It's been a practice since the last few years, to visit the Samadhi Mandir of Sai Baba on an annual basis. Probably his blessings, it's a ritual that has continued despite the Pandemic. I didn't want to break the practice in 2022 either. Having moved jobs and still in the first year of my job, availing leaves were a little difficult. It was also the peak of the academic year with me having a sizeable number of theory classes per week. After quite some planning and replanning, I decided to lock in on the second week of December for the trip.
I planned this journey during the weekend so that I have to take least number of leaves. Kasaragod has an advantage of being located at the northern end of Kerala, and Mumbai was only about 16 hours by train, making it easier to have a quick trip to Shirdi. With good planning, it's possible to even visit the temple without availing a leave, but that would be a touch and go trip, no doubt. I didn't want to do that. After spending a few days working out connections, I finally zero'd in on the Garib Rath Express. I would have to change trains at Thane to reach Shirdi, but the connections were fitting in perfectly. I had the option of taking the 12617 Mangala Express straight to Nashik and then continuing by bus, but I was a little doubtful about the connectivity. Taking the Garib Rath also gives me a chance to have a long ride in the Garib Rath (not that it's features were any interesting) - still!
I booked a ticket on the Garib Rath roughly a month before my journey - did that on spotting the number of seats coming down quickly. I asked for a lower berth, but was allotted an upper berth. I felt glad I didn't get a side upper berth, though. (The side upper berth in a Garib Rath is a little congested and uncomfortable.) But then, Indian Railways decides to throw in a spanner in to my plans a few days later. I receive a message stating that my train was cancelled due to "unavoidable reasons". I found out later that the train cancelled due to a yard modification work at Kochuveli, near Trivandrum. I was back on the planning board now - I had not many options now, and Mangala Express was my call now. I decided to book all the way to Nashik Road this time.
Tickets were all waitlisted, and that was a Remote location waiting list as well! The numbers didn't look comfortable and I looked at other options by altering my boarding point. I finally got a confirmed ticket by booking a ticket from Feroke to Nashik Road - altering the boarding point to Kasaragod. Then began the countdown to the journey!
December 08, 2022:
A usual day at work - with the usual restlessness and excitement of a long journey ahead! Time flew as I returned home - the time was 1900hrs even before I realized. My colleague and roomie dropped me at Kasaragod railway station by around 1910hrs - with about 50 minutes to go for my train. The Trivandrum bound Malabar express rolled in soon after I reached the station. I headed straight to the vegetarian refreshment room for my dinner - there are a few good restaurants outside, but I didn't want to rush to the train after food. There weren't many options - the ubiquitous option at almost every railway station, Biriyani was available. I picked a plate of Vegetable Biriyani - a very juicy and tasty serving was brought to my table very soon.
I headed to Platform 2 soon after my dinner and found a place to sit until the train arrives. My coach was to be the 12th in the rake - I waited right below the board. The Mangalore bound Parasuram express was the first to arrive on that side. I found that my train was running about 20 minutes behind schedule. Kasaragod is quite a sleepy station - most of the lights on the platform remain off except when a train arrives. That was the case on this day as well. There were a few people waiting for our train at the station. My train came in a little past 2023hrs, with a Bhusawal WAP4 (#22630) doing the honours. This was a surprise - the front EOG was running since the WAP4 doesn't have the facility of providing hotel load! The stop at Kasaragod was roughly 2 minutes long - the train got moving soon after I reached my berth!!
The coach was full - the other seats in my 'cabin' were already occupied, and most of them seemed to heading to places ahead of my destination. The berths were opened a little after we left Kasaragod. It was an eventless run after Kasaragod. I remained awake till we left Mangalore Junction. We had arrived Mangalore Junction a couple of minutes ahead of schedule. A lot of time is now saved at Mangalore Junction due to elimination of loco change - its just a crew change now. I am not sure if they perform refueling of the EOG at Mangalore Junction. I slept soon after the train departed from Mangalore Junction. I vaguely remember the train stopping at some station after Mangalore - but then the sleep was stronger than the urge to check it out!!
I slept until about 5.30hrs. I usually get up early while traveling on a train - in order to get fresh before the rest of the coach wakes up. It was quite cold outside - the airconditioned section was a warm cozy coccoon now - where as it was a shivering cold outside! We were sent to the loop line for a crossing just as the sun was slowly rising. I could spot the moon on one side the track, while early rays of the sunrise was visible on the other side. We crossed the Madgaon bound Konkan Kanya express here - a WAP7 did the honours. I remembered the olden days when this train used to get WDM3As from Pune - in characteristic green or blue colours! Then came the WDP4s - now they've been replaced with mobile transformers that bray like donkeys!
Konkan Railways generally handles crossings very efficiently - they do not have the usual concept of fixed crossing points where trains end up having to wait endlessly. KR uses much more dynamic controlling instead, where the first arriving train waits for the opposite train, irrespective of its "priority" - its not uncommon to see the Rajdhani wait for a crossing on KR!! (The only other place where I've seen such a thing happen in the Trivandrum division of SR).
We were looped for another crossing - this time at Nivasar station. Unusually though, this was a long wait. The other train was still at Ratnagiri (the next station) when we entered the loop line. It took quite some time for that train to reach Nivasar. We were running ahead of schedule when we entered the loop - but the long wait ensured that we reached behind schedule at Ratnagiri. We crossed the Mumbai LTT - Madgaon AC Express (the former Double Decker Express) at Nivasar - this train was worked by a WDP4D from Kalyan Shed. The stretch between Nivasar and Ratnagiri is perhaps the most arduous on Konkan Railway - the train goes through spectacular gorges (I am not sure if spectacular the apt word here - but, for the lack of a better one..) and tunnels in quick succession. The famous Panval viaduct (which was once the tallest in the region) is also in this stretch.
We reached Ratnagiri a little behind schedule. I had walked through the length of the rake towards the front end - it was bone-chilling cold out there. I felt bad for the passengers in Sleeper class - they were mostly covered in layers and layers of clothes to keep them warm. Cold air tends to seep in despite all efforts to keep windows closed - someone might leave the door open, or just stray air leaking in through the vestibules - traveling in non-AC during the winter is harsh. I've heard people ask why do you need an "AC" during the winter - they fail to appreciate the fact that AC coaches actually keep temperatures controlled and you feel more comfortable out there!
The train was ushered in to Ratnagiri station by vendors calling out their wares at the top of their voice - quite a lot of them jumped into carriages even before the train stopped completely. Ratnagiri station is a point to pick up Vada Pav while traveling on the KR route. Although the Vada Pav isn't as good as the ones would might find in smaller wayside stalls in Mumbai, its still a blessing for people missing the desi burger. Vada Pav is a very convenient meal - you could just grab one and keep eating as you continue working with the other hand. Being a dry meal, you do not have to rush to a water tap to wash your hands (No! Tissues aren't my thing!)
After checking the WAP4 leading our train, I walked back to my coach, which was located towards the rear end of the formation. I picked up a plate of Vada Pav on my way back. Vada Pav is quintessentially a Potato Fritter (mashed cooked potato tempered with spices, dipped in a batter of Chick Pea flour and deep fried in oil) served along with a pav (Pav - Quarter; basically a bun). A dry garlic & coconut chutney is also served as a 'topping'. You typically 'open' the pav, slather a generous quantity of the dry chutney, stuff in the vada - the final product resembles a Burger - and then dig deep into the combination! The stop at Ratnagiri was a little long - longer than expected.
The old coach maintenance facility at Ratnagiri seemed disused - the pitlines were hardly visible through the thick vegetation that had grown over. We slowly crawled out of Ratnagiri - I ran into a subscriber of my channel while recording the departure out of Ratnagiri. It was still cold out there - I returned to my seat. I was on a lower berth - the middle berth above mine was still open; thereby ruling out an option of sitting upright. I picked up breakfast from the Pantry car vendor soon later - I purchased Upma and a plate of Cutlet. The Upma was a gooey mass of semolina with generous amounts of oil. The Cutlet was quite good - infact, was the 'perfect' Railway cutlet. I remained in the cozy comforts of my coach for a while before, before returning to the door.
It slowly got hotter outside - the weather was quite dry as well. It was an eventless run after Ratnagiri, till we got to Chiplun. We crossed the Madgaon bound Jan Shatabdi Express here. The Jan Shatabdi runs with an LHB rake now - but had a non-HOG loco leading the rake (A WAP4 from Bhusawal did the honours). Non-HOG locos negate whatever benefits of electric locos give, due to the need to run the EOG through the run. We also overtook a RORO rake at this station. We left Chiplun with a minor delay. The train had a non-stop run after Chiplun - the next scheduled halt for this train was only at Panvel. We had a few crossings on the way, including the Madgaon bound Tejas Express and Ernakulam bound Mangala Lakshadweep Express. The section ahead of Veer is doubled - perhaps the only doubled section on Konkan Railway (I am not counting the Madgaon-Majorda section). We crossed the Madgaon bound Mandovi Express a little after Veer.
We slowed down as we approached Roha, and ended up making an unscheduled halt at Roha. The Ratnagiri-Diva Passenger was running just ahead of us, and had just departed from Roha as we reached there. We had to wait for the while till the Passenger made it to the next station. We continued the crawl till Nagothane, where we had to make an unscheduled halt as well. I hadn't really observed the section the last time - a lot had changed in the section after doubling was completed. The new line got two tunnels as well! The old alignment had only 1 tunnel, while the new alignment (the down line) has two tunnels! We finally over took the Ratnagiri-Diva passenger at Kasu. All the coaching stock on Konkan Railway has been converted to LHB stock now - and all of them are now maintained at Madgaon. The rake of the Ratnagiri-Diva passenger goes to Madgaon for maintenance - it is now ferried as an empty rake, it used to be a passenger special train in the past.
The run after Kasu was not very eventful - except for a couple of slow downs on the way. The up & down lines run on different alignments at many stretches - especially after Pen. We reached Panvel exactly at the scheduled arrival time of 1235hrs. I haven't actually traveled 'through' Panvel many times - on almost every time, the station was my terminus. Although I've traveled many times on the Panvel-Diva line (was one of my favorite time pass jaunts in the past - a few of those reports must be present on this blog as well), I've not been able to present them in video. This time was my opportunity to do that. We were a little delayed as we departed Panvel - I am not sure if they were refueling the EOGs at Panvel. We left Panvel at 1244hrs - about 4 minutes behind schedule.
I remained at the door till we were past Taloja. Work on the western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) seemed to be on at a good pace in the region. Land was leveled in many areas - works in bridges were happening at a frantic pace. It also looked like the DFC would be elevated around the Kalamboli region. It was little hot outside - and I chose to remain indoors for a while. I returned to the door as we were nearing Dativali. This was my first time traveling from this part towards Kalyan - so the Dativali-Diva Chord Cabin-Kopar stretch was a first for me. The train crawled through these areas - turning right after Dativali, and then crawling through tracks that looked more like a siding than an active railway line. After the first round of crawling, the train enters in to what can be called a sprawling maze of railway tracks - 8 tracks in all! 2 slow EMU lines, 2 Fast EMU lines, 2 suburban avoiding lines and 2 lines that came from Panvel side.
We continued crawling till we reached Kopar - the lines towards Vasai Road turns off a little before Kopar, and the lines from Vasai side, towards Kalyan joins right before Kopar station as well. Kopar station exists only on the slow line. The lines towards Vasai go over an overbridge at Kopar station. New bridges for the DFC were being built here, as well. We had an unscheduled halt at Kopar station for a while - after that we slowly merged on to the fast EMU line. We had a slow run through Dombivli station - a halt here would've surely helped a lot of people on board the train, since Dombivli is one among the Malayali suburbs of Mumbai. We finally rolled in to Kalyan station by 1344hrs - about 17 minutes behind schedule. The train had a crew change here. I got off at the station to pick-up some bambaiyya snacks - Bread Pakoda (often called a Pattice in Mumbai) was my pick. The unique flavour that one gets here, is very rare to find elsewhere.
We had a fairly long wait at Kalyan - the crew change took some time. Meanwhile, the Chennai Superfast arrived at Kalyan - and departed ahead of us as well. We started from Kalyan at 1400hrs - 30 minutes behind schedule. I headed to my seat soon after we left Kalyan. My lunch was waiting for me at my seat - this was a typical Railway lunch platter - rotis, dal, a curry, rice, pickle, etc. The food was good - nothing exception and nothing to complain about. I remained indoors till we came close to Kasara. It was fairly hot outside - the surroundings were dry and windy.
We slowed down as we entered into Kasara - Kasara was a technical halt for banker attachment. The Thul Ghat begins right after Kasara. The Thul (Thal) is one of the older ghat sections in India - built during the British period. The stop at Thul was about 10 minutes long. We were sent on the down line (although called a down line, the line ascends the ghat!) - the down line is a new alignment, which was built during the trebling of the ghat section. We had a stop at Igatpuri, where the banker locomotives were removed. We continued after a short break at Igatpuri. I returned to my berth after Igatpuri to pack and prepare to alight at Nashik Road. I got off at Nashik, and then got into a bus from the bus station outside.
Note - this post was originally composed in December 2022 - It remained in drafts until now due to multiple reasons. Many of the information in this most might be irrelevant or obsolete.
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