International Railroad Discussion > Even more India from November 2007

Even more India from November 2007

1) Margao (Madgaon) Station, Goa. South Western Railway and Konkan Railway.
Kulem to Vasco Da Gama Local train in platform (SWR).
Iron Ore freight waiting in center road.
Off to the left, experimental monorail system being developed by the Konkan Railway.

2)Mangalore to Verna Local Passenger train (Konkan Railway - but with SW Railway power).

3)Kulem (Colem) Station, Goa. Three banking locos (helpers) on end of iron ore freight pushing train up across Dudhsagar Falls and up into Western Ghats.

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Kulem (Colem), Goa.

4)Stabled freight bankers (helpers) awaiting next turn.
5)Two passenger bankers awaiting to assist the daily Goa Express to Delhi.
6)More freight bankers.

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Kulem (Colem), Goa

7)Poor shot against the light of the Delhi Express arriving with the two bankers awaiting to attach.
8)Delhi Express lead loco, general inspection and topping-up of sand boxes.

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India is the most fascinating place I have ever been. Keep those photos coming. Thanks

Thanks for posting all these Indian Railway pics. It is always fun to see another country's railway operations. I will try to find the locations involving these ore trains on maps and Google earth. Do you have any idea how many cars are in the ore trains and what the grade is to require 'bankers'?

Google Earth doesn't have very high resolution images of the Kulem (Colem) and waterfalls area, although further west it does have good resolution around Margao. Some of the opencast mines, where the ore comes from, can be seen east of Margao. The mines near the rail lines load the ore directly onto the trains, while others transport by road to Sanvordem-Churchorem where the ore is loaded onto trains or river barges. The river barges take the ore down to ships at anchor off the Mandovi River estuary. The trains take the ore up the climb to inland destinations beyond Castle Rock and also down to locations beyond Margao.

The State of Goa was a Portuguese Colony but it seems the east-west railway down the hills of the Western Ghats was originally run for the Portuguese by the British. The British always said that a coastal line running north and south from Goa was too difficult to build due to the terrain and the east-west line inland up through the hills was the only line into Goa until only a few years back. Since Goa gained Independance and joined the rest of India the Konkan Railway has now been built to provide a north-south link between Mumbai (Bombay) and Mangalore.

I'm not sure of the length of the ore trains or the details of the grade of the hill up to Castle Rock. I'll see if I can find out.

Geoff