1.
Kollam
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Kollam or Quilon, formerly Desinganadu, is an old seaport and city on the Laccadive Sea coast of Kerala, India. The city is on the banks Ashtamudi Lake, Kollam has had a strong commercial reputation since the days of the Phoenicians and Romans. Fed by the Chinese trade, it was mentioned by Ibn Battuta in the 14th century as one of the five Indian ports he had seen during the course of his twenty-four year travels, desinganadus rajas exchanged embassies with Chinese rulers while there was a flourishing Chinese settlement at Kollam. In the 9th Century, on his way to Canton, China, Marco Polo, the great Venetian traveller, who was in Chinese service under Kublai Khan in 1275, visited Kollam and other towns on the west coast, in his capacity as a Chinese mandarin. V. Nagam Aiya in his Travancore State Manual records that in 822 AD two East Syrian bishops Mar Sabor and Mar Proth, settled in Quilon with their followers. Two years later the Malabar Era began and Quilon became the city of the Malabar region ahead of Travancore. Kollam is a city on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake that took the title Gods Own Country without much demur. The braids of Ashtamudi Lake lie about 71 kilometres north of the state capital, the city hosts the administrative offices of Kollam district and is a prominent trading city for the state. The proportion of females to males in Kollam city is second highest among the 500 most populous cities in India, Kollam is the least polluted city in India. Four major trading centers/towns around Kollam are Kottarakara, Punalur, Paravur, There was also internal trade through the Punalur Pass connecting the ancient town to Tamil Nadu. The rail links later established to Tamil Nadu supported still stronger trade links, the factories processing marine exports and the processing and packaging of cashewnuts extended its trade across the globe. Kollam is the fourth most populous city in Kerala and the fifth largest in incorporated area and it is known for cashew processing and coir manufacturing. Ashtamudi Lake is considered the gateway to the backwaters of Kerala and is a prominent tourist destination at Kollam. The Kollam urban area includes towns such as Paravur in the south, Kundara in the east. Other important towns in the city suburbs are Eravipuram, Kottiyam, Kannanallur, Kollam appeared as Palombe in Mandevilles Travels, where he claimed it contained a Fountain of Youth. During the later stages of the rule of the Chera monarchy in Kerala, Kollam emerged as the point of trade. Kollam continues to be a business and commercial centre in the Southern Kerala. In 825 CE, the Malayalam calendar, or Kollavarsham, was created in Kollam at meetings held in the city, the present Malayalam calendar is said to have begun with the re-founding of the town, which was rebuilt after its destruction by a fire
2.
Kollam Junction railway station
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Kollam Junction railway station is a junction station situated in the city of Kollam in Kerala, India. It is the second largest railway station in Kerala in terms of area and is one of the oldest railway stations in the state, indias second longest railway platform is situated at Kollam railway station. Kollam Junction lies on Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram trunk line and it is an A-class station operated by the Southern Railway Zone of the Indian Railways and comes under the Thiruvananthapuram railway division. The annual passenger revenue of Kollam railway station is ₹60.44 crore and 23,350 is the daily ridership through this station. Kollam was the city in Kerala to be connected to the nascent Indian Railway. The idea of a link from Tirunelveli to Kollam, then the trading capital of the Travancore Kingdom was first conceived in 1873. The line was sanctioned by the Madras Presidency in 1899 and a survey completed in 1900, the railway line was built jointly by South Indian railway, Travancore state and the Madras Presidency. Kollams railway station was built in 1904 by Sree Moolam Tirunal Rama Varma and it was the ruler’s desire to create a rail link between Kollam, the then commercial capital of his State and Madras. The meter gauge line from Kollam to Punalur was inaugurated on 1 June 1904, the Kollam-Sengottai railway line was inaugurated on 26 November 1904. The meter gauge line was extended to Chala at Trivandrum via Paravur and Varkala. The meter gauge line from Kollam was extended to Ernakulam via Kottayam on 6 January 1958. The meter gauge lines between Kollam and Ernakulam were converted to broad gauge in 1975 and inaugurated on 13 September 1976, the broad gauge conversion between the Punalur and Kollam sections was inaugurated on 12 May 2010. There was once a 2.4 kilometres meter gauge line connecting Quilon Junction, during the inauguration of the Kollam-Punalur meter gauge line in 1904, parts of locomotives which were to be used for Quilon-Schencottah line were shipped to Quilon Port from Tuticorin Port. They were assembled at the Ashramam Maidan, which was an open ground, the line was laid to carry these locomotives to the main station. The line was dismantled in 2000 to allow for town expansion, there are a total of 17 tracks in the Kollam railway station,2 lines are passing through the MEMU shed. The station has 6 platforms for handling long distance, passenger, the platform 1 is divided into two sections. Platform 1A handles the trains to Punalur-Sengottai line and platform 1 handles trains towards Trivandrum Central, the platform 1 and 1A together have a length of 1,180.5 m making them together the second longest railway platform in India. The station has a MEMU shed which is situated near to Platform 1A, an FCI godown owned and operated by Food Corporation of India is also situated near Kollam junction.68 crore, for Mainline Electric Multiple Unit rakes
3.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
4.
Indian Railways
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Indian Railways is a state-owned railway company, responsible for rail transport in India. It is owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is fourth largest railway network in the world comprising 119,630 kilometres of track and 92,081 km of running track over a route of 68,525 km with 7,216 stations at the end of 2015-16. In 2015-16, IR carried 8.107 billion passengers annually or more than 22 million passengers a day and 1.101 billion tons of freight annually, Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Bombay to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at places in India, with assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power. Its operations cover twenty six states and three union territories across India, and also has connectivity to Bangladesh and Pakistan. Indian Railways is the eighth biggest employer and had 1.331 million employees at the end of 2015-16. In 2015–2016 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1.683 trillion which consists of ₹1.069 trillion freight earnings and it had operating ratio of 90. 5% in 2015-16. As on the end of 2015-16, IRs rolling stock comprises over 251,256 Freight Wagons,70,241 Passenger Coaches and 11,122 Locomotives, Indian Railways run on average 13,313 passenger trains daily in 2015-16. Mail or Express trains, most common type, run at speed of 50.9 km/hr on Broad Gauge and 34.2 km/hr on Meter Gauge. The trains have a 5 digit numbering system, as of at the end of 2015-16, of the total 68,525 km route length,28,327 km was electrified and 28,371 km was Double or Multiple line route. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 volts AC traction through overhead catenary delivery, the history of railway transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building railways In India came from London, in 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The countrys first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, opened in 1853, the East Indian Railway Company was established 1 June 1845 in London by a deed of settlement with a capital of £4,000,000, largely raised in London. The Great Southern India Railway Co. was founded in Britain in 1853, Construction of track in Madras Presidency began in 1859 and the 80-mile link from Trichinopoly to Negapatam was opened in 1861. The Carnatic Railway founded in 1864, opened a Madras-Arakkonam-Kancheepuram line in 1865, the Great Southern India Railway Company was subsequently merged with the Carnatic Railway Company in 1874 to form the South Indian Railway Company. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards, the Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867
5.
Electric multiple unit
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An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages. An EMU is usually formed of two or more semi-permanently coupled carriages, but electrically powered single-unit railcars are also classed as EMUs. EMUs are popular on commuter and suburban rail networks around the world due to their fast acceleration, being quieter than DMUs and locomotive-drawn trains, EMUs can operate later at night and more frequently without disturbing residents living near the railway lines. The first EMUs were used on the elevated Liverpool Overhead Railway in 1893, the southern terminal of the railway was underground, giving the LOR the distinction of also being the first to use EMUs underground. Each carriage had a traction motor and was specifically designed and constructed to be light in weight while running on elevated steel sections. The first EMUs were two-carriage trains later graduating to three carriages, with the front and rear carriages powered, Liverpool Museum retains an example of the Liverpool Overhead Railway EMU carriage. An early proponent of EMUs was the American engineer Frank J. Sprague, the cars that form a complete EMU set can usually be separated by function into four types, power car, motor car, driving car, and trailer car. Each car can have more than one function, such as a car or power-driving car. A power car carries the equipment to draw power from the electrified infrastructure, such as pickup shoes for third rail systems and pantographs for overhead systems. Motor cars carry the traction motors to move the train, and are combined with the power car to avoid high-voltage inter-car connections. Driving cars are similar to a cab car, containing a drivers cab for controlling the train, an EMU will usually have two driving cars at its outer ends. Trailer cars are any cars that carry little or no traction or power related equipment, on third rail systems the outer vehicles usually carry the pick up shoes, with the motor vehicles receiving the current via intra-unit connections. Many modern 2-car EMU sets are set up as married pair units, while both units in a married pair are typically driving motors, the ancillary equipment are shared between the two cars in the set. Since neither car can operate without its partner, such sets are permanently coupled, advantages of married pair units include weight and cost savings over single-unit cars while allowing all cars to be powered, unlike a motor-trailer combination. Disadvantages include a loss of flexibility, as trains must be multiples of two cars, and a failure on a single car could force removing both it and its partner from service. The retired New York–Washington Metroliner service, first operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and later by Amtrak, also featured high-speed electric multiple-unit cars, diesel multiple unit Battery electric multiple unit British electric multiple units Media related to Electric multiple unit at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Motive power depot
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Motive power depot, usually abbreviated to MPD, or railway depot is a term given to places where usually locomotives are housed when not being used, and also repaired and maintained. They were originally known as running sheds, engine sheds, or, for short, facilities are provided for refuelling and replenishing water, lubricating oil and grease and, for steam engines, disposal of the ash. There are often workshops for day to day repairs and maintenance, although locomotive building, mPDs in Britain are now often known as traction maintenance depots. The equivalent of such depots in German-speaking countries is the Bahnbetriebswerk or Bw which has similar functions, with major repairs and overhauls being carried out at Ausbesserungswerke. The number of these reduced drastically on the changeover from steam to diesel and electric traction and most modern Bw in Germany are specialised depots, engine sheds could be found in many towns and cities as well as in rural locations. They were built by the companies to provide accommodation for their locomotives that provided their local train services. Each engine shed would have an allocation of locomotives that would reflect the duties carried out by that depot, others, such as Kings Cross engine shed in London, predominantly provided locomotives for passenger workings. Nearly all depots at this time had a number of shunting locomotives, normally 0-4-0T or 0-6-0T tank engines, these would be allocated to shunt turns and could be found in goods yards, carriage sidings, goods depots and docks. Many large rail connected industrial sites also had engine sheds primarily using shunting locomotives and those in roundhouses could be inside or outside such as that at the East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company Roundhouse, Rockhill, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, USA. There were six primary activities that took place at the sheds, when a steam engine arrived on shed it would drop its fire and the ash that had built up would be removed. Disposal of the ash was a job and carried out at quiet times although some bigger depots had facilities for disposing of ash more efficiently. Study of photographs from the era show it was not uncommon for piles of ash to be scattered around the depot site. After completing their last duty and arriving on shed locomotives would have a regular boiler washout to remove scale, improve efficiency, initially this job was done by hand and many depots had significant coal stacks on site. These would be constructed with the outer walls constructed of dry blocks much in the style of a dry stone wall with smaller pieces behind these. As technology advanced and the bigger sheds got busier this process became mechanised, the sheds were not clean places to work. The large London depot of Stratford had a dormitory and its occupants would “wake up with a layer of coal dust covering them. Another key requirement of the engine is a supply of water which is carried in the tenders or tanks of the engines. In Australia water was carried in water gins due to longer distances covered
7.
Kerala
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Kerala historically known as Keralam, is an Indian state in South India on the Malabar Coast. It was formed on 1 November 1956 following the States Reorganisation Act by combining Malayalam-speaking regions, spread over 38,863 km2, it is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33,387,677 inhabitants as per the 2011 Census, Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state. The region has been a prominent spice exporter since 3000 BCE, the Chera Dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala, though it frequently struggled against attacks by the neighbouring Cholas and Pandyas. In the 15th century, the spice trade attracted Portuguese traders to Kerala, after independence, Travancore and Cochin joined the Republic of India and Travancore-Cochin was given the status of a state in 1949. In 1956, Kerala state was formed by merging Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin, Hinduism is practised by more than half of the population, followed by Islam and Christianity. The culture is a synthesis of Aryan and Dravidian cultures, developed over millennia, under influences from other parts of India, the production of pepper and natural rubber contributes significantly to the total national output. In the agricultural sector, coconut, tea, coffee, cashew, the states coastline extends for 595 kilometres, and around 1.1 million people in the state are dependent on the fishery industry which contributes 3% to the states income. The state has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English, Kerala is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India, with backwaters, beaches, Ayurvedic tourism and tropical greenery as its major attractions. The name Kerala has an uncertain etymology, One popular theory derives Kerala from Kera and alam is land, thus land of coconuts, this also happens to be a nickname for the state due to abundance of coconut trees and its use by the locals. The word Kerala is first recorded in a 3rd-century BCE rock inscription left by the Maurya emperor Ashoka, the inscription refers to the local ruler as Keralaputra, or son of Chera. This contradicts the theory that Kera is from coconut tree, at that time, one of three states in the region was called Cheralam in Classical Tamil, Chera and Kera are variants of the same word. The word Cheral refers to the oldest known dynasty of Kerala kings and is derived from the Proto-Tamil-Malayalam word for lake, the earliest Sanskrit text to mention Kerala is the Aitareya Aranyaka of the Rigveda. It is also mentioned in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two Hindu epics, the Skanda Purana mentions the ecclesiastical office of the Thachudaya Kaimal who is referred to as Manikkam Keralar, synonymous with the deity of the Koodalmanikyam temple. Keralam may stem from the Classical Tamil cherive-alam or chera alam, the Greco-Roman trade map Periplus Maris Erythraei refers to Keralaputra as Celobotra. According to Hindu mythology, the lands of Kerala were recovered from the sea by the warrior sage Parasurama. Parasurama threw his axe across the sea, and the water receded as far as it reached, according to legend, this new area of land extended from Gokarna to Kanyakumari. The land which rose from sea was filled with salt and unsuitable for habitation, so Parasurama invoked the Snake King Vasuki, out of respect, Vasuki and all snakes were appointed as protectors and guardians of the land
8.
Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station
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Thiruvananthapuram Central is the main Railway station in the city of Thiruvananthapuram in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the largest railway station in Kerala in terms of passenger movement and it is one of profitable stations under Southern Railway. The building of the station is one of the landmarks of Thiruvananthapuram. The railway station is located opposite to Central Bus Station Thiruvananthapuram at Thampanoor, trains from here connect the city of Thiruvananthapuram to major cities of India. This station is noted for a whole range of amenities available within the premises. The station has book-shops, restaurants, accommodation and Internet browsing centers, a second satellite station was opened in 2005 at Kochuveli called the Kochuveli Railway Station, near the International Airport. A second terminal was opened in 2004 to handle passenger traffic, to reduce traffic, the Central Railway Station has 18 railway tracks. Number of long trains are starts/ends in Thiruvananthapuram Central. The Madras-Quilon line was extended to the capital of the Princely State of Travancore, the line then terminated at Chakka, which was the trading centre of Thiruvananthapuram then. M. E. Watts, Dewan of the erstwhile Travancore, the terminus was shifted to current location Thiruvananthapuram Central Thampanoor on 1931. The Thiruvananthapuram Central station building was built during the reign of Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, the Maharani of Travancore, no bricks were used for the construction of this station building, it was built completely with rock masonry. This station has 5 platforms to handle long and short distance trains, the Thiruvananthapuram railway station has two entrances. Kochuveli satellite terminal has started functioning with trains originating from here, Thiruvananthapuram Central is well equipped with modern security gadgets, and is the first station in the state to install video surveillance. The station handles over 300,000 passengers daily and it was announced in railway budget to convert Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station into world-class standards. The foundation stone for expansion and modernisation of station was laid by Former Union Minister for Railways, tenders have been invited for carrying out feasibility studies for this proposed project. More than ₹1,000 million is needed for first phase of this project, a new complex of railway station will be built with a built-up area of 1,000,000 square feet. All modern facilities including an office and commercial complex is planned here, the proposal to set up a passenger terminal at Nemom is announced in rail budget and yet to begin work. It is estimated only a consortium would be able to take up expansion project of Thiruvananthapuram Central
9.
Kollam district
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Kollam district is one of 14 districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Keralas natural attributes, it is endowed with a coastline, a major Arabian Sea seaport. The district has many source of waterbodies, Kallada river is one among it and the east side land of river is EastKallada and the west side land is WestKallada. Kallada Boat race is one among the festival events of district. Even though it is a competition between two sides of river many boat clubs from various places even beyond the district use to participate in the event. Kollam is the capital of Keralas cashew industry, plains, mountains, lakes, lagoons and backwaters, forests, farmland and rivers make up the topography of the district. The area had trading relationships with Phoenicia and Ancient Rome and it covers 2,492 square kilometres, is the seventh-largest district in Kerala and is densely populated. It has the shortest coastal line among districts in Kerala, five major urban centres are, Kollam, Paravur, Punalur, Karunagapally, and Kottarakara. Sasthamkotta Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Kerala, is located in Kollam, two major rivers drain the district. Ashtamudi Lake and Paravur Lake are two important lakes in the district, Ashtamudi Lake covers 30 percent of total area of the district. Kollam is located on Ashtamudi Lake, Neendakara, a major fishing port in southern Kerala, is also located on this scenic lake. Edava and Nadayara Lakes are also located in Kollam district. The place is popular as Thangasseri. The lighthouse built at Quilon by the British in the year 1902 is visible as far as 13 miles in the sea, the lighthouse stands to an amazing height of 144 feet. The picturesque view of the sea from the place where the stands is breathtaking. In the vicinity lies the Portuguese Fort, the fort was built in the year 1517 and at present only a wall of the fort has escaped the assaults made by Time. Kollams temperature is almost steady throughout the year, the average temperature ranges from 25 to 32 degrees Celsius. Summer usually runs from March until May, the monsoon begins by June, Kollam receives an annual average rainfall of around 2,700 millimetres
10.
Southern Railway zone
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The Southern Railway, headquartered at Chennai Central, is one of the 17 zones of Indian Railways. It is the earliest of the 17 zones of the Indian Railways created in independent India and it was created on 14 April 1951 by merging three state railways, namely, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway Company, and the Mysore State Railway. The South Indian Railway was originally created in the British colonial times as Great Southern India Railway Co founded in Britain in 1853 and its original headquarters was in Tiruchirappalli and was registered as a company in London only in 1890. In 1944, all Railway companies were taken over by the Government, and three years later, when India woke up to independence in 1947, the stage was set for the integration of different Railways into smaller zones. In 1948, immediately after independence, there were as many as 42 different railway systems - a multiplicity of railway administrations, varying in size and standards. The regrouping proposals put forward by the committees were studied in great detail to ensure that a unification could be achieved with the least disturbance. Important associations of railway-users, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the State Governments, shri N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar - the then Minister for Railways, was the principal architect of the regrouping of Indian Railways. The Southern Railway zone 9,654 kilometres was the first zone to be formed and this amalgamation was a major step towards streamlining and organizing the working pattern of the Railway system. Shri K R Ramanujam was appointed the first General Manager of the newly formed Southern Railways, the Southern Railway is headed by the General Manager Officer, assisted by an Additional General Manager. Each department is headed by a PHOD\CHOD of the rank of HAG\SAG, more than 50 crore passengers travel on the network every year. This zone of the Indian Railways differs from the zones of India in that its revenue is derived from passengers
