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The Down Journey
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June 2003

A Ring route

The Down journey

It was in June 2003. I completed by Higher Secondary Certificate Course (Standard 12) and had a very long vacation. My dad had to go to Coimbatore , where we owned a property, for some personal work. Holidays and loneliness at home gave me an idea; accompany him. My dad had booked tickets for the up and down journey by then. Later I had to book a ticket for me separately for the down journey and for the up journey, my dad changed his program and hence he cancelled his ticket and booked another ticket for both of us together.

We were scheduled to leave Mumbai for Coimbatore on 1013 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) - Coimbatore Express. The journey was on 17 June 2003. We both left our home in Navi Mumbai (or New Bombay) at about 2000. We went to the station, and boarded a suburban local train bound for Mumbai CST. We would get down at Tilak Nagar, a station short of Kurla. The local was at around 2040 and we reached Tilak nagar at about 2115. The train is scheduled for departure at 2225. A long 70 minutes to be spent at the station. Unusually the platforms were crowded. At this time, LTT has around 3 departures including ours. Our train was supposed to come on Platform #1, Platform #2 had Howrah Express and Platform #3 had Gorakhpur bound Kushinagar Express. Shortly, at about 2125, the rake of our train was shunted into the platform. My dad had a confirmed reservation in coach number S2 while I had a RAC Accommodation in coach number S11. Those days 1013 had a usual load of 19 coaches, and on that particular day a divisional coach too was added. Later on, after boarding the coach, the exact reason of the rush was found out. The Sri Sri Ravishankar Foundation had organised an advanced course in 'The Art of Living' at Bangalore . Hence the entire rush was bound to Bangalore . For the first time, 1013 was fully booked and confirming my RAC was very difficult. The bookings were done in bulk and each compartment (sleeper coaches only) had atleast 40-60 people bound for the same venue. I am not exaggerating. The train was so crowded that day-time passengers who usually 'storm' the compartments in Andhra Pradesh during the day had a lesson for their life.

Those days, I was not a member at IRFCA and hence did not know much technical information about railways. Some things that I faintly remember about my journey is that as soon as the train left LTT, I saw the Jan Shatabdhi coming from Madgaon waiting for a platform. Those days Jan Shatabdhi used to run between LTT and Madgaon. I did not sleep until we reached Pune. The next morning for me started at somewhere near Gulbarga . We had our breakfast from Wadi.

Those days, when a Journey between Coimbatore and Mumbai atleast twice in a year was for sure, I used to wait for Dharmavaram. It is from Dharmavaram that SWR territory begins. Dharmavaram is famous for its Dhal Vadas. We usually have dhal vada from this station and this train always reaches this station quite early and halts atleast for 30 minutes. After Dharmavaram, which is reached at around 1730, it begins to get darker. The next station which everybody notices is Bangalore City Jn. On that particular day, the train reached quite late at around 2340 or thereabouts.

Our dinner is usually at Bangalore , since the train did not have a pantry car those days. At Bangalore , the train got literally empty. Each coach did not have more that 10-15 passengers. Some unreserved passengers got in from Bangalore and getting a berth for them was not at all difficult. I decided to shift to S2, so that I would be with my dad. The train has a reversal at Bangalore and S2 was now the fourth compartment from the loco. The train departed at around 2330. However, Coimbatore was reached before time, at about 0650 or so.

We walked out of the station and hired a rickshaw to a lodge where our accommodation was already arranged. We were at Coimbatore on 19 and 20 June 2003. We proceeded to Trichur in Kerala on the evening of 20 June 2003 by a Kerala State Transport Bus. We spent 21 st June at our family home at Kerala and finally returned to mumbai on 22 June 2003.

The return Journey

The return journey was something which I had been waiting for. It was by 6346 Trivandrum - LTT Netravati Express through the Konkan Railway Route . That was my first journey on that route. Incessant rains on 21 st June in Kerala caused some landslides in Kasaragode. Due to this tracks were washed away at some places. But some trains were still operational on that route. That gave me some relief, that my dream journey is not hampered.

In order to travel on the train, we left our home at around 1330 and proceeded to Trichur station by bus. We reached the station, and checked the reservation charts since our tickets weren't confirmed when booked. The chart showed our status to be 'RAC'. We had accommodation in coach number S5. The train was scheduled for 1545. There some people saying that the train is re-routed. I rushed to the enquiry counter to confirm the route. A board was put up, which read: "Train Nos: 2617, 6346 re-routed via PGT". It meant that the KR route is "closed". We are taking the train's old route via Andhra Pradesh.

We proceed to Platform #2. We had to get back to mumbai and the route was not a problem. The train was to arrive 'late' at 1630 on Platform #2. Some time later, it was announced that the Bangalore bound 6525 Kanniyakumari-Bangalore 'Island' Express would be arriving on Platform #2. That train arrived at around 1640 or so. Finally, our train arrived at about 1645 and was on the platform for a long 30 minutes. We finally departed at about 1715. It was raining outside and our Glass shutters were pulled down. A few kilometers ahead, at a station called 'Mulangunnathukavu', we were put to the platform line. It was for an Overtaking. The late running, Delhi bound Kerala Express overtook us at great speed with an Erode Loco (probably a WAP4). The wipers of that loco were 'on'. A few meters ahead of our loco was a level cross. The level cross was shut for the Kerala Express. It went and the level cross was opened. It was ridiculous! An express train waiting for the level cross to be closed! We finally started moving and we reached Shoranur Junction at 1845 or so. A long 1hr 30 minute for a distance which usually takes 20-30 minutes. You can image our speed. The lights inside the coaches of our train are usually switched on at Shoranur. The same happened on that day also. But imagine being in a coach without light upto 1830 during rains.

We had to wait till the Ernakulam bound Canannore -Ernakulam Intercity reaches Shoranur. Railways had offered the passengers, to travel free on the intercity upto Shoranur where Netravati would wait for them. This train reached Shoranur at about 1900 or so. We finally started moving at around 1930. Our dinner was served after Shoranur. We reached Podanur at around 2300. Shoranur to Podanur usually takes not more than 2 hours. But we took three-and-a-half hours. I went to sleep. Out berths were actually a Side Upper and Lower berth. But since the Side Lower was a cancellation, we occupied it. Many people did not want to travel on this train due to the re-routing. I had a sound sleep since it was cold outside.

I got up in the morning at around 9 AM. At that time we were pulling into some station. Believe me, it was Bangarpet! We halted at Bangarpet for about 20 minutes. We crawled through Krishnarajapuram and Yelahanka. The train was crawling along the entire route. We reached Dharmavaram in the afternoon. In the evening at about 1700, we were at a station called Nagarur. The station had a platform, which couldn't accommodate the 21-coach rake of our train. Our coach was a few metres trailing outside that platform. At this station we waited for around three trains. They were Mumbai-Chennai Express, Mumbai-Chennai Mail and some other train which I don't recall. One of those Mumbai-Chennai trains was empty. That was probably an empty haulage. We departed the station after a long 40 minutes wait for crossings and overtakings. We reached Wadi by about 2100.

I slept after this station. I got up at around 8am. We were at Kurduvadi then! People were frustrated since the tanks had dried by then. An argument occurred but still water wasn't filled. Finally water was filled at Daund. We reached Pune at around 12.30 on Day 3 of our journey. Our lunch was served after Pune. It was fun watching the Erode Diesel zipping through the bhore ghats. We waited at the outers of Palasdhari Junction for some reasons best known to god! The train had to wait for each and every local train. We crawled through stations like Karjat, Neral, Badlapur, Ambernath and Vitthalwadi. The train finally pulled into Kalyan at 1700! A long 4 hours to reach Kalyan from Pune. We finally got down at Kalyan and proceeded to home by bus. We reached home at around 1830, delayed by 26 hours and 45 minutes.

This trip was digged out from some hidden memories. Hope you all liked it. Kindly write in to me with your comments and suggestions...

I am eager to know how you liked this report! Please send in your comments and suggestions (brick-bats also welcome) to binaiks [at] gmail [dot] com

©2005-07 Binai Kochunni Sankar

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