Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Ankit Kumar 002]

First look of your future Metro
Reporting by Sanjay Mandal and Subhajoy Roy
The first of 14 trains built by Chinese company Dalian for the Calcutta Metro is on course to join the fleet by June 2017, kick-starting the transition from snag-prone “assembled” coaches to speedier, smoother and smarter rakes. The remaining 13 trains are scheduled to arrive around 10 months after the first one, officials said. The imported trains, with an average speed of 65kmph, will run concurrently with the ageing rakes of the original fleet and the air-conditioned ones manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory in Perambur, Chennai. Two AC rakes from the Chennai unit are expected to arrive around six months before Dalian delivers its first. Metro brings you the first look of the Dalian fleet and highlights its key features.
View attachment 319756
SMARTER COLOURS:
The body of the train is coloured silver with purple stripes. The driver’s cabin has an LED board displaying the name of the terminal station in three languages.

SPEEDIER TRAVEL:
The China-made prototype has a top speed of 80kmph, similar to that of the rakes supplied by the Chennai factory. The difference lies in the average speed — Dalian promises 65kmph, which is 10kmph more than what the existing AC rakes are capable of delivering.


Dalian’s aerodynamic design — the face of the rake is distinctively curved, unlike the flat front of the Indian rakes — apparently helps the train pick up speed faster and reduces energy consumption too.

“The existing rakes consume more energy while gathering speed because of higher wind resistance. A curved face helps in cutting through wind with less effort, which translates into lower energy consumption,” an official said.

But Metro Railway would need to “upgrade” its tracks to use the higher average speed that a Dalian train is capable of delivering.
View attachment 319757 View attachment 319758 View attachment 319759
WIDER DOORS:
Dalian’s answer to the commuter crush at every door during rush hour is to provide wider ingress and exit in every coach. The doors of the Chinese rake are 20cm wider than that of the India-made AC rakes. The vestibules are 1,450mm wide, more than double that of the existing ones. This is meant to enable commuters to move from one coach to another comfortably.

BETTER COOLING:
The roof-mounted air-conditioning system that Dalian uses is more advanced than that of the existing rakes. The drains meant to flush out water from the cooling unit have “slopes” to ensure there is no leaking roof. The AC rakes built in Chennai have a design defect that causes leakage. Since the drains don’t have slopes, water can’t be flushed out, an engineer with Metro Railway said.

BRIGHTER INTERIORS:
Coaches in the Chinese rake have LED lighting, which provides more illumination with less energy consumption. The existing coaches have dim lights that often malfunction. Metro officials say Dalian’s lighting system is far superior to what commuters in Calcutta are used to.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160721/jsp/calcutta/story_97894.jsp#.V5JCmdR95kj

Existing Rakes on Kolkata Metro
View attachment 319760 View attachment 319761

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@AndrewJin So Dalian locomotives and rolling stock becomes successful bidder in Kolkata Metro rail network modernization program. Hope it is a beginning of long and fruitful business partnership between two nations in rail transportation sector.

@Rain Man

Happy for my friends in KOLKATA, but the looks disappoint me.

 

[AndrewJin]

First look of your future Metro
Reporting by Sanjay Mandal and Subhajoy Roy
The first of 14 trains built by Chinese company Dalian for the Calcutta Metro is on course to join the fleet by June 2017, kick-starting the transition from snag-prone “assembled” coaches to speedier, smoother and smarter rakes. The remaining 13 trains are scheduled to arrive around 10 months after the first one, officials said. The imported trains, with an average speed of 65kmph, will run concurrently with the ageing rakes of the original fleet and the air-conditioned ones manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory in Perambur, Chennai. Two AC rakes from the Chennai unit are expected to arrive around six months before Dalian delivers its first. Metro brings you the first look of the Dalian fleet and highlights its key features.
View attachment 319756
SMARTER COLOURS:
The body of the train is coloured silver with purple stripes. The driver’s cabin has an LED board displaying the name of the terminal station in three languages.

SPEEDIER TRAVEL:
The China-made prototype has a top speed of 80kmph, similar to that of the rakes supplied by the Chennai factory. The difference lies in the average speed — Dalian promises 65kmph, which is 10kmph more than what the existing AC rakes are capable of delivering.


Dalian’s aerodynamic design — the face of the rake is distinctively curved, unlike the flat front of the Indian rakes — apparently helps the train pick up speed faster and reduces energy consumption too.

“The existing rakes consume more energy while gathering speed because of higher wind resistance. A curved face helps in cutting through wind with less effort, which translates into lower energy consumption,” an official said.

But Metro Railway would need to “upgrade” its tracks to use the higher average speed that a Dalian train is capable of delivering.
View attachment 319757 View attachment 319758 View attachment 319759
WIDER DOORS:
Dalian’s answer to the commuter crush at every door during rush hour is to provide wider ingress and exit in every coach. The doors of the Chinese rake are 20cm wider than that of the India-made AC rakes. The vestibules are 1,450mm wide, more than double that of the existing ones. This is meant to enable commuters to move from one coach to another comfortably.

BETTER COOLING:
The roof-mounted air-conditioning system that Dalian uses is more advanced than that of the existing rakes. The drains meant to flush out water from the cooling unit have “slopes” to ensure there is no leaking roof. The AC rakes built in Chennai have a design defect that causes leakage. Since the drains don’t have slopes, water can’t be flushed out, an engineer with Metro Railway said.

BRIGHTER INTERIORS:
Coaches in the Chinese rake have LED lighting, which provides more illumination with less energy consumption. The existing coaches have dim lights that often malfunction. Metro officials say Dalian’s lighting system is far superior to what commuters in Calcutta are used to.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160721/jsp/calcutta/story_97894.jsp#.V5JCmdR95kj

Existing Rakes on Kolkata Metro
View attachment 319760 View attachment 319761

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@AndrewJin So Dalian locomotives and rolling stock becomes successful bidder in Kolkata Metro rail network modernization program. Hope it is a beginning of long and fruitful business partnership between two nations in rail transportation sector.

@Rain Man

Frankly speaking, this company is not even top5 metro manufacturer in China. Never heard of other cities use their products except for Dalian's own subway...

Dalian's products, in the city of Dalian

Though abroad known as CRRC, domestically, there are numerous manufacturers within CRRC Group competing with each other. They are de facto independent companies. But as to reduce competition abroad between Chinese companies, CRRC was founded.

Personally, I like subways built by Changchun Company best, which is also the manufacturer of the recently launched 350km/h CRH350 and Boston，Chicago & Rio's metro. The subways in my city almost exclusively use their products and some from Zhuzhou which is the manufacturer of Shanghai Subway and Guangzhou Tram.

Boston T

 

[MKC]

There are also sleeper EMUs in China. This will be the new trend in China in the coming decade, sleeper EMUs replacing conventional sleeper trains.

The longest EMU service of daytime in China covers 2500km(13hours, 25 stops). More than that number, I think it should be sleeper EMUs. No need to have 300+km/h speed, 200-250km/h is enough. So if a sleeper EMU leaves at 18:00 and arrives at 9am, with several midway stops before 20:00 and after 7am, it can easily cover 3000km.

Another tendency of China's conventional train services is to introduce semi-high-speed locomotives on HSRs at night since EMU sleeper trains are quite expensive. Now, there are only 160km/h sleeper trains on some HSRs, but they are testing higher speed with the newest locomotives. However, compared to daytime EMUs, sleeper trains no matter what kind are becoming increasingly unpopular here. Especially for young Chinese, they think it "lame" and "not cool". I could never agree.

Sleeper EMU
View attachment 319737 View attachment 319739 View attachment 319738 View attachment 319736 View attachment 319743View attachment 319744 View attachment 319746 View attachment 319745


Really like that double-decker train.
I could not remember how long I have not taken one.
I've heard CRRC is working on double-decker EMUs and double-decker sleeper EMUs (we used to have double decker sleeper trains, dunno they exist or not) like those in France, but you know the weight and height is a problem.

In 2015 railway budget, RM told about plans to make sleeper EMUs in India too, these EMUs will be called train sets will have same capacity & speed as Talgo & will run on same tracks.
RFI have been issued earlier but now I don't know about updates.
Why are sleeper EMU expensive than conventional?

IR double deckers don't seem good for some people as these have lower speed than Shatabadi which also offer same service as DD however DD have low fare compared to Shatabadi. After introducing in 2011, today we just have 7 pair of such beautiful trains & 3 pairs already discontinued & only two pairs run daily & one train used to ran on just two coaches which is least after railbus & normally DEMU/EMU have at least six coaches.

Howrah – Dhanbad Double Decker Express which was the first DD, connected Kolkata & Dhanbad, an impotant town in Jharkhand. This train was considered as one of the most unsuccessful train on that route. At present the train is laying unmaintained in platform no.16 of Howrah station.

 

[Śakra]

First look of your future Metro
Reporting by Sanjay Mandal and Subhajoy Roy
The first of 14 trains built by Chinese company Dalian for the Calcutta Metro is on course to join the fleet by June 2017, kick-starting the transition from snag-prone “assembled” coaches to speedier, smoother and smarter rakes. The remaining 13 trains are scheduled to arrive around 10 months after the first one, officials said. The imported trains, with an average speed of 65kmph, will run concurrently with the ageing rakes of the original fleet and the air-conditioned ones manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory in Perambur, Chennai. Two AC rakes from the Chennai unit are expected to arrive around six months before Dalian delivers its first. Metro brings you the first look of the Dalian fleet and highlights its key features.
View attachment 319756
SMARTER COLOURS:
The body of the train is coloured silver with purple stripes. The driver’s cabin has an LED board displaying the name of the terminal station in three languages.

SPEEDIER TRAVEL:
The China-made prototype has a top speed of 80kmph, similar to that of the rakes supplied by the Chennai factory. The difference lies in the average speed — Dalian promises 65kmph, which is 10kmph more than what the existing AC rakes are capable of delivering.


Dalian’s aerodynamic design — the face of the rake is distinctively curved, unlike the flat front of the Indian rakes — apparently helps the train pick up speed faster and reduces energy consumption too.

“The existing rakes consume more energy while gathering speed because of higher wind resistance. A curved face helps in cutting through wind with less effort, which translates into lower energy consumption,” an official said.

But Metro Railway would need to “upgrade” its tracks to use the higher average speed that a Dalian train is capable of delivering.
View attachment 319757 View attachment 319758 View attachment 319759
WIDER DOORS:
Dalian’s answer to the commuter crush at every door during rush hour is to provide wider ingress and exit in every coach. The doors of the Chinese rake are 20cm wider than that of the India-made AC rakes. The vestibules are 1,450mm wide, more than double that of the existing ones. This is meant to enable commuters to move from one coach to another comfortably.

BETTER COOLING:
The roof-mounted air-conditioning system that Dalian uses is more advanced than that of the existing rakes. The drains meant to flush out water from the cooling unit have “slopes” to ensure there is no leaking roof. The AC rakes built in Chennai have a design defect that causes leakage. Since the drains don’t have slopes, water can’t be flushed out, an engineer with Metro Railway said.

BRIGHTER INTERIORS:
Coaches in the Chinese rake have LED lighting, which provides more illumination with less energy consumption. The existing coaches have dim lights that often malfunction. Metro officials say Dalian’s lighting system is far superior to what commuters in Calcutta are used to.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160721/jsp/calcutta/story_97894.jsp#.V5JCmdR95kj

Existing Rakes on Kolkata Metro
View attachment 319760 View attachment 319761

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@AndrewJin So Dalian locomotives and rolling stock becomes successful bidder in Kolkata Metro rail network modernization program. Hope it is a beginning of long and fruitful business partnership between two nations in rail transportation sector.

@Rain Man

We have huge demand, why isn't TATA or someone making their own metro trains?

 

[Nilgiri]

We have huge demand, why isn't TATA or someone making their own metro trains?

There is local capacity by various companies. Bombardier even exported metro trains from India to Australia.

Its a globalised world these days so pricepoints have to be kept open to competition. That way local producers don't get too insulated and overconfident....and innovate to make better products at the lowest cost possible for the future.

 

[AndrewJin]

Why are sleeper EMU expensive than conventional?

I assume any high-speed EMUs are more expensive than traditional trains.
A standard EMU (8 cars) can cost
250km/h EMU 130million yuan
350km/h EMU 190million yuan
Sand/wind/coldness-proof version, 220million yuan
One regular car of conventional trains only costs 2-5 million yuan.
(a yuan =10 rupees)


A sleeper EMU is no less than 200 million yuan.

IR double deckers don't seem good for some people as these have lower speed than Shatabadi which also offer same service as DD however DD have low fare compared to Shatabadi. After introducing in 2011, today we just have 7 pair of such beautiful trains & 3 pairs already discontinued & only two pairs run daily & one train used to ran on just two coaches which is least after railbus & normally DEMU/EMU have at least six coaches.

Howrah – Dhanbad Double Decker Express which was the first DD, connected Kolkata & Dhanbad, an impotant town in Jharkhand. This train was considered as one of the most unsuccessful train on that route. At present the train is laying unmaintained in platform no.16 of Howrah station.

Dunno why double decker trains in China and India are not as popular as in Europe.
I think speed is not really a problem, double decker trains can easily achieve 160+km/h.
Probably people think the space is too small?

Double decker trains in China are priced the same as regular hard seats. (saw a few)
There are also double decker sleeper trains (never saw one in my city)

 

[Nilgiri]

I think speed is not really a problem, double decker trains can easily achieve 160+km/h.
Probably people think the space is too small?

Its not a problem at all!

TGV run double decker duplex trains:

 

[AndrewJin]

Its not a problem at all!

TGV run double decker duplex trains:

People here complain about the limited space for luggage.
And experts complain about its too much weight which might hurt HSR tracks in the long run.
It's popular for TGV, but not popular for all other HSR systems.
French HSRs almost all use ballasted track, which is cheap and can handle more weight but more expensive to maintain and quite unstable (if u have taken a TGV in France and an ICE on German's ballast-less tracks, you will know why).

 

[anant_s]

We have huge demand, why isn't TATA or someone making their own metro trains?

Bombarider has set up a manufacturing unit at Savli (near vadodara) and other suburban demand is met by ICF.
With several cities proposing to setup metro network, about time some Indian manufacturer too, forms a JV and starts manufacturing in India.

 

[Nilgiri]

People here complain about the limited space for luggage.
And experts complain about its too much weight which might hurt HSR tracks in the long run.
It's popular for TGV, but not popular for all other HSR systems.
French HSRs almost all use ballasted track, which is cheap and can handle more weight but more expensive to maintain and quite unstable (if u have taken a TGV in France and an ICE on German's ballast-less tracks, you will know why).

True, asians in general like lots of luggage while travelling.

I have been on ICE and TGV and yes you are correct about the smoothness. Would you say CRH ride quality is like ICE?

 

[AndrewJin]

True, asians in general like lots of luggage while travelling.

I have been on ICE and TGV and yes you are correct about the smoothness. Would you say CRH ride quality is like ICE?

Arguably the smoothest.
HSRs here are straighter and smoother.
Inter-track space is bigger.
Many German travelers come to China and have such feelings.

 

[Nilgiri]

Arguably the smoothest.
HSRs here are straighter and smoother.
Inter-track space is bigger.
Many German travelers come to China and have such feelings.

Yes I heard so from others too. Last time I went to China for work I took the plane inside to travel...but I have to give CRH a try next time....hopefully next year.

 

[AndrewJin]

Yes I heard so from others too. Last time I went to China for work I took the plane...but I have to give CRH a try next time....hopefully next year.

Welcome.
Avoid Friday, Sunday and all public holidays....
Can be very hard to get a ticket.

 

[danger007]

[QUOTE: andrewJin, post: 8495081, member: 167075"]Arguably the smoothest.
HSRs here are straighter and smoother.
Inter-track space is bigger.
Many German travelers come to China and have such feelings.

[/QUOTE]



Maglev don't have wheels, so the cars are steady unlike Wheels on track..

 

[AndrewJin]

[QUOTE: andrewJin, post: 8495081, member: 167075"]Arguably the smoothest.
HSRs here are straighter and smoother.
Inter-track space is bigger.
Many German travelers come to China and have such feelings.

Maglev don't have wheels, so the cars are steady unlike Wheels on track.. View attachment 319853[/QUOTE]
Why does it have anything to do with maglev?