Traversing three states, when the Matsaygandha Express felt like Polar Express!

A quick family visit to Ankola made me experience the dynamic train operations of the Konkan Railway, known as the ‘Extreme Railway’ by none other than popular English broadcaster Chris Tarrant for its most difficult terrain construction. The idea was to travel onboard the 12619 Matsyagandha Express (first run- May 1998) since that is one of the few trains that halts at Ankola reaching about 2:30am, and returning the same day by the Up 12620 Matsyagandha Express at 6:30pm from Ankola back to Mumbai.

The journey traverses three states- Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka and two railways Central Railway and Konkan Railway. The Central Railway ends at Roha. The Konkan Railway is a single electrified line. The entire 741-km route stretching after Roha in Maharashtra (Kolad is the first KR station, 13km from Roha) to Thokur in Karnataka was electrified in March 2022. The 12619 Matsaygandha Express belongs to Southern Railway and the rattling ICF-class coaches (made in 2013) are in their final days of the journey as an LHB class has been sanctioned for this train, expected to be pressed into service by February 2025. Some details in my article here http://surl.li/kgncjj 

We reached Thane station to catch the train. The switching over of all (originating/arriving) trains from Kurla LTT to platform number 7 and 8 at Thane has helped decongest and segregate crowds of suburban and express trains in a big way there. The train arrived at Thane almost on time. It was a smooth run.

The train’s rattling in the dead of the cold January night broke the silence as it crossed tunnels and valleys. While on the move, at certain intervals, the train even achieved nearly 130kmph on a few stretches. Even its halt at way side stations with the humming and whistling brought a certain romance and life to the isolated platforms. Managed to do a quick video and photoshoot at Karanjadi station.

Also, the Christmas weekend was over just two weeks ago and we were in the first week of the New Year 2025. As the train crossed Maharashtra (last station in Maharashtra: Madure) and entered the plains of Goa, it was all lit up and Santa and his sleigh were all around on both the sides of the train and the Matsyagandha Express for a moment felt like the Polar Express, whistling and speeding merrily.

We crossed Goa into Karnataka and neared the destination. Though the train reached the destination an hour late, the overall ride was aggressive and smooth. We reached at 3:30am and the small halt station of Ankola was lively even at that hour. Passengers, autos and hubbub. Completed by builder TK Shetti & Company from Belgaum and opened in 30 years ago in October 1994 at the hands of Konkan Railway Chief Engineer C Raju, the cute little station still maintains its original structure. The station’s office has an innovative coach position chart with small plastic coin seals representing the coach numbers of the incoming train, kept flexible to be moved with the changing coach positions of the train. As one steps out, the pathways to the main road, though, are in complete darkness.

As we were into the trip and the day cracked, got a tip that there was over head wire fault near Ratnagiri at about 12:30pm and diesel locomotives had been pressed into service to rescue stranded electric trains. This, I knew, would have BIG repercussions for my evening train and what was to follow was an engrossing experience of following the train’s movement and enjoying every bit of it. Just as I was about to leave for the station, a friend and colleague Yogesh Naik called up saying that all trains had been delayed due to the morning overhead problem and there were crowds at Madgaon Junction with both Up and Down trains running 4 to 5 hours late. I asked the KR authorities for an update on the overhead wire problem, and they said it had been fixed by 2pm. But I knew there would be repercussions, and the evening train would get detained and delayed. But, never a problem for me since I would be getting to spend more time onboard the train! 😊

Starting from Mangaluru Central at 2:20pm and set to arrive at Ankola 6:18pm, the return 12620 Matsyagandha Express started on time and was running just 15 minutes behind schedule at Shiroor (about 141.km from Mangaluru Central). The delay increased to 25 minutes as the train dashed 70km ahead to Mirjan (at 210.4km from Mangaluru Central). All within control to catch up speeds given the vast playing field of 894km till its destination station of Kurla LTT Mumbai. With the expected arrival and departure of the train at Ankola between 6:16pm and 6:18pm, we reached the station well before time monitoring the train’s movement. But it got further delayed on the way.

Anokla is a small halt station and there are works of new track laying going on with an automatic track laying machine movement. The moving steel frames laying tracks is a sight to watch. Just then, a tired diesel loco (Alco) rumbled midway at the station on its way in Mangaluru direction, probably the one that had rescued trains earlier in the day during the overhead wire failure.

Monitoring the KR live position of the trains, I was excited to find that a Vande Bharat Express train (20645- Madgaon-Mangaluru) was approaching Ankola and given the halt station status, I was sure to witness a powerful high-speed run of the iconic train.

I positioned myself to take a video as I saw the gleaming headlights approaching the station. But then. At the same time, another set of headlights were seen approaching faster from the other direction. It was the 12620 Matsaygandha Express, we were waiting for. We huddled together for the luggage, synced with the coach position and readied to board. The approaching Vande Bharat was on the back of my mind but there was no way I could capture it. Well, the Matsyagandha Express came in on the platform at 7:18pm, exactly one hour two minutes late. And then as I boarded, I could see through the window the 20645 Vande Bharat slowly and silently swooshing past in the other direction. No action this time and no photos or videos.

Our train halted for precisely two minutes and moved. The return journey had begun. No major delays yet. The ride was smooth till Canacona that is. At Canacona, at an unscheduled halt, the train halted and halted like it belonged there.

I checked the KR Live dashboard. There was neither any train approaching from other direction nor any other issue with this train. Yet, the chai caterers said confidently, “Crossing hai,” referring to a train probably coming from the other direction, crossing this one. (This is a practice KR being a single line). But I knew it was not. Something was off. Just then, my friend Yogesh waiting at Madgaon called up saying his train was yet to arrive. He had been waiting for the Mumbai-bound Tejas Express, which was expected to leave Madgaon at 3:35pm. But it was nearing 8pm and there was no sign of it at Madgaon. The approaching train was late at Madgaon due to the afternoon overhead wire problem near Ratnagiri and was still at Thivim. Only once the train reached Madgaon would it to return as 22120 Tejas Express. This is because the same rake returns as Madgaon-CSMT one, the one Yogesh was waiting for.

Our train waited for nearly an hour at Cancona and as I was chatting up with Yogesh, the Tejas rake had reached Madgaon and had been turned and sent back to Mumbai after 12052 Madgaon CSMT Janshatabdi Express. So I went back to the live dashboard and it was there that I found the answer to my questions. Now, there were two new trains INSERTED ahead of mine at Madgaon in pink letterings on the dashboard- the Janshatabdi and the Tejas Express, which was the reason for my train to be detained for an hour at Cancona. So two trains were inserted ahead of our train at Madgaon by halting ours at Cancona. Otherwise, ideally we would have followed 12134 Mangaluru Junction-CSMT, which was now two trains ahead of us.

At Madgaon junction, the new station indicators mentioned all the trains with status ‘Delayed’ or ‘देरी’

The night journey went well and our train now out of the timetable slot was detained at almost every train crossing. By the time the train reached Ratnagiri it was 1 hour 59 minutes, that is almost two hours behind the schedule. Further slowed down, the delay swelled to 2 hours 36 minutes by the time Chiplun arrived post 5pm. A look at the dashboard and most of the ‘inserted’ trains ahead were much ahead now and now was the time to gain the lost time. The train gathered consistent speed after Chiplun and piercing through the dawn, the loco pilot tried to make up for the lost time. He was successful to some extent and caught up about 22 minutes.

After Panvel, the train again halted just short of Kalamboli. Something was, again, wrong. I peeped out to find it was an alarm chain pulling from adjoining sleeper coach. Apparently, someone’s bag had been left onboard the train as it departed Panvel. The guard and the pointsman were already there fixing things, but it would now add to the delay.

After the train started from this unscheduled halt, the further run was smooth as we entered the Mumbai suburban section. Our train (bound for Kurla LTT) remained on the 5th line unencumbered by the pressures and the mad rush of local trains. By the time we reached Thane station, the train was overall 1 hour 53 minutes late. The delays were mostly because of the afternoon snag in the overhead wires for some hours on a single track railway line network of Konkan Railway that led to collapse of the timetable leading to multiple unscheduled train crossings at multiple points and an alarm chain pulling at the end of all like a cherry on the cake.

The point of writing this is show how train journeys are affected and face unforeseen challenges due to the ecosystem they run in. How the changes in trains ahead of it affects trains following behind. During disruptions, train operations are all about domino effect dynamism and the loco pilot’s battle against it. This was a live example.