Krishna unveils rail project in SL   India’s external affairs minister SM Krishna on Thursday unveiled the first phase of a railway project in southern Sri Lanka that is being built with financial aid from the Indian government. Krishna, on a four-day visit to this island nation since Monday, launched the 50km rail track from Galle to Induruwa at a function at the Galle railway station, 116 km from Colombo. The first phase of the project comprising the 42-km Galle-Matara section was completed in February 2011. The project, being executed by the state-run Indian Railways Construction International Ltd (Ircon), involves reconstruction of rail lines, training of personnel from Sri Lankan Railways in India, procurement of rolling stock and building of maintenance sheds. The second phase of the current project from this coastal city to Kaluthara, covering 72 km, is set to be completed in April. During his first visit to Sri Lanka in November 2010 as minister, Krishna launched the construction of a rail project in the Tamil-dominated region of the country, with part funding by New Delhi ($800 million). The project on the Pallai-Kankesanthurai railway line in Jaffna is to be completed by 2013. “The Indian government is committed to work with the Sri Lankan government for consolidation of peace, prosperity and development of this country and enrichment of our bilateral ties,” Krishna said on the occasion. Sri Lankan foreign minister GL Peiris, Transport Minister Kumar Welgama, his deputy Rohan Dissanayake, Indian High Commissioner Ashok Kantha and Sri Lanka's envoy to India Prasad Kariyawasa were present on the occasion. (Times of India) |
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Travelon introduces ‘Holidays on Rail’
January 17, 2012, 6:57 pm 
Innovative domestic & out-bound tour operator, Travelon has ventured into new vistas of travel, namely rail travel with an out-sourced rail company giving ground support.
The recent tour by Travelon saw 36 travelers boarding the Kandy - Colombo ICE (Intercity Express). The guests were served champagne, afternoon snacks, tea and coffee travelling in a super luxury comfort within the cabin maintained by the CGR.
The luxury compartment comprising 40 seats is attached next to the engine, so as not to make any excessive swings & swaying of the carriage due to the uneven rails which dates back to 1950’s or prior.
However the guests who traveled with Travelon on rails were quite happy with the new service which the travel company has introduced and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.
The 1st class carraige is fully air conditioned, with comfortable seats & tray holder, baggage compartment, free flow of tea and coffee, piped music & movies and clean & modern toilettes. The tourists also had the option of availing themselves of the service of a mini fridge and a microwave oven to heat the food. vegetarian food would be served, if prior bookings are made at the time of purchase of tickets.
The next rail tour by Travelon will be during the 4th - 6th February long weekend when they venture out to Nanuoya (Nuwara Eliya), Peradeniya, Kandy & return to Colombo entirely on the luxury train. Night stays in Hotel Hilltop - Kandy and Alpine or Silver Falls.
Innovative approach to solve Elephant - Trains accidents
Sri Lanka Rail Fans Society participated in a meeting organized by the Secretary to Ministry of Transport on Elephants - train accidents recently. There were number of officials both Wildlife and railways were participated in this meeting. The progress of the previously initialed projects on this problem was reviewed and SLRFS presented its findings on this issue and put forward their suggestions to overcome this issue with the research evidence. Secretary to Ministry of Transport, GMR and officials from Wildlife department fully supported the ideas put forward by SLRFS representatives and even agreed to provide necessary assistants to complete their suggestions as a pilot project. SLRFS feels this acknowledgement as one of the highest achievements due to the responses gained for their innovative idea. Asela K. Kulatunga and Sanath Wickramaratne represented SLRFS in this meeting. The slides of the presentation of SLRFS proposal is given below.
Sri Lanka Rail Fans Society participated in a meeting organized by the Secretary to Ministry of Transport on Elephants - train accidents recently. There were number of officials both Wildlife and railways were participated in this meeting. The progress of the previously initialed projects on this problem was reviewed and SLRFS presented its findings on this issue and put forward their suggestions to overcome this issue with the research evidence. Secretary to Ministry of Transport, GMR and officials from Wildlife department fully supported the ideas put forward by SLRFS representatives and even agreed to provide necessary assistants to complete their suggestions as a pilot project. SLRFS feels this acknowledgement as one of the highest achievements due to the responses gained for their innovative idea. Asela K. Kulatunga and Sanath Wickramaratne represented SLRFS in this meeting. The slides of the presentation of SLRFS proposal is given below.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Southern Railway, a unit of Indian Rail, has revealed plans to extend the train protection warning system (TPWS) currently installed in the Madras Beach-Central-Gummidipoondi EMU line to the 68km Beach-Arakkonam section.
The tendering process is underway for the $5m project, which is intended to prevent train accidents. Under the project, 400 signals on the Beach-Arakkonam route will be linked up, all of which will interface with electronic beacons installed on the track.
The TPWS system will be based on European rail traffic management system (ERTMS-Level 1) technology that will create a signalling loop to warn train drivers about the obstacles ahead, as well as control the speed in case of emergency. The system will also activate the train braking system automatically if the driver fails to notice the warning signs, and help regulate speed if a train is travelling too fast on the approach to certain speed restrictions, according to The Hindu.
Southern Railway is currently testing the technology to make it suitable for Indian conditions and is planning to put in place a much better integrated signal system shortly.
As with the track system in European countries, the rail authorities are planning to extend the system to other lines to avoid collisions. The technology has also been successful on the 48km Madras Beach-Gummidipoondi EMU section since 2008.
TPWS primarily offers additional safety in a fully automatic signal circuit and comprises on-board computer consoles or the Driver-Machine Interface. The system will be connected to wireless track-side balise devices that employ electromagnetic induction and can change the traffic light from green to red if a train is crossing a signal or is speeding.
A standard TPWS facilitates trains to run at maximum permitted speeds, and allows EMU drivers to slow down and run at safe speed levels.
Indian Railway has also commissioned its arm RITES to develop a more basic TPWS in order to expand the system to a wider level in the future and thus ensure safety of passengers.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Plans for a new version of the Trans Asian Railway, which for the first time will link India to Europe, have been set in motion again after India signed a UN agreement to revive the project.
The Indian Railway board has initialled a UN agreement for the Trans Asian Railway (TAR), prompting 20 nations to sign up to the revived project.
TAR was initiated in the 1960s with the objective of providing a continuous 14,000km rail link between Singapore and Istanbul in Turkey, with possible onward connections to Europe and Africa. The network was initially divided into four major components and covers a distance of almost 81,000km in 26 countries.
The UN hopes to develop joint border stations to implement a one-stop-shop concept under which all rail and non-rail operations of two neighbouring countries are performed at one single location in order to move towards greater operational efficiency.
The TAR is divided into a northern corridor connecting the rail networks of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Russian Federation and the Korean Peninsula; a southern corridor connecting Thailand and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan with Turkey through Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Iran with Sri Lanka; a subregional network covering the Indo-China subregions; and a north-south corridor linking Northern Europe to the Persian Gulf through the Russian Federation, Central Asia and the Caucasus region.
Full steam ahead Asia
9 December 2011The economic rise of South-East Asia has resulted in billions being spent on new rail tracks and infrastructure. Elisabeth Fischer discovers how the construction of interconnected rail networks from China, India, Mongolia and all the way into Russia could entail and establish the economic rise of the Far East.
In December 2010, US-based iCD Research forecast that India and China are to be among the fastest growing railway markets in the coming 12 months.
"On the forefront of Asia's frenzied railway activity is China, trying to push back the economic frontiers of Asia."
While the transport sector of the West is plagued by deficits and budget cuts, the once squeaky, unreliable and underfunded network in the Far East is on the upswing - fuelled by an economic rise, increasing domestic consumption, escalating demand for freight transport and passenger growth.
The forecasts have been proved correct. The past year has seen a railway boom that promises to tie South-East Asia closer together. China is at the forefront the development, spreading its networks all over South-East Asia and beyond. India, on the other hand, is still struggling with capacity constraints but has implemented plans to undergo major rail rehabilitation in the years to come.
Mongolia plans to expand its network into Russia, which in turn is still pursuing its plan of building a rail link via the Bering Strait to the US.
As different as the countries might be, they all have realised the economical benefits of a strong railway system. With their economic rise, billions goes into high-speed rail and new networks to connect cut-off areas, as well as improving passenger and goods flow - heralding a transport revolution in the Far East.
China: year of the railway?
On the forefront of Asia's frenzied railway activity is China, trying to push back the economic frontiers of Asia. The rapid expansion of its high-speed network in the last years has gained a lot of international attention.
Yet its ambitions do not stop at the border. Despite aiming to build a continent-spanning high-speed rail link to Germany and the UK within the next ten years, it also drives the interconnectivity with its bordering countries in South-East Asia and beyond.
In February 2011, China signed an agreement with Kazakhstan to build a 1,050km line to the city of Almaty. Additionally, it will build a 1,215km cross-border railway together with Myanmar over the next three years from the Kyaukphyu deep sea port in Myan mar to Yunnan.
It is also in discussions with Thailand to jointly build a number of railway projects, including one from Bangkok to the Thai province of Rayong, and is currently building a $2bn railway to connect Tehran in Iran with Beijing.
China's continuing involvement in Asia's network is not without an ulterior motive, which is securing access to resources all over the world. State-owned China Metallurgical Group for instance plans to develop a 700km, $5bn track, linking Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan within the next five years, mainly developed for the transport of ferrous and copper.
But not everything looks bright and shiny, as in May 2011, the development of a 421km, $7bn Lao-China high-speed track was stalled over social-environmental concerns. Perhaps worse, the government had to suspend more than 10,000km of rail projects following the high-speed accident at the end of July, which killed 40 people.
In addition, more than 80% of China's current project will face construction delays as the Ministry of Railways was burdened by debts of $330.3bn at the end of June 2011. This, however, is of no distraction to the ministry. In November it allocated funds of $31.5bn to curb railway investment once again.
Mongolia looks to Russia
Fuelled by the growing mining industry in the country and its strategic location to Russia and China, Mongolia has grown to be one of the fastest developing economies in Asia.
"We should see advanced development of road and rail infrastructure and improvement in the investment climate in Russia as key."
In order to bolster the country's sovereignty, the Mongolian Government adopted a plan in early November 2011 to extend the country's railway infrastructure. It envisages the construction of a 1,100km railway, the construction of which will begin by the end of this year.
To make the most of its vicinity to Russia, Mongolia will also connect its industrial centres Dalanzadgad and Choibalsan, which are booming in the emerging resource-driven economy, to the Russian railway system.
This plan is a departure from the original one to connect the network to China, which would be more feasible as well as cost and time-effective as suggested by international experts, the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank.
However, Mongolia has decided for the more expensive option and leaves the connection to China for the future. Mongolian officials have emphasised that this route would better protect the country from possible Chinese economic and political pressure.
According to US-Mongolia Advisory Group president Alicia Campi, Mongolia finds Russia to be a more comfortable partner to work with than China, telling Eurasianet in 2010: "Russia's partner since 1949 in Mongolia's north-south border-to-border sole railway, are a known, basically reliable commodity to Mongolian policymakers and they share Mongolian concern over rapidly increasing Chinese penetration and monopolisation of north Asian economic trade."
Russia envisions the Bering Strait
Russia however has even more ambitious plans on its own. At the end of August the government approved a plan to build a $99bn, 104km-long underwater railway tunnel under the Bering Strait to connect Russia and the US - twice the length of the UK-France Channel Tunnel. The idea was first raised by Tsar Nicholas II in 1905, and was already proposed by the government once before in 2007.
Deputy federal representative for the Russian Far East Aleksandr Levinthal introduced the idea at a conference on developing railway infrastructure in the country once again, telling the Times: "We should see advanced development of road and rail infrastructure here [in the Russian Far East] and improvement in the investment climate in Russia as a key aim."
Engineers claim there is no technical reason for the tunnel to not to be built as the depth of the water offers little challenge and tides and currents are not severe. Russia aims to use the tunnel for freight and claims it could carry 3% of global transport of raw goods.
One significant factor of constructing the tunnel at this point is the fact it would provide China with an alternative route into US markets. Another purpose is to open it up for passenger travel between Europe and the US.
However, an additional 4,000km of new track would be needed to link it toRussia's rail network, plus another 2,000km to connect it to existing services on the US side. The construction of the tunnel itself would take ten to 15 years. A first step has been made, when Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev pledged in mid-November that railway will grow, especially the ones in the north of the country, which could directly link to the Bering Strait.
Rail rehabilitation in India
"One significant factor of constructing the tunnel at this point is that it would provide China with an alternative route into US markets."
In direct comparison with its neighbours, India's rail network, which is the oldest in Asia, seems overburdened and out-of-date.
It carries some 17 million passengers and 2 million tons of freight a day and most of its major corridors have capacity constraints requiring radical improvement.
In order to tackle the constraint, Indian Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announced at the end of February 2011 the highest-ever investment outlay of $12.71bn for rail upgrades in the year beginning on 1 April 2011. She said as much as 1,300km of new lines would be built in 2011 / 2012 only, compared to the post-1950 average of 180km to meet rising travel and freight demand in the world's second-fastest growing major economy.
In addition, 236 stations would be upgraded throughout the country, as well as 68 new trains would be implemented, including nine non-stop ones between major cities. The government also set itself the goal of rail accounting for 50% of inland freight movements by 2020 from currently 35% in 2009.
As part of the plan, India will also build a rail link into Bangladesh, in a bid to enhance people-to-people contact and boost bilateral trade and investment between the two countries. China also eyes into India, showing keen interest to have a high-speed rail link through Manipur areas. At present, it is carrying out a major project on its borders to establish links with India.
India itself has seemingly been cautious toward the construction of a high-speed link - even within its own borders. Only in summer 2011, Indian Railways Construction assigned a UK company to conduct a pre-feasibility study for a potential high-speed rail within the country. If the project goes through, the track will ultimately also connect the two biggest economies in South-East Asia.
The Indian Government has cleared a proposal to earmark Rs190bn ($3.5bn) of additional funds for the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail project, which will link the Kashmir valley to the rest of the country.
The funds will be used for building rail tracks from Katra in Jammu to Qazigund in the Kashmir valley; the project is expected to be completed in 2017.
The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link project involves construction of 202km of track, including the 25km Udhampur-Katra section, the 148km Katra-Quazigund section and the 119km Quazigund-Baramulla section.
According to reports, a delay in the completion of the project led to an increase in the cost of requiring additional funds. The Indian Government previously increased the projected cost of the railway line in 2007, upping the initial estimate of Rs30.7bn ($569.3m) to Rs112bn ($2.1bn).
The new broad-gauge rail link involves 228km of access roads, 738 bridges and 129km of tunnelling, and after completion it will allow trains to run at a speed of 100km/hr.
As part of the project, Indian Rail completed an 11km railway tunnel in October 2011, built at a cost of Rs10bn ($201.8m), which passes through the Pir Panjal mountain range in Jammu and Kashmir in India. Construction of the tunnel was carried out by Hindustan Construction Company and took over six years. It runs 440m below the existing Jawahar Tunnel, which is the only road link from the region to the rest of India.
The project included the construction of an 8.4m-wide and 7.3m-high tunnel, as well as construction of a 3m-wide road that runs alongside the railway tunnel for maintenance and emergency evacuation. It will reduce the journey between Quazigund in Kashmir and Banihal in Jammu to only 11km and cover the distance from the south to the north side of the mountain in 6.6 minutes.
Indian Railways also completed the 119-km Qazigund-Srnagar-Baramulla section in 2009.
Work on the Udhampur-Katra and Katra-Qazigund sections is ongoing and is expected to be completed by 2013 and 2017, respectively.
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