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Guntakal - Guntur Line --- Railfanning and Electrification updates.
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Guntakal-Guntur Line is one of the best routes for railfanning. It passes through the verdant Nallamalla Forest and offers the opportunity to capture the bygone era's engineering marvel - Dorabavi Viaduct. This MG bridge has...
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been dismantled during GC, but the pillars still remain amid lush vegetation. Though overgrown by vegetation, the height of the pillars can be gauged by the road seen in the pics.
The GC brought its own engineering marvel - the Bogada Tunnel, which is 1.6 Km long, which was constructed for BG at a much lower height.
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I had travelled in this route few times many years ago. Once while travelling on this same train, I had noticed something unique, which I was able to capture now.
Just before entering the Bogada Tunnel, the train stops and tribal people load many forest produces which they would have collected from surrounding forest into the train like bamboo - whole, cut, spliced for different uses, brush like plants - which would be later cut and tied together to form a broom. After loading is done the train resumes its journey. These loaded produces kept in aisle, near the door passageway (the bamboos being cut to the exact width of the coach), would then be offloaded at many subsequent stations.
I was told that not just this train but other passengers too stop, so that these tribal people can get down and go into the forest - day/night - collect and then load. Another passenger chimed into the conversation claiming that Expresses too stop.
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I have noticed unofficial stops being given for employees to go to shed or for other official reasons, but this was the first time I saw one for passengers sake. Anyway, it was heartening to notice IR too was helping the tribals integrate into society. These tribals had lived harmoniously in forests for ever till now. Now displaced due the reasons like reserved forest etc.. had no other go but to travel into forest and collect whatever they can and eke a living out of it. These produces like Bamboo made into different products like basket, ladder, chair etc... would then be sold in nearby villages and towns. The tribals too had settled in huts along the stations of this line, for the ease of travelling.
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This is a unique line where few of the longest passengers operated by IR (BNC-BZA and KCG-GNT) ply as mentioned in /blog/post/2104510 along with another long one UBL-BZA Pass.
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I will post the info and pics of the electrification updates of this line in the subsequent reply posts.
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