Welcome to Railway Junction

13th February 2005 was a huge day, a day, that I was waiting for. That was my second journey on KRCL route (infact the first journey by Sleeper class). AT around 1210 hrs I was at Panvel station to board a train that was scheduled for 1255 hrs! As I was entering the foot over bridge to proceed to Platform #3 from Platform #1, I noticed a WDG3a #13059 from Pune running light towards JNPT. Soon after it left, at around 1230, a ConRaj hauled by WAG7 #27688 from JHS entered into the station and it halted on the main line. The platform had heavy RPF presence due to the presence of a Railway Police Station on Platform #1. Now the arrival of KR4 RN-DR Passenger was announced. The passenger arrived at 1254.The passenger was hauled by a KYN WDM2#18134. At 1304, my train 6345 DN LTT-TVC Netravati express arrived behind an ED WDM2c#17894, late by 15 mins. My coach was S7, SR 97234/A. We soon occupied our berths (34, 35). The train left at around 1315 late by 20 mins.

At about 1340, we pulled into the platform line of a small station named Apta, where we halted for the very first crossing for our train, and the train was 2617 Ernakulam-H.Nizamuddin Mangala Lakshadweep Express. It came behind an Ernakulam WDM2a#16678 at a very huge speed. We soon left the station and joined the main line. At 1406, we slowed down for a dual headed freighter, hauled by twin WDMs from Kalyan of which the trailing loco was WDM2#18059. We slowed down because, the freighter was on the main line and we were put to the loop line. We negotiated the points and re-entered the main line and soon picked up speed. We pulled into Roha at 1449 late by 7 mins and left the Station at 1457 late by 12 mins. Here a live KYN WDM2#18852 at the head of the ROHA-DIVA Passenger, and a dead ED WDM2#17543 were occupying the station yard. A few kilometers south of Roha, we enter into Konkan Railway (KR) territory. KR Territory is well known for its speed. It was evident from the fact that the train was seriously racing with the vehicles running parallel to the train on the highway #17.

At about 15.40, we were made to halt at Veer. We were on the main line. After about 5 minutes, I could see a train negotiating points and entering the platform line. That was the Diva Bound KR6 Sawantwadi-Diva passenger (This seems to be a regular crossing!). The loco hauling the train was Erode WDM2a#18535. We left the station at 15.50. We picked up good speed and it continued upto Khed where we were put into the loop Line. A light Erode WDG2#14667 was waiting for its signal on the other platform line. We crawled through the station and as soon as we joined the main line, we picked up speed again. We crossed the 0104 MAO-CSTM Mandovi Exp at Anjani. It was for the first time that a train was waiting for our train to cross! We pulled into Chiplun at 1706, late by just a minute. At Chiplun, a surprise awaited me. It was in the form of the Jodhpur bound 6312 Trivandrum-Jodhpur Express. The loco was Ernakulam's WDM2a#17620. This was my first sighting of an Ernakulam Loco. We departed from Chiplun at 1725 (late by 10 mins). Our next halt was at Sangameshwar Road (Unscheduled, of course!). This halt was to let the Dadar bound 2052 Jan Shatabdhi Express. Since the train was to pass at a very high speed, the public announcement system of the platform informed all passengers of our train to keep away from the mainline. The train whizzed past in less than a minute!

After Sangameshwar, out next halt was Ratnagiri, which was reached at 1906 (delayed by 21 mins). We left Ratnagiri at 1918 (again delayed by 28 mins). Now it was dark enough to restrict the Rail Fan in me! Our crossings in the night were a Roll on Roll off (RoRo) rake at Adavali (1940 hours) and the Mumbai bound 0112 Konkan Kanya Express at Nandgaon Road (2048 hours).Once the train left this station, I retired for the day, expecting some sleepless nights ahead. But sleeping at my berth (Middle berth) was not easy due to the heat!

The next morning begun at 0528 when the train stopped at Kasaragode, the first halt in Kerala State . Now the train was late by just 3 minutes! It was too cold outside. The run from Kasaragode to Kannapuram was quite uneventful. Majority of the stations in Kerala are just Halt-and-leave stations. Surprisingly, the train halted only at scheduled stops, which were: Kasaragode (0528), Kanhangad (0606), Charavattur (0626), Payyanur (0640) and Kannapuram (0700). At Pappinisseri (the station just after Kannapuram) we crossed the Mangalore bound 6029 Malabar Express which was hauled by WDM2a #16671 from Ernakulam (at 0703 AM). We arrived at Kannur early by a minute at 0717 against the scheduled time of 0718. But we left Kannur at 0725 LATE by 5 minutes! Our next halt was at Tellicherry at 0751, now delayed by 13 minutes! Here we crossed the Canannore bound 619 Calicut-Canannore passenger hauled by WDM2#18371 from Erode. Our next crossing was the Canannore bound 6347 Trivandrum-Canannore Express at Badagara (BDJ) behind WDM2#18534 from Erode. We picked up speed at Badagara due to which we reached Calicut a minute early at 1909 and departing 08 minutes late at 0923. Our next halt was at Parpanangadi (at 1000, delayed by 12 mins). Here we waited for the Calicut bound 615 Trichur-Calicut Passenger to vacate the main line owing to the single line ahead. It came behind a WDM2#17678 from Erode.

We had to halt at Tanur (1021) for the Canannore bound 6305 Intercity to cross us. It raced past us behind a WDM2#18337 from Ernakulam. As soon as the train departed we were cleared for departure and the train quickly negotiated points and entered the main line. Our other halts before Shoranur were at Tirur (1035, 22 mins late) and at Kuttipuram (1106, 33 mins late).

Our train pulled into Shoranur (SRR) at 1155 early by 10 Full Minutes! The station welcome me with a light WAP4#22360 from Erode, waiting light at the end of a platform. As soon as our train halted, this loco cleared the platform for the incoming 6327 Bilaspur-Trivandrum Express. This train arrived at 12.11 hrs with a WAP4#22380 from Erode hauling it. This train has a reversal here and the WAP4#22360 which I had spotted early takes charge of this train.

The joy of reaching Shoranur early by 10 minutes was overshadowed by the departure of our train which was delayed by 5 minutes (at 1215 hours). As the train pulled out of the station, I spotted a Dead WAM4-6PE#20610 from Arakkonam and a WDM2 #18335 from Erode hauling an unidentified passenger train.

The train soon negotiated points and entered the main line towards Ernakulam. Soon, we were on the bridge over the river ‘Bharatapuzha'. To my surprise, the Bilaspur bound 6328 Trivandrum-Bilaspur express was waiting on the other side of the bridge. The loco was WAM4-6PE#20434 from Arakkonam. That train had to wait since the bridge was a single lined section.

The train finally pulled into Trichur (my Destination) at 1245 hours, delayed by 10 minutes. From here my pilgrimage proceeds via Road!

Please click on the link on the left side to read the travelogue for my return journey. Thanks to everybody for ready this long-ish travelogue. Please send in you comments and remarks…