Journey From Hyderabad to Bombay - Part 2

The silly train was delayed by two hours at Pune Junction due to some track work. So instead of leaving Pune at 8:50 AM, the train left only by 10:00 AM. And all that while we were sitting in the airconditioned comfort. Some of my fellow passengers decided to get off and rent a cab and take off via road to Bombay. Its just a couple of hours and I am sure these people made it much before me. I was not keen on doing it because I really wanted to experience the "Khandala Ghats" section which is a very beautiful and scenic mountain passes with tunnels and a great view.
This is a typical Indian Railways Diesel powered engine.

And this is a typicall Electric powered locomotive.
This part of the journey is the best as it covers some spectacular scenary. You wont believe that this is actually just outside of Bombay. I mean! Bombay equates to a chaotic madness and now this is actually that same city or at least the outskirts.

As the engine pulled out of Pune junctions 3 hours beyond its scheduled time, I had already wolfed down "egg sandwiches", and "wada pau". The "wada pau" being a very typical snack mean in this region. The first thing you notice is the total calm with which these canine creatures are chilling on the tracks. This is one of the busiest sections of the route and yet these dogs are just lazing in the sun. Only one bothered to look up because I whistled. The other did not even give a rats ass as to what's going on.

As we continued we passed the yard where the trains were getting bathed. Now, you see those coaches are called Sleeper Class 3 tier. Meaning non airconditioned and triple bunk bed system. Apart from the train, you can also see clothes left out to dry. Not unusual! Dryers are not exactly a common commodity for the ordinary people. More pictures of the city side of Pune. Pune is now a upcoming city with lots of companies setting up shop as Bombay gets over crowded. Pune has always had the very colonial english charm combined with refined people, a strong cultural identity. It is also the home for the NDA or National Defence Academy. I can compare this to the Annapolis or Sandhurst Academy. This is where our cream of armed forces are trained right after thier A levels. Its a tough entrance exam which also includes physical abilities. After 2 years of NDA, you would branch out to the appropriate service like Army, Navy, Air Force.






















The long distance trains are quite lengthy. This train had 18 coaches and one engine pulling it. These next pictures will show the train taking a lazy curve at 50 KMPH. We were actually slowing down for track works just ahead. And hence you will find some people near the tracks.















From this picture you can make out that the train indeed is quite lenghty. There are other pictures in this journey which would show the length of these trains. In Singapore our MRT contain 6 coaches. Now there are certain classification of trains in India that pull 24 coaches. Each coach is slightly longer than the ones made in Singapore. So if you are in a station, the platform is built to accomodate 24 coaches. Can you imagine the size of just one platform. Bombay has 24 platforms lined up parallel to each other. Go do the math on the size of the station.