March 22, 2014
Train: 12434 H. Nizamuddin Chennai Rajdhani Express
On a chilly march morning, the Chennai bound Rajdhani Express exits from Nagpur pf2, led by LGD WAP7 30318. AS we move out, we can see the Nagpur Station coming to life, with people waiting for the early morning arrivals and departures. Its a merry run till Sewagram Jn., where we are halted on the Mainline between pf2& 3. During this time, the Dhanbad bound Deekshabhoomi express departs and proceeds towards Nagpur. After a few mins of unscheduled halt, the signal goes proceed...
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and the Rajdhani switches tracks to curve away towards Balharshah. As the bright early morning sunlight reflects upon the red carriages, the Nagpur bound tri-weekly express from Secunderabad approaches Sewagram for a scheduled halt.
We picked up speed pretty soon and hurried away towards Balharshah. Except for the odd slow down at Tadali Jn., the run was MPS all the way to the CR limits. At Balharshah we were received in pf1 and simultaneously the NDLS bound Grand Trunk Express was received on pf4. After that missed crossing, the Rajdhani departed and darted ahead towards Warangal.
Track maintenance works and OHE works on the northbound mainline, forced us to loop into many stations. And the no. of unscheduled halts that day seemed to be much more than usual. Sirpur, Manchiryal, Ramgundam, Bigusir Sharif, you name it, we are looped. Bellampalli was the most irritating, Kerala express was looped into pf2 for an overtake by us. And even though pf3 was empty, we were made to reverse loop into pf1 and escape from the station, delaying our already delayed Rajdhani by another few mins.
The Key high speed crossings were the New Delhi bound Tamilnadu Express, Andhra Pradesh Superfast Express (now christined as Telengana Express); the Delhi bound Bangalore Rajdhani and the Gorakhpur bound Raptisagar Express and the Lucknow bound Gomtisagar Express. The only significant high speed overtake was that of the Ajni-Kazipet Passenger led by a BZA WAM4.
We entered Warangal horribly late by over 2hrs. NDLS bound Kerala express crossed us here. As we left Warangal, the Kakinada-Shirdi Express entered for a scheduled halt led by an LGD WAP4. After Warangal, the Rajdhani did its best to maintain the 2hr delay all the way till Vijayawada and beyond. At Vijayawada, we met the 2nd longest running train of Indian Railways- the Himsagar express bound for Jammu Tawi. Presently the train is extended to Katra. It was a grueling run to say the least, but every moment was enjoyable.
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Telangana government has sought extension of Phase II of the Multi Modal Transport System (MMTS) up to Raigir, the nearest railhead point to Yadagirigutta. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao made this request in a letter to Union minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu seeking the inclusion of this proposal in the next railway budget. If the Telangana government's proposal is accepted by the railway ministry , then the MMTS line will be extended from Secunderabad to Raigir instead of MMTS services terminating at Ghatkesar. The Telangana government, the chief minister said, will bear twothirds of the extension project cost and sought the balance one-third to be borne by Indian Railways. In his letter, Chandrasekhar Rao explained to Prabhu that the state government is in the process of developing Yadadri (Yadagirigutta), the hill shrine which lies about 60 km from Hyderabad, on the lines of Tirumala as a mega pilgrimage and spiritual hub....
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Explaining that MMTS services have become popular in and around the city , he said that Raigir falls on the busy Secunderabad-Kazipet section of South Central Railway . He said that as per an estimate, it would cost Rs 330 crore for extending the MMTS services for about 32 km from Ghatkesar to Raigir. As per the already agreed cost sharing pattern of MMTS, the state government will bear two-thirds of the project cost at this stage of MMTS services. The extension will also benefit Indian Railways since laying of an additional rail line will substantially augment the line capacity and help the railways run more passenger and goods trains on the Secunderabad-Kazipet section.
The government also has plans to rename Raigir station as Yadadri station. The chief minister added that in the years to come, pilgrim traffic to the temple town is expected to cross one lakh a day and as such, increased rail connectivity would ease the traffic burden on the highway from Hyderabad to Yadadri.
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