Q. Explain Gauge Conversion?

All the advanced countries of the world have recognized the need for uniformity of gauge. There are a number of problems that have cropped up on the Indian railways because of three gauges. The evil effects due to the change of gauge ( more popularly known as break of gauge ) are numerous and some of these are enumerates below -

i. Inconvenience to Passengers.

ii. Difficulty in transshipment of goods.

iii. Inefficient use of rolling stock.

iv. Hinderance to fast movement of goods and passenger traffic.

Serious problems exist on Indian Railways due to break of gauges but unfortunately the BG and MG systems have developed simultaneously to such an extent the converting the whole system into one uniform gauge at the stage has got deep financial and operational implications. Indian Railways have however recently taken up some gauge conversion projects totaling about 300 rout kms for converting meter gauge lines into broad gauge lines in order to accelerate and remove bottle necks for movement of passenger and goods traffic.