A DREAM TRAVEL BY DURONTO EXPRESS

 Duronto 6th May 2025

A DREAM TRAVEL BY DURONTO EXPRESS

On May 6, 2025, I packed my luggage consisting of a small trolley and a back-pack, to begin my journey from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Mumbai to Ernakulam Junction, to participate in the marriage function of Aiswarya and Vishal. There were many hurdles for venturing this trip, but all those were handled very well thankfully by my sons, Anand and Kumaresh. Reminding me that in a week, I will be 88 years old, which meant that I can no longer travel alone, Kumaresh flew all the way to Mumbai to escort me by train to Keralam. Anand promised to take care of his mother with the help of the nurses, Reena (night) and Renu (day) each of whom I was paying at the rate of Rs. 550/- and Rs. 500/- per day. (I remembered that my salary when I joined BARC was just Rs. 260/- per month).

At about 8 pm, Kumaresh booked an Uber taxi to LTT. He had a large trolley suit case as luggage, while I took a small trolley and a backpack.  At the station, my nephew Ramesh received us in the platform and led us to the 2-tier coach in which we were having our berths. All of us got lower berths, but Ramesh had his berth a bit away from us on the other side of the train. We were no successful in our trial to get him a berth near us.

The train, Duronto Express, left Lokmanya Tilak terminus on time, at 20.45 hrs.  We were given a bottle of ‘rail neer’ (packaged drinking water) first. The station, which had just one island platform earlier, with no other facilities, has become one big building with a number of amenities, including a AC waiting room, which charges Rs. 30/- per hour for resting inside, a cafetaria etc.

This train, first introduced by the then Railway Minister, Mamta Banerjee, was a point-to-point train, with no halting stations in between. But, bowing to public demand, our train has now been provided with 5 stops, namely, Panvel, Ratnagiri, Madgaon, Mangalore and Kozhikode. The train left LTT on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Originally, all the bogies were air-conditioned and was a premier train, However, I found that some non-AC sleeper coaches have been added to this train. Having few hals could be welcome for passengers travelling to these halts, which come only after 4 to 5 hours of running.

 

Since it was dark outside, I could not see the scenery outside. I knew that the train passed through the Parsik tunnel, a long tunnel after Thane station, but it was too dark outside that I missed it. We were served dinner even before we reached the next stopping station, Panvel, about an hour away from the starting point. The dinner consisted of chappathis, paneer masala, dal, rice, curd and lastly, cup-ice-cream. All tasted nice. Ramesh had his seat away from us, but he joined us for the ice-cream session.

I got up only at Madgaon station, early in the morning. The train passed

over Kali river bridge. We were not served any morning coffee, which was a disappointment.The landscape was very beautiful. But as I was on the wrong side of the train, I could not see the sunrise. But Ramesh, who was siting on the other side, had taken pictures of the beautiful sunrise.  At 08.30, we were served our breakfast, consisting of bread slices, butter, cutlets, a small tetrapak of cold drink and coffee.  

Through the window on the West side of the coach, we could see the gopuram of the temple and the large Siva statue from Murdeshwar station.

The Duronto train had many unscheduled halts to give way to other trains as the Konkan route had only a single line. We crossed several tunnels and bridges across rivers like Gangavali, Sharavati etc. After Mangalore Junction, the train halted only at Kozhikode. By that time, we were given the lunch, which consisted of the same items as the dinner last night, except that the ice-cream was replaced by a piece of rassagolla. Naturally, I had to discard that piece due to its high sugar content.

A child of 8 years, Nitya, daughter of a Marathi couple, entertained us during the journey, with her dance and smart conversation with us. I taught her how to draw a peacock while narrating a story. She was very much impressed with that and said that she would be narrating it to her friends and classmates, she said. I also taught her how to draw simple sketches of birds, animals and human head.

Before getting off, we had some light refreshment in our seats. We reached the terminal station one hour in advance.The platform level was too low from the floor of the train and there was some difficulty in getting down the steps provided in the train. The escalator helped us to take our luggage to the exit. Kumaresh booked a taxi which took us to the hotel, BDH Bharat Hotel, near Kadavanthra.

Thus ended my dream travel by a fast train to my native state, Keralam.