Modi-Sense Vs Sudheer-Sense – Your Pick Mr Rail Minister! Part-2
Sudheer-Sense which has put Rail Minister and Prime Minister in a bind!
What logic can one forward to explain at-least ₹50 crore extra for 160 kmph train?
By comparing imported train-set costs with T18, tom toming engine less trains to give good old EMUs a different identity
What Minister forgot to ask-can equivalent service be launched from Indian Railway’s factories with toolings and design they already have?
In #Railwhispers tweet & earlier article “Modi-Sense Vs Sudheer-Sense – Your Pick Mr Rail Minister! Part-1”, we promised to conduct a thorough analysis of the Railway Minister’s #Advisor using a 3-dimensional approach.
In past we had dispelled the myth of the advisor’s expertise in locomotive engineering and motive power application. Therefore, this analysis focuses on basic cost economics that any sensible person of common prudence would follow.
Following summarises Part-1 of the 3D analysis of Sudheer-Sense-
Crux of the first dimension was: Sudheer-Sense in Freight Haulage
Sitting in a critical post, he convinced the Indian Railways to spend ₹28 crore on an 8 axle locomotive with 12000 horsepower, while their factories were producing 12 axle locomotives with 12000 horsepower for less than ₹21 crore. After 2014, the prices of locomotives at Indian Railways’ factories decreased (The cost of WAG9 locomotives during the Modi government’s tenure decreased from ₹12.76 crore in 2014-15 to ₹10.34 crore in 2021-22), but the prices at #Advisor’s factory continued to increase above ₹32 crore and show no signs of stopping.
Despite the obvious choice of the 12 axle locomotive, he pushed for the 8 axle locomotive. This is Sudheer Sense’s “spend more to get less” tactic, which Rail Bhawan ordered to be replicated in Prime Minister Modi’s constituency of Varanasi. Former CRB Vinay Kumar Tripathi spoke out on record against this decision, halting the project.
Second Dimension of #Sudheer_Sense: Passenger Transport
Visit any station along the golden quadrilateral and witness for yourself how individuals struggle to find a spot to stand in the compartments during hot weather.
Also scan social media and one see following distinct strands of discussion very clearly:
– Trains running late: in a case a student who had an exam risks missing his exam because train is running 16 hours late.
What hurts you further is the proforming response:
– Trains crowded, no vacancy
– Toilets stinking, unusable
– Linen, unusable
Revolutionising Passenger Travel-Sudheer Sense in Action
See this, “LHB Coaches To Be Reduced By 2024, More Train Sets To Be Added: Railways”. See the conclusion of this 2021 article: While the cost for an entire rake of LHB coaches is around ₹40 crore, the cost for a train made with train sets would be around ₹110 crore.
This is what happens when all that Government cares about #Bullet train & #VandeBharat for photo ops and middle class dances on their tunes. Invest in local trains & #General #Sleeper classes where the nation actually travels but who cares when they are not related to the public.
Bilaspur-Nagpur #VandeBharat Express #replaced with #Tejas Express due to poor response-
It is learnt that following criticism, Vande Bharat has been reintroduced with reduced length.
Where is the balance in system driven by Sudheer Sense?
Apple to Apple Comparison-Exposing Sudheer Sense
On 27 April 2023, ToI broke the story of comparison of Shatabdis versus Vande Bharats based on a young engineers’ tweets: “Vande Bharat vs Shatabdi lets get the debate on track”.
Young engineer who dared to compare got lot of flak, however, we consulted few railway operating personnel and took their opinion. Mumbai has some of the best EMU engineers due to its suburban system using ‘locomotive less trains’ since 1924.
Their view is as following:
* 16 coach Vande Bharat:
* About 14,000 hp train
* Tare weight (Maximum Tare weight of the train shall not exceed 851T for 16 car sleeper, 825T for 16 car Chair Car, 1065T for 20 car and 1275T for 24 car. Tare weight shall mean complete train with all required accessories to run including car body, bogies, propulsion equipment, filled in water tanks etc (excluding passenger load)), the axle load max is 17T.
* Maximum starting tractive effort is 87 ton.
* No. of seats: 1204 (14 CC and 2 EC)
* This train costs above ₹120 crore.
Let us take a 16 coach standard LHB formation
By the way LHB coach is also a 160 kmph certified stock. This needs a locomotive.
Locomotive Choices:
– WAP7: 33 ton starting tractive effort each, each giving 6000 hp, capable of 130 kmph, mass 123 ton, ₹10.66 crore each
– WAP5: 27 ton starting tractive effort each, each giving 6000 hp, capable of 160 kmph, mass 78 ton, ₹12.27 crore each. Locomotive designed for 200 kmph operation. Maximum speed reached above 180 kmph.
Max tare weight of 16 LHB coaches: 645 ton
Now Cost of a LHB coach is about ₹2.5 crore. For a 16 coach train this would be ₹40 crore for the rake and about 22 crore for two WAP7 or ₹25 crore for two WAP5. So maximum cost one gets is: ₹65 crore for 12000 hp train.
Let us get even more ambitious-add one more WAP5 for 160 kmph run, so that is two WAP5 at one end and one at the other, that is 18,000 hp and 81 ton of starting tractive effort.
Readers would note that Indian Railways already had semi-high speed, i.e. 160 kmph rolling stock-IR20 coaches from 1992 and LHB coaches from 2000 locomotives since 1991 (IR20 was tested at 180 kmph with Indian locomotive), WAP5 arrived in 1995.
Fun fact: LHB coach trials at 180 kmph used WAP5 and measurement coach of RDSO which also travelled at 180 kmph! This was IR-20 coach made by RCF, Kapurthala and RDSO. This was 2000!
All 160 kmph elements had been already with Indian Railways. A 18,000 hp train with three WAP5 having same acceleration would have costed just ₹77 crore without batting an eyelid. That is true apple to apple comparison for same number of seats, speed and acceleration.
Still nearly 50 crore lesser than Vande Bharats!
Experimentation is welcome, efforts to develop new rollingstock is also welcome. But to put all eggs in Vande Bharat basket is just outrightly wrong.
Modi government has shown will to back its officers and pump money in to the project. But wait, why Minister did not look at basic needs of electorate and cost economics?
Vande Bharat’s Self-Proclaimed Father glosses issues of cost economics cleverly
By comparing imported train-set costs with T18, tom toming engine less trains to give good old EMUs a different identity (they are in our country since 1924). What he cleverly glossed over and what his friend, now #Advisor helped him to hide and what Minister forgot to ask-can equivalent service be launched from Indian Railway’s factories with toolings and design they already have?
What logic can one forward to explain at-least ₹50 crore extra for 160 kmph train? If we want to run at 130, the cost differential would have been even higher-₹60 crore per train. You get same number of seats. You want aircraft seats please go ahead and put them, you want discotheque, well furnish the coach the way one wants.
Gentlemen this is Sudheer-Sense which has put rail minister and prime minister in a bind.
Once again see what Indian Railways has after 10 years of massive investments guided by #KMG!
Sudheer Sense-How to get less for more – Part 2
This tweet expresses the pain and irritation of people who have supported this government-
Thousands of stoppages were eliminated and thousands of trains taken off Indian Railway network, big Transformation, Mobility and now Gati Shakti directorates created-there is no fog, no rain, tracks have been renewed-how come punctuality has gone down the drain when so many paths released?
Entire focus of Rail Bhawan has been on issuing big tenders since new minister took over ably assisted by his emotionally intelligent #Advisor. Our fear is that cry of common passenger is chipping off credibility of the ministry’s tall claims.
When common man is traveling in situation above photos bring out, please do not advertise elite products like Vande Bharats – economics of which we have already brought out above. At least do not tell the common man that #Sudheer_Sense demands paying 100s of crores from their taxes to buy their pain.
People are getting irritated – this is #KMG’s success and time for them to get new minister as the flak is taken by Prime Minister and Minister for Railways! Wow!
Tenders, tenders and some more tenders!
Hon’ble Railway Minister Sir, would you like to be compared with CK Jaffer Sharief? Your #Advisor thinks so as he arranged for such comparison. Please read report from India Today dt. 30 Sep 1995: “C.K. Jaffer Sharief okays another deal, purchase of LHB despite objections-claiming he was obtaining state-of-the-art technology”.
What hits you in this report is this: “There was too much dissension within the Railways regarding this import, so as Member Mechanical, on the Board in 1992, I did the next best thing, upgrade the Kapurthala technology.” As Chairman in 1993, Anand Narain Shukla’s notings on the coach-import file were: “We do need an alternative to the existing technology. But now we have made sufficient progress to make a reasonable alternative.”
That was 1993, this is 2023: “In this period, RDSO was damned, Indian Railway’s factories were damned, officers successful in pushing their masters’ tenders came to the front. These officers today are in heart of vendor-officer-nexus. In this period, #Advisor sahab stepped in the portals of Rail Bhawan. Indian Railways could never be same again! Thus was born #KMG! And Ministers were reduced to be placeholders for #KMG!”
Game On! To continue…Part-3
-#Railwhispers Research Team