My Journey on Indian Railways - Changes in Technology

Dr. Y.P. Singh

Additional General Manager (Retd.), Indian Railways, Principal Consultant, Balaji Railroad Systems P Ltd.

It is exactly forty years after I joined as Probationer in the Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE) on Western Railway in January, 1981. It would be very interesting if I retrace my journey on Indian Railways while vis-à-vis changes in technology in the railways.

Let me start with an interesting story. In those days, the reservation in trains was made on the basis of the quota available at a particular station in a particular class of travel. It is still there. But since there was no computer in those days, the booking clerk used to send telegraphic messages to another station for reservation if the quota at that station was filled up. We also applied for emergency quota, also known as VIP quota for reservation from the divisional or a zonal headquarters to make sure we got the accommodation in the train. Many times it happened that I got reservation twice or thrice because the system was not interconnected with computers and reservation was made manually. Since I could occupy only one berth, the other berth (s) would remain vacant. This deprived a needy passenger from a particular station but gave chances to the TTE for manipulation. Sometimes, the messages could not even reach the other end and I could not get any accommodation, if I was late in booking, more so in case of my forward journeys. It was very difficult and uncertain to ensure reservation in the connecting trains. The computerisation of the passenger reservation system from the 1990s onwards has revolutionalised the railway journey. Because of the interlinking of the system, one can book her journey from any station to any station on Indian Railways. The booking for food and bed roll can be made instantly instead of sending telegrams. Earlier when one wanted to cancel the booking made from another station, one could get the refund from that station only. Now, one can cancel the bookings from any station. So, in my opinion, the most revolutionary change that has happened in Indian Railways from the point of view of passenger journey is that of the computerised passenger reservation system. In those days, it was necessary to visit the station to book one's journey. Now, we can book online from any place.

In those days, when I joined the railways, meter gauge and narrow gauge railway lines constituted a major part of the system. Some railways like Western Railway, Southern Railway, North Eastern Railway and NF Railway used to be predominantly meter gauge systems. Narrow gauge also formed a major chunk of railway system on Western and Central Railways. Some people had to change their train 2-3 times before they reached their destination. Due to three gauges being predominant in the railways, long distance trains were not in vogue. It took many days due to break of gauge to reach one's destination. It was an arduous journey to undertake from Rajasthan to Assam, for example. When I was studying at Udaipur in Rajasthan in the late 1960s, there was no direct train from Delhi to Udaipur and the coach in which I travelled, used to be attached in three different trains from Delhi to Jaipur, Jaipur to Ajmer and then Ajmer to Udaipur. The scenario has changed completely now. There are hardly few sections of meter gauge and narrow gauge railway lines as most of them have been converted into broad gauge under the Unigauge Policy adopted by Indian Railways in 1990. I was working as Director (Works) in the Railway Board in the beginning of this policy. Though it's not a change in technology per se but definitely it was one of the most significant changes in the system which led to the transformation of the Indian Railways. It saw a quantum jump in passenger and freight traffic apart from making the life easier and far more comfortable for the public.

Semaphore signals are a thing of the past and fit to be preserved in museums. But semaphore signalling was in vogue as late as 1980s. First of all, it was lower quadrant signalling which was existing all over. Upper Quadrant signalling took over due to safety aspect. But it was colour light signalling which made a revolutionary change in the railway operations. Nowadays, this is the only signalling system existing on railways. Colour light signalling has helped railways run more number of trains and has done away the old system of maintaining kerosene lamps for semaphore signals apart from making railway operations much safer. There used to be many accidents as dim lamps made the signals invisible and at times, the lamps were put off by winds. More and more adoption of automatic signalling is helping the railways run more trains faster and more safely.

I remember my first foot plate inspection carried out on steam engine when I was assistant engineer at Gangapur city, Western Railway, in 1983. It was a pleasure doing so in winters but was a curse in summers. Diesel Engines replaced steam engines and now, the Indian Railways are aiming to achieve complete electrification which will save oil and protect environment. The electrification of the traction has allowed running faster and heavier trains. So, the electrification of railway lines also a significant change in technology adopted by the railways.

During my initial days on Indian Railways, most of the track works like deep screening, through rail renewal, through sleeper renewal and turn out renewals used to be executed departmentally- meaning thereby, the works were done manually through departmental casual labour. Every PWI (Permanent Way Inspector) used to enrol hundreds of labour. This increased the number of railway employees to 23 Lakhs by 1990. The contracts were then given out for these works and now no such work, except the casual and emergent replacement of rail or sleeper, is done departmentally. The maintenance has been made machine oriented and a large number of track machines are being purchased and deployed for executing such track works. Even the track laying is now increasingly done with machines. The track maintenance with machines became a necessity due to the advent of concrete sleepers as they were difficult to handle manually. Even in early 1980s, a large part of the Rajdhani route from New Delhi to Bombay was on wooden sleepers. It was a part of our training to learn how to increase the life of wooden sleepers by end binding and various other methods. I used to shudder while doing engine inspections by the Rajdhani train which used to run at 120 km/h by thinking about the condition of wooden sleepers below. The life of the civil engineers became comfortable after the use of concrete sleepers and mechanisation of track maintenance.

The construction of railway earth work and bridges was mainly done manually up to 1970s. The earth work was left for two-three monsoon seasons for getting compacted naturally. Diesel driven concrete mixers were used at site to make concrete. Ready mixed concrete and transit mixers have changed all that. The railways are using slip form technology for concreting of high piers. Due to advancement of pre-stressed concrete technology, the railways have gone for construction of PSC girders instead of Steel bridges. The pre-stressed concrete girders were adopted, very hesitatingly, initially on the railways. I was involved with rehabilitation of two important bridges over river Ganga at Balawali (near Haridwar) and Phaphamau (near Allahabad) after the pre-stressed concrete girders had problem in early 2000s.  Even up to 1970s, even the small span bridges were made of steel girders. However, now the railways have gone for pre-stressed concrete technology in a big way. The construction of these bridges is being done with latest technology. There is a quantum change in construction technology on the railways when compared to 30 or 40 years back. Nowadays, when level crossings are being replaced with road under bridges or sub ways to avoid accidents, the work is to be done in minimum block period so as to avoid disruption of traffic. The pre-fabricated subway parts are being put in place with the help of heavy cranes and the work completed under the track within 4 hours.

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