Tunnel Vision !
On the 3rd February 2007, Ashish and Apurva walk the Khandala > Tunnel 26 > Tunnel 25 > Tunnel 24 > Tunnel 24C > Tunnel 25C > Khandala challenge ! This walk in the upper reaches of the Bhore ghat represents a round trip of 8 Kms of which nearly 4 Kms is inside the tunnels.
Warning – The tunnels are probably the most dangerous of all railway places - please do NOT enter tunnels, not even the well lit tunnels with twin lines, without a high level of preparation and a full awareness of the risks. There are many other fun places along the railway line - go there instead of the tunnels.
What better way to start our day of railfanning that get a darshan of a diesel ! Kalyan shed WDG 3A # 14981 arrives with a loaded BTPN rake out of Tunnel 25C. The extreme gradient after the Khandala platform 1 is clearly visible in the picture. The rake i
Peaking the ascent of the Bhore ghats, a BTPN rake is flagged through the Khandala Platform 1 by the morning shift station master. 2007_02_03.
This is the Khandala end portal of the first Tunnel in our challenge – the venerated # 26. The tunnel is 900 meters long and carries the Up line (used only for descending traffic) and the Bi-directional Mid line. The line we are standing on is the Up li
Interior of the tunnel 26 – this has been shown as Tunnel 1 in this map from 1926. This tunnel is lined on the side and on the roof with masonry – even the many refuge points (like the one seen in ...
The interiors of all the tunnels are marked with regular number markers. This is inside the tunnel 26 – the larger “10” is in stone from the GIPR days, while the modern version is the angled plate with reflective text that universally found in all t
Golden dawn at the Tata bridge end of the Tunnel 26 – a set of triple WCG 2 bankers hurtle downhill on the Up line, along with the customary janata hanging on the buffer beam. The mid line is being kept free from traffic for the crack Deccan Queen that
We cross the 356 meter long Tunnel 25. We find these curious concrete pillars around the Tata bridge side portal – any idea about the purpose of these structures? There is this size and a larger square profiled version buried into the rock face in the p
As we walk towards away from the Tunnel 25, a flock of triple WCG 2 bankers use the mid line to cross the Tata Bridge.
Another view of the triple WCG2s taking the curve at the Tata Bridge.
Ashish walks towards the portals of Tunnels 24 and 24C. The Pune-Mumbai expressway crosses over the tunnels, while the road on the elevated section is the NH4. The tunnel 24 was made in 1929 but the tunnel 24C was completed only in 1982. Although these tu
We missed many train shots because we were inside the tunnels, so we decided to wait for the 2126 Up Pragati Express to arrive through the 100 meter long tunnel 24. We did not have to wait for long.
We walk till the Up and Mid line distant signals for Monkey Hill which is about 1.2 Km distant. The 1024 Up Sahyadri Express goes past towards Mumbai on the Up line.
At this point, we complete half our trek and turn back. We now take the tunnels 24C and 25C to reach Khandala. This is the Monkey Hill side portal of the 350 meter long tunnel 24C. This unidirectional tunnel has the single line and is used only by the dow
The portal of the last tunnel, the 2156 meter long 25C – this was the longest tunnel on the IR before the KR tunnels were dug. Like the 24C, this tunnel too was started in 1982.
Inside the 25C tunnel – I place the camera on one rail and try to capture the enormous length of this cavern. The interior of the tunnel is very quiet, except some stray “50 Hz” hum from a lamp ballast – regularly, one hears sounds of large object