[AamodB]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

A tangential question. Are there heightened chances of pantograph failure with the high rise OHE setup? Just asking out of curiosity

As far as I'm aware there haven't been any issues with the high rise OHE and the extended pantograph. The other point to note is that most of the previous issues have been the pantos mounted on the passenger train coaches rather than the locomotives. Since freight trains require only one active panto on the loco, the chances of any snagging are greatly reduced.

The locos are serviced and inspected much more frequently than the coaches since they return to their base stations after fewer journeys. Plus passenger trains will have to use the high-rise OHE for very short distances and only in areas with double stack ready ICDs i.e. only Gurgaon-Manesar so far. So in my opinion it's unlikely that the high-rise OHE will have any issues. But I guess we'll have to wait and see

Originally Posted by fordday

Dear AamodB, thank your for your patience in answering our questions.

DFC is now up to Madar. What happens from here? To go to Mundra, does the freight train takes the regular IR tracks? Are these non-electrified or electrified tracks having height increased OHE, to take in double stacked containers?

The ceremony was only truly the "ceremony" part of it. CTOs have been using the DFC track for the past few months as an operational trial but with diesel powered trains since the track to Mundra and Pipavav beyond the completed DFC section is non-electrified.

While there are electrified tracks beyond the current DFC running till the ports, the OHE is not high-rise. So till the DFC is completed to Palanpur Junction in Gujarat (the place where the trains exit the DFC to go to Mundra and Pipavav) and the infrastructure in Gujarat has high-rise OHE, container trains will continue to use diesel locos from origin. However in a situation where the train runs on the electrified section from origin, they'll be forced to wait at the exit point and switch to a diesel locomotive for the non-viable part of the journey.

[fordday]

Originally Posted by AamodB

The ceremony was only truly the "ceremony" part of it. CTOs have been using the DFC track for the past few months as an operational trial but with diesel powered trains since the track to Mundra and Pipavav beyond the completed DFC section is non-electrified.

This news item says another 400 KM to be ready in two months. Are these already running sections remaining only to be 'inaugurated'?

[mmxylorider]

IR have run a 3.5 km long good trains with 295 wagons yesterday. This is equivalent of 5 normal goods trains end to end. The interesting aspect is that the loop lines at stations to permit passenger trains to overtake goods trains would have been short to accommodate this rake - which means this specific train would have done the journey without any stoppage. Indian Railways continues to amaze in very unique ways.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

IR have run a 3.5 km long good trains with 295 wagons yesterday. This is equivalent of 5 normal goods trains end to end. The interesting aspect is that the loop lines at stations to permit passenger trains to overtake goods trains would have been short to accommodate this rake - which means this specific train would have done the journey without any stoppage. Indian Railways continues to amaze in very unique ways.

Details here.

RAIPUR: The South-East Central Railways (SECR) zone in Chhattisgarh breaks its own previous record by successfully operating the longest ever freight train by amalgamating five rakes of goods trains as one unit of around 3.5 km.

Named as 'Vasuki', it covered the distance of 224 km between the railway stations of Bhilai and Korba and took about seven hours.

The 'Vasuki', comprising of 300 wagons of long haul rake of five goods trains, ran with the help of one pilot, one assistant loco pilot and a guard.

[AkMar]

This is what is a single train long in the real sense, as the entire train was run with DPWCS with just 1 set of crew in the lead loco and the rest controlled wirelessly.

[AamodB]

Originally Posted by fordday

This news item says another 400 KM to be ready in two months. Are these already running sections remaining only to be 'inaugurated'?

My apologies for getting back so late. It's highly unlikely that the next section will be ready and fully operational in two months. DFCCIL has been claiming that the WDFC will be fully operational every couple of months for the past couple of years but there's always some "unforeseen delay".

I am aware of the main challenge that the DFCCIL is facing but unfortunately I'm not at liberty to publicly state it. In short it'll be at least Q2 of the 21-22 fiscal if not Q3. The section beyond that till JNPT should be a year more if all goes relatively according to schedule.

Originally Posted by AkMar

This is what is a single train long in the real sense, as the entire train was run with DPWCS with just 1 set of crew in the lead loco and the rest controlled wirelessly.

AkMar please do correct me if I've misunderstood but I'm assuming you're referring to the two crews and two locomotives that the DFC train had.

It is indeed only one crew operating the 1.5km container train but there's two crews for operational efficiency further down the line. The logic behind that is that the trains once they reach the end point of the DFC (since it doesn't run directly to the ports yet), they can split immediately and head to the respective ports as two individual trains with their respective locomotives.

[norhog]

I had heard there was a double stack container train accident, derailment.
I searched but could not find the relevent news link.
Grateful if someone can shed some information on it.
Thank you.