45 minutes of bliss for Railfan & agony for Antirailfan @ Vasai Road.

  

With a lot of deliberation, had I convinced my wife to return home to Dombivli (DI) from Borivali (BVI) via Vasai Road (BSR). She has a First Class (FC) pass from BVI-DDR-DR-KYN, yet decided to accompany me on this route via BSR after I promised her a faster commute of 45 min from BSR to Kopar.

Accordingly we left her house at 15:45, took an auto to BVI East and then fetched a Second Class ticket worth 15 and boarded a VR train to alight at BSR at 16.25.We were put on Down Fast and in spite of a clear run, we were made to wait for a minute at BSR outer before entering Pf 4. The run was good and there was no reason to complain. It was drizzling all the way and the one thing that I miss from the yesteryears over the BSR Creek bridge is the complete loss of the metal girder bridge sound. As the new bridge is Concrete Girder, unless you look out, you fail to notice the creek.

Pf 5 had NZM -ERS Duranto waiting on its technical halt with an SR Alco. I could spot the MEMU waiting on Pf 6 through the open windows of the SL coaches of Duranto. We took the FOB to change platforms and then walk ahead towards Diva (DW) end as suggested by fellow railfan, Aamod Nerurkar to finally find an empty window facing trackside. I knew Duranto would leave before us and we still had 15 minutes for departure. Soon, 14117 entered the last and the adjacent PF 7 with CBE-BKN AC express with the NWR rake in the crisp ICF Raj livery. The charm of ICF livery still gives me goose bumps. It was 16:35 and there was no movement from Duranto.

I was getting sceptical that Duranto might hamper our ON time departure and run. Besides me and my wife were 3 old ladies and a man in late 50s by the window. From their conversations it was amply clear that they have been travelling on this line in the past too. Finally, with a hoot, NZM-ERS Duranto made its slow progress to cross onto the CR lines beyond BSR at 16:40. With the section ahead being devoid of Automatic Block Section, the MEMU was destined for a late departure. As Duranto moved out, I could see a speeding WAP hauled BCT-NDLS Premium making a dash through BSR.  Then CBE -BKN AC which was patiently waiting on the adjacent platform departed. We were now well past our MEMU dep time of 16:45. My wife was increasingly getting restless and though men can't claim to read what women want as per research, I could see tell tale signs of," why did you have to come here, we could have gone by locals to DDR and then DI and reached faster" was written on her face. I was better off not daring to disturb her thought process and just kept peering out of the window deliberately. What was adding insult to injury were the constant jigs by the ladies besides us about the trains on this section getting delayed.

It was 16:55 and we were already delayed by 10 minutes for scheduled departure. Initially, I thought that Duranto must have cleared the line and we should be departing any moment. But soon, JP-YPR Premium AC Express made its way onto the last platform. I prayed that we depart before it. It was 17:05 by now and Bandra-Ajmer Express behind a WAP4 had already crossed us and every horn that we heard created a momentary anxiety of our departure,  only to find that it sounded from the innumerable MRVC locals arriving and departing from BSR.

The anti-RF wife was getting angrier by the second and though I was enjoying the sight of so many trains I normally don’t see (being from CR), the lava inside her was waiting to erupt. Thankfully, when she gets angry, she goes silent. The controller had mind of his own, he allowed the JP-YPR AC Express to depart ahead of us and that meant there was uproar in the coach and commuters were getting restless. It was followed by a humming sound approaching my window on the non platform side and it was GMO WAG9 with Container rake entering the loop line and another WAG9 entered the last Pf at BSR with Oil tanker rake. My prayer was getting louder now for our MEMU's departure. The sequence of both freights with WAG9 crossing each other on both sides of our MEMU will be etched in my memory for a long time. I did not want to see the Oil tanker rake moving ahead as that would mean another damn overtake, even before departure. Thankfully, the jerks which are so customary of freights before coming to a halt could be heard and it indeed came to a dead halt.

MEMU departed at 17:18, a whole 33 minutes behind schedule. As we entered CR territory, freight with WAG7 crossed us at sedate speed. Enroute scenery was the only soothing thing for my better half and as we whizzed past many freights, WDG4, BHEL WAG7 and correctly MUed WDG4s were some of the locos on display. We halted before the LC gate and then trudged slowly to Kopar by 18:00 in 42 minutes. DMU arrived simultaneously on Pf 3. MEMU’s run was good clocking 90kmph on many stretches. Nature was at its best and all one could see was green carpet and water bodies (submerged farms). As we came down the FOB to Pf 1 at Kopar, Pune-Jaipur Express was slowly diverging from mainline to climb up the circular ramp.

To suppress the anger in the anti-RF, a packet of Ferrero Rocher was must and I stopped our auto at the BigBazaar Outlet on our way back home. That finally brought her back into her jovial mood.