As we bid adieu for the Villupuram - mayavaram passenger that was looped at platform - 2 of vaithiswaran kovil, we steadily accelerated and attained a decent speed till our train skipped sirkazhi. There still exists a speed restriction for trains that doesn't stop at sirkazhi. The white stallion accelerates further to touch the maximum permissible speed, and kollidam station came at no time, indicating that we would be crossing kollidam river, which is the longest in this single line section. This time, i shifted to the left side window of my bay, which was still not occupied, to get a better view of the road bridge that passes kind of near to the railway bridge and it is exciting to witness the overtake of buses and other road vehicles.
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There was no sign of deceleration, and "dhadak dhadak, dhadak dhadak sound started coming as we skipped past kollidam bridge at maximum speed, overtaking the buses that is passing in the adjacent bridge, and making entry into cuddalore district. Yes, that bridge marks the district border between mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore districts. Went back to the track sided side lower again, which remained vacant till my destination as per TTE. We continued at MPS after entering the Cuddalore district, and the backdrop of farmlands were slowly replaced by buildings and houses, indicating that we will be crossing chidambaram anytime now.
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This is such an important and holy place that no other train plying in this route skips chidambaram as of now. There was no intention to decrease the pace, and the sound at the track switching point when your train travels at a higher speeds - "dhadak dhadak datrrr" followed by "thad thad" sounds, the green flag exchange between the loco pilot and the railway staff and a wave of dust that appeared from platform 2 and the tracks, was creating quite a scene for people outside the train around chidambaram railway station area. Could see the wonder in their faces that which train was skipping their place in such a speed. It was such a show put up by the white stallion, which was towing our train, and for the passengers inside the train, it was quite a good show.
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Within some time that, the landscape was again replaced by farmlands, but in addition some canals were also traversing between them and some water bodies, and the train, now reduces it's pace a little to negotiate the beautiful curves among the farmlands and water bodies. After a while, could see a power plant like thing at a distance and railway track starts appearing, which amalgates with our track at puduchatram, where at loop line, a katni based WAG 9 was taking a nap with a freight rake. Started decelerating once we arrived at the vicinity of Cuddalore port junction, to 90 kmph, and to 70 kmph, negotiating series of beautiful curves, went to nostalgia of diesel days for a second. Maintained the same speed till the home of tiruppadrippuliyur and steadily came to a halt at the mainline platform, i.e, platform - 2 at 0949 hrs. Since the momentary halt at vaithiswaran kovil till now, it took just 44 minutes for the distance of 65 kms in a single line section, with an average of 87 kmph. There was good boarding at this station.
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Started moving slowly as we halted for less than 120 seconds, and started picking up speed only after crossing gedilam river, touched MPS in a short while. Again our train slowing down a bit after 15 minutes of its departure at Cuddalore and picked up speed after negotiating the long curve, duly skipping panruti station which is constructed along the curvature of tracks. Maintained the maximum speed from then till a double electrified like started appearing at the left side of the train and started approaching towards end, indicating that we have approached Villupuram. Cleared lot of loops after slowing down gradually, was able to see kazipet based WAG - 9 hauled train at platform - 5, taking a small nap at Villupuram junction. Yes, it was Nagercoil bound special from tambaram that is operated using the rake of Nagercoil Kacheguda express. We enter at the platform - 1 at 10:29 hrs, taking just 39 minutes for last 42 kms at average of 65 kmph, ending up with a delay of just 14 mts against the delay of 1hr 11 mts previously.
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It was a nice recovery run till now. Did we recover this small delay further or delay kept adding up?
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See here -
/blog/post/5965020 please wait...Translate to EnglishPart 3: Insane run by WAP-7!
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For those who haven't read
Part 1:
/blog/post/5963414Part 2:
/blog/post/5963946.
As we say goodbye to the Villupuram-Mayavaram passenger that was waiting at platform 2 of Vaithiswaran Kovil, we started speeding up and reached a decent speed until we passed Sirkazhi. Trains that don't stop at Sirkazhi still have to follow a speed limit. The white stallion accelerated even more to reach the maximum speed and Kollidam station came in no time, indicating that we were about to cross Kollidam river, which is the longest in this section with a single track. This time, I moved to the left side window of my compartment, which was still empty, to get a better view of the road bridge near the railway bridge. It was exciting to see buses and other vehicles being overtaken.
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There was no sign of slowing down, and the "dhadak dhadak, dhadak dhadak" sound started as we crossed Kollidam bridge at top speed, overtaking the buses on the adjacent bridge and entering Cuddalore district. Yes, that bridge marks the border between Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore districts. I went back to my seat by the track, which remained empty until my destination according to the TTE. We continued at the highest speed after entering Cuddalore district and the farmland scenery slowly turned into buildings and houses, which meant we were about to reach Chidambaram.
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Chidambaram is such an important and holy place that no other train on this route skips it. There was no intention to slow down, and the sound of the tracks when the train is traveling at high speeds - "dhadak dhadak datrrr" followed by "thad thad," the green flag exchange between the train driver and railway staff, and a cloud of dust appearing from platform 2 and the tracks, created quite a scene for people outside the train around Chidambaram railway station. I could see the wonder on their faces as they wondered which train was passing through their place at such a speed. It was quite a show put on by the white stallion pulling our train, and for the passengers inside the train, it was quite a spectacle.
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After some time, the landscape turned back into farmlands, but now there were canals and water bodies intersecting between them. The train slowed down a bit to navigate the beautiful curves around the farmland and water bodies. After a while, I could see a power plant in the distance and the railway tracks started becoming more visible, merging with our tracks at Puduchatram where a Katni-based WAG-9 locomotive was resting with a freight train on the loop line. We started slowing down as we approached the vicinity of Cuddalore Port Junction, reaching 90 kmph, then 70 kmph, navigating a series of beautiful curves, bringing back memories of the diesel days for a moment. We maintained the same speed until we reached Tiruppadrippuliyur and came to a steady stop at the mainline platform, platform 2, at 09:49 am. From the moment we stopped at Vaithiswaran Kovil until now, it took only 44 minutes to cover a distance of 65 km in this single track section, averaging 87 kmph. There was a good number of passengers boarding at this station.
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We started moving slowly after a halt of less than 120 seconds, and picked up speed only after crossing Gedilam river, reaching top speed in no time. Again, our train slowed down a bit 15 minutes after leaving Cuddalore and then picked up speed after navigating a long curve, skipping Panruti station which is built along the curved tracks. We maintained maximum speed from then on until a double electrified line started appearing on the left side of the train, indicating that we were approaching Villupuram. We cleared several loops by gradually slowing down and I was able to see a train hauled by a Kazipet-based WAG-9 locomotive at platform 5, taking a short rest at Villupuram junction. Yes, it was the Nagercoil-bound special train from Tambaram that uses the rake of the Nagercoil Kacheguda Express. We arrived at platform 1 at 10:29 am, covering the last 42 km in just 39 minutes, at an average speed of 65 kmph, with a delay of only 14 minutes compared to the previous delay of 1 hour 11 minutes.
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It was a nice recovery run so far. Did we recover this small delay or did the delay keep adding up?
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Check it out here -
/blog/post/5965020 
