Indian Railways : The Lifeline of India
Indian Railways has been a lifeline of millions of Indians like you and me for connecting distances varying from a few kilometers to distances as long as 4000 kms too. The comfort, various options to travel, cost, and large network are a few reasons making our journeys very comfortable and memorable while traveling around India.
The Longest Running Train of India
Most of us are well aware that Vivek Express, another train to the North East between Dibrugarh to Kanniyakumari is the longest train traveling in India both in terms of distance and traveling time. It covers a mammoth distance of 4154 kms in 74 hours of travel time (without delays).
But what if I tell you that we actually covered a lesser distance than what this train travels but spent nearly 94 hours continuously on the train, obviously not on a direct train but with 3 connecting trains. Yeah even I found it too hard, but that’s true, which was of course very exhausting but a journey of a lifetime.
Connectivity to North East
So the North East is mostly connected by roads and trains but the connectivity is not as good as other parts of India. We planned our memorable trip to the North East, to explore all the 7 Sisters and that too in the later half of December. Guess what, the flight ticket prices were soaring sky high, where an average flight from Bangalore to Guwahati would cost no less than 14,000 which was not good with the budget we had.
I literally sat a whole day researching all the possible permutations to reach Guwahati from Karnataka as all the direct trains from South India to North East were in huge waitlists and I couldn’t take a risk to book them and land in trouble. Tatkal is not a fair option as if I don’t get a ticket then I wouldn’t have any other option than to cancel the plan which I’d definitely not do at any cost.
Finally after a lot of research I found 3 connecting trains taking me from Dandeli, Karnataka all the way to Agartala, Tripura which we planned to start our North East trip from. But the journey would be horrible as the scheduled time itself is 94 hours without delays. But we didn’t have any other option but to go with the same.
The Journey Schedule
1st Part – Dandeli to Hubli
2nd Part – Hubli to Vijayawada
3rd Part – Vijayawada to Kolkata
4th Part – Kolkata to Agartala
We started our journey on a sunny morning on Friday from Dandeli and here’s how it goes.
Day 1 (Friday)
Journey from Hubli to Vijayawada
We got our bags ready and went to the bus station to take a bus to Hubli railway station at 10 AM. Our train was scheduled to depart from Hubli at 2 PM. We reached well on time and took our first train Hubli – Vijayawada express (17226) till Vijayawada. The train was almost empty and we had confirmed seats, also it was the first day of the journey and we were well energetic and pretty excited. We crossed Karnataka in the evening and reached Andhra Pradesh by night.
Day 2 (Saturday)
Visiting Vijayawada
Sharp 4 in the morning the train reached Vijayawada before time and we were in a half sleep phase, though the station was busy with the trains bound to various places. This day we were well aware that this is the last day we’d be tasting South Indian food and would be tasting it back after a minimum wait of 28 days. We straight away checked into a hotel for half a day.
Journey to Kolkata
Our next train was at 2PM, East Coast express(18046) to Kolkata. The train arrived on time and we had our seats confirmed and entered Telangana by evening. We had delicious Idly with sambar at Visakhapatnam which we’d never forget and also suggest the same to everyone. Later we crossed Orissa, the 4th state in 2 days.
Day 3 (Sunday)
The Balasore Rail Accident
We crossed half of Odisha and were cruising at 130 kmph. I woke up and was waiting for Bahanaga Bazar station, where the Corammandel Express accident took place. The site came and it’s actually a very small station with almost very less passengers and trains stopping by. Both sides of the station had so many pieces of remains of the destroyed coaches all the way. It was spread on both sides of the station.
There was also a similar freight train standing on the loop line where the Corammandel rammed onto the back of the freight train on the accident day. It was an unfortunate incident and may their souls rest in peace.
Exploring Kolkata, Mainly the Howrah Bridge
Afternoon we entered the outskirts of Kolkata and we were greeted by the lovely Kolkata locals. We reached Shalimar and headed to Howrah Jn-The Busiest Railway Station in India with 23 Platforms, as our next train was at 9PM from Kolkata Chitpur station away from Howrah. We spotted some amazing trains and had good food in Howrah. We spent the evening on the lovely Howrah Bridge walking on the footpath of the bridge on a beautiful evening. The weather was all good and the river was flowing peacefully.
Final Leg of the Journey
After spending a good time we took a taxi to reach the railway station to board our last train to Agartala, which was the longest among the 3 journeys and had to take 2 nights and almost 2 days. We reached on time and boarded the Kolkata-Agartala Special express(02501) and the worst part about these trains is they get the least priority and get delayed at a huge scale stopping at all the intermediate stations. But I should be happy that atleast this came to my rescue.
Day 4 (Monday)
We reached the famous Siliguri by 7 am and were closer to Assam. The day journey started and our train was making so many halts everywhere and I was literally pissed off due to the delay. We crossed our 5th state West Bengal and entered the 6th state Assam, which is our first state in the North East.
Entering the Gateway of Northeast: Guwahati, Assam
I could feel the difference after entering the lovely state. The weirdest thing, the early sunsets are a common thing now and it was pitch dark by 5PM. We crossed the Brahmaputra river on a long and amazing bridge giving us a lovely view of the river in the evening time. We reached the Gateway of North East, Guwahati by night and had a good meal before reaching our final destination.
Day 5 (Tuesday)
Reaching Agartala Station
This was the last day of our train journey. Our train was scheduled to reach at 5am in the morning but we reached exactly at 11AM, a delay of 6 hours. We were totally exhausted after the journey. We finally entered our 7th state in a span of 5 days and directly went to the hotel. We were actually tired but still we had a busy day exploring the streets of Agartala and visiting the Akhaura Border, the entry to Bangladesh and also standing close to the walls of the border looking at the Bangladeshi citizens and their tiny villages.
The Journey Stats
This journey which was supposed to be a 92 hour one finally became a 98 hour journey, 24 hours more than the longest running train of India. We covered 7 states on the way and a distance of 3688 kms in total. Though tired we got an amazing opportunity to spend time at Vijayawada and also experience a beautiful evening at Kolkata specially on Howrah Bridge.
Conclusion
This was our first leg of our journey to the North East and after Tripura we visited all the remaining 6 other states of North East which I’d share in a detailed blog in later days. Comment down your interesting experiences and stories of traveling in Indian Railways.
Survival ❎ Experience ✅
💯💯
Interesting Journey
Nice Pictures
Thank You