ProUI

LUCKNOW: Railways will run a special train Lucknow-New Delhi AC Express (1 trip) to clear weekend rush. Train number 14207 will depart from Lucknow at 8.15pm on Sunday (August 18) and reach New Delhi at 5.35am the next day. The train will comprise one AC-1, four AC-2 tier and eight AC-3 tier coaches. It will stop at Hardoi, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Moradabad and Ghaziabad stations.

Railways has attached an extra AC-3 tier and two sleeper coaches 12167/12168 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Varanasi Superfast Express with immediate effect till August 31/September 1. The train's timing, route and stoppages remain unchanged.Eight sleeper coaches each have been added in trains 19057/19058 Udhna-Varanasi and 12911/12912 Valsad-Haridwar Express with immediate effect on a permanent basis.

Railway Protection Force defeated Operating 25-15, 25-21 in the league stage in Pool A of the eighth DRM Cup volleyball tournament here on Tuesday. Engineering is leading table with three victories in Pool ‘B’.

The results (league):

Pool ‘A’: RPF bt Operating 25-15, 25-21; Commercial bt Electrical (GS) 25-20, 18-25, 15-13.

Pool ‘B’: S&T bt Personnel 25-9; Engineering bt ELS 25-11; Memo Car Shed bt Accounts 25-13; Engineering bt S&T 25-17; ELS bt Accounts 25-13; Memo Car Shed bt Personnel 25-11.

Electrical Loco Shed bt Memo Car Shed 25-14; S&T bt Accounts 25-10; Engineering bt Memo Car Shed 25-12; Accounts bt Personnel 20-25; ELS bt Personnel 25-8; Memo Car Shed bt S&T 25-15.

For more than 10 years from 1843, a train without a locomotive plied the two-mile route between Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) and Dalkey. Trains running every 30 minutes were propelled up the 1-in-110 gradient to Dalkey by atmospheric pressure.. Returning trains coasted down to Kingstown under gravity. A 15-inch cast-iron pipe was laid between the railway tracks, and a piston in the pipe was linked through a slot to the front of the train. The slot was sealed by a greased leather flap to ensure it was air-tight. The air in the section of pipe ahead of the train was exhausted by a steam-driven air pump in an engine house at the Dalkey terminus. With a partial vacuum ahead, the atmospheric pressure behind the piston drove the train forward. Available technical data are scant, but adequate for some back-of-the-envelope calculations to estimate average speeds and travel times. Pressure is force per unit area. The atmosphere presses on the piston from both ends; the nett force is the pressure difference multiplied by the area. The area of the piston face follows from its diameter, and, with a working vacuum of about 15 inches of mercury, or half an atmosphere, the pressure difference is 500 hPa. Then the force on the piston comes to about 5,700 newtons (more details on thatsmaths.com).

Don’t forget about friction Using Newton’s Law, we can divide the force by the mass of the train to get the acceleration. Assuming a train of mass 10 tonnes, the acceleration comes to about 0.6 metric units. This may be compared to the 10 metric units of the acceleration due to gravity but, with the small gradient, only about 1 per cent of the gravitational acceleration acts along the pipe, so the nett acceleration is about 0.5 metric units. Now a standard equation of elementary mechanics comes to the fore: the square of the terminal speed is twice the acceleration times the distance. Knowing the acceleration and the length of the line (2,800m) we can estimate the maximum speed and journey time. The formula gives a maximum speed of 190km per hour and an average speed of half this value. However, we have neglected friction, which reduces this considerably. Typical running speeds of 40km per hour would give a journey time for the up-train of about four minutes. This is consistent with reported times. We can also estimate the maximum speed on the downhill journey by invoking energy conservation. At Dalkey, the train has gained potential energy (mass times gravitational acceleration times height). The terminus at the Dalkey end was 25m above sea level. Supposing the potential energy to be converted completely to kinetic energy (half mass times speed squared), maximum speed would be about 80km per hour. A mean speed of 40km per hour is an over-estimate, as frictional losses have again been ignored. According to contemporary reports, the return journey under gravity was “lady-like”, the average speed being about 30km per hour and the journey taking between five and six minutes. Although reasonably successful, the atmospheric system had several operational inconveniences and was abandoned. But a system using similar pneumatic principles is running today in Jakarta, and another, called Aeromovel, is proposed for construction in Brazil. So air power, which seemed like a white elephant 160 years ago, may again provide fast, clean and frequent urban transport for Dublin.

Peter Lynch is professor of meteorology at University College Dublin. He blogs at thatsmaths.com

ALLAHABAD: Sleuths of Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Wednesday nabbed an alleged tout identified as Tamim Ahmed, a resident of Bairahna near the main hall of Allahabad junction.The RPF sleuths also recovered nine confirmed tickets for Mumbai, five cancellation tickets, three token forms, 10 empty forms, two PAN cards, Rs 21,800 in cash and one mobile set from his possession.Acting upon a tip off, a team of RPF personnel led by inspector (RPF) Anand Kumar reportedly nabbed the tout red-handed when he was making an abortive bid to book tickets on fake names. The RPF after frisking him recovered confirmed and cancelled tickets. The tout, as per RPF officials, had even taken token to book two more tickets and was having two PAN cards with him. A case has been lodged in this regard.

Elon Musk may have some outrageous ideas. Then again, the billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of SpaceX has cynics and doubters for breakfast. That's why when he recently unveiled his vision for the future of mass rapid transportation, everyone sat up and took note. Dubbing his design Hyperloop Alpha, Musk's revolutionary transport system looks like something right out of an Isaac Asimov novel. The futuristic Hyperloop would drastically cut travelling time by reaching speeds of 800 mph and evading traffic snarls, giving you just about enough time to finish your morning paper on board.Though this sounds too good to be true, Musk's design isn't all hot air. In Musk's own words Hyperloop is a cross between a Concorde, a rail gun and air hockey, and involves elevated tubes that would carry passenger capsules gliding on air with the help of a jet propulsion system. Which begs the question: Could Hyperloop one day change the face of transportation in India?

Given that Hyperloop is solar powered, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan should have little trouble assuaging the fears of eco warriors. Also, requiring little land Hyperloop should be a hit with both farmers and politicians who seek favour from this electoral constituency. Besides, projected to cost a fraction of any high-speed train system, even Bengal's Mamata Banerjee wouldn't object as it would enable her to make frequent trips to Delhi to keep the Centre on a tight leash. But most importantly, Hyperloop could transform India's urban landscape. One could be sipping morning tea in Bhopal and make it to work in Delhi in an hour. Making migration transient and yet opening up new labour opportunities, it could help boost market integration. In a country where the bullock cart shares space with the Mercedes, Hyperloop could easily replace the latter.

A rail fracture crippled suburban railway services on Harbour line of Central Railway (CR), with 25 cancellations reported on Wednesday morning.A rail fracture on the up-line between Mankhurd and Govandi on Harbour line was detected by the Signal & Telecommunication department after signals between the two places failed repeatedly.While a train from Belapur to CST crossed the affected rail, an up-train from Bandra was held up from 6.59 am to 7.35 am between Mankhurd and Govandi, while the line was being rectified.A K Singh, Public Relations Officer of Central Railway said, "A minor rail fracture was reported on Harbour line on Wednesday morning. Services were running with a delay of 15 to 20 minutes."According to the spokesperson, services on the up-line were running at a restricted speed that added to the delays and cancellation of services later in the day.This year, three rail fractures have been reported on Central and one on Western line. On March 13, a rail fracture was reported near Mira Road Station on the Western Railway.

On June 26, two separate cases were reported between Titawala and Khadavali, and CST and Masjid. On July 3, a rail fracture was reported near Thane Station on the Thane-Vashi section of the Trans-Harbour line.

Elon Musk may have some outrageous ideas. Then again, the billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of SpaceX has cynics and doubters for breakfast. That's why when he recently unveiled his vision for the future of mass rapid transportation, everyone sat up and took note. Dubbing his design Hyperloop Alpha, Musk's revolutionary transport system looks like something right out of an Isaac Asimov novel. The futuristic Hyperloop would drastically cut travelling time by reaching speeds of 800 mph and evading traffic snarls, giving you just about enough time to finish your morning paper on board.Though this sounds too good to be true, Musk's design isn't all hot air. In Musk's own words Hyperloop is a cross between a Concorde, a rail gun and air hockey, and involves elevated tubes that would carry passenger capsules gliding on air with the help of a jet propulsion system. Which begs the question: Could Hyperloop one day change the face of transportation in India?

Given that Hyperloop is solar powered, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan should have little trouble assuaging the fears of eco warriors. Also, requiring little land Hyperloop should be a hit with both farmers and politicians who seek favour from this electoral constituency. Besides, projected to cost a fraction of any high-speed train system, even Bengal's Mamata Banerjee wouldn't object as it would enable her to make frequent trips to Delhi to keep the Centre on a tight leash. But most importantly, Hyperloop could transform India's urban landscape. One could be sipping morning tea in Bhopal and make it to work in Delhi in an hour. Making migration transient and yet opening up new labour opportunities, it could help boost market integration. In a country where the bullock cart shares space with the Mercedes, Hyperloop could easily replace the latter.

We are just 2 days away from the Independence day and the Pakistani hackers seem to have gone on the overdrive. Official Website of Eastern Railways has been hacked by group of Pakistani hackers called Mindcracker.  Though the main homepage is intact, and also the links from the main homepage seems to be fine, they seem to have gained access to some part of the website. The hackers seem to have exploited a part of website that may have been vulnerable and have been able to deface it.

At the time of writing this piece, the hacked page is still showing up.

If you are curious enough, here is the link to the defaced page of Eastern Railway website.  If you find out about this before Indian railways does, you will be able to see it.  The defaced page says that this hack is in reply to the Pakistan Army website being hacked by Indians.

We will update this story with more info shortly!

After doing some research we found that site may have been hacked earlier (in June or July), because this eastern railway website was defaced back in June and it is still live. We are not sure if Railways even know about this. Here is another defaced page which was live in June and still remains.

Today’s Update: The concerned officials from CRIS managing the site have mentioned that the website is now retrieved from hackers and restored to normalcy.

We are just 2 days away from the Independence day and the Pakistani hackers seem to have gone on the overdrive. Official Website of Eastern Railways has been hacked by group of Pakistani hackers called Mindcracker.  Though the main homepage is intact, and also the links from the main homepage seems to be fine, they seem to have gained access to some part of the website. The hackers seem to have exploited a part of website that may have been vulnerable and have been able to deface it.

At the time of writing this piece, the hacked page is still showing up.

If you are curious enough, here is the link to the defaced page of Eastern Railway website.  If you find out about this before Indian railways does, you will be able to see it.  The defaced page says that this hack is in reply to the Pakistan Army website being hacked by Indians.

We will update this story with more info shortly!

After doing some research we found that site may have been hacked earlier (in June or July), because this eastern railway website was defaced back in June and it is still live. We are not sure if Railways even know about this. Here is another defaced page which was live in June and still remains.

Today’s Update: The concerned officials from CRIS managing the site have mentioned that the website is now retrieved from hackers and restored to normalcy.

For the convenience of the rail passengers and to increase the
passenger carrying capacity of trains, Railway has decided to
augment the 12167/12168 Lokmanya Tilak T.- Varanasi- Lokmanya Tilak T. Superfast Express train by o­ne additional A.C. 3 Tier and Two additional Sleeper Class coaches with immediate effect upto 31.08.2013 when departing from Lokmanya Tilak T. & from 15.08.2013 to 01.09.2013 when departing from Varanasi o­n temporary basis. The other features like timings, route, stoppages etc. will remain as unchanged.

EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY AUGMENTATION OF DELHI SARAI ROHILLA- JAIPUR DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN

          For the convenience of the rail passengers and to increase the
passenger carrying capacity of trains, Railway has decided to
extend the augmentation of the 12986/12985 Delhi Sarai Rohilla- Jaipur- Delhi Sarai Rohilla Double Decker train by Two additional A.C. Chair Car coaches upto 15.09.2013 o­n temporary basis from both the directions.