Bilimora Waghai Narrow Gauge Journey

From a long time, it was my wish to cover 2 Narrow Gauge Lines - Miyagam Karjan Dabhoi & Bilimora (BIM) -  Waghai(WGI). One fine day I got to know that Miyagam Line shall be closed soon along with many other Narrow Gauge lines across the country. Hence I decided to atleast travel in BIM-WGI line before it meets the same fate as others at the earliest.

Finally on 18th August, Saturday Me along with fellow Rail Enthusiast Khurshed Lawyer started off early from Mumbai by 22953 Gujrat Express upto Bilimora. 22953 reaches BIM by 09.35 as per schedule and 52001 BIM WGI Passenger leaves at 10.00 which meant we had almost 25mins of spare time. 22953 took a bit long halt at Valsad (probably for a crew change) and we reached BIM approx 5 to 7mins behind the usual schedule. Enroute we had a magnificent view of Vaitarna river as our train passed over Vaitarna bridge and customary overtake by 12009 Ahmedabad bound Shatabdi Express at Umbergam Road.

                                            View of Vaitarna River from Vaitarna Bridge

The moment we got down at Bilimora we made a quick dash to the ticket counter and headed to Narrow Gauge platforms at the other side. The rake was already stabled on Platform along with its loco attached. After a quick photography session on the station we made it inside the coach by 9.55 and bang at 10am, our power ZDM-5 #503 (shed - Pratapnagar) started off our train with a long honk.

                                      Pratapnagar ZDM-5 #503 with 52001 BIM WGI Passenger

About the section - 

BIM - WGI follows a One Train only System of working. Our train cruised through the tracks at 30/35kmph approx which might be the MPS of this section. There were numerous Caution Orders of 10kmph enroute. The same consists does a total of 4 services in a day. 

Along with crew, there is also a Gangman onboard. At Level crossing gates, the train used to stop some distance before the gate, Gangman used to get down and close the gates by halting the traffic to make way for the train to pass. The train used to completely halt once it had passed the LC gate so that the Gangman was able to re-open the gate and get back in to the Train. 

We saw the Guard issue tickets to the passengers who boarded at intermediate stations. 

Once the ticket sale was done, Guard used to exachange Green Flag with the LP to indicate train was ready for departure. At the Level crossings where there were no Gates, there were STOP & PROCEED Boards placed few meters prior to the crossing for informing the crew along with the usual W/L boards.

Crusing at steady pace of approx 30kmph, as we left Bilimora, we were surrounded by a pleasent greenery all around us. It was a visual treat to watch our train moving such amazing scenery. 

We pulled into our first halt Gandevi a little late than the usual time. 

This station as such has a dilapidated building structure which may have been station building once upon a time. At every station enroute, we picked up quite a few passengers and proceeded towards our journey. Occupancy of the train was fair enough.

                                                      Dilapidated building at Gandevi

Since it was a One Train Only System of working, we didnot face any crossing like any typical single line section. The other stations like Chikhli Road and Dholikuva too offered some awesome scenic views.

                                                        Dholikuva Railway station

                                            A Green Canopy on tracks seen at Chikhli road

Due to time constraints, we ended our journey at Unai station and visited a locally famous Unai Mata Temple nearby. 

Interacting with few locals, and gangman (while he came in our last coach once post he re-opened the gates), we got to know that good frequency of buses exist from Waghai too back towards Bilimora and the journey time varies from a minimum of 2 to 2.5hrs. We also learnt that for the last few part of this journey the train passes through some dense jungle areas.

Return Journey:
Post getting down at Unai, we visited Unai Mata Temple.Somewhere nearby station, we sipped piping hot tea and some biscuits for refreshment (as it was raining heavily & there were no good food options visible as such nearby).As the rains receded we headed back to the bus stop right outside the Rly station in search of our connection back to Bilimora. 

We learnt from local people around and one staff that there wont be any direct connection soon for Bilimora but we can take a bus till Chikhli and get ample options towards Bilimora. 

Accordingly at around 2pm, we boarded a bus for Chikhli and reached there by approx 3pm. At Chikhli Bus station, PF-1 is dedicated only for Bilimora bound buses.
After waiting for a couple of mins, we got our pairing connection towards Bilimora and reached Bilimora by 3:30pm approx. The distance between Chikhli and Bilimora was 10kms and was covered quickly since we didnt face any traffic enroute. We looked around for couple of options to quench our hunger and found one right outside the station. After a good lunch, headed back to station to commence our return journey by 12936 Surat Bandra Intercity Express. Quick refresh in waiting room hall (which was well maintained), we headed back to PF-2 only to learn that our train was late by 15mins. Thanks to that, we could take a good video of Karnavati skipping Bilimora at its MPS. 

Exact at 5pm, our Intercity entered BIM PF-2 with BRC WAP-5 #30105 at its helm.

We had the most amazing speedy return journey by this train as it has an aggressive schedule and an equally aggressive run.

                                     BRC WAP5 - 30105 with 12936 entering Bilimora JN

The trip concluded at Andheri with some great memories of the Narrow Gauge journey and the aggressive Intercity ride.

Journey by Vistadome

The tourist coach "Vistadome" was first introduced for ECoR around April 2017 and attached to 58501 Visakhapatnam - Kirandul Passenger for boosting tourism in the Araku Valley.
The route from Visakhapatnam to Araku is quite scenic and the Passenger is the only daily train in the freight dominated section.
After having planned our trip for Vizag, needless to say Me and My Friend booked for a ride in Vistadome coach on 6th September.

58501 Kirandul Passenger at Araku Stn 

Booking ticket:
To book this ticket after logging into IRCTC, Select Source and Destination as Visakhapatnam and Arakku respectively. Select "EC" under class and you can book the ticket for this coach depending upon the availability. The total fare is 665/- 
The total journey as per schedule is for 3Hrs 55mins covering 131Kms by Rail.

Vistadome Experience:
The journey began at sharp 7:05am (the scheduled departure of this train). As we crossed Marripalem Halt to further join the Kottavalasa Line, the onboard pantry guy started to take orders for breakfast. Note that the Fare doesnt include the same and we have to purchase from him. We had couple of plates of delicious Idlis and a great coffee during the journey.
The Kottavalasa - Araku - Koraput section is mainly a freight dominated one. We crossed multiple freights throughout the journey which were looped for our train to pass through. Occupancy was great as initially when we booked there were only 2 seats remaining and we were the last to book those. On the actual day of journey some 5 of them were empty which I believe might be the last moment cancellations. The actual climb of the ghats begins after Boddavara station where one is treated with beautiful views of Eastern Ghats.

View of the Ghats onboard Vistadome 

Majority of the coach got empty at Borra Guhalu station which is nearby the tourist attraction- Borra Caves. We reached Araku with a marginal delay of approx 15 to 20 mins ( Lucky for us as next day and day after the train was consistently delayed in its run towards Araku).
The Vistadome coach is detached here and taken to the siding with the help of spare locomotive available. It stays there all day and attached to the same Passenger in the evening towards Visakhapatnam. The seats are rotated such that they face the direction of their return journey towards Vizag.

Interior View of Vistadome Coach 

Advantages, Drawbacks, Areas of Improvement:
Vistadome coach has wide windows which help us to get a good view of the surroundings, an Observation area at the end which helps to get the view of passing scenery from the rear of the train.

View from the Observation Area

The transparent glasses above arent much of use since they are narrow due to the AC duct of the coach. This needs to be widened and the arrangement of the duct might be made at the corners like the aircrafts so that the entire transparent glass above can offer an amazing view of the blue skies too.
With wider windows comes a disadvantage that the rays of the sun as the day rises directly fall on the passengers and thereby making them uncomfortable. There are window shades to prevent the same but a little glaring arrangement on the windows and the roof top glasses might help in reducing the effect of Sun rays.
Putting down the window shades will take away the amazing view offered by wide windows.
Return journey in Vistadome is highly not preferred and is usually empty because of following reasons:
1. Since the direction of the coach is not turned in the return journey, the observation area loses its importance as the glass gets blocked by the last coach of the train. One solution that may be thought of here is to increase the length of the coach so as to accommodate an observation area at the other end too. So, no matter whatever is the direction of the journey, purpose of observation area remains intact.
2. The passenger which starts from Kirandul/Jagdalpur (if the route is closed) seldom makes it on time to Araku. The delayed run in return journey doesnt really offer a great view as it becomes dark outside. Adding to it, Passenger Trains are not given priority over any other train. Hence the return jourey becomes very boring and uninteresting as the train gets heldup at multiple locations due to Multiple evening departues from Vizag. The onboard staff to endorsed the fact that quite a lot of times, the train ends up reaching late at Vizag.
The solution to this is to prioritize this train both ways such that it maintains the schedule. A marginal delay of 15-30 may be acceptable. We saw this train to be late by an hour or more almost daily at Araku and the delay used to increase further till the train reached Vizag.
Another solution is to operate the coach one way with Passenger and in return journey as a single coach train at its scheduled time of 16:10 from Araku if the passenger is badly delayed. ECoR needs to ensure the availibility of spare loco and crew around the time of departure towards VSKP for the same. It may only halt at Araku and Borra Caves stn to pick up tourists and head back Non-Stop to VSKP.
Concluding, this is the first and the most awesome initiative taken by Railways to boost tourism with Railways.If the patronage of this coach needs to be maintained both ways then punctuality of the train in both directions need to be ensured OR some solutions like the one mentioned above need to be given a serious thought and need to be implemented.
Recently Mumbai Division of Central Railways has also got one such coach and it is planned to be attached to Dadar Madgaon JanShatabdi Express as per various news reports.

Vistadome coach detached at Araku stn from 58501 Passenger