Are there any rail connections to Sri Lanka from India?

19-07-2019

There was a rail link to Sri Lanka from India until 1964, with services from Madras to Colombo (the Indo-Ceylon Express). From Madras Egmore passengers took the Rameshwaram Exp. (then known as the "Boat Mail"). The MG track went through Pamban and reached a pier at Dhanushkodi, the southern tip of the island of Rameshwaram and about 27km from the town of Rameshwaram. (The town of Rameshwaram itself was in those days connected by an extension from Dhanushkodi.) Passengers then used a ferry service to cross the 20km (13km?) of open sea at Adam's Bridge (a series of coral reefs), and then boarded the connecting train at Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The ferry steamer was run by SR (earlier by

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Where can I get the Thomas Cook timetables?
July 17, 2019

Thomas Cook travel bureaus can usually supply these. There are two main timetables from Thomas Cook; one covers Europe (the "European" timetable) and the other covers Russia and all of Asia (the 'Overseas' timetable). They also publish other rail guides and maps that cover Russia, India, the US, Australia, etc. In the US and Canada, these are

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Where can I get “Trains at a glance”?
July 17, 2019

TAAG lists only the long-distance mail and superfast express trains; you have to refer to the specific zonal timetables for all non-express passenger trains, locals, and shuttle services. It is published by the Ministry of Railways on the first of July every year, and is available at most railway book stalls. There are also other publications

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Where can I get the “Bradshaw” for Indian Railways?
July 17, 2019

W. Newman & Co. in Calcutta publish the Indian Bradshaw. It costs about Rs 75 (??) for a copy, to which you should add postage charges. They will deliver by registered book post overseas. They offer an annual subscription for about Rs 830 (as of . The Bradshaw is widely available in bigger railway stations, too. Source -

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What are some books that I can find on or related to Indian Railways?
July 17, 2019

Listed below are several books that you might find interesting, on the topics of railways in India. Not all of them are devoted entirely to India. Also note that the books listed here cover a large span of publication dates, with some books having been published over a hundred years ago. The information below may be somewhat out of date. The

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What is Project Unigauge
July 17, 2019

Historically, India has had many different railway gauges in different sections, and some sections have changed gauges (sometimes several times back and forth) depending on perceived economic and operational requirements. However, maintaining multiple gauges leads to inefficiencies at transshipment points, etc., so in recent years there's been a

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Do mixed-gauge tracks exist in India?
July 17, 2019

Mixed-gauge tracks do exist in several places in India, although with the ongoing 'Unigauge' project that is progressing at a frenetic pace, there are not as many now as there used to be earlier. A complete list would be hard to compose. Mostly, mixed-gauge tracks exist(ed) in areas where it is/was difficult to have multiple tracks (built-up

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