Miscellany - My Take: September 2016

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Behind Closed Doors

A Great Train Journey #MyTrainStory

There are some train journeys where you need a window seat in a second class coach. When travelling through excellent weather and a great countryside, one needs wind-in-the-hair, not glass-on-the-face! This is exactly what I did on the Sakleshpur - Subramanya Road route.

This is Train No. 16523 - Bangalore-Karwar Express. This train travels through lush greenery. The route turns spectacularly scenic between Sakleshpur and Subhramanya Road railway stations. Here, the train is about to approach Hassan which is a stop before Sakleshpur.

As Sakleshpur approaches, those who don't have a window seat move to the door so as not to miss this window of opportunity to traverse along one one India's most spectacular railway route.

The tracks are winding. It's green here but this will get spectacularly green is some time.

Here you can see Electricity Development Company's (EDCL) Hassan Wind Mill project which generates about 1.5 MW of Wind Power

The last straight stretch of track before the train reaches Sakleshpur - from where the ghat section begins

Sakleshpur railway station finally. It was a single WDP Engine which pulled the train till Sakleshpur. From here, this will be a hydra-headed - three engined train. The additional 2 engines are required to provide additional braking power to the train as it head downhill on the ghat tracks.While travelling back, from Subramanya Road, 2 engines will be attached at the back of the train to push the train upto Sakleshpur.

The Ghat section commenced immediately after Sakleshpur. From here till Subramanya Road the train will traverse through some of the most scenic routes of the Indian Railways

The 55-km-long ghat section between Sakleshpur and Subramanya Road is a trip through the nature’s creations as well as resourceful engineering. There are 670 bridges including 91 major bridges, with the Ghat section alone having 110 curves and 57 tunnels.

Another of the never ending bridges on the track

Though dense forests with the trees forming a natural green tunnel

It still mystifies me how the train always decides, correctly, whether or not to take the rail less travelled!

At Sakleshpur the train is at an altitude of 906 meters. From here it descends to 120 meters above sea level when it reaches Subramanaya Road station

There are so many twists and turns on the track.So many twists and turns on the tracks that one doesn't know whether to go to the left or right for the best view!