Station name in yellow board on the platform

New Delhi. Crores of people travel daily by Indian Railways, but very few passengers understand the rules and regulations related to railways. Like what is the difference between junction, terminal and central, why X is written behind the last coach of trains, why sharp stones are laid on the railway track? There are many such questions about which most of the people are not aware. In this episode, there is a question that after the name of the station recorded on the board of the railway platform, why is its height above sea level written below?

Have you thought what is the use of information about the height of the station above sea level on the board of the railway station? Is this information really necessary for the passengers or is there some other reason behind it? If you do not know about this, then understand it well.

What is Mean Sea Level?
At every railway station, there is a big yellow board at the beginning and end of the platform, on which the name of the station and its height above sea level are written. Every passenger reads it while traveling in the train. Before we know why this information is given, before that let us understand what is the height above sea level? In English, it is called height above sea level, there is a similar level of sea all over the world, so the sea level is considered as the basis for measuring altitude i.e. height accurately.

Connection of train speed with sea level height
Let us tell you that the information related to the height of the railway station above sea level is not for the passengers but for the loco pilot and guard of the train. Actually, this helps them to take decisions related to increasing or decreasing the speed of the train.

With the help of this information, the train driver can easily decide how much power he will have to give to the engine to climb such a steep climb. On the other hand, when going downhill, the driver gets to know how much friction needs to be applied and what speed needs to be maintained. That’s why ‘height above sea level’ is used at all stations.

Apart from this, this information written on the board of the railway station is important because when railway stations were being built in India, the information about the height above sea level was helpful in building railway stations and laying railway lines. Flood and high tide can be avoided by building on its basis.

The lowest sea level railway station in India
Talk about the lowest sea level railway station in the country, it is Kuttanad and is located in Alappuzha district of Kerala. The station is situated at an altitude of 2.3 m (-7.5 ft) above sea level. Due to such a low height, it is considered to be the lowest railway station not only in India but also in the world. The station is located on the Ernakulam-Kayankulam Coastal Railway line and trains connecting Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram run from here.