She doesn’t look a day over 600, but on October 9, the Prague astronomical clock celebrates its 605th birthday. To celebrate this joyous occasion, Google has put up a very nice Google Doodle.The company writes in the page about the drawing that “Despite over a half a millennium of wear and a brush with disaster in WWII, much of its original machinery remains intact, making it the oldest functioning clock of its kind in the world.” The company adds, “Today’s Doodle honors a magnificent achievement in medieval engineering and a cultural landmark whose symbolism, design, and intermittent repairs are a remarkable catalogue of Europe’s past.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Legend Says That the City of Prague Suffers if the Clock Is Neglected
According to Prague City Line, the entire city will suffer if the 605-year-old clock is ever neglected and falls into disrepair. The clock is located in the city’s famed Old Town Square. One of the clock’s symbols, a skeleton, which represents death, will nod its head when it deems that the device has been neglected and that it’s time for Prague to suffer.
2. The Clock Was Severely Damaged by the Nazis During the Prague Uprising
As the Allies cruised to victory in the final days of World War II in 1945, the Nazis began sabotaging their equipment as well the historical buildings of Prague. As a result, the clock didn’t function until 1948 when it was repaired.
3. You Can View the Inside of the Clock on Google Streetview
Thanks to Google, you don’t have to bring yourself all the way to Prague’s Old Town (but you should, it’s beautiful). You can view the inner workings of the clock on Google Street View.Obviously, you can also check out the outside area, too, and remind yourself why you should go to Prague.
4. One of the Clock’s Designers Was a Catholic Priest & a Scientist
The clock was first constructed in 1410 by two men, Mikulas of Kadan, and Catholic priest and scientist Jan Sindel. He was the astronomer in the duo with Mikulas being the more functional clockmaker. The influence of religion can be observed around the clock, with the 12 apostles, the skeleton representing death, as well as a miser carrying a bag of gold representing the deadly sin of greed.
5. The Clock Is Older Than Joan of Arc
The clock was functioning for two years before Joan of Arc was born. It’s nearly a century older than William Shakespeare. Not only that, but it’s fully 310 years older than the United States of America.
A $US150-billion contraption floating 270 miles above Earth is one of the most impressive achievements of humankind.
It’s called the International Space Station (ISS), and a rotating astronaut crew has occupied it since 2000. The work of those astronauts has yielded some incredible scientific insights.
Astronaut is not a profession where you get to go home at the end of the day though. One ticket from Earth to the ISS costs about $US70 million, so normally each crew lives and works on the station for a six-month shift.
Right now NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are in the middle of a year-long shift aboard the ISS. They will be the first humans to spend a consecutive year living in space.
But what is it like to actually live on the ISS?
The first step to living in space is getting there. All astronauts hitch a ride to the ISS on board a giant space shuttle that launches from Russia.
NASA
The shuttle takes astronauts all the way up to the ISS, which floats about 250 miles above the planet.
The station is a system of labs, living quarters, and control rooms, and it spans about the length of a football field. A rotating crew of six astronauts share the space.
NASA
The ISS is hurtling around the Earth at about 17,150 miles per hour. That extreme velocity puts the ISS in a constant free fall around the planet.
So everything on board experiences weightlessness, including the astronauts.
So they get around the station by floating. Which means sometimes it’s too hard to resist the temptation to strike a Superman pose.
For example, sweat doesn’t evaporate. Instead, it pools on astronauts’ bodies, so they are constantly toweling off sweat. You can see sweat droplets escape from this astronaut’s towel after he wipes his head.
If objects escape inside the ISS, they can float away, get lodged in equipment, and cause malfunctions.
For example, even small tasks like clipping your nails become a problem. Astronauts clip them near a vent, so that tiny pieces of nail don’t end up floating all over the station.
RAW Embed
Water is also difficult to manage. It likes to stick together in a big blob.
So washing and showering is a challenge. Astronauts squirt a few lines of water on their skin and hair and then use no-rinse soap and shampoo to clean themselves.
The station only gets resupplied every few months, so astronauts have to be mindful of their supplies. Luckily, over 90% of the water on board gets recycled and reused.
That includes everything from dirty wash water, water from astronauts’ breath, and yes, even urine is recycled. It’s all sent through this high-tech water filter on board.
YouTube/Canadian Space Agency
The water is perfectly safe to drink after it’s run through the filter (it’s actually cleaner than the water we drink on Earth), but many astronauts say they try not to think about it too much when they refill their water pouches.
If you’re going number one, it gets sucked into this tube through the yellow nozzle.
YouTube/ESA
Things are little more complicated when you need to go number two. There’s a tiny seat, a container for the waste, and a suction pump.
YouTube/ESA
Once you do your business and suction it away, you have to change out the ‘poop bag’ for the next person.
YouTube/ESA
Still, all the complications that come from weightlessness don’t get in the way of what astronauts are really there for. They spend most of their time working on various research projects and repairing the station.
NASA
Sometimes that even involves venturing out into the dangerous vacuum of space. Trips outside the station are called ‘spacewalks,’ and they take a lot of preparation and safety training.
NASA
One wrong move and an astronaut could just float off into the vacuum of space (like George Clooney in ‘Gravity’). They also have to watch for leaks in the spacesuits that protect them from the bitterly cold temperatures and radiation in space.
When they aren’t working, astronauts still have to stick to a pretty tight schedule. They have mandatory workouts so they don’t lose too much muscle mass in the weightless environment. (Since they don’t have to fight gravity, they get a lot less exercise while moving around.)
You can easily lift hundreds of pounds in a weightless environment, so astronauts have a cleverly designed machine for weight lifting.
After a good work out, you gonna eat. Space meals are stored in dehydrated packets. Once you add a little water, dinner is served.
And the menu isn’t half bad. Here’s an astronaut enjoying a milkshake.
NASA
After dinner it’s time for bed. The middle section of the station is where most of the crew sleeps. Labs and work spaces make up the rest of the structure, and the giant yellow panels collect sunlight to help power everything.
Each astronaut has their own tiny room that includes a work space and a sleeping bag strapped to the wall. You can see on the screens that it appears astronaut Scott Kelly is chatting on Facebook.
NASA
Sleeping in space is hard to get used to since you don’t feel the sensation of lying down. Astronauts zip themselves into a sleeping bag every night so they don’t float around in their sleep.
And they have to keep careful track of their sleep schedule since days don’t pass the same on the ISS as they do on Earth. The station is whizzing around the planet so quickly that the crew sees about 16 sunrises and sunsets during a 24-hour Earth day.
When it’s time to return to Earth, a shuttle flies up to the station to pick up the astronauts. Then they parachute back down to Earth in a landing pod.
London’s Heathrow Airport is one of the busiest hubs in the world and serves as a major connecting point for traffic between Asia and Africa with North America.
As Britain’s main international airport, Heathrow has been working hard to upgrade its facilities. In recent years, the airport has opened two brand new terminal buildings and have conducted significant renovations to others.
However, the greatest constraint on the airport has been it’s lack of runways. Although more than 72 million passengers pass through Heathrow every year, the facility still operates using just two runways.
However, if Heathrow’s latest expansion plans are approved, things are about to change for airport.
At first, the airport wasn’t much to look at. Its passenger terminals were just tents.
Heathrow Airport
By the 1960s, the airport’s permanent terminal buildings entered service. Heathrow also abandoned its ‘Star of David’ layout, keeping only the northern and southern runways.
Heathrow development came just in time for the arrival of the jet set! Along with celebrities such as The Beatles and …
Today, the airport is the primary international hub serving London and much of England.
Flickr/Tony Hisgett
The airport is home to Virgin Atlantic Airways and …
Heathrow Airport
… British Airways.
… Terminal 5 facilities
But what hasn’t changed in the last half century are its two runways.
But that may be ready for an update if the Airport’s new expansion proposal is approved this December.
The expansion would include a third runway built at the north of the airport; it would increase Heathrow’s capacity from 470,000 flights a year to 740,000.
The airport also wants to build a new terminal to the west of Terminal 5.
The expansion would also dramatically alter Heathrow’s central terminal area.
The transformed central terminal area will feature new hotels, office buildings and …
… green space for passengers.
The new hotel facilities will be located just a few minutes away from the terminals.
The proposed development plan also calls for improvements to road and rail access to the airport.
The expansion of London Heathrow has been a contentious topic. Although there have been discussions about building a completely new airport for decades, the British government recommended improvements to Heathrow as the preferred way to increase airport capacity.
When you think of India’s international border with neighbouring countries, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Armed soldiers? Fences? Or maybe barbed wires?
Most of the time when you are in front of our international borders, the only indication that you get is a sign that says ‘Welcome to …’ or ‘Indian territory ends’.
The international border of India is the third largest in the world after China and Russia. Not just that, the borders of India are one of the most sensitive borders of the world along with extreme climatic conditions.
Through this article, I am presenting you some images of Indian borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
1. India-Pakistan International Borders
The border runs from the Line of Control (LoC) in the north to Wagah which partitions the Indian state of Punjab and Punjab province of Pakistan in the east. And in the west, India shares its border in Barmer Border in Rajasthan and Sir Creek Border in Gujarat.
(i) In Jammu & Kashmir, India shares its border with Pakistan in POK and Suchetgarh.
ii) LOC (Line of Control)
(iii) This is the India-Pakistan Rajasthan border in the west.
(iv) Here’s how the Gujarat border of India-Pakistan looks like
(v) The evening flag lowering ceremony at the Wagah border.
vi) One of the very few beautiful international boundaries visible after dark.
(vii) The border, floodlit for surveillance purposes, looks like this at night.
2. India-Myanmar International Borders
Four Northeast Indian states – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur share their borders with Burma:
(i) Moreh in Manipur…
(ii) This is Champhai in Mizoram.
(iii) The two countries also meet at the hilly untamed region of Nagaland.
3. India-Nepal International Borders
Nepal shares its boundaries with India in Uttarakhand and Sikkim in the north-east. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the other two states where they share their borders.
(i) In Uttarakhand, the border is mainly used for trading and other commercial purposes.
(ii) There is one more border in Bihar.
ii) …and in Uttar Pradesh too.
4. India-Sri Lanka International Borders
India and Sri Lanka form the shortest land border in the world. The length of the border between these two countries is 100 meters. Both the countries are joined by a narrow stretch of Adam’s Bridge.
5. India – China International Borders
India shares some of the most historic and famous borderlines with China which happen to be popular tourist destinations as well.
(i) First China meets India at Chumar, Ladakh.
(ii) ..then in the paradise of Himachal Pradesh.
(iii) Even in Uttarakhand, the two countries share the border area.
(iv) In Sikkim, they meet again at the Nathula Pass.
6. India-Bhutan International Borders
India shares a 699-km long border with one of the happiest countries in the world, Bhutan along Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
(i) First they meet at Sikkim.
(ii) Then at Bumthang, Arunachal Pradesh.
7. India-Bangladesh International Borders
The border between India and Bangladesh (4,096 Km) is the fifth-longest land border in the world. At first India meets Bangladesh at Kishanganj.
(i) After that, they meet at West Bengal.
ii) Also, they share an international border in Meghalaya
Recently, there seems to be an uptick in small nations or islands setting their sights on becoming increasingly, or completely, powered by non-fossil fuel energy sources, particularly renewables such as solar, wind and hydroelectric power.
This is welcomed news in a world that – despite recent advances in tackling climate change by the US and China – remains relatively paralyzed in its ability to make substantial changes to how it deals with climate change.
Earlier this year, Costa Rica met the entirety of its national power demand using renewable energy for 75 days straight.
Shortly afterwards, the US state of Hawaii passed legislature decreeing that, by 2045, the entire island will be powered by renewable, sustainable energy sources.
Denmark, one spectacularly windy day in July, generated 140% of the nation’s electricity demand through wind power alone, as reported by the Guardian. Remarkably, much of the excess was given to Germany, Norway and Sweden.
Sweden may have taken this to heart, because just last month they announced that they will be spending an extra $546 million (£360 million) on renewable energy and climate change action, beginning with their budget for 2016.
Sweden is on track for becoming a nation powered by sustainable, renewable energy sources alone by the next half-century.
The ultimate aim is as ambitious as it is honorable: They hope to become one of the world’s first nations to end its dependence on fossil fuels. Solar energy, in particular, has seen its budget increase by 800%.
Although this nationwide goal has not got its own timetable yet, the Swedish government has announced that its capital of Stockholm aims to be powered only by sustainable energy sources by 2050.
This announcement couldn’t come soon enough: The United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held this year in Paris, is beginning at the end of November. Sweden’s – and Denmark’s – climate change initiatives will hopefully influence the less keen attendees of the conference to begin to adapt their own countries’ energy grids.
The Ecologist reports that Sweden is also closing its nuclear power plants, although this is mainly due to their aging infrastructure. Nevertheless, no replacements are planned, with the government preparing to use only renewable energy sources. It should be pointed out that nuclear power plants are often lumped together with fossil fuel power plants as being just as harmful to the environment. However, in terms of climate change, nuclear power plants have a negligible carbon footprint more in line with renewables, as reported in Nature.
Governments often stop using nuclear power plants in response to political pressure, demonstrated by Germany’s recent move. In this case, the Fukushima crisis in Japan – caused by a once-in-a-lifetime natural disaster – prompted the German government to phase out its nuclear power plants by 2022, according to BBC News.
Germany, of course, is a country that does not suffer from tsunamis or dangerous earthquakes; there is a near-zero risk for any such crisis occurring to any nuclear power plants there.
Despite also eschewing nuclear power, Sweden is on track for becoming a nation powered by sustainable, renewable energy sources alone by the next half-century, which is a remarkable feat. Two-thirds of the country’s electricity is generated from non-fossil fuel energy sources already, mainly through hydroelectric and nuclear power generation.
It will be interesting to see how replacing their nuclear power plants with renewables will hamper or assist them on their path to becoming a fossil fuel-free nation.
The Icon A-5 is a whole new aviation concept. It is designed to be a personal airplane aimed at the domestic leisure market – and people don’t need to be experienced pilots to fly it. The A-5 intends to simplify the flying process so much that anyone can pick up the skills necessary to fly the plane quickly and easily, and it has a whole stack of sophisticated safety features to help it achieve this goal. The aircraft has been in development since 2008 and is moving towards general release, having passed through the first of the necessary regulatory checks. Let’s have a look at this incredible concept and see a video of the A-5 in action.
If you have ever dreamed of owning your own plane, but don’t want the added hassle of huge storage costs, long periods of training and complicated dashboards full of buttons, then the Icon A-5 is designed with you in mind. The dashboard of the plane looks more like something that you would find in the modern sports car, than an airplane, and aims to keep things as simple as possible. The A-5 has been described as the aviation industry’s answer to the Tesla.
The aircraft can take off and land on either water or gravel, and is genuinely amphibious. It features a carbon-fiber airframe, retractable undercarriage, and is powered by a three-bladed pusher propeller. The plane is meant to appeal to ‘weekend warriors’ who would savor the thrill of flying, and use the plane to reach remote lakes and rivers. The company’s head of sales, Craig Bowers believes the plane will be at the forefront of the ‘next powersport’. It can be viewed as the latest expensive toy in a list that historically includes sports cars, supercars, jet skis and private yachts.
Of course, flying is inherently dangerous and if people don’t know what they are doing then it could turn out very badly indeed. For that reason, the designers have attempted to ‘fool-proof’ the plane to prevent accidents. Among the many safety features are a unique ‘angle of attack’ gauge that lets the pilot know if they are flying safely relative to the conditions. Engineers have also designed the plane to be resistant to spins and stalls. If the pilot makes a mistake and stalls the engine, the plane will continue to glide rather than nosedive, due to its specially designed wings.
Of course, it wouldn’t be suitable for the general adventure sport market if it wasn’t easy to store and transport. Engineers have tried to satisfy this need – and they have been innovative in doing so. The wings of the A-5 fold inwards to make the machine much more compact so it can be carried on a trailer. By the same logic, the plane could also be feasibly stored in a garage – although with a length of 23 feet (7 meters), you would need a fairly large garage.
The Icon A-5 is officially classed as a light-sport aircraft and features some impressive specifications. It has room for one passenger in addition to the pilot, a range of around 345 miles (556km) per journey and a maximum speed of 211mph (194km/h). The maximum take-off weight is 1,510lbs (685kg), meaning there is room for 550lbs (249kg) of ‘useful load’ (passenger weight, baggage etc.).
Before you get too excited, the Icon A-5 does of course come at a high price. The first batch of models are being sold for $250,000, although the company intends to sell later batches at the lower (but still significant) price of $197,000. That said, the plane is the first of its type and it remains to be seen whether the concept will catch on, leading to more affordable but similar offerings in years to come. The company behind the design is currently busy earning all the necessary Federal Aviation Association approvals ahead of the plane’s release, and have already received orders for 1,500 planes, which they hope to deliver by 2019.
Crime doesn’t pay (but unsuccessful crime caught on camera might make others laugh a whole lot).
Store keeps getting broken into. Owner sets a trap and catches a guy breaking in. Hilarity ensues as the burglar panics and tries to escape.
It’s an unfortunate fact that any business owner, home owner, or human (in general) has to protect themselves against theft. In 2013 alone, there were an estimated 1,928,465 burglaries resulting in about $4.5 billion in property losses. (That’s just in the United States.)
This convenience store owner in particular had been robbed multiple times and was sick of letting the thieves get away. So, he set up a clever trap…and recorded what happened.
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After months of intense training and a white-knuckled trip through the ozone layer at nine times the speed of a rifle bullet, you can bet that NASA astronauts need to bank some rest.
Space sailors log really long hours throughout their days on tasks that require intense concentration, which is why NASA schedules precisely 8.5 hours of sleep per 24 on deck.
How exactly does ‘nighttime’ play out in space?
Astronauts Pam Melroy, George Zamka, and European Space Agency’s Paolo Nespoli, sleep in their sleeping bags, which are secured on the middeck of the Space Shuttle Discovery while docked with the International Space Station.
The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth at 17,150 miles per hour, clocking one lap around our planet every hour and a half. Doing the math, this means 16 sunsets every 24 hours — a new day every 90 minutes.
Fascinating, yes, but this unrelenting motion can create colossal jet lag and wreak havoc on an astronaut’s internal body clock.
Hence, Mission Control’s strict bedtime schedule and windows-shut policy.
(Though according to one report, snoozing astronauts still see streaks and bursts of bright color caused by high-energy cosmic rays bursting harmlessly onto their retinas.)
What time zone do they use?
To establish to a regular schedule in zero gravity, Mission Control keeps our diurnal astronauts on Greenwich Mean Time.
I’m guessing no cushy mattresses?
The crew members are provided sleep pods that look like padded broom closets. They have custom sleeping sacks fastened to a wall or the ceiling, lest they float about the cabin.
According to retired astronaut Marsha Ivins, who spent 42 days in space on five different missions, their sleeping bag has armholes that allow you to reach outside the bag to zip it up. You then settle yourself in by tightening the attached Velcro straps. If you don’t tuck your appendages into the bag, they’ll drift out in front of you.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield offers this video tour of his very own sleep sack aboard the ISS. After showing off his astro-PJs you can watch him zip up and close the doors to his pod.
Pillows?
That’s a whole other issue. Though not everyone wants or needs one, Ivins says she did, to help her neck relax. She actually attached her head to a block of foam.
“You put the back of your head on [the ‘pillow’],” she says, “and then you Velcro the front of your head to it.”
What about parasomnias? Any chance of sleepwalking?
Actually there was one reported case of … drifting.
According to a British reporter, one Russian crew member apparently preferred to do without a sleep pod or sleeping bag. His fellow crewmembers, still awake after he turned in, saw him float by — presumably in the midst of sweet dreams. They watched him “bouncing off the walls, his course set by the air currents that gently pushed and pulled him.”
Do they end up getting their hard eight?
No. As hard as they try to get comfy, most astronauts don’t get enough rest. Many are routinely sleep deficient, logging just six hours of sleep every 24 hours.
However, some astronauts speculate that these short sleep sessions may be the result of the body’s feeling less fatigued in a microgravity environment. Less fatigue may equal less sleep need.
Do they report any weird dreams?
According to dream studies conducted aboard the Russian space shuttle Mir, astronauts experience significantly diminished REM sleep in space compared to us Earthlings. They are therefore continually monitored for any and all ill effects.
“Efforts are planned to understand more fully the spaceflight environment and the role that other factors may play in reducing or promoting sleep,” said Lauren Leveton, PhD, senior research scientist in NASA’s Behavioral Health and Performance Division.
Who wakes them up when it’s ‘morning’?
During the 30-year space shuttle program, which ended in 2011, it was a NASA tradition to have wake-up calls during the shuttle missions. Each “morning” at the scheduled wake-up time, ground operations broadcast a song into the space shuttle cabin. A wide range of musical styles were played, including rock, pop, western and classical.
Each song was selected for a particular astronaut. Sometimes the astronauts requested the tune; other times their families selected a song with special meaning.
Unfortunately, the wake-up service is not available on the ISS. There, the crew must use a regular alarm clock.
The aviation industry is always looking for new ways to get more people into their planes and judging by a new patent filing, Airbus is proposing a pretty radical idea.
In the patent filing, the company says “in modern means of transport, in particular in aircraft, it is very important from an economic point of view to make optimum use of the available space. Passenger cabins are therefore fitted with as many rows of passenger seats as possible, which are positioned with as little space between them as possible.”
Amongst the range of new configurations is a business class cabin with a mezzanine level.
Passengers on the upper level would have to climb steps to reach their seats. Seats in this configuration would recline flat, allowing passengers to enjoy an airborne version of being in a bunkbed.
Airbus
Another design shows two passengers seated on a mezzanine, face to face, something which business travellers looking to get work done might find particularly helpful!
The patents may be designed to save space but Airbus was also keen to stress that the new seats will provide a “high level of comfort for the passengers using the seat arrangement.”
It also said that the seat configurations could be used on trains and buses. One bonus that might come from such cramped conditions is that air fares could get cheaper.
But no matter how unpleasant these planes might look, it seems unlikely that the designs will ever come into use.
Airbus is well known for filing hundreds of patents per year in order to protect its intellectual property and ensure that competitors like Boeing cannot get the upper hand.
From the environment-friendly Chandigarh airport to the modern Delhi metro, from extraordinary solar projects to stellar freeways and tunnels, here is a list of 14 engineering marvels in India that have set a benchmark for other infrastructure projects to follow.
India has a great heritage in architecture and design. And, since independence, the country has made major advances in engineering too. Be it a tunnel in the treacherous mountains or the amazing metros that connect lakhs of commuters everyday, our talented countrymen have designed and executed some amazing projects that deserve to be recognized and applauded.
Here are 14 amazing infrastructural projects in India that make us super proud.
Cochin airport created news when it became India’s first airport to run on solar power in August 2015. The airport has photovoltaic (PV) panels laid across 45 acres near the cargo complex. The airport can avail 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day through these panels which is sufficient for all its functions. This has technically made the airport “absolutely power neutral.” The implementation of this 12MWp solar power project cost Rs. 62 crore and took six months to complete. It has been set up by Bosch Ltd., Bangalore, and has a capacity to produce 18 million units of power annually. Read more about it here.
The recently constructed Chandigarh international airport at Mohali is the first airport in the country that is ‘totally green’. Spread over 53,000 sq. m, the airport has used environment-friendly green technologies that makes it one-of-its-kind, not only in India, but also in the world. The airport is constructed in a way that no artificial lights would be required to illuminate it during the daytime. It also has a transparent façade with low heat-gain glass which reduces the need for a large amount of air conditioning. The rooftop of the terminal has a 200KW solar plant which is enough to meet the major power needs of the building. Forty percent of the airport is illuminated with LEDs and the air-conditioning is fired by chiller efficient machines. Here’s more about the airport.
2. Magnificent Metro Projects
Starting with the first metro being built in Kolkata in 1984, metros have become lifelines in some of the major cities in India. The Delhi metro started its operations in 2002 and is one of the most disabled-friendly public places in the country, with all stations equipped with ramps, low level control panels in the lifts, and buttons in Braille. With 208 trains serving 140 metro stations, it is the first metro rail and rail-based system in the world to get “carbon credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
Named one of the top 100 strategic global infrastructure projects at the Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum held in New York, the Hyderabad Metro Rail project will be the the world’s largest project under public-private partnership. It is also the world’s largest elevated metro and is expected to provide transportation to over 1.7 million commuters by 2017.
3. Neemuch Solar Power Plant, Madhya Pradesh
Located at Diken in Neemuch district of Madhya Pradesh (MP), it is Asia’s largest solar power plant. This 151 (DC)-megawatt solar photovoltaic power project by Welspun Energy, India’s largest private solar project developers, is set up on an 800-acre site. The plant will address the power needs of 6.24 lakh homes in MP on completion.
4. Yamuna Expressway
The expressway which connects New Delhi with Agra is India’s longest motorway. This 165 kilometer, six-lane expressway was opened in 2012 and has dramatically reduced the travel time between the two cities; it now takes only a little over two hours to get from Delhi to the Taj Mahal. The project was featured in the list of world’s top 100 innovative infrastructure projects, prepared by KPMG.
5. India’s First Solar Park at Charanka Village in Gujarat
This group of solar parks constructed in Gujarat makes the state Asia’s largest solar park hub. Spread across 5,000 acres, with a capacity of 500 MW, the park can generate both solar and wind energy. Operational since 2013, it hosts 19 different projects by different developers, including Alex Astral, US-based Sun Edison, Lanco Solar, Roha Dyechem, and GMR .
6. Amazing Airport Terminals
The Indira Gandhi International Airport was ranked the world’s best airport in handling 25-40 million passengers per annum category by ACI 2014 and is South Asia’s largest aviation hub. The recently constructed T3 Terminal has added to the glory of IGAI. The terminal has a capacity to host 34 million passengers annually and is the 24th largest building in the world. Not only this, it also has India’s first automated parking management and guidance system in a seven-level car parking area which can accommodate 4,300 cars.
Mumbai’s T2 terminal, with a four-storey building and a capacity to handle 40 million passengers annually, is also nothing short of extraordinary. It also has the country’s largest airport escalator at 11.6 meters. The car parking can accommodate 5,200 cars and the steel used to build the roof of the terminal is enough to construct two Eiffel Towers.
Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) is an under-construction central business district between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar that will be a major financial hub. The Rs. 600,000 crore project will host corporate and regional offices of companies, a trade centre, housing colonies, and a centre for the domestic financial sector. It is expected to create over 10 lakh new jobs in 10 years. Organizations like International Monetary Fund (IMF) and agencies of United Nations are expected to open offices here. GIFT city is designed to be eco-friendly – it will use an energy-efficient district cooling system instead of air-conditioning.
8. Ahmedabad and Indore BRTS
The Bus Rapid Transit System of Ahmedabad is a planned commuting system with reduced emissions and improved air quality. It is also referred to as a model urban transport system. Started as a pilot project over a distance of 12.5 kms, it now covers 51 kms. Around 22 percent of commuters who used two wheelers earlier have now started using BRTS. The project ran free of cost for the first three months of operation.
Another BRTS service which is worth mentioning is Indore’s BRTS which has been built on the pattern of Ahmedabad BRTS. This project too offered free rides to the commuters in the initial phase. The project has 16 buses that operate on 10 lines. The buses have a frequency of every 15 minutes on every stop. Smart cards are used for fare collection.
India’s second largest flyover, Mumbai’s Eastern Freeway, is an amazing piece of engineering and design. It connects P D’Mello Road in South Mumbai to the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) at Ghatkopar. The 16.8 km long freeway became operational in June 2013 and is believed to support over 25,000 vehicles daily. Commuters can enter the flyover from eight points. Also, the flyover has enabled commuters to enjoy the 20 minutes road journey from CST to Chembur.
10. Banihal-Qazigund tunnel
The tunnel that connects Bichleri Valley of Banihal with Qazigund area of Kashmir Valley is India’s longest railway tunnel. It is also the second longest tunnel in Asia. The tunnel, which became operational in June 2013, is 11 kms long and is located in the Pir Panjal mountain range. The ambitious and difficult project took seven years to complete with the hard work of 150 engineers and 1,300 workers. The USP of the tunnel is the use of the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) of construction. The project cost was around Rs. 1,700 crore.
11. Interceptor Sewage System
Yamuna river’s sad state is not news. Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has come up with a solution to keep the river clean by implementing the Interceptor sewage system on three major drains – Najafgarh, Supplementary and Shahadra drains. This Rs. 1,357 crore project diverts the sewage to treatment plants so that the river’s water can be used for other purposes like horticulture and cleaning. The system captures sewage from the 1,600 unauthorized colonies through 600 mm to 2,400 mm wide pipes.
12. Petrochemical Complex at Dahej
Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Petro additions Limited’s (OPaL) mega petrochemical complex at Dahej will be used to manufacture polymers along with products like detergent bottles, milk jugs, water pipes, etc. It will also export products to countries like China, Singapore, Turkey, Africa, Pakistan, etc. The construction of the project was started in 2009 and it was expected to be ready by 2013, but was delayed. The officials claim that the plant was mechanically completed by April 2015 and one of the units commissioned in June. Other units of the plant will also be commissioned soon. The entire plant is expected to start operations by end of 2015.
13. Narmada Canal Solar Project
Gujarat’s canal-top solar project covers a 5.5 km section of the Narmada canal with a photovoltaic grid. This 10 MW solar project is one of its kind in the world. Located at Chandrasan village near Mehsana, the plant is designed to generate 1.6 million units of electricity per year along with preventing water from evaporation. The project will eliminate the need of land solar projects and is expected to save two billion litres of water annually. Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited will build the plant and maintain it for 25 years.
14. The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus
Spread over an area of 37 acres, it is the second largest bus station in Asia and is also accredited with the ISO 9001:2000 quality certification for its efficient management and functioning. Opened in 2002, this terminus has the capacity to handle 2,000 buses and 200,000 passengers daily. The bus station has 64 CCTV cameras and a ‘child-friendly’ centre for lost kids. The huge parking lot can accommodate over 2,500 two and four wheelers.
Take off with Natarajan 
