Break Journey of a Suburban kind

I have an obsession with being punctual, as I am scared of being late. What this invariably means is that in most scenarios, I leave home early to compensate for the delays in commuting( if any). It was a Saturday and I had a First Aid Training session lined up for me in Office at 9:00. A colleague of mine was also scheduled to attend the session. On Friday night we mutually agreed to meet at the Main Concourse of CST at 8:15 and then proceed to office in one of the best refreshing bus rides available in South Mumbai, the BEST Route 138 from CST to Backbay Depot.

She stays at Dockyard and coming down to CST is a literal cakewalk for her, but I had to meticulously plan this journey as I ain't accustomed to traveling to office for a 9 o'clock Shift. After doing some back-end calculation, I decided to take the 6:56 slow local from Dombivali, which had a scheduled arrival of 8:14 at CST.

Accordingly, I got up at 6:00 , completed the morning chores and after a sumptuous breakfast, took a share auto to the station. The auto driver spent an extra 10 minutes of my precious time as he wanted to fill up all the seats before reaching the station. I ended up missing the 6:56 train and the next scheduled slow local was at 7:04. I wanted to compensate for the 10 minute delay and looked at the Platform No. 5 for a possible fast train. It was scheduled at 7:21. I didn't want to risk getting delayed further as there is a lot of Mail/Express train traffic on the fast tracks in the morning, which sometimes delays the fast trains.

7:04 local is a DC EMU starting from Kalyan with a few empty seats in First Class for the few who manage to plunge into the local before it comes to a halt at Dombivali. I decided to try my luck and jumped onto the foot-board and managed to get a respectable second seat in the opposite direction of travel. I was bound to reach CST by 8:22 and didn't want to irritate my colleague by making her wait at the station, early in the morning. I kept a constant vigil on the fast track to gauge the traffic congestion on them. My DC EMU was a recently POHed(Periodic Overhauled) rake and seemed to be in a pretty good condition. As we were approaching Thane, I saw a Lokmanya Tilak Terminus(LTT) bound express crossing over from the UP Fast tracks to the new lines laid on the Platform No.8 at Thane. This meant the 7:21 fast train with a scheduled arrival at Thane of 7:34 would get a smooth passage after Thane, with no trains ahead of it.

Since my train reached Thane at 7:26 and I was comfortably seated, I didn't think of changing over at Thane. I decided to play the waiting game. My DC EMU was performing beautifully and between Bhandup and KanjurMarg, Latur-CST Express with a WCAM3 at its helm rushed past us in a parallel action on the fast tracks. In all probability the fast train would have been tailing this express. I had an option of getting down at Ghatkopar or Kurla to change platforms to catch the fast train.

The scheduled arrival for my DC emu at Ghatkopar and Kurla would have been 7:46 and 7:52 respectively, whereas for the fast train would have been 7:49 and 7:54 respectively. There was so little time difference between the two, making it difficult for me to decide the place to break my journey. Again the fact that I was seated comfortably dissuaded me from alighting at Ghatkopar as there would have been no scope for sitting in the fast train.

As we came to a halt at Platform 2 of Ghatkopar at 7:45, the fast train, an MRVC 2221-2 Series entered platform 4.My slow local had an extra stop at Vidyavihar before reaching Kurla, but one thing I had keenly observed in the past few days was that there was a long 20Kmph TSR( Temporary Speed Restriction) on the fast tracks at Vidyavihar as the track connection for the new 5th - 6th lines to fast tracks was underway. The fast train had arrived at Ghatkopar 4 minutes before its scheduled departure, hence the motorman would be under the obligation to spend an extra minute at the platform before he could proceed, to adhere to the 3 minute pre-departure rule at intermediate stations. All these nuances helped me to break the journey at Kurla. Accordingly, I got down at Platform 4, ran back to the FOB, and alighted on Platform no 6 and waited with baited breath for the fast train. When the fast train finally arrived, it wasn't crowded and since I had already given myself a fair bit of rest, I decided to stand by the foot-board and see action on the slow tracks. I wanted to see the fast train burn the tracks and overtake as many slow locals as possible to recover my lost 10 minutes.

We had a good run till Matunga and managed to overtake my DC emu on the fly at Sion. I was confident that the MRVC local would help me reach CST on time(8:15). At Dadar, we were made to wait an extra minute as we were again running before time. An added bonanza awaiting me on the slow track at Currey Road was the brand new retrofitted rake of CR, the 9 car 3004-06. I decided to capture its video on my Nokia X6.

After a customary halt at Byculla, and an overtake of a slow local on the fly at Masjid, we entered CST Platform 6 at 8:15. When we halted at Byculla, my colleague called to say that she was delayed and would reach CST late by 10 minutes. I could have very well traveled in the slow local and met her at CST at 8:25, but the break in the journey helped me capture the retrofitted rake and remain punctual for my inner conscience. I didn't tell her that I was running late too, but with some back-end calculations, knowledge of Suburban Timetable and TSR I could successfully recover the lost time.

I walked patiently to the Main Concourse,and repeatedly played the hot new video till she got down from her DC emu and walked towards me with an apologetic face for being late. I don't mind waiting for people but had I been late the reaction on her face could have been much worse and I would have had to come up with explanation, which wouldn't have been expected from a railfan...LOL...