For a cost-benefit evaluation the question is, how much Safety on Indian Railways is wanted by the Indian Government and how much money the Government is willing to spend for it. In a cost-benefit evaluation the question is, how much counts the value of train-passenger`s freedom from injury and bodily harm compared to the incurred […]
Author: Chaminda Weerawarna
HOW MUCH SAFETY ON INDIAN RAILWAYS, Part II: TRAIN-PASSENGER`s FREEDOM FROM INJURIES AND BODILY HARM
More trains and higher speed means more stress on the tracks. A low quality track deteriorates faster than a high quality track. Many routes are of low track-quality. The most of the network is saturated. And 40% of the routes running at over 100% of line capacity are already over strained. There is a shortage […]
HOW MUCH SAFETY ON INDIAN RAILWAYS?
On 20 th Nov. 2016 over 150 passengers got killed at a Derailment-Disaster on the Jhansi-Kanpur Link at Pukhrayan. It is the deadliest train accident in India since 1999, when the Gaisal Train Disaster claimed 290 lives. In the 6-year period between 2009-10 and 2014-15, there were a total of 803 accidents in Indian Railways […]
BALLAST, FORMATION AND DRAINAGE; Part I & II
This technical paper is a revision of the Chapter 8 Draft of J.S. Mundrey for the forthcoming 5 th edition RAILWAY TRACK ENGINEERING with modifications and amendments by Dr. F.A. Wingler. A Railway Track needs to be addressed in its entirety rather by only its individual constituents. The technical paper deals in Part I with […]
WATER THE ENEMY OF THE RAIL TRACK
Water is the Enemy of the Rail Track and hence the Enemy of the Track Engineer. Wisdom tells: “One cannot be too careful in how to deal with his Enemy!” “One of the most time-consuming things is to have an Enemy!” Stability and longevity of a Rail Track depend in large extend, if water can […]
RAIL FASTENING SYSTEMS
This Technical paper is a revision with amendments by Dr. F.A. Wingler of the draft on Chapter 5 of J.S. Mundrey`s forthcoming 5 th edition RAILWAY TRACK ENGINEERING. The article covers direct and indirect Rail to Sleeper Fastening Systems for wooden, compound, steel and concrete sleepers as well for ballast-less slab-tracks. Most common are indirect […]
WITHER CHECK-RAILS ON RAILWAY CURVES
This article deals with the pros and cons of Check-Rails on Curves, especially in India and Sri Lanka. Check-Rails on railway curves are a relic from England, the cradle of railways. Check-Rails on Curves create a lot of pain for little or no benefit. By modern Friction-Management: Preventive and Target Rail and Wheel Profiling and […]
CRASH ENERGY MANAGEMENT; Part I and II
MODERN CRASH-WORTHY FRONT DESIGN-ENGINEERING FOR RAIL- CARS, POWER-SETS AND MULTIPLE UNITES IN COMPLIANCE WITH US AND EUROPEAN NORMS FOR THE PASSIVE DRIVER`S PROTECTION ON COLLISION WITH A HEAVY OBJECT In Sri Lanka there had been two collisions of the Indian build Class S11 Diesel Multiple Unit, DMU, with the rear of stationary trains. In both […]
EUROPEAN TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM, ETCS What ETCS is and how does it actually function
The technical Paper explains in a compact form, what the European Train Control System is, how does it function and work, and what the crucial points are. To read more, download: ETCS
THE CLASS M2 DIESEL-ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES IN SRI LANKA – The “Canadian Warriors”
In the period between 1954 and 1966 the Canadian Government gifted to Sri Lanka under the “COLOMBO PLAN AID — FROM CANADA” 14 sturdy A1A’-A1A’ and B0’-B0’ Diesel- electric Locomotives based on the General Motors EMD Multi-Purpose GP8, GP9 and G12 Locomotives and build in the Canadian and USA General Motors, Electric Motive Division workshops. […]