[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by Sankar

How do the trucks roll on and off from the flat beds?

Must be hard to get these trucks off the train. They cant simply make a left turn into the platform using a small ramp, can they? On a second thought, looking at the truckers drive on pavements, and off road, I think they they can make the trucks jump off a running train and on to the road.
-GG

[CorsaLove]

This is amazing initiative. It most certainly would help in decongesting traffic on the long run

[akroy]

Thats an intelligent proposition mainly when NH17 is in shambles and it takes ages for truckers to cover. But I would be interested to know how the loading and unloading of the trucks takes place. Do they drive it onto the wagon or craned?

Abhi

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by akroy

Thats an intelligent proposition mainly when NH17 is in shambles and it takes ages for truckers to cover. But I would be interested to know how the loading and unloading of the trucks takes place. Do they drive it onto the wagon or craned?

Abhi

They just drive on. If you look at the 2nd and 3rd image closely you will observe that all the wagons have a drive on connector.

At the loading/unloading junctions the train is backed to a dead end ramp, all the trucks drive on the entire train till then reach the last wagon and onto ramp and off into the road.

[Bigzero]

Nice find! I had seen these trains at close quarters when I was passing thro Konkal railway a few years back.

AKroy, as for your loading/unloading question, I guess the trucks may be getting on to the train with the help of a ramp at one end ( either permanent or temporary - permanent is when the entire train backs up into the dead-end of a loop line where the ramp sits at one end ), and then just drive on along the length of the train to take their position . If you check the pictures you will observe that the coaches are connected and trucks can move from coach to coach.

[F50]

Good Catch Fillmore! Initially, without reading anything I thought these are new trucks but watching closely all of them are carrying goods.

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

ps - any more pictures of the trains ?

x 2 Please.

P.S. Is clicking photos on the platform allowed? Atleast in Bombay?

[maddy42]

Well this has been going on for quite sometime. Good move by railways. If this is increased in more sectors it would be better.

[Torqy]

I'm trying to imagine all these trucks waiting on the platform.....and when the train comes, they all rush to their S1, S2, S5 etc....some trucks trying to get down while some trying to get on the train pushing each other.



-- Torqy

[neon_daytona]

Had seen before (On Oct 2,2006) in the same station. The funniest part was that some of the drivers were even seen cooking something (Yes they had a kerosene stove) inside the truck (driver's cabin).

Didn't have a camera then to take pictures

[Rotorhead]

This is a good idea, it saves so much trouble for the truckers and a few trucks off the highways are always welcome to other commuters. Laloo has also come up with a great idea to run important water lines along with the railway tracks. Given all drawbacks of lalloo, his effort in turning around the Indian railways deserves appreciation.

[kaushik_s]

You should see this thing while moving.It just a kinda surreal site from a distance ,lined up trucks moving at a constant speed (specially when the train is hidden from the view by trees or whatever).It looks just so different.Have seen this while on my trip to Goa,I think my friend's have taken some video also.Our first though was "how the hell the trucks moving so fast and maintaining the distance,and what's that express road that we've missed ;-)" And then we saw the train..

[Spitfire]

The RO-RO, yes quite an amazing and very efficient system. The trucks reach on time and the railways gives some amazing service.

This makes sense in the Konkan area because of the terrain. If anyone has driven down from Mumbai to Mangalore we come across a lot of ghat sections and narrow roads where driving these fully loaded trucks is a major waste of time and money.

It would take 3 days the travel by road what the train does in 16-24 hours.

And yes the drivers do cook and bathe and you know "what" on the train itself. LOL just donr be there to see it.

[Murugan]

Originally Posted by F50

P.S. Is clicking photos on the platform allowed? Atleast in Bombay?

Photo-phobia?

I thought even airports have removed the restriction on photography.

Reminds me of a photograph of Jawaharlal Nehru standing in front of a board near a bridge, somewhere in Kashmir if memory serves me right, with an amused look on his face; the board read 'PHOTOGRAPHY PROHIBITED'. Great sense of humor to find rules posted by his government amusing!

[nbr]

Originally Posted by Sankar

How do the trucks roll on and off from the flat beds?

A very nice move indeed.

You get all the details from this website:

http://www.manishtransportco.com/video.html

[madan80]

the RORO concept is quite old. the Konkan railway piloted the concept, and the railways ministry is looking at opening up dedicated freight corridors with the concept!

But bad for check post policeman! No more bribe! :-)

well, the excise dept is also smart..
they moved their check post to just outside the railway station!

one of the dis-advantages of the ro-ro concept is the fact that tunnels hinder the possibility of bringing on any type of truck. due to stipulated clearences, many a times, truckers de-flate tyres to make the truck adhere to the maximum clearence.

overall- its a great concept, and i just hope it spreads all over.

In terms of containers, its good if the clearning service is in place, but the infra required to bring them containers on and off is pretty high. not everyone has enough stuff to pack in containers.

there are dedicated container trains, that can carry containers, they usually load up and ConCor (Container Corporation of India- JV btwn GoI and Indian Railways) docks or WCI (warehousing corp of India) docks and take them to their other yards from where the customers have to come and collect their respective containers.