A Triple Surprise at Rajapur Road:

It was a hot summer day in Konkan and I had to board the MAO CSMT Mandovi Express at Rajapur Road and I had arrived an hour earlier to the railway station. I checked the Konkan Railway live trains map to see if I would be lucky to spot any passenger train or even a freight at Rajapur Road. The map showed the following trains close to Rajapur Road:
1....
more...

MAO CSMT Mandovi Express had reached Pernem
2. TVC NZM Rajdhani was trailing it and had departed from Thivim
3. CSMT MAO Janshatabdi Express had left Vilawade
4. Ajmer Ernakulum Marusagar Express had left Nivasar
5. CSMT MAO Tejas Express was about to reach Ratnagiri.

There were 4 superfast trains (including 3 premium ones) closer to Rajapur Road and I thought that it would be amazing if I could spot atleast 2 of them.

At 11.35 am, 12051 CSMT Madgaon Janshatabdi honked and blasted past Rajapur Road with a 39046 Kalyan WAP 7 from the main line. It was an amazing site for me as I hadn't railfanned for a while after the Konkan trains got electric locomotives. MAO Janshatabdi had a couple of green Deccan Queen LHB coaches attached to it which took me by surprise.

At 12.30 pm, I checked the live trains map again and got the update that Marusagar Express had departed from Saundal and would be making an entry any moment now. I immediately checked the main line down starter signals at Rajapur Road and saw all of them being red. I though that the signalling staff is a bit lazy and would make it green later.

To my surprise, I saw Ajmer - Ernakulum Marusagar Express coming from Panvel side making its way on the 2nd loop line at 12.36 pm. It was hauled by 11431 Ratlam WDM-3D. I Immediately checked the Konkan railway map for a crossing and got to know that MAO NZM Rajdhani had departed from Kankavli and Mandovi Express was trailing it. This meant that the scheduled overtake of Madovi Express by Rajdhani was completed and Rajdhani was marching towards us. This got me excited as I now understood that Marusagar was taken on loop line for the crossing of the Konkan King Rajdhani Express through the main line. This was now a double surprise for me to witness the Konkan King crossing Marusagar Express with an electric locomotive. I checked the main line starter in Panvel direction for the king but it was still red. Marusagar had waited for 10 long mins now and the wait for the Konkan King crossing was getting longer.

While I was looking for the starter on the main line towards Panvel to turn green for Rajdhani Express, I saw a glimpse of a white electric locomotive coming from Panvel direction. I was sure that it was the CSMT-MAO Tejas Express. The WAP7 (37270 KYN WAP 7) was approaching quite slowly and was taken into loop line 1. This was a big surprise and my mind went to doing the calculations. A loop line to loop line overtake is quite rare when none of the two trains have a halt at the station in focus. I immediately checked the loop line 1 starter signal at Rajapur Road which was still red and it became the last piece of the puzzle.

I re-calculated everything in my mind and realized the exact occurence of events at Rajapur Road in the next 10 mins.
The King TVC - NZM Rajdhani would be crossing both Tejas Express as well as Marusagar Express at Rajapur Road from the main line. After the king has passed, there is definitely going to be an overtake. This is an amazing moment for every railfan on the single Konkan Railway section to witness a double crossing along with an overtake. My excitement had quadrupled and I ran towards the Madgaon end of the platform to capture everything.

At 12.52 pm, the king made a grand entry into Rajapur through the main line and skipped Rajapur with a 37371 BRC WAP 7. Finally, I had captured the TVC Rajdhani Express with an electric loco in the Konkan Railway Section and what better moment that a Triple Surprise of double crossing and an overtake.

It was now the moment for the overtake to happen. The logical railfan in me knew that Tejas Express would overtake the Marusagar Express for the following reasons:
1. Tejas is a Premium Superfast train while Marusagar is an ordinary superfast
2. Marusagar wouldn't have waited at Rajapur Road if Tejas was not going to overtake it. Rajdhani was far away from Rajapur Road and the crossing with Rajdhani could have happened at Kharepatan Road.

The statistical railfan in me wanted Marusagar to overtake Tejas for the following reason:
1. Marusagar had only one halt between Rajapur and Madgaon at Thivim while Tejas has two scheduled halts at Kudal and Karmali in the same section

One additional reason from the Indian Railfan in me wanting Marusagar to overtake Tejas Express was that:
Marusagar is an underdog between the two and Indians have a soft corner for Underdogs.

At 12.54 pm, the WAP-7 honked and the logical railfan was proven correct and Tejas slowly departed from Rajapur thus overtaking the Marusagar Express after having a crossing with NZM Rajdhani Express. The Vistadome coaches of Tejas Express passed the Alco of Marusagar thereby successfully completing the overtake.

The Alco of Marusagar Express honked at 1.04 pm thereby departing after providing some exciting series of events at Rajapur Road. For the passengers of Marusagar Express, it was a boring 58 mins of wait at a remote station without a proper platform causing unwanted delay but for the Railfan (me), it was an unforgettable hour.

Regards
Vivek Venugopalan

PS: I request railfans to contribute more to the travelogue section with Travel Blogs and your experiences in writeups because most of the times, the tiniest piece of information/anecdotes from your experience might be too fascinating for others. Blogs (Writeups) have a greater effect than pics while describing a journey as the power of imagination is a wonderful tool that makes the experience magical.