Dadar/Pathankot Express - ਤੇਰੇ ਬਿਨ ਮਰ ਜਾਣਾ

People on our WhatsApp groups asked me to catch a glimpse of the Madgaon Gorakhpur one trip special but since another rake was blocking my view, I couldn't. Anyway, we were cleared at 19:10, about 20 minutes behind schedule and the fresh set of crew got to business right away, while the Shakti obliged wholeheartedly. The chase had now begun. The 12134 is a ferocious beast after Madgaon and claims its victims in the form of the 10112 Konkan Kanya and the 11004 Rajya Rani Express. Now, since we were running a bit behind schedule, the location of the first slaughter would inadvertently shift further up the line from the prescribed location of Sindhudurg. With animated discussions on the WA groups about where the overtakes would actually happen, I was kept updated throughout. A few trains were looped at wayside stations as we screamed past 'em and save for an unscheduled...
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halt on the mainline at Kudal to allow the Konkan Kanya to save its tail, we zoomed into Kankavali for the first scheduled stop in MH state. Skipping Nandgaon, a TSR was negotiated at Vaibhavwadi Road where the Konkan Kanya was a sitting duck owing to its scheduled halt. With Mr. Shaktiman getting verbal after sighting the 'Termination of Speed Restriction' board, we sped past the Konkan Kanya, still accelerating to hit MPS. Screaming all through, the Shakti crunched up miles as we sped past stations. The Rajya Rani was shunted off into a loop somewhere for us to race ahead. Just before Ratnagiri, I downed the shutters and went to bed.
Waking up to the raucous cacophony of passengers jostling around, I looked at my watch. it was 04:05 and upon sliding up the window shutter, I knew we were inside the Parsik tunnel. The Rocket had lived up to its name and was running almost on time. Quickly freshened up and hopped off as the train came to a halt at Thane. Though I had booked my ticket on the Double Decker from LTT(Lokamanya Tilak Terminus, Kurla), I gathered that it was too late and risky to go all the way upto CSTM and then head towards LTT via a harbor line local since DiDi had a departure of 05:30 from LTT and the time then was already 04:15. Thane at that hour was just waking up with the first of the morning locals making their way towards CSTM. Not knowing of any other plausible way to kill time, I bought a ticket to Ghatkopar and hopped onboard the next local that came in. Standing at the door, it was a mesmerizing experience with the cool breeze caressing my face as the local sped in between stations. The passengers onboard all looked drowsy, some returning from their night shifts, others looking forward to a long and tiring day, and then there was me, hopping from one train to another after coming all the way up to Mumbai. Some people are just crazy, you see. :p Anyway, headed back to Thane in the next down slow local and I still had about 30 minutes to kill.

A railfan was onboard the Jan Shatabdi to Madgaon and he asked me to come in front of his coach when the train made its scheduled halt at Thane. Since both the Jan and DiDi were supposed to arrive on Platforms 6 and 8 almost simultaneously, I stood in front his coach and waved, albeit on the DiDi's designated platform. Anyway, the Jan left after its scheduled halt but there was no sign of the apartment on wheels. Another 30 minutes passed and the Matsyagandha from Mangaluru finally rolled in. I grinned at this sight since this train could have put my plan in jeopardy if at all it had been allowed to proceed ahead of the 12134 but thankfully that was not be. At around 06:15, the first announcement was blurted out regarding DiDi's late departure from LTT. A few more similar announcements followed with the final one being that...
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DiDi had departed from LTT at 06:25 and would be arriving shortly. The shortly spanned for over 20 minutes until DiDi finally arrived with a Kalyan WDG3A Shakti as the power- Duh! Not again!
My coach was C2 and the seat was #50, Lower Deck. one other passenger boarded and occupied his seat in the lower deck. And thus, with a grand total of 5 passengers in C2, 2 in lower and 3 on the upper deck, DiDiji chugged out of Thane for the first time as a regular service. Oh yes, the rake was decorated! A lot of people were trying to get their selfies with DiDi at Thane and the subsequent stations en route. Being a late departure, we trailed the Diva Madgaon Passenger and thus had to endure brief halts at wayside stations in the run up to Panvel, where the culprit was shown its rightful place. The passengers onboard that train stared in awe as the yellow-red apartment started rolling out. The TTE checked my ticket and went away only to be followed by another, haphazardly dressed, young, mannerless dick-head. He came and asked me my seat number in a very rude manner to which I replied in an equally rude tone as well. Who gives a F about such losers anyway?
As the sun rose higher up in the eastern sky, we sped towards Konkan, skipping the remainder of the Central Railway stations. At Roha, a fresh set of crew was awaiting us and so were a bunch of policemen who were ecstatic to see DiDi. Thus began the saga of clicking selfies and group pictures. Meanwhile, the pilot stood beside the loco and exercised his right to faith before taking charge of DiDi on her first regular run on the monsoon railway. The first station, Kolad, was skipped at about a 100Kmph. Meanwhile, I was being pestered by the folks from the WA groups to note the speeds that DiDi would manage on KR and I sent a few audio clips that asserted their beliefs that the train was indeed allowed to do three digit speeds. Oh, I forgot to mention, the AC in our coach was set to freeze any unsuspecting souls and I had a hard time staying inside. Most of the time was spent at the door with the cool breeze being a charming entity to accompany on a doorplating adventure. The oscillations were a bit on the higher side though as is evident from the video that accompanies this write up.
TO BE CONTD...