For the last few weeks I had been observing the work of slewing of tracks for the additional 7th line work between CSTM and Wadi Bunder Coaching Depot. Once this line was made functional, the innmumerable trips of empty coaches to and fro between the above said location would have shifted to the 7th line thus freeing up the fast corridor and help maintain punctuality.
On Saturday, 20th of March 2010, Central Railway (CR) put up huge notices in the local newspapers informing the general public about a 16hr Megablock, curtailing most of the Mail/Express services upto Dadar. I was doing second shift in office and while going to the office located at Cuffe Parade, I had noted that the work was indeed progressing at fast pace to meet the Sunday night deadline. Most of the sleepers for the 6th line track was in place and OHE and connection work was pending. While returning back, at 23:40 by the Ambarnath slow local, I had spotted a few laborers lying on the idle track. They must have been relaxing for the hard work on Sunday. As luck would have it, I was scheduled to return back to work at 9:30 am in the morning for a grueling 12 hr shift. But I didn’t mind it as it would have meant traveling into the eye of the Megablock when the track work starts.
Got up at 6:45 am and was all set to leave for office by 7:50 am. Took an auto to Dombivali Station and reached it by 8:05. I climbed the Kalyan end Skywalk to see the status of the indicators. There was a 8:07 Fast to CSTM scheduled on Platform no 5 and a 8:21 slow local to Kurla, which was of no use to me. There were repeated announcements of the megablock and all Dombivali locals were cancelled for the day, as reiterated by the blaring announcers on the Public Address System (PAS). I knew, that many Thane, Kurla, Dombivali locals would be chopped off the timetable today to reduce the headway near Matunga, as fast trains were supposed to be diverted to Slow lines from here.
I decided to alight on the platform no 5 and walk all the way to the CSTM End First Class.the platform was fairly crowded. The 8:07 fast was delayed and crowd was swelling up. At 8:12 got a glimpse of the MRVC rake moving towards us from the far end of Thakurli. The MRVC was 2149 and we left at 8:13. I made it a point to sit near a window facing the east side, as that would have given me insights into the track work at Masjid, even though, it meant getting the sun rays hitting you straight in the eyes . As soon as we left Dombivali, the motorman cut loose the beast in the MRVC and we managed to reach Thane at 8:24 all in a matter of 9 minutes against the scheduled run of 13 minutes. It’s truly a pleasure for a rail fan to enjoy such high speeds in a suburban section. Near the Parsik Tunnel, I could hear the WDP4 go past us with the Mumbai Madgaon Mandovi Express. As we waited at Thane, the PAS declared that our train will have halts at Mulund, Bhandup, Vikhroli, Ghatkopar, Kurla and Matunga and will continue to run on the slow track for the convenience of the fellow commuters after Matunga. The progress of 5th-6th line on the Thane-Kurla section was evident from my window seat. It looks good to achieve the June 2010 deadline, though work near Vikhroli needs to catch up. As we were making the halts mentioned above, I noticed some ‘Track Renewal Machines’ at the Mulund sidings. Don’t ask me the use of it, but I can safely guess that it’s there for the 5th and 6th line tracks work, if not anything else. Another WDP4 went past us in the opposite direction and that must have been the Mumbai-Bengaluru Udyan Express. I didn’t understand why we ran non-stop at Sion as it does have a platform on the fast tracks, albeit a 9 car capable. May be the compulsion of a dual halt would have dissuaded CR from doing so as most of the fast trains nowadays are 12 car. On the subject of dual halts I must say that the dual halts have been successfully abolished from Masjid a few weeks back.
We had managed to reach Matunga outer at 8:46, which was not bad considering the number of additional halts we had, but then started the crawl. We waited for a few minutes before managing to crossover to the Slow UP lines. After the Matunga halt, I was all the more excited to see the action through the grilled windows of the MRVC local. And soon started the action; first was the SCR rake of the Hyderabad Hussain Sagar Express lying idle in the loop line between Platform 7 and Platform 6 of Dadar. Preceeding it was a Yellow-Green livery WDS6 shunter from Kurla. As we entered platform no 3 at Dadar, the chaos on platform 4 and 5 was clearly visible. The place resembled a swarm of bees. There were RPF personnel manning the long line of commuter waiting for the Pushpak Express expected on platform no 5. The crowd was as usual uncontrollable. The Mumbai Kolhapur Mahalaxmi express was resting on platform no 6. As we left Dadar, spotted a WDS6 ready to shunt the Mahalaxmi Express rake alongwith the idle WCAM3 (panto down). Also, spotted a WDS6 with idle WCAM3 and the entire rake of Pushpak Express making its way to platform no 5. It was really interesting to see the WCAM lying dead sandwiched between a shunter and a 24 coach rake.
Soon behind it followed a WDMX with an empty rake which consisted mostly of blue livery coaches with an exception of few coaches in white/blue with red stripe livery. I think, it could be the Koyna Express. As we went past the Chinchpokli sidings, spotted the empty rakes of Mumbai-Karwar Triweekly Superfast and Janshatabdi rake (indented for the afternoon run to Aurangabad). We stopped at Byculla and as we were slowly making our way to Sandhurst Road, we spotted the Mumbai-Nagpur Duranto coaches lying idle at the Mazgaon Reconditioning Depot, also spotted a number of WCAM3’s with their pantographs down and resting in the yard. WDS6 is running the show today between CSTM and Dadar. After Sandhurst Road, spotted CR’s ‘Kaveri’ the miniscule OHE van below the Sandhurst Road (Upper level)station on the Fast Up tracks. There were broad Red flags on both the fast lines indicating a complete cease to traffic on these lines. There were laborers working at mutilple levels. Some were involved in digging, slewing, OHE work, carrying mechanical equipments, and there were huge number of Engineers guiding them. There was a huge makeshift pandal erected on the eastern side for the officers to relax at the location where the 7th line breaks off into the yard. It would be safe to assume that more than 200 laborers are involved. At Masjid end of the fast tracks was CR’s ‘Godavari”, another OHE van. The entire CSTM yard looked a deserted. The only rakes visible were the Mumbai-Amravati Express, Solapur-Mumbai Siddheshwar Express, GM observation coaches, and a few spare coaches of various configurations which have been lying there since ages. Only 3 WCAM3 were visible. I alighted at 9:13 am. Not bad at all for we managed to cover the distance between Dombivali and CSTM within 1 hr with so many additional stoppages, it was like a reverse Semifast local. Exciting times ahead for all CR guys…Hope to see the shunters with empty rakes on the 7th line in the next 2-3 weeks as the final work of connecting the 7th line to CSTM Mail/Express platforms need to be completed by then.
Happy railfanning……
Regards,
Nikhil Padinjaroot Karunakaran
