World's fastest train
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I think British Rail (or whatever the modern privatised and more completely useless operator is now called) would like to fight you for the crown of the dirtiest, smelliest and unpunctual trains.
Russell Jones wrote:
I think British Rail (or whatever the modern privatised and more completely useless operator is now called) would like to fight you for the crown of the dirtiest, smelliest and unpunctual trains.
It's not a contest really. Both are off-springs of the same swine.
SG Aham Brahmasmi!
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d@nish wrote:
What? Most of the tracks we use were laid by the British and are suitable for 60-80 Km/Hr speeds. That is what I knew so far.
Those were eventually replaced by broad gauge tracks. Most tracks laid in the last decade or two support speeds greater than 150 kmph. Rajdhanis and Shatabdis are designed to run at 150 kmph. It's not that our railways are cash strapped. It's one of the biggest revenue earners for country, yet, there is absolutely no effort taken to upgrade the system. Even the much coveted Delhi metro is not at par with international standards (But I agree it's the best in India). There was recently a proposal to build a high speed 300+ kmph link between Bangalore and Chennai, but was swept under the carpet because of animosity between the two states.
SG Aham Brahmasmi!
Here we are speaking of quite huge railway network. So things will not change overnight. There has been some privatization introduced and that will help for sure. There are too many problem with our railway system like: 1. It is run by the government which changes every 5 years or before. Now, each one mostly works in order to gain political hold rather than changing things. 2. We are diverse. Our trains go to a lot of places where people would either not understand new things or will steal them or will damage them for fun. You must admit this can happen and I assume you would have thought of atleast a couple of places where this will happen. 3. We have quite huge network which goes through various kinds of terrains so replacing the tracks with better ones asks for delays and changes in railway schedule which will make many of us angry and might go politically wrong for government. I am not advocating for the authorities but just mentioning few problem they need will to overcome.
SimulationofSai wrote:
Delhi metro is not at par with international standards
Delhi metro is quite good (from personal experience).
SimulationofSai wrote:
There was recently a proposal to build a high speed 300+ kmph link between Bangalore and Chennai
Wow! I cannot believe to have it in atleast next 10 years.
50-50-90 rule: Anytime I have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability I'll get it wrong...!!
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It doesn't matter in the least whether it's the largest in the world or not Abhinav. I still am entitled to travel in neat compartments, without cockroaches and rats for company. Require clean toilets that don't dump sh*t in the railway tracks, need better seats and not just padded prison benches. The AC compartments are still worse, smelly sheets and fabric seats, claustrophobic cabins, stale AC air and dim lightning. Seriously, can't the railways atleast afford chemical toilets now? Our fastest trains run at 150 kmph, the ones in China now run at 380 kmph. Can you ever compare the interiors, ergonomics and comfort of our trains with that of a train in China, Japan or Europe? It's nice to be patriotic, but that does not mean that you bear all the nonsense that is thrust upon us. Much as I respect and love the country, I absolutely hate our political system, which will never ever get anything useful done for our country.
SG Aham Brahmasmi!
And your rant helps us how?
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And your rant helps us how?
If enough people actually start ranting instead of just swallowing all this stuff, there is a possibility that things might actually change. Until then, all I can do is rant and vote responsibly, both of which I do without fail. :rolleyes:
SG Aham Brahmasmi!
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If enough people actually start ranting instead of just swallowing all this stuff, there is a possibility that things might actually change. Until then, all I can do is rant and vote responsibly, both of which I do without fail. :rolleyes:
SG Aham Brahmasmi!
I meant ranting on code project won't change anything, try sending a letter to Mamta Bannerjee :rolleyes:
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Here in the UK reasonably priced rail tickets and a far simpler fare structure would be a good start. :doh:
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
Yeah, it gets silly when it's still cheaper to drive. Two instances of this was when I was commuting to Guildford from Chelsea over the summer and a recent trip to Scotland. The Guildford one turned out to be cheaper to drive a 25 yro Land Rover (15mpg if you're lucky) than get the train from Waterloo to Guildford (that's ignoring the bus / tubes at either end). The Scotland one was cheaper to drive (even with a Young Person's Railcard) plus being more convenient (in this instance I had 3 guns to take with me). Although I could really have used the train journey to catch up on work / sleep
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
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Yeah, it gets silly when it's still cheaper to drive. Two instances of this was when I was commuting to Guildford from Chelsea over the summer and a recent trip to Scotland. The Guildford one turned out to be cheaper to drive a 25 yro Land Rover (15mpg if you're lucky) than get the train from Waterloo to Guildford (that's ignoring the bus / tubes at either end). The Scotland one was cheaper to drive (even with a Young Person's Railcard) plus being more convenient (in this instance I had 3 guns to take with me). Although I could really have used the train journey to catch up on work / sleep
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
Very true. The difficulty is that roads and rail are treated differently for costing purposes by the UK government - road is treated as a straight capital cost (presumably because the cost/benefit is so hard to measure, so you can't compartmentalise a stretch of road and measure its profitability) but rail as a profit centre. Add in the various private ROSCOs and TOCs and you end up with a fiendishly complex fare structure aimed at allowing everyone and their dog to fleece the fare paying traveller and taxpayer. Mind you, if you know the system and shop around it's possible to hunt down some real bargains (e.g. £19 London - Edinburgh/Glasgow) but that's scant consolation if you need to travel at short notice and have to put up with the (usually quite horrific) "Anytime" fares. If you're looking for such fares it's worth taking a look at http://www.seat61.com/[^] since it explains how to find the best fares in quite some detail.
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
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Very true. The difficulty is that roads and rail are treated differently for costing purposes by the UK government - road is treated as a straight capital cost (presumably because the cost/benefit is so hard to measure, so you can't compartmentalise a stretch of road and measure its profitability) but rail as a profit centre. Add in the various private ROSCOs and TOCs and you end up with a fiendishly complex fare structure aimed at allowing everyone and their dog to fleece the fare paying traveller and taxpayer. Mind you, if you know the system and shop around it's possible to hunt down some real bargains (e.g. £19 London - Edinburgh/Glasgow) but that's scant consolation if you need to travel at short notice and have to put up with the (usually quite horrific) "Anytime" fares. If you're looking for such fares it's worth taking a look at http://www.seat61.com/[^] since it explains how to find the best fares in quite some detail.
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
Thanks for the tip, will look into it for next time. Provided I'm not taking too many guns next time might be a viable option, the main trouble though is more the inflexibility of times. It might be the times / days I have to travel because I did try booking a train 3 months in advance to get up to a friend's 21st and her parent's silver anniversary. That was still £110 return Kings Cross to Markinch (Central Fife near Glenrothes) with the discount.
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
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Thanks for the tip, will look into it for next time. Provided I'm not taking too many guns next time might be a viable option, the main trouble though is more the inflexibility of times. It might be the times / days I have to travel because I did try booking a train 3 months in advance to get up to a friend's 21st and her parent's silver anniversary. That was still £110 return Kings Cross to Markinch (Central Fife near Glenrothes) with the discount.
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
No worries. The £19 fare I mentioned was a "bargain berth" on the Caledonian Sleeper, BTW. If that's not suitable always remember when travelling London-Scotland that travelling up the West Coast (from Euston) is usually cheaper than the East Coast (from Kings Cross). Both go to Edinburgh/Glasgow, but the East Coast route is a little faster.
Anna :rose: Tech Blog | Visual Lint "Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
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I think British Rail (or whatever the modern privatised and more completely useless operator is now called) would like to fight you for the crown of the dirtiest, smelliest and unpunctual trains.
I've been on British and Indian trains and I can confidently say British trains are better. However, the British ticketing system is extremely confusing.
Cheers, Vikram. (Got my troika of CCCs!)
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Here we are speaking of quite huge railway network. So things will not change overnight. There has been some privatization introduced and that will help for sure. There are too many problem with our railway system like: 1. It is run by the government which changes every 5 years or before. Now, each one mostly works in order to gain political hold rather than changing things. 2. We are diverse. Our trains go to a lot of places where people would either not understand new things or will steal them or will damage them for fun. You must admit this can happen and I assume you would have thought of atleast a couple of places where this will happen. 3. We have quite huge network which goes through various kinds of terrains so replacing the tracks with better ones asks for delays and changes in railway schedule which will make many of us angry and might go politically wrong for government. I am not advocating for the authorities but just mentioning few problem they need will to overcome.
SimulationofSai wrote:
Delhi metro is not at par with international standards
Delhi metro is quite good (from personal experience).
SimulationofSai wrote:
There was recently a proposal to build a high speed 300+ kmph link between Bangalore and Chennai
Wow! I cannot believe to have it in atleast next 10 years.
50-50-90 rule: Anytime I have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability I'll get it wrong...!!
d@nish wrote:
There has been some privatization introduced and that will help for sure.
Isn't that what they said about the UK...
Ninja (the Nerd)
Confused? You will be... -
I've been on British and Indian trains and I can confidently say British trains are better. However, the British ticketing system is extremely confusing.
Cheers, Vikram. (Got my troika of CCCs!)
Well, I am planning to go to Europe this summer ( April / May ). I was almost sure that everything I will experience (Railways) will be better than what I see in India. But few posts about British Railways here are making me puzzled.
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Well, I am planning to go to Europe this summer ( April / May ). I was almost sure that everything I will experience (Railways) will be better than what I see in India. But few posts about British Railways here are making me puzzled.
Well, you have to consider the fact that the pissing and moaning is one of the chief British pastimes - railways, weather, cricket, weather, immigrants, weather, whatever. :)
Cheers, Vikram. (Got my troika of CCCs!)