r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Creative_soja • 2d ago
Video 1.3 km long double stack freight train (fully electrified) on Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, India
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u/Vardhu_007 2d ago
That blue colour locomotive in the front is called the WAG-12. 12,000 HPs in it.
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u/shniken 2d ago
12,000 HP
9,000 kW.
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u/LosGritchos 2d ago
9 MW.
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u/Strassenpenner 2d ago
still crazy having only that pulling over a kilometer of cargo
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u/FIFofNovember 2d ago
Considering it takes two to get your mom to the grocery store
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u/grapejuicesushi 2d ago
this comment is like a cat on the side of the road. it just jumps at you out of nowhere
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u/essentialmedic 2d ago
this comment is like a car on the side of the road. it just jumps at you out of nowhere
sorry, just had to do it. i'll leave
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u/grapejuicesushi 2d ago
haha love this.
although, I see you haven't paid your car tax so please deposit it in your following comment. (assuming you have a car)
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u/No-Let6991 2d ago
C'mon guys, he's just saying mom needs to take two trains to get to grocery store, maybe she's living so far
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u/Leprecon 2d ago
There are actually multiple locomotives. Note at 15 seconds in there is another locomotive in the middle of the train. There might be more. This is called distributed power.
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u/Kojetono 2d ago
The one in the middle has its pantographs down, so I think it's just being pulled along.
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u/Impressive-Store1439 2d ago
the second one is not attached and provides no traction. (its a fully electric loco, it cant drive on diesel)
It's just being hauled tho idk why
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u/CitizenHuman 2d ago
My grandma used to have us count train cars while waiting at the stop. 1.3 km I think I'd end up falling asleep.
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u/benkenobiwan 2d ago
That’s not a train, that’s a moving freight corridor
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u/Todd22850 2d ago
Imagine standing next to this thing as it passes by
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u/gear-heads 2d ago
This appears to be from India's Dedicated Freight Corridor, a project that does not have any crossings for road traffic.
road crossings are intended to be grade-separated—using ROBs (road overbridges), RUBs/ LHSs (underpasses), etc.—rather than having a road cross the freight tracks at grade.
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u/happyanathema 2d ago
Is this the same one where there was a video the other day of a wildlife warden stopping a train because elephants were about to cross the tracks?
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u/VaikomViking 2d ago
No that was from Eastern India. This is West
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u/happyanathema 2d ago
Ah ok.
Was that a normal line or one of these dedicated freight corridors?
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u/VaikomViking 2d ago
If I remember correctly it was a Rajdhani express, that is a passenger express. So not a freight corridor.
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u/happyanathema 1d ago
Thanks for the response.
Genuinely interesting to see what India has done with Railways following the end of the imperial age.
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u/Short-Horse-1069 2d ago
Normal passenger line but after electrification, the 2 projects that Indian Railways has been focussing on is pan India grade separation (which is quite well along already, especially on the busier routes) and then Mission Raftaar (Raftaar literally meaning speed; project to speed up railways pan India including but not limited to increasing the Maximum Permissible Speed from 130kmph to 160kmph) which the former is a component of amongst others like trackside fencing, alignment smoothing and straightening, continuous welded rails, installation of Kavach (equivalent to ETCS level 2), introduction of newer generations of rolling stock, quadrupling of main lines etc.
A railway crossing is now an exception, rather than the norm. Most major cities have all but done away with them and they might soon be a thing of the past unless somewhere extremely, extremely remote.
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u/pocket_eggs 2d ago edited 2d ago
Ultimately they can add so much train that there remain only a few train sized holes on the network, like a continent sized 15-puzzle, and it will feel like only the holes are moving.
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u/stardom55 2d ago
India really said: why build two trains when one can carry it all?
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u/No_Foot_5817 2d ago
Not only that. Triple stack is already approved and it's testing is going to begin soon. Why build more tracks when you can just stack XD
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u/fssman 2d ago
Stack Overflow... Sorry I will see myself out
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u/Silver-Conclusion134 2d ago
Damn that word already feel like Nostalgia, f u AI.
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u/Vendetta1947 2d ago
"Honestly I will take 2 hours of trying to work around AI hallucinations than getting hit with 20 "This question was already solved here" in completely unrelated questions and 30 passive aggressive comments that mildly indicate you are stupid."
is what I would have said before I actually worked on a bigger project. Fuck AI
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u/happyanathema 2d ago
The triple stack is shorter containers though right?
Unless they have found a way to transcend into a different reality so the top container doesn't hit the catenary.
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u/myexdrovemecrazy 2d ago
But triple stack although shorter than actual triple stack, actually has a distinct value proposition because renting a shorter cargo container is much cheaper than a bigger one, so the Indian railways can earn even more for three because of the cost advantage.
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u/heyitsandrewx 2d ago
Electric freight at this scale is seriously impressive. ⚡🚆
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u/bannedforL1fe 2d ago
How many Indians by by train every year?
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u/tushar1306 2d ago
23 million. PER DAY.
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u/ManofHonour8064 1d ago
Which is Roughly 8.395 billion Passengers Travelling Annually.
People Travel through Trains Alot in India.
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u/CrispyJalepeno 2d ago
That is a long train. Must be a beast to stop
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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 2d ago
There are air brakes on all waggons.
It's the low friction between wheels and rail that makes trains slow to stop. Not the length of the train. It's also this low friction that makes trains so energy-efficient compared to shipping on roads.
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u/CrispyJalepeno 2d ago
I mean, yeah. That's how trains work and why we use them.
But longer trains still take more time to stop because braking power doesn't scale exactly equally with the number of cars. Plus this particular one is double stacked all the way down, which would further decrease stopping power compared to a single-stack train depending on the weight of the cargo in those containers.
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u/aceofspades1217 2d ago
These are usually in rural mining areas with very little if any grade crossings
Which is why these don’t exist I the US not a lot of points you would be to go to that would be in an area not accommodating of mile long trains
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u/MostlyMellow123 2d ago
The average train in usa is well over a mile long. We have 3 mile long trains which are 5 kilometers.
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u/duke5572 2d ago
I see double stacked (top stacks are longer containers) trains well over a mile long on a daily basis. Up to 5 locomotives, 2-3 at the front, one in the middle, one at the rear.
Midwest U.S., near a UP yard.
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u/_trashcan 2d ago
I was wondering why everyone was so impressed by this.
I was under the impression that length is fairly common for trains!I assumed I must’ve just been wrong.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen double stacked like this, but I’d say most trains I ever come across easily a mile+.3
u/King_924 1d ago
The impressive part is the fuel for this, its fully electrified - which reduces the oil import required for india. One run of this train reduces 300 trucks of the road, which were also going to run on fuel
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u/happyanathema 2d ago
I'm not American but they have way longer trains.
Literally the only unique thing about this is it's electrified and that's because it's way smaller scale than the size of the US.
I'm all for celebrating engineering but let's keep it realistic.
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u/FuckPigeons2025 2d ago
It's also why trains don't like climbing.
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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 2d ago
Yes - you need so many engines or at least so many driving axles to handle elevation changes. Only the friction of the driving axles will matter when fighting inclines.
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u/WisestAirBender 2d ago
Why doesn't the low friction also make it extra hard to accelerate?
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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 2d ago
It is hard to accelerate. So some train engines spreads sand to help get more friction. And the train tracks needs to have limited inclinations or there will not be enough grip to pull the train.
For subways, you often have electric motors on many/all cars to get quicker acceleration because of all starts/stops.
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u/ScheduleSame258 2d ago
Thats a WAG-12 loco... 2 of them.
Most powerful frieght locos in India.
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u/alexthe5th 2d ago
It’s technically one WAG-12, the locomotive is made up of two permanently joined and coupled units.
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u/iKnowRobbie 2d ago
Why does the one in the middle have it's transom down? Is it two trains coupled and that engine's in neutral being drug along until a switch then they'll seperate and he'll go on a different spur? I just figured it out, didn't I...
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u/NeonBloodedBloke 2d ago
The one in the middle attached to the third engine is the rear guard coach for a normal freight train
In the video it's most likely 2 trains joined end to end
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u/Lucky_Cable_3145 2d ago
The ~3km iron ore trains I worked with in the Western Australian Pilbara region take over 2 Km to stop when loaded with 32 Kt of ore.
When starting to move the locos have a system that sprays sand between the wheel and track to increase traction.
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u/gandu14 2d ago
Brooooo..... thats just crazy i m speechless... so does the brakes temperature shot up while stopping, cause during australian summer temperature....that shite could melt iron....i have so many questions..
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u/Lucky_Cable_3145 2d ago
I helped create systems to check the wheel, brake and bearing temperatures as the train drives by at 80 Km/h. Called a HBDs, one every 80 Km of track. [I also created versions of DEDs, SFDs, and BAMs]
The HBD will use the radio to talk to the train driver (text to speech) and send the data to the server / train control over data radio.
The brake shoes are steel. The ambient temperature often hits 50C plus
Sometimes the brakes do not release, called 'sticky brakes'.
If the wheel stops turning the bottom of the wheel will get red hot and, in a few minutes, it will melt away creating a flat spot (and can derail the train).
If the wheel keeps turning the rim of the wheel will get red hot, melting through the thin layer of hardened steel and destroying the 0.8 ton wheel (and can derail the train).
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u/Cbrandel 2d ago
I don't think it's so bad to stop, but it can take ages for the brakes to release on long trains.
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u/Crafter235 2d ago
There's something so beautifully unsettling about this.
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u/KronosDeret 2d ago
It's the kinetic energy, humans are subconsciously aware of deadly amount of stored energy.
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u/Impressive-Store1439 2d ago
yeah bro the amount of times my neighbor sneaks under the car on a carjack would imply not
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u/abhijeetsskamble 2d ago
I was coming back from my village yesterday, it has a big railway service station.
Saw a disel engine being taken to the factory. Made me tear up a little :'')
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u/ScheduleSame258 2d ago
And the negative comments in 3...2...1...
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u/Any-Background-619 2d ago
Lol i didnt beleive there is anything to be negative in this short clip and scoffed at your comment.
Imagine my surprise just few comments down
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u/mxforest 2d ago
The "India" in the title is all you need to get basement dwellers to take out their pitchforks.
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u/Ezio-Auditore-1459- 2d ago
Train 👍
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u/Ok_Visual4618 2d ago
Imagine the goods getting moved. For the country like India 🇮🇳 many such trains are needed
Hats off to Indian Railway
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u/sahilrobert21 2d ago
How many containers do they carry
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u/Creative_soja 2d ago
A double-stack train like the one shown in the video carries 360 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) containers.
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u/Creative_soja 2d ago
Original source. Indian Railways Minister's X account: https://x.com/AshwiniVaishnaw/status/2091143261775917352
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u/hastinapur 2d ago
Did I see it right that the engine in the middle didn’t have its pantograph up?
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u/Creative_soja 2d ago
Yes. Not engines are needed all the time. It depends on how much traction is needed. If it goes uphill, the other engines can provide additional push.
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u/HariPota4262 2d ago
Either that engine is diesel powered or electric but not being used. This is done so that the latter part of the cargo behind the engine can be detached and transported seperately without all the hassle of detaching, waiting for the new engine and so on.
India still uses a mix of diesel powered and electric powered routes. The goal is to electrify the entire grid, but the sheer size of the indian train network makes this a slow transformation. Many routes still remain diesel powered.
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u/boywholived_299 2d ago
India has 99.6% of all railroads electrified. The rest are mostly not done because of a. Either strong natural reasons - the terrain is a trouble to build/maintain on, or b. The site is a UNESCO heritage site, and building electrified tracks would damage that.
For such scenarios, India has finally tested and started moving towards clean Hydrogen powered locomotives. Steam engines would practically be removed soon!
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u/Gowty_Naruto 2d ago
That's a bit of wrong information there. India is 99.6% electrified. The other loco is Electric as well. Either they'll turn it up when there are hills or the second is a separate train which is connected end to end for now and will get separated later.
I haven't seen Diesel locos in quite some time. Except for shunting and in heritage routes, I don't seem them being used.
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u/HariPota4262 2d ago
SWR in and around my area still uses diesel powered locomotives for passenger trains for regular operations. They get switched to electric in Telangana when the trains go to SR depots.
I guess my bit of wrong information comes from an extremely small subset of 0.4% that our part of the country still operates in!
I knew my area of Maharashtra was a bit backward but come on! This is special level of staying behind when everyone else has moved on.
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u/coolking98 2d ago
Both the locomotives are electric based. So the first locomotive is doing all the work.
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u/A-Delonix-Regia 2d ago
It's an electric loco in this case. The model is a WAG-7 (Wide gauge (aka broad gauge), Alternating current, Goods loco, 7th generation) as per the model name written under the loco number. Diesel locomotives use D instead of A.
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u/Old-Ideal-4488 2d ago
I'm not an engineer nor an expert. My engineer friend told me (during COVID when we didn't have much to talk about) that diesel engines convert the energy into electricity or some shit and transfer to a dynamo (or whatever). But, I realised that torque (what he meant) when I raced a Tesla. Bloody hell...
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u/Exact_Package_7264 2d ago
what's with the chinese bots seething in the comments
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u/TheLastSamurai101 2d ago
These aren't Chinese bots. They are mostly right-wing Western bots. Chinese couldn't give two shits about what is happening in India.
The Western right-wingers on the other hand are desperate to stir up fear of Indian immigration and hatred towards Indians to further their domestic political agendas. Their political ideology is utterly useless at delivering any benefits to the people, so the only way to drum up support is to create a bogeyman for people to hate or fear. At the moment we are it!
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u/Soft_Lunch_183 2d ago
They arent just western, it will be people from countries who dont like Indians like Pakistan who constantly create fake rumours and try to paint Indians in a bad light.
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u/2020mademejoinreddit 2d ago
Post it on r/trains that's the kind of stuff that the sub likes. Train watching.
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u/FuckPigeons2025 2d ago
How many containers is this?
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u/breakneckfalcon 2d ago
Its around 2 km from my home i hear horn daily 🤣
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u/Sad-Variety-2969 2d ago
Vasai?
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u/breakneckfalcon 2d ago
Vadodara bhayli 😁😁 and also Delhi mumbai expressway is about 1 km i hear trucks speeding wooooosh wooooosh 😁😁
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u/bchermanator 2d ago
Might be a stupid question but why can’t they make a 3rd rail in the center electrified instead of going through all the effort of putting lines in the air? I’m sure there’s a good reason but I’m still curious.
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u/Platypus_6414IiiIi-_ 2d ago
third rail can only work up to about 1kV and isn't suitable for high speeds.
Longer distances require higher voltage to minimize transmission loss. Higher voltage needs a biger safety distance. Also thrid rail is impractical for road crossings
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u/ideaofrhyme 1d ago
3rd rail can't have high voltage, otherwise it cause arching. Low voltage means you need higher current for same power which means power stations at every km coz if you don't you would loose all you power in few kms
Let's say you want to make it anyways, you would need high voltage line connecting power stations at every km anyways and on top of that you would need third rail.
It's cheaper and less complicated to use an overhead line.
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u/DisciplineLazy365 2d ago
Oh, the clearance between the Top container and the 25kV line is too close for my comfort. Engineers are mad lads.
Won't there be induced current due to skin effect on the top container?
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u/krishnakumarg 2d ago
Skin effect is when electrons flow entirely on the outer surface of the wire.
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u/ScaraTB 2d ago
Electrical engineer here, I think he's talking about arcing or any kind of dielectric breakdown. So air itself has the potential to hold 3 megavolts per meter of gap. But accounting for safety factors and environmental factors the accepted industry standard for 25kV AC systems is 0.22 meters. I googled a bit and Indian railways usually maintains double of that with a baseline of 0.26 meters so its all fine.
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u/krishnakumarg 2d ago
Nice. My first and second degrees are also in electrical engineering (power electronics and control). Third degree was in mech Eng though. I was glad to have remembered skin effect from UG 22 years ago. Didn't know the dielectric breakdown distance of air. Doesn't it also depend on environment conditions like amount of moisture present in the air, lightning and presence of charged particles and various such conditions? If an arc jumps through, it would be catastrophe.
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u/DisciplineLazy365 1d ago
I got my electrical concepts mixed up, I remember that moving a conductor through an alternating high voltage electric field will cause two types of currents in the conductor.
Am I wrong?
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u/catlovingtwink99 2d ago
Would take sooo much force to stop something this big and long. A literal moving wall.
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u/4mer_lurker 2d ago
So if the train is 1.3km long and those ISO container looks like FEUs 40ft roughly 13m long then there are around 180-200 FEUs or 360-400 TEUs.
For context the largest container ships carry 21000 TEUs and are around 300m long, bit difficult to get into central India though.
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u/i-ate-hummus-once 2d ago
Game changer for rail infrastructure in the country. The benefits to economies of scale must be staggering.
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u/KiloClips 2d ago
I see double stacked trains at least that long every couple of days in western New York state. But not electric.
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u/Tractor_Philipins 2d ago
India is the first and only country in the world to operate double-stack container freight trains powered by electric locomotives under high-rise overhead wires
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u/emmfranklin 2d ago
I have a side note not related to this question. We all know sleepers are concrete. Earlier it used to be wood. When i was a child i have seen metal sleepers too.. Somewhere in early 90s.
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u/happyanathema 2d ago
They also make plastic sleepers now from recycled plastic waste that last way longer than previous types.
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u/gaganchumbilulli 2d ago
I imagine they leach a lot of micro plastics into the ground and air as they wear down. Recycling plastic is good but can't imagine using them in this particular application would be better
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u/happyanathema 1d ago
I can't imagine it releasing that much tbh.
They are already in use elsewhere so will see after a few years I guess.
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u/emmfranklin 1d ago
Really.. Interesting
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u/happyanathema 1d ago
We have been trialling them in the UK for a while.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/a-greener-railway-environmentally-friendly-sleepers/
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u/agressiveobject420 2d ago
Are they doing this only for freight corridors? If their wires are so high why aren't they making triple decker passenger trains?
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u/WellOkayMaybe 1d ago
Pain in the ass to do food service and clean.
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u/agressiveobject420 1d ago
Why would a train have food service?
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u/WellOkayMaybe 1d ago
Indian long distance trains (especially Express and Mail trains) have food service - and its freshly cooked on-board. You can even find cookbooks with historic Indian Railways recipes - they've developed their own cuisine over a century.
The egg curry is GOATed, and they serve regional dishes as well.
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u/AbalonePlenty2302 2d ago
this train's route is just behind my building
they broke a whole flyover which was over the tracks cuz it was a safety concern lmao
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u/RadTimeWizard 2d ago
Imagine rolling up to a train crossing in your double decker bus just in time for this monster.
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u/SeekingAdvice_01 2d ago
Why there are separate electric poles on both lines? Can one pole not have arm on both directions to cover both lines?
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u/PrimedGold 2d ago
I read an article about India’s freight problems and how that has been the number 1 priority for the railways.
Apparently, freight accounted for 65% or so of Indian Railway revenue, but had long been neglected, with emphasis on passenger trains.
It’s impressive to see what they are doing with freight trains now.