Steepest gradient in INDIAN RAILWAYS!! Braganza Ghat, Dudhsagar Falls, Karwar Forest & Triple Alco!!
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Braganza Ghats are a stretch of hill section at the Goa – Karnataka border. This 26 km ghat section rail road connecting coastal Goa to the hinterlands of Karnataka and other parts. It starts from Castle rock in Karnataka and ends up at Kulem in Goa. Prior to the Konkan Railways this was the only way one could have reached Goa via rail. Both the uphill as well as the downhill trains have commercial halts at Castle...
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Rock and Kulem, which also serve as the stations for attachment and detachment of brakers/ bankers.
The Ghat's fame is mostly derived from the wonderful waterfalls which slide down gracefully in its midst, somewhere in the middle of the ghat with the name Dudhsagar Falls or Sea of Milk. The speciality of this location is it is only connected by the rail road. The panorama offer high waterfall as a backdrop to the trains passing right in front of it.
The route earlier belonged to the South Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways but after the formation of South Western Railways in 2003 it came under the Hubli division of South Western Railways.
Tens of thousands of tons of freight move up and down the ghat section. The Braganza Ghat Section is one of the toughest ghat sections in Indian Railways. The ruling gradient here is 1 in 37 (1:37), which is the highest in INDIAN RAILWAYS, and requires the use of bankers.
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Powered by a KJM WDM- 3A, our 17315 Vasco-Da-Gama (VSG)- Velankanni (VLNK) Weekly Express departs from Madgaon Junction at its scheduled halt, and takes the line towards Londa Junction. After curving our way through dense Karwar forest, we arrive at Kulem. Here, twin GY WDG- 3A were attached as bankers to help the KJM Alco conquer the steep gradient. After travelling through the highly challenging rail route, we finally arrive at Castle Rock, where the bankers were detached.
At Londa Junction, we were looped for a crossing with the highest priority train of the route, i.e. the 18047 Howrah (HWH)/ Hyderabad Kacheguda (KCG)- Vasco-da-Gama (VSG) AMARAVATI Express with twin WDM- 3A "Baldies" 14038 and 14040 of Gooty (GY) shed.
Finally I end the compilation with our simultaneous departure from Londa Junction, where twin WDG- 4 from UBL (Hubli) shed, i.e. 12078 and 12068 depart towards DUdhsagar Falls heading a BCNA rake.