Scenic rail trips -- Kangra Valley Railroad

rangss

Yes, that is called a token ring. It contains a ball that goes into the Neale's Ball and Token System. The ring must be made of cane. here is a pic:[

Attached Thumbnails

 

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...and I took the road less travelled.

Sonomama

Thank you for the photo. The one I saw was made of some kind of metal instead of cane. Modernisation?

-m2-

Thanks for the report, Sonomama. I still haven't made it by rail myself, but did motorcycle through the area 10 years ago and thought the scenery and driving pretty nice as well.

This kind of rail trips aren't about speed or convenience, of course, but a special kind of India experience; by telling us about your trip you are no doubt providing some fresh ideas for those making plans. I haven't visited this thread for a while and it is nice to read all of the other rail gems our members have uncovered.

Any more Scenic rail trip stories -- pictures welcome!

m2

progyan_b

hey.know about a beautiful railway link which runs from Vishakhapattanam - Araku Valley..the train leaves Vishakhapattanam at 7.30 a.m and reaches Araku at 1.30..best I have seen

steven_ber

Welcome to indiamike.com

I've heard it is a wonderful route, very scenic, also has the highest broad gauge train station in India.

Can you give any other information about the route.

Timetable details & links to websites about the area.

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Train information.

progyan_b

As I said the train starts from Vishakhapattaman at 7.45 and reaches arraku at 11.15.
The detail is as follows

Train Timetable
Train No Train Name Departure Arrival Runs on
1VK VSKP-KRDL-PASS 07:45 11:15 M T W TH F S SU
and this is the link about the plce..hope this will help:

http://www.blonnet.com/2001/09/24/stories/102472a4.htm

rangss

Some facts about The KK line (Kothavalasa-Kirandul Line):

KK Line comes under the Waltair Division of East Coast Railway.

KK line is a Blue Chip line. It had to meet real engineering challenges due to difficult terrain conditions in the Eastern Ghat Sections. With the movement of iron ore traffic from the Bailadilla Iron Ore range at Kirandul and Bacheli, this line became a real boon to the Waltair division of E.Co.Railway in terms of freight earnings.

It measures a distance of 475 kms. Out of this distance, 118 k.m. is on the Eastern Ghat Section (mountains) and the balance distance is in the plains or plateau.

It was constructed at a cost of Rs159 Crore (Rs. 1.6 billion) and was opened for traffic in November, 1968. Most of the funding came from the Asian Development bank which was backed by the Japanese, who wanted to import iron ore from India. The line carries about 15 million tonnes of iron ore from Kirandul to Vizag annually.

The line ends at Visakhapatnam port, running parallel to the Howrah-Chennai main line. At the end of this line is a long conveyor system that carries the iron ore transported on thisline directly ino the holds of the waiting ships at the harbour. The conveyor system is the longest one in India.

The line climbs to about 950 metres from Kothavalasa with the ruling gradient being 1 km in 60 Km.

The iron ore trains have typically 50-60 Wagons and require 3 WAG-5 (Electric) locomotives to see them trhough the ghats. They form quite a sight when observed. Two kinds of thyristor controlled electric locomotivs (one imported from Sweden-ABB and the other from Japan - Hitachi) are specifically used on this line and nowhere else in India.

58 tunnels (the total tunnel length is 10 km, the longest being 869 m), 84 major and 1,187 minor bridges (the longest bridge is 457 m, 584 curves ...the ghat statistics.

The highest braod gauge station in India is at Similiguda at around 950 mts.

The train passes over Borra caves (million year old caves with stalactite formations). Inside the cave there is a marking which denotes the passage of the railway track 150 mts above Pillars are erected over this marking.

The region is thick with vegetation and itr is quite common to come across water falls just by the line. Landslides are common. advance parties travel along the line before monsoons, checking every vulnerable spots in the mountains that could give way and blast the rocks to prevent landslides.

For the freight trains, traction power is not a question...they always go empty uphill and return loaded downhill. It is braking. The diffculty is in controlling speed through brake power. It takes the combined braking power of three locomotives to stop the train. The line has many catch sidings so that a runaway train can be diverted onto these emergency lines that climbs up the mountain and the train will come to a natural halt.

Stations: Srungavarapukota, Boddavara, Tyada, Ananthagiri, Borra Guhalu, Similiguda, Araku, Koraput, Jeypore, Jagdalpur, Bacheli.

Amenities along the route: Must be joking...this is tribal land.

Scenic spots: Starts a little later Srungavarapukota..all the way to Ananthagiri, via Tyada, Borra, Similiguda etc. Araku is a valley. After Araku till Koraput.

Suggested trip: Vizahg-Koraput. Stay at Koraput overnight. Next day: Koraput-Rayagada-Vizag.

The Koraput-Rayagada line (KR Line) is an off shoot of the KK line, though more recent one, nevertheless equally scenic. Koraput is about 800 meters above sea level and Rayagada is 200meters above. So an enchanting downhill experience. As a contrasts of sorts, this line is not electrified and uses diesel locos.

Finally...despite being a broad gauge line, this is one of the most senic lines in India and an engineering marvel:

Out from a tunnel, onto a bridge and into a tunnel again..KK Line

End of the line

Three loco haul

PeakXV

This is a informative thread - exposing some great Indian train travel gems.

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We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

nanstallon

To me, an Indian train is the real India - a late evening trip from Shimla to Kalka to connect with the overnight Kalka Mail to Delhi was unforgettable. In particular, the single line Neale-Ball token exchange at night was spectacular - the signalman hands it up in a lit up basket so as to be seen in the dark.

pgautham

Long ,long ago I had read a travel report in the Deccan Herald about this route(I think it was then from Bangalore to Mangalore). It was then a meter gauge line. The writer had described this as a wonderful and very good scenic route.
Then the route was put to disuse on the pretex of converting it to broadguage.

A few years back I got the opportunity to trek along this route from Donigal railway station(near Sakleshpur) to Shiribagilu via Yedakumeri stations. The green part of the route continues till Subramanya Road railway station(Kukke Subramanya a famous temple).
We went just as the monsoons had ended(Oct 2nd Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti day).
It was a 2 day trek with night halts in the old abondoned station master/staff houses. This route is thru the western ghats and has real breathtaking views, streams to take a dip, atleast one lovely untouched waterfall that we flung ourselves into, nerve rattling(leg shaking) high elevation bridges across gushing streams to cross and chilling/damp Bat filled dark tunnels. It is a "dream come true" to trek this route and I should say late sept/early oct is the perfect time with spells of rain still continuing. The trek is not too demanding either and a general level of fitness/stamina is enough.
Just google "Donigal" etc and u will get dozens of blogs/hits.
I would highly recommend this route as a tropical nature drenched trek.

The route is yet to be converted fully, though it looks like work is in good progress now. When completed(haha its long over due!) this route will double up as a fantastic trek cum rail/train route, though its much more better as trek route now and may not be so once trains start to chug along.
Only hope that they don't make this a night train

pgautham

Funny, there are no posts about the Konkan Railway route.

shahronakm

Konkan Railway during & after monsoons is the best route to enjoy greenery.

Also the route to Igatpuri from Mumbai is full of greenery during monsoons.

Ronak.

vistet

Any news re Kngra Railway - i.e. any problems with the latest rains ?

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steven_ber

I view newsfeeds of anything to do with Indian Railways, and I'm not aware of any disruption to the Kangra Valley Railway.

safari vala

getting a seat on the kangra valley train is another matter.