What are the most awesome scenic rail routes in India?

 A list of some of the most breathtaking yet underrated scenic railway routes, especially across South India.

⭐Kerala Scenic route

Shoranur-Nilambur Road

Highlight:- Amazing journey if you love nature and monsoon season, passing via Teak Forest.

Thiruvananthapuram-Mangalore Central via Alleppey, Ernakulam Junction

Main highlight:- Kollam Ashamudi lake, island, Alleppey background water

Bekal Fort Railway Station (In Kasargod) where ocean is closer to the station

⭐Kerala-Tamilnadu Border Route

Palakkad Jn-Coimbatore Jn Via Walayar Ghat Section

Palakkad Jn-Dindigul Via Pollachi, Palani

Kollam-Punalur-Sengottai Route

Highlight:- 13 Arch Railway Bridge, Sengottai Rural village scenary, Bhagavathipuram Railway Station

⭐Tamilnadu Scenic route

Madurai-Theni-Bodinayakanur

Madurai-Rameshwaram Route via Pamban Bridge

Tirunelveli-Kanyakumari Route

Highlight:- Aralvaymozhi Windmill spot

Tirunelveli-Sengottai Route

Salem-Bengaluru via Dharmapuri-Hosur Ghat Section

Highlight:- Rayakottai Horseshoe curve

⭐ Karnataka Scenic Route

Bengaluru to Mangalore Route via Sakleshpur-Subramanya

⭐Andhra Pradesh Scenic Route

Visakhapatnam-Araku Valley

Vijayawada to Nidadavolu Route

If you love to explore coastal route of Andhra Pradesh then this is the good option

⭐Goa Route

Vasco Da Gama-Madgaon Jn

An underrated railway route where the beach runs surprisingly close to the tracks, offering beautiful coastal views along the journey.

A lesser-discussed route, but one that quietly delivers one of the most scenic coastal railway experiences in Goa.

Madgaon To Londa Junction via Dudhsagar Water falls

Mangalore to Mumbai Konkan Route

highlight:- Konkan Railway is popular route among the major modern engineering marvel built through an extremely difficult landscape along India's western coast

Some Popular Scenic Spot for Photography:- Ukshi Railway Station

Panval Viaduct Bridge, Ratnagiri (Tallest Bridge)

Mandovi Bridge

⭐Maharashtra Train Route

Mumbai CST-Pune Route via Bhor Ghat

Mumbai CST-Manmad Route via Kasara Ghat, Igatpuri

⭐Some Hill Station, Toy Train Route in South India and Maharashtra.

Mettupalayam-Udagamandalam (Ooty)

Neral-Matheran Route

What are some of the most dangerous rail bridges in India?

 Top 3 dangerous rail bridge in India

1. Chenab Rail Bridge

Why it is dangerous? Because Chenab Rail Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir due to its location in the geologically volatile, and conflict-prone Himalayas.

India's highest and tallest Railway arch Bridge(359 m), risk comes from Seismic zone, extreme winds, steep Himalayan terrain, landslide-prine geology and proximity to LoC security risk.

2. Rameshwaram Pamban Bridge

The Pamban Bridge consider dangerous family because of exposed to cyclones, strong winds and corrosive sea air. Train movement is restricted during the high winds…this bridge is faced cyclone destruction in 1964. Interesting fact is it passes just above the sea level with low height when compared to taller bridge.

3. Bogibeel Rail Bridge

Built over unstable brahmaputra river with floods shifting sandbanks and earthquake-prone zone. Requires constant monitoring

•List of other Railway bridge which is not dangerous officially but risky due to unstable land, Ghat section, tall height construction of bridge.

4. Yedakumeri Railway Bridge

(A part of Bangalore to Mangalore Route via Sakleshpur)

Remote western ghats route with steep drops, lot of tunnels no fencing, heavy monsoon landslides, wildlife and active train movement, dense forest

5. Maliguda railway bridge (Odisha)

It is not considered dangerous due to structural failure, but due to extreme geography terrain and the safety risks it poses to the people of the area.,

It is Located between Kirandul-Kottavalasa & this line traverses the Eastern Ghats through highly challenging topography Sharp curves, heavy monsoon flash flood and remote isolated conditions similar to Yedakumeri Railway bridge.

6. Panvel Nadi Viaduct

Official not dangerous but risky due to challenging structure, is not inherently dangerous to passengers, but it was considered highly challenging to build due to its extreme dimensions, deep gorge location, and severe monsoon conditions. due to deep valley, monsoon-heavy weather, and unstable geology during construction.

Taller bridge in Konkan railway just 64 m (210 feet) above the valley floor.

7. Godavari Bridge

Risk from monsoon flooding, high water pressure, aging structure, and speed restrictions during floods.

8. Pathimoonu Kanara Palam (13 Arch bride'sArch

13 Arch railway bridge generally not inherently dangerous for trains, but it how our it poses a few safety concerned for local traffic visitors and pedestrian.

That Bridge is tightly sandwich between river and the BC Kollam thirumangalam National Highway. With no proper walkway, build by Britishers during Meter gauge era.

9. Bhor Ghat bridge

Though not dangerous rail bridge but risky structure operationally challenging because it features extreme elevations (a gradient of up to 1:37), dozens of viaducts across steep valleys, and loose basaltic rock faces that make the route highly vulnerable during the monsoon

10. Kasara ghat section bridge

Steep gradient requiring banker locos, monsoon landslides and falling rocks.. making it challenging. Also Highly suspectible to monsoon landslides and falling boulders, extreme inclines, severe monsoon conditions, and complex logistics rather than structural flaws.

11. Shindawane Ghat section bridge

The Shindawane–Ambale section on the Pune–Miraj railway line in Maharashtra is considered challenging due to its rugged semi-ghat terrain, which creates difficult geographical conditions for train operations and requires careful navigation,

Even after doubling the tracks it is challenging task for engineers to build railway track due to insufficient land. The existing tracks were constructed by tunneling plus cutting off the rock (Old track)

12. Ditockchera bridge

The ditockchera railway bridge located in the lumding-badarpur section in Assam's district is dangerous due to the regions…unstable land, bridge is built on soft sedimentary rocks and mud that routinely compromises the soil foundation of bridge.

13. Tawi river railway bridge

Monsoon risks from flash floods, river swelling, and bank erosion affecting foundations.

What are the busiest rail routes in India?

 

1. Delhi - Howrah Line ( Delhi - Tundla - Kanpur - Prayagraj - Mughalsarai/Varanasi - Gaya - Dhanbad - Howrah/Kolkata )
2. Delhi - Mumbai Line (Delhi - Mathura - Kota - Ratlam - Vododara - Surat - Mumbai )
3. Delhi - Chennai Line (Delhi - Agra - Jhansi - Bhopal - Nagpur - Warangal - Vijayawada - Chennai)
4. Howrah - Chennai Line (Howrah/Kolkata - Cuttack - Visakhapatnam - Vijayawada - Nellore - Chennai )
5. Mumbai - Chennai Line (Mumbai - Pune - Sholapur - Guntakal - Kadapa - Chennai)

These are top five busiest - heaviest railway routes in India. Apart from them, There are also some other routes in India which handle massive railway traffic and congestion.

Chennai Central - A major railway station connecting to several busy routes in India

How are countries developing high-speed rail networks?

 Maglevs

A maglev, short for MAGnetic LEVitation, is a type of train that uses magnets to hover above the track. This removes the friction from wheels on rails that limits the speed of ordinary trains. Maglev trains can therefore travel faster, as well as more smoothly and quietly, than wheeled trains. They have been tested at speeds of up to 603 km/h (374 mph). Maglevs also use much less fuels.

A maglev train works because “like” magnetic poles push each other apart and "opposite" magnetic poles are attracted to each other. Powerful magnets fixed to the track push and pull magnets fixed to the train in such a way that the train continually moves forwards.

Where is the shortest metro rail network in India?

 As of now, Agra Metro in Uttar Pradesh is the shortest operational metro rail network in India, with active route length of approximately 5.2 km. It was inaugurated recently in March 2024.

2nd one is Jaipur Metro in Rajasthan, which is operational approximately 11.97 km and get power supply via Overhead line Cable AC current.

3rd smaller metro network is the Gurugram Metro in Haryana which is around 12.85 km operational, which is a part of Delhi Metro Rail Limited.

Kanpur Metro which is operational around 16 km,

Kochi Metro in Kerala. South India's Shorter metro rail network which is around 28 km and also, the Kochi metro project is the India's first metro system in the country which connects rail, road and water transport facilities.

Several Metro Route have proposal, extending the line or under construction, planned. When compared to Tier 1 metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, these Tier 2 cities may have smaller in size metro connectivity but not huge network connectivity.

However, it lacks extensive network connectivity due to limited urban expansion and restricted city coverage.

What is the use of the rails in the middle of some tracks?

 These are called Guard rails.

Guard rails are placed parallel to regular rails along areas of restrictive clearance, such as bridges or tunnels. They are used to minimize chances of derailment and ensure that wheels of the trains are aligned in case of derailment. If the train derails, the wheels fall off the regular rails and the train can move pretty far sideways because of which the train could fall off the bridge.

You can see them on regular train tracks too, but only on overpasses or bridges or places where derailment would be quite a possibility. They are placed inside the inner rail, where they engage the back of the flange of the wheel on that side.

Is it true that Indian soil is too soft for bullet trains? Why?

 India is a vast country with varied landscapes and topography and the soil varies from region to region place to place.

Painting the entire landmass of India with one brush and characterizing its soil type as a monolithic is not really smart. The soil varies from place to place.

This is the Qinghai railway. Connects Beijing with Lhasa.

it’s currently the highest railway in the world.

550 kms of the Qinghai railway is built on Permafrost.

Go do research on constructing anything on permafrost.

While not a high speed railway, the challenges of constructing a railway on permafrost is way more challenging.

Both Russia and China have railways built on permafrost and the construction is way more challenging as you have to reinforce the ground underneath before you can build on it and make sure the hardened soil doesn’t melt away.

So as you can see, even if I were to take your assumption of a monolithic soil type in entire India, engineering can overcome it and I highly doubt your premise is correct.

Manhattan in NYC has glacial till soil as top layer and so does many other boroughs.

This is the Manhattan skyline

How did they construct the skyscrapers?

By going deep into the ground till they hit bedrock where they can anchor the pillars that support the structure.