Platform7

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation - the state run transport company of India's southern most state, Kerala - is always slow in bringing about modern technologies to their system. The corporation inducted two Volvo buses at the time when Volvo was being introduced in India But unfortunately, the cash-stripped organisation decided against purchasing more Volvos due to their poor financial condition.

This corporation, later introduced AC buses in Kerala. The first service was inaugurated sometime in 2005 with services between Trivandrum and Bangalore. Later, services were introduced from Kottarakkara and Kozhikode to Bangalore as well. The buses were Ashok Leyland/Tata front engined vehicles with about 40 seats. Some time later, in last quarter of 2007, KSRTC introduced more AC buses. A fleet of about 20 TATA Globus vehicles were introduced. Currently, KSRTC operates about 29 (or 30?) AC buses. A few of them are Leyland buses (old ones), while the new ones are entirely TATA on…

The move is finally complete! I shifted my Base to Bangalore (Bengalooru) from Mumbai on Friday. I took the 1017 Chalukya Express from Dadar to Yeswantpur. The loco that did the honors of my train was WDM3A #18852R of Kalyan. The train left Dadar on time at 2130, and reached Yeswantpur delayed by about 35 minutes at 2120 hours!

The average delay enroute was about 10-20 minutes. My coach was WGACCN 00124 (B1). The rake was 14 coaches long: Loco-SLR-GS-A1-B1-SE1-S7 to S1-GS-SLR

The run was good, and loco did real honors to the job she was entrusted with! I'll be posting the images I took over the trip, and a trip report very soon....

"I mean it" says WDM3A 18852R of Kalyan working my train - 1017 Chalukya express to bangalore! The train left Tumkur at 20.15, delayed by close to an hour! We were just 10 mins late at Birur, but bad traffic controls ensured that we were an hour late at arsikere! We did mps at most places after arsikere. We are blasting through unknown, under lit stations at the moment.... Oh! No! Here we go into a loop again! The railways seem to have decided not to let up reach on time! More coming soon....
Psst! We've started rolling again now..... Hope to reach yeswantpur by 21.30.........

Good morning everyone..... My train is now in karnataka. The loco did mean serious business overnight, and we were more or less on time... We are now approaching ghatprabha....

A series of Messages from Ranjeet kept me busy at office, and finalized a program to railfan at Panvel one last time! I left home at 1630, and was welcomed by a long traffic block near Panvel. I had a tough time negotiating my car through the traffic block. Finally made it to Panvel station by around 1655. I parked my car a bit away from the station, and decided to remain away from the platforms!



As I got down from my car, I saw what I wanted to - Kalyan's first WDM3D #11242! (Ranjeet had informed me that he spotted the loco at Panvel in the morning standing at the sidings!). I've often noticed that some particular locos - mainly diesel locos come to Panvel some time in the morning with freights, and remain there till night to take back some other rake. I've seen this often, and have spotted a variety of locos at the siding including Erode WDM3Ds and Valsad WCAM1s in addition to Kalyan locos! I rushed off to get pics of the loco while WAG5 #23622 of Tughlakabad…

Just spotted Kalyan's own WDM3D #11242 at Panvel! More details as i reach home!

I've been planning to explore the section since the past many months - but there weren't any train services! The services finally started on March 31, 2008. Two Sundays passed after that day - but I was busy on both days! Finally a call from Mr. Ravi on Friday, and everything was fixed - tickets were booked and we got ready!

I had to get up a bit early on Sunday after a rather late sleep on Saturday. I was damn tired, and had a tough time getting up! I got up and rushed off to check things on the PC! I quickly checked train stats on KR. BY around 8, I rushed out to have break fast, and jumped out with my car. I called up Ravi, and he informed that the train has already reached Kopar! I had a mad dash from thereon, and luckily for me the highway wasn't much crowded. I reached Panvel some time after 0840. I walked into the station to be greeted by heavy crowd on Platform 3. Just as I reached the Platform, announcements were made that the Madgaon bound Mandovi Express was runn…

Its a pretty long time since i had been planning a trip to Panvel in the morning. It finally happened today! I got up as early as 0430 in the morning, and left home by 0500. I was expecting the 2432A Holiday special Rajdhani to run late (she was late by an hour yesteday night), and drove leisurely. I parked my car at Panvel station, and walked to the station to find that the Rajdhani had already arrived! The loco in charge was Vatva WDM3A #18830. The rake had the composition: LOCO-RRM-B1 to B7-PC-A1-A2-H1-RRM i.e., 12 coaches in all!The train pulled out soon after I reached the station.
The LTT bound Matsyagandha was running late by 30 minutes, and arrived only at 0545. WDM3D #11112 of Erode did the honors on this train. It was still dark, and i decided to take a short break and headed straight to the one and only canteen at PNVL station. Had a cup of hot tea while the freight action was going on strong! There were three freight trains standing ready to head out (2 to JNPT, and 1 to th…

I was planning to railfan at Panvel in the "morning peak" hours since the past few days. My office timings changed about two weeks back, and is currently from 1500-2300 (As opposed to 0700-1500 earlier). I had planned this trip last monday, but woke up late and missed the chance. Today, I was determined to do it, and got up at 0730 itself. I headed straight to Panvel at 0815. The highway was relatively empty, and managed to reach Panvel by 0835 (15 kms in about 20 minutes!). The roads leading to the railway station was "infested" with police personnel, and I was a bit surprised on seeing such a huge number of police personnel there!

I decided to park my vehicle behind the station and headed straight there. I left my car in a parking lot and walked towards the station. Announcements about the arrival of Mandovi express towards Madgaon was being made. I rushed towards the ticket counter to get a Platform ticket, and found that the exit towards Platform 1 …