ROAD TO YDM LAND: CIRCULAR JOURNEY TICKET

April 2013

Once in a life time opportunity was missed due to controllers at my work place. A visit to NFR with my friends was missed and I was planning for such a long trip from then. It never worked out until this year.

March 2014

Santhosh came up with a circular plan to Kolkata and Delhi, I decided to join him. Few people in Bangalore were informed and Rohit was the only one who agreed. The dates for the trip were decided to be during June/July. After few days Rohit suggested me to alter the plans so that few MG sections can be covered as well. The immediate zone that came into my find was NFR. It was soon dropped due to difference of opinion. The next options were WR, NWR and NER. It was getting difficult to get any of these MG sections into Kolkata trip so I decided to make a new plan to cover all the 3 zones. Looking at the trains, I decided that going via Western railway would be the best choice. So the final plan turned out to be like this

       Bangalore – Ahmedabad ( BG )

            Ahmedabad – Mehasana - Ahmedabad( MG)

            Ahmedabad – Udaipur ( MG )

            Udaipur – Jaipur ( BG )

            Jaipur – Sikar – Jaipur ( MG ) 

            Jaipur – Delhi ( BG ) 

                    Delhi – Bareilly ( BG )  

      Bareilly – Lucknow ( MG )  

            Lucknow – Jhansi ( BG)

            Jhansi – Chennai ( BG ) 

                    Chennai – Bangalore ( BG )

I spoke with Santhosh and Rohit about this and they agreed to it. Nihkil Kumar also agreed to join us on seeing the MG sections. Since this was the first time for 2 of us and the hectic schedule added to it, we decided to book in AC. Nihkil who is not comfortable with AC decided to go with Sleeper. The sum of individual tickets seemed bit high and we were thinking about some alternatives. Since the route appeared circular, we decided go for the circular tickets which would atleast save us 2000. We went to Bangalore station to get some details about the rules of circular tickets. The lady in charge on that day confirmed that this is eligible for circular tickets and the ticket will be issued only a day before the 60 day ARP (Advance reservation period) opens. It was decided to start the trip in the last of week of June to avoid the extreme summer in India. Going through the rules online from official site confirmed that we can book in 3AC and then 2AC/FC in MG trains by paying excessive fare. This was confirmed by our good friend from Chennai, The Foodie Express ‘AG’ (Ashwin Gandhi). The day of booking neared and we decided to have a word at Bangalore to know the exact rate for our tickets. We 3 went for 3AC while Nikhil settled for sleeper circular ticket. When I started explaining about the change of higher class for MG, a big NO came back. I was then advised to meet supervisor to get the confirmation, i got the same response. I explained them that the rule has changed and tickets can be booked. I requested them to check the rule again and the supervisor increased his voice in front of the everyone that I was an idiot who knows nothing and to stop arguing with him who is working there from 15 years and knows everything. I replied back with the same tone that I will prove that he was wrong in this case. I called AG and asked him to send me a photocopy of his ticket where he had paid the difference of fare to travel in higher category of train. AG sent me that and then I decided to meet the chief supervisor instead of the supervisor. The chief supervisor was a lady that day. 

Me : Mam, I need to book a circular ticket for the following routes

Supervisor : Please go to ground floor for this

Me : I came here to have a confirmation about my doubt

Supervisor : Yes, tell me

Me : I am planning to take 3AC circular ticket but I will be needing higher class ticket in 2 trains.

Supervisor : A big no, it’s not possible. Why don’t you book in sleeper class for those 2 trains?

Me : I am not interested in that. I am asking you this since the rule form the official site clearly stated that this is possible.

Supervisor : Give the train numbers for that section, let me have a look.

I give them the numbers and the system is not showing anything to proceed further.

Supervisor : Didn’t I tell you that it’s not possible.

Me : ( I immediately take out the copy given by AG – photocopy of original ticket along with Excessive fare ticket ) Look here mam, this is possible and here is a proof.

She looks at it for few minutes…

Supervisor : Wait for few minutes, I will come back.

She goes inside and has a look at the rules. She also speaks with few people and comes out.

Supervisor : Yes, this is possible.

Me : Thank you mam and we will come on the day of booking for this.

We then leave the place.

The quotas for the trains decided does not look good and we decided to do Bangalore Ahmedabad via Mumbai. Few days later Rohit and Santhosh go for booking the circular ticket as I was busy that day at my work place. A new trouble starts, the lady in charge for that day is not agreeing for the circular ticket and asking us to reduce the locations as only 8 breaks can be provided. Rohit calls me and explains the situation. The only option left for us is to take a direct train from Lucknow to Bangalore. An hour of tension and the final plan selected was 

·         11014 Coimbatore – Lokmanya Tilak Express from Bangalore to Mumbai. ( 3AC – Day 1 )

·         12901 Gujarat Mail from Mumbai to Ahmedabad ( 3AC – Day 2)

·         19944 Ahmedabad Udaipur MG Express from Ahmedabad to Udaipur ( 2AC – Day 3)

·         19666 Udaipur Khajuraho Express from Udaipur to Jaipur ( 3AC – Day 4 )

·         19105 Ahmedabad Haridwar Mail from Jaipur to Delhi ( 3AC – Day 5 )

·         14258 Kashi Vishwanath Express from Delhi to Barielly ( 3AC – Day 6 )

·         15307 Nainital MG Express from Barielly to Lucknow ( FC – Day 6 )

·         12540 Lucknow Yesvantpur Express from Lucknow to Bangalore ( 3AC – Day 7 )

All the tickets were booked on the respective opening day of these trains. We were just waiting for the days to run by to start this exciting trip. In the meantime, we gathered ideas from the railfans of these locations. Everyone dropped in their ideas and it will be very helpful during the trip. We decided to book retiring room for 12 hours at 3 locations Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Lucknow. To our luck, we were able to book only at Ahmedabad and Lucknow as Jaipur option was not available during booking. Ahmedabad one was for 24 hours as 12 hours was not available.

20^th June 2014

With just 8 days to start our trip, we got a shocking news that Ahmedabad Udaipur train has been cancelled from 30^th June (The day on which we had booked to travel). It is partially cancelled between Himatnagar and Udaipur due to Monsoon. The passenger train was not cancelled and we decided to take that but later dropped it as it was full unreserved train. Now the only option available was to take a bus. I was against night travel in bus as sleep will be a problem for me. The 24hrs booking for retiring room at Ahmedabad came as a blessing and the plan changed, Stay at Ahmedabad during night and take a bus in the morning to Udaipur.

25^th June 2014

I still had hopes that we will cover that route and somehow the person above will help us. I was checking daily from 21^st to check if the train is made to run on 30^th. As usual I opened the reservation page on the official site and checked for the availability. I was surprised to find reservation available for the Fast passenger which was not there few days back. A quick call to others and we decided to book it. The ticket was successfully booked by evening. 

27^th June 2014 

Just 24 hours left for the trip as I write this. Feeling very excited as I will get to see cute YDM4’s in different uniforms for the first time. Thanks to all the railfans who helped us with their valuable information for this trip. 

 11014 Coimbatore – Lokmanya Tilak Express from Bangalore to Mumbai. ( 3AC – 28th June )

·         12901 Gujarat Mail from Mumbai to Ahmedabad ( 3AC – 29th June)

·         52928 Ahmedabad Udaipur MG Passenger from Ahmedabad to Udaipur ( SL – 1 July)

·         19666 Udaipur Khajuraho Express from Udaipur to Jaipur ( 3AC – 1st July )

·         19105 Ahmedabad Haridwar Mail from Jaipur to Delhi ( 3AC – 2nd July )

·         14258 Kashi Vishwanath Express from Delhi to Barielly ( 3AC – 3rd July )

·         15307 Nainital MG Express from Barielly to Lucknow ( FC – 3rd July )

·         12540 Lucknow Yesvantpur Express from Lucknow to Bangalore ( 3AC – 4th July )

To be continued…….

First Shatabdi Experience

31^st May 2014…

14: 40

                     We all moved to Begumpet station to board the Shatabdi Express as planned after a heavy Andra meal. On reaching the station, i was impressed by the curves of the station. What a sight it would be to see a train blasting through this station at maximum permissible speed. The rails curve into the station from right side while coming from Secunderabad side and it curves out towards right while looking towards Wadi side. I was hoping for an Alco for this run to get the classic combination of ICF shatabdi rake and an Alco. 2 famous people known for their writing skills and photography arrived in the meantime, Anil Kumar and Prithvi Raj. Time was nearing 15:00 and it was confirmed that our train will arrive by 15:10 on the display boards. My hopes of Alco were killed as Prithvi informed that the link given was an EMD, Pune WDP4D 40157.

                                                       Pune WDP4D arriving Begaumpet with the Shatabdi Express..

 At exactly 15:10, Pune WDP4D curved slowly into Begumpet with the shatabdi Express. My excitement rocketed sky high knowing that I will soon be stepping into history. I don’t know  what others think but for me the ICF Shatabdi livery is one of the best liveries in Indian Railways. 

                                                                                        Shatabdi Express...

It was time to bid good bye to Hyderabad kings Benhur, Anil and Pritvi raj. Raghu from Hyderbad had boarded the train at Secunderabad itself. The other part of the gang (Aswin Kumar, Gowri Shankar sir, Dr. Himagirish Rao, Harisharan, Karthik Vinayak, Raghu Jayaram, Rohit Subramanium, Satyanarayan, Vivek and yours truly ) boarded the train. All our seats were scattered and we decided to request others to get together. I was just wowed by the looks as soon as I entered, the coach was very neat and it gave a royal feel when I sat down on my seat. The leg space was very good, push backs were working properly. AC cooling was good. Looks like I was damn lucky to get this coach.

                                                                                 Inside view of my coach...

Previously reports about this train suggested bad coaches and ordinary food. Part about the train has changed and now I was waiting for the food hoping that it will also be on the positive side. It was around 30 minutes into the journey and the irctc guy started distributing the snacks. The snack consisted of a Samosa, Sonapapdi, roasted nuts, hot water, milk powder, coffee powder and sugar. The samosa did taste like samosa but it had turned bit chill. Sonapapdi was good, Roasted nuts were too salty and Coffee that I made with the ingredients given turned out to be the worst coffee that I have tasted till now. Vikarabad was reached around 16:10 and the railfan in me decided to go to the door.

                                                                                        Curving after Vikarabad...

Raghu Jayaram had suggested me this section for video capturing as there are many curves and beautiful view of the landscape. I was joined by Rohit and Doctor at the door. We were having a wonderful time until a caution signal was spotted. We were soon stopped at home signal of some station. After getting down, it was clearly visible that both the main line and loop line were occupied by freight trains. Knowing that we will be getting line clear only after one of them move out, we started taking pictures with the train. The assumption turned out to be false, it was almost 30 minutes into the stop and no signs of movement. Just then a WAG7 appeared on the line towards Secunderabad. It stopped and reversed back. Now we started thinking that something has gone wrong. The home signal turned caution and we proceeded into Rukmapur. We were stopped here as well. Being railfans we started assuming many things, In the meantime Vivek and Rohit walked towards the station manager room to find out what exactly had happened. Hyderabad Tandur passenger which was ahead of us had a cattle runover the locomotive hauling that train was unable to continue the journey due to some technical issue. The locos (WAG7 that reversed ) form one of the freight’s which was blocking our part was sent for rescuing it. We were also informed that it may take another half an hour before we proceed. This gave us ample time to explore the train. Me, Rohit and Karthik decided to have a look at the loco and we marched forward while others decided to stay near the coach itself. On reaching near the loco we saw Loco pilots were enjoying their break and few people surrounding them were asking questions. After taking few pictures of the locos, we moved back to our coach. The station looks very beautiful with trees on the platforms and beautiful greenery around it.

                                                         Waiting at this beautiful station for line clearance... 

                                                                                           At Rukmapur...

                                                      Yours truly posing with the Shatabdi Express at Rukmapur.....

We departed around 18:00 from the station, our loco started showing its true color as we accelerated madly after clearing the loop line. We slowed down again as we neared Tandur and the culprit for making us late was standing in the loop line getting ready for  its return trip to Hyderabad. The locos that rescued the train were WAG7 that we saw along with its shed mate. 

                                  Tandur Hyderabad Passenger getting ready for its return run with KZJ WAG7 twins...

The train was having a weird composition with second class and sleeper coaches mixed. We started again after a 2 minute schedule halt. There were few more surprises in that rake composition. A completed packed first class coach and a locked AC 3tier coach. The First class coach was being used as a general coach. How lucky are those people traveling in first class coach with paying only the general ticket rates. The loco that failed to move with this train was LGD WAP4. We soon started accelerating out of Tandur, our loco was doing its best. A high speed crossing with a loaded freight train, a passenger, lots of freight overtakes and icing on the cake was the setting sun forming beautiful tones in the sky all along in the background.  

     

It was getting dark as we neared Wadi Junction. We had vada pav and mirchi bhaji there knowing that our dinner will be delayed. The dinner for the train is loaded at Solapur which we were supposed to reach at 19:40 but now expected to reach by 22:00. I decided to take a break from door and decided to sit inside until Daund. We soon reached Gulburga and I started feeling sleepy from there. We started going through each other’s pictures that was captured till now and lots of jokes kept me awake till Solapur. We were looped at Akalkot around 21:00 to let 2 trains cross, this gave me some time to experiment with

                                                                     Our train waiting at Akalkot for crossing...

exposure shots. We reached Solapur around 22:00. Dinner was loaded and it was served as soon as we departed, first up was Bread sticks along with butter and tomato soup. I was so hungry that I did not wait for the soup and had the bread sticks with only butter. Soup was hot and tasted good in the cool atmosphere. The main course consisted of Dal, Paneer gravy, Rice, 2 Chapattis, curd and Gulabjamun. Dal was good with Rice, Paneer was not so good main reason being I don’t like paneer that much. Gulabjamun was nice, it was very soft and melted as soon as it entered my mouth. Overall it was a good dinner so even this part gets thumbs up from my side. My brain said enough is enough and it switched off. I was so tired that i was having an undisturbed sleep, woke up to find the train was entering Hadapsar and the time was around 01:00. After the slow crawl of 10kmph, we entered Pune Junction delayed by 2 hours. I was very emotionally on getting down from the train at this place which had shown me how to lead a life alone and the value of family. I lived in Pune for almost 17 months away from my family for the first time in my life. I was working here.Video compilations from this run can be seen below. Hope you all enjoyed this report. Will soon upload the reports about the events leading to the shatabdi run and the special events after arriving at the Pune.

A Long Difficult Walk just to see trains..

20^th December 2013…

                  I was counting my days in Pune and it was decided that i should visit the Shindawane ghats once more before i move out of Pune. I decided to do this plan alone as the date decided was 21^st. The weather forecast indicated a very humid day but that did not stop me. It was time for me to return back home and as i started moving out from office, got a call from my friend asking about my weekend plans. I explained about this plan and he immediately volunteered to join. I agreed and we decided to meet at a common point Hinjewadi circle the next day at 7am. With everything ready for the exciting day, I hit the bed after a good dinner. 

Trip teaser can be seen below..

 

21^st December 2013…

                  Woke up at 5 and got ready by 6. Still plenty of time left, I decided to track the current position of trains that I will be catching up at Shindawane. With one final check of all the things needed, I left my place at 6:45am. I met my friend as planned at Hinjewadi circle. After 30 minutes of wait, we finally catch a bus to Pune station. The bus journey turns out to be one of the slowest journeys that I have done on this stretch. We finally reach Pune station by 8:45 am. With very little time left for our train’s departure. We decided to have a simple street breakfast, Fruit salad and vada pavs. Station is reached at 9:00am and luckily the signal is not cleared for our train. I ask my friend to wait on the platform number 2 and ran to get our tickets. Time was 09:05am by the time I returned, still no signs of line clear. We finally settle down on the 2^nd coach. At 09:15 am, Pune Alco blows its horns and we start moving. Next 30 minutes is spent on details of the location with my friend. Exactly at 10:00am, we reach Shindawane ghats. I got down and ran a bit to get a picture of the loco of our train. The train moves out with lovely chugging. I then explain my friend the details about the place and we finally start moving towards the longest viaduct of Shindawane ghats. It’s a 6km walk from the station via the tracks and around a km less if walked along the plains. We decided to walk along the plains as I have done the walk on the tracks before and my friend is not comfortable walking on the tracks. The temperature is bit high as expected, it starts showing on us. Almost an hour into our walk we hear our first train sound. Twin EMD's from Raipur shed running light towards Pune. We then walk past the area where the first tunnel on this section is located. We decided to climb this hill to have a look from the top. Chug chug sounds start up again and it is starting to increase indicating a freight is on the move and its climbing the hills. Soon Twin Alco’s from Kazipet roars past us. We then decide to go through tunnel number 2 to reach the viaduct. It was very hot when we reached the viaduct. It was decided to explore the surrounding and have a view of the viaduct from various angles. Time was 12:00 where we heard a distinct EMD roar indicating the arrival of a long metal snake, Karnataka Samapark Kranti, it passed the viaduct without any troubles. If observed closely one will also be able to see the Solapur Pune railway line from here, we did see a train rushing towards Pune. By 2pm, 3 more trains passed and we decided to go to the base of the viaduct. While we were moving, a localite came running to us to know what we were doing here. I seriously don’t know whether I was able to convey what I was doing all this time. I and my friend were speaking in half boiled Hindi and the localite was mostly responding in Marathi. Nevertheless we smiled at each other before moving away. As we were moving down Koyna Express bound to Mumbai gave us a silent attack. I was never in a proper position to capture it on my camera. By 3:00pm we reached the base and soon a rebuilt Alco passed the viaduct with Swarna Jayanthi Express. Our base started making wired sounds indicating that we are starving and with only water in hand we had no choice but to start moving towards the station for our return journey. A derated Alco with Hopper rakes crossed us as we were returning. I had a very good lunch when I had visited this place in March. Hoping for the same, we started towards the hotel which was near to the station. Every step closer got us excited as we were about to enjoy some north Indian food. Fate had other ideas, the hotel was completely demolished and the same happened to our hopes. Luckily a 4 wheeler was going towards Uruli, we jumped in and jumped out at Uruli in 30 minutes at Rs20 per head. Our mind had only food at that time and we soon entered the nearest hotel that we saw. We had a good puri bhaji and then dosa to finish our lunch. Time was around 5:00pm so it was decided to take the Solapur passenger train back to Pune from here. As we were entering Uruli station, I saw the latest sensation of Indian railways WDP4D entering with a train. Assuming it to be passenger train, I ran to the counter to get the tickets. I gave Rs.20 and reply came that ticket is Rs.60, then i soon realized that it was the late running Jhelum Express. With no option, we boarded the first coach rather should i say that i made my friend to board the first coach so that i can enjoy the loco sounds. We soon departed from Uruli to mark my first run behind WDP4D’s. Run was wonderful and we finally reached Pune at 06:25pm. One of our friends who was near Pune station at that time picked us up to Hinjewadi to end this exciting, amazing ( only for me ) and tiring ( both of us ) day. Video and Pictures can be seen below..

 

 

                                        Pune WDM3A with Pune Kolhapur Passenger at Shindawane...

                                                                           A Parakeet..

                                                  Raipur WDG4 twins  running light towards Pune..

                                                  KZJ WDG3A twins with BCNA climbing the Ghats..

                                                          Right below the tallest viaduct of Shindawane...

                                                              The Superman of Indian Railways..
.

                                                Karanataka Sampark Kranti Express led by KJM WDP4....

                  A train seen on the Solapur Pune line from Shindawane ghats ( Hutatma Express to Pune ) ..

                                                               GY WDG4 twins with BCNA..

                                                     Pune WDG3A with Kolhapur Pune Passenger..

                                                       View of the Viaduct from ground level..

 
My friend’s name is Sam kumar, we work at the same place. A special thanks to him without which trip would have been a different story. The title is mainly taken from my friend’s reaction after the trip. A good amount of Wildlife can be seen as well..