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Blog Entry# 1735244
Posted: Feb 10 2016 (18:35)
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Last Response: Feb 10 2016 (18:55)
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Last Response: Feb 10 2016 (18:55)
Feb 10 2016 (18:35) 11047/Miraj - Hubballi Express | MRJ/Miraj Junction (6 PFs) | PUNE/WDM-3A/18773R
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Entry# 1735244 Tags Past Edits
May 15 2016 (12:40PM)
Blog Category Changed: Travelogue by moderator*^~/12
Feb 10 2016 (6:35PM)
Loco Tag: PUNE/WDM-3A/18773R added by yogeshbk/1297909
Blog Category Changed: Travelogue by moderator*^~/12
Feb 10 2016 (6:35PM)
Loco Tag: PUNE/WDM-3A/18773R added by yogeshbk/1297909
#ObservationsAtPune *** Trip Report!!! 8 Years Ago at Pune-Miraj-Belgaum Section ! ***
Part I of Pune-Miraj, Miraj-Hubli, Hubli-Belgaum journeys by train (and last leg Belgaum-Pune was bus journey)!
I had some work at Hubli and Belgaum on Saturday/Sunday 09/10-Feb-2008. I checked reservation availability and I was surprised to see tickets available for 1029 Koyana Exp and 1047 Hubli Exp.
Immediately, I made second...
more...
Part I of Pune-Miraj, Miraj-Hubli, Hubli-Belgaum journeys by train (and last leg Belgaum-Pune was bus journey)!
I had some work at Hubli and Belgaum on Saturday/Sunday 09/10-Feb-2008. I checked reservation availability and I was surprised to see tickets available for 1029 Koyana Exp and 1047 Hubli Exp.
Immediately, I made second...
more...
seating (2S) booking for Pune-Miraj journey by 1029 Mumbai-Kolhapur Koyana Exp on 9-Feb-2008 and
sleeper class (SL) ticket by 1047 Miraj-Hubli Exp on 10-Feb-2008. Both the combined tickets cost was Rs. 230. I am not sure if I got telescopic benefit or not. Pune-Hubli SL journey cost of 2780 Goa Exp (as shown in website) is Rs. 260. And my ticket is anyway cheaper by Rs. 30 (at the expense of additional 5-6 hours, however, boon for a railfan)!
Goa Exp is always full and is impossible to get ticket at short period of 4-5 days before travel date! Hence, I had chosen Pune-Miraj and Miraj-Hubli journeys! And this gave me opportunity to travel on Shindavane-Ambale Ghat Section during day time!
The plan was to reach Hubli on Sunday morning where I had 2-3 hours of work. And then, the plan was to catch 1620 Hubli-Miraj Passenger and reach Belgaum by around 16:30 hrs. At Belgaum, I had 4 hrs work. And return journey was planned by bus from Belgaum to Pune (no bus reservations were made for the same)!
This part 1 of the trip report consists of observations at Pune Railway Station on Saturday 9-Feb-2008 from 12:45 to 13:15 hrs.
I reached Pune station at 12:45 hrs. I entered the station from Hotel La Meridian side (PF6 end) and walked down on PF6 to see
the locos in pit line near PF6. This pit line had orange KZJ WDM3A # 18980R (ready to move out position) and red/yellow/blue
ED WDM2A # 18534 (at dead end). I am seeing such Erode livery for the first time at Pune!
I then walked back on PF6 towards Mumbai end of Pune station and climbed the new foot over bridge (FOB), which is quite clean and very less crowded. I was waiting there for 1029 CSTM-KOP Koyana Exp!
A Kurla Shunter CLA WDS4D # 19718 was seen shunting goods wagons near cement loading area (Maldhaka area). Pune-Lonavala local departed from PF6 at sharp 13:00 hrs. This EMU had huge crowd, as after this 13:00 hrs local, next local towards Talegaon is
only at 15:00 hrs and next local towards Lonavala is at 15:40 hrs. So, with no connection to Lonavala for 2 hrs 40 min, travelers
take pains not to miss this 13:00 hrs EMU!
Soon, behind this EMU, a goods train hauled by twin Kalyan WCG2 locos moved from Ghorpadi side towards Lonavala side. The leading loco (towards Mumbai) was KYN WCG2 # 20134 and trailing loco was KYN WCG2 # 20135. Nice to see consecutive loco road numbers 20134/20135 coupled together. Light running green PUNE WDM2 # 17516 was seen moving towards loco shed. This must have come with Daund-Pune Passenger rake which was stabled on PF3. Later, at 13:25 hrs, the same rake departed as 1321 Pune-Nanded Nizamabad Passenger behind freshly painted blue PUNE WDM2 # 16042.
Derated green PUNE WDM2S # 18255 (loco marked as fit for shunting work only, not suitable for mainline work) was seen roaming around. Skyblue/yellow GTL WDM3A # 18885R was getting ready. I was sure that this loco will haul my train, 1029 Koyna Exp! Another derated green PUNE WDM2S # 18346 was seen shunting the rake of Indrayani Exp as Deccan Exp on PF4 (as the same rake of incoming Indrayani Exp goes out in the afternoon at Deccan Exp).
Announcements were being made about timely expected arrivals of 1078 Jammutawi-Pune Jhelum Exp and 1610 Miraj-Pune Passenger and timely expected departure of 9311 Pune-Indore Exp (which now runs on Saturday in addition to earlier Tuesday/Friday runs)! Announcement was made that my train 1029 Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Mumbai - Shri Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Terminus Kolhapur Koyana Exp is expected on it's scheduled time 13:05 hrs on PF1. I went to PF1 from FOB at around 13:15 hrs (as Koyana still had not yet come)!
Finally, my train 1029 Koyana Exp arrived on PF1 with KJM WDP4 # 20034. WDP4 was in long hood forward (LHF) mode towards Miraj direction. WDP4 was detached and soon GTL WDM3A 18885R was attached to haul Koyna Exp towards Kolhapur.
I boarded my coach D3 and occupied my window seat! Koyana Exp finally left Pune Station at around 13:40 hrs (now late by 25 minutes from Pune itself)! In the Ghorpuri Yard (GIT area), I saw KJM WDG3A # 13256 and orange GY WDG3A # 13246 Shakti locos. Koyana Exp halted for almost 7-8 minutes at Ghorpuri (GPR) station. This station has 1 island kind of platform to accommodate 2 trains. And on left hand side of GPR Station (while moving towards Miraj), there is PUNE DLS (Diesel Loco Shed)! I could see 7-8 locos inside DLS. However, due to high rising wall separating loco shed and station, I could not see/note any loco numbers.
Journey from Pune-Miraj to follow soon in Part 2!
sleeper class (SL) ticket by 1047 Miraj-Hubli Exp on 10-Feb-2008. Both the combined tickets cost was Rs. 230. I am not sure if I got telescopic benefit or not. Pune-Hubli SL journey cost of 2780 Goa Exp (as shown in website) is Rs. 260. And my ticket is anyway cheaper by Rs. 30 (at the expense of additional 5-6 hours, however, boon for a railfan)!
Goa Exp is always full and is impossible to get ticket at short period of 4-5 days before travel date! Hence, I had chosen Pune-Miraj and Miraj-Hubli journeys! And this gave me opportunity to travel on Shindavane-Ambale Ghat Section during day time!
The plan was to reach Hubli on Sunday morning where I had 2-3 hours of work. And then, the plan was to catch 1620 Hubli-Miraj Passenger and reach Belgaum by around 16:30 hrs. At Belgaum, I had 4 hrs work. And return journey was planned by bus from Belgaum to Pune (no bus reservations were made for the same)!
This part 1 of the trip report consists of observations at Pune Railway Station on Saturday 9-Feb-2008 from 12:45 to 13:15 hrs.
I reached Pune station at 12:45 hrs. I entered the station from Hotel La Meridian side (PF6 end) and walked down on PF6 to see
the locos in pit line near PF6. This pit line had orange KZJ WDM3A # 18980R (ready to move out position) and red/yellow/blue
ED WDM2A # 18534 (at dead end). I am seeing such Erode livery for the first time at Pune!
I then walked back on PF6 towards Mumbai end of Pune station and climbed the new foot over bridge (FOB), which is quite clean and very less crowded. I was waiting there for 1029 CSTM-KOP Koyana Exp!
A Kurla Shunter CLA WDS4D # 19718 was seen shunting goods wagons near cement loading area (Maldhaka area). Pune-Lonavala local departed from PF6 at sharp 13:00 hrs. This EMU had huge crowd, as after this 13:00 hrs local, next local towards Talegaon is
only at 15:00 hrs and next local towards Lonavala is at 15:40 hrs. So, with no connection to Lonavala for 2 hrs 40 min, travelers
take pains not to miss this 13:00 hrs EMU!
Soon, behind this EMU, a goods train hauled by twin Kalyan WCG2 locos moved from Ghorpadi side towards Lonavala side. The leading loco (towards Mumbai) was KYN WCG2 # 20134 and trailing loco was KYN WCG2 # 20135. Nice to see consecutive loco road numbers 20134/20135 coupled together. Light running green PUNE WDM2 # 17516 was seen moving towards loco shed. This must have come with Daund-Pune Passenger rake which was stabled on PF3. Later, at 13:25 hrs, the same rake departed as 1321 Pune-Nanded Nizamabad Passenger behind freshly painted blue PUNE WDM2 # 16042.
Derated green PUNE WDM2S # 18255 (loco marked as fit for shunting work only, not suitable for mainline work) was seen roaming around. Skyblue/yellow GTL WDM3A # 18885R was getting ready. I was sure that this loco will haul my train, 1029 Koyna Exp! Another derated green PUNE WDM2S # 18346 was seen shunting the rake of Indrayani Exp as Deccan Exp on PF4 (as the same rake of incoming Indrayani Exp goes out in the afternoon at Deccan Exp).
Announcements were being made about timely expected arrivals of 1078 Jammutawi-Pune Jhelum Exp and 1610 Miraj-Pune Passenger and timely expected departure of 9311 Pune-Indore Exp (which now runs on Saturday in addition to earlier Tuesday/Friday runs)! Announcement was made that my train 1029 Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Mumbai - Shri Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Terminus Kolhapur Koyana Exp is expected on it's scheduled time 13:05 hrs on PF1. I went to PF1 from FOB at around 13:15 hrs (as Koyana still had not yet come)!
Finally, my train 1029 Koyana Exp arrived on PF1 with KJM WDP4 # 20034. WDP4 was in long hood forward (LHF) mode towards Miraj direction. WDP4 was detached and soon GTL WDM3A 18885R was attached to haul Koyna Exp towards Kolhapur.
I boarded my coach D3 and occupied my window seat! Koyana Exp finally left Pune Station at around 13:40 hrs (now late by 25 minutes from Pune itself)! In the Ghorpuri Yard (GIT area), I saw KJM WDG3A # 13256 and orange GY WDG3A # 13246 Shakti locos. Koyana Exp halted for almost 7-8 minutes at Ghorpuri (GPR) station. This station has 1 island kind of platform to accommodate 2 trains. And on left hand side of GPR Station (while moving towards Miraj), there is PUNE DLS (Diesel Loco Shed)! I could see 7-8 locos inside DLS. However, due to high rising wall separating loco shed and station, I could not see/note any loco numbers.
Journey from Pune-Miraj to follow soon in Part 2!
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Part VI : Hubli-Belgaum Journey and Brief Details of Belgaum-Pune Bus Journey! (Final Part!)
My train 1620 Hubli-Miraj Passenger left UBL at 12:47 hrs and arrived at Unkal (UNK) by 12:53 hrs. Here, the train
was held up. And on main line track, I saw 1017 Dadar-Yashvantpur Chalukya Exp speeding towards UBL with orange KYN WDG3A # 13366 Shakti and dead brand new WDP4 # 20054 (just behind Kalyan diesel loco)! So, I guess, with Chalukya Exp, latest WDP4 20054 is being sent to KJM!
Amgargol...
more...
My train 1620 Hubli-Miraj Passenger left UBL at 12:47 hrs and arrived at Unkal (UNK) by 12:53 hrs. Here, the train
was held up. And on main line track, I saw 1017 Dadar-Yashvantpur Chalukya Exp speeding towards UBL with orange KYN WDG3A # 13366 Shakti and dead brand new WDP4 # 20054 (just behind Kalyan diesel loco)! So, I guess, with Chalukya Exp, latest WDP4 20054 is being sent to KJM!
Amgargol...
more...
passed without much action (except 10-20 travelers getting in/out of the train). 1620 was having less crowd!
Seats/benches were empty and choice of window seats was also available to travellers for first few stations!
At Navlur (NVU), same rake seen in the morning with boards of 689/690 or 0689/0690 Bangalore-Hubli-Bangalore Intercity
Express was stabled. KJM WDG3A 13331 and KJM WDG3A 14615 were seen returning light towards UBL! [Please see Part V
where they had hauled goods train from UBL towards NVU side. So, they seem to have put goods train on siding or outer
yard and were returning back to Hubli]!
At Dharwad, emtpy rake of 6201/6202 Mysore-Dharwad-Mysore Exp headed by KJM WDG3A # 14660 was taking rest! Also, goods train led by UBL WDG4 12130/12070 twin unit was held up and my train was allowed to proceed further.
At Kyarkop (KRKP), I saw KM marker read as "495" Kms! No idea from where this KRKP is 495 Kms away! At KRKP, a goods train headed by twin WDG4 was ready to proceed towards UBL. The leading loco (towards UBL) was AEB fitted blue/white UBL WDG4 # 12069 and trailing loco was yellow/white UBL WDG4 # 12003 (original GM loco)!
At Mugad (MGD), pairing train 1619 Miraj-Hubli Passenger was seen headed by blue PUNE WDM2 # 17344 loco! So, my train was lucky to get GTL WDM3D and paiting train was served by good old PUNE WDM2 loco!
At Kilometer Marker 508.300, Naglavi (NGV) station came. The station board appeared discarded/damaged and there was no
IR/SWR staff seen anywhere. This station seemed more like an unscheduled halt!
Next station was Kamabarganavi (KBI) and as usual, washed coal loaded goods train headed by AEB fitted UBL WDG4 # 12023 and normal yellow/white UBL WDG4 # 12011 (another original GM loco) waiting to proceed towards UBL!
Next station Kashanatti (KHST)! And some action was here also! Here, I saw light running GY WDG3A # 14906 heading towards UBL!
Next station was Alnawar (LWR) Junction! By the time train reached LWR station, it was late by 25 min approx (due to tons of crossings and/or overtakes and/or heavy goods traffic on this section)! At KM marker 526.600, around 300 meters ahead of Alnawar Jn (while moving towards Belgaum), I saw single non-electrified BG line bifurcating towards Ambevadi (AVA) on the left hand side!
Next station was Bhistanahatti (BIE). Again, station for the name sake! No action (even in terms of travelers) here! Next station was Tavargatti (TVG), here lots of passengers got down!
Next halt was Nagargali (NAG). Here, 6507 Jodhpur-Bangalore Exp speeded towards UBL behind twin KZJ WDG3A locos! The leading loco towards UBL was orange KZJ WDG3A # 14897 and trailing loco was orange KZJ WDG3A # 14925!
Next station was Devrai (DEV) or Devarayi! Here, the usual twin WDG4 feature back into action! UBL WDG4 # 12117 + UBL WDG4 # 12099 headed goods train with iron ore waiting to go towards UBL!
Not much action at Shivthan (SVTN). And then came the famous Londa (LD) Junction! Just after LD junction, while moving
towards Belgaum, line towards Madgaon (MAO) Goa bifurcates on the left hand side!
Next Gunji (GNJ) and Khanapur (KNP) passed. At Khanapur, lots of travellers got down. Next halt station was Idalhond (IDJ).
Here, many village folks got down and started walking towards their village (around 1 Kms from station and seemed to have
no mode of transport other than this railway halt station)!
Desur (DUR) soon arrived. Here, 7416 Kolhapur-Bangalore Hari Priya Exp speeded towards UBL headed by skyblue/yellow
GTL WDM3A # 18885R. This is the same loco which hauled my yesterday's 1029 Mumbai-Kolhapur Koyana Exp!
And biggest surprise was in store at Desur! Here, oil tanker rake (petrol fuel) was ready to head towards Belgaum, headed
by brand new blue/white PUNE WDM3D # 11224! I have never seen this latest PUNE WDM3D in/around Pune and this loco is doing work on UBL-BGM Section!
Finally, I reached Belgaum (BGM) at 16:45 hrs, late by 25 minutes! Belgaum station platforms are low height platforms and one has to step down 2 steps of railway coach to get down on the platform!
Entire UBL-Belgaum section passes through a deep forest with lots of high rising trees (and Bamboo trees at many places) on both sides of the tracks. At one location, I could see monkeys roaming around railway tracks! The entire single line strech has large number of C or S type curves and straight line tracks are hardly for distance of 200-300 meters at a stretch!
Most of the stations have 3 lines, with goods train held up on 1 line, passenger train taking 3rd PF line and any through fast
train going via main 2nd line!
Later, I came to CBT (Central Bus Terminus or City Bus Terminus) in Belgaum (around 3-4 Kms from BGM railway station). Here, the old red or blue or green KSRTC buses are now nowhere seen! Entire bus stand was filled with new looking orange/yellow NWKRTC (North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation) buses! I boarded Shirsi-Mumbai Bus (Shirsi-Hubli-Belgaum-Kolhapur-Pune-Mumbai route) and purchsed electronic printed ticket for Belgaum-Pune journey of 337 Kms for Rs. 207!
Around 5-6 years ago, Belgaum-Pune bus journey used to take 9 hrs. Now, entire Belgaum-Pune-Mumbai route is 4 lane road with up/down lanes completely separated by dividers, etc. My bus started from Belgaon at 21:30 hrs and reached Pune (Swargate Bus stand) sharp at 04:30 hrs next day morning. Journey took exact 7 hrs and too, with 40 min for driver's dinner and again with bus going off the main express highway to Sankeshwar, Nipani and Kolhapur Bus Stands to drop/pick up passengers! With good quality 4 lane roads, Volvos nowadays easily to Belgaum-Pune run in just 6 hrs (with 30 minutes single halt enroute). And they do Belgaum-Mumbai journey in just 9 hrs!
With fully developed road network in Maharashtra/Karnataka, it will be very difficult for railways to beat road services, even if they start Pune-Belgaum Intercity kind of trains. Only way they can probably compete with road is to start fast PUNE-BGM day train intercity with 2S seats which will cost approx. Rs. 120 and will do the journey in 8-9 hrs. Cost can only be the criteria.
Hubli/Belgaum cities seemed to be renamed as Hubballi/Belgavi and I saw Huballi/Belgavi boards at many public places and some boards line Belgav or Belgaon!
Entire Pune-Miraj-Belgaum-Hubli stretch has lots of trains, especially goods trains! And this stretch really needs doubling work to be done on priority!
Finally, I reached Pune station (as my house is 7-8 min walking distance from Pune railway station). While crossing over
FOB at Pune, I saw 1327 Mumbai-Bijapur Fast Passenger and KYN WCG2 loco that came with passenger was backing out.
Also, twin GTL WDMx loco 17770+17743 were seen moving back towards Ghorpadi side.
Entire trip was dominated by twin diesel locos, and MU'ed WDG4 locos was the most common thing in this part of SWR!
Seats/benches were empty and choice of window seats was also available to travellers for first few stations!
At Navlur (NVU), same rake seen in the morning with boards of 689/690 or 0689/0690 Bangalore-Hubli-Bangalore Intercity
Express was stabled. KJM WDG3A 13331 and KJM WDG3A 14615 were seen returning light towards UBL! [Please see Part V
where they had hauled goods train from UBL towards NVU side. So, they seem to have put goods train on siding or outer
yard and were returning back to Hubli]!
At Dharwad, emtpy rake of 6201/6202 Mysore-Dharwad-Mysore Exp headed by KJM WDG3A # 14660 was taking rest! Also, goods train led by UBL WDG4 12130/12070 twin unit was held up and my train was allowed to proceed further.
At Kyarkop (KRKP), I saw KM marker read as "495" Kms! No idea from where this KRKP is 495 Kms away! At KRKP, a goods train headed by twin WDG4 was ready to proceed towards UBL. The leading loco (towards UBL) was AEB fitted blue/white UBL WDG4 # 12069 and trailing loco was yellow/white UBL WDG4 # 12003 (original GM loco)!
At Mugad (MGD), pairing train 1619 Miraj-Hubli Passenger was seen headed by blue PUNE WDM2 # 17344 loco! So, my train was lucky to get GTL WDM3D and paiting train was served by good old PUNE WDM2 loco!
At Kilometer Marker 508.300, Naglavi (NGV) station came. The station board appeared discarded/damaged and there was no
IR/SWR staff seen anywhere. This station seemed more like an unscheduled halt!
Next station was Kamabarganavi (KBI) and as usual, washed coal loaded goods train headed by AEB fitted UBL WDG4 # 12023 and normal yellow/white UBL WDG4 # 12011 (another original GM loco) waiting to proceed towards UBL!
Next station Kashanatti (KHST)! And some action was here also! Here, I saw light running GY WDG3A # 14906 heading towards UBL!
Next station was Alnawar (LWR) Junction! By the time train reached LWR station, it was late by 25 min approx (due to tons of crossings and/or overtakes and/or heavy goods traffic on this section)! At KM marker 526.600, around 300 meters ahead of Alnawar Jn (while moving towards Belgaum), I saw single non-electrified BG line bifurcating towards Ambevadi (AVA) on the left hand side!
Next station was Bhistanahatti (BIE). Again, station for the name sake! No action (even in terms of travelers) here! Next station was Tavargatti (TVG), here lots of passengers got down!
Next halt was Nagargali (NAG). Here, 6507 Jodhpur-Bangalore Exp speeded towards UBL behind twin KZJ WDG3A locos! The leading loco towards UBL was orange KZJ WDG3A # 14897 and trailing loco was orange KZJ WDG3A # 14925!
Next station was Devrai (DEV) or Devarayi! Here, the usual twin WDG4 feature back into action! UBL WDG4 # 12117 + UBL WDG4 # 12099 headed goods train with iron ore waiting to go towards UBL!
Not much action at Shivthan (SVTN). And then came the famous Londa (LD) Junction! Just after LD junction, while moving
towards Belgaum, line towards Madgaon (MAO) Goa bifurcates on the left hand side!
Next Gunji (GNJ) and Khanapur (KNP) passed. At Khanapur, lots of travellers got down. Next halt station was Idalhond (IDJ).
Here, many village folks got down and started walking towards their village (around 1 Kms from station and seemed to have
no mode of transport other than this railway halt station)!
Desur (DUR) soon arrived. Here, 7416 Kolhapur-Bangalore Hari Priya Exp speeded towards UBL headed by skyblue/yellow
GTL WDM3A # 18885R. This is the same loco which hauled my yesterday's 1029 Mumbai-Kolhapur Koyana Exp!
And biggest surprise was in store at Desur! Here, oil tanker rake (petrol fuel) was ready to head towards Belgaum, headed
by brand new blue/white PUNE WDM3D # 11224! I have never seen this latest PUNE WDM3D in/around Pune and this loco is doing work on UBL-BGM Section!
Finally, I reached Belgaum (BGM) at 16:45 hrs, late by 25 minutes! Belgaum station platforms are low height platforms and one has to step down 2 steps of railway coach to get down on the platform!
Entire UBL-Belgaum section passes through a deep forest with lots of high rising trees (and Bamboo trees at many places) on both sides of the tracks. At one location, I could see monkeys roaming around railway tracks! The entire single line strech has large number of C or S type curves and straight line tracks are hardly for distance of 200-300 meters at a stretch!
Most of the stations have 3 lines, with goods train held up on 1 line, passenger train taking 3rd PF line and any through fast
train going via main 2nd line!
Later, I came to CBT (Central Bus Terminus or City Bus Terminus) in Belgaum (around 3-4 Kms from BGM railway station). Here, the old red or blue or green KSRTC buses are now nowhere seen! Entire bus stand was filled with new looking orange/yellow NWKRTC (North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation) buses! I boarded Shirsi-Mumbai Bus (Shirsi-Hubli-Belgaum-Kolhapur-Pune-Mumbai route) and purchsed electronic printed ticket for Belgaum-Pune journey of 337 Kms for Rs. 207!
Around 5-6 years ago, Belgaum-Pune bus journey used to take 9 hrs. Now, entire Belgaum-Pune-Mumbai route is 4 lane road with up/down lanes completely separated by dividers, etc. My bus started from Belgaon at 21:30 hrs and reached Pune (Swargate Bus stand) sharp at 04:30 hrs next day morning. Journey took exact 7 hrs and too, with 40 min for driver's dinner and again with bus going off the main express highway to Sankeshwar, Nipani and Kolhapur Bus Stands to drop/pick up passengers! With good quality 4 lane roads, Volvos nowadays easily to Belgaum-Pune run in just 6 hrs (with 30 minutes single halt enroute). And they do Belgaum-Mumbai journey in just 9 hrs!
With fully developed road network in Maharashtra/Karnataka, it will be very difficult for railways to beat road services, even if they start Pune-Belgaum Intercity kind of trains. Only way they can probably compete with road is to start fast PUNE-BGM day train intercity with 2S seats which will cost approx. Rs. 120 and will do the journey in 8-9 hrs. Cost can only be the criteria.
Hubli/Belgaum cities seemed to be renamed as Hubballi/Belgavi and I saw Huballi/Belgavi boards at many public places and some boards line Belgav or Belgaon!
Entire Pune-Miraj-Belgaum-Hubli stretch has lots of trains, especially goods trains! And this stretch really needs doubling work to be done on priority!
Finally, I reached Pune station (as my house is 7-8 min walking distance from Pune railway station). While crossing over
FOB at Pune, I saw 1327 Mumbai-Bijapur Fast Passenger and KYN WCG2 loco that came with passenger was backing out.
Also, twin GTL WDMx loco 17770+17743 were seen moving back towards Ghorpadi side.
Entire trip was dominated by twin diesel locos, and MU'ed WDG4 locos was the most common thing in this part of SWR!
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