Chetak Express: - यार तेरा चेतक पे चले ❤️ - Keshav Saxena

Trip to Katra: Part-2
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Part 1: /blog/post/2333348
May 31st,2017
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After...
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alighting from 12723 at New Delhi railway station, we headed towards clockroom and deposited our luggage and headed towards a refreshment room located on the first floor on platform 1. A standard meal of 33 rupees and mutter paneer curry of 35 rupees was ordered as part of the brunch. The quantity was justifying the rate and the taste was more than satisfying. Nearly 10 long hours were there to board our next train and we had no options to kill the time except visiting any place in Delhi. Being a frequent traveler, I covered almost every prominent tourist place in Delhi. The only thing my parents didn’t visit was Bahai temple of worship. So we decided to have a go at it. Instead of taking public transit, we preferred the service of Uber. After spending good amount of time at Lotus temple, we decided to return back and just when I was about to book Uber service to New Delhi railway station, it started raining cats and dogs. After waiting patiently for half an hour, we booked Uber service and decided to head towards station amidst slight drizzle. After drenching in the flash rain, headache started gaining on me. By 3PM we were back in the station.
My earlier plan was to spend the large amount to buffer time doing some trainspotting which included witnessing the grand departures of Rajdhanis and Shatabdis which is less possible at other major stations of India. But the deteriorating health condition has restricted me to a bench on platform 1. While my parents decided to make a visit to Sainik Araam garh to relish their past visits, I was busy watching Shakurbasti shunters ruling the roast amidst the presence of WAP7s, WAP4s and WAP5s. Being on platform 1 means it was all about Shatabdis. First in the list was the arrival of Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabdi express which was brought by Gaziabad’s WAP5 30101. To add agony to already existing headache, the roaring EOG coach of Shatabdi halted right in front of me. To add some more noise to it, a SSB shunter came and got attached to rake. After creating 10 minutes of ear shattering noise, the shunter showed mercy and took the rake towards yard. While the rake of Shatabdi was going towards the yard, the rake of 12952 Mumbai Central Rajdhani was brought on to the platform 3 and Agra Cantt-New Delhi passenger arrived on platform 2. Many trains were arriving and departing on other platforms. At 4:15PM the rake of 12013 New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi express rake was brought on to the platform. All Rajdhanis were departing one after another except Sealdah Rajdhani, which suffered a delayed departure of 2 hours due to some reasons. Once Amritsar bound shatabdi departed, a Vadodara WAP4E brought Bandra bound Paschim express on to platform 5 and a light locomotive of WAP4E class from Vadodara shed passed through platform 1. While New Delhi was busy in its elements, Lalaguda’s WAP7 30274 brought the rake of Hyderabad bound Telangana express on to platform 4 and in 5 minutes gap another SSB shunter brought the rake of Kalka bound Shatabdi. Once Kalka Shatabdi departed, the rake of Mahamana express was brought on to platform 2. At same time the empty rake of Tamil Nadu express was brought on to platform 1 and after spending 15 minutes on platform, it was sent back towards yard. One thing I found fascinating was the announcements, where the fast paced manual announcements were dominating the relatively slow paced recorded announcements. Some interesting announcements were “All the unreserved passengers boarding Sampoorna Kranti express are informed that there are 4 general coaches and all general coaches are at last, attached to Guard’s coach”, “All unreserved passengers boarding Poorva express are informed that there are 2 general coaches and all general coaches are attached behind engine” and best of lot “Passengers standing on platform 13 waiting to board Swatantrata Senani express are requested not to board incoming Swatantrata Senani express, as it will be going to yard for maintenance. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.” That announcement clearly reflected the sorry state of Swatantrata Senani express in terms of punctuality. Once Shakurbasti bound MEMU made a quick arrival and departure on platform 1, the rake of Chandigarh bound Shatabdi was brought on to platform. By the time Shatabdi made a right time departure at 7:15PM, we headed towards the refreshment room for an early dinner. The standard meal was ordered and headed towards platform after completing dinner. By that time, Ahmedabad bound 12958 Swarna Jayanti Rajdhani was getting ready to depart from platform 1. We took our luggage from clock room and headed towards waiting room. After a freshup, we headed towards platform 5 where our next train to board Uttar Samapark Kranti was standing. A 2007 made well maintained lonely 2 tier coach of the train welcomed us. As we were killing time for departure, a tensed passenger was sweating as he was searching his name on the chart. After showing his message on demand, I said him “CONGRATULATIONS, YOUR TICKET GOT UPGRADED, PLEASE GO AND BOARD H1 COACH”. After guiding the lucky passenger, I entered the coach after listening to departure announcement made for Uttar Sampark Kranti.
Train: 12445 Uttar Sampark Kranti Express
Source: New Delhi
Destination: Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra
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After gaining a 3 minutes delay, we departed after experiencing a moderate jerk at 8:50PM. We crawled out of the busy railway station and continued the slow pace till Sadar Bazar and in the process we crossed the rake of Purushottam express standing in pitline, SSB shunter with the rake of Nanda Devi AC express and Gaziabad WAP7 30254 led Lucknow mail at Sadar Bazar. By the time we gained speed and started clicking MPS, it was 9:30PM and quickly jumped on to side upper berth and slept, saving some energy for next day which was supposed to be the crucial moving day of the trip.
June 1st, 2017
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By the time I opened my eyes, it was 6:15AM and we were cruising past Madhopur Punjab station, where we crossed Jammu Tawi-Durg express, which was hauled by Tuglakabad’s WAP7 30334. Oh dear, we were delayed by more than 1 and half hour and just entered the crown state Jammu and Kashmir. After a very quick and nonstop MPS run, we reached Jammu Tawi at 7:15AM. Delay was reduced to 1 hour. While my mom was cherishing her 25 years back memories when my Grandfather was posted in Jammu Tawi for 5 years during the sensitive period of late 1980s and early 1990s, I preferred to have a look at some locomotives resting there. I could notice couple of WAP4s from Gaziabad and Itarsi shed, a WAP7 from Vadodara, an EMD from Izzatnagar and some Alcos from Ratlam and Ludhiana shed. After a 10 minutes halt, we were given starter to cruise through the scenic section for next couple of hours.
While our train started curving out of the station, we crossed Somnath express and Shalimar express resting at outer. Now it was time to do some doorplating and put camera on work. After looking me standing and recording video, the coach attendant opened his berth and asked me to sit comfortably and take videos. First we negotiated a massive curve, followed by couple of tunnels before we started to cruise parallel to Tawi river. While curving through one of such huge curve, I noticed that the 24 coaches rake was pulled by Tigerface liveried WAG7, which means somewhere enroute, the locomotive faced some issues and got replaced by freight locomotive which could be the possibility of delay. Jammu city was graciously sitting on the bank of the beautiful river. While heading towards our next stop Ramnagar, we cruised through lot of curves, bridges and tunnels. Few were small in size and some were very lengthy. After skipping Baljata and Sangar at MPS, we curved through Manwal, where we crossed a parked passenger rake and entered the bridge laid over magnificent looking Tawi river followed by view of massive looking Kisanpur Manwal power grid. While I was busy in recording videos, I got the call from inside and it was breakfast time. This time it was cutlets to be relished in breakfast. By the time breakfast was done, we stopped at Ramnagar, where many passengers alighted. After a short ride, we arrived at our penultimate halt Udhampur. The train was half empty by the time we reached Udhampur and after a 5 minutes halt, we departed. By the time we departed from Udhampur, the clock was ticking 9:30AM and I was expecting arrival at destination around 10AM. After cruising through couple of huge tunnels for next 20 minutes, we were looped at Chak Rakhwal railway station. After waiting for nearly 30 minutes we crossed Ahmedabad bound Sarvodaya express hauled by 22334 Gaziabad WAP4. After the crossing we finally departed, adding a delay of 50 minutes to existing delay. While we were curving towards our destination, I had the opportunity of having a look of majestic Trikuta mountain, sitting gloriously in the lap of taller mountains in the backdrop. Uff, looking at Trikuta mountain, obvious question started rolling in my mind: “How on Earth will I climb this huge mountain with such a bad health??”. While the question was hovering in my brain, we entered the marvelous looking Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra station at 10:50AM with ultimate delay of 2:10 hours.
Coming up next:
Railfanning at Katra, followed by return journey trip report.