Channel: Best of Indian Railways

Category: Travel & Events

Tags: irfcasolapur pune intercitymumbai chennai mailchennai mailcstm mas mailgootyjayanti janata expressmumbai chennai full journeyhyderabad mumbai expressguntakalraichurkrishna rivergulbargakkmas cstm expressdaundadonicape cstm expresssolapurindian railwaysrajkot coimbatore expressms dr expresskarnataka expresschennai mumbai expressegmore dadar expresswadinagercoil mumbai expressahmedabad chennai expressudyan expresshutatma express

Description: In the nick of time! Some work took me to Bombay at the end of February and having read the million and one updates on IRFCA regarding the electrification of the Wadi-Guntakal stretch, I decided to undertake a trip from Mumbai to Chennai and cover the Daund-Guntakal section before things went under wires. This compilation presents the highlights from the yet-to-be-electrified Daund Guntakal section from the historical Mumbai-Chennai Mail, still running with a post-office red RMS coach. There was an engine failure for the incoming Chennai Mumbai Express which shares its rake with this train, delaying the departure of my train by 45 minutes, implying that we were delayed by almost 2 hours for the entire stretch, and then relied on the liberal dose of slack to arrive in Chennai on time. The train cuts right through the Deccan, crossing the Bhima river after Daund, traveling south-eastwards, slipping into Karnataka near Gulbarga, a bit into Telengana, and back into Karnataka after crossing the Krishna river. The terrain becomes quite rocky at this point, with a number of oddly shaped rock hills strewn about. Finally, we move into Andhra Pradesh a little before Guntakal, after enjoying a glorious sunset. Some of the major crossings were: Guntakal Alco with the Hyderabad Mumbai Express; Kalyan WDM3D with the Chennai Mumbai Express; Pune Alco with the Solapur-Pune Intercity; EMDs with the Nagercoil Mumbai, Udyan and the Karnataka Express (what a shame!); Guntakal Alco with the legendary Kanyakumari Mumbai Jayanthi Janata Express; and Erode Alco with the Coimbatore Rajkot Express.