Hi, friends here is a trip report...
DOJ : 12-09-2014 (Friday) From Howrah.Jn (HWH) to Mumbai CST (CSTM).
===[ Day 01 : ]===
Started from my paternal aunt's house (bua ji) in Dankuni.Jn (DKAE) to
catch...
more... a train to Howrah. I went by door plating from DKAE to HWH all the
way (pic 01). We reached HWH at around 13:00 Hrs and decided to wait inside
old station complex (pic 02) while overlooking the display board of
arriving/depating trains. We saw usual hustle & bustle over there till
14:00 Hrs
== Observations at HWH New Complex :
As soon as our train info was displayed over the display board, we moved
over towards pf#19, where our train was brought by a orange WDM-3A KGP,
followed by the rusty rakes train marked by S.E. over all coaches. We moved
over to our berths which was over S-2 057LB & 060LB (same idea of getting 2
windows for rail fanning). While moving through new complex over pf#17 was
empty rake of Ahmedabad Howrah Express behind a newly POH'ed WAP-4 SRC,
over pf#20 was Digha bound Kandari Express behind twin WAG-5H TATA & it's
LP was giving me anxious look when I was clicking pics of my train's loco
(pic 03,04), while RPF guys was busy making General class passengers queue
enter their respective coach. At around 14:40 Hrs train slowly moved out
towards it's destination, but it halted for clearance to join mainlines
(pic 05), after 2-3 mins halt it moved on to glide slowly all the way to
Santragachi.Jn and passed through SRC coching yard at decent speed (pic
06,07). Next to our line at SRC was stationed Coromandal Express/Chennai
Mail's rake which was been cleaned (pic 08) after crossing SRC our train
was in MPS to OT 2 EMUs to reach Kharagpur 10 mins before time, beside us
was an MEMU standing, from KGP we bought some snacks & tea. After
completing our halt we moved on (pic 09) and crawled all the way through
Nimpura freight yard which was all like maze but after getting out from
maze we speeded up through small notorious forests & rocky hillocks of
Chhota Nagpur plateau which is a naxal infested place (pic 10,11). By the
time we were at Tatanagar outer it was already dusk (pic 12), at
Tatanagar.Jn we were at right time and we moved towards our next halt that
was Chakradharpur popularly know as CKP by locals (pic 13). Here after I
stopped taking pictures & enjoyed the ride through scenic Saranda forest in
dark, at Rourkela.Jn spotted Howrah bound Porbandar Express with at WAP-4E
BRC followed by Howrah bound Azad Hind Express with WAP-4 BSL by the time
we were crossing Panposh, after Rourkela we had dinner & lay over my berth.
Till Jharsuguda train aws running at 60-70KMPH, by the time we crossed
Raigarh I was half sleep.
===[ Day 02 : ]===
Woke up at Nagpur outer followed by cool air & lighty cloudy sky with
occassional light sunlight. We were made to stand just after Kalumna.Jn to
pass out a down direction train & moved over to Nagpur.Jn by nearly 45 mins
before time! (pic 14) at NGP I moved over to S1 coach to charge my
cellphone hence can't do any serious RF, bought coffee & Medu vadas from
Naivadhyam stall over pf#3 at Nagpur.Jn & at sharp 08:30 Hrs we were
rolling again. Crawled over till Ajni and thereafter picked up decent
speed, at Gumgaon met with a WAP-4 BSL which was hauling Gondia bound
Vidarbha Express (pic 15), later we were crossed by a WAP-4 SRC hauled
train & another WAP-4 BSL hauled one both were back to back within a gap of
08-10 mins. At was mediocre run till Wardha.Jn where we had an unscheduled
halt of 5 mins (pic 16) and spotted Howrah bound Mumbai Mail, after that we
had smooth run with OT'ed of 4 freight trains over various spots (pic 17).
At Badnera we arrived 10 mins BT to witness a small cute puppy - man's best
friend! roaming near our window (pic 18). After that it was not much
anything happened worth mentioning till a loaded WAG-9 freighter crossed us
(pic 19), after that met Gondia bound Maharashtra Express with WAP-4 BSL
just before Akola.Jn (pic 20,21). Akola.Jn arrived by 15 mins late (pic 22)
and here there were usual Shegaon kachori sellers & tea available, then
onwards we moved towards our next big halt at Bhusaval, till that time
there were numerous freight services crossed us & one of those were a full
train comprising HCPV coaches behind a WAG-9 (pic 23). Bhusaval arrived by
15 mins late & General class ticket holders were lined to board reserved
coaches but some how I shooed all of them away, while spotted here a WAM-4
ET hauled Guwahati Express (pic 24) apart that there was a WDP-4D (may be
of ET) (pic 25), Kashi Express behind WAP-4 ET (pic 26,27), from here had
some light food like Pav bhaji & Samosas as I was bored of traditional
heavy lunches! After brief halt of 15 mins we slowly moved and we picked up
good speed only just before Jalgaon.Jn (pic 28), most small stations like
Shirsoli (pic 29) were passed in a flash of time & countyside all over
banana, grapes farms could be seen (pic 30). Near Chalisgaon it rained
while we were doing 90-100KMPH constantly to cross Karnataka Express hauled
by a WAP-4 GZB (pic 31) near Hirapur and later slowed down to halt for
green at Pimparkhed (pic 32,33) started to halt again at Panevadi near
Manmad outer, here took a snap of our train - please notice the condition
of coaches (pic 34). Just in some time Muzaffarpur bound Pawan Express
crossed us behind a WAP-4 ET (pic 35,36), later Mumbai bound Ratangiri
Express OT'ed us with a WAP-4 ET (pic 37) till the time our train moves I
got into photography (pic 38) and our train slowly departed towards Nashik
without halting at Manmad.Jn. At Nashik.Rd we had small halt of 2 mins (pic
39) & with it it was dark outside as we moved towards Sahyadri mountain
range. Igatpuri arrived BT at 19:50 Hrs even after so much of halting &
time wasting in Nandgaon-Manmad section, at Igatpuri there was a light
drizzle but was bored sitting all time hence moved on to see loco change,
saw a WCAM-3 KYN was attached to our train and RPF personnel was inspecting
the locks over HCPV coaches, while I was had small chat with 'Khalasi' and
he told me that Kamayani will be OT'ing us & if Haridwar AC Express manages
to arrive before we deprt then it might too, and within 10 mins Mumbai
bound Kamayani Express arrived over next platform with a WAP-4 ET, Kamayani
Express was let to go before us, so here again an OT! God knows why
railways is making mockery of such a decent train? One thing - here local
railway personnel call this train as 'Additional Gitanjali'. At sharp 20:25
Hrs we were let to go, we past over the middle bi-directional line over
Thal Ghat & over our left side we OT'ed a WAG-7 hauled freight train with
BPTN wagons, probably they might be empty. We did have a short halt at
Kasara for detachment of brakers locos & moved towards Mumbai, while I was
busy packing my luggage, belonging, as I'd changed my mind to alight at
Kalyan.Jn instead of Mumbai CST. In between run was good till Titwala where
we hada short halt & later just after Shahad where we saw Nagpur bound
Duranto Express behind a WCAM-3 KYN, Jnaneshwari Deluxe with WAP-4 SRC
followed 2 WCAM-3 KYN hauled locos just after it, as these trains crossed
we were made to enter Kalyan.Jn at 22:15 Hrs, thus end a journey. After
kalyan took a slow local to Thane and again a train change over at Thane
followed by again a train change at Nerul to reach Panvel at 01:15 Hrs at
night!
===================
Ratings :
Cleanliness - 07/10
Food - 08/10
Punctuality - 08/10
Safety - 09/10
===================
Thanks for reading it & do share your experiences or feed backs!
