A Journey with Indian Railways- "The 8500ing" .

[Prithvi]

I was pretty excited to appear on Television for an interview, when the South Central Railway Kacheguda divisional in-charge started speaking. He grabbed the attention of media, which resulted in me not getting interviewed . Without much disappointment, I went to home, took ample amount of rest for the big day!

I woke up at formidable time, 06:00 and got ready. the reporting time at Secunderabad "Rail Nilayam" was 16:00 hours. 10 hours and I was a railway official. I was having twin feelings. I was pretty excited as I'm going to spend much time in one of my interests and at the same time the worry of leaving home for trips dominated whenever I saw my family members. Few of my friends along with my parents came to give me a send off to Rail Nilayam.

They clearly said that after the following weeks trip, we'd have to write a small exam, after which 14 members will be sacked as they needed just 46. We all were taken to the Lallaguda Electric loco shed and an experienced driver gave us brief idea on how to ride an electric locomotive. We were taught how to couple the train with engine and many more new things like switching tracks, communicating with the other trains and stations nearby us etc. We were taken to Hyderabad Deccan railway station to show us practically how to communicate with other train officials when they are more than two. By 20:00 hours, we reached Secunderabad Junction railway station, where we had our train scheduled at 21:20 hours for our one week tour.

The Lallaguda Electric Loco Shed.​

By 21:00, the train successfully came to a halt at Secunderabad Junction at Platform 10. We were taken to our special coaches where we took our respective seats. We were instructed to observe everything keenly and asked us to write a diary type thing on what all we observed, day by day. The train was given green signal and train started moving. We kicked off our one week journey successfully and this journey was named "Pratham Yaatra", a hindi word, which means first travel.

Stay tuned to know what happened later!​

 

[Aditya]

I must say that your writing has improved a lot, Binnu. This story has been really good so far. Keep it up.

 

[Meet]

This has been a great update.KIU

 

[Meet]

And how much were you able to learn during this "Big day"?

 

[Prithvi]

And how much were you able to learn during this "Big day"?

Hmm.... may be I'll disclose when I come through the situation when I need to apply it....

 

[Prithvi]

The journey started off, when the WDP-3a from Krishnarajapuram Diesel Loco Shed pulled the Visakhapatnam-Lokamanya Tilak Superfast express rake from Secunderabad junction to the Wadi line. The rail crossings were too much, cause the station we left was a junction, a common point for about 4 main lines. Finally, after all crossings, the train started moving in a formidable speed of 30 KM/H, when we came across few local railway stations like "Minister Street", "Begumpet", "Hi tech City" after which, the train accelerated at a good rate.

The train came to a halt at Vikarabad Junction, just couple of minutes late, when compared to its schedule time. As it was the last station in SCR division in its route, the crew changes took place within couple of minutes. The Engine Driver was changed. The train started accelerating right after leaving Vikarabad in a better rate. Its speed was about 70 KM/H when brakes were applied to stop the train as it was emergency stoppage due to signal failure. Within 4 minutes of time, the train resumed its journey to Mumbai. The train started tearing the tracks, with its blitzing speed of 120 KM/H. It whizzed past few stations like Tandur, Nawandgi, Kurgunta, averaging about 90 KM/H. Right before Wadi Junction, the train had two routes, where the train took Wadi route. Taking other route would result in going to Bengaluru. We took the Wadi route, and the train entered Wadi Junction at 00:20 hours, 15 minutes ahead of its scheduled time. I took a nap after the train reached Wadi, as it was late night already.

I woke up just before the train passed Daund Junction, at about 06:00 hours. The train was at a speed of about 80 KM/H, when I woke up. I got myself ready, went and stood on foot board. Ours being the last compartment, I could see the total train where ever there was a turning. I observed many things like the train not going beyond 90 KM/H when there is a crossing ahead, etc etc. Our incharge woke up at 06:30, and ordered us to have a look at the Guards job. We all moved to the Guard's cabin, which was just after us.

Stay tuned to know what we did in Guard's cabin!​

 

[Prithvi]

the journey is resuming. wish me happy journey

 

[hedger_14]

lol, is this just because I resumed my story

 

[Prithvi]

lol, is this just because I resumed my story

No way, .
Your bump was inspiration though. I went back deep thinking if I left any stories uncompleted. I found many, of which I found this was something which I could give a go.