[raghu.t.k]

Originally Posted by Gansan

MRTS is the same a Electric train. Metro = hyped up Electric train! That's all!

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

^^^MRTS is yes more or less same as an Electric train. Just that the former runs on elevated tracks here.

But to say that the Metro is just a hyped-up electric train is to put it very simplistically. It is as similar to electric trains as cheese is to chalk. It is a totally different experience in itself.
......

I sincerely hope that we respect and protect public property, else it would really end-up as glorified electric trains. I was hoping that sub-urban, the MRTS and the metro could be brought under one umbrella, so as to share resources like the tracks, stations, signalling, etc. The actual trains could have been different, between the metro and the suburban/mrts. That said, knowing the magnitude of cost and effort, it would be a pipe dream.

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

Looks like a commendable job indeed!!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/I...w/36676797.cms

A commendable job, that the police have also made a coordinated effort to ensure the life is saved. to all involved, especially the guys parents who agreed to this, while their son lay dead, I really salute them.

[raghu.t.k]

Not sure who gives the right of way for some smart *** to jump queue at toll booth. Yesterday it was near Chennai one, and today near the Sholinganallur - Global hospital. The way they intrude is as if others are lesser mortal than them.

It leaves me fuming every time someone does this....

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Not sure who gives the right of way for some smart *** to jump queue at toll booth. Yesterday it was near Chennai one, and today near the Sholinganallur - Global hospital. The way they intrude is as if others are lesser mortal than them.

It leaves me fuming every time someone does this....

Happened to me once, really annoying thing to do. Sadly we can't go down to the level of those idiots and argue.

[Raghav_K]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Not sure who gives the right of way for some smart *** to jump queue at toll booth. Yesterday it was near Chennai one, and today near the Sholinganallur - Global hospital. The way they intrude is as if others are lesser mortal than them.

It leaves me fuming every time someone does this....

Happens very often at the Chennai bypass. So I always avoid the leftmost lane in which this usually occurs.

Wish there was a way these vehicles could be penalized. Maybe they should charge twice the toll, when the camera records somebody jumping queue.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

I sincerely hope that we respect and protect public property, else it would really end-up as glorified electric trains.

Oh we surely will. And I say this inspite of the graffiti seen on electric train coaches. If the guys in Calcutta can keep the metro neat & clean, we Chennai-ities can surely can.

[binand]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

I was hoping that sub-urban, the MRTS and the metro could be brought under one umbrella, so as to share resources like the tracks, stations, signalling, etc.

Track sharing will be difficult. The Metro runs on standard gauge while the rest of Chennai's train system runs on broad gauge - the widths are different.

In addition, the MRTS tracks (lighter rails) and carriageway (design limits) aren't strong enough to take trains from other systems - reason for shorter MRTS trains.

Station-sharing already happens, right? I think one can switch between suburban and Metro at Guindy? And MRTS and suburban at Park Town?

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Not sure who gives the right of way for some smart *** to jump queue at toll booth.

Happens to me just about every other time I cross the BETL toll in Bangalore. Once a Traveller got blocked (stuck in a closed toll lane with no hope of reversing out) because I didn't let him squeeze in - its driver's assistant then came out and did a weird sort of mating dance around my car, mouthing Kannada obscenities at me. My wife and m-i-l who were in the car with me didn't let me out. So we just enjoyed the performance with rolled up windows, centrally locked doors and air-conditioned comfort.

[raghu.t.k]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Oh we surely will. And I say this inspite of the graffiti seen on electric train coaches. If the guys in Calcutta can keep the metro neat & clean, we Chennai-ities can surely can.

Yep, I am normally optimistic, and we Chennai-ities would maintain them well. 4 other Cities have metro now, and 2 more in my knowledge working on them (Cochin and Hyd)

That said I have 1 experience of the Shatabdi, which runs from Coimbatore to Chennai being in a pitiable state. The tray tables were falling off, glass cracked,etc. In this case, the railways are also responsible here, due to the lack of proper maintenance

Originally Posted by binand

Track sharing will be difficult. The Metro runs on standard gauge while the rest of Chennai's train system runs on broad gauge - the widths are different.

In addition, the MRTS tracks (lighter rails) and carriageway (design limits) aren't strong enough to take trains from other systems - reason for shorter MRTS trains.

Station-sharing already happens, right? I think one can switch between suburban and Metro at Guindy? And MRTS and suburban at Park Town?



....
because I didn't let him squeeze in - its driver's assistant then came out and did a weird sort of mating dance around my car, mouthing Kannada obscenities at me. My wife and m-i-l who were in the car with me didn't let me out. So we just enjoyed the performance with rolled up windows, centrally locked doors and air-conditioned comfort.

WRT to the gauge diff, they could have considered it during their planning days to ensure the whole of the country runs on one gauge. In fact I remember that there were 3 gauges earlier (broad, metre and narrow), with most of them now standardized to broad. Not sure of the hill trains though.

Never knew that the tracks for MRTS were different, thanks for the info.

I really like the way Egmore station serves both the beach-tambaram suburban and the long distance trains. I think its the same for Mambalam and Tambaram for some long distance trains. The same hold good for Perambur and Arakonnam stations.

WRT to the toll incident, it serves him right. Occasionally I to do the same, but prefer not to spoil my day early in the morning itself!!

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by binand

Track sharing will be difficult. The Metro runs on standard gauge while the rest of Chennai's train system runs on broad gauge - the widths are different.

In addition, the MRTS tracks (lighter rails) and carriageway (design limits) aren't strong enough to take trains from other systems - reason for shorter MRTS trains.

Station-sharing already happens, right? I think one can switch between suburban and Metro at Guindy? And MRTS and suburban at Park Town?

Thanks for that bit on the gauge and track differences.

There's a small correction in the station-sharing part - the switching between Suburban and the MRTS can happen from Fort Station until Beach. Park Town and Park stations are respectively for MRTS and Suburban, and these stations are a few hundred metres apart

Originally Posted by binand

Happens to me just about every other time I cross the BETL toll in Bangalore. Once a Traveller got blocked (stuck in a closed toll lane with no hope of reversing out) because I didn't let him squeeze in - its driver's assistant then came out and did a weird sort of mating dance around my car, mouthing Kannada obscenities at me. My wife and m-i-l who were in the car with me didn't let me out. So we just enjoyed the performance with rolled up windows, centrally locked doors and air-conditioned comfort.

Had a similar experience at the Coimbatore bypass L&T toll road last sunday. A moustached gentleman in his Vista D90 wanted to squeeze in, and I didn't let him in. A lot of honking ensued and a truck behind let him in. At the next signal (Karpagam university one, IIRC), while everyone had stopped at the red light, this guy took the free left, took a U-turn into the wrong side and then squeezed back into the highway. My brother and I earnestly hoped to see a some private bus or tipper lorry do the "honours", but he got lucky and escaped.

[binand]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

4 other Cities have metro now, and 2 more in my knowledge working on them (Cochin and Hyd)

Partially or fully functional metros - Kolkata, Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai
Under-construction metros - Kochi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Navi Mumbai
Planned metros - several. I have heard of Lucknow, Pune, Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Guwahati...

Any other?

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

WRT to the gauge diff, they could have considered it during their planning days to ensure the whole of the country runs on one gauge. In fact I remember that there were 3 gauges earlier (broad, metre and narrow), with most of them now standardized to broad. Not sure of the hill trains though.

I expect they'd have considered it, but the trade-off between capacity and cost would have made the choice of standard gauge stand-out. For example:

- Broad gauge requires wider tunnels/underground sections, which would increase construction costs
- Broad gauge requires wider elevated sections, which *might* increase the number of pillars needed. In particular, the current design of metro on pillars running along road median might not have been feasible with broad gauge (all my speculation)
- Wikipedia says 60% of the world runs on standard gauge, so rolling stock could be cheaper since factories needn't be reconfigured.
- Operational considerations

PS: You are talking of Project Unigauge. It is mostly complete, with the exception of the five hill train routes (three of which are UNESCO world heritage sites).

[Gansan]

Metro trains are basically Electric trains. More modern, light weight yet strong, airconditioned, with automatic doors, run through tunnels/elevated viaducts, and faster acceleration / deceleration. But Electric trains all the same. The technology is basically the same. I am saying this after having travelled extensively on the Delhi metro very recently.

Kolkata metro is operated by IR and is broad gauge. Delhi metro originally started out with broad gauge. Some of the earlier lines operate Bombardier rakes on broad gauge. In fact Bombardier had to specially configure them for us, since almost all the metro systems in the world operate on SG. For the more recent lines such as violet line, DMRC have opted for SG.

The rakes have to be light weight yet strong, with modern construction, fast acceleration and deceleration. The technology for manufacturing them does not exist in India, hence they are being imported. The suppliers (Alstom for Chennai) are setting up manufacturing facility here.

The trains will be compact, similar to Volvo buses. They alone can be accommodated on the compact tunnels and elevated viaducts that are coming up. Since they will be running with closed doors, the clearance between the up/down tracks can be closer than that of IR, and the viaduct correspondingly smaller. If we compare the viaducts with those of MRTS, you will know what I mean. Advantage is, they take up lesser road space on busy roads due to the single compact pillar, instead of the two huge ones that MRTS requires.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Engineering Expo is on at the trade centre this weekend. It is supposed to be trade-only to 4pm, but I'm sure all that is needed is a suitable business card

I think this is all machine tools, but those that like to drool over such things should find some droolworthy stuff

[hajaar]

Does anybody else think that the observance of certain rules in Chennai has deteriorated significantly in the last 2-3 months? I am referring to things like using the opposite lane to make the green signal, overtaking rashly, tailgating etc?

I get frustrated driving everyday and wondered if this is a pattern anyone else has observed?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Does anybody else think that the observance of certain rules in Chennai has deteriorated significantly in the last 2-3 months?

it couldn't get any worse.

But somehow, it does. Every day.

[Raghav_K]

I was thinking the overall arrogance and egoistic attitude of the two and four wheelers has been increasing for the past year.

Glad that I'm not the only one with such thoughts.

Or maybe it's because we have more nuts on the road every year :-)

This happened yesterday to me. I was chugging along in the fast lane at 90, in the Chennai Bypass road, two lorries were in the middle lane, with some distance between each other. When I was beginning to overtake the second lorry, a small car, an Maruti 800, comes behind me and repeatedly honks, goes to the slow lane in left, overtakes the lorry, diagonally zips to the fast lane, overtakes the lorry in front, and slowed down to 60 in the fast lane trying to block me. I for a second thought I would do the same to him, then I decided I don't care, shifted to the middle lane, and slowed down to 50. Probably the lack of response from me, pissed him off so he took speed again and drove away.

[Dieseldunk]

Originally Posted by Raghav_K

I was thinking the overall arrogance and egoistic attitude of the two and four wheelers has been increasing for the past year.

Glad that I'm not the only one with such thoughts.

Or maybe it's because we have more nuts on the road every year :-)

This happened yesterday to me. I was chugging along in the fast lane at 90, in the Chennai Bypass road, two lorries were in the middle lane, with some distance between each other. When I was beginning to overtake the second lorry, a small car, an Maruti 800, comes behind me and repeatedly honks, goes to the slow lane in left, overtakes the lorry, diagonally zips to the fast lane, overtakes the lorry in front, and slowed down to 60 in the fast lane trying to block me. I for a second thought I would do the same to him, then I decided I don't care, shifted to the middle lane, and slowed down to 50. Probably the lack of response from me, pissed him off so he took speed again and drove away.

Well done mate. This controlled ignorance is not easy to posess but once mastered it makes driving more pleasant and pleasurable. :thumbup: