1. On my way back from Manali to Mumbai, I boarded August Kranti Rajdhani
Express last week. I
managed to do some footplating from H. Nizamuddin to Mathura. Here's an
account. I am sure you will
like it.
The WAP 4E, heading the Rajdhani Express was well poised to move out of
the H.N. Station. There are always two A Special drivers on board. It's
always quite exciting to watch these pretigious trains move out of the
stations. I for one love these sights. The starter turned yellow exactly
at 1655 hours and the train started rolling gracefully out of the
station. H. N. is a small station and the train only has to go over a
couple of points to get back on the main line.
It rolled rather slowly thanks to severel caution orders of temporary
speed restrictions for the first 15
kms. Indeed it never crossed 60 kms/hr until it passed the Palwal
station. We had a total of 19 coaches
with a load of 1045 tonnes (which means that an average weight of an AC
coach is around 55 tonnes).
As we passed Palwal station, the driver started notchig up. The loco
swiftly accelerated and reached 130
kmph within minutes. It was simply fascinating to watch the loco
speeding past several small stations on
the way. We were on notch no. 26 (out of 32 on the tap changer) with the
Weak Field lever pulled down
to slot four. It is often quite difficult to appreciate such high speed
when you are looking through the
windscreen . I had to move over to the side door and stand there for
some time to feel the speed and
enjoy it. We rolled over the smooth track at the speed of 130 kmph for
exactly 45 minutes continuously
covering the distance of about100 kms. The overspeeding beep sounded
only once when he reached 132
at one point. He immeditely corrected it with a touch of air brake. This
happened on a downward
gradient of 1:100.
The track between Delhi and Mathura is long welded track with switch
expansion joints in between. The
track is indeed very smooth; the side swaying is truly minimal. After
Palwal we entered the Automatic
Signalling territory, but the convention of the Distant, Home, Starter
and Advanced starter remains the
same in this territory. There are a few IBS ( Intermediate Block
2. Sections), which certainly help to speed
up the traffic, by allowing more trains to run in the section. Another
point that struck me was the braking is
very fast, but it does take severeal minutes to accelerate and resume
the top speed. This is prabably due
to the high aerodynamic resistance at that speed. (My elementary
knowledge of Physics tells me that the
drag increases by the square of the velocity) which takes a much higher
force to push the load at a faster
speed.
Although the loco appeared swift and smooth, the trim level was rather
unsatisfactory. For Rajdhanis both
Drivers are of A Special grade and they run the Rajdhanis alone.We
arrived at the outer signal of Mathura
Jn. ten minures ahead of schedule and then waited there for the Jhelum
express to cross over to the down
line.
It was a thrilling experince altogether. I.wished I stayed aboard
longer( which was possible). The most charming thing is the hospitality
we receive from the drivers. This ride certainly was no exception. This
breed of drivers on IR certainly make our journey more enjoyable and
have added character to the Indian Railways.
But these superfast trains always have very long hauls and do not allow
us to go back to your coaches easily. This is one strong reason I enjoy
tarvelling on not so fast trains, so that you can jump in and out of
coaches as well locos whenever you want. Hence the next time I travel
down to Delhi my choice is of course going to
be the Golden Temple Mail.
Dr. Shirish Yande
