employees have been in efforts to halt the project.

Economists have said the Indian government has been shortsighted in assessing the benefits and feasibility of projects. The Bhutan rail link may attract too little passenger and goods traffic to justify the cost and the Sikkim link may also serve merely border trade at Nathu La.

Compare that with the benefits to China of a Nathu La link, which will open access to the Indian port of Kolkata and to markets in the Indian plains, Myanmar and Southeast Asia.

Parts of the Indian establishment also fear that building an extensive road/rail network along the country's northern borders will help Chinese good to flood Indian markets - overlooking the opportunities for India in the opposite direction.

Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore.
www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JE15Df01.html

Tibet Railwatch Thread:
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showthread.php?t=702

[jpatokal]

This marks the completion of Phase I of the project. Work on Phase II is already in full swing.

And heeeeeere's Phase II: its first section, the 3.1-km, three-station stretch from Shahdara to Dilshad Garden on the eastern end of the Red Line will open on June 4, 2008 -- seven months ahead of schedule!

http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/artMailDisp.aspx?article=23_05_2008_003_004&typ=1&pub=47

By 2010, 4 new lines and 5 extensions, totaling 81 new stations and 124.67 km of new track, are scheduled to open. Work is well under way on all and a few look set to beat the deadlines.

[jpatokal]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Metro_zips_into_Dilshad_Garden_today/articleshow/3097762.cms

Tuesday also marks the start of Phase II of operations wherein another 10 Metro lines will be opened for Delhiites in the next year and a half. Speaking on the occasion, E Sreedharan, DMRC's managing director said: "The Vishwavidyalaya-Jehangirpuri line, which is the next on the cards, has a June 2009 deadline. We are planning to start it six months earlier too."

[jpatokal]

Great article in Outlook India (http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080630&fname=Kashmir+(F)&sid=1):
Whistling A New Tune

* The Kashmir Valley's first-ever railway line, a 60-km stretch from Budgam to Anantnag, is ready, and will probably carry its first passengers in end-June
* The nine stations on this line include Pampore, Awantipora, Srinagar and Baramulla
* The Srinagar station is a dazzling showcase for Kashmiri art, with carved wood panelling, chandeliers and landscaped gardens
* The engines, bogies were brought up to the valley by road on special trolleys
* Heavy security cover is in place along the entire track as well as on the train
* Another 60-km stretch in the valley, from Baramulla to Qazigund is, meanwhile, nearing completion
* The final 200 km, from Qazigund to Katra in the Jammu region, presents a formidable engineering challenge, with much of the track to be laid in tunnels bored through mountains

[GWR]

Things Looking Up for India's Trains
Siddharth Srivastava
06 July 2008
An unlikely turnaround specialist gets a decrepit system moving

http://asiasentinel.com/images/stories/smoothgallery/JAN2008/india-train.jpg
[Photo: Asian Sentinel]

The notorious India Railways, a legendary mess of cramped and dirty coaches on which millions of commuters depend, many of them forced to perch dangerously atop long-delayed and slow-moving trains, is starting to show signs of a turnaround.

The state-owned network is the world’s single biggest employer with nearly 1.5 million workers. It currently operates nearly 15,000 trains, including over 10,000 passenger trains, across a 70,000 km network, ferrying more than 15 million passengers and more than 1.5 million tonnes of freight daily. It has been the luckless star of countless movies for its tardiness, legions of passengers hanging on for dear life, and shambolic stations.

However, Federal Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, has become an unlikely hero, with the railway’s financial turnaround creating a new sobriquet, ``Lalunomics.’’

In 2004, when Lalu began his term, the system was on the verge of bankruptcy. The return to the black has been achieved without raising fares, which in fact have been cut, contributing to the minister’s popularity.

In February last year, while delivering his budget, Lalu said: ``The railways are poised to create history by generating a cash surplus before dividend of Rs200 billion (about US$5 billion) against Rs147 billion the previous year.’’ The net surplus in FY 2006-7 was over Rs 100 billion.

``This is the same railway that defaulted on payment of dividend and whose fund balances had dipped to Rs.3.59 billion in 2001,’’ he added. The good news made Lalu a much-sought-after speaker at top business schools around the world and in India. Harvard and the reputed Indian Institutes of Management, vie for words of wisdom from a person who was once a cowherd.

Quite a bit of the success obviously has to do with the sheer rise in volume of passengers and freight, given the fast growing Indian economy. But there is considerably more going on. The railway is working on a US$100 billion vision plan for 2007-2012, a huge boost from plans to spend a meager US$15 billion. US$25 billion is expected to be raised internally and through market borrowings and the rest from public-private partnerships, drawing the attention of some of the biggest global asset managers, investment bankers and consultants including UBS, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, McKinsey & Co and Credit Agricole’s CLSA.

In addition to public-private partnerships, the easing of close government control has helped accord the railway its new global profile. A dedicated freight corridor is expected to cost US$16 billion over five years. Another US$8 billion is to be spent on “mineral routes” and connection to sea ports and US$4 billion on a 12,000-km gauge conversion for outmoded rails.

For optimal use of the new corridor, the railways will need more wagons (US$10 billion), modern signaling and telecommunication (US$6 billion), upgraded tracks and bridges (US$10 billion).

Thankfully, the financials look good, which should make some of the efforts easier to implement, though given India’s corrupt systems, red tape and unending delays in infrastructure projects, it is anybody’s guess how the exercise will finally pan out.

To Lalu’s credit, though, he has tried to buttress the process via modernization, overhauling freight services and innovative measures that have generated new income and enhanced passenger comfort.

In the meantime, the railway is experimenting with some unique marketing strategies. As with Hong Kong’s colorful trams, the marketing community is reaching out to customers by sponsoring trains, the travel mainstay of millions.

In this deluge, there is the Kurkure (a salty snack by Pepsi Foods) Chennai Express; recently another busy train, the Prayag Raj Express to the holy city of Allahabad has been picked up for advertising by a major consumer goods company.

The trend began sometime back with the Airtel Rajdhani Express that connects Delhi to Bangalore in the south. The train, with wagons wrapped with large format digital prints of the telecom service provider, has been a success.

Indian Railways has now decided to offer sponsorship options on all long-haul Rajdhanis that connect the national capital to the main cities of India.

These efforts are of course just a blip in the overall scheme of things and it will be take some time for the system to match the quality, service and safety standards of advanced nations. Indian trains are not going arrive or depart on time any time soon and given India’s diversity and size, it will also be a while before desperate commuters clambering on train tops and hanging from doors will be pictures of the past.

At the least, some of the trains look good for sure, courtesy Lalu.

According to IR officials, at least 20 more trains originating from Delhi will be offered to advertisers in the near future.

``Sponsors are targeting trains that attract tourist and high-end traffic as well as the mass consumer in trains such as Prayag Raj that carries passengers on a spiritual trip to Allahabad,’’ a Rail official said.

``The railways has estimated a ready train branding market of US$50 million annually which should grow 25% each year,’’ the official added.

Officials say that on an average the cost of train advertising for a contract that runs over 3-years is over US$1 million, with the money split between advertising fees and maintenance cost.

It is expected that the short-distance high speed Shatabdi Express trains will be another lot that will be auctioned for commercials.

The Shatabdi to Agra (location of the famous Taj Mahal) and to tourist city Jaipur in Rajasthan are reported to be generating a bit advertiser interest, which should translate into higher ad rates.

It is a win-win situation for everyone — the Railways get revenue, the advertiser gets billboard space on the wagons and option to re-brand the train name.

The passengers also benefit as the sponsor is required to offer housekeeping facilities and maintain interiors and cleanliness levels that are neglected aspects of government managed train services.

(Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist. He can be reached at sidsri@yahoo.com
http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1309&Itemid=34