The recent conference on ethology was an eye-opener in many ways. First of all, it made me aware of the world that lies outside of IISc which is not necessarily great. Moreover, most of them are antagonistic to you, for whatever reasons. That's immaterial though. The more important realization was the extent to which we lack in ethology as a science. There is no solid fraternity. The lackadaisical attitude is so rampant, it bleeds my heart.
And then, the way people present their data. One refuses to believe the apathy people have towards presentation skills. One has to see it to believe it, the kind of non-show people put up there. Goddammit, science means objectivity, not blandness. The observations and results of your experiments and the interpretations from those have to be derived and judged objectively, but the way we present the data before the audience should be little theatrical, little dramatic to make it more spicy!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
It is easy to create a cloud of vagueness to hide the fact that there is no answer. Like a male scorpion-fly who creates a hollow ball of silk and waits for the female to mate. The catch is that female will soon cannibalize the male after mating. By the time the female has satiated her curiosity by opening the silk ball to see what lies inside, male has mated with her and vanished to save his life!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Virgin lands III
The virgin lands beneath Nandigram exp – Part III – NED-MUE-ADB-MJRI-SEGM
Exactly at 06.05 i.e. bang right time, after few long whistles our WDM3A started puffing smoke and moved slowly out of Nanded (NED) station.
At another siding the ASR-NED Sachkhand exp rake was lying idle. The train picked up speed very fast and almost started racing! Probably the WDM3A was finding it very easy to pull the almost empty rake. After the heavy "download" at NED, and almost no "upload", now the whole S5 had only me till SEGM, a middle aged uncle till Mudkhed (MUE) and 2 ladies till Bhokar (BOKR). Apart from these authorized travelers with reserved berths, there were lots of day travelers doing up and down for short distance, who were too happy to get a brand new express train with empty sleeper coaches and no TTEs anywhere in sight!
Just after NED, the line crossed a medium to big river- probably ?Krishna river. The morning sun was casting a magic spell on the green surroundings. Everything was bathed in a golden morning light, and I lustfully drank everything with my eyes. A tea at NED had awakened my senses and I was fully alert with excitement. The 12 coached tiny rake smoothly trailed in a serpentine manner behind the WDM3A passing through the green soya fields. It was a typical Marathwada rural setup – more so beyond Mudkhed, but even between NED and MUE – with combination of dry and irrigated farming with fields of mainly Jawar (Sorghum), Cotton, Maize, Sugarcane, Sarso and Soya. As an icing on the cake, intermittently there were banana fields (a sign of good irrigation) and beautiful sunflower fields with yellow spots on the lush green background! There were lots of small unmanned level crossings and the WDM3A was almost continuously whistling with a W/L See/Faa every now and then! Small canals and naala's with small bridges and some medium sized rivers like Krishna, Seetha, and then beyond MUE, Penganga and then Wardha! Overall, the morning was just amazing… cool, eye catching and beeeeutiful…probably a prelude to the dry, dreary and hottt afternoon ahead!
As our train entered MUE station, saw a passenger rake behind MLY WDM2A #16476 groaning for its turn to leave. The boards read "Purna à HYB à Aurangabad à HYB à Parbhani à Purna". The rake was Loco-SLR-FC-3 or 4 GS-2SL-SLR. I confirmed from SZ TT that it was 563 HYB-Parbhani passenger. It was a really thrilling experience to see the almost extinct non AC first class and that too with a passenger train! Wow! Subah subah mazaa aa gaya!
MUE had an Urdu script on all station boards and nicely renovated platforms. I was extra alert as my "responsibility" was starting now. VSP had suggested me to note the Km distance markings throughout MUE-MJRI section as probably there was confusion and only an actual travel could put end to it. Later I found out that the Km distance markings exactly match the distances given in SZ TT till Adilabad.
At MUE, lots of day travelers got in the coach. 2 Marathi speaking villagers came and reluctantly occupied the 2 inside windows (of the Lower Berths 17 and 20). After they were sure these window seats have been grabbed by them and no one in this posh looking but empty coach is going to drive them out, one of them asked me in Marathi "where are you going?"
Without getting into the explanation of where Wardha / Sewagram is, I said "Nagpur, and you?"
One of them blurted out, "Chandrapur!"
"What? Does this train go to Chandrapur?" was my reaction!
"Yes, it does go to Chandrapur but it doesn't stop there, so we will get down at Majri! The train used to earlier end at Nanded. So you may not be knowing that you can now go to Chandrapur by this train!" the wiser looking of the 2 said!
I was stunned for few seconds and then irritation started building up in my heart. What is IR trying to achieve by starting / extending new trains without creating enough public propaganda and awareness through advertisements / media? Forget creating awareness by REACHING to public, IR is creating confusions and giving multiple confusing messages to even those who are aware enough and APPROACHING IR for further knowledge!
A small example-
Between MUE and Sevagram (SEGM),
- The SZ TT and WZ TT show only 2 stops- ADB & MJRI
- Website www.indianrail.gov.in shows 5 stops- Bhokar (BOKR), Himayatnagar (HEM), Kinwat (KNVT), ADB and MJRI
- In reality, the train has following 9 stops (I confirmed from the respective station staffs)- BOKR, HEM, KNVT, ADB, Pimpalkhuti, Wani, MJRI, Warora and Hinganghat! And if Lingti and Kayar are also stops (as per a handwritten notice on MJRI station notice board) then it adds to total 11 stops! This can be seen at-
http://www.irfca.org/gallery
Did the full schedule of 7605/7606 appear in the local newspapers? What halts were shown in such advertisements?
Another example-
MJRI station painted train timings board shows the Nandigram timings both ways against 1401/1402 NED-NGP exp (daily)! Check at this link-
http://www.irfca.org/gallery
So my point is that if you are not able to give correct information even to those who are actually seeking it actively, how you are going to inform others who are passively gathering information?
At NED, I had done some homework and checked the reservation charts of all the 8 reserved coaches. This is the statistics I found-
- Out of the people who booked for Adilabad (ADB) and beyond, not a single person had started before Aurangabad (AWB). So no travelers whose source station was between CSTM and MMR, traveled till ADB and beyond.
- Number of people traveling beyond MUE-
- S1- 1 KNVT
- S2- Zero
- S3- 2 ADB, 2 MJRI, 2 SEGM
- S4- 2 ADB, 3 NGP (from NED-NGP)
- S5- 3 BOKR, 1 SEGM (Me!)
- S6- Zero
- AS 1- 4 MJRI (from J), 1 NGP (from J)
- A1- Zero
- Thus total people traveling beyond MUE- 21 (less than 3 per coach!!!)
- Total people traveling beyond ADB- 13 (about 1.5 per coach!!!)
- No of people eligible to enjoy 2 coaches of AC- 5 (2.5 per coach, but actually nil in A1!!!)
Now, isn't this a criminal waste of resources? You can expect anything else with the way the train is being advertised! Cant this wastage be at least partly prevented by proper promotion?
Anyway, in such condition when there are NO travelers in a particular AC coach, can / should the AC of that particular coach be switched off?
As the train moved out of MUE station, the first thing you note about the post Guage conversion MUE-KNVT section is the presence of lots of curves with brand new tracks. Then you slowly start noticing the beautiful small stations with just 1 or 2 lines. The Km distance markings which start from ZERO (http://www.irfca.org/gallery
Even the train matched this bubbling enthusiasm of the stations, the platforms, the tracks with the newly painted "Nagpur- Mumbai – Nagpur" (via Nanded / Nanded hokar) on English or Hindi boards respectively.
As the train stopped at its first scheduled halt at Bhokar (BOKR), seeing a man sell some fresh potato sabji with hot puri's, I suddenly realized that I was hungry. After some good unhealthy oily but sure tasty breakfast and a tea again, I was game for further railfanning.
Two more halt stations after Bhokar, at the next crossing station- Hadgaon Road, at 7.17, we crossed a very short 6-7 coached passenger rake hauled by a smart green MLY WDM2A. The coaches were named MUE-ADB-HYB-NED. From ADB, there is ONLY one daily passenger train 552 (ADB-NED) / 551 (NED-ADB) to NED. Are there any other passenger services run on KNVT-MUE section in addition to 551/552? If not, then what we saw must be the 552 passenger which departs from ADB at 04.00.
The so called "ghat" section on the MUE-ADB stretch consists of 2 stretches- The first one of 15 kms is between Dhanora Deccan to Bodhani Bujrug, i.e. just before Kinwat. And the second "Ghat" is from Ambari (the immediate next station to Kinwat) to the next station Kosai- again a 15 km stretch. I was ready with a note pad for counting the number of tunnels on special demand of VSP! Well, I was quite disappointed as my count turned out to be a big ZERO! There is not a single tunnel in either of the sections!
The first section (Dhanora deccan to Bodhani Bujurg) is in fact better of these two so called "ghat sections" and still there is nothing more than small hills, some curves (I was reminded of the topography of Kasara- Kalyan section) and lots of vegetations- all of them dried up being deciduous in nature.
The second section is even a milder "ghat" than the first section. Mainly it consists of deciduous forest and hills which are cut and fenced while guage conversion. But then that is all!
Our WDM3A mightily carried the train over both these sections without any need of bankers. If IR calls THIS as Ghat section, and inflates the chargeable distance, I would say forget about the real Ghats like IGP-KSRA, Chichonda-Teegaon, Dharakhoh-Maramjhiri which require bankers, but even areas like Rayanpadu-BZA, NK-IGP, KSRA-KYN - all of them amount for inflation! Is there any inflation on these sections? If not, then I have really not understood the logic of inflation on MUE-ADB section.
Somewhere between Ambari and Kosai the train crossed the Maharashtra- A.P. border and entered from MS on Ambari side to AP on Kosai side. However there were no proper board / markings for this- which is quite unusual. On the side of a big rock was written with yellow and white- Andhra ß à Maharashtra.
Kosai is the first station in A.P and had tetra-lingual board with Telugu and Urdu in addition to Hindi and English.
At around 10.10, i.e. almost right time, the train reached ADB. Apart from 7605/7606 Nandigram exp and 7609/7610 Purna-Patna exp, there is ONLY 1 daily set of passenger trains between ADB-KNVT. There is another set of a weekly passenger with following timings at ADB (as noted from the ADB station board)-
553 Purna-ADB pass arr 18.00 (Only Wed)
554 ADB-Purna pass dep 23.00 (Only Wed)
What could be the reason for this weekly passenger service, and where does the rake go for rest of the days? Any idea, SCR gang?
This also means the whole lot of trains shown in SZ TT T No 101 are cancelled.
As the train left ADB, suddenly the speed drastically decreased and we covered the 20 km distance from ADB to Pimpalkhuti in full 30 minutes. This must be due to lots of curves, gradients and a bridge (Penganga) on this section, but could it also be due to the fact that this section had been open to express trains only for about last 10 days? In fact the same holds true for the whole ADB-MJRI section. We took about 4 hrs 5 minutes to travel this 100 Kms stretch- a creeping 25 Kmph average speed- though of course that also included the scheduled and crossing stops!
As the train "walked" forward with a slooooooooow speed I suddenly saw a bridge approaching. The river name board was not very clear so I strained to see which river it was. And then suddenly I realized it was not the river name board- it was a state border board- we were AGAIN entering back in M.S. The border lied on the ADB side of the bridge just before the Km mark 179. "Penganga" was the river name written on a board further ahead.
After crossing the bridge within 1-2 Km i.e.just 1 km short of Pimpalkhuti on the ADB side, there was another board welcoming everyone to the Central Railway, NGP division, Warora subdivision and Wani section.
The Nandigram exp, thus-
· Travels total 1069 Km as follows:
o CSTM-MMR 261 km
o MMR-MUE 382
o MUE-Pimpalkhuti 182
o Pimpalkhuti – Majri Jn 080
o MJRI-NGP 164
· Train belongs to SCR whose HQ is at SC in AP
· Still source and destination both in MS, in CR Zone
· Route length in MS 1023 km, AP 46 km (state of the home zone SCR)
· Route length in CR 505 km, SCR 564 km (Probably this could be the reason why its an SCR train)
Till the outer signal of Pimpalkhuti, the Km mark goes on increasing till 181/8 as it's the distance from MUE, and then suddenly the mark changes to 922, as the station comes in CR territory. (922 being the distance from CSTM via MMR-BSL-WR-MJRI)
Pimpalkhuti had only one passenger platform and a big goods platform. The station board has Telugu script though the station is in MS. The Pimpalkhuti SM was very young and was quite talkative. He happily informed me that there were no passenger services from ADB-MJRI section. Also, it was he who gave me the list of stations till MJRI. I never understood this logic of starting 2 express trains without running regular passenger trains on this section. Isn't it mandatory to test a section with passenger trains before starting express ones?
It was 11 AM and the heat had already started taking its toll. There were no vendors selling anything. I was quite hungry by now and missed pantry badly! I just drank water and water and had nothing else to turn to! Later at 12.30 at Kayar station, some local children came to sell the locally made "Kulfi" and cold water pouches. It was only at Wani Jn at 13.30 that I could eat something- roasted peanuts! Even Majri Jn didn't have any proper refreshment stall! I literally starved that hot and sweaty afternoon!
At Lingti (20 km from Pimpalkhuti), the 7606 NGP-NED-CSTM Nandigram exp crossed us with another PUNE WDM3A. The train boards were not as stylish as our rake's and the rake composition was exactly opposite to ours.
Between Lingti (Km mark 902/2), and the next station Kayar (Km mark 877/3), at about 890/4, there was an abandoned station called Mukutban. Anyone having any idea regarding the history of this station? Was there a passenger service at any time on Pimpalkhuti-MJRI section?
When the maximum distance between 2 stations on IR was being discussed, I recalled having read that the maximum allowed distance is 25 Kms. When I was counting the distance marks from Lingti onwards to check if this is true, suddenly just 100 mt prior to my deadline of 877/2, the Kayar station appeared and I thought- this station seems to be built almost as if just to fulfill that formality! If so, doesn't this become the case of 2 stations with maximum distance?
At Kayar we had a crossing with a BCNA rake with twin ET WDMx's.
After the staff change at NED, for 6.30 hours till Kayar, there was not a single TTE in sight! Neither in my S-5, nor in any other SL coaches could I see a black coat when I went from S-1 to S-6 for gathering the statistics of the reserved travelers. (No pun intended! J ) When somewhere after Kayar, finally 2 TTEs came together casually looking for the handful of reserved travelers and mainly trying to shoo away the unreserved day travelers, I deliberately looked out of window ignoring them. A bit irritated, one of them touched my hand and asked, "ticket please."
I stared at him and said "There is a staff change at Nanded. After that, not a single TTE I saw."
He said, "To kya hua, abhi aa gaye hai na! Ticket dikhaiye"
"Why should I show him that I got irritated by his nonchalant attitude," I thought, "he would only be happy that he is getting away with this kaam chori!" And so I wore my most sarcastic smile and calmly said, "Zara baaki sab ke bhi tickets check kar lijiye"
He stared at me and went away. Wasting time with someone like me who already had a reserved ticket was not his motto nor his hobby. There were tens of others- the vulnerable unreserved travelers whom he could trap and tap!!!
The speed got worst in the Kayar-Wani Jn (12.30 to 13.30= 1 hr for 21 Kms) and Wani- Majri Khadan sections. (13.35- 14.00= 25 min for 10 kms). After a long time (about 3 full days) and a long distance (After MMR), the electric poles made their majestic appearance as the Rajura-Wani Jn approached our non-electrified line.
By now, the heat was at its peak. The steel body of sleeper coach was following the Physics rules. Windows were sending in hot winds like a hot air blower we put in neonatal nursery (even worse- this must be some 45 degree C unlike the neonatal 30-37 degree C's) Even the outside view was barren with few exceptions of Palash trees (Flame of the forest) with red-orange flowers. The WDM's smoke alongwith the coal dust of the surrounding coal mines was settling in layers on my face. And my tummy was throwing hunger pangs!!!
It was only a momentary relief as the MUE-MJRI line touched the double electrified BPQ-SEGM mainline. As the train entered MJRI, I thought at least now I would get something to eat as I expected that now slowly MJRI will grow due to opening up of this section. But the condition was even worse than Wani Jn- here even the roasted peanuts were not there! The train had come some 15 min before time at 14.15, but left a whooping 40 minutes late at 15.20 due to few overtakes-
A LGD WAG7 hauled BOXN rake.
A LGD WAP4 hauled express train.
Meanwhile on the opposite line, a BCNA rake hauled by twin BZA WAG5A and the GT express with a High Capacity Parcel Van went by one after the other.
At 15.20, we left MJRI and seeing a double electrified line beneath and ahead, suddenly the WDM3A resumed its full glory and started racing ahead. After stopping at the 2 scheduled stops viz. Warora and Hinganghat, I was finally approaching home sweet home. The Chittoda Jn cabin, the Lloyds steel factory, the famous SEGM curve, the triangle formed by the electrified single line from Chittoda to WR and double electrified lines from WR to SEGM, the jungle of wires and electric poles- all of them looked so familiar and yes, how happy I was to get back to home, my mind already reorganizing my trip report!!!
From 6.30 AM that day i.e. the time we left Mudkhed till 14.30 as we entered Majri Jn, for about 8 hours, I was in a strange, unknown, alien, virgin land. I felt as if I was entering a foreign country's land about which I don't have any information. A land that does not feature in the most informative book I have known and leaned on since my childhood- the zonal Railway Time Table! I felt at loss- I felt I was left on my own- to fend myself! But as the Sanskrit saying goes "Pravaasena Pandityam!" (wisdom comes by travel) I too had definitely emerged wiser!
Check the snaps of the trip here: http://www.irfca.org/gallery
Please click here for the Legends.
Thanks again and bye!!!
Yours truely,
Akash
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The Virgin Lands II
The sequel of Akash's Post:
Towards the virgin lands beneath Nandigram exp- Part II- J-NED on a full moon night
After I dropped my wife at her hostel at 23.30, still I had enough time. Pleased that I would get some time for railfanning at Jalna (J) station, I directed the autorikshaw driver to take me directly to station.
"Saab, ye waqt konsa train milega aapko?"
Thinking what the hell he would know about Nandigram exp, I chose not to enlighten him too much and gave restricted information, "wo Nanded janewala train hai na raat ko 1 baje"
"Ok saab, wo Nandi express hai na, jo abhi nagpur bhi jata hai, wo hi bolrahe na aap?"
"Hmmm… You must never underestimate anyone. General public also has some awareness about trains", I thought!
As I entered Jalna station, I remembered the same observation I made 3 days ago when getting down in the morning from 1005 Latur exp- The platform has clearly been elevated to its present level in recent past. All the important offices on Pf 1 like parcel off, SM off, TTE off etc are situated at least 2 feet below the Pf level and so you have to climb DOWN each time. And so, all the windows almost touch the Pf levels. This can be seen in the pic-
http://www.irfca.org/gallery
Is this a remnant effect of earlier MG days?
The first announcement I heard the moment I got in the station was "516 Nanded-Daund Passenger is running 2.10 hrs late and 2730 Nanded-Pune exp running 1.10 hrs late." My reaction was mixed- I was afraid even my train- the 7605 CSTM-NED-NGP Nandigram exp might get late. I was quite tired and wanted to go back to sleep. But I was delighted too, because this meant that due to a single line, both these trains would meet us for crossing after my train started from J.
There was a lot of crowd on the station- seemingly for the 516 passenger. I went to SM office and got to know that 7605 is running right time. On asking coach position, he stared at me from top to bottom and told to check the chart. There was no chart of 7605 on the chart box. But I chose to remain silent. After all, what big deal to find out S5 in a small train!
At 01.15, a faint hooooooooooooorn from far away was followed by a light emerged out of nowhere from behind a curve. Slowly a great looking Pune WDM3A entered the station with its pants and puffs and brought 7605 to halt. I got in the S-5 and found my side lower berth. As I had already predicted from the number 23, it was in the 3 rd bay- which meant an emergency window which could be lifted completely up! Wow, I thought, good for cool breeze and good for tomorrow's photo shoots! I quickly and very sternly rejected the request of a seemingly healthy middle aged man. He was offering me an UPPER BERTH for my Side Lower telling me it would be good for my height! Hehehe, you want breeze, I know you honey, I thought, but YOU DON'T KNOW ME! I want VIEW!!!
I was already getting excited and had by now forgotten the fatigue and sleep I experienced few minutes back on the platform! It was a full moon or at the most one day prior to full moon! The moonlight was adding great "nashaa" to the cool breeze! I had already chained my suitcase and lay flat on the SLB gazing at the stars. The uncle was staring at my activities- "taken out his pen, notepad and lying down without taking out his spects? Whats this man up to?" he must have thought!
Soon a TTE came asking for the occupant of berth no 23. As he checked my ticket, he chuckled, "Sewagram!!! Didn't get any other train or what?" He was really surprised.
I grumpily said, "yeah, why, everyone is getting down at Nanded or what?"
He affirmed to my surprise, "yes, sir, what to do, this train has started running beyond NED only last week na! Nobody knows about the extended run till now"
I put the ticket in my pocket and again started gazing out! Within some 20-25 minutes, the train slowed down, suddenly shifted to a loop line and came to a halt. It was such a tiny station that only after it switched the tracks, did I realize that this is a station- KODI. Now this had to be a crossing- mostly with 2730 NED-PUNE exp going by its late status. I asked the uncle to keep a watch on my shoulder bag and ran to the door. Seeing no sign of the crossing train, I got down on the other side of platform i.e. on the side of the crossing. As there was no sign of anything, to note few things which I couldn't at Jalna, I walked till engine avoiding the curious glances of public from GS & SLR as to why should someone walk past a train at 1.45 AM?
Well, ours was a Pune WDM3A #18764R with LHF alignment. And the rake was arranged in this manner: Loco – SLR – GS – S6 to S1 – AS1 – A1 – GS – SLR. As I walked on the tracks to avoid the stones, some of the public started asking me "kya hua" thinking I was a station staff! Suddenly a light appeared at far and approached with great speed. I was 3 coaches away from S5 and so started walking back. The darkness and the speed made it difficult to check which train it was. But presence of an AC coach and the timing almost confirmed it was 2730. The loco was a WDM- couldn't see WDM2 or 3A, couldn't see the shed too!
I came back fast to my coach and got in. Slept somewhere around 2 am after Usmanpur passed by.
At around 3.15 suddenly I got up due to lot of noise and on enquiry was told that Parbhani Jn is coming. After that I could not resist the temptation of seeing all these unseen sections as I have never traveled anywhere on the whole MMR-NED stretch! And so the 1-1.15 hr sleep I took was all that I could afford! Within half an hour of Parbhani, Purna Jn came. I was thrilled to imagine that this would have been a major hub of MG trains till few months back. Here a passenger rake crossed and speeded past us just as we were entering Purna. I couldn't read the boards but it was headed by a KZJ WDM2 #18268. From the timing, it seemed like 1322 NZM-PUNE passenger.
All through the way, I was intermittently noting the Km distance marks. There were slight discrepancies from the information in SZ TT.
Station Distance ex. MMR- What I saw Whats given in SZ TT
Jalna 176
Kodi 194
Purna 318
Nanded 350
I know these might appear too minor differences. But why should there be difference in the actual distance marks and information given in SZ TT.
In this regard, I have 3 queries-
- Till when this section was MG? Or was it BG from the beginning? Could this sort of discrepancies arise at the time of Guage conversion?
- Was MMR-AWB section built prior to or later to MMR-DD section?
- Is there any kind of crossing between the CR and SCR lines at Ankai Killa? Did both the lines follow their present alignment from their inception? Or was there at any time a common path for CR and SCR lines from MMR to Ankai Killa?
Anyway, so finally we reached Nanded (NED) at about 05.20 i.e. some 15 minutes late than the scheduled 05.05 arrival. As the train crawled in the station, Pf came to the side opposite to my berth. So I could see the yard from my berth, and I got to see an unusual sight! On the tracks just next to our train 2 rakes stood one after the other with their engines. Thus it was an arrangement of Engine-rake- some space (hardly 10 meters)- 2 nd engine-end rake! The first rake was KZJ WDM2 followed by NED-SBC Hampi Link exp. Just behind this, there was another KZJ WDM2 with the full rake of 7687/7688 Dharmabad-MMR Marathwada Exp! Behind the loco the rake was SLR – 1 or 2 GS – 6 or 7 chair cars (Non AC) – GS – SLR.
At NED, almost the whole train got empty. Even the staff got down as there was to be a crew change here. I badly needed a walk as my back and legs were sore- nothing I could blame except my own decision to give Side lower berth as priority while booking and then sticking to it even in a relatively less crowded train. I could easily have got any other upper berth where I could have easily and quite comfortably stretched my 6 feet body. But the double mazaa of a side lower berth of a sleeper coach with double view and double cool breeze have always been great temptations- great enough to make me forget my height and the resultant backache on SL berth!
We were on Pf no 3 which came on the side opposite to my side berth. As I got down, I could hear announcements for 6593 NED-SBC Hampi Link exp being made. It was supposed to depart at 06.00 and so was expected to be brought to Pf no 2 soon. As I sipped hot masala ginger tea, slowly the same rake I had seen from my side berth came back crawling and repositioned itself on Pf no 2 and the last coach came just at the place where my coach was there. I decided to take a walk up the 6593 rake till the loco. A quick walk up and down revealed few unusual things:
- The rake was KZJ WDM2- SLR- S12/S1 – S11/S2 – S10/S3 – S9/S4 – S8/S5 – S7/S6 – AS2 – GS – SLR (marked NED-GTL)
- Allover the rake, all the coaches contained the boards as 6591/6592 NED-SBC. 6591/6592 is the Hubli (UBL)-SBC part of the Hampi Link express which gets attached to 6593/6594 at Guntakal (GTL). The SZ TT show both the sets of train numbers between GTL-SBC, which means these are treated as 2 different trains which run combined between GTL-SBC. Then why should one rake have the numbers of others when the announcement was done correctly for 6593?
- The last SLR had a board of NED-GTL! So it must be getting disconnected at GTL. Does that mean the NED part attaches to the front of the UBL part at GTL?
- If the NED part attaches to front of UBL part, does the loco which hauled 6593 from NED-GTL continues forward? Or is it the loco of UBL part?
- Why should this train get a KZJ WDM2? My obvious guess would have been a GTL loco or at the most a Gooty one or even KJM at times? Is KZJ a regular loco link?
As I was examining the tiny and cute 10 coached 6593 rake, at about 05.35, 7688 Dharmabad-MMR Marathwada exp arrived on Pf 1 behind a Pune WDM2. The Marathwada rake I had seen was still standing in the yard. What could it be doing in an en-route station? Does Marathwada exp has rake sharing arrangements with some other day train?
Exactly at 06.05 i.e. bang right time, after few long whistles our WDM3A started puffing smoke and moved slowly out of NED station
Check snaps of the trip here: http://www.irfca.org/gallery
(to be contd.)...
Please click here for the Legends.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Sunday, April 08, 2007
The Virgin Lands I
The science of Paediatrics and Indian Railway rarely go hand in hand but that rare union has manifested in form of my elder brother, Akash, a paediatrician and an ardent Raifan (-atic)!
Read his travellogue on one of the recently opened train routes in Maharashtra:
--
Dr Akash Bang,
Assistant Professor in Pediatrics,
MGIMS, Sevagram.( M.S.)
Read his travellogue on one of the recently opened train routes in Maharashtra:
Towards the virgin lands beneath Nandigram I- SEGM-NGP-MMR-J
Finally the day came when we were supposed to go to Jalna. I was supposed to drop my wife at Jalna where she would be studying for next one year. Yes, it was sure a mixed feeling. I was sad as it was a beginning to one year of staying away. I was happy because I was returning by the 10 days old CSTM-NED-NGP 7605 Nandigram exp. I was anxious because I didn't know how both of us were going to handle this separation. I was anxious because I didn't know how MUE-ADB virgin land was going to turn up. I was feeling responsible as it was primarily me who would have to give a strong emotional support to wife. I was feeling responsible because I was probably going to be the first IRFCAn to travel on MUE-MJRI stretch. Later when I called to ask VSP what and where to look for in MUE-MJRI, he confirmed this by reminding me that there is no prior information available on this section as MUE-KNVT had just had its Guage conversion and till now ADB-MJRI was never open for passenger traffic though MJRI-WANI line is probably quite old.
We were supposed to leave on 29th March by 2136 NGP-PUNE exp at 19.53. However suddenly I had to go to NGP for some urgent work. So we decided that I will catch 2136 from NGP and my wife will board the train from WR. Obviously, I was too happy at this development as that would mean another "quickie" with Raptisagar! So I took 2512 TVC-GKP Raptisagar from SEGM. At 15.30 the sun was at its worst with heat taking the toll of everyone. I calculated that all the TTE's must have gathered in the AC's and must be waiting for their crew change at NGP. So took a risk and entered a SL coach. Sometime later a TTE did come but he must have shuddered and decided that the moron standing at the door in the heat of a summer afternoon and intently looking towards engine braving the hot summer "LOO" must be a gone case!!! 2512 had its fairly regular AJJ WAM4, but the coaches were extremely dirty with no pipes below the sink of the wash basin. I took these 2 pics just for example and you can clearly see that it was a real mess!
http://www.irfca.org/gallery
http://www.irfca.org/gallery
The work which took me to NGP had to be done before 17.00. Somehow I had managed to call and ask the person to stay back till 17.30 just in case the train got late. As 2512 crawled on Pf no 1 of NGP, I saw the smart yellow green ET WDS that NGP regularly uses to shunt the common rakes from NGP yard and sometimes NGP yard to the platforms.
The pic of this WDS can be seen at
http://www.irfca.org/gallery
Far away on Pf 6 or 7 something, a PUNE WDMx (mostly 3A) was waiting with a rake. It was barely 16.45. So I tried recalling which train it could be. Alok Patel or Ram Kinhikar few days back had commented that there are only 3 or 4 Diesel hauled trains seen at NGP. They were NGP-INDB group, Nandigram, and NGP-PUNE. Timing was not correlating with any of these as the loco was facing WR side. Guessing the odds, I rushed out of NGP station.
When some1.15 hrs later, i.e. at about 18.00, I got back to the station, I noticed that almost all the East-West trains were late. HWH-CSTM mail, Jnaneshwari, Azad Hind all were running 1-3 hrs late. I again started thinking if the PUNE WDMx I saw at 16.45 could be a one off link for Awad Hind? Highly unlikely, though! As I started approaching Pf 6 & 7, I realized that 2106 Vidarbha was already ready to leave from Pf 6 and the train I spotted was still at Pf 7- yesss, it was 2136 NGP-PUNE. I remembered Alok saying he also saw this train few days back when seeing off someone on Vidarbha. What could have been the reason of bringing the train so early- about 2 hrs prior to its scheduled 18.35 departure? Is this a regular feature with 2136, Alok?
That day, Vidarbha started right-time and even NGP-PUNE left RT though Azad Hind had already arrived and was waiting for its turn. Just before Ajni, spotted Ratlam WDM3A bringing in the INDB-NGP rake from the AJNI yard. At Pulgaon, though, Azad Hind got its chance and was taken ahead! Had the dinner early and went early to bed as we had to get down at MMR at the unearthly 03.45 and had a gap of hardly 1.10 hrs before the next connection, 1005 Latur exp departed at 04.55.
Somewhere around 02.30, I suddenly got up feeling that the train had been stationary for a lot of time. A strained peek out of the window of my Lower Berth told me that we were stranded at a station called Maheji. I was at a loss and so took out the WZ TT and in the dim light of my discharged cell checked where exactly this place was. We hadn't even crossed Pachora Jn! At a place barely 32 Kms from Jalgaon, 2136 was stopped to make way for 2 trains- god knows which? At about 2.40, we started crawling and picked speed again.
MMR was good 127 kms away according to the WZ TT, and I had already started getting anxious whether we would be able to catch 1005 or not. Covering 127 kms in 1 hr 5 minutes seemed impossible, so we were sure to get late. But how late we could get? I started calculating lying in the midst of the dark coach. To catch 1005 departing at 04.55, we had to reach latest by 04.45 considering the possible platform change and the luggage we were carrying for a 1 year's stay! That left 2 hrs for 127 Kms. It seemed a narrow margin and we could very easily land up on the other side of the 04.45 deadline. Even a single more stop at a wayside station and we were almost sure to miss the train!
I started praying. At 03.15, the alarm my wife had set in her cell started buzzing. I put it off and told her we were far behind our 03.45 arrival and so she might as well sleep for another hour. She went back to sleep again blissfully unaware of my anxiety! I was continuously staring at the stars and the beautiful moonlight outside as it was the 9 th day of a growing moon- I later confirmed. At 03.25, we were yet to cross Chalisgaon Jn (CSN) and I was getting more and more anxious. MMR was still more than 75 kms away as CSN-MMR distance itself is 67 Kms. In last 50 minutes train had covered less than 60 kms – making it average speed of less than 70 kmph. So with the current speed, I was almost sure that another 70-75 kms mean another 70 minutes. We still could catch the connecting train- I was again telling myself – but less confident this time. If we missed 1005, the next option would be going unreserved in 562 MMR-SC passenger. But that would mean no sleep! Since 2.30, I was wide awake and was feeling sleepy now.
Suddenly the train slowed down and I was happy that finally CSN arrived! As the train crossed a familiar looking overbridge and crawled into a platform, I almost jumped seeing the board "Manmad Jn". (I have worked for 2 full years with the Shirdi Temple Trust's Charitable Hospital and so MMR is a very familiar station!) A quick look at my watch and I realized I must have dozed off- it was 4.10- the train had covered about 70-75 kms in 50 minutes- an average speed of 90 something kmph! Bravo WDM3A! I shook up my wife, both of us quickly gathered our belongings, opened the chains from our luggage and got down the train- all in 2-3 minutes!
Still wondering at the unexpected gain in speed and more than that, my unexpected dozing off, we enquired for 1005. It was to come on Pf no6. So we pulled the luggage to Pf no 6.
At 4.30, i.e. barely 45 minutes before its scheduled departure, there was still no sign nor any announcement of 562 MMR-SC passenger which was to be our 2 nd option!
Anyway, 1005 came bang in time at 4.40 with KYN WDM3A. Almost the whole coach got vacant at MMR and lots of day travelers with small handbags entered the coach.
Within minutes 542 NED-MMR pass came on the adjoining Pf no 5- about 30 minutes late. As our train crawled out of MMR, I noticed a WDM3A attached to the tail end of the 542 rake and realized that a mere loco reversal had converted the incoming 542 into the outgoing 562. I must have missed the loco change or the NED-MMR-SC-NED kind of composite name boards being busy getting in the 1005.
As 1005 left MMR, I convinced my wife to go back to sleep without worrying about me as I wanted to see the famous MMR-Ankai stretch standing at the door. A young RPF man came and shut the door off. I let him go and again opened the door thinking that he wont come to this coach again. After 5 minutes, he came back and this time shouted at me- People throw stones- shut the door off. I almost pleaded "Sir, haven't you heard of Ankai fort? It will pass by in 10 minutes. So just 10 minutes and then I will myself close the door! Please sir, anyway at 5.00 am who will throw stones?" He looked puzzled at me. He knew I had got in at MMR. Probably he was not able to understand why someone with a reserved berth wont sleep nicely and waste precious time standing at the door even before sunrise!
The single non electrified MMR-Aurangabad (AWB) line originates from the north end of MMR, goes northwards for some distance (towards CSN) beside the double electrified MMR-CSN-BSL and then takes a sharp right turn to face eastwards and then southwards (almost a 180 degree turn) and then again takes back a 90 degree turn to face eastwards. Here it is joined by another single non-electrified line i.e. MMR-DD (Daund) which originates from the south end of MMR and takes a similar semicircular route to face eastwards. To me, this has always looked like a full circle created by 2 semicircular routes originating from and ending at the same points!!! I had traveled on the MMR-DD route many times but never on MMR-AWB route. And so I wanted to take in as much as possible through my eyes. MMR-Shirdi-Ahmednagar Highway cuts through this circle like a "Q". While traveling on the highway too, I had many times envied the travelers of MMR-AWB line which is so circuitous and goes almost touching the foothills of the Ankai Fort. And today I was enjoying the route myself! From the point where the 2 lines meet (they just physically come near each other, however there is no crossing whatsoever, if I am correct! MMR-DD is a CR while MMR-AWB line is a SCR property.), the 2 lines run almost parallel. After some time they go away from each other and the MMR-AWB line is a mute spectator (without any participation) to a small station Ankai Killa (meaning fort)- AAK on the MMR-DD line- about 19 Kms from MMR. After another 5 kms, another station Ankai (ANK) comes. Here both CR and SCR lines participate. I had heard that there is a single crossover here between CR and SCR lines- tried to locate it, but I could not find any! Thus on CR line, ANK is the 2 nd station after MMR and is 24 kms from MMR, whereas on SCR line ANK is the 1st station after MMR and is just 15 kms from MMR. This is obviously due to unequal semicircular arcs of CR and SCR. After ANK, the CR line takes a sharp right turn and SCR a sharp left turn to take their respective paths to DD and AWB. This whole configuration is not so clearly visible from the Highway and so I was completely contented to get an "inside" look! Satiated, I went back to sleep at some 5.30 am.
It was at AWB – which came at about 6.45am that I was awakened. All the stations on this line are so charmingly small like any other single line section. Halt stations with a single line passing through them, crossing stations with only 2 lines and supposedly big stations with just 3 lines and 2 platforms!
Just before Jalna, 1005 stopped at a small station called Badnapur for crossing. The name on the station board was written in Hindi and Emglish as the routine procedure. But as I went near, I saw original script in Urdu which was engraved on the board but was not painted. Though this is quite usual for stations in Andhra Pradesh due to influence of the Nizam's rule, isn't it unusual for a place in the heart of Maharashtra?!
This pic can be seen at http://www.irfca.org/gallery
At Badnapur, 1322 Nizamabad-Pune pass came with a PUNE WDM3A. This was going to be a trip full of WDM3A's- mostly from Pune! All the coaches had boards reading "Pune à Daund à Nizamabad à Parli à Latur à Nizamabad à Pune" wriiten in a way to form a complete circle!
Finally we reached Jalna almost right time at 7.50AM on 30th March and a night full of WDM's and midnight adventures came to an end! I was taking a 3 days break at Jalna and was supposed to board the 7605 Nandigram exp on 1 st midnight (2nd morning)- a train and a trip I was eagerly looking forward to!!!
Check snaps of the trip here: http://www.irfca.org/gallery
(to be contd.)...
| LEGEND | |
| A1, A2 | AC 2 Tier coaches |
| ADB | Adilabad |
| AJJ | Arakkonam Jn |
| AJNI | Ajni |
| AP | Andhra Pradesh |
| AS1, AS2 | AC 3 Tier coaches |
| ASR | Amritsar |
| AWB | Aurangabad |
| BCNA | Closed vagon goods bogie |
| BD | Badnera |
| BG | Broad guage |
| BOXN | Open vagon goods bogie |
| BPQ | Ballharshah |
| BSL | Bhusaval Jn |
| BZA | Vijaywada Jn |
| CR | Central Railway |
| CSN | Chalisgaon Jn |
| CSTM | Mumbai CST |
| DD | Daun Jn |
| ET | Itarasi |
| FC | First Class coach |
| GC | Guage conversion |
| GKP | Gorakhpur |
| GS | General second class (unreserved) |
| GTL | Guntakal Jn |
| HQ | Headquarters |
| HWH | Howrah |
| HYB | Hyderabad |
| IGP | Igatpuri |
| INDB | Indore (Broad Guage station) |
| IR | Indian Railways |
| IRFCA | Indian Railways Fan Club Association |
| J | Jalna |
| KJM | Krishnarajapuram (Loco shed for Bangalore) |
| KNVT | Kinvat |
| KSRA | Kasara |
| KYN | Kalyan Jn |
| KZJ | Kazipet Jn |
| LGD | Lallaguda (Electric loco shed for Hyderabad) |
| LHF | Long Hood Forward |
| (Driver's cab behind, Hood ahead) | |
| MG | Meter guage |
| MJRI | Majri Jn |
| MLY | Maula Ali (Diesel loco shed for Hyderabad) |
| MMR | Manmad Jn |
| MS | Maharashtra |
| MUE | Mudkhed Jn |
| NED | Nanded |
| NGP | Nagpur Jn |
| NK | Nasik Road |
| Pf | Platform |
| Rake | Complete set of coahes in a train |
| RPF | Railway Protection Force |
| RT | Right Time |
| SBC | Bangalore City Jn |
| SC | Secunderabad |
| SCR | South Central Railway |
| SEGM | Sevagram |
| SL | Sleeper coach |
| SLB | Side Lower Berth |
| SLR | Guard cum Luggage van |
| SM | Station Master |
| SZ TT | South Zone Time Table |
| TTE | Travelling Ticket Examiner |
| TVC | Trivendrum Central |
| UBL | Hubli Jn |
| W/L | Whistle; Level Crossing ahead |
| See/Faa | Seeti Bajao; Faatak aage hai |
| WAG5 | Broad Gauge AC Electric loco for Goods trains |
| WAG7 | Broad Gauge AC Electric loco for Goods trains |
| WAM4 | Broad guage AC Electric loco for mixed purposes |
| WAP4 | Broad Gauge AC Electric loco for Passenger trains |
| WDM | Broad Gauge Diesel loco for mixed purposes |
| WDS | Broad Gauge Diesel loco for shunting purposes |
| WR | Wardha Jn |
| WZ TT | West Zone Time Table |
--
Dr Akash Bang,
Assistant Professor in Pediatrics,
MGIMS, Sevagram.( M.S.)
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