Singapore MRT LRT Vertex Trip

 I call myself a Mumbaikar even though I have been living in Bengaluru for the past 5 years. The way of life, the pace of life and everything about Mumbai can make me go Ga-Ga over it. I have lived 35 years in Mumbai and like very other Mumbaikar, commuter trains or Local Trains as we call them there are a part and parcel of our lives. The Local Trains are the reason, Mumbai remains the place of opportunities for millions of Indians. Nowhere else in the country can someone imagine to stay more than 60 kms away from their workplace and still use public transport to commute to work. The trains are extremely cheap and available for more than 20 hours in a day. They can be extremely crowded and the railway officials have coined a term called Super Dense Crush Load (SDCL) for the times the trains are filled beyond capacity. So, whether you love it or hate it, you can’t avoid it if you live in Mumbai.

 

Then there is a special breed of people like me who not only commute by trains but also call ourselves “railfans-fans of railways and everything related to trains”. The commuter network in Mumbai is quite extensive and I had twice attempted to cover each and every station of the network in a single service day and successfully completed this with my railfans. You can read about them in my blogs listed on the links below.

My Home Turf: A successful attempt to traverse all the local train stations of Mumbai in a Day.

My Home Turf: Mumbai Suburban Parikrama 2.0

Since, I shifted to Bengaluru in late 2017, I no longer get an opportunity to use the Metro trains or negligible commuter network of the city. God has been very kind to me. I work for Hilton Hotels as a Cluster IT Manager now but, have been a certified Hardware Deployment Engineer (HDE) for the organization since August 2014. This has given me opportunities to travel across our hotels in Asia Pacific Region. While a typical HDE task is 3-day job with a less hectic 3^rd day, giving me enough time to explore the place before I head back home. While most tourists head to the “Top 10 places to see”, I head to the local train station and explore the railway network in the limited time that I get.

 

I was been lucky to explore trains in Srilanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Japan, Vietnam, Philippines and Singapore. For a Mumbaikar, Singapore is a dream city-state for commuting. Everything about it is so cool.

 

In Dec 2015, I had visited Singapore for a week and on the last day, I decided to explore all the lines in Singapore entering at Orchard and returning back after almost 7 hours getting onto each MRT line existing then. East-West line terminated at Joo Koon. Downtown line was short and ran between Chinatown and Bugis. There was no Thomson East Coast Line then. North-South Line ended at Marina Bay. I visited once again in 2018 but had little time to explore. This time, I was posted to Singapore for 4 weeks for a Training Project in one of our new hotels. This meant, I could use the weekend to follow my passion extensively.

I arrived on 18^th Dec 2022 and next one week while I was at the project site, daily commute was by Bus 36 which covers most 5 Star hotels enroute and the beautiful Orchard Road glittering in all its Christmas lighting. Finally, on 25^th Dec 2022, as Sunday dawned, so did the idea of trying to cover the end points(vertexes) of MRT and LRT stations in Singapore in one single day. I am not sure if any foreigner had attempted this ever, let alone fellow Singaporeans. To make a record of this task, I decided to take a Selfie at all the vertex points with the station name board behind me.  I was staying at Conrad Centennial Singapore, which is a 2-minute walk away from Promenade, the deepest MRT station in Singapore (as per Wikipedia). After a sumptuous breakfast, armed with my light backpack and passport, I headed to Promenade station to start the attempt around 11:00 am. This being an interchange for Circle Line (CC) and Downtown Line (DT), I decided to head to Bukit Panjang on DT Line first and reached there by 11:50 am.

Illustration of MRT and LRT Map as on Dec 2022 in Singapore(above)

DT line primarily runs underground and being a Christmas Sunday, there was no rush. Here comes the first selfie at Bukit Panjang, one of the vertexes (No 11) of Downtown Line. Incidentally, this is also a starting point for the Bukit Panjang LRT Loop.

First glimpse of the Bukit Panjang LRT run by SMRT outside the MRT Station (Below)

Here I start my LRT Loop at Bukit Panjang

The Typical LRT tracks which are actually utilizing rubber tyres with a guide rail for power as seen below. you can also see the track changer in the pictures below.

 

What an amazing ride which helps you take in all the sights of the LRT from the driverless frontage.

After I finish this section, I head to Choa Chu Kang which acts as the interchange for Bukit Panjang LRT's other end  point to North South Line's Choa Chu Kang MRT station. 

Featured below is Choa Chu Kang Interchange with traditional roof styled for LRT station.

The next target is to reach Jurong East which is one of the vertexes of the North South Line. I managed to reach Jurong East by 12:40 pm.

Next on the anvil is finding the western vertex of the East West Line at Tuas Link. This was  new place for me as the last time I came to Singapore the East West Line terminated at Joo Koon. Well I wasnt disappointed a bit as the MRT which I boarded was indeed terminating at Joo Koon.

I had to wait for another train headed further west at Joo Koon and this section pretty much is like the Harbour Line of Mumbai where you see the container docks, factories and sea shore can be seen at multiple points. Finally, one more target accomplished at Tuas Link by 13:15 hrs.

Having completed the western frontier, I had to traverse the same route back to reach other vertex. So the returned from Tuas Link to Jurong Easr and then headed on North South line to Woodlands in the north.

Woodlands is an interchange of North South Line and the relatively new Thomson East Coast Line(TEL). I had to take a short trip of station to Woodlands North on the TEL. As I said this is a new MRT line, it definitely looks much brighter,wider and more glamourous as compared to the older MRT lines. Glimpes of Woodlands North below.

Lowered my mask for a picture (for a second) with no commuters around. The station is well lit.

I love the flexibility of seats on Thomson East Coast Line as featured below.

That tciked off one more MRT vertex off my bucket list and next up on the horizon was to head to Punggol which is the vertex for North East Line. There were 2 options to reach there, either reach Woodlands, change to North South Line to get to Bishan and change to Circle Line to reach Serangoon or continue on TEL to Caldecott on Circle Line and then reach Serangoon. I settled for the latter to bask in the experience of new TEL.

 I reach Serangoon Interchange of Circle and North East line by 15:15 and then hop onto North East Line to head to Punggol, vertex of the North East Line and also the start of 2 LRT loops. I reach Punggol in 10 minutes.

The LRT at Punggol can be taken from the Elevated station and there are 2 loops which are listed a below, both accessible from 2 sides on Island Punggol LRT station.

Punggol is a major junction for MRT, LRT and Buses as you can see the Depot next to the station.

Here is a view from the driverless Punngol LRT.

A few more videos of Punggol LRT Loops to savour.

Then, we head to Sengkang to do the 2 LRT loops there as well.

This is identical to Punggol loops as seen below.

Some videos for Sengkang LRT loops below

Now was time to return back to Serangoon to take the Circle line again to reach the other vertex. This time we had to reach Pasir Ris on East West Line. Hence, after taking North East Line from Sengkang to Serangoon. I changed over to Circle Line here to head to Paya Lebar Interchange with East West Line.

From Paya Lebar, we take the East West Line to head to Pasir Ris.

One more off the list and now it was time to head to Tanah Merah and then Expo and Changi Airport. You can see a maze of new flyovers and lines being created around Tampines, Tanah Merah, where we can switch to the Changi Airport line . While Expo is the vertex for Downtown line and Changi Airport acts as a spur vertex for the East West Line. Didnt want to miss any, so covered both the points as seen below.

Expo roof as seen below.

Finally, Changi Airport we meet at 18:15 hrs.

Exhaustion has started trickling in but I was so close to completing the adventure and didnt want to give up. So, here we head from Changi Airport on Downtown line to Chinatown Interchange. I had to head to North East Line's vertex at Harbour Front.

From HarbourFront, you can take the Sentosa Express, a Monorail to cover the Sentosa Island.I did catch a glimpse of that as well above the Vivo City Mall.

I head back fast to Dhoby Ghaut which is a mega interchange for 3 lines of North South Lines, North East Lines and start of the Circle Line, thus helping me complete one more Vertex point off my list.

From Dhoby Ghaut, I head to  Marina Bay South which accomplishes the vertex for North South Line.

Now, the last one on my list is Gardens by the Bay on Thomson East Coast Line , for which, i head to Marina Bay interchange and then finally take TEL to reach the last point on the agenda for the day.

Its 20:25 by now and I had started around 11:00 am. While the commute was smooth and without a hitch but frequent changes  to achieve the target had already made me weak with hardly anything to eat during this entire trip.I didnt want to waste time in going for a break and miss out on the target.

Then I returned back to Promenade, by now the MRT was almost empty.I had to switch from TEL to Circle line at Marina Bay.

This the last selfie for the day after a successful completion of the MRT and LRT Vertex Trip of Singapore. 

I am sure many would call me crazy for attempting this, but personally, it felt like I am left with no place to see in Singapore after this marathon ride..

MRTs and LRTs had a mix of multiple manufacturers:

Bombardier

Alstom

Kawasaki

Nippon Sharayu

CRRC Kawasaki

Crystal Movers

Mitsubishi

Will come back to explore the new Jurong Line a few years later when it is opened for commuters. Till then, its Chao Singaporeans...! You have a beautiful and efficient MRT System which makes the world envious of your transport systems.

Tirupati Trip from Bengaluru after Covid-19 Wave 2

 

In the last week of August 2021, on a lazy weekend, Bhavia and I were looking at the calendar with long weekends for this year. It is one of our favorite pass times. We realized the immediate one was just around the corner in the second week of September.

 

With Covid still in the air, we had to be careful about the place we chose. While each of us is fully vaccinated now, Nirvaan is still the odd boy out. We asked my cousin's family if they would be interested in travelling. Out of the 7 people in their house, 3 agreed. That meant we had 6 adults and Nirvaan travelling out.

 

We had been living in Bangalore for 4 years now and Tirupati was always on our list. While most people drive up, with Bhavia being the only person in the group with the skillsets of a driver, it was certainly not an option on hands.

 

Next up, was the option of trains from Bangalore, many going to Renigunta and some straight to Tirupati. While seats were available, timings didn’t look great and more importantly we had heard about number of devotees being allowed to enter per day being truncated due to Covid. Last thing we wanted to do was to reach Tirupati and run around trying to organize everything.

 

I suggested that we should look for Bus Tour Packages which handles all the logistics while you enjoy the sojourn. While Bhavia had travelled on an AC Sleeper with me long ago to Mahabaleshwar and once in a poorly designed AC seater from Goa to Mumbai, all her experiences of bus journeys have been disasters. After shifting to Bangalore, I had done 2 AC Sleeper bus journeys to Mumbai on the Platinum Class of Orange Tours and Travels and had come off mightily impressed.

Nirvaan, a son of Railfan but a hard-core Bus fan was itching to take his maiden AC Sleeper bus journey. We googled through a few travel websites and finally locked onto Vibhav Holidays' Tirupati Tour Package.

 

Package cost was Rs 2750 per person and included Pickup and Drop at Tin Factory Bus Stop ( around 3-4 kms from our house), hotel to freshen up, breakfast, transfer to APSRTC Bus which will take us up the Saptagiri hills to Tirumala, Sheegra Darshan Ticket, One Ladoo, Lunch and Padmavati Temple visit. It had everything we were looking for to circumvent our logistic challenges.

 

 We immediately booked for Thursday night pickup and drop on Friday night with Friday being Ganesh Chaturthi and optional holiday, it couldn’t get better than that. I would like to point out that while there are innumerable package tours to Tirupati from Bangalore, almost all of them offered Semi Sleeper buses which we were not interested in. Vibhav Holidays had this AC Sleeper option which made us select that as well. On Wednesday night, we packed our small suitcase and a backpack with the essentials. Kurta and Pyjamas for Nirvaan and yours truly. Mom and Bhavia chose Churidhar over saree. I went to work on Thursday to reach home by 5 pm while Bhavia completed her quota of work from home. We had pre-booked 2 Ola cabs, one for my family and one for my Cousin's family at 22.15hrs.

 

The bus starts from Anand Rao Circle near Majestic around 22.00hrs. We received the bus details and the driver information via SMS. At 22.05, we got a call saying the bus is running ahead of schedule and would reach Tin Factory Bus Stop by 22.45

 

My cousin got her cab at 22.00 and left ahead. Our cab was still 16 min away and when the Ola cab driver called us (which they normally do to understand the destination and cancel the booking as it was a short distance trip), I tried a trick which I most often try for short distance Ola Bookings.

 

As soon as the cab driver calls, I hand it over to my spouse to answer. She does her best to convince the driver by saying, you are the only savior we have and our bus to Tirupati is expected soon. The cab drivers are human too and mostly don’t cancel such distressed calls. It worked again and the poor soul did come to pick us up from around 2 km away. We got in and reached our destination within 15 min by 22.30hrs. I did tip him at the end for ensuring our trip does start on time and on a good note.

 

Anybody who has seen or heard about Tin Factory Bus stop in Bangalore would understand the issues with the place. It’s the gateway to Whitefield, ITPL, Hoskote with Outer Ring Road and Old Madras Road converging near the famous Cable stayed bridge over the Krishnarajapuram Railway Station. To make matters worse, the BMRCL has also started civil work for the Jyotipuram station (Tin Factory Metro Station)

 

BMTC, KSTDC, APSTRC, innumerable private buses, tempos, trucks, trailers, autos and cabs halt at this bus stop to add to the chaos. We decided to stand near a non-existent footpath till our bus actually arrives. We knew, we will have to dodge the traffic towards Whitefield and rush towards the ramp of the Cable stayed bridge as soon as our bus is visible. But, that was better than standing in the middle of the road with Nirvaan. Within the next 10 minutes, we spotted the bus which was christened as “Balaji”. We quickly made the typical Indian sign of raising your hand to the incoming traffic to slow down as we scampered towards the ramp and boarded quickly after the Bus representative checked on our seat numbers.

 

 We had booked all lower berths 5,6,7,8,9,11 and 12 of which only 7 was a single lower berth and the rest were double lower berths. Each berth had a small incline on one side which acted as pillow and small luggage rack to place our small suitcase. The maiden AC sleeper bus journey for Nirvaan had begun. With everyone settled in their berths, the first impressions from my family members was that they didn’t expect it to be so spacious. I was relieved. All my future bus journeys with my spouse was going to be depend on this feedback. Nirvaan was on cloud nine and was enjoying every bit of the ride. I settled in the side lower berth. We halted at the other side of the cable stayed bridge at Hosakote (the place, Bangaloreans head to, for local biryani). With a butter like acceleration and smooth roads, I don’t exactly remember when I fell asleep.

 

At 3:10 am, I heard a man shouting to wake everyone up. This middle aged man wasn’t on board when we left Bangalore. We realized that he was going to be our guide for the day and we had already reached Tirupati. He was clear in his instructions.

 

We were heading to a hotel (Seven Hills Hotel) room. The instructions were to freshen up and wear traditional clothes. We had to report to the lobby level of the hotel at 4 am as breakfast was going to be served there. We were given 3 rooms for 7 tickets, all on the 2nd floor. The rooms were basic in nature with one bed, clean bathroom and fan. After finishing our morning chores, we headed for the breakfast downstairs which included, tea, idlis, vadas and upma with chutney and sambar. It was filling for a 4 am breakfast for sure.

 

After getting back on the bus, our tour guide again instructed us that we would now be entering Tirupati City and will have to wait for an APSRTC Bus. To go uphill, everyone has to changeover from Balaji bus to Saptagiri Express (APSRTC non ac bus). This is mandatory as other tour buses aren’t allowed to go up the hill to Tirumala. After taking a left turn from the highway, we could see a chain of ramps and flyovers populating the City Centre. The work was in progress and we went over a railway over bridge and caught a fleeting glimpse of some express entering Tirupati as well. Our Balaji Bus was soon parked behind an APSRTC bus and as instructed earlier we shifted to the Saptagiri Express. We were also told to leave our suitcases in the Balaji bus and carry only essentials to the new bus.

 

After boarding the Saptagiri bus (this was exclusively booked for passengers of Balaji bus), our guide went out and came back with the driver and tickets for Sheegra Darshan. After taking a head count, we left Tirupati city for the uphill climb to Tirumala. We reached the Entry gates to Tirumala which is at the base of the hill. We were all asked to get off the bus and walk a few metres ahead while the bus was being sanitized and cleared by the security personnel. Within a few seconds we were all back on board and the climb started at around 5 am.

 

Road was one way from here and had 2 lanes. It was extremely smooth and without a single pothole. The climb was more subtle than the return journey (more on that later) and as the sun was rising, we were beginning to realize that we had been gaining quite a lot of altitude. At many vantage points over the entire mountain range, we could see the valley below and the  Tirupati City spreading into  outskirts. It was a breath-taking ride and at one point, the guide advised the co-passengers who had planned a tonsure to get off while we were headed to Ram Bagicha bus stop. As we alighted there, we were guided to one of the many shops in the Hanuman market. We could keep our phones and other electronic gadgets and shoes in that shop with a token. We had to wait for around 20-30 minutes at the Ram Bagicha bus stop till the co-passengers returned.

 

Our guide handed over the Sheegra Darshan tickets, which were issued in our names. Nirvaan didn’t need one. We were already asked to carry the Photo ID cards which we had used to register online while booking for Vibhav tours as that was mentioned in our Sheegra Darshan Tickets for cross-verification by the temple authorities. We were carrying Aadhar Cards with us. We entered through gate EL6 and were asked to return to Ram Bagicha Bus stop after our darshan. Guide was still accompanying us while he showed us around the route to take, collect Prasad ladoo etc.

 

After walking for some distance we could catch our first glimpse of the Gold Plated temple structure. We came down the steps and there was no dearth of space to walk around in the open space. I can only imagine how crowded it could get had it not been for the Covid induced reduction in devotee entries. There was ample space to maintain social distance and even run around for Nirvaan on that ground.

 

We were led into the first of the series of blocks which had seating arrangements to hold around 50-60 devotees at one go. After sitting there for more than 30 minutes, we were taken in smaller batches into a hall which was the place where our Tickets and Photo-IDs were checked. While we had fed Aadhar Card details for everyone in our group, Bhavia and I had our PAN numbers fed during booking. I was carrying both the IDs and it wasn’t going to be an issue for me, but Bhavia was only carrying her Aadhar Card and it did lead us into some tense moments as we approached the immigration styled blocks for checks. 

 

We devised a plan to walk together to the block and show my ID and ticket which also had Bhavia’s ticket below mine. I would hold her Aadhar as well to indicate that she was my companion. The personnel checked my details and then looked at her ticket and didn’t mind looking at great details into her Aadhar card as I continued to indicate that she was with me. So even though the Photo-ID details on Ticket didn’t match, we were let in. It was a great sigh of relief as the instructions leading to these blocks indicated that the Photo-ID and Ticket Reference details have to match for a successful pass through.

 

We then went through a series of long walkways which were very clean and controlled at ensure crowding never happened. There were Washrooms at every few metres and finally after 20-30 min we entered the main temple and had a very good darshan without any commotion. We took our own sweet time in walking within the inner sanctum. We came out and while the rest of my family rested alongside the temple perimeter walls, I went to collect the Prasad ladoo which was included in our Sheegra Darshan Ticket. I also paid Rs 50 per ladoo to buy more ladoos for office and other family members who couldn’t accompany us. There were around 60 queues and getting ladoos didn’t take too much time.

 

We started our walk back to Ram Bagicha bus stop and sun had heated up the asphalt roads. Thankfully  one strip on the road was painted in white and science of reflection and less absorption kicked in. We could clearly notice the difference in temperature on our feet while walking on the white strip.

 

We bought few bottles of water and quenched our thirst. We decided against eating anything as the next part of the trip involved a bus ride downhill. After waiting for almost an hour for everyone in our group to return to the same spot our tour guide organised an APSRTC bus for us again.

 

The route downhill was different from the one we used to come up. While it was smooth the issue was it involved steeper slopes and many hair pin bends in zig zag fashion. It could easily induce motion sickness and our plan of not eating anything definitely worked. Nirvaan having woken up early slept all the way downhill making it difficult to holding him in place in a sitting bus.

 

After coming downhill, we were halted at a sidewalk where our Balaji bus was parked to pick us up. We did the transit and within 15 minutes reached the Seven Hills Hotel on the National Highway for lunch by noon.

 

We asked our tour guide an access to a room to freshen up. Looking at Nirvaan, he offered the room without any charges as this wasn’t part of the package. While others in our troop started lunch, we went up the room, freshened and then came back to the ground floor to eat.

 

Lunch was a simplistic buffet of Rice, Sambar, Rasam, some Alu bhaji curd and pickle. I just ate rice and rasam which was very tasty. We hopped onto the bus again for a short 15 min ride to Padmavati Temple. The guide told us that we should keep all our belongings and shoes in the bus and just go to the temple, take darshan and return back within 30 min. Idea was good to avoid wastage of time at temple counter but we realised that it wasn’t a good idea to leave our shoes back in the bus. We were dropped at the entrance of the Padmavati temple so our feet were almost burning out. After entering the temple it was okay as there was enough shade inside but as soon as we came out of the temple premises we realized that bus was no more standing at the entrance and it had moved away into a parking location at least 500 metres away.

 

I walked out with Nirvaan in my arms and the scorching heat was literally burning my feet. Following me were the rest of my family members who were equally agonized with the problem at hand (rather feet). We could hardly sprint for 5-6 steps before jumping into the shade from the roadside shops. But the crowd was so much that there weren’t many places where we could hop into. With Nirvaan in my arms, the additional weight made it even more difficult to walk. Finally, I decided to stay put under a shade till everyone in my family got onto the bus, which we could spot from where we were standing. It was a very painful experience.

 

It must thank Bhavia here as she was smart enough to reach the bus and literally get walked back with my chappals in her hand after she wore her shoes. It was so much of a relief to wear my chappals back and return to the bus. Everyone who had returned to the bus barefoot was complaining. The guide did sheepishly apologise to the city dwellers in us who could barely withstand this heat for 500 metres. We can imagine how countless poor fellow Indians still walk barefoot in our countryside.

 

Our Guide after counting down the people on-board bid good bye to us. I did tip him for giving us the room at the hotel before lunch to freshen up. It was around 2:30 pm by now and return journey was uneventful. We all slept like there was no tomorrow. Our first halt was round 5 pm where I got off and brought in some snacks to munch on till we reach our destination. We reached Tin factory stop by around 7:20 pm and after bargaining with 2 auto drivers we reached home by 7:40 pm.

We all soaked in hot bath and ordered food online for a light dinner before hitting the sack for the night. It was a wonderful trip with no stress at all. It ticked all the boxes in our checklist especially with Covid-19 still in the air. I would highly recommend devotees who are interested in going to Tirupati to take this route. Next morning, Nirvaan was still re-living the bus ride and Bhavia has finally agreed to do more AC Sleeper Bus trips with me after the the Tirupati Bus ride.

 

 

Uniform Calling

Dressing up was and never will be my forte. Changing clothes was one of the least interesting things on my mind even when I used to go to school. I used to keep playing in the school uniform hours after reaching home. After getting a lot of flak from mom would I start changing into other clothes.

But as luck would have it, when I started working, wearing uniform and ensuring that you have a good grooming all through the day was of paramount importance. So short hair, daily shaving, ironed clothes and polished shoes was a daily affair and no points for guessing, I used to hate changing clothes so many times in the day. After almost 15 years of working with multiple hotels and brands, it had slowly become part of my life. Whenever I used to take a short vacation, sleeping long, no shaving and lazing around the house in pajamas and Tshirts was high on agenda.

Dawn of 2020 had brought in a pandemic which no one on earth could have predicted. While Covid-19 had affected every single soul on the face of earth , certain industries have been hit extremely hard.Travel and Tourism is one such industry with large scale layoff, furloughs and pay cuts. By Mid March 2020, it was clear that saving lives needed some extreme measures and India declared a 21 day National Lockdown.With international and domestic flights shut it made no sense to keep the hotel running. We had to shut operations temporarily from 1st April 2020.

The first few days were very frantic for me to get our hotel employees access to their data and allowing them remote access to complete month end processes. In lockdown, getting up late, no shaving , no dressing up and loitering in the house whole day with binge watching over OTT platforms was the order of the day. I was enjoying this unexpected break and was almost certain that India would be free of the virus as we had done the Lockdown when cases reported were very less. As days passed, it was getting murkier and Lockdown 2 and Lockdown 3 followed.

The news of many of my Global Team Members in Hilton Group being furloughed was coming in and eventhough our Hotel owners announced full support to all the team members, days were getting darker and sitting idle at home was getting increasingly difficult. I used to login daily and support my hotel team members for any access related tasks and updating the systems remotely to keep the vulnerabilities down.

I did head out to the hotel at least once a week to do a general health check of the servers and other systems.Hotel car used to come and pick me up and the sight of the hotel without guests was unbearable. To save costs we had shut off the AC, lights and had only 10-15 staff onsite to take care of our beloved hotel.While returning back in the hotel car, the sight of empty streets and the tallest hotel in south india overlooking the majestic Ulsoor lake with windows lit in heart shape was giving hope of better tomorrow but I was leaving depressed with an uncertain future.

Towards the end of lockdown 3 we were almost certain to open over the next few days as Karnataka was handling the cases better and there was a glimmer of hope on the horizon.Lockdown 4 was announced with certain relaxations and some of the team members started reporting to work.While our Hotel Owners supported through the tough times, the hotel managers decided for a voluntary 50% cut in our pays for next 3 months. It was a tough decision, but it was a good decision in the larger interest considering what the travel and tourism industry was going through.

I was going to work almost everyday since lockdown 3 and walking through dark , lonely, gloomy corridors and into departments with no team members to wave to or interact with. This was unknowingly hurting me emotionally.Casual clothes, long hair, untrimmed beard was all acceptable in such circumstances. Finally on 30th May 2020 , Government of India declared that Hotels could open on 8th June 2020 and the next one week was spent in preparing for a re-opening of our hotel. 

As the day dawned , I was super excited and had almost spent a sleepless night. When I reached the hotel and asked for my uniform to the familiar Laundry Agent, he smiled through the mask while he handed over my uniform which wasn't worn for more than 2 months now.It was ironed crisply and that day I took a few more minutes adjusting the tie, polishing the shoes and standing opposite to the mirror wearing the name badge and the Conrad Pin. The sense of pride was overwhelming and when I reached the IT Office, I looked at my desk and stood for 2 minutes praying to God for the well being of all.

I decided to take a walk in the hotel lobby and our Engineering team had lit up the Grand Chandelier in the lobby in all its glory.It had hung there silently for last 2 months with nobody adoring its beauty. The lobby centerpiece was specially designed by our Housekeeping team with a message of hope. The green shoots were being watered through a test tube symbolizing the extremely tough times we had gone through and how hopeful we were at resurrecting our future.While the guests are slow in arriving since International flight operations are yet to start, the hotel is open and team members are ready to welcome them with open hearts and wide smiling faces beneath the mask.

Its been a week since we reopened and each day the joy of going back to work and getting into the Conrad Uniform has been ever so satisfying. While Army Men, Police, Paramedics and all those who have to wear a uniform while performing their functions will have similar stories of passion, I had never thought that the same sense of pride would delve in me while dressing up into my designated attire.

Covid has changed lives in many ways and this may be a very small thing to describe just like the innumerable short stories made everyday

Railfanning doesnt run in the blood

Today, Bhavia had a wedding reception to attend at Tumkur of her office colleague and she left home at 8.30 am with a tentative return back of 5.30pm. That left Mom, Nirvaan and me to stay at home doing pretty much nothing.

I had got 2 offs over this weekend . The whole of Saturday was spent lazing in the bed and binge watching on Netflix and Amazon. I tried to cajole Nirvaan into a Train Ride by saying, we will go by Auto.

After completing the morning chores and breakfast, I messaged Bhavia about this plan and she was okay if I tagged along mom as she believes I am still bad at parenting.( I agree to some extent as I lose temper sometimes).

So we left home at 11am , took an Auto to Baiyappanahalli Station. A 15 min ride caressing the Channasandra Bypass line and Bangalore Chennai Mainline. We spotted an unknown express speeding through the mainline while Nirvaan was all excited about the Auto ride. He kept spotting tractors, BMTC buses and other vehicles. He tends to like road vehicles and planes.

Even as we sat in the auto, he asked, " are we going to Airport to Mumbhai to Mamas house? " I sheepishly denied and informed him about heading to a station instead. He didnt react much and got busy with the road vehicles.

After getting off the auto, we entered Baiyappanahalli Railway station Platform 1 to get onto the FOB which connects the IR station to BMRCL station of same name. Pretty much like Ghatkopar station in Mumbai. A lone WDP4D was standing on the platform loop for clearance. Nirvaan just glanced at it and didnt react( didnt get excited ) like he does after seeing an auto or tractor.

I bought 2 tickets to Majestic (Metro interchange station) and could hear twin alcos heading to Bangalore City below the Metro ticket counter.We waited with baited breath as the thumping Alco carrying a load of empty flat beds made its way through the station. Nirvaan was also excited to observe this long train moving slowly through the platform 2 loop. After seeing locos up close puffing up smoke what he said next just broke my heart," Dirty ! Dirty! "

I knew this is not going my way. Anyways giving him some benefit of doubt for being from the generation where there is a strong focus on conservation, I consoled myself to think, probably he would love the more classy and cleaner electric run Namma Metro.

After passing the AFC gates and taking the escalator to the metro platform 2 below the concourse, we waited patiently till the incoming 6 coach metro from Mysuru Road went ahead and reversed into our platform.

Nirvaan looked at the tracks and then got engrossed in the escalators' functioning. As soon as the train arrived, we hopped into the second coach and made him stand between me and mom on the lateral seats so that he could get a view from the wide windows. As we started the ascend from Baiyappanahalli metro to SV Road and spotted the Third Coaching Terminal Baiyappanahalli (TCTB) in the distance, we curved over to join the Old Madras Road running below us. At SV Road, Nirvaan had already seen the metro doors open and close and the view of the glamourized version of concrete jungle started to wane his interest.

Indiranagar approach and exit is full of 90 degree curves.I tried to get him excited by trying to look at his own train's other end and crossing of other metro .He was happy doing it but like any other normal person nonchalantly.

Showed him Conrad Bengaluru towering up in the sky from Halasuru.He then started to get restless and said that he wanted to get down from the train. I should have expected this and after trying to hold his attention through Trinity and MG Road Station , I tried to persuade him into believing that the train will go into tunnel and it will get dark outside as we enter Cubbon Park, the first underground station on this stretch.But as luck would have it, as the view cut off, he was no more was interested in riding ahead and I asked mom to get up as we quickly deboarded at Cubbon Park.

Coming out onto the concourse and then onto the ground level , we exited the station to a life size replica of Tejas LCA on the main street put up on display by HAL.Nirvaan started jumping with excitement and wanted to ride it.:-) We walked into the Lungs of Bangalore , Cubbon Park and after running around for 30 minutes and undertaking some garbage collection by Nirvaan from the sidewalks, ( he was picking up dried leaves and putting them in the trashbin , much to our amusement) we decided to call it a day. We returned back to Metro station and got on the train and Nirvaan went to sleep even before the next station approached.

He was showing all signs of being normal and not having any railfanning virus in his blood.I resigned to my fate and took an auto back home from Baiyappanahalli to end the trip by 1 pm.

When he woke up, he kept asking for that Tejas LCA and airport and auto and tractor and bus and lorry but nothing about trains. I am not sponsoring any more rides for him.Let his mom pay for him 🤣😉

Keeping the Best for the Last: Shinkansen Bullet Ride.

This is the last weekend before I fly back to Bangalore on Thursday evening. With Aonami line ,SCMaglev And Railway Park ticked off in the first weekend, the second weekend concentrated on the Nagoya Subway exploration.Third weekend was dedicated to the Meitetsu Commuter Lines and the Kintetsu Short Haul Commuter section.JR commuter Lines were identical to the Meitetsu and I had seen them criss cross multiple times.So, naturally the last weekend had to do the most exciting part of a Railfans’ dream when travelling to Japan. JR Central, the company which operates the Shinkansen Bullet trains offers you three varieties of these in operation. Kodama, Hikari and Nozomi.

Though all the three operate with same trainsets nowadays and the fares are identical, the only difference is of time and stops. While I had done a Shinkansen ride last year from Odawara near Mount Fuji to Tokyo, returning back from Nagoya without a ride in it again would have been a sin.I didn't want to travel out too far as fares on the Shinkansen are on the higher side and also it gets monotonous after a few minutes as you just keep seeing scenery skipping without even being able to adore it. High speeds are exciting for a few minutes and after that it gets boring due to almost Aircraft like cabin and minimalistic sound of tracks or trains from outside. Many places around cities have View Cutters and Sound Barriers thus making viewing out difficult. All said and done, a ride in Shinkansen for the sheer experience is a must and I highly recommend this to all.

Nagoya is a compulsory stop for all types of Bullet trains. Nozomi can travel directly to Kyoto (40 min ride) and burn away 3500 Yen one way. (Approx : Rs 3000) and being out far, returning will also have to be in bullet train and that would mean a cool 7000 Yen down in  1 hr 20 min. Kodama had closer stops on the ride to Gifu towards Osaka or at Mikawa-anjo towards Tokyo. But those were barely 10 min ride . But, the  good part was both stations had Meitetsu trains and one can ride back in a lesser speed and lower cost train to Nagoya back. Again the cost was almost 2000 Yen for a return trip.And more importantly, I wasn't sure if Bullet can reach high MPS within that short time frame.

So Hikari came to my rescue. Towards Tokyo, Hikari runs one in an hour on weekends, in between the Nozomis which almost run within a gap of 8 min along with Kodamas . Basically, if you stand at the Bullet train platforms there is a bullet every 4 minutes.Frantic search on multiple private railways maps and calculating fares led me to a website, hyperdia.com.

Its a very simple site and of great help to people who have zero Japanese knowledge.The interface is simple, you can select any stations, date and hour of travel and then choose as many filters as possible and it will give you all options like Airways, commuter trains, buses, pvt railways and even bullet trains. Its a Trivago of railways search.I settled for Nagoya to Toyohashi a ride of 19 min covering 72.4 km with an average of 230kmph from start to stop and the MPS of around 280 kmh.

Tickets have a base fare of 1320 yen for this 19 min ride with a compulsory add on of 980 for unreserved seat(3*2 seating), 2000 more for a reserved seat(same 3*2 seating but with a reserved seat number printed) and around 3000 for a Green Seat(2*2 Executive styled). I picked the unreserved seat at 1320+980 Yen one way.

A little bit of research meant that I can very well go with a Unreserved seat booking as at prime stations like Nagoya one does have a good chance to get a window in non festival days.For me, Toyohashi was preferable as I could ride back in a normal Meitetsu commuter taking around 55 min for the same 72.4 km ride at a cheaper fare in a Limited Express with 6 stops . A slightly different alignment though.

 I walked down from my apartment to Nagoya a 5 min leisurely walk adhering to all road signals, otherwise this could be a 2 min walk in India. Used my Credit Card on the Ticket Vending Machine to buy myself a Hikari Ticket to be departing from pf 14.There are 4 pfs (2 island styled 14,15,16,17 numbered) dedicated platforms to Bullet trains for Tokyo and Osaka. There were 2 Nozomis scheduled from same pf before mine arrived. There are platform screens to prevent trespassing onto the tracks. The tracks looked SG Gauge and OHE was charged to 25KV

Commuters waiting patiently at the Mall within the Station to open its doors at 10 am.

That's my train indicated in Red

OHE 

Ticket for the ride.

A typical station  with restrooms, smoking rooms and convenience store on the bullet train platform.

I captured the other trains till mine arrived. People as usual queued up for entering the train in true Japanese Style. In a 16 car ( twin 8 car train sets coupled) , cars 1-3 are non reserved in Nozomis and in Hikari cars 1-5 are non reserved. I queued up for car 4. To be the first one to enter to get a window at the earliest. In a 16 car set, except for the first and last car all the 14 cars have traction motors powered bogies and that gives the Bullet trains the power to accelerate and decelerate so quickly. The nose is a mix of science and art. It looks so beautiful and the livery of white with blue stripe is so simple yet stunning . It glitters in the sunshine.

A Panoramic Shot of the 16 coach bullet  train at Nagoya.

Goods trains speeding through Nagoya

Auto door closing mechanism

 Finally, Hikari arrived and I was lucky to get a window seat 1E . Settled down and a typical chair car layout consisted of 3*2 seating and 18 rows making it 90 seater. 

3 x 2 Seating

Very good Leg room

The coach composition with a smoking room and adjacent coach for Trash and Toilet is schematically given behind each seat for ease of access.

We start right on time. I had placed my phone sticking to the glass window to get an uninterrupted shot of the run till it achieves MPS.We depart and whoosh... It accelerates like a rocket out and there is no slowdown , simply gaining speed per second till it reaches MPS .

Speedometer and the stats while we rush past the suburbs.

View cutters are a dampener at certain places but otherwise the movement is too fast for our eyes to register them.The cabin is completely silent and the only slight noise you might here is when we cross another Bullet on the opposite track, which comes and goes like another whooshh.

The outskirts of Nagoya are green and full of paddy fields but, there is no dearth of infrastructure development. Roads, Highways and basic infrastructure looks well built.The ride last about 18 min and a few seconds and well in time, we reach Toyohashi as promised by Japanese Punctuality.

One more to relish the memories.

Approaching Toyohashi. See how commuters line up to enter. You can also see a lot of JR Maintenance Wagons waiting.

Nozomi headed to Tokyo.

Nozomi headed to Osaka.

Satisfied with all the video shots, I head back to the FOB and check out of the JR lines to get to the Meitetsu platform without any tickets. I had a Manaca IC Card but it was not getting checked in. I inquired with station staff but, they were of no good use as they didn't understand a single word. I returned back to FOB and checked with a JR official and he said to carry in to the Meitetsu train and don't worry till I get out at Nagoya as it will be dealt there. Meitetsu platform entry didn't have IC Card readers capable of reading my transfer probably as I had not ventured out of the station  at Toyohashi but on his recommendation I walked into a Meitetsu Commuter train which had 6 stops to Nagoya in a 55 min ride.

At Nagoya, I tried walking out and naturally the doors closed on me. An official directed me to the Fare Adjustment counter where he asked me the originating station for the ride. He did something on the reader at his console with my Card on it and asked me to try walking out again. I was successful in doing so. Thanked him with a head nod with a bent back and walked back to my apartment.Thats all folks on my Japanese adventures.

For Railfans: No matter where we go , we are always on the look out for  trains. Other things are too mainstream for us. Hope you enjoyed this longish blog.