Blog 2 >> Speed of The Indian Train...!

INDIAN RAILWAYS

भारतीय रेल  

All of us have travelled on several trains in India, however, the thought has always risen

"How fast are we going ?", is it not ?

Copyright http://www.irfca.org/

Being a long time railway enthusiast I gathered a lot of knowledge on an ocean called Indian Railways (IR) and was astounded to see a lot of misconceptions amongst the general railway users. In this current  blog I shall discuss about speeds on IR. During my kid days I use to think wow it is xyz kmph... no high-tech devices then...it was just the feel of the wind on the face & the sounds emanating from the wheels.

Until the recent largescale upgradation of the roadways, the Indian train has always been the fastest moving object on Indian soil.

IR trains are divided into 3 types - Passenger, Goods (freight) and Specials. The passenger train movements on IR has always enjoyed the adequate attention & priority from the administration incomparison to goods trains (unlike USA / Australia wherein freight attracts priority due to greed for money).

IR has different standards of passneger trains:

1) Passenger

2) Express

3) Superfast

4) Rajdhani Express (it connects to NewDelhi) / Shatabdi Express (it is intracity day service)

The maximum speed that a train can attain is always governed by the following considerations (in order of descendence)

1. speed restrictions placed over certain stretches of track (sharp curve, hill area, bridge strength, dense populace)
2. speed capability of the railway track (civil engineering design of the tracks)
3. speed capability of the coaches / locomotives (which ever is lower)

Each of the above governing rule is assigned something called MPS - Maximum Permissible Speed (in kmph). The driver of the train should always adhere to the MPS. Another interseting rule is that any train running between Station X and Station Y, should always be driven at MPS. This is done mainly to ensure that trains clear the path quickly so that other trains can follow behind synchronously. This enusres optimum utilization of trakc infratsructure.

So that means, a Passenger train & Rajdhani express will be driven from X to Y at same MPS!!! However, since passenger train has more halts and low priority in signalling, it has to frequently slow down-stop-accelerate, Rajdhani average speed end-to-end will be far higher than that of the Passenger.





Copyright http://www.irfca.org/



On IR, track speeds of 140kmph are found New Delhi centric. For simplicity sake I will say Ratlam-Delhi, Bhopal-Delhi, Allahabad-Delhi are such 'high-speed' stretches. The reason for delhi centric development is largely political. In rest of India it is typically 110-90kmph.

All the blue coach trains with grill type windows are all limited to 110kmph only. The newer Rajdhani/Shatabdi rolling stock are having capabilities of 160kmph, but then again they are limited by track speed. Goods trains are largely limited to 75kmph / newer ones called ConRaj (container rajdhanis) are allowed 100kmph.

OK, so I have discussed about MPS, but as a passenger what matters to us?... it is actually average speed. End-to-end how much time ? Today, for example Bangalore-Chennai route is having a governing speed of 110kmph, however the average speed of most trains has improved and it is about 55-70kmph. Overall picture on IR is that, due to heavy traffic moving on limitedly available track infrastructure, the avg speed is stuck at low levels. Improvements in MPS and Locomotive pulling power has enabled carriablity of more number of people with marginal improvements in avg speed.

What does the future hold for us ?

IR's arteries are the Golden Quadrilateral and the Golden Diagnoals (Mumbai-New Delhi-Kolkatta-Chennai). The plan is to upgrade the track infrastructure greatly on this network and take it upto to 200kmph capability. A large concentration will be on improving average speeds of selected passenger trains. At these speeds coach windows need to be of sealed type (meaning... need of AC coaches).

300-400kmph track zones are not possible on typical IR setup because of lots of population, level-crossings and 'anytime' criss crossing of tracks by domestic & wild animals. In this type of setup large scale fool-proof fencing is not possible. They have to create dedicated concrete isolated corridors for attaining such speeds, which is hugely expensive, and perhaps this burden cannot be shouldered by Indian public!

So then, atleast for our lives over the next decade, let us all get familarized with the figure of 110 kmph, which is going to largely be the MPS everywhere, and this was also the figure a decade earlier :-)

So this figure 100-110 is the answer to the question "how fast are we going...".

Hope all of you liked this blog, something very different from my core topic of Spirituality !

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Blog 1 >> What is 'True' Spiritual Growth ?

वक्र तुंड महाकाय सूर्यकोटि समप्रभा ||

निर्विग्नम कुरु मे देवा , सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ||

This is a prayer to the Lord Ganesha - Lord with a curved trunk and a magnificent body, with the brilliance of billion suns, please clear all the obstacles from the path I am setting upon to carry out my work. Always.

 

Tirupathi Sri Narayan temple during Brahmothsavam - Karthik M V 

 With all humility, I pay my respects to Shri Narayan of the Tirupathi Hills for providing me all the words that I am placing here !

Summary :

The state of TRUE Spirituality (the feeling of God's presence/power in one's day to day activities & feeling of God's bliss, true spiritual mental peace, a satisfaction feeling in the heart that I am under the umbrella of God's grace) can be attained & retained only when one develops a fine blend of 'Philosophy' and 'Religious Practices'. Both are equally important and it is not sufficient if one develops just one! True spirituality can be attained by anyone regardless of religion, sex or region.

NOTE: Over the years, I have been making lots of efforts to develop my spiritual growth. See :-) the actual growth is a lifetime process.... So I can never claim I have 'grown'..... I shall say I'am still in Kinder Garten !

Explanations :

What is Philosophy ?

In a layman's language, it is the adoption of a set of rules and regulations to run ones life; along with a belief that there is a higher level force controlling everything. Effort is made for adherence to the rules. Philosophies across all religions are generally the same, and one has all the freedom to 'cross-adopt' philosophies !

What is Religious Practice ?

It is the procedure(s) whereby one prays & visualizes the God(s) of ones religion. One is able to feel God's love through this procedure! One carries out prayers. Prayer does not mean just asking for fulfillment of wishes, it is also about feeling God and making an observation / appreciation of his divine qualities. When doing so, the electromagnetic thought waves thus generated in the mind purifies us and makes us grow...!

Snippets from the Hindu Epics :

In Ramayana, both Rama & Ravana prayed with sincere devotion to Lord Shiva, but Ravana's life ended up with negative growth ! The reason?  the Philosophy he followed was wrong !

In Mahabharatha, both Arjuna & Dhuryodhana went to Dwaraka to request help of Lord Krishna for the Kurukshetra war. Due to wrong philosophy followed by Dhuryodhana throughout his life, his negative energies made him to make wrong choice. He asked for Krishna's large army. But Arjuna asked for only Krishna's presence, which was the right choice.

So as seen in the above examples two personalities went in pursuit of God, but obtained diametrically opposite results due to following opposite philosophies. Just prayer or religious-practices does not ensure an achievement of spiritual success. Adopting / Developing the right philosophy is equally essential.

In the present day world, we can find quite a number of people who fit the above examples !

Many times it so happens that due to pride / arrogant confidence in one's own intellectual or scholarly abilities, one thinks he has developed sufficient philosophical growth. So he does not need to develop 'Religious Practices'. He thinks, being 'religious' is a sign of weakness or a dumb or superstitious activity. But, this is not correct.

Many great philosophers  of the past (like Sri Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo) have actually respected religiousness and encouraged the same. Some of them who were against, during their younger days, finally focused on their religiousness during their older days!

As discussed above the clear conclusion is that, developing only 'Philosophical' expertise or doing just 'Religious Practices' is of NO USE, it only brings negative energies!

Thoughts on developing the 'Religious' part of our spiritual growth :

An excellent activity that enables one being religious (if a Hindu) is to hear, sing, understand the lyrics & dance (in the mind...) Carnatic Music ! After going through this personal experience, I deeply recommend the reader to investigate Carnatic Music.

Indian music has two pillars 'Hindustani' & 'Carnatic'. There are several types of songs under the Carnatic pillar (mostly devotional). Several people also sing in Carnatic, but the history states that there were only a few who (under divine intervention) were born as "VAAGEYAKARA" (a person who can compose his own lyrics, music, raaga and sing under Carnatic style). They created 100s of such sankeerthanas, all in devotion to God. Annamacharya (Thirupathi fame) , Ramadasu (Bhadrachalam Kodhandaramar fame) and Thyagaraja (Thiruchi Sri Rangam fame) (...respectively in that time line) are the pillars of Carnatic music. There were a few Alzhwaars who too wrote & sang devotional but they never matched these greats. All of them attained moksha at the end of life cycle. Language used was Telugu & Sanskrit. The musical instruments can be different but the pattern of singing to be followed is not to be changed, it is as defined in their literature. Their focus was mostly on lord Narayan, (Rama , Krishna , Vishnu,.....) They adopted & practiced the Bhakti type of Yoga to grow their spirituality. Most of their songs give a graphic description of how Narayan looks like. What are his divine qualities? How we can feel those qualities. How we can experience his presence in this world. There are also graphic descriptions of the romance between the male & female gods. However, understanding the inner meaning of such descriptions is possible only when one has grown his/her spirituality to a sufficient level. Carnatic music also contains some morals for the ordinary mortals (some philosophy).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnatic_music  Modern day Carnatic musicians only use the works of the greats, none is of their own! They can never produce such works of spiritual love and divinity of the “VAAGEYAKARA”.

Thoughts on developing the 'Philosophy' part of our spiritual growth :

This needs a lot of self effort and mental activity. A lot of reading of literature, and practice. It is about implementing what you have learnt in real life situations, on a day-to-day basis. ( ...my suggestion... one should not be afraid to experiment... of course be careful as to always play within the rules...proper religious practice will help in overcoming or absolving any mistakes that one may accidentally commit when growing ones philosophical strength...! )

All in all, finding the right blend is the secret to a successful spiritual growth !!!

NOTE1 : The right prayer and the right philosophy together when applied in life, fetches positive results. An analogy is as follows, if one has to travel A to B successfully, the car one is in should be good and the driver should also be good. Else it is a disaster !

NOTE2 : The practice of Yoga (of the physical activity variety) and Meditations provides a sound mental platform for growing one's spirituality in a fast manner. However, just practising these is not called 'Spiritual growth' , they are just a tool to help one grow!

Click below to hear an Annamacharya song sung by SPB, 'Adivo Aladivo Shri Hari Vaasamu....'
                                     Click here to find the song at raaga.com

It is a description of the significance of Tirupathi hills and its Godly powers.
The only place in the world which is the main residence of Lord Narayan
The English Translation is listed below:
Behold the holy abode of Sreehari. It is ornamented with ten thousand hoods of Adisesha. This is "Venkatachalam"! It is the highest source of power. It is most precious to "Brahma". That is the permanent abode to all the "Munis". Behold!

Experience the happiness & love of God here! Behold "Seshachalam!" The true abode of angels that are said to dwell in the sky. Here, it is! Right before you - the hidden treasure!

PS: I would like to thank my cousin Mr.Ganesh Pandian for encouraging me to improve & use my 'good' writing skills, by way of blogging! I am also thankful to all other well wishers for their moral support!

So that is it ! I am completing my first ever Blog thus...! Hope all of you liked it!

  

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