Saranda Forests, Blue Hills, Iron Ore, Monsoon Magic and a Jan Shatabdi!
A collection of photographs from a day-trip undertaken by Anindya Roy and Ritadhi Chakravarti aboard the Howrah Barbil Jan Shatabdi Express, traveling right into the heart of the Saranda forests, located in south-eastern Jharkhand and the north-western tip of Odisha. In addition to the distinct features of the Indian Railways in this region, the images attempt to capture the sublime beauty of the Saranda range, iridescent in multiple hues of green courtesy the monsoons. Beneath the rocky soil lies a fourth of India's iron and manganese ore reserves, making this area subject to a heavy volume of freight traffic, with WAGs of various design ruling the roost. Also starred in this set is the Kharagpur-Tatanagar section catering to a heavy volume of passenger and freight traffic, replete with innumerable small gradients, picturesque sal forests, pretty curves, and the Chhota Nagpur Hills bordering the distant horizons in the south and the north.
Locos cooling heels amidst drizzle at Kharagpur Electric Loco Trip Shed.VSKP WAG5,VSKP WAM4,TATA WAM4,ANGL WAG7,SRC WAP4 and GZB WAP4 can be seen. (Anindya Roy)
Janshatabdi liveried Observation Car spotted at Kharagpur yard.(Ritadhi Chakravarty)
Banstala an infamous station of the Junglemahal area surrounded by Sal forests where New Delhi bound Bhubaneswar Rajdhani was stopped and held for several hours by the extremist rebels on 27 th October 2010.(Ritadhi Chakravarty) (Anindya Roy)
Post Dalbhumgarh, the hills of the Chhota Nagpur Plateau populate the horizon and the terrain becomes rocky.(Ritadhi Chakravarty) (Anindya Roy)
Twin WDG3A giving some parallel action over Kharkai river bridge after TATA.Kharkai is one of the major tributaries of Subarnarekha and also one of the most polluted river in India.(Ritadhi Chakravarty) (Anindya Roy)
Hills started to populate horizons from Mahali Marup.(Ritadhi Chakravarty) (Anindya Roy)
Well maintained Chaibasa,the district head quarter of West Singbhum. (Anindya Roy)
Another view of Chaibasa. (Anindya Roy)
After our departure from Chaibasa, we halted abruptly on a curve and this man briskly walked towards our locomotive with a bunch of papers in one hand and two flags in the other.Probably caution orders for our LP as we are approaching a rather prolonged g
Maluka the station before Dangoaposi. (Anindya Roy)
Negotiating a ghat section before Dangoaposi.Here the two tracks are separated by a considerable height.(Ritadhi Chakravarty) (Anindya Roy)
The busy platform at Dangoaposi. (Anindya Roy)
The gignatic right hand curve at the Noamundi outer.Noamundi is famous for its Iron ore mines which are operated by TISCO. (Anindya Roy)
The sole platform at Noamundi.The wagons parked at the sidings are specially used for carrying the ores. (Anindya Roy)
Another view of the sole platform at Noamundi.Ritadhi is busy in phone with his mother confirming our whereabouts. (Anindya Roy)
We arrived at Barajamda under overcast condition.Bara Jamda serves as a conjunction for the Barbil and Gua lines, which diverge at this point.(Ritadhi Chakravarty) (Anindya Roy)
Santragachi WAP4 is returning for attaching itself to the other end of Janshatabdi.(Ritadhi Chakravarty) (Anindya Roy)
The sole platform of Barbil. (Anindya Roy)
Beautiful SRC WAP4 in charge of Howrah bound Janshatabdi. (Anindya Roy)
Janshatabdi is waiting for the starter at Barbil. (Anindya Roy)
Rain soaked Barbil yard.Incidentally Barbil is the fifth largest deposit of irone ore and manganese ore in the world. (Anindya Roy)
Another view of Barbil Yard with hills at a distance in partial haze. (Anindya Roy)
Lush green Saranda forest after Bara Jamda in the backdrop of hills in the distance. (Anindya Roy)
Dangoaposi is an important station in this route.An electric loco trip shed can also be seen.(Ritadhi Chakravarty) (Anindya Roy)
Janshatabdi is in the process of aligning itself to the TATA NGP main line at Rajkharswan Jn.(Ritadhi Chakravarty) (Anindya Roy)
Recent comments
One more unexplored section of IR comes in front...
Posted by Chitrarth Parghi on 2012 Aug 13 15:16:33 +0000
Dangoaposi and Rajkharswan section was the first to see 25 KV OHE and i always wondered why?
the wonderful pics have answered the question.
Great coverage!
Posted by Anant K Singh on 2012 Aug 13 05:05:16 +0000
One more non-explored section where railfans left their footprints.
Thanks for covering this section.
Nice album. Good job guys.
Posted by Avishek Basu on 2012 Aug 13 04:04:30 +0000