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.

Monsoon trip to a farmhouse

The compensatory trip for wife to let me go for my Monsoon Railfanning Sojourn is becoming an annual affair now.What she fails to realize is that I end up going for 2 trips under the disguise of compensation. Not that I am complaining. Her group consists of 6 girls and 5 boys from her MBA gang. We are the only married couple in that group. Some are single and some are in different stages of their relationships. For them its escapism from families to spend time with each other. For us its a break from hectic work schedules and time to relish our oneness.

Search for weekend spots started in the first week of July and Lonavla, Igatpuri, Matheran, Khandala and Alibag were off our radar as they were, ' been there, done that' for all of us. We came across a relatively unheard off place much closer at Atgaon (near Shahpur on NH3). Its called, Dirghayu Farms Agri Resort Pvt Ltd. Its located near the Bhatsa Dam. Our plan was to leave on Friday evening from work and return back by Sunday Evening by spending 2 days and nights at the farm.

This place being off track  from the normal trekking and waterfalls spots people head to during monsoon, we had little or no reviews available on the internet.The package was cheap and we got an AC room for around 1600 bucks per night with all set meals included.The total cost for the trip was approx 20K for 9 people, As unmarried couple were not allowed separate rooms rest of our group contended for a 2 BHK house adjacent to Bhavia and my room. I wanted to ensure that we cut travelling costs and travel by local train to Atgaon and book a Jeep for local site seeing at Atgaon,but the others were quite apprehensive of getting into second class coach of a Kasara local from CST / Kalyan on a Friday evening. Eventually we had to settle to hiring a Mahindra Scorpio from Mumbai itself. It was a cheap deal though.The vehicle was with us for 3 days at 6000 bucks.

Everyone assembled at Andheri by 5:45. I was picked up from Airport Road at 6pm and off we went. Our driver was a young chap who worked for Chembur Fire Brigade and off his duty he drove Jeep for passion and some extra money. He had a pass which allowed him to go through internal roads of unseen Mumbai. Having a man working for Fire Brigade meant that we saved on each and every toll and we witnessed for the first time a road which started from Marol Pipeline, went behind the Renaissance Hotel,Vihar lake periphery , through Bhandup Water Treatment Complex and directly reach Khendipada in Nahur. We passed through multiple check points without any stoppages all thanks to his pass. There was traffic at Navghar and beyond Mulund Check Naka he rarely went below 80.The speedometer was mostly stuck at 100. He had amazing controls of the wheels.

We stopped at few joints in between and at Milestone mark of Nasik 83, Indore 500, we took the right turn to Birwadi, Bhatsa Dam Project. 3 Km inwards was the picnic spot we were headed to. We reached around 10pm as we had multiple stopovers in between. On reaching the resort we checked into our respective rooms .The walk from Reception (which is near the gate) to the rooms is almost 100 meters away lit with Solar LED lights. Both the sides of the walkways are barricaded with nets to prevent animals from criss-crossing it. After keeping our bags we returned back to the dining hall which served us buffet dinner. It was going to be a Set Meal with rice, chapattis,3 veg bhaji, 1 non veg bhaji, salad, papad and Aamras.

Though it wasn't great in terms of variety, everything that was served was very tasty, being farm fresh. We returned back and had fun and frolic till late midnight before we decided to return back to our separate room at 1 am and sleep. The party continued for others of our group as alcohol was high on their agenda.We being teetotalers, decided to rest after a long hard day for the next morning.The 2 BHK is very budget conscious and functional room and has a small front room and 2 bedrooms on either sides with bathroom and toilet connected to hall. Our separate room was small but very functional with a wardrobe, bed, ac, cooler (too), bathroom and toilet. Hot water facility is through LPG Geyser.

Everyone was ready by 10 am and when we opened the door, we were welcomed to a green carpet and light drizzle. We walked up to the dining hall and enjoyed the serene,calm and green farm till our eyes could see. Breakfast menu  was Tea/coffee, noodle poha and bread omelette.We had decided to venture out for local site seeing and hence took our jeep further down the Dam road. About 1.5 km on this picturesque village road lies the Bhatsa Dam.It looks like a huge wall of concrete and there are many gates which were off course closed as monsoon this year hasn't been up to the mark.One of the streams was let open from the side and that itself was good enough to go down further to form a small river. The gushing of pure unadulterated water was a sight to behold. After many photo-ops we got down the stream where the flow was controlled and sedate. We spent some time playing around. Then we decided to get to a panoramic point and with some local guidance reached the Govt Guest House at a higher ground which gives a dramatic overview of the dam and the entire reservoir behind it. The clouds had descended and scenery was absolutely stunning. 

We returned back for lunch which was a similar affair like last night's dinner (off course we had different bhaji this time). There was an option of going to Tansa Reservoir but that would have meant travelling for another 15 odd kms hence, we decided to settle in the farm at their swimming pool which is big enough and has a Burma Bridge through the Pool. The standard depth of water was 5 feet and we spent the entire afternoon and late evening in the pool. Adjacent to the pool is a pond where we could see fishes and frogs breeding. We returned back to the dining hall for some hot tea and biscuits as temperature in the environment around us was in 18-20 degrees Celsius. In the night, there was another round of music, dance and jokes after dinner.One thing to be noted is that since the place is in the middle of the farm, between 6-8 pm if you open the door, be rest assured to get a lot of insects waiting to enter your rooms. We devised an idea to close all lights, outside as well as inside before opening the doors and save ourselves from the insect attacks. For people who are petrified of insects I would say a strong "No" to visit this place.

We slept late at 12:30 am and in the morning after the chores and a breakfast session which had missal pav and some egg based pancake, we headed to the in-house bullock cart ride and tractor ride which is complimentary to all guests. Its a small ride through their farm and its funny for people from the cities.We decided to drink,"Aam panna" and head for the 1.5 hr agricultural tour through the farm which includes learning how to identify different flora and fauna,vermiculture and we also experienced planting trees with our own hands. It was a very humbling experience. Everything inside that farm was organic and made from unconventional energy sources. They had solar panels for heating, lighting and fertilizers and pesticides were all made from composing the bio waste and vermiwash.

We had a Jain girl in our group who wanted to visit Manas Mandiram,a Jain temple on the outskirts of Asangaon so we headed to the place and were spell bound by the beauty of the place and the temple surroundings. She changed into traditional attire and visited the temple.We took a periphery walk around the sprawling temple complex, though non Joins are allowed too with proper attire. We bought some sweets and decided to reach Asangaon as me and my wife and 2 others were happy to return back by local train as going back to the farm must have made us lose time.We took 16:44 CST fast and reached Dombivli by 17:31 and home before 18:00 to spend the rest of the evening at home to get ready for the hectic week coming up. We were satisfied with the simple living over the weekend. We had no TV or ultra modern amenities in the farm, so a breakaway from the technology was quite nice. I won't recommend it to people who like  5 Star comforts on vacations. This is more for people who would like to go slow on life and enjoy the silence and serenity of nature.

Now with less than a month to go for the railfanning trip, excitement is building up for the next one on the agenda.

An Alternate to Elevated Kalva-Airoli Rail Link

  Recently, there was a news regarding a proposed elevated rail link between Kalva-Airoli being approved by the State Govt and being sent to the Railway Board(RB) for inclusion in budgetary approvals by Ministry of Railways. I would like to delve into this proposal and reason out why this link is a costly and unnecessary addition to the Mumbai Suburban Network of Central Railways(CR), when an alternate and cheaper solution is at hand.

CR Local Line (CST-Kalyan) and CR Trans-Harbour Line(THB, Thane-Vashi / Panvel) is set to go AC in the next 2 years. Also on the anvil are the additional 2 lines between Thane(TNA) and Diva Jn(DW) with completion expected by 2016. We can safely believe that CST-Kurla (4 lines), Vidyavihar(VVH) - Kalyan(KYN) (6 lines) will be ready in next 2 years of which TNA-DW ( 4 lines) will pass through Kalva, Mumbra and 2 lines will pass through the long Parsik(PSK) tunnel. After the completion of the additional lines between TNA-DW, all the Mail / Express trains will continue to use the PSK tunnel whereas the slow and fast trains will be routed via Kalva-Mumbra.

Pic Courtesy :Wikimapia.

As we proceed north of TNA, 4 lines will diverge towards Kalva and 4 lines (Mail/ Express lines and THB lines) will further travel further north. Now, as the THB lines divulge towards east (Airoli), there is a single line track which forms a triangle at this juncture which connects the PSK tunnel south exit of the Mail/ Express lines with the THB lines towards Airoli. This single line is in a dilapidated state and is used occasionally by freight trains bound to Turbhe APMC Market. The proposed elevated rail link will have to ramp up a few metres before this triangle and cross the 2 Mail / Express lines by a Rail over Rail bridge (ROR) and then proceed a few kms on an elevated path to cross the 4 CR local lines (TNA-DW) again by an ROR bridge and then drop off the ramp just before the Kalva station and carshed.

In the current context, there are slow trains at a frequency of 4 minutes between TNA-DW/KYN and trains between TNA-Vashi / Panvel at a frequency of 10-12 minutes. Assuming that the relatively empty slot between TNA-Vashi schedule is used to introduce trains between Kalyan(KYN)-Vashi(VSH) / Panvel (PNVL) via the proposed elevated link, where is the time slot to allow these KYN-VSH/PNVL trains to join the lines at Kalwa which already has trains running at a gap of 4 minutes. This link will lead to delays and unnecessary congestion for diversions at Kalva as no additional platforms will be made for these trains and will have to use the same 4 platforms used by TNA-KYN lines. (Please note : During the addition of 2 new lines between TNA-DW, 2 platforms for fast track are being built at Kalva and Mumbra). Building an elevated link will have to displace a lot of slums and rehabilitation of Project Affected Persons (PAP) and clearing some private property of title deeds will be a costly affair and might have to face PILs by PAPs.

I would like to propose a cheaper, easier and faster solution as “doubling” of the single line arm which divulges from the Mail/Express lines at PSK South Exit to connect with the THB lines on the already existing triangle and route the KYN-VSH/PNVL trains via the PSK Tunnel to have its first stop after Airoli at DW, Pf 3 & 4 which can be easily made EMU commuter friendly by raising its height and providing passenger amenities which it is currently devoit of. An additional platform can be made at Kopar between the 5^th and 6^th line to cater to these trains as there is enough space on Kopar East to slew the 6^th track to make way for the new island platform. This new platform can cater to the rush of Dombivli city as Dombivli Railway station cannot be expanded further for new platforms for lack of space. Kalyan has vast tracts of land on its east side which can be used to build an additional island platform 8 and 9 for smoother operation of new trains as well as the Mail/Express trains.

The basic purpose of decongesting TNA is achieved as commuters from Kalva, Mumbra bound to VSH/PNVL will have the option of travelling to DW in a relatively empty local to board trains bound to VSH / PNVL from KYN and beyond. The best part is there are no enchroachments and railways can very well use its land to create these new connections. As the fast train corridor will be free of Mail/ Express trains, more fast trains can be introduced in CR and the KYN-VSH trains can share the 5^th, 6^th lines with Express trains as they will have an expected frequency of 1 train in 15 minutes. Sufficient slack can be provided for KYN-VSH/PNVL trains to ensure there are no inordinate delays because of sharing of lines with Mail/Expresses.

I am told by a few experts that MUTP -2 loans are sanctioned for diversifying the Mail/Express lines from the local lines hence the suggestion provided by me would be deemed to be defeating the purpose but my counter argument to them is where would they fit the KYN-VSH/PNVL locals via the elevated link at Kalva which will be already saturated with the CR mainline trains which are running at 4 min frequency. My suggestion can be easily implemented in 2 years instead of the proposed elevated link. I hope the Railway Board doesnt overlook the plan I suggested.

Demotion for a Mumbai Local over the years

                                 Today, let me bring to you the story of a Fast Local which lost out to Mail /Express over the period of time. My memory of this local goes back to when I first started working for Taj around 2005. I don't know if it existed earlier than that in any other form. Those days, I used to live in Thane (TNA) and a new path breaking fast was introduced in the early morning hours.It used to start from Thane and directly came from Kalva Car Shed (KCS) on Pf 4, fill up and leave to CST at 6:10am. The classical stops were Mulund, Ghatkopar(GC), Kurla (CLA), Dadar (DR), Byculla (BY) and finally CST. This local was designed to trail the first UP Fast of the morning from Mulund (MLND).

                                     When it was introduced, there used to be a situation at TNA when Pf 6 & 4 both had fasts towards CST in pre dawn hours. It was unfair to a lot of early morning crowd as this TNA-CST Fast never filled up to the brim as not many commuters could be found for 2 back to back fasts. The saving grace was that the First fast from Karjat (KJT) used to be invariably late on most occasions and some crowd from Pf 6 did spill over into PF4. Remember those were the days of DC Locals and Maximum Permissible Speed (MPS) was 80kmph. The schedule was to use the TNA Pf 4 South End turnout, or the MLND north end turnout and then switch to fast tracks. Since the Mail / Expresses always got precedence, and the KJT - CST Fast had to run behind it, the TNA-CST Fast was always meted a secondary treatment.

                                        

                                   Since Siddheshwar and Vidharbha and many more expresses lined up to use UP fast line,very frequently the TNA-CST fast was given the UP slow line right up to CST. It used to take 45-52 min on most days to reach CST. There have been instances of this fast taking all the turnouts available to switch to Up fast and then back to UP slow. In all those years, I had seen it use TNA south end turnouts,MLND turnouts,Vikhroli (VK) turnouts, Vidyavihar (VVH) turnouts, Matunga (MTN) turnouts, Parel (PR) turnouts and BY turnouts. It was almost impossible to predict which turnout it would take on a day, purely depended on Section Controller.

                                  The next change in Timetable(TT) saw it getting extended to Dombivli (DI) and thus the empty rake came to DI Pf 2 from KCS and it ran slow till MLND and then followed the same halt pattern.Needless to say that again there was no fastness in this. It was just a namesake fast because of the above mentioned reasons. But, more commuters started benefitting as DI to TNA slow stretch got an additional train. Now it was invariably getting to use the VVH turnouts.The death knell struck when Bhandup was added as a halt and VVH crossover was becoming more of a routine from the next TT change.

                               Finally about 3-4 years back the weird fast services on CR started, where trains began running on slow corridor till Ghatkopar (GC) and then started switching to fast track at VVH. This was yet another blow for this fast as it never got an opportunity to cross over at VVH because of incoming Mail/Expresses. Again commuter traffic on this EMU increased as now it was running slow between DI and GC.

                                    In the last Suburban TT, the fast was degraded to a slow and in the present avatar runs as 5:50 DI -CST Slow. It is no more the fast I used but, it continued to be the train I used for daily morning parallel action with M/Es. I changed jobs and now get down at GC, I changed residence to DI, but have persisted with using the same local service over the years.

Start up your day with the CR's 1st UP Fast local to get your adrenaline going ..

My association with the 1st UP Fast local of the day (CR) goes back to 2005.Since my initial working years in Taj to now when I work in Hilton,most of the morning shift commute included this Fast in the itinerary. Those days , it used to run late by 10-20 min as a norm.Very rarely it used to manage to maintain its schedule due to the barrage of incoming M/E Trains,the MPS of 80(DC locals) and the lack of 5th and 6th lines between Thane (TNA) and Ghatkopar (GC).

Things changed when MRVC Siemens made inroads into CR.The 5th,6th lines between TNA and LTT and the 7th line between CST and Mazgaon became the game changers for most UP fast trains in Mumbai Suburban.Yet , it continued to remain low on preference as at least 2-3 times in a week,it used to get delayed by more than 10 min.Then, one day it was reported that the poor station master at Badlapur( BUD) was manhandled by irate commuters as the local was continuously getting late due to higher priority accorded to M/E entering Mumbai in the early morning hours.

For some reason,after that the train has been fairly on time on most days,and even if it doesn't run on time ,it never got late by more than 10 min at Dombivli (DI) and mostly reached CST almost on par with the schedule.

Today, I wanted to catch the same local but knowing that this service almost runs on time,I had lost all hopes of catching it as it was 5:55 am when I got off the auto at DI East.The schedule is 5:54 at DI and 6:21 at GC. A cursory glance at PF 5 of DI,indicated the presence of crowd and I could hear a fast approaching WAP4 horn on UP Fast line as I was climbing the KYN end FOB.The WAP4 hauled train was Jnaneshwari Express and it blasted the platform without caring a damn for the junta with utter disdain.Train Management System (TMS) showed the first fast was scheduled to reach in 6 min so it must have just left KYN station.I took my own sweet time to reach the Middle First Class (FC) as the TMS was counting down from 6 to 0 min as expected. It was MRVC 2005-6 for the service today.We left DI by 6:02. We hit MPS soon and began the chase to hunt down the Jnaneshwari. After following all the caution orders (CO) we slowed down after Parsik Tunnel (PSK) as Jnaneshwari Express was taking extra long time to enter the 6th line. It doesn't have a stop at TNA,so it was more difficult for my MRVC to catch up with it as we had to stop at TNA,MLND and then reach GC.

After a brief halt at TNA,the amazing acceleration power and the amazing CR Motorman got on the job and before we could reach Mulund (MLND),we managed to catch up with the tail lamp of Jnaneshwari. But, an additional stop at MLND meant that the express wiggled out faster and I was left wanting for more action.Not to disappoint me any further the MPS of 100 on 4th line (for MRVC) and the MPS of 90 on 6th line coupled with the "can do" attitude of the motorman and All Greens ahead meant that we finally caught up with the express soon after Vikhroli (VK) and the parallel run at a higher speed meant that the loco of Jnaneshwari and the MRVC Head Code 2005 entered GC simultaneously. We reached GC by 6:29 and though late by 8 min,the revenge was taken and I am sure with All Greens ahead, the first fast would reach CST late by not more than 3-4 minutes.

In a few years from now,this Fast train will start taking the new lines via the longer route of Kalva, Mumbra and yet would be full of zeal to tackle the M/E trains.The new lines between DW and TNA can ensure that CR can run trains at a higher frequency and ensure crowd levels reach acceptable limits in this sector,because unlike WR which is already performing at the peak efficiency of trains all through the day,CR can manage to reduce crowd after new lines are in place as many a slot will become free.

It was just another day in the life of many CR commuters which is otherwise riddled with daily cancellations and heartburn. But the early morning adrenaline which it ensued in me will hold me in good stead for a wonderful day ahead.I curse CR everyday for cancellation of services but when you think they are operating under so much constraints,I want to salute them from the bottom of my heart.

Travelogue of trip to Goa

THE PRELUDE

Though Yours Truly and my Better Half have been to Goa before our wedding as a part of Railfanning trip and College Industrial visit respectively, we hadn't experienced Goa as a holiday destination. Our honeymoon was in Munnar, Thekkady and Alleppey, whereas our other short weekend trips involved Igatpuri, Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar. Hence, when we started planning in mid February for a holiday destination to celebrate my wife's birthday, we were pretty sure of a beach destination and that’s how we decided on Goa. As the second week of April had a long paid weekend and overnight journeys perfectly fitted into our itinerary, we booked by 10111 Konkankanya Express departing on 11th April from Mumbai and return by 10112 departing Goa on 14th April, with hotel stays in Estrela Do Mar Beach Resort at Calangute.  This itinerary ensured that we could work on 11th and board the train late night, sleep through the journey and reach afresh, the next morning. This way we could also welcome my wife’s birthday in Goa on 14th April.

We always start by shopping 2 weeks prior to our short trips and with a long 'To Do ' list prepared in our Smartphone to ensure we don’t forget anything in the last minute. The onus of researching the places of interest and logistics of getting to them always rested on my shoulders being a rail fan. As days progressed, our excitement was growing but, with a lot of office work we had very little time to back our bags and hence decided to do the same on the evening of 11th April after returning early from work by referring to our ‘To Do’ list.

THE D DAY (My Railfanning overtures might turn you off)

A Freight Coach derailment on the early morning of 11th April between Adavali and Nivsar had caused delays in Konkan Railways (KR). I knew the fate of my train depended on the incoming 10104 Mandovi Express as its Rake was shared with our 10111. I had come to work for a 07:00 – 16:00 shift and was glued to the Current Running Status Webpage of KR to see the immaculate controlling. When I left office to reach Andheri (ADH), my wife called up to say that she was going to be terribly late. We also had to pack our bags for Goa Sojourn. I decided to wait for her on the Borivali End Foot over Bridge of ADH and observe the WR controlling of trains as well as the Mumbai Metro zooming above them. I could spot AC Retros, ACDC MRVC, MEMU to Dahanu, WAP hauled Yuva Express and August Kranti Rajdhani express in that one hour railfanning session. Finally, Jab We Met and took a slow train to have a peaceful journey to Dadar, we were already in the Holiday mood. Surprisingly, we got a rather empty fast train to Amaranth at 18:43 from Dadar. After rushing back home, packing our bags with reference to the ‘To Do’ List, we dined with parents and left home at 22:30. Last update of incoming 10104 was that it reached Diva at 21:37 and was expected at 23:00 at CST.

We took 22:44 Fast to Thane (TNA). This was the same train I had taken from Kasara to Dombivli during my Mumbai Suburban Trip. We were made to wait for 11013 LTT Coimbatore Express to cross over to mainline as it departed from Pf 7. After alighting, we went to Pf 7 and moved 14 coach positions from loco to reach our S1 coach indicator. As we waited, 12115 Siddheshwar Express arrived on Pf 5 followed by Shirdi / Pandharpur Fast passenger behind WCAM2.The way it entered the station was so breathtaking as if it didn't have a stop. I told Bhavia to observe how this train which was entering TNA Pf 5 with utter disdain but will eventually stop with very hard braking. She couldn’t believe her eyes and was amazed at the way it came to a standstill within a few seconds.

The Public Address System (PAS) was continuously announcing that the 2 trains were indeed one, and the first segment was 11 coaches long and the remaining was the second train. Soon, Kushinagar Express arrived on Pf 7 with a customary WAP4, which cleared the Pf of a few commuters. In the meanwhile an ALCO brought the 12051 Madgaon Dadar Janshatabdi back to TNA. I explained to Bhavia how this train had left Mumbai early in the morning to Madgaon and returned back.  Ideally the next expected departure from Pf 7 was our 10111 Konkankanya Express but a delayed incoming arrival of our pairing train meant 10111 departed CST delayed by 20 min. I would still say it was a good turnaround story. The last Down Fast local of the day came and went around 23:58. LTT-Amritsar with Dhulia Slip coaches was allowed first use of Pf 7 at 00:10 and finally WDP4# 20043 in LHF mode brought 10111 on the pf. We boarded and got our preferred berths seats 23 and 24 (side lower and upper) in S1, next to Pantry Car and AC Coaches. By the time, we left TNA it was 00:25 and we moved slowly but surely on our path through Parsik Tunnel and then diverted to Panvel Line at Diva. We arrived Panvel around 01:15 and then I locked my luggage to the rings underneath the seats and made our beds and asked Bhavia to take Side Upper and I settled in Side Lower. With Emergency window and the adjacent window open, I dozed off to sleep. I knew our train was running late by an hour and it would keep losing time but it was in our interest as our Check-In Time was 14:00. By morning, we were running late by 2 hours. This meant we would eventually reach Thivim at 11:00hrs.

When we booked for Konkankanya express, I was excited to be onboard the Food Express with Ahuja Caterers to pacify my hunger for train food. Bhavia is not a great fan of Sleeper Class rail journeys and prefers AC accommodation contrary to my aspirations. My day started with equal shares of Tea and Coffee, followed by Idli and Medu vadas. I had cajoled Bhavia to not bother dissuading me from tasting food in this train. After a few minutes, we tasted the Veg Cutlets followed by another round of Tea. After Chiplun, we were chugging along at sedate pace with the innumerable stops for this train. The continuous bridge and tunnel saga continued as we crossed a few trains enroute. Bhavia is a very cautious train traveller and doesn’t like to get down at stations, exactly opposite to my nature. Finally, I convinced her to get down at Ratnagiri as the train will have crew change here. We strolled for a few metres before being back in our hut. Konkankanya stops at almost all stations in Konkan railway after Ratnagiri and serves the population well. Our coach barely had a few people left after Kanakavli and we reached Thivim at 11:00 on the main platform. It’s a miniscule station by Indian Railways standards but quite okay when compared to other stations on Konkan Railways.

GOA  DAY 1( Sedate Start)

The station building exit leads to the ticketing counter as well as a ramp to get out of the station. We used the ramp to slowly come out to the scores of Auto and Cab drivers waiting for passengers. An auto driver offered to take us to our resort in Calangute for Rs.350. We decided to take the bait and off we went in the Typical Goan Auto with doors, sliding glass windows and curtains separating the passenger and driver compartment. The ride was mesmerizing for both of us as suddenly we could feel the narrow roads, the red sand and farming plots with huge billboards almost similar to our native place, Kerala. I had already mapped the journey on my Smartphone and the auto was tracing all the right dots to finally end up at Calangute Panchayat. It was more like a small town with hustling and bustling shops. We entered the Kingdom of Honda Activa and Avenger Bikes. They were omnipresent and riders looked in no hurry to zip through the small alleys. We could see a lot of bare chested men in shorts and skimpily clad women roaming around without any sense of insecurity. Goa gives you the freedom to live your life on your own terms. There is no culture policing here and even though I was coming from Mumbai which is considered to be one of the most cosmopolitan cities in India, this nature of Goa made me feel very liberated from within. We reached Estrela Do Mar Beach Resort within 40 minutes from Thivim.  The Bell desk helped us with our luggage and welcome drink was offered at the reception as we enquired on our reservation. The receptionist asked us to wait for a few minutes at the reception lounge as the check-in time as 14:00 and the resort was running to full capacity.

After sitting for a few minutes, I decided to take a go-around and study the place. The direction signs led me to the beach and I was really excited to see the blue and white waters just at the end of the beach shack of our resort. There were innumerable guests waiting for check-in and check-out. We decided to quench our thirsts in the Resort restaurant. We went back to the reception after sipping on Fruit-Juice to find our rooms ready. After completing the check-in formalities, we were escorted to the Luxury Room 218 located quite close to the restaurant and reception on the 1^st floor. We were happy that the room was very clean and enticing. We decided to freshen up, munch on our already delayed lunch and rest before we hit the beach in the evening. Lunch included Fish Fingers and Chicken Club Sandwich. We dozed off for a few hours and then got ready to hit the beach in the evening.

We walked onto the pristine sands of the beach. The instant sinking feeling and the alluring waves got the better of us and we ventured into knee deep water. The water was very clean. Our resort is on the border of Baga and Calangute. So we decided to stroll through the ankle deep water to as far as we could. April 12^th was a Polling day in Goa and there was blanket ban on Liquor till late evening. All the beach shacks wore a deserted look. The boys and girls on the beach could be heard asking the shack owners about the time when the Liquor would be served again. We are teetotallers and this never bothered us. We were lost in the arms of each other in a lazy stroll. As the sunset approached, Tourism Police started persuading people to return to the beach from deep inside water. Neither was their call imposing or enforcing, yet majority of the revellers took the good advice and returned to the safer environs. We spend a few hours of dusk and night on the beach, reliving our togetherness and charting a new course for our lives. The place is so full of energy, yet gives you some great private moments.

We returned back to the resort restaurant for a special ‘Ghazal Night’.  When we settled at our table, the singer was still dabbling with his instruments. Not knowing, how good or bad the concert was going to be, we decided to wait and watch. Bhavia ordered for a Triple Schezwan Plate and I decided to take the Dinner Buffet to satisfy my hunger pangs. Dinner Buffet included unlimited supplies of ‘Tomato Soup with bread crumps’, ‘Veg Pulav’, ‘Paneer Butter Masala’, ‘ Fish Fry’, ‘Chicken Curry’, ‘Butter Naan’, ‘Gulab Jamun’ and a host of few other Veg curries. I had a paisa vasool meal as the singer had started his renditions. He had belted out some of the most famous ghazals of yesteryears of Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas, Roop Kumar Rathod and Anup Jalota.

After dinner we returned to the reception to enquire about the places to visit. The Travel Desk Agent offered us a one day trip of Goa covering most of the places at a rate of Rs 430 per person. We decided to enrol ourselves for the group trip in a tempo traveller. We returned back to our room and watched TV for sometime before hitting the sack. We had to wake up early to be ready for our Tour, departing at 08:45.

GOA DAY 2 (Sightseeing Spree)

We woke up at 07:00 and after finishing our morning chores and packing the essentials for the day in a single bag pack, we rushed to the beach shack to feast on the buffet breakfast. Our options included Tea/Coffee, fresh fruit juice, bread toast, jam, omelette, idli, poha, cut fruits and porridge. With not much time on our hands we hurried through the first meal of the day. The foreigners were already in their sunbathing suits ready to hit the scorching beach beds as the waves continued to lash the shores while we finished our breakfast. We have an unwritten Service Level Agreement between us. We have granted each other full permission to glance at the beach babes and studs, instead of being hypocritical and pretend to not watch. We believe, window shopping is good for health, since marriage as an institution has instilled a great amount of respect, physically and emotionally to us. There was a lot of skin show on the beach and I did enjoy some uninterrupted viewing from our beach shack.

It was 8:50 by the time we reached the reception for our group trip. The Tempo traveller was waiting for us. We occupied the last 2 seats. Besides us was a Maharashtrian kid with his uber chic mom. Ahead of us were a newly married couple from Bangalore, a small family of 2 kids and parents again from Bangalore and a Tamilian family of 6 members including a pregnant lady, an oldie uncle and an infant. Basically we had representation from most of South West India. We left the resort by 09:10 and hit the highway soon. Hot Indian summer was making it unbearable inside. The driver turned on the AC to cool things a bit. Our first destination was Coco Beach. Each of us contributed Rs 250 to the driver to ensure the ticketing for the forthcoming rides/visits is taken care off.

Coco Beach is rather a jetty were you can walk through shallow waters to get onto medium sized motorboats. Our group decided to stick around together and hence the motorboat hired was exclusively used by our fellow members. As we steered away from the shores the first spotting was the Millionaire’s Palace which overlooked the seas from the high ground. It was supposed to be built in 1960s by a Diamond Merchant at Rs 60 Million. Next on our radar were the overwhelming Fort Aquada and the accompanying Central Jail.  The light houses could be seen on the coastline. Though the old grandeur had taken a back seat, it is still worth a watch from the seas. We must have moved almost a nautical mile into the sea. It was time to spot Dolphins.  Around us were about 5 other motorboats with equal number of enthusiastic tourists like us. We were told that Dolphins peek over the water surface hardly for 3-4 seconds before going down. Everyone within the boat was on the lookout for the elusive dolphins now. After a few minutes, one of the kids in our group yelled out pointing towards one dolphin which was taking a dive back into the ocean. We got a glimpse for 2 seconds. We wanted more. Our boat moved to a different spot and we all waited with baited breath. The dolphins came up once again and this time it was cheered and clapped. After spending another 15 minutes spotting Dolphins in their natural habitat, we were contended and each one of us had a Kodak moment of the Dolphins. We headed back to the shore and returned back to our vehicle.

Next Up on the chart was Old Goa. The feeling of being blessed and an aura of positivity and innumerable prayers could be felt in the church of Bom Jesus, Se Cathedral, and the Archaeological Museum. We offered our prayers with candles for the well being our family and returned to the Bus parking bay to irresistible ice-cream stalls. The summer was getting to us and what better than taking in a lot of fluids. We ensured that we tanked up on a lot of water to avoid dehydration. Our driver insisted on taking us to the Wax Museum. Though not everyone was inclined, eventually everyone succumbed to his persistent requests. The Wax idols were kept in a very cold ambient temperature to prevent melting. We had a guide who took us around showing all the models. Some of the eminent and notable models were of M K Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Radha-Krishna, Mother Teresa, and George Washington, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and a host of Bollywood personalities. After driving along the highway for a few kilometres we took a break at a Trimurthi restaurant. The AC enclosure was empty and we made it our own. We sat with the Honeymoon couple on the same table. We ordered for Naan and Chicken Tikka Masala. The breakfast, we had in the morning was filling and hence we shared the lunch between us. The other couple had ordered for Fish Biryani and Prawns Biryani. Our food was palatable but going by the feedback of the other couple, the fish biryani wasn’t that great as it had just a piece of cooked fish with biryani rice.

We all huddled back into our Tempo and made it to our next destination, the Mangeshi Temple. The parking lot was slightly away from the temple, so we had to walk up to the temple gate. We climbed the steps and were treated to a very visually pleasing Temple structure. To me it looked as if it had drawn inspirations from Hindu-Syrian Culture. At the entrance to the inner sanctum decorum, we realised that we had chicken for lunch and hence decided to not venture any further. We moved around the outer periphery of the temple and clicked the soothing temple pond. The way to the Parking lot has a lot of shops selling Kokam Sharbat. We sipped in 2 glasses to tap some more fluid into our system. Bhavia wanted a temporary tattoo and the hawker promised that it would stay on for a month. It’s a 30 second job to get yourself inked and she proudly showed it off on her wrist for a few more snaps.

The journey continued through the plush areas of Panjim. Our driver halted near a shop to ensure the shoppers in our group could fill up their bags with Cashews and Wines. As we went past many government administrative buildings, we ended up climbing small hills to reach a stretch of promenade called as Dona Paulo. We get great views of the river and sea confluence in the distance. The Zuari Bridge could be seen in the horizon and the steps lead you to the statue of Dona and Paula after whom the place is named.  Some Bollywood movies have been shot here. A doze of Fresh Lime Soda revitalized us and we moved further to our next spot which was Miramar Beach. This is a sandy beach and vast tracts of sand kept a lot of kids engrossed in building their fantasy castles. We couldn’t stop ourselves from having Paani-Puri Mumbai style and Frostik Ice-cream as we sat on a bench close to the beach. The final destination for the day was Boat Cruise.

We headed to the parking lot below the beautiful twin bridges over the Mandovi River. It was 17:10 and the queue to board the cruise was extending onto the adjacent road. After an agonising 20 minute wait, we managed to get on to the topmost deck of Princesa De Goa. The seating capacity was more than 300 and after everyone settled down, The Compere introduced us to the itinerary of the Cruise. DJ started as our Boat left the shore heading downstream to the Arabian Sea. Kids of all ages were encouraged to shake a leg on the podium followed by a traditional welcome dance by Goan attired performers. This was followed by an impromptu session for couples on the boat. We both have left feet and decided to watch it from a distance. The other performances for the day included 1 Portuguese and 1 Konkani dance which were well Time separated by providing the dance floor for men and women to let their hair down and dance to the best of their abilities. Bhavia and your truly had good time spotting the weird dancing uncles and dumb girls. The cruise reached the neck of the river at sunset and as we turned around back to the jetty, Miramar beach and the Marriott’s with their private beach could be seen from our cruise boat. We returned back to the resort by 20:00.

The whole day was very well spent and we wanted to hit the bed as soon as we freshened up. Our bed was nicely decorated with a heart and a swan made from the bath towel. I guess, the Housekeeping staffs were intimated that the room was for a couple. We really appreciated that kind and sweet gesture. Instead of heading to the restaurant, we ordered from in-room dining this time. We feasted on Chicken Biryani and Chicken Lollipop and decided to call it a day.

GOA DAY 3 (Freelancing, Birthday & Anticlimax)

Bhavia always complained about my obsession to check Whatsapp messages on my varied railfanning groups. Today, 14^th April was her birthday and I wanted to give her all the attention and give her no reason to complain. Today was also our last day in Goa as we had to check-out at 11:00 am and catch the 10112 at 18:55 from Thivim. Since the time gap between check-out and train departure was a humongous 8 hours, we first tried to book for a late check-out. The resort was full to the capacity and the Duty Manager conveyed his helplessness. Coming from a Hospitality background, I could understand his dilemma. I had a backup plan in place. We packed our bags and had our Buffet Breakfast, which included Puri, Chole and some English breakfast along with the other accompaniments. We checked-out at 11:00 and kept our bags in the Resort’s Cloak room as the Manager assured us the safety of our bags and also allowed us to return back and use the wash and change facility of the resort near the swimming pool. I checked washrooms on offer and gladly kept our luggage. We ventured out to the Bike stand and hired an Activa for Rs. 300 per day. The vendor kept my Aadhar Card for proof of identity and we tanked up 2 litres for Rs. 80 per litre in 2 intervals during the day.

We started from Calangute and headed north. The road signs in Goa are very good and you rarely need to stop and ask for directions. We left the Calangute Panchayat and after riding the bike for 20 minutes we reached Anjuna Beach. This is a rocky beach and after going down the steep pathway to reach the rock and soaking in the scenery, we returned back to the bike and rode through Arpora and went past Double Tree by Hilton. We headed further north and reached Vagator. There were a lot of college girls playing in the calm beach waters. I wrote Bhavia’s name in sand and we sat and played around in the waters for few minutes. The Chapora Fort can be seen from Vagator on a hill overlooking the beach. It was 13:30 and we had set ourselves a deadline of 16:30 to reach our resort back to freshen up. The Rs. 1000 voucher from Dominos was lying in my bag for a long time now. We go crazy when we see a Dominos outlet. We returned back to Anjuna’s Dominos Pizza Outlet and ordered for our all time favourite, “Chicken Golden Delight Pizza with extra Chicken Toppings”, with “Garlic Bread” and “Chocó Lava”. These are the only items we like in Dominos and we feasted on her birthday in style with these free vouchers.  Next up was shopping for some ethnic bags, T-shirts and Shorts as souvenir for the trip. As I took her around the numerous shops in Calangute, she completed her shopping and was brimming with joy. Finally, we reached the resort by 16:45.

As planned earlier in the day we freshened up and returned the bike to collect my ID Card. We filled the Hotel Feedback Form generously and hired a taxi to Thivim to reach the station by 18:00. After paying off the Taxi Driver as we were moving towards the Station Ramp, an old worried lady of around 60 yrs was waiting with luggage. She looked in our direction and announced, “Don’t leave your Taxi. Trains are all cancelled. Go back to your hotel. There has been an accident.” We were shell shocked to hear that. We reconfirmed it from her and still couldn’t believe our ears. Not wanting to take a chance, we walked up the Ramp to PF1 and the dreaded PAS announcements of 10112 being cancelled were heard loud and clear. The agony on the faces of the passengers waiting on the platform could be seen. We looked at each other in disbelief and uttered the same three words simultaneously, “What the F***”.

Had I kept the Rail fans Whatsapp group ON, we would have been informed about the issue earlier in the day itself and could have chalked out a contingency plan but Digital Detoxing therapy (no whatsapp day) which I practiced meant that I was clueless of this mishap. Immediately turned on my data connection and after 2 minutes the number of unread messages stood at a staggering 1289. I swiped through the messages broadly and found the press release from Mr. Rajendra Akklekar about my train being cancelled. I rued my mistake and was feeling very bad for my wife. It was her birthday and we had spent 3 fabulous days in Goa and the return journey was screwed. I had been on many rail journeys earlier where trains have got late but this was the first time when my train had got cancelled. Bhavia was still in disbelief of the turn of events.

We decided to sit on a bench and plan our further course of action. With a deep breath, I told her that no matter what, we will go home today. Returning back to stay in the hotel was not an option on our mind at 18:30 in the evening. The RED signal lights at both ends of the platforms were a sign of things to come. I told Bhavia that we will take the next flight out and not worry about the expenses incurred. She started looking for tickets on the Panjim-Mumbai sector and found tickets at Rs 9800 for a late night flight of GO AIR departing at 23:55. She said that she will call up her office travel agent and check with him for a cheaper flight. Unfortunately, he answered in the negative and offered tickets only for the next day afternoon. I told Bhavia to not worry about the costs and simply go ahead and book the flight tickets for the same night visible in Cleartrip App. As soon as she checked again for availability, even that flight was out of bound and no flights tickets were available. Immediately, I decided to use the Redbus.in App to ensure that at least we get a seat in a bus as all the alternate modes of transport were filling up fast. We could see last few seats available on Neeta Volvo departing from Ambedkar Garden at 20:30 and 21:30. Not knowing how far the place was from Thivim, we decided to take a safe bet on the 21:30 departure. That gave us 3 hours to reach Ambedkar Garden. I booked 2 seats for a 21:30 departure after enquiring with a railway police and an auto driver for the approximate time and cost needed to reach there. Smartphones saved the day for us. We made online payment and after securing our reservation and receiving an email from Redbus, we ventured out of the station with our luggage back to the Auto stand.

The Auto driver settled for Rs.450 for the ride to Ambedkar Garden from Thivim Railway Station. We were not in a mood to bargain and decided to take it without any further discussion. We left Thivim at 18:45 and decided to inform our parents only after we reach the Pick-up point as these disruptions might cause unwanted headache for them. The ride was very fast and soon we were threading the same routes we had taken to our Boat Cruise on Mandovi. We realised that Ambedkar Garden was in fact near the boat jetty in the busy city centre area near the intra state bus stand. We reached by 19:30 and had 2 hours to kill. We spotted the Neeta office and after confirming our bus timings, we went around the place in the night and then returned back after purchasing a few snacks for the journey. I consoled Bhavia that even though we were struck with an adversity we did the best to circumvent the situation. She agreed and promised to be happy and not worry about the issues we faced in the last leg of the journey as it was something which we did not have a grip on. We called up our parents and described the situation in brief. My mom is very inquisitive in nature and I had to be stern and tell her upfront that she had to listen clearly what I was going to tell before she asks me any further questions. She agreed and then I gave her a gist of the events. She was relieved that we had managed to get ourselves booked on a bus. We asked our families to not worry about us and have a peaceful sleep.

We used the power points at Neeta Office to recharge our mobiles to ensure they lasted till we reached home. At 21:20, the bus arrived and after marking our luggage for Vashi, we ventured into the Neeta Volvo Multi Axle Semi Sleeper (2x2 seating) B9R Series of TNA registration MH-04 8788. Our seat numbers were 15 and 16, which were the third last row in the bus. Seats were reclining and the AC was cooling. There were curtains and bottle holders for every seat which are a standard feature in all the Volvos nowadays. But the comfort of a train journey was missing. With a Bollywood movie playing and some stupid parents with young kids inside the bus, the peace which you look forward to in a night journey was missing. It was very uncomfortable to pretend to sleep in those semi-sleeper seats. Being from Kerala, our long journeys have always been by trains and we were quite accustomed to the environs of free movements in trains. By 00:30, our bus had made innumerable stops to get more passengers onboard. We had wrapped ourselves in the blankets provided on every seat. Yet the feeling of sitting through this agony for the rest of the journey was killing us. With seats reclined, there is hardly any space for even shifting in your seat. Bhavia had a niggling pain in her knees for the past few days and this posture was going to worsen it further. I somehow manage to sleep through the pain but Bhavia had a very troublesome night. At 6:30 am we had entered Pune and early morning as we started the descent down the hills; we stopped at the Food Mall on the Expressway. For some much needed relief, we got out of our seats and walked around the area for a few minutes. Bhavia was in pain and was limping. Gradually after soaking up some sunlight and walking for a few meters, her condition was bearable. We sat through another 90 minutes to get down at Vashi Naka at 09:00. We took an auto back home who charged us 350 and we were home by 9:40.

We spent the rest of the day resting at home and relishing the good moments spent together. I copied all the snaps onto a pen drive and played it on our LCD TV for everyone at home. We also decided to never take Semi-sleeper buses for long journeys. Trains will always be our preferable mode of transport to see India. Hope you were with me through this cumbersome post and did not leave it midway. Thanks a lot for the patient reading.

Nikhil P Karunakaran

9819250516 

Travelling on Mumbai Local with GPS Speed Graph App.

Let me start with a disclaimer here. I am never the one who likes to continuously measure speeds of the trains. I do it sometimes out of curiosity and findings are just for my personal records. Most of my blogs stress on the journey and the various aspects of it. This time around for a change, I decided to put the GPS Speed Graph App on my Phone to good use and try to blog my suburban journey. Please note that I don’t intend to generalise my observations and figures noted are purely a onetime instance and may vary if observed over a period of time.

Last Sunday, (2^nd of March 2014) was a day of a small suburban trip for me. I left early in the morning for Borivali (BVI) from Dombivli (DI). I was travelling with my family (mom, dad and wife) and hence my railfanning instincts had to take a backseat.  My Dad can’t walk fast or exert himself much. So the added responsibility of ensuring that he travels with atmost comfort was also on my shoulders. We took an auto from our residence and diverted it to reach the base of newly built DI East Escalator. I got the tickets from ATVM and we took a CST bound Fast train from Platform (PF) 5 at 9:20am.

It was a smooth affair and we reached Dadar Central (DR) PF 6 by 10:05, delayed by a few minutes. We took the escalator on PF 6 and reached the Middle Foot over bridge (FOB) by taking an additional few steps. The next assignment was to get Dadar Western (DDR) PF 3 to catch a Fast train to BVI. Our options were 10:17am Virar (VR) or 10:23am Dahanu Road (DRD). As we came down the stairs, we missed the 10:17 VR Fast by a whisker. 10:20am saw an Andheri(ADH) bound fast which we were forced to skip as it falls short of our destination.

Following it was 10:23am DRD Fast. ICF AC EMU (We call it a World Class ICF AC EMU) was doing the honours of this Fast service. I was going to experience a Fast run of the ICF AC rake for the first time in my life till BVI. Having heard a lot of negatives from other Railfans about the performance of these rakes when compared to MRVC rakes and Retros, I must say, I was a bit sceptical about boarding it. The run between DDR to Bandra (BA) saw us touch 75kmph mark only once as we were continuously riding Amber (Signal Aspect). I would not like to comment on the speeds because we were trailing an ADH fast by just a few minutes, and hence would like to give my benefit of doubt to motorman. Then came the real dampeners, between BA and ADH, we halted multiple times and crawled through and braked too early for signals and jerks of stopping were almost old DC styled jerks. The maximum speed we touched was a lowly 69kmph, even that was just for a fraction of second. Again, I thought the line ahead was blocked by ADH fast, so after ADH we should recover all the lost time. Motorman did show what the rake was capable off by hitting 100kmph once  during our run between ADH and BVI, but dropped the speed too soon even though he was running on All Greens (Signal Aspect) for some time. We ran at sedate speeds and after Kandivli Car Shed (KILE), we stopped multiple times and overall the run was pathetic and we reached BVI at 11.02am against the actual run times of 10:56. The World Class AC EMU and its Motorman left me a bit sad with their individual performances. We walked out of the station and after spending the day at my in-laws place, it was time for the return journey. My wife was staying back and only my parents were returning back with me.

We took the Subway to reach PF7 at 6:20pm. A 6:35pm Fast to Churchgate (CCG) was expected as per the indicators. We decided to play the waiting game when I saw August Kranti Rajdhani Express making its customary halt. Suddenly at 6:30, the indicator went off and a 6:32pm Slow from BVI to CCG was announced on PF 1. We rushed back to PF1 taking enough precautions to not exert much. Luckily, we got a seat, but the MRVC local showed no signs of moving for the next 15 minutes. The train was getting crowded by every minute and finally when we departed, the many false starts and stops and drags were pointing to something being wrong on the lines ahead. Surprisingly, our UP Slow train was taken on the UP Fast track at Kandivli and we continued to halt at all stations enroute till ADH. In the meanwhile, I could gauge that there was some trouble brewing on the UP slow line as we had successfully overtaken 3 slow trains till ADH. We were put back on UP slow line after ADH and continued at good speed till DDR. The return run was far more satisfying and we managed to reach DDR by 7:30pm (45 minutes)

To ensure a smoother and sitting accommodation, in our journey back home, we decided to ditch the earlier scheduled Fast trains from DR PF 4 and instead take a DR starting Semifast PF5 towards Ambarnath. The additional advantage was that I could test the performance of my CR MRVC rakes over 3 Neutral Zones (NZ) before reaching DI. This train has halts of Ghatkopar (GC)-Bhandup (BND) - Thane (TNA) and slow after that.

The 7:31, 7:35, 7:38 and 7:41 Fast trains’ parade through PF 4 of DR was ON and our train left just behind the 7:41 Titvala Fast from PF 5 as soon as it cleared the turnout points

Above is the snapshot of run between DR and GC. The turnout from Pf 5 was negotiated at 20kmph. The run was not spectacular till GC as potential of MRVC couldn't be unleashed as there were Temporary Speed Restrictions (TSRs) in place and frequent peaks of highs were flattened by these speed restrictions. Kurla (CLA) was crossed at a sedate 50kmph. The track lowering, Santacruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR) and Vidhyavihar’s Permanent Speed Restriction (PSR) ensured we never touched 100kmph.

By now, my mom was observing that I was continuously peering into my mobile phone. She asked me if I was actually tracking speeds. I said yes and told her to watch it now. “It will hit 100 before Bhandup”, I said with confidence.

And then it was an adrenaline rush for mom and me as seen in the attached graph above, where we hit 90kmph by the time GC ROB was crossed and then as we were swiftly gaining speed, our heartbeats were increasing in unison. I knew a slowdown of 65kmph was awaiting us at Vikhroli (VK) but I desperately wanted my MRVC to touch 100 once and as soon as it did it, mom gave me a big High Five. All the commuters and my dad were looking at us for our constant peering into my mobile and this sudden joy. We tapped 100, slowed down at VK for PSR of 65 and then again ramped up our speed to hit 101 before Bhandup halt.

The run from Bhandup to Thane was nothing great to write home about but was fine considering all fast trains off late have been approaching TNA at sedate speeds nowadays, especially  since we had a barrage of fast locals ahead of us. Still we did touch 90 for a few seconds and Mulund NZ(DC-AC) was traversed smoothly on double amber and around 50kmph as seen in the graph below.

In the above graph, 0kmph speeds indicate our TNA halt. Our motorman accelerated to achieve 30kmph and while we used the turnouts to enter Down slow track at TNA north the drop in speed was noticed as we were purely moving on momentum over the second NZ (AC-DC) that we encountered in our path. Finally after clearing the NZ, we were back in DC and accelerated again to reach Kalva.

The Kalva- Mumbra stretch of CR has one of the most scenic curves in suburban section where we go through 2 small tunnels. It was again time to hit 100 and MRVC did show its true colours and the huge mountain that we see in the graph below is the affect of a great acceleration and smooth deceleration by Motorman.

After Mumbra (MBQ), it was time to note the third NZ (DC-AC).  As soon as we left MBQ, our motorman ensured that we had enough momentum by speeding up to 50. In the graph below please   look at the exponential rise in speed in a matter of few seconds so that we cross the NZ with at most ease in speeds well above 40. After NZ, he accelerated in AC mode to hit 50 before coming to halt at Diva Jn (DW).

My mom, who was with me while I was furiously making my observations and jotting down points, asked me if we will again reach the magical figure of 100. I told her that we might see a peak of 100 before Kopar, but had apprehensions because of Caution Order at Bhopar Nala.  We had Punjab Mail for company in all its glory running parallel to us. Our Motorman did not disappoint and we did touch 99 before slowing down to 50 at Bhopar and then coming to a halt at Kopar. Run between Kopar and DI was not captured as it never goes beyond 60 on that stretch. Below is the final graph between Diva and Kopar.

 All in all, even though it was a hectic day, the smile was back on my face as the MRVC and CR Motorman used it to full potential. I don't mean to underestimate the WR Motorman, they may have their issues of less experience or poor accelerating rakes or high congestion on tracks, but to enjoy suburban sections, there is no doubt that CR wins hands down, though I must admit WR is the King when it comes to high speed Mail/Express travels. I am proud that Mumbai has both the arms.

Nikhil P Karunakaran

Dombivli East

9819250516