TRIP REPORT
October is an exciting month . The month of Diwali . . . which we all wait for months . As a railfan and a student I was super excited for the upcoming Diwali trip to my home . . . The exciting day arrived on 25th October – the day of my most awaiting trip . . . The trip was even more special because I was to travel in one of my favourite trains in which I had not travelled in last 15 years – SHAKTIPUNJ EXPRESS . . .
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, It all began in September , the planning for tickets . . . As there are no direct trains between Bhopal & Bokaro Steel City so I had to plan my journey accordingly . The only direct train for Patna , Indore Rajendra Nagar Express was showing Regret in AC 3 & Sleeper class so Patna break journey link was not working . So after much planning I booked a break journey tickets on 13th September from Bhopal to Barkakana Jn in 12854 Amarkantak Express & 11447 Shaktipunj Express with change over at Jabalpur in AC 3 tier .
The Journey Day (25th October) :
It was a pleasant day , Autumn is one of the best season for railfanning . I reached Bhopal station at 15:00 hrs , Amarkantak Express was standing on pf 4 , ET WAP 4 was the loco link . My B2 coach was 2012 made and was nicely maintained . The train departed sharp at 15:40 hrs . The train reached Itarsi at 17:30 , the loco changed to ET WDM 3A twins . Also It was pleasure to meet railfan and our IRI member Suraj Parihar at Itarsi Jn . Train departed ET at 18:05 a delay of 25 mins . The twins rocked the journey , running flat at mps .Despite having 8 halts train covered 245 kms in 3 hr 50 mins with an average speed of 68 km/hr and reached Jabalpur at 21:45 . One thing was surprising that we had overtaken 22352 YPR PPTA SF Exp at Madan Mahal , don’t know why controllers allowed this overtake to happen .
Jabalpur Station :
The WCR headquarters was as clean as expected . . . I was accompanied by my 2 friends , we had nearly 2 hrs buffer time so we decided to have dinner outside the station campus in a dhaba . We returned to station at 23:30 hrs . 11447 was scheduled to depart right time at 23:50 from pf 3 . But the train was itself placed at 00:20 hrs . . .
Shaktipunj Express :
My coach was 2010 made and it was even more nicely maintained than Amarkantak Express . The train departed late by 55 mins at 00:45 . The bedrolls were given to us at 01:25 by the time train had reached Sihora Road station . The train was hauled by a WDM 3A of Patratu shed .
The next Morning (26th October)
I got up at nearly 07:15 , the train was standing at an unscheduled halt Mahdeiya station i.e it had entered ECR Dhanbad division , the train departed at 08:35 after crossing with UP 11448 Shaktipunj Exp . The train was very slow upto Chopan , at CPU the loco link changed to PTRU WDP 4 , the speed got better after getting an EMD . At 16:00 hrs when the train was approaching Latehar , which is naxalite prone area , the train suddenly stopped with a jerk , the reason was a tree that had suddenly fallen on the tracks . The tree was removed quickly with the help of passengers and the local police from the nearby station Hehegara halt . The train finally reached Barkakana Jn at 18:45 , a delay of 50 mins . All thanks to slack time . . .
Although Chandrapura Jn is the nearest station on this route from Bokaro Steel City I chose Barkakana because of good road connectivity . The Ramgarh Bus stand is situated 5 kms from Barkakana railway station . From Ramgarh bus stand we get frequent buses to Bokaro Steel City . Bokaro is at a distance of 78 kms from Ramgarh bus stand .
We reached bus stand at 19:30 , we boarded different buses , my friend went to Ranchi . The bus departed at 20:00 hrs and reached Bokaro at 21:30 . The average speed of the bus was 52Km/hr .
Thanks for reading my trip report . . .
Attached Pics :
Pics 1-3 : Hoshangabad Station , pics taken from Amarkantak Express
Pic 4 : #SB of Mahdeiya Station
Pics 5 & 6 : Shaktipunj Exp standing at Renukut Station, CIC section
Pics 7-9 : Shaktipunj Exp standing at Singrauli station
Pics 10 : Hehegara Halt , Latehar District where tree incident took place
Pics 11-12 : The broken tree fallen on the tracks
Pics 13 : Chhipadodar Station
Pics 14 & 15 : Random Clicks at CIC section
#NiketKaran