TRIP TO KATRA: PART-1
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It is often said that till the time we don’t get to hear “Mata ka bulaawa”, no plan made to visit Vaishno Mata will materialize. Same was the case with me as well. After planning and failing to implement nearly 4 to 5 times for last 2 years, I could finally set the dates and book the tickets on 12th Feb 2017. The answer to the question “How could I come to know that Mata ne bulaaya hai” is still a mystery for me, one thing was sure...
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that there is no looking back and this has to done on any cost. To avail the telescopic benefit, tickets were booked four months in advance at PRS counter in Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad and still 1 ticket out of four legs was already in RAC!!! Every day seemed to be a long day and I was eagerly waiting for the day of commencement of the trip. Everything looked fine till May 25th, that’s when things turned upside down on me. While returning back to home on a hot summer afternoon, I was hit by sunstroke and it took a heavy toll of me. With just 4 days left for the marathon trip, I was losing all my energy. Severe headache, fever, upset stomach and body cramps didn’t help my cause.
30th May, 2017
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Train No. : 12723 Telangana Express
Source: Secunderabad JN
Destination: New Delhi
Finally, the much awaited day had arrived. With half recovered body, I and my parents kick started the journey from home in Uber service. Through the silent roads of Hyderabad in the dawn, we reached the Secunderabad station at 6AM. The headquarters of South Central Railways was already in its elements and was looking busy to take on the daily arrival challenge. While the platform 1 reserved for the high patronized Telangana express was yet to be filled up by passengers, the adjacent platform 2 was already crowded and everyone eagerly waiting for Janmabhoomi express to be brought on to the platform so that they can quickly jump in and occupy the precious unreserved seats. As expected, 18879 Kazipet WDM3A shunted Janmabhoomi express rake on to the Platform 2 at 6:10 AM. Manuguru express rake was still lying on the platform 3. 10 minutes later at 6:20 AM, Lalaguda’s white stallion 30290 brought the rake of Padmavati express. The staff was quick on their feet and they did all the formalities and quickly the rake was shunted back to the pitline. The announcements made in the station indicated that all the trains coming to the city were heavily delayed which included ever punctual Godavari express and Narayanadri express as well. Sharp at 6:50 AM which is supposed to be the departure time of Telangana express, announcement of its arrival was made and after 5 minutes, another white stallion from Lalaguda shed bearing number 30274 brought the mighty CBC rake of Telangana express on to the platform. The 2006 made shining and well maintained A2 coach welcomed us and we quickly occupied our designated seats. At 7:00AM we got the starter and we started our trip of 4664 KM. The WAP7 displayed its mighty power as we were gaining the healthy pace even before clearing the platform.
In meantime, the homemade breakfast was out there to be unleashed. By the time I finished eating rotis with subzi we had already thrashed Charlapalli at MPS. The quadrupling work between Charlapalli and Ghatkesar was happening at significant pace. Even after having the early breakfast, the hungry monster in me wasn’t satisfied and was asking for more. While the Dilkhush was making my tummy khush, we were negotiating the majestic Raigir curve. Amidst the constant MPS action there were slight jerks, reminding the passengers that you are having a typical CBC ride. Finally the MPS ride came to an end when we negotiated a TSR imposed at Jangaon as we cruised through the station at cautious speed. WAP7 immediately displayed its power and we skipped Yasantapuru at MPS just to slow down again to negotiate another heavy TSR of 15kmph at Raghunathpalli. After negotiating the TSR, we made a smooth entry into the platform 1 of Kazipet without facing any hurdle further at 8:55AM. Some 2017 made brand new CBC coaches were taking rest at Kazipet. After cooling the heels for 5 minutes, we departed from Kazipet and entered the trunk route.
Once we had entered the trunk line, we first negotiated the Wadepally lake, which was having low water level and half of the lake on left side of the track was hit by eutrophication effect. Once the lake was negotiated WAP7 wasted no time in attaining MPS. For next 1 hour from Kazipet to Peddapalli JN it was an MPS show all the way with all the intermediate stations dismissed from the sight at MPS. Even though it was a great run for an hour, there was a sense of different kind of feeling about the trunk line. A usually busy looking trunk line was looking even more choked up with huge volume of freight occupying the loop lines of every intermediate station. After a brief halt at the outer of Peddapalli JN, we started to crawl through till Ramagundam with a delay of 30 minutes. After departing from Ramagundam, we again crawled at sedate pace all the way till the next halt Mancherial. In this small stretch, I could find the 3rd operational line between Ramagundam and Peddampet and significant amount of work of 3rd bridge over the river Godavari being completed. The sight of the river bed looked ominous, with good amount of water flowing through and locals having a good time swimming and bathing in it when compared to previous year’s condition at same part of the year. At 10:40 AM with a delay of more than 40 minutes, we entered the platform 1 of Mancherial. Whenever I pass through Mancherial, first thing I do is, to take few pictures and send it to my best friend and start mocking his hometown with some or other caption. While I was busy in this process, came the first notable event of the journey… A faint honk of a WAP7 locomotive was heard and by the time I looked back, it was none other than Hazrat Nizamuddin – Chennai Central Garibrath cruising past us at high speed. What’s notable in this??? The locomotive. Yes, it was BHILAI WAP7 30518 that was leading the Garibrath. I may have missed the golden opportunity of capturing the visitor to the south, but I didn’t waste a single second in spreading the word. After sharing the information in whatsapp groups, the word spread like a wild fire and in the process, many railfans captured it enroute and tracked and captured it during its brief stay in the south. In mean time, we negotiated our next halt Bellampalli, where a family traveling in our coach alighted and reached Sirpur Kaghaznagar at 11:37 AM with the same delay of 40+ minutes. A politician traveling in AC 1 tier alighted here and the platform was filled with a group of his supporters eagerly waiting to receive him. After departing from Kaghaznagar, it was time to cover the delay as much as possible. As we cruised through the forest area intruded with zero network coverage and entering Maharastra, we bidded adieu to the home zone as we entered Balharshah with a minimum delay of 5 minutes on to platform 4. We were first greeted by Arakkonam’s grandpa WAP1 22015 led Dehradun-Madurai express waiting for departure on platform 3. Once we arrived, grandpa pulled out the south bound rake. I could notice that a large number of Loco pilots boarded our train here. Once the technical formalities were completed, we got the nod to depart after 10 minutes. While the WAP7 gave a little jerk and started accelerating, another WAP7 30273 from Lalaguda shed made a majestic entry on the platform 3 with the rake of Primo Supremo KSR Bengaluru- Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani express. While 30273 was slowing down, 30274 accelerated swiftly and I had another glance of the Raj hauling WAP7 as my coach accelerated past the halted locomotive.
SBC Raj overtake video: /blog/post/2332780
Telangana departing from Balharshah means, it is time to witness the high profile chase and overtake. After a slow run till Chandrapur and loop skip at Tadali JN, it was evident that the Raj has already caught the tail of our train. After halting for a minute at Majri JN and overtaking some train there, we were finally looped at Warora. In mean time, I was feeling low with fever gaining over me. While I was waiting to capture the overtake, the 40+ temperature coupled with dry wind didn’t help my cause. After taking a shaky video, I quickly jumped on to my berth and decided to have lunch and medicines and take some rest. Lunch was again the home made rotis and curd rice. Unusually, even after overtake, we were halted at many intermediate stations like Chikni road, Hinganghat and Buti Bori and I could notice that at every halt, few loco pilots were alighting and heavy freight traffic, which was evident right after departure at Kazipet was continued in Central railways as well. While we were heading forward with some irregular, start stop kind of run, weather Gods decided to show some mercy and dark clouds started hovering in the sky as we were heading towards Nagpur with added delay. With a delay of 50 minutes, we finally entered the platform 1 of Nagpur. Railfan Sirish came to meet me and while we were having a conversation, mist was being sprinkled on the platform to give a temporary respite from the heat and Pune bound Azad Hind was making its way in to the platform 3.
After 10 minutes halt, we departed from Nagpur and it was time for some nonstop action till Bhopal and covers the delay. Godhani was dealt at MPS and Telangana was quick in attaining its elements. After dismissing few stations from the sight, we were stopped at Kohli. Looks like captain Kohli demanded some respect and we departed after couple of minutes. Since then, it has been an MPS all the way. Through the changing landscapes, we cruised through the ghat section of Teegaon-Chichonda and MPS was resumed. By the time we skipped Amla, the delay was reduced to 30 minutes. While the dusk started to settle, headache and fever started to gain on me again. Owing to hectic schedule to follow, I decided to take some rest. At 9PM when I woke up, we were skipping Itarsi and our dinner was ready. We ordered for veg thali for dinner and it was tasty enough to try once. While we were relishing the dinner, we crossed mighty Narmada river and entered another ghat section on this route. Couple of trains was overtaken at Powerkheda and Budni. With dinner completed and medicines taken I marked the end for the day and decided to take rest, so that next day can be resumed with some energy.
May 31st, 2017
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By the time I opened my eyes after a sound sleep, we were halted at Agra Cantt at 6AM. The delay of 40 minutes remained all the way!!! We departed from Taj nagri’s station after a scheduled halt as Agra Cantt-New Delhi intercity was looking at us with Gaziabad’s WAP7. From here on it was time to sit back and enjoy some speed action. It was a nonstop MPS show till Mathura, where we arrived at 6:45AM. After departing from junction point of 7 lines, we were quick to attain the speed and were skipping the intermediate stations at good speed. At 7:09AM we crossed Bhopal bound Shatabdi express. Right before Asaoti, we crossed Gatimaan express, followed by MPS skip of Asaoti and crossing with Andhra Pradesh Sampark Kranti express post Asaoti. Amidst all the happenings, I forgot to track Mumbai Central-New Delhi Rajdhani express and I realized it after halting at Ballabgarh. When I checked the status, it was already catching the tail of our train. I rushed with my camera to take the video(to be posted in IRI) and it was Gaziabad’s WAP7 30471 whining past us at very good speed. Again, the last minute planned capture had led to yet another shaky video. We departed after the overtake and started crawling for remaining journey. After continuous crawling though the industrial, suburbs and urban part of the region, we met with an Alco from Vatva shed pulling the empty rake of Swarnajayanthi Rajdhani express at Hazrat Nizamuddin’s outer. After giving send off to my co passenger with whom we had a great deal of conversation during the journey, we departed from Hazrat Nizamuddin with almost negligible delay. After crawling through Pragati Maidan, we were stopped twice at Tilak bridge and Shivaji bridge before we entered the platform 5 of our destination sandwiched between Kashi Vishwanath express on platform 6 and Purushottam express on platform 4 at 10:20 AM with a delay of 15 minutes.
With a sense of disappointment as my health didn't helped me to enjoy the 26 hours ride to the fullest, we headed towards platform 1.
Coming up next:
Brief trainspotting session at New Delhi, followed by further journey’s report.