Rahul Lathi

Lawyer

[Malay Krishna @Malay4Product]

India is the absolute first to achieve this and every Indian should be extremely proud of how clever this is.

Let me explain what you are even looking at.

That video shows a freight train carrying shipping containers stacked two high, one box on top of another, running under live overhead electric wires.

Sounds simple. But it is not. No other country in the world has pulled this off. India is the only one.

Here is why it is so hard.

When you stack two containers on a wagon, the train becomes very tall. Around 7 metres. Normal electric train wires in India sit much lower, around 5.5 metres. So the two cannot share the same track. The train would smash straight into the wire.

That leaves you with a choice. Go electric and stack only one container. Or stack two containers and pull the train with a diesel engine.

The US, China, Canada and Australia all run double-stack trains. But they mostly do it with diesel, or on routes that were never electrified in the first place. Nobody bothered raising electric wires that high on old tracks.

India did both electric and double-stack together. That is the world first.

The reason India could do this is a decision from the early 2000s.

So, Indian Railways had a basic problem. Goods trains and passenger trains shared the same tracks. Passenger trains always get priority.

So freight trains crawled at 25 to 30 km/h. For a growing economy, moving goods that slowly is a major problem.

So we built separate tracks only for freight. No passenger trains allowed. These are the Dedicated Freight Corridors.

The government approved the project around 2006 and set up a company called DFCCIL to build two corridors.

The Western one runs from near Delhi to the port near Mumbai, around 1,500 km. The Eastern one runs from Punjab down to West Bengal, around 1,875 km.

Because they were building from zero, the engineers were not stuck with old bridges, old tunnels or old wire heights. They could decide the clearances themselves.

So they made a deliberate call to build the whole corridor tall enough for two stacked containers. And electrify it.

Then they had to solve two hard problems.

First, the wire. On a normal Indian line the wire hangs around 5.5 metres. On the freight corridor they raised it to about 7.5 metres. This is called high-rise OHE.

No railway in the world had run a regular freight wire that high before.

Second, the engine. If the wire is way up high, a normal loco cannot reach it. The arm on the roof that touches the wire, called the pantograph, would be too short.

So India needed a new locomotive. A taller reach. And enough power to drag thousands of tonnes.

This is why we built a new loco called the WAG-12.

It is a beast.

12,000 horsepower. Double the power of the old WAG-9 it replaced. It can haul trains over 6,000 tonnes, and up to 15,000 tonnes in some setups, at 100 km/h. That is roughly three times the old freight speed.

The WAG-12 has its own backstory. In November 2015, Indian Railways signed a deal worth about ₹19,604 crore, around 3.4 billion dollars, with the French company Alstom.

They built a new factory in Madhepura, Bihar. Indian Railways holds 26 percent, Alstom holds 74 percent. It was the largest foreign investment ever in Indian Railways.

Over time the factory reached close to 90 percent local manufacturing. So most of each loco is now made in India.

So, the government approved an infrastructure decision in the mid 2000s, then it got built over almost two decades by DFCCIL, Indian Railways and RDSO. The locomotive came through the Alstom joint venture.

The first double-stack train ran under high-rise wires in June 2020, from Palanpur and Botad in Gujarat. The corridor sections were opened in stages after that.

And finally, why only India can do this.

Three things stack up together.

One, broad gauge.

India runs on a wider track than most of the world, 1,676 mm. A wider track gives a bigger loading box. So India can run plain flat wagons with two containers on top. Many countries need special low well-cars to manage height, and those still do not fix the wire problem.

Two, the fresh corridor.

India built new track with no height limits baked in. Old networks in Europe and the US are full of low tunnels and bridges never meant for 7 metre trains. Rebuilding all of that is close to impossible and crazy expensive.

Three, the system.

The tall wire, the high-reach pantograph and the powerful WAG-12 were all designed to work together as one package. You cannot copy just one piece. You need the whole thing.

Put those three together and other railways simply cannot recreate it without rebuilding from scratch.

But the part I keep thinking about is that India approved this in 2006 and ran the first train in 2020.

Fourteen years. :)

[ANI @ANI]

#WATCH | Jalgaon, Maharashtra: On the Venus and Jupiter planetary conjunction, Astronomy Enthusiast, Satish Patil says, "The alignment we are witnessing today is also called a conjunction... This happens roughly every year... They started becoming visible as early as two hours before sunset..."

[BRADDY @braddy_Codie05]

Group Captain Animesh Patni
Commanding Officer of S-400 Squadron receives Vir Chakra. He led 2 Firing Units of S-400 During #OperationSindoor and Constantly Kept Changing the Position of the Units during the Entire Air Campaign and Shot Down Multiple Enemy Fighter Aircrafts and most Prominently AIRBORNE EARLY WARNING & CONTROL SYSTEM AIRCRAFT of Pakistan Air Force. Because of his Presence of Mind and his ability 1 Pakistani ISI Informant was also Caught near his base during Active Operations.

[Pune Mirror @ThePuneMirror]

Banana farmers in Jalgaon's Raver region have suffered major losses after unseasonal rain and hailstorms damaged large areas of standing crops. A video shared by MLA Rohit Pawar shows farmers expressing their distress as months of hard work were affected by the sudden weather conditions.

Rohit Pawar has urged the state government to immediately assess the damage and announce a special relief package for affected farmers. He also appealed to Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharane to personally visit the region and review the situation on the ground.

The incident has once again highlighted the challenges faced by farmers due to unpredictable weather and the need for timely support during crop losses.

#Jalgaon #Raver #BananaFarmers #RainDamage #Punetimesmirror

[Hardeep Singh Puri @HardeepSPuri]

Congratulations @OilIndiaLimited !

An ocean of energy opportunities reinforced in the Andaman Sea!
Very happy to report the presence of natural gas in Sri Vijayapuram-3 an exploratory well drilled by Oil India Ltd. 15 km off the east coast of the Andaman Islands at a water depth of 355 meters.
Initial production testing of the well at the depth of 1900 plus meters in the Eocene formation has established the presence of natural gas through continuous flaring.
Oil India is carrying out gas sampling to assess the composition & calorific value of gas and to carry out isotope studies to understand the genesis of the gas.
Under the Samudra Manthan Mission (National Deep Water Exploration Mission) announced by Hon’ble PM @narendramodi Ji on Independence Day 2025, large number of deepwater & Ultra deepwater exploration wells are planned in our offshore basins to fully exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
Presence of hydrocarbon is now reported in 2(Two) wells out of 3 (Three) exploratory wells drilled by OIL in current exploratory campaign off Andaman Basin.
This presence of natural gas will help us in taking forward our exploration ambitions in coordination with global deepwater exploration experts like @petrobras, @TotalEnergies, @bp_india, @Shell, @exxonmobil and will be a significant milestone in our journey through Amrit Kaal!
@PMOIndia @PIB_India @PetroleumMin @mygovindia
#OilIndia #EnergySecurity #Exploration #NaturalGas #Andaman

[Rahul Lathi @rnlathi]

Raising the voice matters

[Joseph Younis, MD @YounisJoseph]

The breakthrough isn’t the median survival rate doubling, it’s the fact that they’ve finally managed to create a drug that can target the RAS(on) state, rather than selective KRAS mutations. This makes it the first multi selective RAS inhibitor that’s clinically proven to work. The implications are huge. KRAS mutations are found in:
1. 90% of pancreatic cancers
2. 40-50% of colorectal
3. 20-40% lung
4. 19-23% of ALL cancers

[Business Today @business_today]

One in two petrol vehicles sold before 2023 seeing mileage drop with E20: Survey https://t.co/wRkbb0qiM9

[Hiren @BHiren]

Maharashtra govt. approves five industrial projects worth ₹90,000cr, which is expected to create 20,000 jobs.

₹70,000cr: Adani(Nagpur)
₹12,500cr: Akshat Greentech(CSN)
₹4,651cr: Graphite India(Nashik/Thane)
₹1,740cr: HS Hyosung(Nagpur)
₹840cr: NLMK Coating(CSN)

[Vivek @Vivek_Investor]

"If your only tool is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail"

- Mark Twain.

[Sandeep @SandeepUnnithan]

The Pak Army used terror as a low cost instrument against India for 4 decades. As I said after #OperationSindoor last year - the Op was about raising the costs of this terror sponsorship for Pak.
To make it into a high cost option for the Pak Army.
And so, smashed radars, downed jets, broken airbases and runways.
The $$$ bill of 4 decades of terror sponsorship paid for in 88 hours…for the cost of just 1 highway.
Good one by @Datta_karan who breaks down the costs of the erstwhile low cost option…

[Maharashtra Progress Tracking @abhirammodak]

#Jalgaon
Recove signs MoU with Maharashtra to develop recycling ecosystem
https://t.co/qusUkjGzYq

[Rahul Lathi @rnlathi]

@cbdhage There should be a railway station near Jalgaon Airport so that tourists get seamless connectivity to Ajantha

[Rahul Lathi @rnlathi]

After the road is built..

[Harsh Malhotra @hdmalhotra]

National Highways Authority of India has started construction of drains on Delhi–Meerut Expressway to effectively address the waterlogging problem. Work has commenced at Km 4+900 (LHS) in the #Patparganj area, with excavation already completed and RCC Hume pipes to be laid shortly.

This will bring significant relief to #EastDelhi commuters by reducing waterlogging-related disruptions. @NHAI_Official is committed to completing the project before the monsoon to ensure safe, smooth, and hassle-free movement of traffic.

@PMOIndia @narendramodi @nitin_gadkari @AmitShah @CMODelhi @gupta_rekha @BJP4Delhi @BJP4India @MORTHIndia #HarshMalhotraBJP

[Shekhar @Shekharcoool5]

जय महाराष्ट्र.......

[Sahil P @Sahilinfra2]

New Ulhas river bridge on Thane Vadpe highway,part of Mumbai Nashik highway,another major choke point has been opened to traffic.
Vadpe flyover over Bhiwandi Jn.too will b open in a fortnight

[जळगाव Index 🇮🇳 @jalgaonindex]

✈️ Another Great News for Jalgaon! 🎉

Thank you @fly91_IN ..!

Fly91 Airlines is expected to start a new Jaipur – Jalgaon – Indore flight service after 15th May. 🛫 This will provide Jalgaon with direct air connectivity to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, and the major central Indian city of Indore. 🇮🇳

Once launched, this service will greatly benefit business travelers, students, tourists, and all passengers, while also boosting trade, tourism, and industrial growth in Jalgaon.

📌 In addition, there is a strong need for a Jalgaon – Bengaluru flight, as many business professionals, students, and IT sector travelers frequently travel to Bengaluru. 🙏🏻

📌 A direct Jalgaon – Delhi service by Fly91 would also be highly beneficial for passengers from North Maharashtra. 🙏🏻

🚀 Another big step forward for Jalgaon Airport connectivity!

@SmitaWagh_ @Bhairavi_Bjp

#Jalgaon #Jaipur #Indore #Bengaluru #Delhi #Fly91 #JalgaonAirport

[जळगाव Index 🇮🇳 @jalgaonindex]

✈️ जळगावकरांसाठी आणखी एक आनंदाची बातमी! 🎉

Fly91 विमानसेवा कंपनीकडून १५ मे नंतर जयपूर – जळगाव – इंदूर नवीन विमानसेवा सुरू होण्याचे संकेत मिळत आहेत. 🛫 यामुळे जळगावचा थेट संपर्क राजस्थानची राजधानी जयपूर आणि मध्य भारतातील महत्त्वाचे शहर इंदूरशी होणार आहे. 🇮🇳

ही सेवा सुरू झाल्यास व्यापारी, विद्यार्थी, पर्यटक आणि सर्वसामान्य प्रवाशांसाठी मोठी सुविधा उपलब्ध होईल तसेच जळगावच्या व्यापार, पर्यटन आणि उद्योग क्षेत्रालाही मोठी चालना मिळेल.

📌 यासोबतच जळगावहून बंगळुरूसाठी विमानसेवा सुरू करण्याचीही गरज आहे. मोठ्या प्रमाणात व्यावसायिक, विद्यार्थी आणि आयटी क्षेत्रातील प्रवासी बंगळुरूला प्रवास करतात.

📌 तसेच Fly91 कडून जळगावहून थेट दिल्ली विमानसेवाही सुरू झाल्यास उत्तर महाराष्ट्रातील प्रवाशांना मोठी सोय होईल. 🙏🏻

🚀 जळगाव विमानतळाच्या प्रगतीकडे आणखी एक मोठे पाऊल!

#जळगाव #जयपूर #इंदूर #बंगळुरू #दिल्ली #Fly91 #JalgaonAirport

[Jalgaon Infra Updates @JalgaonUpdates]

✈️ Big Aviation Update for Jalgaon! ✈️

Starting 2nd May, Alliance Air is launching tri-weekly flights connecting Jalgaon to Indore & Delhi (via Indore)!

🗓️ Days:Tue, Thurs & Sat.

🎫 Fares starting at ₹3k.

Bookings are LIVE!
@cbdhage @Sahilinfra2 @TheMahaIndex
@haldilal