Showing posts with label rail route. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rail route. Show all posts

Friday, 3 April 2015

Recount #005 : unraveling history ||stage:1||

Hello people.

I am back.....not with a bang but with history......yessss  HISTORY...... I know it may sound boring to some and few might not read a word more. The fact is, going through history is not  boring but the way it is presented is. For example watching gladiator is more impact full to the same amount of population than reading the same in 2000.pages
Though, I respect everybody's choices and personnel preferences. :) :) :)


Although, I belong to a hardcore science community but I enjoy digging up history in the books. According to me, its like a past mystery unfolding again !

Anyways, continuing with where I left, I bring *HISTORY* about the Indian Railways. The How's, the what's and the When's; in short the initial essentials of the present network of majestic Indian Railways.

I hope you all enjoy going through the post !!!!

The Beginning
  •  Time I am about to talk about is the period when India was fully colonized under British empire. To overcome the issues of traveling, communication and transport of goods like cotton, the project of building rails was put up.

The seed or the idea was initiated first on paper by Sir Rowland Macdonalds Stephensons who was a 19th century railway engineer and instrumental in building the East India Railway in the then British India. His paper titled 'Report upon the Practicability and Advantages of the Introduction of Railways into British India', which has been digitized by Google from University of Michigan. I wonder, such a long title would be accepted and appreciated for any report now a days !
But, isn't it shouting elegance and impact-fullness. Imagine Robert Downey Jr. speaking as Sherlock Holmes.
;p

An interesting plot upholding the curiosity quotient is, why exactly the report was made !  What was the need to have an official printed compiled points when it could have been materialized on the table.
Its like publishing the report before doing the Ph D.
       
  • The answer takes us to flipping the pages a decade backward in the year 1935 when an experimental

line was laid near Chintadripet, a city near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Yeah, the Ph. D was done. ;p
It was an initiation by Captain Cotton to let people know how building railways as a mode of easy conveyance can just double the annual savings. The Government gave the nod and trials were done. But, this experiment gradually lost the interest and declined within a span of 10 years.

The exact reasons are not known or to be precise not declared ! But a trivial was put up in 1845 The Foreign Quarterly Review May Edition stating - the Red Hill Rail Road perished because of being dependent on a canal near Punalur which occasionally dried there by hindering the travelling causing delay. It looks as an obvious reason but who knows their might be some other speculations. 

**History/Mystery** 


This bridge known as the *Thirteen Arch Bridge* still stands and with the development and new constructions stand sturdy and in use.   :)                                                                                        ==>>


Now we know , how the idea was made, tried, experimented and declined too. So, how did the idea got re-vitalized ? What made it to gain so much momentum that their was no looking back ?

That we will see in the next blog unraveling history ||stage: 2|| which will be posted up soon.  
Till then keep travelling.... keep reading .... keep enjoying.

I hope you all enjoyed reading my blog..... Do comment and share. Feel free to add upon any information !

Rise and Shine





Thursday, 19 March 2015

Recount #004 *amazing facts : part 3*

A very Namaste to all. :) :) :)


I am back with the last part of amazing facts about the Indian railways. I hope the amazing part is actually sounding  or reading **to be precise** ;p amazing for all !!!!

 Do comment people......It will be appreciated ! Thanks a lot !!!!!

So.....continuing :-

Fact 11 :-

To start with, I present Longest Railway Platform of what ? 'India'. Nah ! The world . Yes,...... 
Kharagpur is the city situated in eastern side of India in the parameters of state West Bengal. And this same city has the*longest* railway station in the world !!!!
As a student, I always heard the city name only to mention the famous engineering college - Indian Institute of Technology branch - kharagpur. Frankly speaking, this train fact caught my interest equally leaving me surprised and yes amazed ;p !!!


Fact 12:-


Longest railway Bridge :- Well, this title was a bit tricky as I found many competeting bridges.One
mentioned in Indian Railway official website is the Nehru setu built upon Sone river(Bihar), a stretch of  3.064 m (10,052 feet).
It was built in 1900. But, it has been taken over by many rail-cum-road and only rail mode bridges. So, the most recently built and the actually longest railway bridge is Vembanad Rail Bridge spanning 4,620 m (15,160 feet) over Vembanad Lake in Kochi, Kerala. 


Fact 13 :- 

Karbude tunnel
Every couple's choice of rail route.....one with the longest tunnel and also, *not to forget* every thief's choice too. Lol !
Officially, Karbude tunnel of the Konkan railways covering 6.5km of the rail-track is the longest tunnel.  It connects Mumbai and Mangalore cities.
Recently in 2013 a  tunnel named as Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel was constructed on Jammu Tawi -Udhampur - Srinagar-Baramulla- Railway link (These are the prominent cities of Jammu & Kashmir). It covers a distance 11.215 km (7 mile) and shortens the connecting distance by 17km. It shows the brillian work of engineers as it is really tough to build such architectures over Himalayan ranges. Commendable !



          Pir Panja Railway Tunnel.




Fact 14 :-

Indian railways fastest train award goes to - Bhopal Shatabdi (official name - New Delhi - Habibganj Shatabdi Express).
It connects Delhi (capital) to the centrally located state, Madhya Pradesh city, Bhopal. More interesting things about this train are :-

  • Firstly, it travels at a speed of 84km/hr (52mph).
  • Secondly, it was the first among the shatabdi trains to be launched.
  • Thirdly, last but not the least, I have travelled in it. ;p

 Its a brilliant journey. The only point which made me uncomfortable was being seated for 8 hrs. Sighhhh ! 

Fact 15 :-

inside view
Oldest Preserved Locomotive is is **The Fairy Queen** launched in 1855 and is still in working condition ! It is among the royal trains of the country. It was built in West Bengal region with the parts exported from England by the then ruling East India Company.  It has been restored in fully functioning mode in 1997. Its a steam train which travels from New Delhi Cantonment station to city Alwar (Rajasthan).
 Only 60 passengers can be accommodated in two coaches. It works only on 2nd and 4th saturdays in months October to March and is part of a two day tour. It is among the hot list of travel lovers.
                            

Only this much for today......

Thank you all for liking my posts which encourages me more to write and post ASAP.
Do comment. If any queries or doubt feel free to ask and express. 
Till then Keep travelling !

Rise and shine

Saturday, 14 March 2015

Recount #003 *amazing facts : part 2*

Hola people. I am back with the part 2 of fascinating facts about Indian Railways.


Today i am putting up some information about the stations......the USB s of Railways.

Fact 05 :
Shortest Station Name .
If someone asks - whats important in knowing the shortest station name; answer would be 'Nothing'. But, its never bad to know something. What say ! Well, the shortest station name is the station called Ib in Orissa.


Fact 06 :
After the  shortest, how can one not name the longest station name. It is - 
Sri Venkatanarasimharajuvariapeta in Tamil Nadu. Phew, 32 alphabet long. You know, the good as well as the confusing thing of having a long name is.....that you can have many nick names. ;p






Fact 07 : 
The busiest railway station of India is Lucknow station (Uttar Pradesh). For the most obvious reasons of being the post populated state, a junction and amazing textile industry including clothing of chicken embroidery;  Lucknow is the busiest station. 
Fact 08 :
One more longest fact ....this time its the route.

The longest route covered is by the train Vivek E
xpress which runs from Dibrugarh(Assam) to Kanyakumari(Tamil Nadu) coveing a huge distance of total 4286km(2663.2 miles). in three days 10 hours and 15mins. I am thinking about the people in the last 15minutes !!! 
Fact 09:

Shortest run. its really a shortest one... a three km. ride from station Nagpur(designated as orange city of India) to Ajni. Ajni basically comes in the district of Nagpur but serves as an extended city station among 5 small sub-cities of Nagpur.

Fact 10:
Longest run for a Daily Train is by Kerala Express which travels 3054km. in 42.5hrs. Though, its not
a surprise as there are many trains which travels huge distances to connect the cities and towns of 7th largest country of the world. As I have been to Kerala, travelling in train would actually be an amazing option for travel lovers. You can imagine the scenic beauty just from the pic captured from the Kerala Express.. That's, why Kerala is called as God's own country. Truly WOW !


Just this much for today.Will be back with more fun facts.Hope you all enjoyed.Leave a comment or two.Till then, keep travelling !