[audioholic]

In Cantt station these locks are used to stable the rakes until their journey time nears. Apart from that I am wondering what the white thing on top of the springs are. Is it some kind of suspension bush?

[KPS]

Originally Posted by audioholic

In Cantt station these locks are used to stable the rakes until their journey time nears. Apart from that I am wondering what the white thing on top of the springs are. Is it some kind of suspension bush?

Actually it is a decorative paint job. The rake is actually the Golden Chariot luxury train

Cheers

KPS

[audioholic]

Speaking of the Golden Chariot, is it still running? Every time I pass by BNC, the rake is stabled in the same place in a dirty condition. But recently in a trip report a person had mentioned the passing of golden chariot towards Mangalore or Goa not sure.

[//M]

I got this amazing pic of Dudhsagar falls from a friend, who itself got it from his friend. So not sure who clicked it, but its such a lovely pic so thought of sharing it here.

[Gannu_1]

I was at the Surat railway station the other day, to bid farewell to a friend who was leaving us and a WAG-9 hauling some 100+ containers (lost count after it crossed 100!) crossed the station towards Baroda side. This was around 10:30 AM. Unfortunately, it happened in an instant and I couldn’t click any snaps. Either way, by the time I would take the cellphone out of my trouser pocket and press the camera button, the engine would have comfortably crossed 100 m!

From what I know, WAG-9 is currently India’s most powerful locomotive. More on the loco here - WAG-9 Wiki

That said, it isn't a rare sight to spot this loco. I have spotted the WAG-9 at multiple locations hauling various types of goods.

Turns out, there was a WAG-9H (which was later converted to a regular 9) and a WAG-9i! Stumbled upon some snaps from the web:





Sources: Link 1, Link 2

The red livery on the 9H looks absolutely smashing! Euro-like appearance.

[Trojan]

Originally Posted by //M

I got this amazing pic of Dudhsagar falls from a friend, who itself got it from his friend. So not sure who clicked it, but its such a lovely pic so thought of sharing it here.

This pic I believe is a screen shot from the movie Chennai Express, where they had shot this from a helicopter.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

The red livery on the 9H looks absolutely smashing! Euro-like appearance.

That WAG9H was named Dr Silver. I have its video somewhere on my computer which was clicked just short of Kanpur.

[D33-PAC]

Can someone answer the question why India does not use any foreign locos ? In many places throughout the world nations/private companies buy their locos straight from vendors like GE.

I don't understand why Indian railways uses its own....buying local is good for various reasons, but surely companies like GE have much more engineering brilliance to offer than ?

[shankar.balan]

I do believe there are a number of Siemens Diesel Electric Locos here in India.

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I do believe there are a number of Siemens Diesel Electric Locos here in India.

Actually, they are a combination of components from different companies. For example, on the WDG/P 4 class of diesel-electric locomotives, the control system is provided by either Siemens or Medha, which is an Indian company. The prime mover (diesel engine) is basically designed by EMD and I think it's now built in India under license. The older Alco locos also have a similar story. The control systems are provided by Siemens for certain types. So, basically it's a mix and match.
Now, the Locotrol system to control multiple locos from a single point is also a joint development between GE and Siemens.
India always wanted to generate jobs internally and I think that's the main reason for having technology transfer agreements with locomotive companies. Whether it's good or bad, I really don't want to comment on it.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

Can someone answer the question why India does not use any foreign locos ? In many places throughout the world nations/private companies buy their locos straight from vendors like GE.

I don't understand why Indian railways uses its own....buying local is good for various reasons, but surely companies like GE have much more engineering brilliance to offer than ?

Actually all the mainline loco's in India are foreign ones. Just that the first batch of any of the loco class are imported fully built and the ToT happens and is locally built with Indian made parts for reasons of costs.
The first WDG4 that was imported from GM Canada is homed at hubli and still has the original paint on it after some 14 years. Its called the GT46MAC. Same with the electric locos. The old class of WAM4 is an European make and the new ones are from ABB.
There are few that run on the east coast in AP and OR hauling mining rakes that are from a consortium of manufacturers from Japan. Theirs is a rare class -WAG6.
The good thing we have done is take technology from these classes and build a whole new loco from ground up namely wap4,wag7,wdm3d,wdp3a.
The latest class of loco's that are put on rails are well advanced. So we are good on the latest tech front although they are Indian makes.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

Can someone answer the question why India does not use any foreign locos ? In many places throughout the world nations/private companies buy their locos straight from vendors like GE.

I don't understand why Indian railways uses its own....buying local is good for various reasons, but surely companies like GE have much more engineering brilliance to offer than ?

To add to the post by Tharian,

Afaik there is no loco that has been built from scratch in our country. The basic class of loco will be imported, and later models will be produced here. Over time, these models are improvised and sub classes of loco formed. The ALco Locos which are doing duty from ages were also obtained from the American Loco company. From that, we have many classes and subclasses like WDG2, WDG3, WDG3A, WDM2, WDM3,WDM3A and so on and a lot of improvisations were made.

In the similar way, AC locos like the WAP5 were initially imported from ABB Switzerland. Then they were modified depending upon the needs and other classes like WAP7, WAG9, WAG9H, WAG9I were developed.

Technology wise, I can safely say that the railways are using the best traction technology available in its latest locos. Signalling and speed wise they have to improve but when it comes to the locos, they are very very advanced.

The way a three phase loco works is a fascinating thing to read about especially for an engineering background person as well as any other person. Unlike old locos which used a simple transformer and changed voltage applied to the traction motor, the new locos use a very advanced process. And every component is microprocessor controlled.

For interesting info, please refer to irfca.org FAQs section. We can come to a lot through the site.

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Technology wise, I can safely say that the railways are using the best traction technology available in its latest locos. Signalling and speed wise they have to improve but when it comes to the locos, they are very very advanced.

I would say that the traction technology used is good, not the best. That too, these are provided by third party companies, as I mentioned in my earlier post. The major problems with Indian Railways is that they don't follow much standards and the requirements are very volatile. So, a standard product from elsewhere has to be customized for India, which is not the case for 99% of other countries.

[nishantdlv]

I was at my native a couple of years back in konkan, when me and two of my cousins decided to visit a railway tunnel which was few a kilometers away from our home. Just as we reached, caught a RO-RO train in action!

I would suggest NEVER TO TRY THIS! The speed of the train is so immense that when it passes, the air pulls you in and there's no way to escape! So, I repeat, NEVER TRY THIS!

Here's the video by the way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2WHbjrZbLc

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by A350XWB

I would say that the traction technology used is good, not the best. That too, these are provided by third party companies, as I mentioned in my earlier post. The major problems with Indian Railways is that they don't follow much standards and the requirements are very volatile. So, a standard product from elsewhere has to be customized for India, which is not the case for 99% of other countries.

For the given scenario, the traction technology is quite advanced. Of course we cannot expect what is present in other countries or other networks like the French TGV or the bullet train.

Yes the requirements of the railways do change. The use of broad guage is itself not popular in other countries compared to standard guage. However its better to make a product adapt to our conditions compared to revamping our infrastructure for the product. This applies not only to the tracks but also other parameters. In India we have varying terrain, varying weather from place to place, variable amount of loads, and a combination of freight traffic as well as passenger traffic running on the same lines and sometimes even with interchanged locos, usually a goods loco pulling a passenger rake, and rarely vice versa. Hence, I think its quite difficult to make use of the exact technology used elsewhere.