Indian Railways has embarked on a project to construct the worlds tallest bridge pier in the state of Manipur at an estimated cost of $49.87m (Rs3.74bn).

This infrastructure will be erected under the 111km-long Jiribam-Imphal railway project, which will link Imphal, the capital of Manipur, with the broad-gauge network of India.

The bridge, which will be built at a pier height of 141m, is said to break the current record of 139m of Mala Rijeka viaduct, Montenegro in Europe.
(Permalink) Imphal India Manipur Tallest Railway Bridge

Thirty six people were killed and 50 injured after an express train derailed in south-east India on Saturday night in the latest disaster to hit one of the world’s largest rail networks.

Eight coaches and the engine of the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar express derailed at 11pm near Kuneru railway station in Vizianagram district of Andhra Pradesh state.

“The death toll has gone up to 36. It is a possibility that it may rise further,” said Anil Kumar Saxena, national railway spokesman.
(Permalink) Crash Derailment India

The death toll following the derailment of a train in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state has reached at least 115, with more than 150 injured, police say.
Fourteen carriages of the Indore-Patna Express derailed just after 03:00 local time on Sunday (21:30 GMT Saturday) near the city of Kanpur.
Rescuers are still trying to reach the injured and recover the dead from the twisted carriages.
The cause of the crash near the village of Pukhrayan is not yet known.
Fourteen carriages of the Indore-Patna Express derailed just after 03:00 local time on Sunday (21:30 GMT Saturday) near the city of Kanpur.
Rescuers are still trying to reach the injured and recover the dead from the twisted carriages.
The cause of the crash near the village of Pukhrayan is not yet known.
(Permalink) Crash Derailment India

With 40,000 miles of tracks and 17,000 trains, India’s vast railway network stretches across the subcontinent, connecting remote villages to heaving metropolises. Set up under the Raj, the system provides a crucial lifeline for the 18 million people a day who use it and for the 1.4 million people it employs.
(Permalink) India

India's government has approved a $14.7bn (£9.7bn) deal for Japan to build the country's first high-speed train line, according to reports.
A government minister and official at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office told the Reuters news agency that cabinet had cleared the bid.
An announcement was expected to be made over the weekend during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to India.
China is also bidding to build high-speed bullet train lines in India.
The highly-anticipated multi-billion dollar deal is being touted as one of the biggest foreign investments in India's ageing infrastructure.
(Permalink) India

The Flying Scotsman has topped a poll of the world's best known trains and locomotives.
People across four continents were asked to name five trains or engines they had heard of and the famous green-and-black loco topped a league table that also included the Japanese bullet train, India's Rajadhani Express and the fastest-ever steam locomotive, Mallard.
The National Railway Museum commissioned the worldwide survey, by YouGov, and released the result to coincide with the 81st anniversary of Flying Scotsman being the first locomotive to break the 100mph barrier. [From Mark Bartlett]
(Permalink) India

INDIA: On November 9 the Ministry of Railways issued GE with a letter of award for a US$2·6bn joint venture contract to develop a factory to supply and maintain 1 000 diesel locomotives. The contract is expected to be signed within 30 days.
(Permalink) India

At least two British tourists have been killed and a dozen people are injured after a train derailed in northern India, police have said.
The specially-chartered train, which had been organised to carry a group of 37 British tourists, was travelling to the Indian Himalayan town of Shimla.
The Kalka to Shimla mountain line is a Unesco world heritage site and popular tourist attraction.
It is thought the train came off the rails shortly after it left Kalka.
A police spokesman said at least two tourists were killed instantly and others were wounded.
(Permalink) India

Two passenger trains in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have derailed minutes apart on a partially flooded bridge, killing at least 24 people, officials say.
The trains were passing each other near the town of Harda, and some coaches fell into a river.
A railway spokesman told the BBC that heavy rain had caused river levels to rise, submerging the track.
(Permalink) Derailment India Madhya Pradesh

India is a trainspotter's paradise.
The rail network has more than 9,000 locomotives - 43 of which are still steam-powered. This vast fleet pulls almost half a million wagons and more than 60,000 passenger coaches over 115,000 or so kilometres (70,000 miles) of track.
The railways operate more than 12,000 trains, carrying some 23 million passengers daily.
This vast public enterprise is virtually a state within a state. It runs schools, hospitals, police forces and building companies and employs a total of 1.3 million people, making it the seventh biggest employer in the world.
But it could soon be broken up.
(Permalink) India

KAURI, India (AFP) - Indian engineers are toiling in the Himalayas to build the world's highest railway bridge which is expected to be 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower when completed by 2016.

The arch-shaped steel structure is being constructed over the Chenab River to link sections of the spectacular mountainous region of India's northern Jammu and Kashmir state. The bridge is expected to be 359 metres high when completed - surpassing the world's current tallest railway bridge over the Beipanjiang River in China's Guizhou province, which stands at 275 metres high.
(Permalink) India

Twenty six people, including two children, were killed and 12 injured when a fire broke out in the AC 3-tier B-1 coach of the Bangalore-Nanded Express train at Kothacheruvu near Puttaparthi in the early hours of Saturday.
While the Commissioner of Railway Safety will formally probe the incident, a preliminary inquiry by Railways is learnt to have ruled out short-circuit and indicated the presence of a "foreign object" which could have started the fire.
(Permalink) India

At least 35 Hindu pilgrims were killed and several were injured when an express train ploughed into them at a remote railway station in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.
The accident happened at around 9am on Monday when a large group of pilgrims got off a local train at a village railway station on the northern banks of the river Ganges and, oblivious of a fast train heading to the state capital Patna, they began crossing the railway track on their way to a Shiva temple.
The Patna-bound train ploughed through the saffron-robed pilgrims, mostly young men known as kanwariyas, killing several before it ground to a halt.
The death toll is expected to rise.
(Permalink) India

Touted as the next man-made wonder, the world's highest rail bridge being built across Chenab riverbed in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir will take at least three more years to be functional.



(Permalink) India

A fire swept through a train passenger car in southern India on Monday, killing at least 32 people, authorities said.
An additional 25 passengers were admitted to hospitals with burns, the Ministry of Railways said in a statement on its website.
(Permalink) India

One freight train rear-ended another Friday afternoon, sending debris into a passing third train, authorities in Porter County, Indiana, said. Firefighters put out flames among the jumble of derailed cars.
(Permalink) India

An Indian passenger train travelled several kilometres on the wrong track before the driver was alerted.

The Coalfield Express was travelling from Howrah near Calcutta in West Bengal state to Dhanbad, in neighbouring Jharkhand state.

Railway officials say the track splits into two at Khana station and the train took the wrong track.

Some reports said the driver became confused by heavy fog. Officials said an inquiry had been launched.

(Permalink) India

In a case of serious lapse, an express train en route to Varanasi lost its way and ended up at a wrong destination. Interestingly, the authorities realized the mistake only after passengers started screaming about the train's 'changed' path.

(Permalink) India

NEW DELHI — Indian train drivers complain of exhausting working hours and a lack of basic safety equipment -- some of the numerous hazards facing one of the busiest and most deadly rail networks in the world.
(Permalink) India

At least 35 people have been killed and more than 100 others injured when an express train derailed in northern India.
(Permalink) India

After a series of complaints from passengers, the Western Railway has finally initiated measures to rid its long distance trains of rodents.
(Permalink) India

A freight train on the wrong track slammed into a stationary passenger locomotive at a railway station amid heavy rain early Monday in central India, killing at least 21 people and injuring 53, officials said.
(Permalink) Crash India

Driver error may have led to Monday's train crash in eastern India's West Bengal state which left 63 people dead, preliminary investigations have found.
(Permalink) Crash India

China is in global negotiations to spread its high-speed railway network to reach 17 nations and possibly India. By 2013, China will have the world’s biggest high-speed railway network and 800 bullet trains, compared to none until 2008.
(Permalink) India

Network Rail flies in specialist Indian engineers to work on the West Coast Mainline because of a UK skills shortage.
(Permalink) India Network Rail

British railway bosses fly in 12 Indian rail engineers to work on revamping Victorian-era signal boxes.
(Permalink) India