Managing the suburban section of CR is no mean feat. Not only has the section controller have to ensure the punctuality and safety of suburban locals, he has to make sure that the intermittent Mail/Express trains departing from CSTM also manage to glide to glory without a lot of disruption for suburban commuters. Yesterday, when I reached CSTM to board and EMU for Dombivali(DI), I found that all trains were delayed by 10-15 minutes. The actual cause of delay was not known to me.
I had entered the station from the Kalyan (KYN) end FOB at 17:40. The indicators read as follows: 17:36 DI Semifast on Platform (PF) 7, 17:40 Asangaon(AN) on Pf 6. PF 4 and 5 did not have any departures scheduled and Pf 3 had Thane Slow Local with a scheduled departure of 17:43. As locals were yet to arrive on pF 6 and 7, the platform was jam packed with anxious commuters. By the time, I could reach the end of the FOB, 17:36 DI had arrived and the social animals had taken it over. Venturing down the stairs would have been a futile exercise, hence I waited on the FOB to see if anything gets scheduled on Pf 4 and 5 as 17:44 Ambarnath(A) and 17:55 Badlapur(BL) were expected next.
From the corner of my eye, I could see a DC EMU approaching PF 5, so decided to take a chance and came down the stairs, by which it was scheduled as 17:55 BL fast. This was followed by an MRVC rake for the 17:40 AN. As soon as the MRVC entered PF 6, starter for 17:36 DI on Pf 7 was given. In the meanwhile I managed to grab a window seat facing the east side.
As soon as 17:36 DI cleared the points in CSTM yard, 17:44 Ambarnath(A) was scheduled to enter Pf 7. Soon, I saw 17:40 Depart from Pf 6 and 17:44 A enter PF 7 simultaneously. One more thing to be kept in mind was 1023 Sahyadri Express was waiting on Pf 9 ready for its departure at 17:50. The controller decided to allow both, 17:55 BL fast and 1023 Sahyadri Express to leave exactly at 17:55. The Ambarnath fast of 17:44 was held back as it had just entered pf 7 clearing the points for 1023.
We were put on the slow track and I could see the WCAM3 hauled 1023 clearing the 15 kmph PSR on PF 9.We had a short parallel run with 1023 till the iron girder Carnac Bunder Bridge. Eventually we managed to pick up speed, leave behind the WCAM3 and sped past Masjid and Sandhurst Road(SNRD) as there were no slow locals ahead of us. We did slow down at SNRD for the PSR on Pf 1. I was expecting to be held back at Byculla(BY) and lose time as 1023 was nowhere in sight. The signal was green for Pf 3, which meant, any hopes of crossover before 1023 was dashed off. By the time we came to a halt on Pf 1 at Byculla, WCAM3 overtook us from PF 3. The late running 17:44 Ambarnath local with a 17:51 departure at BY was scheduled next on PF 3.
Better sense prevailed and instead of allowing our BL fast to cross-over, we were made to continue on the slow track as the line ahead was still clear. We did good speed at Chinchpokli and Currey road, only to slow down a bit before Parel and coasted through the PF. As we were entering Pf 1 at Dadar (DR), 1023 was nowhere to be seen, which meant that it had already left. A sneak peek at indicators of PF 4 at DR ensured that Amabarnath Fast was scheduled next. We has a brief halt of 2 minutes at DR and departed slowly towards Matunga(MTN). Interestingly, Ambarnath fast, which was nowhere to be seen till now, came out of the blue with 3001C cab and overtook us before MTN, showing the true power of MRVC rakes. We did halt at MTN for a mere 10 seconds and then were allowed to crossover to the fast tracks.
All this meant, everything worked as per plan and all trains 1023, Ambarnath and Badlapur fast were not inordinately delayed and all of them should have managed to gain the lost time. I had been witness to many such situations, and I thought I should share the joy of such adventures with you.
We arrived at DI at 18:51 against a scheduled time of 18:49, which meant the 17:44 Ambarnath must have been a real terror on the tracks, to cover at least 10 minutes of lost time. Comments welcome…
I had entered the station from the Kalyan (KYN) end FOB at 17:40. The indicators read as follows: 17:36 DI Semifast on Platform (PF) 7, 17:40 Asangaon(AN) on Pf 6. PF 4 and 5 did not have any departures scheduled and Pf 3 had Thane Slow Local with a scheduled departure of 17:43. As locals were yet to arrive on pF 6 and 7, the platform was jam packed with anxious commuters. By the time, I could reach the end of the FOB, 17:36 DI had arrived and the social animals had taken it over. Venturing down the stairs would have been a futile exercise, hence I waited on the FOB to see if anything gets scheduled on Pf 4 and 5 as 17:44 Ambarnath(A) and 17:55 Badlapur(BL) were expected next.
From the corner of my eye, I could see a DC EMU approaching PF 5, so decided to take a chance and came down the stairs, by which it was scheduled as 17:55 BL fast. This was followed by an MRVC rake for the 17:40 AN. As soon as the MRVC entered PF 6, starter for 17:36 DI on Pf 7 was given. In the meanwhile I managed to grab a window seat facing the east side.
As soon as 17:36 DI cleared the points in CSTM yard, 17:44 Ambarnath(A) was scheduled to enter Pf 7. Soon, I saw 17:40 Depart from Pf 6 and 17:44 A enter PF 7 simultaneously. One more thing to be kept in mind was 1023 Sahyadri Express was waiting on Pf 9 ready for its departure at 17:50. The controller decided to allow both, 17:55 BL fast and 1023 Sahyadri Express to leave exactly at 17:55. The Ambarnath fast of 17:44 was held back as it had just entered pf 7 clearing the points for 1023.
We were put on the slow track and I could see the WCAM3 hauled 1023 clearing the 15 kmph PSR on PF 9.We had a short parallel run with 1023 till the iron girder Carnac Bunder Bridge. Eventually we managed to pick up speed, leave behind the WCAM3 and sped past Masjid and Sandhurst Road(SNRD) as there were no slow locals ahead of us. We did slow down at SNRD for the PSR on Pf 1. I was expecting to be held back at Byculla(BY) and lose time as 1023 was nowhere in sight. The signal was green for Pf 3, which meant, any hopes of crossover before 1023 was dashed off. By the time we came to a halt on Pf 1 at Byculla, WCAM3 overtook us from PF 3. The late running 17:44 Ambarnath local with a 17:51 departure at BY was scheduled next on PF 3.
Better sense prevailed and instead of allowing our BL fast to cross-over, we were made to continue on the slow track as the line ahead was still clear. We did good speed at Chinchpokli and Currey road, only to slow down a bit before Parel and coasted through the PF. As we were entering Pf 1 at Dadar (DR), 1023 was nowhere to be seen, which meant that it had already left. A sneak peek at indicators of PF 4 at DR ensured that Amabarnath Fast was scheduled next. We has a brief halt of 2 minutes at DR and departed slowly towards Matunga(MTN). Interestingly, Ambarnath fast, which was nowhere to be seen till now, came out of the blue with 3001C cab and overtook us before MTN, showing the true power of MRVC rakes. We did halt at MTN for a mere 10 seconds and then were allowed to crossover to the fast tracks.
All this meant, everything worked as per plan and all trains 1023, Ambarnath and Badlapur fast were not inordinately delayed and all of them should have managed to gain the lost time. I had been witness to many such situations, and I thought I should share the joy of such adventures with you.
We arrived at DI at 18:51 against a scheduled time of 18:49, which meant the 17:44 Ambarnath must have been a real terror on the tracks, to cover at least 10 minutes of lost time. Comments welcome…
