Part VI : Hubli-Belgaum Journey and Brief Details of Belgaum-Pune Bus Journey! (Final Part!)
My train 1620 Hubli-Miraj Passenger left UBL at 12:47 hrs and arrived at Unkal (UNK) by 12:53 hrs. Here, the train
was held up. And on main line track, I saw 1017 Dadar-Yashvantpur Chalukya Exp speeding towards UBL with orange KYN WDG3A # 13366 Shakti and dead brand new WDP4 # 20054 (just behind Kalyan diesel loco)! So, I guess, with Chalukya Exp, latest WDP4 20054 is being sent to KJM!
Amgargol...
more... passed without much action (except 10-20 travelers getting in/out of the train). 1620 was having less crowd!
Seats/benches were empty and choice of window seats was also available to travellers for first few stations!
At Navlur (NVU), same rake seen in the morning with boards of 689/690 or 0689/0690 Bangalore-Hubli-Bangalore Intercity
Express was stabled. KJM WDG3A 13331 and KJM WDG3A 14615 were seen returning light towards UBL! [Please see Part V
where they had hauled goods train from UBL towards NVU side. So, they seem to have put goods train on siding or outer
yard and were returning back to Hubli]!
At Dharwad, emtpy rake of 6201/6202 Mysore-Dharwad-Mysore Exp headed by KJM WDG3A # 14660 was taking rest! Also, goods train led by UBL WDG4 12130/12070 twin unit was held up and my train was allowed to proceed further.
At Kyarkop (KRKP), I saw KM marker read as "495" Kms! No idea from where this KRKP is 495 Kms away! At KRKP, a goods train headed by twin WDG4 was ready to proceed towards UBL. The leading loco (towards UBL) was AEB fitted blue/white UBL WDG4 # 12069 and trailing loco was yellow/white UBL WDG4 # 12003 (original GM loco)!
At Mugad (MGD), pairing train 1619 Miraj-Hubli Passenger was seen headed by blue PUNE WDM2 # 17344 loco! So, my train was lucky to get GTL WDM3D and paiting train was served by good old PUNE WDM2 loco!
At Kilometer Marker 508.300, Naglavi (NGV) station came. The station board appeared discarded/damaged and there was no
IR/SWR staff seen anywhere. This station seemed more like an unscheduled halt!
Next station was Kamabarganavi (KBI) and as usual, washed coal loaded goods train headed by AEB fitted UBL WDG4 # 12023 and normal yellow/white UBL WDG4 # 12011 (another original GM loco) waiting to proceed towards UBL!
Next station Kashanatti (KHST)! And some action was here also! Here, I saw light running GY WDG3A # 14906 heading towards UBL!
Next station was Alnawar (LWR) Junction! By the time train reached LWR station, it was late by 25 min approx (due to tons of crossings and/or overtakes and/or heavy goods traffic on this section)! At KM marker 526.600, around 300 meters ahead of Alnawar Jn (while moving towards Belgaum), I saw single non-electrified BG line bifurcating towards Ambevadi (AVA) on the left hand side!
Next station was Bhistanahatti (BIE). Again, station for the name sake! No action (even in terms of travelers) here! Next station was Tavargatti (TVG), here lots of passengers got down!
Next halt was Nagargali (NAG). Here, 6507 Jodhpur-Bangalore Exp speeded towards UBL behind twin KZJ WDG3A locos! The leading loco towards UBL was orange KZJ WDG3A # 14897 and trailing loco was orange KZJ WDG3A # 14925!
Next station was Devrai (DEV) or Devarayi! Here, the usual twin WDG4 feature back into action! UBL WDG4 # 12117 + UBL WDG4 # 12099 headed goods train with iron ore waiting to go towards UBL!
Not much action at Shivthan (SVTN). And then came the famous Londa (LD) Junction! Just after LD junction, while moving
towards Belgaum, line towards Madgaon (MAO) Goa bifurcates on the left hand side!
Next Gunji (GNJ) and Khanapur (KNP) passed. At Khanapur, lots of travellers got down. Next halt station was Idalhond (IDJ).
Here, many village folks got down and started walking towards their village (around 1 Kms from station and seemed to have
no mode of transport other than this railway halt station)!
Desur (DUR) soon arrived. Here, 7416 Kolhapur-Bangalore Hari Priya Exp speeded towards UBL headed by skyblue/yellow
GTL WDM3A # 18885R. This is the same loco which hauled my yesterday's 1029 Mumbai-Kolhapur Koyana Exp!
And biggest surprise was in store at Desur! Here, oil tanker rake (petrol fuel) was ready to head towards Belgaum, headed
by brand new blue/white PUNE WDM3D # 11224! I have never seen this latest PUNE WDM3D in/around Pune and this loco is doing work on UBL-BGM Section!
Finally, I reached Belgaum (BGM) at 16:45 hrs, late by 25 minutes! Belgaum station platforms are low height platforms and one has to step down 2 steps of railway coach to get down on the platform!
Entire UBL-Belgaum section passes through a deep forest with lots of high rising trees (and Bamboo trees at many places) on both sides of the tracks. At one location, I could see monkeys roaming around railway tracks! The entire single line strech has large number of C or S type curves and straight line tracks are hardly for distance of 200-300 meters at a stretch!
Most of the stations have 3 lines, with goods train held up on 1 line, passenger train taking 3rd PF line and any through fast
train going via main 2nd line!
Later, I came to CBT (Central Bus Terminus or City Bus Terminus) in Belgaum (around 3-4 Kms from BGM railway station). Here, the old red or blue or green KSRTC buses are now nowhere seen! Entire bus stand was filled with new looking orange/yellow NWKRTC (North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation) buses! I boarded Shirsi-Mumbai Bus (Shirsi-Hubli-Belgaum-Kolhapur-Pune-Mumbai route) and purchsed electronic printed ticket for Belgaum-Pune journey of 337 Kms for Rs. 207!
Around 5-6 years ago, Belgaum-Pune bus journey used to take 9 hrs. Now, entire Belgaum-Pune-Mumbai route is 4 lane road with up/down lanes completely separated by dividers, etc. My bus started from Belgaon at 21:30 hrs and reached Pune (Swargate Bus stand) sharp at 04:30 hrs next day morning. Journey took exact 7 hrs and too, with 40 min for driver's dinner and again with bus going off the main express highway to Sankeshwar, Nipani and Kolhapur Bus Stands to drop/pick up passengers! With good quality 4 lane roads, Volvos nowadays easily to Belgaum-Pune run in just 6 hrs (with 30 minutes single halt enroute). And they do Belgaum-Mumbai journey in just 9 hrs!
With fully developed road network in Maharashtra/Karnataka, it will be very difficult for railways to beat road services, even if they start Pune-Belgaum Intercity kind of trains. Only way they can probably compete with road is to start fast PUNE-BGM day train intercity with 2S seats which will cost approx. Rs. 120 and will do the journey in 8-9 hrs. Cost can only be the criteria.
Hubli/Belgaum cities seemed to be renamed as Hubballi/Belgavi and I saw Huballi/Belgavi boards at many public places and some boards line Belgav or Belgaon!
Entire Pune-Miraj-Belgaum-Hubli stretch has lots of trains, especially goods trains! And this stretch really needs doubling work to be done on priority!
Finally, I reached Pune station (as my house is 7-8 min walking distance from Pune railway station). While crossing over
FOB at Pune, I saw 1327 Mumbai-Bijapur Fast Passenger and KYN WCG2 loco that came with passenger was backing out.
Also, twin GTL WDMx loco 17770+17743 were seen moving back towards Ghorpadi side.
Entire trip was dominated by twin diesel locos, and MU'ed WDG4 locos was the most common thing in this part of SWR!