There are two forces: fate and human effort - All men depend on and are bound by these, there is nothing else. -----Mahabharatha
**TRIP REPORT**
The...
more... word KONKAN RAILWAY itself creates a panoroma of the lush green paddy fields alongside the rivers, the long tunnels which have the beauty of their own, tall green mountains flirting with the clouds, as if the bond is eternal, the single track MPS crossings which are next to none.The lush monsoon Konakn greenery must be experienced through one's own eyes as it cannot be described in words.
Welcome friends.
This is my trip report on the trip i persuaded from Mangalore (MAJN) to Pune (PUNE) on 11th June, 2013. This, being my first trip report on IRI may be prone to errors, so I request you all to apologize me for anything poor or silly.
I have been recently married in the last month, so was supposed to go Pune with my wife and mother from my home town (UD). Surprisingly, being a rail-lover, I was adamant
to take a volvo bus to Pune(travel time : 14 hours) rather than a train (Monsoon travel time : 21 hours) as buses reach quicker than train. But the ladies who were to accompany me insisted we go on train stating comfort factor. So finally, we got 3 2-AC Tatkal ticket for this trip.
On the day of journey (a very very rainy day), I reached MAJN with my wife 15 minutes before train arrival. The train was supposed to arrive MAJN at 12:25 hours and depart 10 minutes later. As i entered, 12619 LTT-MAQ Matsyagandha SF express, running late by more than 3 hours crawled through MAJN with a sparkling GOC WDP-4D. On the other end of platform, a freight train with UBL WDG4 twins was waiting for the signal to go towards North side. Our train arrived on Plt#2 bang on time with the SR's beauty ERS WDM3a 14125. We rushed in the AC compartment and got our seats soon.
My mother was to join us at Udupi (UD). We were greeted by a semi-dirty seats and few cockroaches, which left me shocked as I least expected an AC compartment to be be so filthy.
Only after boarding the train, I came to know that Monsoon TT has been applied on Konkan Railway and the train would reach Pune next day at 10 am (which otherwise reaches Pune at 5 am). I was a bit disappointed as I would miss first half of my office the next day. The train departed after 15 minutes. Little did I know that I was to witness my best rail journey till date as it was a terrific monsoon ride through the whole rainy coast of Karnataka and Maharastra. My wife did not allow me for any RF for 1st 2 hours and she insisted me to along with her. Outside I could see dark clouds with heavy rains lashing continuously on Mangalore-Suratkal strech. The train had a brilliant non-stop run till Udupi without any crossings.
To be contd soon...
Pics : Pics taken in the MAJN-UD Section
